The English Constitution

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EXG LlSli, CJONSTITUTIO?^.

WALTER BAUEXIOT.

BOSTON;

I'TLK, BKOWX, AXU CO^rPAXY.

1873.

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CONTEXTS.

Is'o. I.

Till.; MuNMcr

Xo. 111.

Tny. Uo:-ii-: «v Loi

The llOLSh; w Co

O.N (.:|l^^■.^l■:s w MiNL^u.

Xn. VII.

■in ttAT.\N(!v,S

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Ko. VIU.
The PnEHKQL'isiTi.;a ok Cabinet t

TKK PbCTJI.IAU FoU.M WHICH THEY ,

E^GL*^-D

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INTIIODUCTION

THE SECOND EDITION.

There ia a great difficiilty in the way of a writer
who attempt to sketch a livmg Constitution, — a
Constitution that is in actual work and power. The
difficulty is that the ohjeet ia in constant change.
An historical writer does not feel this difficulty : he
deals only with the past ; he can say definitely, the
Constitution worked in such and such a manner in
the year at which he begins, and in a manner in such
and such respects different in the year at which he
ends; he begins with a definite point of time and
ends with one also. But a contemporary writer
who tries to paint what is before him is puzzled and
perplexed ; what he sees is changing daily. He must
paint it as it stood at some one time, or else he will
be putting side by side in his representations things
which never were contemporaneous in reality. The
difficulty is the greater because a wiiter who deals
with a living government natiirflly compares it with
the most important other living governments, and

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2 ISTKODL'CTIOX TO TIIR S"ECOND EDITION.

these are chiinging too ; what he illustrates are
altered in one wjiy, and his souices of illustration
are altered probably in a diiferent way. This diffi-
culty has been constantly in my ^yay in preparing a
second edition of this book. It describes tlie English
Constitution as it stood in the years 1865 and 1866,
Roughly speaking, it describes its working as it -was
in the time of Lord Pidmerston ; and since that time
there have been many changes, some of spirit and
some of detail. In so short a period there have rare-
ly been more changes. If I had given a sketch of
the Palmerston time as a sketch of the present time,
it would have been in many points untrue ; and if I
had tried to change the sketch of seven years since
into a sketch of the present time, I should probably
have blurred the picture and h^ve given something
equally unlike both.

The best plan in such a case is, I think, to keep
the or^nal sketch in aU essentials as it was at first
written, and to describe shortly such changes cither
in the Constitution itself, or in the Constitutions
compared with it, as seem material. There arc in
this book various expressions which aUride to per-
sons who were living and to events wliich wore
happening when it first appeared ; and I liave care-
fully preserved these. They will serve to warn the
reader what tinie he is reading about, a.nd to prevent
his mistaking the date at which the Jikeness was
attempted to be taken. I proceed to speak of tlie
changes n-liieh Lave taken place either in the Consli-

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ISTRODUCTION TO THE SEGOXD EDITIOX. 3

tution itself or in tlie competing institutions which
illustrate it.

It is too soon as jet to attempt to estimate the
effect of the Reform Act of 1867. The people en-
franchised under it do not yet know their own power :
a single election, so far from teaching us how they
will use that power, has not been even enough to
explain to them that they have such power. The
Reform Act of 1832 did not for many years disclose
its real consequences ; a writer in 1836, whether he
approved or disapproved of them, whether he thought
too little of or whether he exaggerated them, would
have been sure to be mistaken in them. A new
Constitution does not produce its full effect as long
as all its subjects were reared under an old Con-
stitution, as long as its statesmen were trained by
that old Constitution. It is not really tested till
it comes to be worked by statesmen and among a
people neither of whom are guided by a different
experience.

In one respect we are indeed particularly likely to
he mistaken as to the effect of the last Reform Bill.
Undeniably there has lately been a great change in
our politics. It is commonly said that " there is not
a brick of the Palmerston House standing." The
change since 1865 is a change not in one point, but
in a thousand points ; it is a change not of particular
details, but of pervading spirit. We ai'c now quar-
relling as to the minor details of' an Education Act ;
in Lord Palmerston's time no such Act could have

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4 INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

passed. In Lord Palmerston's time Sir Geoi^e Grey
said that the disestablishment of the Irish Church
would be an " act of Revolution : " it has now been
disestabhshed by great majoritjes, with Sir George
Grey himself assentir^. A new world has arisen
■which is not as the old world ; and we naturally
ascribe the change to the Reform Act. But this is
a complete mistake. If there had been no Reform
Act at aU, there would nevertheless have been a
great change in EngHsh politics. There has been a
change of the sort which, above aU, generates other
changes, — a change of generation. Generally, one
generation in polities succeeds another almost si-
lently; at every moment men of all ages between
thirty and seventy have considerable influence j each
year removes many old men, mates al^ others older,
brings in many new. The transition is so gi'adual that
we hardly perceive it. The board of directors of
the political company has a few slight changes every
year, and therefore the shareholders are conscious
of no abxupt change. But sometimes there is an
abrupt change. It occasionally happens that several
ruling directors who are about the same age live on
for many year-s, manage the company all through
those years, and then go off the scene almost to-
gether. In that case the affairs of the company are
apt to alter much, for good or for evil : sometimes
it becomes more successful, sometimes it is ruined,
but it hardly ever -stays as it was. Something hke
this happened before 1865. All through the period

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INXEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 5

between 1832 and 1865,. the pre-t52 statesmen — if I
may so eaU them — Lord Derby, Lord Eussell, Lord
Palmerston retained great power. Lord Palmeraton
to tlie last retained great prohibitive power. Though
in some ways always young, he had not a particle of
sympathy with the yoiir^er generation; he brought
forward no young men ; he obstructed all that young
men wished. In consequence, at his death a new
generation all at once started into life: the pre-32
aU at once died out. Most of the new politicians
were men who might weU have been Lord Palmers-
ton's grandchildren. He came into Parliament in
1806, they entered it after 1856. Such an enormous
change in the age of the workers necessarily caused
a great change in the kind of work attempted and
the way in which it was done. What we call the
"spirit" of politics is more surely changed hj a
change of generation in the men than by any other
change whatever. Even if there had been no Reform
Act, this single cause would have effected grave
alterations.

The mere settlement of the Reform question made
a great change too. If it could have been settled by
any other change, or even without any change, the
instant effect of the settlement would still have been
immense. New questions would have appeared at
once. A political country is like an American for-
est ; yon have only to cut down the old trees, and
immediately new trees come up to replace them ;
the seeds were waiting in the ground, and they began

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6 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

to grow as soon as the withdrawal of the old ones
brought in light and air. These new questions of
themselves woiitd have made a new atmosphere, new
parties, new debates.

Of course I am not arguing that so impoi'tant an
innovation as the Reform Act of 1867 will not have
very great effects. It must, in all likelihood, have
many great ones. I am only saying that as yet we
do not know what those effects are ; tliat the great
evident change since 1866 is certainly not strictly
due to it ; probably is not even in a principal measure
due to it ; that we have still to conjecture what it
will cause and what it will not cause.

The principal question arises most naturally from
a main doctrine of these essays. 1 ..have said that
cabinet government is possible in England because
England was a deferential country. I meant that
the nominal constituency was not the real constitu-
ency ; that the mass of the " ten-pound " household-
ers did not really form their own opinions, and did
not exact of their representatives an obedience to
those opinions ; that they were in fact guided in
their judgment by the better educated classes ; that
they preferred representatives from those classes, and
gave those representatives much license. If a hun-
dred small shopkeepers had by miracle been added
to any of the '32 Parliaments, they would have felt
outcasts there. Nothing could be more unlike those
Parliaments than the average mass of the constitu-
ency fi'om ■which it was chosen.

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INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION, 7

I do not of course mean that the ten-pound house-
holders were great admirers of intellect or good
judges of refinement. We all know that, for the
most part, they were not so at all : very few English-
men are. They were not influenced by ideas, but
by facts ; not by things palpable, but by things im-
palpable. Not to put too fine a point upon it, they
were influenced by rank and wealth. No doubt the
better sort of them believed that those who were
superior to them in these indisputable respects were
superior also in the more intangible cLualities of
sense and knowledge. But the mass of the old
electors did not analyze very much: they liked toy
have one of their "betters" to represent them ; if
he was rich, they respected him much; and if he
was a lord, they liked him the better. The issue
put before these electors was. Which of two rich
people will you choose? And each of those rich
people was put forward by great parties whose no-
tions were the notions of the rich, whose plans
were their plans. The electors only selected one or
two wealthy men to carry out the schemes of one
or two wealthy associations.

So fuHy was this so, that the class to whom the
great body of the ten-pound householders belonged
— the lower middle class — was, above all classes,
the one most hardly treated in the imposition of the
taxes. A small shopkeeper or a clerk, who just,
and only just, was rich enough ^to pay income tax,
was perhaps the only severely taxed man in the

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8 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

country. He paid the rates, the tea, sugar, tobacco,
malt, and spirit taxes, as well as the income tax,
but his means were exceedingly small. Curiously
enough, the class "which in theory was omnipotent
was the only class financially ill-treated. Through-
out the history of our former Parliaments the con-
stituency could no more have originated the policy
which those Parliaments selected than they could
have made tlie solar system.

As I have endeavored to show in this volume, the
deference of the old electors to their betters was the
only way in which our old system could be main-
tained. No doubt countries can be imagined in
which the mass of the electors would be thoroughly
competent to form good opinions ; approximations
to that state happily exist. But such was not the
state of the minor Enghsh shopkeepers. They were
just competent to mate a selection between two sets
of superior ideas ; or rather — for the conceptions of
such people are more personal than abstract — be-
tween two opposing parties, each professing a creed
of such ideas. But they could do no more. Their
own notions, if they had been cros^-examined upon
them, would have been found always most confused
and often most fooUsh, They were competent to
decide an issue selected by the higher elates, but
they were incompetent to do more.

The grave question now is, How far will this
peculiar old system continue, and how far will it be
altered ? I am afraid I must put aside at once the

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 9

idea that it will be altered entirely and altered for
tlie better, I cannot expect that the new class of
voters will be at all more able to form sound opin-
ions on complex questions than the old voters. There
was indeed an idea — a very prevalent idea when
the first edition of this book was published — that
there then was an unrepresented class of skilled
artisans who could form superior opinions on national
matters, and ouglit to have the means of expressing
them. We used to frame elaborate schemes to give
them such means. But the Reform Act of 1867 did
not stop at skilled labor ; it enfranchised unskilled ,
labor too. And no one will contend that the ordi-
dary working-man who has no special skill, and who
is only rated because he has a house, can judge much
of intellectual matters. The messenger in an office
is not more intelligent than the clerks ; not better
educated, but worse : and yet the messenger is prob-
ably a very superior specimen of the newly enfran-
chised classes. The average can only earn very-
scanty wages by coarse labor. They have no time to
improve themselves, for they are laboring the whole
day through ; and their early education was so small
that in most cases it is dubious whether, even if they
had much time, they could use it to good purpose.
We bave not enfranchised a class less needing to
be guided by their betters than the old class ; on the
contrary, the new class need it mor€f than the old.
The real question is. Will tliey s-dbmit to it, will
they defer in the same way to wealth and rank, and

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10 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION,

to tlie higher qualities of which these are the rough
symbols and the common accompaniments ?

There is a peculiar difficulty in answering this
question. Generally, the debates upon the passing
of an Act contain much valuable instruction as to
what may be expected of it. But the debates on the
Reform Act of 1867 hardly tell any thing. They are
taken up with technicalities as to the ratepayers and
the compound householder. Nobody in the country
knew what was being done. I happened at the time
to visit a purely agricultural and conservative county,
and I asked the local Tories, "Do you understand
this Reform Bill ? Do you know that your Conserv-
ative Government has brought in a Bill far more
Radical than any former Bill, and that it is very likely
to be passed?" The answer I got was, "What
stuff you talk ! How can it be a Radical Reform
Bill? Why, Bright opposes it I" There was no
answering that in a way which a "common jury"
could xmderstand. The Bill was supported by the
Times and opposed by Mr. Bright ; and therefore the
mass of the ConseiTatives and of common moderate
people, without distinction of party, had no concep-
tion of the effect. They said it was " London non-
sense " if you tried to explain it to them. The
nation, indeed, generally looks to the discussions in
ParUament to enlighten it as to the effect of Bills.
But in this case neither party, as a party, could speak
out. Many, perhaps most of the intcUigent Con-
servatives, were fearful of the consequences of the

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INTR0DTTCTI05" TO THE SECOND EDXTIOH. 11

proposal ; but as it was made by the heads of their
own party, they did not like to oppose it, and the
discipline of party carried them with it. On the
other side, many, probably most of the intelligent
Liberals, were in consternation at the Bill ; they had
been in the habit for years of proposing Reform Bills ;
they knew the points of difference between each Bill,
and perceived that this was by far the most sweeping
which had ever been proposed by any Ministry, But
they were almost all unwilling to say so. They
would have offended a large section in their constitu-
encies if they had resisted a Tory Bill because it was
too democratic ; the extreme partisans of democracy
would have said, " The enemies of the people have
confidence enough in the people to intrust them with
this power, but you, a ' Liberal,' and a professed
friend of the people, have not that confidence ; if
that is so, we will never vote for you again." Many
Radical members who had been asking for years for
household suffrage were much more surprised than
pleased at the near chance of obtaining it ; they had
asked for it as bargainers ask for the highest possible
price, but they never expected to get it. Altogether
the Liberals, or at least the extreme Liberals, were
much Uke a man who has been pushing hard against
an opposing door till, on a sudden, the door opens,
the resistance ceases, and he is thrown violently for-
ward. Persons in such an unpleasant predicament
can scarcely ciiticise effectually, and certainly the
Liberals did not so criticise. We have had no such

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12 IKTEODUCTIO:S TO THE SECOND EDITIOS.

previous dlscusBions as should guide our expectations
from the Reform Bill, nor such as under ordiuary
circuniHtaneea we shoiild have had.

Nor does the experience of the last election much
help us. The circumstances were too exceptional.
In tlie first place, Mr. Gladstone's personal popu-
larity was such as has not been seen since the time
of Mr. Pitt, and such as may never be seen again.
Certainly it will very rarely be seen. A bad speaker
is said to have been a^ked how he got on as a candi-
date. " Oh," he answered, " when I do not know
what to eay, I say ' Gladstone,' and then they are
sure to cheer, and I have time to think." In fact,
that popularity acted as a guide both to constitu-
encies and to members. The candidates only said
they would vote with Mr. Gladstone, and the con-
stituencies only chose those who said so. Even the
minority could only be described as anti-Gladstone,
just as the majority could only be described as pro-
Gladstone. The remains, too, of the ojd electoral
organization were exceedingly powerful ; the old
voters voted as they had been told, and the new
voters mostly voted with them. In extremely few
eases was there any new and contrary organization.
At the last election the trial of the new system
hardly began, and, as far as it did begin, it was
favored by a peculiar guidance.

In tlie mean time our statesmen have the greatest
opportunities they have had for many years, and
likewise the greatest duty. They have to guide the

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JNTEODtrCTIOW TO THE SECOND EDITION. 13

new voters in the exercise of the franchise ; to guide
them c[uietly, and without saying wliat they are
doing, but still to guide them. The leading states-
men ill a free country have great momentary power.
They settle the conversation of manldnd. It is
they who, by a great speech or two, determine what
shall be said and what shall be written for long after,
They, in conjunction with their counsellors, settle
tne programme of their party, — the " platform," as
the Americans call it, — on which they and those
^sociated with them are to take their stand for the
political campaign. It is by that programme, by a
comparison of the programmes of different statesmen,
that the world forms its judgment. The common
ordinary mind is quite unfit to fix for itself what
political question it shall attend to ; it is as much
as it can do to judge decently of the questions which
drift down to it, and are brought before it ; it almost
never settles its topics ; it can only decide upon the
issues of those topics. And in settling what these
questions shall be, statesmen have now especially
a great responsibihty. If they raise questions which
will excite the lower orders of mankind ; if they
raise questions on which those orders are likely to
be wrong ; if they raise questions on which the in-
terest of those orders is not identical with, or is
antagonistic to, the whole interest of the state, they
will have done the greatest harm they can do. The
future of this country depends on the happy working
of a delicate experiment, and they will have done all

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14 INTRODUCTION TO TTTE SECOND EDITION.

they coulil to vitiate that experiment. Just when it
is desirable that ignorant men, new to politics, sliijuld
have good issues, and only good issues, put before
them, these statesmen will have suggested bad issues.
They will have suggested topics which will bind the
poor as a class together ; topics which will excite
them against the rich ; topics the discussion of which,
in the only form in which that discussion reach3S
tlieir ear, will be to make them think that some new
law can make them comfortable, — that it is tlia
present law which makes them uncomfortable, —
that Government has at its disposal an inexhaustible
fund out of which it can give to those who now
want without also creating elsewhere other and
greater wants. If the first work of the poor voters
is to try to create a "poor man's paradise," as poor
men are apt to fancy that paradise, and as they are
apt to think they can create it, the great political
trial now beginning will simply fail. The wide gift
of the elective franchise will be a great calamity to
the whole nation, and to those who gain it as great
a calamity as to any.

I do not of course mean that statesmen can
choose with absolute freedom what topics they will
deal with, and what they will not. I am of course
aware that tliey choose under stringent conditions.
In excited states of the public mind they have
scai'cely a discretion at all ; the tendency of the
pubUc perturbation determines what shall and what
shall not be dealt with. But, upon the other hand.

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INTEODUOTION TO THE SECOND JCDITION. 15

in qmet times statesmen have great power ; when
there is no fire lighted they ed,n lettle what fire shall
be lit. And as the new auffi'ige is hipjily to be
tried in a quiet time, the lesponsibihty ot our states-
men is great because their power is great too

And the mode in which tlie questions dealt ^\ ith
are discussed is almost as important as the selection
of these questions. It is for our principal statesmen
to lead the public, and not to let tlie pubhc lead
them. No doubt when stat«smen live by public'
favor, as ours do, this is a hard sayuig, and it re-
quires to be carefully limited. I dp not mean that
our statesmen should assume a pedantic and doc-
trinaire tone with the Enghsh people ; if there is
any thing which English people thoroughly detest,
it is that tone exactly. And they are right in
detesting it ; if a man cannot give guidance and
communicate instruction formally without telling his
audience, " I am better than you ; I have studied
this as you have not," then he is not fit for a guide
or an instructor. A statesman who should show that
gaucherie would exhibit a defect of imagination, and
expose an incapacity for dealing with men, which
would be a great hindrance to him in his calling.
But much ■ argument is not required to guide the
public, still less a formal exposition of that argument.
What is mostly needed is the manly utterance of
clear conclusions; if a statesman gives these in a
felicitous way (and if with a few light and humorous
illustrations so much the better), he has done his

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16 INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITIOijr,

part. He will have given the text, tlie scribes in
the newspapers will write the sermon. A statesman
ought to show his own nature, and talk in a palpable
way" what is to him important truth. And so he
■will both guide and benefit the nation. But if, espe-
cially at a time when great ignorance has an unusual
power in pubUe affairs, he chooses to accept and reit-
erate the decisions of that ignorance, he is only the
hireling of the nation, and does little save hurt it,

I shall be told that this is very obvious, and that
everybody knows that two and two make four, and
that there is no use in inculcating it. But I answer
that the lesson is not observed in fact; people do
not do their political sums so. Of aU our political
dangers, the greatest I conceive is that they will
neglect the lesson. In plain English, what I fear is
that both our political parties will bid for the sup-
port of the working-man ; that both of them will
promise to do as he likes if he will only tell them
what it is ; that, as he now holds the casting vote
n our affairs, both parties will beg and pray him to
give that vote to them.. I can conceive o' nothing
more corrupting or worse for a set of poor, rant
people than that two combinations of well- M
and rich men should constantly offer to defer to x
decision, and compete for the oifice of executing i
Vox populi will be Vox diaboli if it is worked in
that manner.

And, on the other hand, my imagination conjures
up a contrary danger. I can conceive that questions

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INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 17

being raised, which, i£ continually agitated,, would
combine the working-men as a class together, the
higher orders might have to consider whether they
would concede the measure that would settle such
questions, or whether they would risk the effect of
the workii^-men's combination.

No doubt the question cannot be easily discussed
in the abstract; much must depend on the nature
of the measures in each particular case ; on the evil
they would cause if conceded ; on the attractiveness
of their idea to the working-classes if refused. But
in all cases it must be remembered that a political
combination of the lower classes, as such and for
their own objects, is an evil of the first magnitude;
that a permanent combination of them would make
them (now that so many of them have the suffrage)
supreme in the country ; and that their supremacy,
in the state they now are, means the supremacy of
ignorance over instruction and of numbers over
knowledge. So long as they are not taught to act
together, there is a chance of this being averted, and
it can oidy be averted by the greatest wisdom and
the greatest foresight in the higher classes. They
must avoid, not only every evil, but every appeai'ance
of evil; while they have still the power they must
remove, not only every actual grievance, but, where
it is possible, every seeming grievance too ; they
must willingly concede every claim which they can
safely concede, in order that they may not have to

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18 IXTBODUCTION TO THK SECOND ED^^IO^^

concede unwillingly some claim which would impair
the safety of the country.

This advice, too, will be said to he obvious ; but
I have the greatest fear that, when the time comes,
it will be cast aside as timid and cowardly. So
strong ai'e the combative propensities of man, that
he would rather fight a losing battle than not fight
at all. It is most difficult to persuade people that
by fighting they may strengthen the enemy, yet that
would be so here ; since a losing battle — especially
a long and well-fought one — would have tlioroughly
taught the lower orders to combine, and would have
left the higher orders face to face with an irritated,
oi^anized, and superior voting power. The courage
which strengthens an enemy, and which so loses,
not only the present battle, but many after battles,
is a heavy curse to men and nations.

In one minor respect, indeed, I think we may see
with distinctness the effect of the Reform Bill of
1867. I think it has completed one change which
the Act of 1832 began ; it has completed the change
which that Act made in the relation of the House of
Lords to the House of Commons. As I have en-
deavored in this book to explain, the literary theory
of the English Constitution is on this point quite
wrong as usual. According to that theory, the two
Houses are two branches of the Legislature, perfectly
equal and perfectly distinct. But before the Act of
1832 they were not so distinct ; there was a very
large and a very strong common element. By their

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEOUIJCTIOX TO THE SECOND EDITIOX. 19

commanding influence in many borouglis and eoim-
ties the Lords nominated a considerable part of the
Commons ; the majority of the other part were the
richer gentry, — men in most respects like the LokIs,
and sympathizing with the Lords. Under the Con-
stitution as it then was, the two Houses were not in
their eKience distinct; tliey were in their essence
similar; they were, in the main, not Houses of con-
trasted origin, but Houses of like origin. Tlie pre-
dominant part of both was taken from the same class
— from tlie English gentry, titled and untitled. By
the Act of 1832 this was much altered. The aris-
tocracy and the gentry lost their predominance in
the House of Commons ; that predominance passed
to the middle class. The two Houses then became
distinct, but then they ceased to be co-equal. The
Duke of Wellington, in a most remarkable paper,
has explained what pains he took to induce the Lords
to submit to their new position, and to submit, time
after time, their will to the will of the Commons.

The Reform Act of 1867 has, I think, unmistak-
ably completed the effect which the Act of 1832
began, but left unfinished. The middle class ele-
ment has gained greatly by the second change, and
the aristocraiio element has lost greatly. If you
examine carefully the lists of members, especially of
the most prominent members, of either side of the
House, you ■will not find that they are in general
aristocratic names. Considering the power and po-
sition of the titled aristocracy, you will perhaps be

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

20 INTKODUCTiON TO THE SECOSD EDTTTON,

astonished at the small degree in which it contributes
to the active part of our governing Assembly. The
spirit of our present House of Commons is pluto-
cratic, not aristocratic ; its most prominent statesmen
are not men of ancient descent of of great hereditary
estate ; they are men mostly of substantial means,
but they are mostly, too, connected more or less
closely with the new trading wealth. The spiiit of
the two AsserabUes has become far more contrasted
than it ever was.

The full elfect of the Reform Act of 1832 was
indeed postponed by the cause which I mentioned
just now. The statesmen who worked the system
which was put up had themselves been educated
under the system which was pulled down. Strangely
enoi^h, their predominant guidance lasted as long
as the system which they created. Lord Palmerston,
Lord Russell, Lord Derby, died or else lost their
influence ivithin a year or two of 1867. The com-
plete consequences of the Act of 1832 upon the
House of Lords could not be seen while the Com-
mons were subject to such aristocratic guidauce.
Much of the change which might have been expected
from the Act of 18S2 was held in suspense, and did
not begin till that measure had been followed by
another of similar and greater power.

The work which the Duke of Weliii^ton in part
performed has now, therefore, to be completed also.
He met the half difficulty ; we have to sunnount the
whole one. We have to frame such tacit rules, to

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 21

establish such ruling but unenacted customs, as will
make the House of Lords yield to the Commons
when aud as often as our new Constitution requkes
that it should yield. I shall be asked, How often is
that, and what is the test by which you know it ?

I answer that the House of Lords must yield
whenever the opinion of the Commons k also the
opinion of the nation, and when it is clear that the
nation has made up its mind. Whether or not
the nation has made up its mind is a question to be
decided by all the cire\imstances of the case, and in
the common way in which all practical cLuestions are
decided. There are some people who lay down a
sort of mechanical teat : they say the House of Lords
should be at hberty to reject a measure passed by
the Commons onee or more, and then, if the Commons
send it up again and again, infer that the nation is
determined. But no important practical question
in real life can be uniformly settled by a fixed and
fonnal riile in this way. This rule would prove that
the Lords might have rejected the Reform Act of
1832. "Whenever the nation was both excited and
determined, such a rule would be an acute and
dangerous political poison. It would teach the
House of Lords that it might shut its eyes to ail
the facts of real life, and decide simply by an ab-
stract formula. If in 1832 the Lords had so acted,
there would have been a revolution. Undoubtedly
there is a general truth in the rule. Whether a Bill
has come up onee only, or whether it has come

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

22 INTRODUCTIOX TO THE SECOSD EDITION.

up several times, is one important fact in judging
whether the nation is determined to have that
measure enacted ; it is an indication, but it is only
one of the indications. There are others eq^ually
decisive. The unanimous voice of the people may
be so strong, and may he conveyed through so many
organs, that it may be assumed to he lasting.

Englishmen are so very miscellaneous, that that
which has really convinced a great and varied major-
ity of them for the present may faifly be assiuned to
be hkely to contiime permanently to convince them.
One sort might easily fall into a temporary and
erroneous fanaticism, but all sorts simultaneously are
very unlikely to do so.

I should venture so far as to lay down for an
approximate rule, that the House of Lords ought, on
a first-class subject, to be slow — very slow — in re-
jecting a Bill passed even once by a large majority
of the House of Commons. I would not of course
lay this down as an unvarying rule : as I have said, I
have for practical purposes no belief in unvarying
rules. Majoritiea may be either genuine or fictitious ;
and if they are not genuine, if they do not embody
the opinion of the representative as well as the
opinion of the constituency, no one would wish to
have any attention paid to them. But if the opinion
of the nation be strong and be universal, if it be
really believed by members of Pai-liaraent, as well as
by those who send them to Pjirliament, in my judg-
ment tlie Lords should yield at once, and should not
resist it.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION, 23

My main reason is one which has not been much
urged. As a theoretical writer I can venture to aay,
what no elected memher of Parliament, Conservative
or Liberal, can venture to say, that I am exceedingly
afraid of the ignorant multitude of the new constitu-
encies. I wish to have as great and as compact a
power as possihle to resist it. But a dissension be-
tween the Lords and Commons divides that resisting
power ; as I have explained, the House of Commons
still mainly represents the plutocracy, tlie Lords
represent the aristocracy. The main interest of hoth
these classes is now identical, which is to prevent or
to mitigate the rule of uneducated members. But, to
prevent it effectiially, they must not quarrel among
themselves ; they must not bid one against the other
for the aid of their common opponent. And this is
precisely the effect of a division between Lords and
Commons. The two great bodies of the educated
rich go to the constituencies to decide hetween them,
and the majority of the constituencies now consist of
the uneducated poor. This cannot be for tlie advan-
tage of any one.

In doing so, besides, the aristocracy forfeit their
natural position — that hy which they would gain
most power, and in which they would do most good.
They ought to be the heads of the plutocracy. In
all countries new wealth is ready to worship old
wealth, if old wealth will only let it, and I need not
say tliat in England new wealth is eager in its wor-
ship. Satirist after satiiist has told us how quick,

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

24 INTRODUCTION TO TH-G SECOND EDITIOX,

how wilKng, how anxious are the newly made rich to
associate with the ancient rich. Rank probably in no
country whatever has so much " market " value as it
hasin England just now. Of course there have been
many countries in which certain old famihes, whether
rich or poor, were worshipped by whole populations
with a more intense and poetic homage ; but I doubt
if there has ever been any in which all old families
and all titled fa.niilie3 received more ready observ-
ance from thoae who were their equals, perhaps
their superiors, in wealth, their equals in culture,
and their inferiors only in descent and rank. The
possessors of the " material " distinctions of life, as
a political economist would class them, rush to wor-
ship those who possess the immaterial distinctions.
Nothing can be more politically useful than such
horai^e, if it be skilfully used ; no folly can be idler
than to repel and reject it.

The worship is the more politically important be-
cause it is the worship of the political superior for
the pohtical inferior. At an election the non-titled
are much more powerful than the titled. Certain
individual peers have, from their great possessions,
great electioneering influence, but, as a whole, the
House of Peers is not a principal electioneering force.
It has so many poor men inside it, and so many rich
men outside it, that its electioneering value is im-
paired. Besides it is in the nature of the curious in-
fluence of rank to work much more on men singly than
on men coUectivoly ; it is an influence which most men

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOSD EDITION. 25

— at least most Englishmen — feel very much, but of
which most Englishmen are somewhat ashamed. Ac-
cordingly, when any number of men are collected to-
getlier, each of whom worships rank in his heart, the
whole body wiU patiently hear — in many cases will
cheer and approve — some rather strong speeches
against rant. Each man is a little afraid that hia
" sneaMng Idndness for a lord," as Mr. Gladstone put
it, be found out ; he is not sure how far that weak-
ness is shared by those around liirn.- And thus Eng-
lishmen easily find themselves committed to anti-aris-
tocratic sentiments which are the direct opposite of
their real feeling, and their collective action may be
bitterly hostile to rank while the secret sentiment of
each separately is especially favorahle to rank. In
1832 the close boroughs, which were largely held by
peers, and were still more largely supposed to he held
by them, were swept away with a tumult of dehght ;
and in another similar time of great excitement, the
Lords themselves, if they deserve it, might pass away.
The democratic passions gain by fomenting a diffused
excitement, and by massing men in concourses j the
aristocratic sentiments gain by calm and quiet, and
act most on men by themselves, in their families, and
when female influence is not absent. The overt
electioneering power of the Lords does not at all
equal its real social power. "The English plutocracy,
as is often said of something yet coarser, must be
" humored, not drove ; " they may easily be impelled
against the aristocracy, though they respect it very

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

26 IKTRODUCTIOS TO THE SECOND EDITIOS.

much ; and as they are much stronger than the aris-
tocracy, they might, if angered, even destroy it ;
though in order to desU'oy it, they must help to
arouse a wild excitement among the ignorant poor,
which, if once roused, may not be easily calmed, and
which may be fatal to far more than its beginners
intend.

This is the explanation of the anomaly which puz-
zles many clever Lords. They think, if they do not
say, " Wliy are we pinned up here ? Why are we
not in the Commons where we could have so much
more power ? Why is this nominal rank given us, at
the price of substantial influence ? If we prefer real
weight to unreal prestige, why may we not have it ? "
The reply is, that the whole body of the Lords have
an incalculably greater influence over society while
there is still a House of Lords, than they would have
if the House of Lords were abolished ; and that
tliough one or two clever young peers might do
better in the Commons, the whole order of peers,
young and old, clever and not clever, is much better
where it is. The seliish instinct of the mass of peers
on this pouit is a keener and more exact judge of the
real world than the fine intelligence of one or t\vo of
Ihem,

IE the House of Peers ever goes, it will go in
a storm, and the storm will not leave all else as it is.
It will not destro}' tlie House of Peers and leave the
rich young peers, with their wealth and their titles,
to sit iu the Commons. It would probably sweep all

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTItODUOTION TO IHE SECOND EDITION. 27

titles before it — at least all legal titles — and some-
how or other it would break up the curious system
by which the estates of great families all go to the
eldest son. That system is a very artificial one ; you
may make a fine argument for it, but you cannot
make a loud a^ument, an argument which would
reach and rule the multitude. The thing looks like
injustice, and in a time of popular passion it would
not stand. Much short of the compulsoiy equal
division of the Code Napoleon, stringent clauses
might be provided to obstruct and prevent these
great aggregations of property. Few thing's certainly
are less hkely than a violent tempest like this to
destroy large and hereditary estates. But then, too,
few things are less likely than an outbreak to destroy
the House of Lords : my point is, that a catastrophe
which levels one will not spare the other.

I conceive, therefore, that the great power of the
House of Lords should be exercised very timidly and
very cautiously. For the sake of keeping tire head-
ship of the plutocracy, and through that of the nation,
they should not offend the plutocracy ; the points
upon which they have to yield are mostly very minor
ones, and they should yield many great points rather
than risk the bottom of their power. They should
give large donations out of income, if by so doing
they keep, as they would keep, their capital intact.
The Duke of Wellington guided the House of Lords
in this manner for years, and nothing could prosper
better for them or for the country, and the Loi'da

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

28 INTEOBUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

have only to go back to the good path in which he
directed them.

The events of 1870 caused much discussion upon
hfe peerages ; and we have gained this gi-eat step,
that whereas the former leader of the Tory party
in the Lords — Lord Lyndhurst — defeated the last
proposal to make life peers, Lord Derby, when
leader of that party, desired to create them. As I
have given in this book what seemed to me good
reasons for mating them, I need not repeat those
reasons here, I need only say how the notion stands
in my judgment now,

I cannot look on life peeiages in the way in which
some of their strongest advocates regard them ; I
cannot think of them as a mode in which a perma-
nent opposition or a contrast between the Houses
of Lords and Commons is to be remedied. To be
effectual in that way, life peerages must be veiy
numerous. Now the House of Loi-ds will never
consent to a very numerous life peerage without a
storm ; they must be in terror to do it, or they will
not do it. And if the storm blows strongly enough
to do so much, in all likelihood it will blow strongly
enough to do much more. If the revolution is pow-
erful enough and eager enough to make an immense
number of life peei-s, probably it will sweep away
the hereditary principle in the Upper Chamber en-
tirely. Of course one may fancy it to he otherwise ;
we may conceive of a political storm just going to a
life peerage limit, and then stopping suddenly. But

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION" TO THE SECOND EDITION. 29

in polities we must not trouble ourselves with ex-
ceedingly exceptional accidents : it is quite difficult
enough to count on and provide for the regular and
plain probabilities. To speak mathematically, we may
easily miss the permanent course of the political
curve if we engross our minds with its cusps anil
conjugate points.

Nor, on the other hand, can I sympathize with the
objection to life peerages which some of the Radical
party take and feel. They think it will sti-engthen
the Lords, and so make them better able to oppose
the Commons; they think, if they do not say, " The
House of Lords is our enemy and that of all Lib-
erals ; happily the mass of it is not inteUeetual ; a
few clever men are bom there which we cannot help,
but we vnll not ' vaccinate ' it with genius ; we will
not put in a set of clever men for their lives who
may as likely as iiot turn against us." This objec-
tion assumes that clever peers are just as likely to
oppose the Commons as stupid peers. But this I
deny. Most clever men who are in such a good place
as the House of Lords plainly is, will be very unwill-
ing to lose it if they can help it; at the clear call of
a great duty they might lose it, but only at such
a call. And it does not take a clever man to see that
systematic opposition of the Commons is the only
thing which can endanger the Lords, or which wiR
malte an individual peer cease to be a peer. The
greater you make the sense of the Lords, the more
tliey will see that their plain interest is to make

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

30 INTRODUCTION TO TIIK SEGOXD EDITIOX.

friends of the plutocracy, and to be the chiefs of it,
and not to wish to oppose tlie Commons where that
plutocracy rules.

It is true that a completely new House of Lords,
mainly composed of men of ability, selected because
they were able, might very Hkely attempt to make
ability the predominant power in the state, and to
rival, if not conquer, the House of Commons, where
tie standard of intelligence is not much above the
common English average. But in the present Eng-
lish world such a House of Lords would soon lose all
influence. People would say " it was too clever by
half," and in an Englishman's mouth that means
a very severe censure. The English people would
think it grossly anomalous if their elected assembly
of rich men were thwarted by a nominated assembly
of talkers and writers. Sensible men of substantial
means are what we wish to be ruled by, and a peer-
age of genius would not compare with it in power.

It is true, too, that at present some of the clever-
est peers are not so ready as some others to agree
with the Commons. But it is not unnatural that
persons of high rank and of great ability should be
unwilling to bend to persons of lower rank, and of
certainly not greater ability, A few of such peers
(for they are very few) might say, " We had rather
not have our peerage if we are to buy it at the price
of yielding." But a hfe peer who had fought his
way up to the peers would never think so. Young
men who are born to rank may risk it, not middle-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEODUCTIOK TO THE SftCOSD EDITION". 31

aged or old men wlio have earned their rank. A
moderate number of life peers would almost always
cownsel moderation to the Lords, and would almost
always be right in counselling it.

Recent discussions have also brought into curious
prominence another part of the Constitution. I said
in this book that it would very much surprise people
if they were only told how many things the Queen
could do without consulting Parliament, and it cer-
tainly has so proved, for when the Queen abolished
Pui'chase in the Anny by an act of prerogative (after
the Lords had rejected the bill for doing so), there
was a great and general astonishment.

But this is nothing to what the Queen can by law
do without consulting Parliament. Not to mention
other things, she could disband the army (by law she
cannot engage more than a certain number of men,
but she is not obliged to engage any men) ; she
could dismiss all the officers, from the General Com-
manding-in-Chief downwards ; she could dismiss all
the sailors too ; she could sell ofp all our ships of war
and all our naval stores ; she could make a peace by
the sacrifice of Cornwall, and begin a war for the
conquest of Brittany. She could make every citizen
in the United Kingdom, male or female, a peer ; she
could make every parish in the United Kingdom a
" university ; " she could dismiss most of the civil
servants ; she could pardon all offenders. In a word,
the Queen could by prerogative upset all the action
of civU government within the government, could

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

32 ISTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

disgrace the nation "by a bad war or peace, and could,
by disbanding our forces, whetlier land or sea, leave
us defenceless against foreign nations- Why do we
not fear that she would do this, or any approach
to it?

Because there are two checks, — one ancient and
coarse, the other modern and delicate. The first is
the check of impeachment. Any Minister who ad-
vised the Queen so to use her prerogative as to en-
danger the safety of the realm, might be impeached
for high treason, and would be so. Such a Minister
would, in our technical law, be said to have levied,
or aided tfl levy, " war against the Queen." This
counsel to her so to use her prerogative would by the
Judge he declared to be an act of violence against
herseif, and in tiiat peculiar but effectual way the
offender could be condemned and executed. Against
all gross excesses of the prerogative this is a suffi-
cient protection. But it would be no protection
against minor mistakes ; any error of judgment com-
mitted bona fide, and only entailing consequences
which one person might say were good, and another
say were bad, could not he so punished. It would
be possible to impeach any Minister who disbanded
the Queen's army, and it would be done for certain.
But suppose a Minister were to reduce the army or
the navy much below the contemplated strength —
suppose he were only to spend upon them one-third
of the amount which Parliament had permitted him
to spend — suppose a Minister of Lord Palmei'ston's

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEODUCTIOX TO THE SECON-D EDITION. 33

principles were suddenly and while in office con-
verted to the principles of Mr. Bright and Mr. Cob-
den, and were to act on those principles, he could
not be impeached. The law of treason neither could
nor ought to be enforced against an act which was
an error of judgment, not of intention — which was
in good faith intended not to impair the well-being
of the State, but to promote and augment it. Against
such misuses of the prerogative our remedy is a
change of Ministry. And in general this works very
well. Every Minister looks long before he incurs
that penalty, and no one incurs it wantonly. But,
nevertheless, there are two defects in it. The first
is that it may not be a remedy at all ; it may be only
a punishment. A Minister may risk his dismissal ;
he may do some act diffteult to undo, and then all
which may be left will be to remove and censure
him. And the second is that it is only one House
of Parliament which has much to say to this remedy,
such as it ia: the House of Commons only can re-
move a Minister by a vote of censure. Most of the
Ministries for thirty years have never possessed the
confidence of the Lords, and in such cases a vote of
censure by the Lords could therefore have but little
weight ; it would be simply the particular expression
of a general political disapproval. It would be hke
a vote of censure on a Liberal Government by the
Carlton, or on a Tory Government by the Reform
Club. And in no ease has an adverse vote by the
Lords the same decisive effect as a vote of the Com-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

§4 INTBODTJCTIOX TO THE SECOSD EDITIO:!^.

moiis ; the Lower House is the ruling and the choos-
ing House, and if a Government really possesses that,
it thoroughly possesses nine-tenths of what it re-
quires. The support of the Lords is an aid and a
luxury ; that of the Commons is a strict and indis-
pensable necessary.

These difficulties are particularly raised by ques-
tions of foreign policy. On most domestic snbjccts,
either custom or legislation haSe limited the use of
the prerogative. The mode of governing the coun-
try, according to the existing laws, is mostly worn
into a rut, and most Administrations move in it
because it is easier to move there than anywhere
else. Most political crises — the decisive votes,
which determine the fate of Government — are gen-
erally either on questions of foreign policy or of new
laws ; and the questions of foreign policy come out
generally in this way, that the Government has al-
ready done something, and that it is for the one part
■of the Legislature alone — for the House of Com-
mons, and not for the House of Lords — to say
whether they have or have not forfeited their place
by the treaty they have made.

I think every one must admit that this is not an
arrangement which seems right on the face of it.
Treaties are quite as important as most laws, and
to require the elaborate assent of representative
assemblies to every word of the law, and not to con-
sult them even as to the essence of the treaty, is
prima facie ludicrous. In the older foi'ms of the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITIOX. 35

English Constitution, this may have been quite right ;
the power was then really lodged in the Crown, and
because Parliament met very seldom, and for other
reasons, it was then necessary that, on a multitude
of points, the Crown should have much more power
than is amply sufficient for it at present. But now
the real power is not in the Sovereign, it is in the
Prime Minister and in the Cabinet, — that is in the
hands of a committee appointed by Parliament, and
of the chairman of that committee. Now, before-
hand, no one would have ventured to suggest that
a committee of Parliament on Foreign relations
should be able to commit the country to the great-
est international obligations without consulting either
Parliament or (he country. No other select com-
mittee has any comparable power; and considering
how carefully we have fettered and limited the
powers of all other subordinate authorities, our
allowing so much discretionary power on matters
peculiarly dangerous and peculiarly delicate to rest
in the sole charge of one secret committee is exceed-
ingly strange. No doubt it may be beneficial ; many
seeming anomalies are so, but at first sight it does
not look right.

I confess that I should see no advantage in it if
our two Chambers were sufficiently homogeneous and
sufficiently harmonious. On the contrary, if those
two Chambers were as they ought to be, I should
believe it to be a great defect. If the Administration
had in both Houses a majority — not a mechanical

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

81) IS"TEODUCTrON TO THE SKCOND EDTTION,

majority ready to accept any thing, but a fair and
reasonable one, predisposed to think the Government
right, but not ready to find it to be ao in the face of
facts and in opposition to whatever might occur ; if
a good Government were thus placed, I should think
it decidedly better that the agreements of the Ad-
ministration with foreign powers should be submitted
to Parliament, They would then receive tiiat which
is best for all arrangements of business, an under-
standing and sympathizing criticism, but still a criti-
cism. The majority of the Legislature, being well
disposed to the Government, would not "find"
against it except it had really committed some big
and plain mistake. But if the Government had
made such a mistake, certainly the majority of the
Legislature would find against it. In a coimtry fit
for Parliamentary institutions, the partisanship of
members of the Legislature never comes in manifest
opposition to the plain interest of the nation j if it
did, the nation being (as are all nations capable of
Parliamentary institutions) constantly attentive to
public affairs, would inflict on them the maximum
Parliamentary penalty at the next election, and at
many future elections. It would break their career.
No Enghsh majority dare vote for an exceedingly
bad treaty ; it would rather desert its own leader
than insure its own ruin. And an English minority,
inheriting a long experience of Parliamentary affairs,
would not be exceedingly ready to reject a treaty
made with a foreign Government, The leaders of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION, hi

an English Opposition are very conversant with the
schoolboy maxim, " Two can play at that fun." They
know that the next time they are in office tlie same
sort of sharp practice may be used against them, and
therefore they will not use it. So strong is tliis pre-
disposition, that not long since a subordiuate member
of the Opposition declared that the " front benches "
of the two aides of the House — that is, the leaders of
the Government and the leaders of the Opposition
— were in constant tacit league to suppress the ob-
jections of independent members. And what he said
is often quite true. There are often seemmg objec-
tiona which are not real objections, at least, which
are, in the partictdar cases, outweighed by counter-
considerations ; and these "independent members"
having no real responsibility, not being hkely to be
hm-t themselves if they make a mistalie, are sure to
blurt out, and to want to act upon. But the respon-
sible heads of the party who may have to decide simi-
lar things, or even the same things, themselves will
not permit it. They refuse, out of interest as well as
out of patriotism, to engage the country in a perma-
nent foreign scrape, to secure for themselves and
their party a momentary home advantage. Accord-
ingly, a Government which negotiated a treaty would
feel that its treaty would be subject certainly to a
scrutiny, but still to a candid and a lenient scrutiny ;
that it would go before judges, of whom the majority
were favorable, and among whom the most influ-
ential part of the minority were in this ease much

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

38 INTEODUOTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

opposed to excessive antagonism. And this seems
to be the best position in which negotiators can be
placed, namely, that they should be sure to have to
account to considerate and fair peisons, but not to
have to account to inconsiderate and unfair ones.

At present the Government which negotiates a
treaty can hardly he said to be accountable to any
one. It is sure to be subjected to vague censure.
Benjamin Franklin said, " I have never known a
peace made, even the most advantageous, that was
not censured as inadequate, and the makers con-
demned as injudicious or corrupt. ' Blessed are the
peace-makers ' is, I suppose, to be understood in the
other world, for in this they are frequently cursed."
And this is very often the view taken now in Eng-
land of treaties. There being nothing practical in
the Opposition — notliing likely to hamper them
hereafter, the leaders of Opposition ' are nearly sure
to suggest every objection. The thing is done and
cannot be undone, and the most natural wish of the
Opposition leaders is to prove that if they had been
in office, and it therefore had been theirs to do it,
they could have done it much better. On the other
hand, it is quite possible that there may be no real
criticism on a treaty at all ; or the treaty has been
made by the Government, and as it cannot be un-
made by any one, the Opposition may not think, it
worth while to say much about it. The Government,
therefore, is never certain of any criticism ; on the
contrary, it has a good chance of escaping criticism ;

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 39

but if there be any criticism the Government must
expect it to be bitter, sharp, and captious — made f«
an iri'esponaible objector would make ifc, and not as a
responsible statesman, who may liave to deal with a
difficulty if he make it, and therefore will be cautious
how he says any thing which may make it.

This is what happens in common cases ; and in the
uncommon — tlie ninety-ninth case in a hundred —
in which the Opposition hoped to turn out the Gov-
ernment because of the alleged badness of the treaty
they have made, the criticism is sure to be of the
most undesirable character, and to say what is most
offensive to foreign nations. All the practised acu-
men of anti-Government writers and speakers is
sure to be engaged in proving that England has been
imposed upon — that, as was said in one case, "The
moral and the intellectual qualities have been di-
vided ; that our negotiation had the moral, and the
negotiation on the other side the intellectual," and
so on. The whole pitch of party malice is'^ then
expended, because there is nothing to check the
pai-ty in opposition. The treaty has been made, and
though it may be censured, and the party which
made it ousted, yet the difficulty it was meant to
cure is cured, and the opposing party, if it takes
office, will not have that difficulty to deal with.

In abstract theory these defects in our present
practice would seem exceedingly great, but in prac-
tice they are not so. English statesmen and English
parties have really a great patriotism ; they can

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

40 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

rarely be persuaded, even by their passions or their
interest, to do any thing contrary to the real interest
of England, or any thing which would lower England
in the eyes of foreign nations. And they would
seriously hurt themselves if they did. But still
these are the real tendencies of our present practice,
and these are only prevented by qualities in the
nation and qualities in our statesmen, which will
just as much exist if we change our practice.

It certainly would he in many ways advantageous
to change it. If we require that in some form the
assent of Parliament shall be given to such treaties,
we should have a real discussion prior to the making
of such treaties. We should have the reasons for
the treaty plainly stated, and also the reasons
againtit it. At present, as we have seen, the dis-
cussion is unreal. The thing is done, and cannot
be altered ; and what is said often oi:^ht not to be
said because it is captious, and what is not said ought
as often to be said because it is material. We should
have a manlier and plainer way of dealing with for-
eign policy, if Ministers were obliged to explain
clearly their foreign contracts before they were valid,
just as they have to explain their domestic proposals,
before they can become laws.

The objections to this are, as far as I know, three,
and three only.

1st. That it would not be always desirable for
Ministers to state clearly the motives which induced
them to agree to foreign compacts, " Treaties," it

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 41

is said, " are in one great respect different from laws,
they concern not only the Government which bindB,
the nation so bound, but a tliird party too, — a for-
eign country, — and the feelings of that country are to
be considered as well as our own. And that foreign
country wiU, probably, in the present state of the
world be a despotic one, where discussion is not prac-
tised, where it is not understood, where the expres-
sions of different speakers are not accurately weighed,
where undue offence may easily be given." This ob-
jection might be easily avoided by requiring that the
discussion upon treaties in Parliament, like that dis-
cussion in the American Senate, should he " in secret
session," and that no report should he published of
it. But I should, for my own part, be rather disposed
to lisk a public debate. Despotic nations now cannot
understand England ; it is to them an anomaly " char-
tered by Providence ; " they have been time out of
mind puzzled by its institutions, vexed at its states-
men, and angry at its newspapers. A little more of
such perplexity and such vexation does not seem to
me a great evil. And if it be meant as it often is
meant, that the whole truth as to treaties cannot be
spoken out, I answer, that, neither can the whole
ti'uth as to laws. All important laws affect large
"vested interests;" they touch great sources of
political strength ; and these great interests require
to be ti'eated as delicately, and with as nice a manip-
ulation of language, as the feelings of any foreign
counti-y. A Parliamentary Minister is a man trained

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

42 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

by elaborate practice not to blurt out crude things,
and an English Parliament ia an assembly whichpar-
ticulai'ly dislikes any tiling gauche or any thing im-
prudent. They would still more dislihe it if it hurt
themselves and the country as well as the speaker.

I am, too, disposed to deny entirely that tliere can
be any treaty for which adequate reasons cannot
be given to the English people, which tlie English
people ought to make, A great deal of the reti-
cence of diplomacy had, I think history shows, much
better be spoken out. The worst families are those
in which the members never really speak their minds
to one another j they maintain an atmosphere of un-
reality, and every one always hves in an atmosphere
of suppressed ill-feeling. It is the same with nations.
The parties concerned would almost always be better
for hearing the substantial reasons which induced
the negotiators to make the treaty, and the negotia-
tors would do their work much better, for half the
ambiguities in treaties ai'e caused by the negotiators
not liking the fact or not taking the pains to put
their own meaning distinctly before their own minds.
And they would be obliged to make it plain if they
had to defend it and ai-gue on it before a great

Secondly, it may be objected to the change sug-
gested that Parliament is not always sitting, and
that if treaties required its assent, it might have to
be sometimes summoned out of season, or the treaties
would have to be delayed. And tiiis is as far as it

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEODUCTIOS TO THE SECOND EDITION. 43

goes a just objection, but I do not imagine that it
goes far. The great bulk of treaties could wait a
little without harm, and in the very few cases when
urgent haste is necessary, an autumn session of Par-
liament could well be justified, for the occasion must
be of grave and critical importance.
'Thirdly, it may be said that if we required the
consent of both Houses of Parliament to foreign
treaties before they were vahd we should much aug-
ment the power of the House of Lords. And this is
also, I think, a just objection as far as it goes. The
House of Lords, as it cannot turn out the Ministry for
making treaties, has in no case a decisive weight in
foreign policy, though its debates on them are often
excellent; and there is a real danger at present in
giving it such weight. They are not under the same
guidance as the House of Commons. In the House
of Commons, of necessity, the Ministry has a ma-
jority, and the majority will agree to the treaties
the leaders have made if they fairly can. They will
not be anxious to disagree with them. But the
majority of the House of Lords may always be,
and has lately been generally an opposition major-
ity, and therefore the treaty may be submitted to
critics exactly pledged to opposite views. It might
be like submitting the design of an architect
known to hold "medieval principles" to a com-
mittee wedded to " classical principles."

Still, upon the whole, I think the augmentation
of the power of the Peers might bo risked without

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

44 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECO^'D EDITION,

real fear of serious barm. Our present practice, as
has been explained, only works because of the good
sense of those by whom it is worked, and the new
practice would have to rely on a similar good sense
and practicality too. The House of Lords must
deal with the assent to treaties as they do with the
assent to laws ; they must defer to the voice of the
country and the authority of the Commons, even in
cases where their own judgment might guide them
otherwise. In very vital ti'eatiea probably, being
EngUshmen, they would be of the same mind as the
teat of Englishmen. If in such cases they showed
a reluctance to act as the people wished, they would
have the same lesson taught them as on vital and
exciting questions of domestic legislation, and the
case is not so likely to happen, for on these internal
and organic questions the interest and the feeling
of the Peers is often presumably opposed to that of
other classes — they may be anxious not to relin-
quish the very power which other classes ai'c anxious
to acquire ; but in foreign pohcy there is no similar
antagonism of interest — a peer and a ncjn-peer have
presumably in that matter the same inteient and
the same wishes.

Probably, if it were considered to be desirable to
give to Parliament a more direct control over ques-
tions of foreign policy than it possesses now, the
better way would be not to require a formal vote
to the treaty clause by clause. This would entail
too much time, and would lead to unnecessary

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTJiODUCTION TO THE ST:C0"MD SDITIOM. 4t)

changes in minor details. It would be enough to
let the treaty be laid upon the table of botJi Houses,
say for fourteen days, and to acquire validity unless
objected to by one House or other before that interva]
had expired.

11.

That is all which I think I need say on the do-
mestic events wbieb have changed, or suggested
changes, in the English Constitution since this book
was written. But there are also some foreign events
which have illustrated it, and of tliese I should like
to say a few words.

Naturally, the most striking of these illustrative
changes couies from France. Since 1789 France has
always been trying political experiments, from which
others may profit much, though as yet she herself
has profited little. She is now trying one singularly
iUusti-ative of the English Constitution. When the
first edition of this book was published I had great
difficulty in persuading many people that it was
possible for a non-monarchical state, for the real chief
of the practical Executive — the Premier as we
should call him — to be nominated and to be re-
movable by the vote of the National Assembly.
The United States and its copies were the only
present and familiar Republics, and in these the
system was exactly opposite. The Executive was
there appointed by the people as the Legislative
was too. No conspicuous example of any other sort

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

46 INTRODUCTION TO THE 9ECOXD EDITION.

of Republic then existed. But now Fi'ance has
given an example — M. Thiers is (with one excep-
tion) just the chef du pouvoir exSeutif that I en-
deavored more than once in this hook to describe.
He is appointed by and is removable by the As-
sembly. He comes down and speaks in it Just as
our Premier does ; he is responsible for managing it
just as our Premier is. No one can any longer doubt
the possibility of a republic in which the Executive
and the Legislative authorities were united and fixed ;
no one can assert such union to be the inoommuni-
cahle attribute of a Constitutional Monarchy.

But, unfortunately, we can as yet only infer from
this experiment that such a constitution is possible ;
we cannot as yet say whether it will be bad or good.
The circumstances are very peculiar, and that in
three ways. First, the trial of a specially Parliamen-
tary Republic, of a Republic where Parliament ap-
points the Minister, is made in a nation which has, to
say the least of it, no peculiar aptitude for Parliamen-
tary Government ; which has possibly a peculiar
inaptitude for it. In the last but one of these essays
I have trjed to describe one of the mental conditions
of Parliamentary Government, which I call "ration-
ality," by which I do not mean reasoning power, but
rather the power of .hearing the reasons of others, of
comparing them quietly with one's own reasons, and
then being guided by the result. But a French
Assembly is not easy to reason with. Every Assem-
bly is divided into parties and into sections of parties.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTr^ODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 47

and in France each party, almost every section of a
party, begins not to clamor but to scream, and to
scream as only Frencbmen can, as soon as it hears
anything which it particularly dislikes. With an
Assembly in this temper, real discussion is impos-
sible, and Parliamentary Government is impossible
too, because the Parliament can neither choose men
nor measures. Ths French assembhes under the
Restored Monarchy seem to have been quieter,
probably because being elected from a limited con-
fftitueney they did not contain so many sections of
opinion ; they had fewer irritants and fewer species
of irritability. But the assemblies of the '48 Repub-
hc were disorderly in the extreme. I saw the last
myself, and can certify that steady discussion upon a
critical point was not possible in it. There was not
an audience willing to hear. The Assembly now
sitting at Versailles is undoubtedly also, at times,
most tumultuous, and a Parliamentary Government
in which it governs must be under a peculiar diffi-
culty because as a sovereign it is unstable, capricious,
and unruly.

The difficulty is the greater because there is no
check, or little, from the French nation upon the
Assembly. The French, as a nation, do not care for
or api)reciate Parliamentary Government. I have
endeavored to explain how difScult it is for inexpe-
rienced mankind to take to such a government ; how
much more natural, that is, how much more easy to
uneducated men is loyalty to a monarch. A nation

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

48 INTRODUCTION" TO THE SECOND EDITION.

which does not expect good from a Parliament can-
not check or punish a Parliament. France expects,
1 fear, too little from her Parliaments ever to get
■what she ought. Now that the, suffrage is universal,
the average intellect and the average culture of the
constituent bodies are excessively low ; and even
such mind and culture as there is has long lieen
enslaved, to authority : the French peasant cares
more for standing well with his present pr^fet than
for anything else whatever ; he is far too ignorant to
cheek and watch his Parliament, and far too timid
to think of doing either, if the executive authority
nearest to him did not like it. The experiment of
a strictly Parliamentary Republic — of a Republic
where the Parliament appoints the Executive — is
being tried in France at an extreme disadvantage,
because in France a Pai'liament is unusually likely
to be bad, and unusually likely also to be free enough
to show its badness.

Secondly, the present polity of France is not a
copy of the whole effective part of the British Con-
stitution, but only of a part of it. By o\ir Consti-
tution nominally the Queen, but really the Prime
Minister, has the power of dissolving the Assembly.
But M. Thiers has no such power; and therefore,
under ordinary circumstances, I believe, the policy
would soon become unmanageable. The result
would be, as I have tried to explain, that the As-
sembly would be always changing its Ministry, that
having no reason to fear the penalty which that

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITIO^T. 49

change so often brings in England, they would be
ready to make it once a month. Caprice is the
eharaoteriatie vice of miscellaneous assemblies, and
without some check their selection would be unceas-
ingly mutable. This peculiar danger of the present
Constitution of France has, however, been prevented
by its peculiar circumstances. The Assembly have
not been inclined to remove M. Thiers, because in
their lamentable present position tliey could not
replace M, Thiere, He has a monopoly of the ne-
cessaiy reputation. It is the Empire — the Empire
■which he always opposed — that has done him this
kindness. For twenty years no great political repu-
tation could arise in France. The Emperor gov-
erned, and no one member could show a capacity for
government. M. Eouher, though of vast real ability,
was in the popular idea only the Emperor's agent ;
and even had it been otherwise, M. Rouher, the one
great man of Imperialism, could not have been
selected as a head of the Government, at a moment
of tlie greatest reaction against the Empire. Of the
chiefs before the twenty years' silence, of the emi-
nent men known to be able to handle Parliaments
and to govern Parliaments, M. Thiers was tlie only
one still physically able to begin again to do so. The
miracle is, that at seventy-four even he should still be
able. Aa no other great chief of the Parliament
regime existed, M, Thiers is not only the best choice,
but the only choice. If he were taken away, it
would be most diiEeult to make any other choice, and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

50 IKTKODUCTIOX 10 THE SECOND KDITION".

that difficulty keeps him where he is. At every
erisia the Assembly feels that after M. Thiers "the
deluge," and he lives upon that feeling. A change
of the President, though legally simple, is in prac-
tice all but impossible ; because all know that such a
change might be a change, not only of the President,
but of much more too: that very probably it might
be a change of the polity — that it might bring in a
Monarchy or an Empire.

Lastly, by a natural consequence of the position,
M. Thiers does not govern as a Parliamentary Pre-
mier governs. He is not, he boasta that he is not,
the head of a party. On the contrary, being the one
person essential tJ3 all parties, he selects Ministers
from aU parties, he constructs a cabinet in wliich no
one Minister agrees with any other in anything, and
■with all the members of which he himself frequently
disagrees. The selection is quite in his hand. Ordi-
narily a Parliamentary Premier cannot choose ; he is
brought in by a party, he is maintained in office by a
party ; and that party requires that as they aid him,
he shall aid them ; that as they give him the very
best thing in the State, he shall give them the next
best tilings. Biit M. Thiers is under no such restric-
tion. He can choose as he likes, and does choose.
Neither in the selection of his Cabinet nor in the
management of the Chamber, is M. Thiers guided as
a similar person in common circumstances would
have to be guided. He is the exception of a moment ;
he is not the example of a lasting condition.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 51

For these reasons, tliougli we may use the present
Constitution of France as a useful aid to our imagina^
tiona, in conceiving of a purely Parliamentary repub-
lic, of a monarchy minus the monarch, we must not
think of it as much more. It is too singular in its
nature and too peculiar in its accidents to be a guide
to any thing except itself.

In this essay I have made many remarks on the
American Constitution, in comparison with tlio Eng-
lish; and as to the American Constitution we have
had a whole world of experience since I first wrote.
My great object was to contrast the office of President
as an executive officer and to compare it with that
of a Prime Minister ; and I devoted much space to
showing that in one principal respect the Enghsh
system is by far the best. The English Premier be-
ing appointed by the selection, and being removable
at the pleasure, of the preponderant Legislative As-
sembly, is sure to be able to rely on that assembly,
If he wants legislation to aid his policy he can obtain
that legislation ; he can cany out that policy. But
the American President has no similar security. He
is elected in one way, at one time, and Congress (no
matter which House) is elected in another way, at
another time. The two have nothing to bind them
together, and in matter of fact they continually

This was written in the time of Mr. Lincoln, when
Congress, the President, and all the North were
united as one man in the war against the South.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

62 INTEODTJCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION,

There was then no patent instance of mere disunion.
But between the time when the essays were fii'st
wiitten in the "Fortnightly," and tlieir subsequent
junction into a book, Mr, Lincoln was assassinated,
and Mr. Johnson, the Vice-President, became Presi-
dent, and so continued for nearly four yeai-s. At
such a time the characteristic evils of the Presidential
system were shown most conspicuously. The Presi-
dent and the Assembly, so far from being (as it is
essential to good government that they should be) on
terms of close union, were not on terms of common
courtesy. So far from being capable of a continuous
and concerted co-operation they were all the while
trying to thwart one another. He had one plan for
the paciiication of the South, and they another : they
would have nothing to say to his plans, and he vetoed
tlieir plans as loi^ as the Constitution permitted, and
when they were, in spite of him, carried, he, as far as
he could (and this was very much), embarrassed them
in action. The quarrel in most countries would have
gone beyond the law, and come to blows ; even in
America, the most law-laving of countries, it went as
far as possible within the law. Mr. Johnson described
the moat popular branch of the legislature — the
House of Representatives — as a body "hanging on
the verge of government ; " and that House im-
peached him criminally, in the hope that in that way
they might get rid of him civilly. Nothing could be
80 conclusive against the American Constitution, as a
Constitution, as that incident. A hostile legislature

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTKODUCTION 10 THE SECOND EDITION". 53

and a hostile exeeiitive were so tied togetlier, that the
legislature tried, and tried in vain, to rid itself of the
(jxecutive by aeeiasing it of illegal practices. The
legislature waa so afraid of the President's legal
jjower, that it imfaiiiy accused him of acting beyond
the law. And the blame thus cast on the American
Constitution is so much praise to be given to the
American pohtical character. Few nations, perhaps
scarcely any nation, could have borne such a trial so
easily and so perfectly.

This was the most striking instance of disunion be-
tween the President and the Congress that has ever
yet occurred, and which probably will ever occur.
Probably for very many years the United States will
have great and painful reason to remember, that at
the moment of all their history, when it was most im-
portant to them to collect and concentrate all the
strength and wisdom of their policy on the pacification
of the South, that policy was divided by a strife m
the last degree unseemly and degrading. But it will
be for a competent historian hereafter to trace out tliis
accurately and m detail ; the time is yet too recent,
and I cannot pretend that I know enough to do so.
I cannot venture myself to di'aw the full lessons from
these events ; I can only predict that when they are
drawn, those lessons will be most important and most
interesting.

There is, however, one series of events which have
happened m America since the beginning of the civil
war, and since the first publication of these essays, on

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54 INTEODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

■which I should wish to say something in detail — I
mean the financial events. These He within the scope
of my peenUar studies, and it is oomparatively easy to
judge of them, since whatever may he the case with
refined statistical reasoning, the great results of money
matters speak to and interest all mankind. And
every incident in this part of American financial
history esemphfies the contrast between a Parliamen-
tary and a Presidential Government.

The distinguishing quality of Parliamentary Gov-
ernment is, that in each stage of a public transaction
there is a discussion ; that the public assist at this
discussion ; that it can, through Parliament, tm-n
out an administration which is not doing aa it likes,
and can put in an administration which will do as
it likes. But the characteristic of a Presidential
Government is, in a multitude of cases, that there
is no such discussion ; that when there is a discussion
the fate of Government does not turn upon it, and,
therefore, the people do not attend to it ; that upon
the whole the administration itself is pretty much
doing as it likes, and neglecting as it likes, subject
always to the check that it must not too much offend
the mass of the nation. The nation commonly does
not attend, but if by gigantic blunders you make it
attend, it will remember it and turn you out when
its time comes ; it will show you that your power is
short, and so on the instant weaken that power ; it
will malse yout present life in office unbearable and
uncomfortable by the hundred modes in which a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 55

free people can, without ceasing, act upon the rulera
which it elected yesterday, and -will have to reject
or re-elect to-morrow.

In finance the most striking effect in America
has, on the first view of it, certainly been good. It
haa enabled the Government to obtain and to keep
a vast surplus of revenue over expenditure. Even
before the civil war it did this — from 1837 to 1857.
Mr. Wells tells us that, strange as it may seem,
" There was not a single year in which the unex-
pended balance in the National Treasiuy — derived
from various sources — at the end of the year, was
not in excess of tlie total expenditure of the preced-
ing year ; while in not a few years the unexpended
balance was absolutely greater than the sum of the
entire expenditure of the twelve months preceding,"
But this history before the war is nothing to what
haa happened since. The following are the surpluses
of revenue over expenditure since the end of the civil
war: —

Tear ending Juno 30. Snrpliis.

£5,593,000

21,586,000

MS 4,242,000

7,478,000

870 18,B27,000

.87! 10,712,000

No one who knows any thing of the working of
Parliamentary Government wili for a moment imagine
that any Parliament would have allowed any exec-
utive to keep a surplus of this magnitude. In Eng-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

56 ls"teodtjctio;n" to the second edition.

land, after the French war, the Government of that
day, which had brought it to a happy end, which had
the glory of Waterloo, which was in consequence
exceedingly strong, which had besides elements of
strength from close boroughs and Treasury influence
such as certainly no Government has ever had since,
and such perhaps as no Government ever had before
— that Govermnent proposed to keep a moderate
surplus and to a-pply it to the reduction of the debt,
but even this the Er^lish Parliament would not en-
dure. The administration with all its power derived
both from good and evil had to yield ; the income tax
was abolished, with it went the surplus, and with the
surplus all chance of any considerable reduction of
the debt for that time. In truth, taxation is so pain-
ful that in a sensitive community which has strong
organs of expression and action, the maintenance of a
great surplus is excessively difficult. The opposition
will always say that it is unnecessary, is uncalled for,
is injudicious ; the cry will be echoed in every con-
stituency ; there will be a series of lai^e meetings in
the great cities ; even in the smaller constituencies
there wQl mostly be smaller meetings ; every member
of Pai'Iiament will be pressed upon by those who elect
him ; upon this point there wiU be no distinction be-
tween town and country, the country gentleman and
the farmer disliking high taxes as much as any in the
to^vns. To maintain a great surplus by heavy taxes
to pay off debt has never yet in this countiy been
possible, and to maintain a surplus of the American
magnitude would be plainly impossible.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 57

Some part of the difference between England and
America aiibeb undoubtedly not from political causes,
but irom economical. America is not a country sen-
sitive to taxes, no great country has perhaps ever
been ''o unsenative in this respect ; certainly she is far
less sentative than England. In reahty America is
too rich, daily industry there is too common, too skil-
ful, and too productive, for her to care much for fiscal
burdens. She is applying al! the resources of science
and sHll and trained labor, -which have been in long
ages painfully acquired in old countries, to develop
with great speed the richest soil and the richest mines
of new countries ; and the result is untold wealth.
Even under a Parliamentary Government such a com-
munity could and would bear taxation much more
easily than Englishmen ever would.

But difference of physical chai'acter in this respect
is of little moment in comparison with difference of
political constitution. K America -w&s under a Par-
liamentary Government, she would soon be convinced
that in maintaining this great surplus and in pajdng
this high taxation she would be doing herself great
harm. She is not performing a great duty, but per-
petrating a great injustice. She is injuring posterity
by crippling and displacing industry, far more tlian
she is aiding it by reducing the taxes it will have to
pay. In the first place, the maintenance of the pres-
ent high taxation compels the retention of many taxes
which are contrary to the maxims of &ee-trade.
Enormous customs duties are necessary, and it would

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

58 IJITEODTJCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

be all but impossible to impose equal excise duties
even if the Americana desired it. In consequence,
besides what the Ameiicans pay to the Government,
they axe paying a great deal to some of their own citi-
zens, and so are rearing a set of industries which never
ought to have existed, whicli are bad speculations at
present because other industries would have paid
better, and which may cause a great loss out of pocket
hereafter when the debt is paid off and the fostering
tax withdrawn. Then probably indusfa-y will return
to its natural channel, tlie artificial trade will be first
depressed, then discontinued, and the fixed capital
employed in the trade will all be depreciated and
much of it be worthless. Secondly, all taxes on ti-ade
and manufacture are injurious in varioi:m ways to them.
You cannot put on a great series of such duties witli-
out cramping trade in a hundred ways and ■without
diminishing their productiveness exceedingly. Amer-
ica, is now working in heavy fetters, and it would
probably be better for her to lighten those fetters even
though a generation or two should have to pay rather
higher taxes. Those generations would really benefit,
because they would be so much richer that the slightly
increased cost of government would never be perceived.
At any rate, under a Parliamentary Government this
doctrine would have been incessantly inculcated ; a
whole parly would have made it their business to
preach it, would liave made incessant small motious
in Parliament about it, which ia the way to popularize
their view. And in the end I do not doubt that they

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 59

would have prevailed. They would have bad to
teach a lesson both pleasant and true, and sucli les-
sons are aoESu-leamed. On the whole, therefore, the
result o£;'ffi^^m.pasiaon ia that a Presidential Govern-
ment makesntiduch easier than the Parliamentary
to maintain »■ great-surplus of income over expendi-
ture, but that it does not give the same facility for
examining whether it is good or not good to maintain
a surplus; and, therefore, that it wotIsb blhidly, maio-
taining surpluses when they do extreme haim just as
much as when they are very beneficial.

In tliis point the contrast of Presidential with Par-
liamentary Govenunent is mixed ; one of tlie defects
of Parliamentary Government probably is the diffi-
culty under it of maintaining a surplus revenue to
discharge debt, and this defect Presidentiiil Govern-
ment escapes, though at the cost of being lilvely to
maintain that surplus upon mexpedient occasions as
well upon expedient. But in all other respects a
Parliamentary Govermnent has in finance an unmixed
advantage over tlie Presidential in the mcessant dis-
cussion. Though in one single case it produces evil
as well as good, in most cases it produces good only.
And three of these cases are illusti'ated by recent
American experience. -

First, as Mr. Goldwiu Smith — no unfavorable
judge of any thing American — justly said some years
since, the capital error made by the United States
Government was the "Legal Tender Act," as it is
called, by which it made inconvertible paper notes

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60 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

issued by the Treasury the sole circulating medium
of the country. The temptation to do this was very
great, because it gave at once a great war fund when
it was needed, and with no pain to any one. If the
notes of a Government supersede the metaUic cur-
rency medium of a country to the extent of $80,000,000,
this is equivalent to a recent loan of $80,000,000 to
the Government for all purposes within the eoimtry.
Whenever the precious metals are not recLuired, and
for domestic purposes in such a case they are not re-
quired, notes will buy what the Government want,
and it can buy to the extent of its issue. But, like all
easy expedients out of a gi'eat difficulty, it is accom-
panied by the greatest evils ; if it had not been so, it
would have been the regular device in such cases, and
the difficulty would have been no difficulty at all;
there would have been a known easy way out of it.
As is well known, inconvertible paper issued by Gov-
ernment is sure to he issued in great quantities, as the
American currency soon was ; it is sure to be depre-
ciated as against coin ; it is sure to disturb values and
to derange markets ; it is certain to de&aud the lender ;
it is certain to give the borrower more than he ought
to have. In the case of America there was a further
evil. Beiaig a new countrj-, she ought in her times
of financial want to borrow of old countiies ; hut the
old countries were fr^htened by the probable issue
of unlimited inconvei-tible paper, and they would not
lend a shilling. Much more than the mercantile
credit of America was thus lost. The great com-

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INTEODUCTIOS TO THE SECOND EDITION. 61

mercial houses in England are the most natural and
most effectual conveyers of intelligence from other
countries to Europe. If they had been financially
interested in giving in a sound report as to the pro-
gress of the war, a sound report we should have had.
But as the Northern States raised no loans in Lom-
bard Street (and could raise none because of their
vicious paper money), Lombard Street did not care
about them, and England was very imperfectly in-
formed of the progress of the civil struggle, and on
the wliole matter, which was then new and very com-
plex, England had to judge without having her usual
materials for judgment, and (since the guidance of
the " city " on political matters is very quietly and
imperceptibly given) without knowing she had not
those materials.

Of course, this en-or might have been committed,
and perhaps would have been committed, under a
Parliamentary Government. But if it had, its effects
would ere long have been thoroughly searched into
and effectually frustrated. The whole force of the
greatest incLuiiing machine and the greatest discussing
machine which the world has ever known would have
been directed to this subject. In a year or two the
American public would have had it forced upon them
in every form till they must have comprehended it.
But under the Presidential form of Government, and
owing to the inferior power of generating discussion,
the information given to the American people has

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62 INTKODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.

been imperfect in the extreme. And in consequenoe,
after nearly ten years of painful experience, they do
not now understand how much they have suffered
from their inconvertible currency.

But the mode in which the Presidential Govern-
ment of America managed its taxation during tlie
Civil War is even a more striking example of its
defects- Mr. Wells tells us: —

" In the outset all direct or internal taxation was
avoided, there having been apparently an apprehen-
sion on the part of Congress, that inasmuch as the
people had never been accustomed to it, and as all
machinery for asse^ment and collection was wholly
wanting, its adoption would create discontent, and
thereby interfere with a vigorous prosecution of hos-
tiUties. Congress, therefore, confined itself at first to
the enactment of measures looking to an increase of
revenue from the increase of indirect taxes upon im-
ports; and it was not until fotir months after the
actual outbreak of hostilities that a direct tax of
^20,000,000 per annum was apportioned among the
States, and an income tax of 3 per cent on the ex-
cess of all incomes over $800 was provided for ; the
first being made to take effect practically eight, and
the second ten months after date of enactment. Such
laws, of comse, took effect and became immediately
operative in the loyal States only, and produced but
comparatively little revenue ; and although the range
of taxation was soon extended, the whole receipta

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 63

from all sources by the Government for the second
year of the war, from excise, income, stamp, and all
other internal taxes, were less tlian $42,000,000 ; and
that, too, at a time when the expenditures were in
excess $60,000,000 per month, or at the rate of over
8700,000,000 per aimum. And as showir^ how novel
was tliis whole subject of direct and internal taxation
to the people, and how completely the government
officials were lacking in all experience in respect to it,
the followhig incident may be noted. The Secretary
of the Treasury, in his report for 1863, stated that,
with a view of determining his resources, he employed
a very competent person, with the aid of practical
men, to estimate the probable amount of revenue
to be derived from each department of internal taxa-
tion for the previous year. The estimate arrived at
was $85,000,000, but the actual receipts were only
137,000,000."

Now, no doubt, this might have happened under a
Parliamentary Government. But, then, many mem-
bers of Parliament, the entire opposition in ParKa-
ment, woidd have been active to unravel the matter.
All the principles of finance would have been worked
and propounded. The light would have come from
above, not from below — it would have come from
Parliament to the nation instead of &om the nation to
Parliament. But exactly the reverse happened in
America. Mr. Wells goes on to say ; —

" The people of the loyal States were, however.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

64 INTRODU( TroN- Tl) IHE 8Ei oXD l^DITrOK.

more determined and in earnest in respect to this
matter of ta-iiition than weie then rulers ; and before
long the populdi dibcontent at the existhig state of
things was openlj manifest. Eveiywhere the opinion
was expressed thit taxation m all possible forms
should immediately, and to the largest extent, be
made' effective and imperative; and Congress spurred
up, and rightfully relying on public sentiment to sus-
tain their action, at last took up the matter resolutely
and in earnest, and devised and inaugurated a system
of internal and direct taxation, wliich for its univer-
sality and peculiarities has probably no parallel in
any thing which has heretofore been recorded in civil
history, or is likely to he experienced hereafter. The
one necessity of the situation was revenue, and to
obtain it speedily and in lai^e amounts through taxa-
tion the only principle recognized — if it can be called
a principle — was akin to that recommended to the
traditionary Irishman on his visit to Donuybrook Fair,
'Wherever you see a head hit it.' Wherever you find
an article, a product, a trade, a profession, or a source
of income, tax it I And so an edict went forth to this
effect, and the people cheerfully submitted. Incomes
under $5,000 were taxed 5 per cent, with an exemp-
tion of $600 and house rent actually paid ; these
exemptions being allowed on this ground, that they
represented an amount sufficient at the time to enable
a small family to procure the bare necessaries of life,
and thus take out fi:om the operation of the Liw all

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INTRODUCTION" TO THE SECOND EDITION". 65

those "vvlio were depeadcnt upon eaeli day's earnings
to supply each day's needs. Incomes in excess of
$5,000 and not in excess of $10,000 were taxed 2^ per
cent in addition; and incomes over $10,000 5 per
cent additional, "without any abeyance or exemptions
whatever."

Now this is aU confci-ary to and worse than what
would have happened under a Pat-liamentary Govern-
ment. The delay to tax would not have occurred
under it: the movement hy the country to get taxa^
tion would never have been necessary under it. The
exce^ive taxation accordingly imposed would not
have been permitted under it. The last point I think
I need not labor at length. The evils of a bad tax
are c[uite sure to be pressed upon the ears of Parlia-
ment in season and out of season: the few persons
who have to pay it are thoroughly certain to make
themselves heard. The sort of taxation tried in
America, that of taxuig every thing, and seeing what
every thing woidd yield, could not have been fciied
under a Government dehcately and quickly sensitive
to public opinion.

I do not apologize for dwelling at length upon these
points, for the subject is one of transcendent impor-
tance. The practical choice of first-rate nations is
between the Presidential Government and the Parlia-
mentary ; no State can he flrst-rate which has not a
Government by discussion, and those are the only
two existing species of that Government, It is be-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

66 IKTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND BDITIOH.

tween tliem that a nation wMch has to choose its
Goverjunent must choose. And notliijig therefore can
be more important than to compare tlie two, and to
decide upon the testimony of experience, and by facts,
which of them is the better.

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ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

THE CABINET.

" On all great subjects," says Mr. Mill, " much re-
mains tojie said," and of none is this more ti'ue than
of the Enghsh Constitution. The literature which
has accumulated upon it is huge. But an observer
who looks at the hving reality will wonder at the
contrast to the paper description. He will see in tlie
life much which is not in the books ; and he will not
find in the rough practice many refinements of the
literary theory.

Itw^ natural — perhaps ineritable — that such an
under-growth of i rrelev ant ide_as should gather round
the British Constitution, Language is the tradition
of nati ons ; each generation describes what it sees,
but it uses words transmitted from the past. When
a great entity like the British Constitution has con-
tinued in connected outward sameness, but hidden
inner change, for many ages, every generation inherits
a series of inapt words — of maxims once true, but
of which the truth is ceasing or has ceased. As a
man's family go on muttering in his maturity incor-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

68 THE EKGLISH CONSTITUTION.

rect phrases derived from a just observation of hia
early youth, so, in the full activity of an historical
constitution, its subjects repeat phrases true in the
time of their fathers, and inculcated by those fathers,
bat now true no longer. Or, if I may say so, an
ancient and ever-altering constitution is like an old
man who still wears 'with attached fondness clothes
in the fashion of his youth : what you see of him is
tlie same ; what you do not see is wholly altered.

There are two descri ptions of the English Consti-
tution which have exercised immense influence, but
wliich are erroneous. First, it is laid down as a prin-
ciple of the English polity, that in it the legislative,
the executive, and the judieia,! powers, are quite di-
vided — that each is inti'usted to a separate person
or set of persons — that no one of these can at all
interfere with the work of the other. There has been
much eloquence expended in explaining how the
rough genius of the English people, even in the
middle a^es, when it was especially rude, carried into
life and practice that elaborate division of functions
which philosophers had suggested on paper, but
which they had hardly hoped to see except on
paper-
Secondly, it is insisted that the peculiar excellence
of the British Constitution lies in a balanced union
of three powers. It is said that the monarchical ele-
ment, the aristocTatic elementj and the democratic
clement, have each a share in the supreme sover-
eignty, and that the assent of all three is neeessa,ry
to the action of that sovere^nty. Kings, lords, and
commons, by this theory, are alleged to be not only
the outward form, but the inner moving essence, the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINTiT. 69

vitality of the constitution. A great theory, called
the theory of "Cheeks and Balances," pervades an
immense part of political literature, and much of it
is collected from or supported by English experience.
Monarchy, it is said, has some faults, some bad ten-
dencies, aristocracy others, democracy, again, others ;
biit England has shown that a government can be
constructed iii which these evil tendencies exactly
check, balance, and destroy one another — in which
a good whole is constructed not simply in spite of,
but by means of, the counteracting defects of the
constituent parts.

Accordingly, it is believed that the principal char-
acteristics of the English Constitution are inappli-
cable in countries where the materials for a monarchy
or an aristocracy do not exist. That constitution is
conceived to be the best imaginable use of the politi-
cal elements which the great majority of States in
modern Europe inherited from the mediteva! period.
It is believed that out of these materials nothing
better can be made than the English Constitution ;
but it is also believed that the essential parts of the
English Constitution cannot be made except from
these materials. Now these elements are the acci-
dents of a period and a-, region; they belong only to
one or two centuries in human history, and to a few
countries. The United States could not have become
monarchical, even if the Constitutional Convention
had decreed it, even if- the component States had
ratified it. The mystic reverence, the religious alle-
giance, which are essential to a true monarchy, are
imaginative sentiments that no legislature can manu-
facture in any people. These semi-filial feelings in

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

70 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

government are inherited just as the true filial feel-
ings in common life. You might aa well adopt a
father as make a monarchy; the special sentiment be-
longing to the one is as incapable of voluntary crea-
tion as the peculiar affection belonging to the other.
If the practical part of the English Conatitution could
only be made out of a curious accumulation of me-
dieval materials, its interest would be half liistorical
and its imitability yery confined.

No one can approach to an understanding of the
English institutions, or of others which, being the
growth of many centuries, exercise a wide sway over
mixed populations, unless be divide them into two
classes. In such constitutions there are t^vo parts
(not indeed separable with microscopic accuracy, for
the genius of great affairs abhors nicety of division)
first, those which excite and preserve the reverence
of the population — the dignified parts, if I may so
call them ; and next, the efficient parts — those by
which it, in fact, works and rules. There are two
great objects which every conatitution must attain to
be successful, which every old and celebrated one
must have wondeifully achieved l^every constitution
must first gain authority, and then me authority,
it must first win the loyalty and confidence of man-
kind, and tljeif employ that homage in the work of
goveiTiment.

There are indeed practical men who reject the dig-
nified parts of government. Tbey say, we want only
to attain results, to do business : a constitution is a
collection of political means for political ends, and if
you admit that any part of a constitution does no
;, or that a simpler machine would do equally

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET, 71

well what it cloes, you admit tliat this part of tlio
constitution, however dignified or awful it may be, is
nevertheless in truth useless. And other reaaonere,
who distrust this bate philosophy, have propounded
subtle argumeuts to prove that these dignified parts
of old govemiaents are cardinal components of the
essential apparatus, great pivots of substantial util-
ity ; and so they manufactured fallacies which the
plainer school have well exposed. But both schools
are in erioi The dignified parts of government are
those whirh bring it foice — which attract its motive
power. The ef&cieiit parts only employ that power.
The comely paitb of a government have need, for
they are those upon which its vital strength depends.
They may not do anj thing definite that a simpler
polity would not do better ; but they are the prelimi-
naries, the needful prerecjuisites of all work. They
raise the army, though they do not win the battle.

Doubtless, if all subjects of the same government
only thought of what was useful to them, and if they
all thought the same thing useful, and all thought
that same thing could be attained in the same way,
the efficient members of a constitution would suffice,
and no impressive adjuncts would be needed. But
the world in which we live is organized far other-
wise.

The most strange fact, though the most certain in
nature, is the unequa l deyelopmg.iit of the jiumau
race. If we look back to the early ages of mankind,
such as we seem in the faint distance to see them —
if we call up the image of those dismal tribes in lake
villages, or on wretched beaches — scarcely equal to
the commonest material needs, cutting down trees

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

72 THK ESGLtSH COKSTITL'TION.

slowly and painfully with stone tools, hardlj' I'esist-
ing the attacks of huge, fierce animals — without
culture, without leisure, without poetiy, almost with-
out thought — destitute of morality, with only a sort
of magic for religion ; and if we compare that imag-
ined life with the actual life of Europe now, we are
overwhelmed at the wide contrast — we can scarcely
conceive ourselves to be of the same race as tliose in
the fer distance. There used to be a notion — not so
much widely asserted as deeply implanted, rather
pervadingly latent than commonly apparent in politi-
cal philosophy — that in a Uttle while, perhaps ten
years or so, all human beings might, without extra-
ordinary appliances, be brought to the same level.
But now, when we see by the painful historj' of man-
kind at what point we began, by what alow toil, what
favorable circumstances, what accumulated achieve-
ments, civilized man has become at all worthy in any
degree so to call himself — when we realize the
tedium of history and tlie paiiifuliiess of results —
our perceptions are shirpened as to the relative steps
of our long and ^radud piogics We have in a
great community hke England crowds of people
scarcely more civilized thin the mijority of two
thousand yeais ago, we ha\e others, even more
numerous, such as the best people \\ ere a thousand
years since. The lower orders, the middle orders,
are still, when tried by what is the standard of the
educated " ten thousand," narrow-minded, unintelli-
gent, incurious. It is useless to pile up abstract
words. Those who doubt should go out into their
kitchens. Let an accomplished man try what seems
to him most obvious, most certain, most palpable in

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 73

intellectual matters, upon the housemaid and the
footman, and he will find that what he saya seems
unintelligible, confused, and erroneous — that his
audience think him mad and wild when he is speak-
ing what is in his own sphere of thought the dullest
platitude of cautious soberness. Great communities
are like great monntains — they have in them tlie
primary, secondary, and tertiary strata of human
progress ; the characteristics of the lower regions
resemble the life of old times rather than the present
life of the higher regions. And a philosophy which
does not ceaselessly remember, which does not eon
tinually obtrude, the palpable differences of the vari-
ous parts, will be a theory radically, false, because it
has omitted a capital reality — will be a theory essen-
tially misleading, because it will lead men to expect
what does not exist, and not to anticipate that which
they win find.

Every one knows these plain facts, but by no means
every one has traced their political importance.
When a state is constituted thus, it is not true that
the lower classes will be wholly absorbed in the use-
ful ; on the contrary, they do not like any thing so
poor. No orator ever made an impression by appeal-
ing to men as to their plainest physical wantw, except
when he could allege that those wants were caused
by. some one's tyranny. But thousands have made
the greatest impression by appealing to some vague
dream of glory, or empire, or nationality. The ruder
sort of men — that is, men at one stage of rudeness
— will sacrifice all they hope for, all they have, them-
selves, for what is called an idea — for some attraction
which seems to transcend reality, which aspires to

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

74 THE T5KGLISH GOKSTITUTION,

elevate men by an interest bigher, deeper, wider than
that of ordinaiy life. But this order of men are
uninterested in the plain, palpable ends of govern-
ment ; they do not prize them ; they do not in the
least comprehend how they should be attained. It is
very natm'al, therefore, that the most useful parts of
the structure of government should by no meana be
those which excite the most reverence. The ele-
ments which excite the most easy reverence will be
the theatrical elements — those wliioh appeal to the
senses, which claim to be embodiments of the greatest
human ideas, which boast in some eases of far more
than human origin. That which is mystic in its
claims; that which is occult in its mode of action;
that which is brilliant to the eye ; that which is seen
vividly for a moment, and then is seen no more ; that
which is hidden and unhidden ; that which is spe-
cious, and yet interesting, palpable in its seeming, and
yet professing to be more than palpable in its results ;
this, howsoever its form may change, or howevei' we
may define it or describe it, is the sort of thijig — the
only sort — which yet comes home to the mass of
men. So far from the dignified parts of a constitu-
tion being necessarily the most useful, they are likely,
according to outside presumption, to be the least so ;
for they are likely to be adjusted to the lowest orders
— those likely to care least and judge worst about
what is useful.

There is another reason which, in an old constitu-
tion like that of England, is hardly less important.
The most intellectual of men are moved quite as
much by the circumstances which they are used to as
by their own will. The active voluntary part of a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABTNET. T5

man is very small, and if ifc were not economized by
a sleepy kind of habit, its results would be null.
We could not do every day out of our own heads all
we have to do. We should accomplish nothing, for
all our energies would be frittered away in minor
attempts at petty improvement. One man, too,
would go off from the known ti'ack in one dkection,
and one in another ; so that when a crisis came requir-
ing massed combination, no two men would be near
enough to act together. It is the duU traditional
habit of mankind that guides most men's actions, and
is tlie steady frame in which each new artist must set
the picture that he paints. And all this traditional
part of human nature is, ex vi termini, most easily
impressed and acted on by that wliich is handed
down. Other things being equal, yesterday's institu-
tions are by far the best for to-day ; they are the most
ready, the most influential, the most easy to get
obeyed, th,e most likely to retain the reverence which
they alone inherit, and which every other must win.
The most imposing institutions of mankind are the
oldest ; and yet so changing is the world, so fluctu-
ating are its needs, so apt to lose inward force, tliough
retaining outward strength, aie its best instruments,
that we must not expect the oldest institutions to be
now the most efficient. We must expect what is
venerable to acquire influence because of its inherent
dignity ; but we must not expect it to use that influ-
ence so well as new creations apt for the modern
world, instinct with its spirit, and fitting closely to its
life.

The brief description of the characteristic merit
of the English Constitution is,'that its dignified parts

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

76 THE BSGLISII CONSTITUTION.

are very complicated and somewhat imposing, very
old and rather veneJB^PI while its efficient part, at
least when in g^-eat and critical action, is decidedly
simple and rather modern. We have made, or rather
stumbled on, a constitution which — though full of
every species of incidental defect, though of the
worst workmanship in all out-of-the-way matters of
any constitution in the world — yet has two capital
merits : it contains a simple efficient part which, on
occasion, and when wanted, ean work more simply
and easily, and better, than any insti'ument of gov-
ernment that has yet been tried ; and it contains lilie-
wise historical, complex, august, tlieatrical parts,
which it has inherited from a long past — which take
the multit\ide — which guide by an insensible hut an
omnipotent iniluence the associations of its siihjects.
Its essence is strong with the strength of modern
simplicity ; lis exterior is august with the Gothic
grandeur of a more imposing age. Its simple essence
may, mutatis mutandis, be transplanted to many very
various countries, but its august outside — what most
men think it is — is narrowly confined to nations with
an analogous history and similar political materials.

The efficient secret of the English Constitution
may be described as the close union, the nearly com-
plet-e fusion, of the executive and legislative powers.
No doubt by the traditional theory, as it exists in all
the books, the goodness of our constitution consists
in the entire separation of the legislative and execu-
tive authorities, but in truth its merit consists in
their singular approximation. The connecting link
is the eabinet. By that new word we mean a com-
mittee of the legislative body selected to be the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABISET. 11

executive body. The legisl^^^Jias many commit-
tees, but this is its greatest. ^I^^tooses for this, its
main committee, the men in whom it has most con-
fidenee. It does not, it is true, choose them directly ;
but it is nearly omnipotent iu choosing them indi-
rectly. A centniy ago the Ci-own bad a real choice
of ministers, though it had no longer a choice in
policy. Dni-ing the long reign of Sir R. Walpole he
was obliged not only to manage parliament, but to
manage the palace. He was obliged to take care that
some court intiigue did not expel him from his place.
The nation then selected the English policy, but fhe
Crown chose the English ministers. They were not
only in name, as now, but in fact, the Queen's ser-
vants. ' Remnants, important remnants, of this great
prei'Ogative still remain. The discriminating favor
of William IV. made Lord Melbourne bead of the
Whig party when he was only one of several rivals.
At the death of Lord Palmerston it is very likely that
the Queen may have the opportunity of freely choos-
ing between two, if not three statesmen, "" But, as a
rule, the nominal prime minister is chosen by the
legislature, and the real prime minister for most pur-
poses — the leader of the House of Commons —
almost ■without exception is so. There is nearly
always some one man plainly selected by the voice
of the predominant party in t!ie predominant house
of the legislature to head that party, and cojise-
quently to rule the nation. We have in England ah
elective fii-st magistrate as truly as the Americans
have an elEctiiYfi_fli-st_magiatrate. The Queen is onlj
at the^head of the dignified part of the constitution.
The prime minister is at the head of the efficient

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

78 THE ESGjaSH COSSTITUTION.

part. The Crown is according to the saying, the
" fountain of honor ; " but the Treasury is tlie spring
of business. Nevertheless, our tirst magistrate differs
■ff om" thSr'American. He is not elected directly by
the people ; he is elected by the representatives of the
people. He is an example of "double election."
The legislature chosen, in name, to make laws, in
fact finds its principal business in making and in
keeping an executive,

The leading minister so selected has to choose his
associates, but be only chooses among a charmed
circle. The position of most men in parliament for-
bids their feeing invited to the cabinet ; the position
of a few men insures their being invited. Between
the compulsory list whom he must take, and the
impossible list whom he cannot take, a prime minis-
ter's independent choice in the fomiation of a cabinet
is not very large ; it extends rather to the division of
the cabinet offices than to the choice of cabinet min-
isters. Parliament and the nation have pretty well
settled who shall have the first places j but they have
not discriminated with the same accuracy which man
shall have which place. The highest pati'onage of a
prime minister is, of course, a considerable power,
though it is exercised under close and imperative
restrictions — though it is far less than it seems to be
when stated in theory, or looked at from a distance.

The cabinet, in a word, is a board of control cho-
sen by the legislature, out of persons whom ife trusts
and knows, to rule the nation. The particular mode
in which the English ministers are selected ; the fic-
tion that they are, in any political sense, the Queen's
seivanfe; the rule which limits the choice of tlie

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. t'J

cabinet to the members of the legislature — are acei-
denta rniesaential to its definition — historical incidents
separable from its nature. Its cbaraeteristie is that
it shoidd be cliosen by the legislature out of persons
agreeable to. and tmsted by tie legislature. Natu-
rally tliese are principally its own members, but they
need not be exclusively so. A cabinetwhich included
persons not members of the legislative assembly might
still perform all useful duties. Indeed the Peers, who
constitute a laa^e element in modern cabinets, are
members, now-a-days, only of a subordinate assembly.
The House of Lords still exercises several useful func-
tions ; but the ruling influence — the deciding faculty
— has passed to what, using the langimge of old times,
we still call the lower house — to an assembly which,
though inferior as a dignified institution, is superior
as an efficient institution, A principal advantage of
the House of Lords in the present age indeed consists
in ita tliia acting as a reservoir of cabinet ministers.
Unless tlie composition of the House of Commons were
improved, or unless the rules requiring cabinet min-
isters to be members of tlie legislature were relaxed, it
would undoubtedly be difficult to find, without the
Loixis, a sufficient supply of chief ministcra. But the
detail of the composition of a cabinet, and the precise
method of its choice, are not to the piupose now.
The fiiBt and cardinal consideration is the definition
of a cabinet. We must not bewilder oui-selves with
the inseparable accidents until we know the necessary
essence. A cabinet is a combining committee — a
hyphen which joins, a huchle which fastens, the legis-
lative part of the state to the executive part of the
state. In its origin it belongs to the one, in its func-
tions it belongs to the other.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

80 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

The most curious point about the cabinet is that so
very little is known about it. The meetings are not
only secret in theory, but secret in reality. By the
present practice, uo official minute in all ordinary
cases is kept of theni._ Even a private note is dis-
couraged and disliked. The House of Commons,
even in its most inquisitive and turbulent moments,
would scarcely permit a note of a cabiiiet meeting to
be read. No minister who respected the fundamen-
tal usages of political practice would attempt to read
such a note. The committee which unites the law-
making power to the law-executing power — which,
by virtue of that combination, is, while it lasts and
holds together, the most powerful body in the state

— is a committee wholly secret. No description of .
it, at once graj)hic and authentic, has ever been given.
It is said to be sometimes like a rather disorderly
board of directors, where many speak and few listen

— though no one knows.*

But a cabinet, though it is a committee of the legis-
lative assembly, is a committee with a power which
no assembly would — unless for historical accidents,
and after happy experience — have been persuaded
to intrust to any committee. It,is a committee which
can dissolve the assembly which^ppointed it ; it is
& committee with a suspensive veto — a committee
with a power of appeal. Though appointed by one

* It is said tliaX at the end of llie cabinet wliiuh agreed to propose a
filed duty on corn. Lord Melbourne put his baclc to tlie door, aiid
taid, " Now is it to lower tlie price of com, or isn't it ^ It is not
much matter wtiioh vre aay, but mind, we must ttU say the same."
Tills is tlie most grapliic sWry of a cabinet I ever liearti, but I cannot
Touuli for its trutli. Lord Melbourne's is a character about whioh
men make stories.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABIKET. 81

pai'liament, it can appeal if it chooses to tlie next,
Theoretically, indeed, the power to dissolve parlia-
ment is intrusted to the sovereign only ; and there
are vestiges of donht whether in all cases a sovereign
is hound to dissolve parliament when the cahinet
asks him to do so. But, neglecting such small 'and
dubious exceptions, the cabinet whicli was chosen by
one House of Commons has an appeal to the next
House of Commons, The chief committee of the
legislature has the power of dissolving the predomi-
nant part of that legislature — that which at a crisis
k the supreme legislature. The English system,
therefore, iis not ^n absorption of the executive power
by the legishitive power; it is a fusion of the two.
Either the cahinet legislates and acts, or else it can
dissolve. It is a creature, but it has the power of
destroying its creators. It^is an executive which can
annihihite the legislature, as well as an executive
which is the nominee of the legislature. It was
made, hut it can unmake ; it was derivative in its
origin, hut it is destructive in its action.

This fusion of the legislative and executive func-
tions may, to those who have not much considered it,
seem but a dry and small matter to be the latent
essence and effectual secret of the English Constitu-
tion ; but we can only judge of its real importance by
looking at a few of its principal effects, and contrast-
ing it very shortly with its great competitor, which
seems likely, unless care be taken, to outstrip it in the
progre^ of the world. That competitor is the Presi-
dential system. The characteristic of it is that the
President is elected from the people hy one process,
and the House of Representatives by another. The

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

82 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

independence of the legislative and executive powers
is the specific quality of Presidentiii! Goveinmeut,
just as their fusion and combination is the precise
principle of Cabinet Government.

First, compare the two in quiet times. The essence
of a civilized i^e is, that administration requires the
continued aid of legislation. One principal and neces-
sary kind of legislation ia taxation. The expense of
civilized government is continually varj'ing. It must
vary if the government does its duty. The miscel-
laneous estimates of the English Government contain
an inevitable medley of changing items. Education,
prison discipline, art, science, civil contingencies of a
hundred kinds, require more money one year and less
another. The expense of defence — the naval and
military estimates — vary still more as the danger of
attack seems more or less imminent, as the means
of retarding such danger become more or less costly.
If the persona who have to do the work sxq not the
same as those who have to make the laws, there will
be a controversy between the two sets of persons.
The tax-imposers are sure to quarrel with the tax
requirers. The executive is crippled by not getting
the laws it needs, and the legislature is spoiled by
having to act witiiout responsibility: the executive
becomes unfit for its name since it cannot execute
what it decides on ; the legislature is demoralized by
liberty, by taking decisions of which others (and
not itself) will suffer the effects.

In America so much has this difficulty been felt
that a semi- connection has grown up between the
legislature and the executive. When the SecreLan-
of the Treasury of the Federal Government wants q

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 83

tax he consults upon it with the Chairman of the
Financial Committee of Congress. He cannot go
down to Congress himself and propose what he
wants ; he can only write a letter and send it. But
he tries to get a chairman of the Finance Committee
who Ukes his tax ; — through that chairman he tiies
to persuade tlie committee to recommend such tax ;
by that committee he tries to induce the' house to
adopt that tax. But such a chain of communications
is liable to continual interruptions ; it may sniHce for
a single tax on a fortunate occasion, but will scarcely
pass a complicated budget — we do not say in a war
or a rebellion — we are now comparing the cabinet
system and the presidential system in quiet times —
hut in times of financial difficulty. Two clever men
never exactly agjeed about a budget. We have by
present practjiSe an Indian Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer talking English finance at Calcutta, and an
English one miking Indian finance in England. But
the figures are never the same, and the views of
policy aie rarely the same. One most angry contro-
versy has amused the world, and probably others
scarcely less interesting are hidden in the copious
stores of our Anglo-Indian correspondence.

But relations something like these must subsist
between the head of a finance committee in the legis-
lature, and a finance committee in the executive.*
They are sure to quari'cl, and the result is sure to
satisfy neither. And when the taxes do not yield as

• It is worth observing that even during tlie short existence of Die
Confederate Government tliese evils diatinetiy showed tlinniselves.
Alinoet tlie last incident at the Richmond Congress iins on angrj
financial correspondence with JefEerson Davis.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

84 THE EKGLISII COKSTITUTION,

they were expected to yield, who is respoiisihie ?
Very likely the secretary of the treasury could not
persuade the ehainnan — very likely the chairman
could not persuade his committee — veiy likely the
committee could not persuade the assembly. "Whom,
then, can you punish — whom can you aholish —
when your taxes run short? There is nobody save
the legislature, a vast miseeUaiieona body difficult to
punish, and tlie very persons to inflict the punish-
ment,

Nor is the financial part of administration the only
one which requires in a civilized age tlie constant
support and accompaniment of facilitating legislation.
All administration does so. In England, on a vital
occasion, the cabinet can compel legislation by the
threat of resignation, and the threat of dissolution ;
but neither of these can be used in a presidential
state. There the legislature cannot be dissolved by
the executive government ; and it does not heed a
resignation, for it has not to find the successor. Ac-
cordingly, when a difference of opinion arises, the
legislature is forced to fight the executive, and the
executive is forced to fight the legislative ; and so
very hkely they contend to the conclusion of their
respective terms.* There is, indeed, one condition
of things in which this description, though still ap-
proximately true, is, nevertheless, not exactly true ;
and that is, when there is nothing to fight about.
Before the rebellion in America, owing to the vast
distance of other states, and the favorable economical

OSS Illumination of Mr. Lincoln, and w)i
would be very hostile to the South,

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 85

condition of the country, there were very few con-
siderable objects of contention; but if that govern-
ment had been tried by the Enghsh legislation of the
laat thirty years, the discordant action of the two
powers, whose constant co-operation is essential to
the best goYernment, would have shown itself mjieh
more distinctly.

Nor is this the worst. Cabinet government edu-
cates the nation ; the presidential does not educate
it, and may cori'upt it. , It has been said that England
invented the phrascj " Her Majesty's Opposition ; "
that it was the first government which made a criti-
cism of administration as much a part of the pohty
as administration itself. This critical opposition is
the consequence of cabinet government. The great
scene of debate, the great engine of popular instruc-
tion and political controversy, is the legislative
assembly. A speech there by an eminent statesman,
a party movement by a great political combination,
are the best means yet known for arousing, enliven-
ing, and teaching a people. The cabinet system
insures such debates, for it makes them the means
by which statesmen advertise themselves for future
and confirm themselves in present governments. It
brings forward men eager to speak, and gives them
occasions to speak. The deciding catastrophes of
cabinet governments are critical divisions preceded
by fine discussions. Every thing which is worth say-
ing, every thing which ought to be said, most certainly
will be said. Conscientious men think they ought to
perauade others; selfish men thuik tliey would like
to obtrude themselves. The "nation is forced to hear
two sides — all the sides, perhaps, of that which most

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

do THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

concenis it. And it likes to hear — it is eager to
Jcnow. Human nature despises long arguments which
come to nothing — heavy speeches which precede no
motion — ahsti'act disquisitions which leave yisihie
things where they were. But all men heed great
results, and a change of government is a great result.
It has a hundred ramifications ; it runs through so-
ciety ; it gives hope to many, and it takes away hope
from many. It is one of those marked events which,
by its magnitude and its melodrama, impress men
even too much. And debates which have this catas-
trophe at the end of them — or may so have it — are
sure to be listened to, and sure to sink deep into the
national mind.

Travellers even in the Northem States of America,
the greatest and best of presidential countries, have
noticed that the nation was " not specially addicted
to politics ; " that they have not a public opinion
finished and chastened as that of the English has
been finished and chastened. A gi'eat niiiny hasty
writers have charged this defect -on the "Yankee
race," on the Anglo-American character; but Eng-
lish people, if they had no motive to attend to poli-
ties, certainly would not attend to politics. At present
there is hisiness in their attention. They assist at
the determining crisis ; they assist or help it. ^^^lether
the government wiU go out or remain is determined
by the debate, and by the division in parliament.
And the opinion out of doors, the secret pervading
disposition of society, has a great influence on that
division. The nation feels that its judgment is im-
portant, and it strives to judge. It succeeds in decid-
ing because the debates and the discussions give it

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET, 87

the facts and the arguments. But under a presi-
dential goveiTiment a mtion ha*; e's.cept it the electing
moment, no influence, it has not the ballot box be-
fore it; its virtue is gone ind it must wait till its
instant of despotism igiin letumb It is not incited
to form an opiuiLn like a nition undei a cabinet
government; noi iia it instiuttecl like such a nation.
There ai'e doubtless debates in the legi'-liture, but
they are prologueb without i pli-\ Theie it. nothing
of a catastrophe about them ; you cannot turn out
the government. The prize of power is not in the
gift of the legislature, and no one cares for the legis-
lature. The executive, the great centre of power
and place, sticks irremovable ; you cannot change it
in any event. The teaching apparatus which has
educated oni' public mind, which prepares our resolu-
tions, which shapes our opinions, does not exist. No
presidential country needs to form daily, delicate
opinions, or is helped in formir^ them.

It might be thought that the discussions in the
press would supply the deficiencies in the constitu-
tion ; that by a reading people especially, the conduct
of their government would be as carefully watched,
that their opinions about it would be as consistent,
as accurate, as. well considered, under a presidential
as under a cabinet polity. But the same difficulty
oppresses the press which oppresses the legislature.
It can dq_n.otMnff. It cannot change the administra-
tion; the executive was elected for such and such
years, and for such and such years it must last.
People wonder that so literary a people as the Ameri-
cans — a people who read more than any people who
ever lived, who read so many newspapers — should

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

88 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION",

have such bad newspapers. The papers are not so
good as the English, because they have not the aame
motive to be good as the English papers. At a po-
litical " criais," as we say — that is, when the fate of
an administration is unfixed, when it depends on a
few votes, yet nnsettlecl, upon a wavering and veer-
ing opinion — effective articles in great journals
become of essential moment. The Times baa made
many luinistiies. When, as of late, there has been
a long continuance of divided parhaments, of govern-
ments which wei'e without " brute voting power,"
and which depended on intellectual strength, the
support of the most influential organ of English opin-
ion has been of ciitical moment. If a Washington
newspaper could have turned out Mr. Lincoln, there
would have been good writing and fine ai^ument in
the Washington newspapers. But the Washington
newspapers can no more remove a president during
his term of place than the Times can remove a lord
mayor during his year of office. Nobody cares for a
debate in Congi'cas which "comes to nothing," and
no one reads long articles which have no influence
on events. The Ameiicans glance at the heads of
nows, and through the paper. They do not enter
upon 'a discussion. They do not think of entering
upon a discussion which would be useless.

After saying that the division of tlie legislatiire and
the executive in presidential governments weakens
the legislative power, it may seem a contradiction to
say tliat it also weakens the executive power. But
it is not a contradiction. The division weakens the
whole aggregate force of government — the entire
imperial power; and therefore it weakens both its

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 89

halvesy The executive is weakened 'in a very plain
way-^ In England a strong cabinet can obtain the
conouiTence of the legislature in all acta which facili-
tate its adminiatration ; it ia itself, so to saj^ the
legislature. But a president may be hampered by the
parliament, and is likely to be hampered. The natu-
rai tendency of the membera of every legislature is to
make themselves conspicuous. They wish to gratify
an ambition laudable or blamable ; they wish to pro-
mote the measures they think best for the public wel-
fare ; they wish to make their will felt in great affairs.
All these mixed motives urge them to oppose tlie
executive. They are embodying the purposes of
othei's if they aid; they are advancing their own
opinions ■ if they defeat : the}- are first 'if they van-
quish ; they are auxiliaries if they support. The
weakness of the American executive used to be the
great theme of all critics before the Confederate re-
bellion. Congress and committees of Congress of
course impeded the executive when there was no
coercive public sentiment to check and rule them.

But the presidential system not only gives the
executive power an antagonist in the legislative
power, and so makes it weaker; it also enfeebles
it by impairing its intrinsic quality. A eabhiet is
elected by a legislature ; and when that legislature
is composed of fit persons, that mode of electing the
executive is the very best. It is a ease of secondary
election, under the only conditions in which sec-
ondary election is preferable to primary. Generally
speaking, in an electioneering country (I mean in a
countiy full of political life, and used to the manipu-
lation of populiir instiUitions), the election of eaiidi-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

90 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

dates to elect candidates is a farce. The Electoral
College of America is so. It was intended that the
deputies when assembled should exercise a real dis-
cretion, and by independent choice select tlie presi-
dent. But the primary electors take too much interest.
They only elect a deputy to vote for Mr. Lincoln or
Mr. Breckinridge, and the deputy only takes a ticket,
and drops that ticket in an urn. He never chooses
or thinks of choosing. He is but a messenger — a
transmitter: tlie real decision is in those who chose
liim — who chose him because they knew what he
would do.

It is true that the British House of Commons is
subject to the same influences. Members are mostly,
perhaps, elected because they will vote for a par-
ticular ministry, rather than for purely legislative
reasons. But — and here is the capital distinction
— the functions of the House of Commons are im-
portant and continuous. It does not, like the Elec-
toral College in the United States, separate when it
has elected its ruler ; it watches, legislates, seats and
unseats mmistries, from day to day. Accordingly it
is a real electoral body. The parhament of 1857,
which, more than any other parliament of late years,
was a parliament elected to support a particular
premier — which was chosen, .as Americans might
say, Tipon the " Palmerston ticket" — before it had
been in existence two years, dethroned Lord Palmers-
ton. Though selected in the interest of a particular
ministry, it in fact destroyed that ministry.

A good parliament, too, is a capital choosing body.
If it is fit to make laws for a country, its majority
ought to represent the general average intelligence

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 91

of that country ; its various members ought to repre-
sent the various special interests, special opinions,
special prejudices, to be found in that community.
There ought to be an advocate for every particular
sect, and a vaafc neutral body of no sect — homo-
geoeous and judicial, like the nation itself. Such a
bpdy, when possible, is the best selecter of executives
that can be imagined. It is full of political activity ;
it is close to political life ; it feels the responsibility
of affairs which are brought as it were to its thresh-
old ; it has as much intelligence as the society in
question chances to contaro. It is, what Washington
and Hamilton strove to create, an electoral college
of the picked men of the natiou-

The best mode of appreciating its advantages is
to look at the alternative. The competing constitu-
ency is the nation itself, and this is, according to
theory and experience, in all but the rarest cases, a
bad constituencj Mi Lmctln at his second elec-
tion, being elected when ill the Federal states had
set their unite 1 hearts on one single object, wasTvoI-
untarily re elected by in actually choosing fiation.
He embodied the ol ject m whi h every one ^vas ab-
sorbed. But thit 1'' almost the only presidential
election of which so much can be said. In almost
all cases the Piesident is chosen by a machinery of
caucuses and comlinati ns tio complicated to be per-
fectly knoii n ind too famdiai to require description.
He is not the rhcice of the nitiou,he is the choice of
the wire-pidleri A ^^er^ large constituency in quiet
times is the neccsbdij ilmo t the legitimate, subject
of electionteiuig management, a man cannot know
that he dous not throw his vote away except lie votes

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

92 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTIOX.

as part o£ some g;i'eat organization; and if lie votes
as a part, he abdicates his electoral function in favor
of the managers of that association. The nation,
even if it chose for itself, would, in some degree, be
an unskilled body ; but when it does not choose for
itself, but only as latent agitators wish, it is like a
large, lazy man, with a small, vicious mind, — it
moves slowly and heavily, but it moves at the bidding
of a bad intention; it "means little, but it means
that little ill."

And, as the nation is less able to choose tlian a
parhament, so it has worse people to choose out of.
The American legislators of the last centurj' have
been ranch blamed for not permitting the ministers
•of the President to be members of the Assembly ;
but, with reference to ,the specific end which they
had m view, they saw clearly and decided wisely.
They wished to keep "the legislative branch abso-
lutely distinct from the executive branch ; " they
believed such a separation to be essential to a good
constitution ; they behoved such a separation to exist
in the English, which the wisest of them thought the
best constitution. And, to the effectual maintenance
of such a separation, the exclusion of the President's
ministers from the legislatui'e is essential. If they
are not excluded they become the executive, they
eclipse tlie President himself. A legislative chamber
is greedy and covetous ; it acquires as much, it con-
cedes as little as possible. The passions of its mem-
bei's are its rulers ; the law-making fiiculty, the most
comprehensive of the imperial faculties, is its instru-
ment; it will take the administration if it can take
it. Tried by their own aims, the founders of the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 93

United States were wise in excluding the ministers
from Congress.

But though this exclusion is essential to the presi-
dential system of government, it is not for that reason
a small evil. It causes the degradation of public life.
Unless a member of the legislature be sui'e of some-
thing more than speech, unJess he is incited by the
hope of action, and chastened by the chance of re-
sponsibiUty, a first-rate man will not care to take the
place, and will not do much if he does take it. To
belong to a debating society adhering to an executive
(and this is no inapt description of a congi'ess under
a presidential constitution) is not sin object to atic a
noble ambition, and is a position to eneouiiige idle-
ness. The members of a parliament excluded from
office can never be eoirfparable, much less equal, to
those of a parliament not excluded from office. The
presidential government, by its nature, divides po-
litical life into two halves, an executive half and a
legislative half ; and, by so dividing it, makes neither
half worth a man's having — worth his making it a
continuous career — worthy to absorb, as cabinet
government absorbs, his whole soul. The statesmen
from whom a nation chooses under a pi-esidential
system are much inferior to those from whom it
chooses under a cabinet system, while the selecting
apparatus is also far less discerning.

All these differences are more important at critical
periods, because government itself is more important.
A foi-med public opinion, a respectable, able, and dis-
ciplined legislature, a well-chosen executive, a parliar
ment and an administi-ation not thwarting each other,
but co-operating with each otlier, are of greater con-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

94 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOX.

sequence wlien great affairs are in progress than when
small affairs are in progress — when there is much to
do than when there is little to do. But in addition
to this, a parliamentary or cahinet constitution pos-
sesses an additional and special advantage in very
dangerous times. It has what we may call a reserve
of power fit for and needed by extreme exigencies.

The principle of popular government is that the
supreme power, the determining efficacy in matters
political, resides in the people — not necessarily or
commonly in the whole people, in the numerical
majority, but in a chosen people, a picked and se-
lected people. It is so in England ; it is so in all
free countries. Under a cabinet constitution at a
sudden emergency this people can choose a ruler for
the oecaBion. It is quite possible and even likely
that he would not be ruler before the occE^ion. The
great qualities, the imperious will, the rapid energy,
the eager nature fit for a great crisis are not required
— are impediments — in common times. A Lord
Liverpool is better in every-day politics than a Chat-
ham — a Louis Philippe far better than a Napoleon.
By the structure of the world we often want, at the
sudden occuiTence of a grave tempest, to change the
helmsman — to replace the pilot of the calm by the
pilot of tlie storm. In England we have had so few
catastrophes since our constitution attained maturity,
that we hardly appreciate this latent excellence. We
have not needed a Cavour to rule a revolution — a
representative man above all men fit for a great
occasion, and by a natural, legal mode brought into
rule. But even in England, at what was the nearest
to a great sudden crisis which we have had of late

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 95

years — at the Crimean difficulty — we used this
inherent power. We abolished the Aberdeen cabi-
net, the ablest we have had, perhaps, since the
Reform Act — a cabinet not only adapted, but emi-
nently adapted, for every sort of difficulty save the
one it had to meet — which abounded in pacific dis-
cretion, and was wanting only in the " diemonitf ele-
ment ; " we chose a statesman who had the sort of
merit then wanted, who, when he feels the steady
power of England behind him, will advance without
reluctance, and will strilte without restraint. As was
said at the time, " We turned out the Quaker, and
put in the pugUist."

But under a presidential government you can do
nothing of the Idnd. The American government
calls itself a government of the supreme people ; but
at a quick crisis, the time when a sovereign power is
most needed, you cannot find the supreme people.
Tou have got a Congress elected for one fixed period,
going out perhaps by fixed instalments, which cannot
be accelerated or retarded — you have a President
chosen for a fixed period, and immovable during that
period 1 all the arrangements are for stated times.
There is no elastic element, every thing is rigid, spe-
cified, dated. Come what may, you can quicken
nothing and retard notliing. You have bespoken
your government in advance, and whether it suits
you or not, whether it works well or works ill, whether
it is what you want or not, by law you must keep it.
In a country of complex foreign relations it would
mostly happen that the first and most critical year of
every war would be managed by a peace premier,
and the first and most critical years of peace by a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

96 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION",

war premier. In each case tlie period of transition
would be irrevocably governed by a man selected not
for what he was to introduce, but what he was to
change — for the policy he was to abandon, not for
the policy he was to administer.

The whole history of the American civil war — a
history which has thrown an intense light on the
working of a presidential government at the time
when government is most important — is but a vast
continuous commentary on these reflections. It
would, indeed, be absurd to press against presiden-
tial government as such the singular defect by which
"Vice-President Johnson has become President — by
which a man elected to a sinecure is fixed in what is
for .the moment the most important administrative
part in the political world. This defect, though most
characteristic of the expectations* of the framers of
the constitution and of its working, is but an accident
of this particular case of presidential government,
and no nece^ary ingredient in that government itself.
But the first election of Mr. Lincoln is liable to no
such objection. It was a characteristic instance of
the natural working of such a government upon a
great occasion. And what was that working ? It
may be summed up — it was government by an
unknoton quantity. Hardly any one in America had
any living idea what Mr. Lincoln was like, or any
definite notion what he would do. The leading
statesmen under the system of cabinet government
* Tlie framerB of the constitution expeoteil that the kkc- president
would be elected by the Eiettoral College as the eecond wisest man
in the covintrj-. The vice-presidentship being a sinecure, a second-
rate man agreeable to the wire-pullers is always smuggled in. The
chance of succession to the preeidentship is too distant to he thought of.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE CABINET. 97

are not only household words, but household ideas.
A conception, not, perhaps, in all respects a true but
a most vivid conception, what Mr. Gladstone is lite,
or what Lord Palmerston is like, tuns through so-
ciety. We have simply no notion what it would be
to be left with the visible sovereignty in the hands of
an unknown man. The notion of employing, a man
of unknown smallness at a crisis of unknown great-
ness is to our minds simply ludicrous. Mr. Lincoln,
it is true, happened to be a man if not of eminent
ability, yet of eminent justness. There was an mner
depth of Puritan nature which came out under suf-
fering, and was very attractive. But success in a
lottery is no argument for lotteries. Wliat were
the chances against a person of Lincoln's antecedents,
elected as he was, proving to be what he was ?

Such an incident is, however, natural to a presi-
dential government. The President is elected by
processes which forbid the election of known men,
except at peculiar conjunctures, and in moments when
public opinion is excited and despotic ; and conse-
quently, if a crisis comes upon us soon after he is
elected, inevitably we have government by an un-
known quantity — the superintendence of tliat crisis
by what our great satirist would have called " States-
man X." Even in quiet times, government by a
president is, for the several various reasons which
have been stated, inferior to government by a cabi-
net ; but the difficulty of quiet times is nothing as
compared with the difficultj' of unquiet times. The
comparative deficiencies of the regular, common
operation of a presidential government are far less
than the comparative deficiencies in time of sudden

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

98 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

trouble — the want of elasticity, the impossibility of
a dictatorship, the total absence of a revolutionary
reserve.

This contrast explains why the eharacteriatie qual-
ity of cabinet governments — the fusion of the exec-
utive power with the legislative power — is of such
cardinal importance. I shall proceed to show miLler
what form and with what adjuncts it exists in Eng-
land.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MOXAItCHY.

THE JIONAECHY.

(Thb use of the Queen, in a dignified capacity, is
incalculable. Without her in England, the present
English Government would fail and pass awa^ Moat
people when they read that the Queen walked on
the slopes at Windsor — that the Prince of Wales
went to thu Derby ^ have imagined that too much
thought and prominence were given to little things.
But they have heen in error ; and it is nice to trace
how the actions of a retired widow and an unem-
ployed youth become of such importance.

The beat reason why Monarchy is a strong govern-
ment is, that it is an intelligible government^ The
masa -of mankind understand it, and they hardly any-
where in the world understand any other. (_It is
often said that men are ruled by their imaginations ;
but it would be truer to say they are governed hy
the weakness of their imaginations) The nature of
a constitution, the action of an a^embly, the play
of parties, the unseen formation of a guiding opinion,
axe complex facts, difficult to know, and easy to mis-
take. Etrt the action of a single will, the fiat of
a single mind, are easy ideas : anybody can make
them out, and no one can ever forget them. AVhen
you put before the mass of mankind the question,
" Will you be governed by a king, or wi!l you be

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

100 THE E>'G1.1SH CONyWTUTiOK. ,

governed by a constitution ? " the inc[uiiy comes out
thus — " Will you be governed in a way you. under-
stand, or will you he governed in a way you do not
understand ? " The issue was put to the Freucli
people ; they were asked, " "Will you be governed by
Louis Napoleon, or will you be governed by an as-
sembly?" The French people said, "We will be
governed by the one man we can imagine, and not by
the many people we cannot imagine. "

The best mode of comprehending the nature of
the two governments is to look at a countiy in which
the two have within a comparatively short space of
years succeeded each other,

" The political condition," says Mr. Grote, " which
Grecian legend everywhere presents to us, is in its
principal features strikingly different from that which
had become universally prevalent among the Greeks
in the time 'Of the Peloponnesian war. Historical
oligarchy, as well as democracy, agreed in req^uiring
a certain established system of government, com-
prising the thi-ee elements of specialized functions,
temporary functionaries, and ultimate respousibihty
launder some forms or other) to the mass of qualified
citizens — either a Senate or an Ecelesia, or both.
There were, of course, many and capital distinctions
between one government and another, in respect to
the quiiliiication of the citizen, the attributes and
efficiency of the general assembly, the admissibility
to power, &c. ; and men might often be dissatisfied
with the way in which these questions were deter-
mined in their own city. But in the mind of every
man, some deteiinining rule or system —{something
like what in modern times is called a constitution —

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 101

was indispensable to any government entitled to be
called legitimate) or capable of creating in the mind
o£ a Greek a feeling of moral obligation to obey it.
The functionaries who exercise authority under it
might be more or less competent oi' popular ; but his
personal feelings towards them were commonly lost
in his attachment or aversion to the general system.
If any energetic man could by audacity or craft break
down tlie constitution, and render himself permanent
ruler according to his own will and pleasure, even
though he might govern well, he could never inspire
the people with any sentiment of duty towards him :
his sceptre was illegitimate from the beginning, and
even the fciking of his life, far from being interdicted
by that moral feehng which condemned the shedding
of blood in other cases, was considered meritorious :
he could not even be mentioned in the language
except by a name (tvQawog, desptt) which branded
him as an object of mingled fear and dislike.

"If we carry our eyes back from historical to le-
gendary Greece, we find a picture the reverse of what
has been here sketched. We discern a government
in which there is little or no scheme or system, still
less any idea of responsibility to the governed/ but in
which the mainspring of obedience on the part of the
people consists in the ic personal feeling and rever-
ence towards the chief.) We remark, first and fore-
most, the King ; next, a limited number of subordinate
kings or chiefs ; afterwards, the mass of armed free-
men, husbandmen, artisans, freebooters, &c, ; lowest
of all, the free laborers for hire and the bought slaves.
The King is not distinguished by any broad, or im-
passable boundary from the other chiefs, to each of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

102 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

whom the title BasUeus is applicable as well aa to
himself: his supremacy has been inherited from hia
ancestors, and passes by inheritance, m a general
rule, to his eldest son, having been conferred upon
the famOy as a privilege by the favor of Zeus. In
war, he is the leader, foremost in personal prowess,
and directing all military movements ; in peace, he
is the general protector of the injui'ed and oppressed ;
he offers up moreover those public prayers and sacri-
fices which are intended to obtain for the whole
people the favor of the gods. An ample domain is
assigned to him as an appurtenance of his lofty po-
sition, and the produce of his fields and his cattle is
consecrated in part to an abundant, though rude hos-
pitahty. Moreover he receives frequent presents, to
avert his enmity, to conciliate his favor, or to buy off
his exactions ; and when plunder ia taken fi'om the
enemy, a large previous share, comprising probably
tlie most alluiing female captive, is reserved for him
apart from the general distribution.

" Such is the nosition of the King in the heroic
times of Greece— (the only person (if we except the
heralds and priests, each both special and subordi-
nate) who ia then presented to us as clothed with
any individual authority) — tlie person by whom all
the extensive functions /then few in number, which
the society requires, are either performed or directed.
His personal ascendancy — derived from divine coun-
tenance bestowed both upon himself individually and
upon his race, and probably from accredited divine
descent — is the sahent feature in the picture : the
people hearken to his voice, embrac'e his propositions,
and obey his orders : not merely resistance, but even

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONABCHY. 103

criticism upon his acta, is generally exhibited in an
odious point of view, and ia indeed never heard of ex-
empt from some one or more of the subordinate princes."
The characteriatic of the English Monarchy is that
it retains the feelings by which the heroic kings gov-
erned their rude age, and has added the feelings by
which the constitutions of later Greece ruled m more
refined ages^ We are a more mixed people than the
Athciiiana, or probably than any political Greeks.
We have progressed more uneq^ually. The slaves in
ancient times were a separate order ; not ruled by
the aame laws, or thoughts, as other men. It was
not necessary to think of them in making a constitu-
tion : it was not necessary to improve them in order
to make a constitution possible. The Greek legis-
lator had not to combine in his polity men lUie the
laborers of Somersetshire, and men like Mr. Grote.
He had not to deal with a community in which prim-
itive barbarism lay as a recognized basis to acquired
civilization. Wr. have. We have no slaves to keep
down by special teiTors and independent legislation.
But we have whole classes unable to comprehend
the idea of a constitution — unable to feel the , least
attachment to impe]^onal lawa.^ Moat do indeed
vaguely know that there are some other institutions
besides the Queen, and some rules by which she gov-
erns. But a vast number like their minds to dwell
more upon her than upon any thing else, and there-
fore she is inestimable. I A Republic has only diffi-
cult ideas in government ; a Constitutional Monarchy
has an easy idea too ; it has a comprehensible element
for the vacant many, as well as complex laws and
notionsfor the inquiring few.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

104 THE ENCLIS;i CONSTITUTTO^T.

A. family on the throne is an interesting idea also.
It briiigs down the pride of sovereignty to the level
of petty life. No feeling eonid seem more childish
than the entHusiasm of the English at the marriage
of the Prince of Wales. They treated as a great
political event what, loohed at as a matter of pure
husiness, was very small indeed. But no feeling
could be more like common human nuture as it is,
and as it is likely to be. The women — one half
the human race at least — cave fifty times more for
a marriage than a ministry. AU but a few cynics
like to see a pretty novel toucliing for a moment the
dry scenes of the grave world. A princely marriage
is the -brilUant edition of a universal fact, and as
such, it rivels mankind. ^We smile at the Court Cir-
cular ; but remember how many people read the
Court Circular! Its use is not in what it says, but
in those to whom it speaks^ They say that the
Americans were more pleased at the Queen's letter
to Mrs. Lincoln, than at any act of the English Gov-
ernment. It was a spontaneous act of intelligible
feelmg in the midst of confused and tiresome busi-
ness. Just so a royal family sweetens poUtics by the
seasonable addition of nice and pretty events. It
introduces irrelevant facta into the business of gov-
ernment, but they are facts which speak to " men's
bosoms " and employ their thoughts.'

To state the matter shortly ^ Royalty is a govern-
ment in which the attention of the nation is concen-
trated on one person doing interesting actions. A
Republic is a government in which that attention is
divided between many, who are all doing uninterest-
ing actions. Accordingly, so long as the human

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 105

heart is strong and the human reason weak, Roy-
alty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feel-
ing, and Republics weak because they appeal to the
understanding.

.Secondly. (The English Monarchy strengthens
our government with the strength of religionl It,
is not easy to say why it should be so. Every in-
structed theologian would say that it was tlie duty
of a person born under a Republic aa much to obey
that Repiiblic as it is the duty of one bom under a
Monarch to obey the monarch. But the mass of the
English people do not thhik so }[ they agi'ee witSi the
oath of allegiance ; they say it is their duty to obey
the " Qiieen ; " and they have but hazy notions as to
obeying laws without a queen.J In fomier times,
when our constitution was incomplete, this notion, of
local holiness in one part was mischievous. All parts
were sti'uggling, and it was necessary each should
have its full growth. But superstition said one
should grow where it would, and no other part
should grow without its leave. (^The whole cavalier
party said it was their duty to obey the King, what-
ever the king did. There was to be " passive obedi-
ence " to him, and there was no religious obedience
due to any one else. He was the " Lord's anointed,"
and no one else bad* been anohited at all) yThe par-
liament, the laws, the press, were human institutions ;
but the Monarchy was a Divine institution'^ An un-
due advantage was given to a part of the constitu-
tion, and therefore the progress of the whole was
stayed.

After the Revolution this mischievous sentiment
was much weaker. The change of the line of sov-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

106 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOX.

ereigns was at iirsfc concUisive. If there was a mys-
tic right in any one, that right was plainly in James
II. ; if it waa an English duty to obey any one what-
ever he did, he was the person to be so obeyed ; if
there was an inherent inherited claim in any king, it
was in the Stuart king to whom the crown had come
by descent, and not in the Revolution king to whom
it had come by vote of Parliaments All tbroiigh the
reign of William III. there was (hi common speech)
one king whom man had made, and another king
whom God had made\ The king who ruled had no
consecrated loyalty to huild upon ; although he ruled
in fact, according to sacred theory there was a king
in France who ought to rule. But it was very hard
for the English people, ivith their plain sense and
slow imagination, to keep up a strong sentiment of
veneration for a foreign adventurer. He lived under
the protection of a French king ; what he did was
commonly stupid, and what he left undone was very
often \nse. I As soon as Qaeen Anne began to reign
there was a change of feeling ; the old sacred senti-
ment began to cohere about her.) Tliere were indeed
difBcultiea which would have baffled most people ;
but an Englishman whose heart is in a matter is not
easily baffled. Queen Anne had a brother living and
a father living, and by every rule of descent their
right was better than hers. But many people evaded
both claims. They said James II. had " run away,"
and BO abdicated, though he only ran away because
he was in duresse and was frightened, and though he
claimed the allegiance of his subjects day by day.
The Pretender, it was said, was not legitimate, though
the birth was proved by evidence which any Court of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TDK JIONAECKT. 107

Justice would have accepted. The English people
were " out of " a sacred monarcili, and so tliey tried
very hard to make a new one) Events, however, ivere
too strong for them. They were ready and eager to
take Queen Anne as the stock of a new dynasty ; they
were ready to ignore the claims of her father and
the claims of her brother, but they could not ignore
the fact that at the critical period she had no children.
She had once had thirteen, but they all died in heu
hfetime, and it was necessary either to revert to the
Stuai'ts or to make a new king by Act of Parliament.
According to the Act of Settlement passed by the
Whigs, the crown was settled on the descendants
of the " Princess Sophia " of Hanover, a younger
daughter of a daughter of James I. There were be-
fore her James II., his son, tlie descendants of a
daughter of Charles I., and elder children of her
own mother. But the Whigs passed these over be.-
cause they were Catholies, and selected the Princess
Sophia, who, if she was any thmg, was a Protestant.
Certaiidy this selection was statesmanUke, but it
could not bea^efry popular. It was quite impossible
to say that it was the duty of the Enghsh people to
obey the Ho'use of Hanover upon any principles
which do not concede the right of the people to
choose their riders, and which do not degrade mon-
archy from its solitary pinnacle of majestic reverence,
and make it one only among many expedient uistitu-
tions, {if a king is a useful pnbhc functionary wlio
may be changed, and in whose place you may make
another, you cannot regard him with mystic awe and
wonder: and if you are bound to worship him, of
course you cannot change him, Accordingly, during

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

108 THE EKGLtSH CONSTITUTIO^T.

the whole reigus of George I. and George II, the sen-
timent of religious loyalty altogether ceased to sup-
port the Crown) The prerogative of the king had
no strong party to support it ;f the Tories, who natu-
rally would support it, dislikeir the actual king; and
the Whigs, according to theii- creed, disliked the
king's offieeA Until the accession of George III.
the most vigorous opponents of the Crown were the
country gentlemen, its natural friends, and the rep-
resentatives of quiet rural districts, where loyalty
is mostly to be found, if anywhere. VBut after the
accession of George III. the common feeling came
back to the same point as in Queen Anne's time^
The English were ready to take the new young
prince as the beginning of a sacred line of sover-
eigns, just as they had been willing to take an old
lady who was the second cousin of his great-great-
grandmother. So it is now. If you ask the immense
majority of the Queen's subjects hy what right she
rules, they would never tell you that she rules by
Parliamentary right, by virtue of 6 Anne, c. 7.
They will say she rules by " God's grace ; " they be-
lieve that they have a mystic obhgation to obey her.
When her family came to the Crown it was a sort of
treason to maintain the inalienable right of lineal
sovereignty, for it was equivalent to saying that the
claim of another family was better than hers ; but
now, in the strange course of human events, that
very sentiment has become her surest and best
support.

But it would be a great mistake to believe that at
the accession of George III. the instinctive sentiment
of hci-editary loyalty at once became as useful as

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONAECHY. 109

now. It began to be powerful, but it hardly began,
to be useful. There was so much harm done by it
siH well as so much good, that it is quite capable of
being argued whether on the whole it was beneficial
Of hurtful, iThroughout the greater part of his life
Geoige III. was a kind of " consecrated obstructioii^'
AVhatever he did liad a sanctity different from what
any one else did, and it perversely happened that he
was commonly wrong. He had as good intentions as
any one need have, and he attended to the business of
liis country, as a clerk with his bread to get attends
to the business of his ofRce. But his mind was small,
Ids education limited, and he lived in a changing
time. Accordingly he was always resisting what
ought to be, and prolonging what ought not to be,
He was the sinister but sacred assailant of half his
ministries ; and(w!ien the French revolution excited
the honor of the world, and proved democi'acy to be
" impious," the piety of England concentrated upon
him, and gave him tenfold strengths The monarchy
by its religious sanction now confirms all our pohtical
order ; in George III.'s time it confirmed little except
itself. It gives now a vast strength to the entire
constitution, fey enlisting on ite behalf the credulous
obedieiTce of enormous masses ; then it lived aloof,
absorbed all the holiness into itself, and turned over
all the rest of the polity to the coarse justification of
bare expediency.

A principal reason why the monarchy so well con-
secrates oiu: whole state is to be sought in the pecuU-
arity many Americans and many utilitarians smile at.
They laugh at this " extra," as the Yankee called it,
at the solitary transcendent element. They quote

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

110 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

Napoleon's saying, " that he did not wish to be fatted
in idleness," when he refused to be grand elector in
Si^yes' constitution, which was an office copied, and
M. Tillers says well copied, from constitutional mon-
archy. Biit such objections are wholly wrong. No
doubt it was absurd enough in the Abb^ Sicyes to
propose that a new institution, inheriting no rever-
ence, and made holy by no religion, should be created
to fill the sort of post occupied by a constitutional
king in nations of monarclncal history. Such an
institution, far from being so august as to spread
reverence around it, is too novel and artificial to get
reverence for itself ; if, too, the absurdity could any-
how be augmented, it was so by offering an office
of inactive nselessness and pretended sanctity to
Napoleon, the most active man in France, with the
greatest genius for business, only not sacred, and
exclusively fit for action. (_ But the blunder of Sicyes
brings the excellence of real monarchy to the best
light. When a monarch can bless, it is best that he
should not be touched. It should be evident that he
does no ■wrong. He should not be brought too closely
to realmeasurement. He should be aloof and solitary.
As the functions of English royalty are for the most
part latent, it fulfils this condition. It seems to order,
but it never seems to struggle. It is commonly hidden
like a mystery, and sometimes paraded like a pageant,
but in neither case is it contentious. The nation is
■divided into parties, but the_ Crown is of_no_party..
Its apparent separation'Kira business is tliat wluJdi.i^e-
moves it both from enmities and from desecration,
which preserves its mystery, which enables it to com-
bine the affection of conflicting parties — to be a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE JIOKAKCHY. Ill

visible symbol of unity to tliose still so imperfectly
educated as to need a symbol^

Thir dly . V,Tlie Queen is the head of our society^
If sKe did not exist the Prime Minister would be the
first person in the country. He and bis wife would
have to receive foreign ministers, and occasionally for-
eign princes, to give the first parties in tJie country ;
he and she would be at the head of the pageant of
life ; they would represent England in the eyes of for-
eign nations ; they would represent the Government
of England in the eyes of the Ei^Ush.

It is very easy to imagine a world in which this
change would not be a great evil. In a country
where people did not care for the outward show of
life, where the genius of the people was imtheatiical,
and tiiey exclusively regarded the sijbstanee of thii^,
this matter would be trifling. Whether Lord and
Lady Derby received the foreign ministers, or Lord
and Lady Palmeiston, would be a matter of uidiffcr-
ence ; whether they gave the nicest parties would be
important only to the persona at those parties. A na-
tion of unimpressible philosophers would not care at
all how the externals of life were managed. Who is
the showman is not material unless you care about the
show.

But of all nations in the world the English are per-
haps the least a nation of pure philosophers. It
would be a very serious matter to us to change every
four or five years the visible head of oiu' world. We
are not now remarkable for the highest sort of ambi-
tion ; but we are remarkable for having a great deal
of the lower sort of ambition and envy. ( The House
of Commons is thronged with people who gut there

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

11a THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

merely for " eoclal purposes," as the phrase goes ; thai
is, that tliey and their families may go to parties els(
impossible. Members of Parliament are envied bj
thousands merely for this frivolous gloiy, as a thinkei
calls it. If the highest post in conspicuous life were
thrown open ti3 public competition, this low sort of
ambition and envy would be fearfully increased.^ Pol-
ities would offer a prize too dazzling for mankind;
clever base people would strive for it, and stupid base
people would envy it. (Even now a dang&rous dis-
tinction is given by what is exclusively called public
life.) The newspapers describe daily and incessantly
a ceriain conspicuous existence ; they comment on its
characters, recount its details, investigate its motives,
anticipate ite course. Thej' give a precedent and a
dignity to that world which they do not give to any
other. The literary world, the scientific world, the
philosophic world, not only are not comparable in
dignity to the political world, but in comparison are
hardly worlds at all. The newspaper makes no men-
tion of them, and could not mention them. As are
the papei-s, so are the readers ; they, by irresistible
sequence and association, believe that those people
who constantly figure in the papers are cleverer,
abler, or at any rate somehow higher, than otlier peo-
ple. " I wrote books," we heard of a man saying,
" for twenty years, and I was nohody ; I got into Pai--
liament, and before I had taken my seat I had become
somebody." English pohtieians are the men who fill
the thoughts of the English pubUc; they are the
actors on the scene, and it is hard for the admiring
spectators not to beheve that the admired actor is
greater than themselves. In this present age and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TUB JION'ARCHY, 113

country it would te veiy dangerous to give the sligiit-
est addition to a foree already perilously great. If
the highest social rank was to be scrambled for in the
House of Commons, the number of social adventurers
there wovdd be incalculably more numerous, and in-
definitely more eager.

A very peculiar combination of causes has made
this characteristic one of the most prominent in Eng-
lish society. The middle ages left aU Eiu-ope with a
social system headed by Courts. The government
was made the head of all society, all intercourse, and
all life ; every thing paid allegiance to the sovereign,
and every thing ranged itself round the sovereign —
what was next to be greatest, and what was farthest
least. (The idea that the head of the government is
the head of society is so fixed in the ideas of man-
kind that only a few philosophers regard it as his-
torical and accidental, though, when the matter is
examined, that conciusion is certain and even ob-

In the first place/ society as society does not nat-
urally need a head at all. Vlts constitution, if left to
itself, is not mSnarcific^, but aristocratical) Society,
in the sense we are now talking of, is the \inion of
people for amusement and conversation. TB|e making
of marriages goes on in it, as it were, incidentally,
but its common and main concern is taliiing and
pleasure. There is nothing in this which needs a
single supreme head ,^ it is a pursuit in which a single
person does not of necessity dominate. j(By nature it
creates an " upper ten thousand ; "\a certain number
of persons and families posaessed'of equal culture,
and equal faculties, and equal spirit, get to be on a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

114 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

level — and that level a high level. By boldness, by
cultivation, by " social science " they raise themselves
above others ; they become the " first families," and
all the rest come to be below them. Ent they tend
to be much about a level among one another ; no one
is recognized by all or by many others as superior to
them all. This is society as it grew up in Greece or
Italy, as it grows up now in any American or colonial
town. \ So far from the notion of a " liead of society "
being a necessary notion, in many a^es it would
scarcely have been an intelligible notion J You could
not have made Socrates understand it. He would
have said, " If you tell me that one of mj fellows is
chief magistrate, and that I am bound to obey him, I
understand you, and you speak well ; or that another
is a priest, and that he ought to offer sacrifices to the
gods which I or any one not a priest ought not to
offer, again I underetand and agree with you. But
if you tell me that there is in some citizen a hidden
charm by which his words become better than my
words, and his house better than my house, I do not
follow you, and should be pleased if you will explain
yourself."

(And even if a head of society were a natural idea,
it certainly would not follow that the head of the
civil government should be that head.^ Society as
Bijch has no more to do with civil polity than with
ecclesiastical. The organization of jnen and women
for the puipose of amusement is not necessarily iden-
tical with their organization for political purposes,
any more than with their organization for religions
purposes i it has of itself no more to do with the
State than it has wilh the Church, The ficulties

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONAKCHY. 115

which fit a man to be a great ruler are not those of
society! some great rulers have been unintelligible
like Cromwell, or brusque like Napoleon, or coarse
and barbaroua like Sir Robert Walpole. The light
nothings of the drawing-room and the grave things
of ofGce are as different from one another as two
human occupations can be. There is no naturahiess
ill uniting the two ; the end of it always is, that yon
put a man at the head of society who very likely is
remarkable for social defects, and is not eminent for
social merits.

The best possible commeutajy on these remarks is
the " History of English Royalty." It has not been
sufBciently remarked that a change has taken place
in the structure of our society exactly analogous to
the change in our polity. ^A Republic has insinuated
itself beneath the folds of a Monarchj^ Charles II.
was really the head of society ) Whitehall, in his time,
was the centre of the best talk, the best fashion, and
the most curious love affairs of the age. He did not
contribute good morality to society, but he set an
example of infinite agreeableness. He concentrated
around him all the light part of the high world of
London, and London concentrated around it all the
light part of the high world of England, The Court
was the focus where every thing fascinating gath-
ered, and where every thing exciting centred.
Whitehall was an unequalled club, with female soci-
ety of a very clever and sharp sort superadded. All
this, as we know, is now altered. ( Buckingham Pal-
ace is as unlike a club as any place is likely to be.
The Court is a separate part, which stands aloof from
the rest of the London world, and which has but

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

116 THE EKGLISH CONSTITUTION.

slender relations with the more amusing part o£ in
(The two first Georges were men ignorant of English,
and wholly nnfit to guide aud lead English society)
They both preferred one or t^o German ladies of
bad character to all else in London. (George III. had
no social vices, but he had no social pleasiirea He
was a family man, and a man of business, and sin-
cerely preferred a leg of mutton and turnips after a
good day's work, to the best fashion and the most
exciting talk. / In consequence, society in London,
though still in form under the domination of a Court,
assumed in fact its natural and oligarchical structur^
It, too, has become an " upper ten thousand ; " it is
no more monarchical in fact than the society of New
Tork.t Great ladies give the tone to it with little
reference to the particular Court world. (jThe peculi-
arly masculine world of the elubs and their neighbor-
hood has no more to do in daily life with Buckingham
Palace than with the Tuileries.) Formal ceremonies
of presentation and attendance are retained. The
names of lev^e and drawing-room still sustain the
memory of the time when the king's bed-chamber
and the queen's "withdrawing room" were the cen-
tres of London life, but they no longer make a part
of social enjoyment : they are a sort of ritual in which
now-a-days almost every decent person can if he likes
take part. (Even Court balls, where pleasure is at
least supposed to be possible, are lost in a London
July.y Careful observers have long perceived this,
but it was made palpable to every one by the death
of the Prince Consort. Since then the Court has
been always in a state of suapended animation, and
for a time it was quite annihilated. But every thing

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MOKARCHY. 117

went on as usual. A few people who had no daugh-
ters and little money made it an excuse to give fewer
parties, and if very poor, stayed in the country, but
upon the whole the difference was not perceptible.
The queen bee was taken away, but the hive went
on.

rRefined and original observers have of late objected
to lEnglisb royalty that it is not splendid enough."'
They have compared it with the French Court, which
is better in show, which eomea to the sucface every-
where so that you cannot help seeing it, which is
infinitely and beyond question the most splendid
thing in France. They have said *fthat in old times
the English Court took too much of the nation's
money, and spent it ill ; but now, when it could be
trusted to spend well, it does not take enoagh of
the nation's money.) There are arguments f<ff not
having a Court, and there are arguments for having
a splendid Court; but there are no arguments for
having a mean Court. Ut is better to spend a million
in dazzUng when you wish to dazzle, than three-
quarters of a million in trying to dazzle and yet not
dazzling.') There may be something in this theory ;
it may be that the Court of England is not quite as
gorgeous as we might ivish to sec it. But no com-
parison must ever be made between it and the French
Court. (The Emperor represents a different idea from
the Queen. He is not the head of the State ; he is
the State.jTThe theory of hia government is that
every one inTrance is equal, and that the Emperor
embodies the principle of equality .1 The greater you
mate him, the less, and therefore the more equal, you
make all others. He is magnified that others may be

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

118 THE BNGT.ISH CONSTITUTION.

dwarfed. The very contrary is the principle of Eng-
lish royalty. As in politics it would lose its principal
use if it came forward into the public arena, so in
society, if it advertised itself, it would be pernicious.
We have voluntary show enough already in London ;
we do not wish to have it encouraged and intensified
but quieted and mitigated. ( Our Court is but the
head of an unequal, competing, aristocratic society :
its splendor would not keep others down, but incite
others to come onJ It is of use so long as it keeps
others out of tlie first place, and is guarded and re-
tired in that place. But it would do evil if it added
a new example to our many examples of showy wealth
— if it gave the sanction of its dignity to the race of
expenditure. .

Fouj^^Fi rWe have come to regard the Crown as
the head of our ■moralityj (The 'virtues of Queen
Victoria and the virtues of George IID have sunk
deep into the popular heai-t. We have come to be-
lieve that it is natural to have a virtuous sovereign,
and that the domestic virtues are as likely to be found
on thrones as they are eminent when there. But a
little experience and less thought show that royalty
cannot take credit for domestic excellence,^. Neither
George I., nor Geoige II., nor William IV. were pat-
terns of family merit; George IV. was a mode! of
family demerit.' The plain fact is, that to the dispo-
sition of all others most likely to go wrong, to an
excitable disposition, the place of a constitutional
king has greater temptations than almost any other,
and fewer suitable occupations than almost any other-
All the world and all the glory of it^fcfhatever is
most attractive, whatever is most seductive, has always

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONAECHT. 11^

been offered to the Prince of Wales of the day, and
always will be. It is not rational to expect the best
virtue where temptation is applied in the most trying
form at the frailest time of human life. (_ The occu-
pations of a constitutional monarch are grave, formal,
important, but never exciting ; they have nothing to
stir eager blood, awaken high imagination, work off
wild thoughtsV On men hke Geoi^e III,, with a pre-
dominant taste Tor business occupations, the routine
duties of constitutional royalty have doubtless a
calm and chastening effect.] The insanity with which
he struggled, and in many cases struggled very suc-
cessfully, during many years, would probably have
burst out much oftener but for the sedative effect of
sedulous employment. I But how few princes, have
ever felt the anomalous nnpulse for real work j how
uncommon is that impulse anywhere ; how little are
the circumstances of princes calculated to foster it ;
how little can it he relied on as an ordinary break-
water to their habitual temptations ! Grave and care-
ful men may have domestic virtues on a constitutional
throne, but even these fail sometimes, and to imagine
that men of more eager temperaments will commonly
produce them, is to expect grapes from thorns and
figs from thistles.

Lgfitly. Constitutional royalty has the function
w^h 1 insisted on at length in my last essay, and which,
though it is by far the greatest, I need not now en-
large upon again, (it acta as a di3 aui$£ .f It enables
our real rulers to change without heedless people
knowing it, iThe masses of 'Englishmen are not fit for
an elective government ; if they knew how near they
were to it, they would be surprised, and almost tremble.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

J.20 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

Of a like nature 19 the value of constitutional roy-
alty in times of ti'ansition. The greatest of all helps
to the substitution of a cabinet government for a pre-
ceding absolute monarchy is the accession of a king
favorable to such a government, and pledged to it.
Cabinet government, when new, is weak in time of
to)uble.l The prime minister — the chief on whom
every thing depends, who must take responsibility if
any one is to take it, who must use force if any one is
to use it — is not fixed in power. He holds his place,
by the essence of the government, with some uncer-
tainty. Among a people well accustomed to such a
government such a functiouary may be bold ; he
may rely, if not on the parliament, on the nation
which understands and values him. But when that
government has only recently been introduced, it is
difficult for such a minister to be as bold as he ought to
be- His power rests too much on hirnian reason, and
too Uttle on human instinct. The traditional sti'ength
of the hereditary monarch is at these times of uical-
culable use. Xt would have been .impossible for
England to ^et through the first years after 1688 but
for the singular ability of William Hly It would
have been impossible for Italy to have mtained and
kept her freedom without the help of Victor Emman-
uel ; neither the work of Cavour nor the work of
Garibaldi were more necessary than his. But the
failure of Louis Philippe to use his reservli power as
constitutional monarch is the most instructive proof
how great that reserve power is. In February, 1848,
Guizot was weak because his 'tenure of office was
insecure." Louis Philippe should have made that ten-
ure certain. Parliamentary reform might afterwai'ds

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONAROHX. 121

have been conceded to instructed opinion, but nothing
ought to have been conceded to the mob. The Pari-
sian populace ought to have been put down, as Guizot
wished. If Louis Philippe had been a fit king to
introduce free government, he would have strength-
ened his ministers when they were the instruments
of order, even if he afterwards discarded them when
order was safe, and pohcy could be discussed. But
he was one of the cautious men who are " noted " to
fail in old age :| though of the latest experience, and
of great ability, he failed and lost his crown for want
of petty and momentary energy, which at such a crisis
a plain man would have at once put forth.

Such are the principal modes in which the institu-
tion of royalty by its august aspect influences mankind,
and in the English state of civilization they are inval-
uable. Of the actual business of the sovereign —
the real work the Queen does — I shall speak in my
next paper.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE ENGLISH COITSTlTIia'ION.

THE MOSAECHY, — (Continmd.)

The House of Coninions has inquired into most
things, but has never had a committee on " the
Queen." There is no authentic blue-booh to say
what she does. Such an investigation cannot take
place; but if it could, it -would probably save her
much vexatious routine, and many toilsome and un-
necessary hours.

The popular theory of the English Constitution in-
volves two errors as to the sovereign. (J'irst, in its
oldest form at least, it considers him as an " Estate
of the Realm," a sepaiute co-ordinate authoiity with
the House of Lords and the House of Commons^
Tip and much else the sovereign once was, hut this
he is no longer. That authority could only he exer-
cised by a monar^imth a legislative veto. He
should be able to reject bills, if not as the House of
Commons rejects them, at least as tlie House of Peers
rejects them. But the Queen has no such veto. She
must sign her own death-wari'ant if tlie two Houses
unanimously send it up to her. It is a fiction of the
past to ascribe to her legislative power. She_ has
long ceased to have any. ^^^Secondly, the ancient the-
ory holds that the Queen is the executive^ Tlie
American Constitution was made upon a most care-
ful argument, and most of that argument assumes
the king to be the administrator of the English Con-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THK MONARCHY. r>d

stitution, and an unhereditary substitute for him —
viz., a president — to he peremptorily necessary.
Living across the Atlantic, and misled by accepted
doctrines, the acute framers of the Federal Constitu-
tion, even after the keenest attention, did not per-
ceive the Prime Minister to be the principal executive
of the British Constitution, and the sovereign a cog
in the mechanism. There is, indeed, much excuse
for the American legislators in the history of that
time. They took their idea of our constitution from
the time when they encountered it. But in the so-
called government of Lord North, George III. was
the government. Lord North was not only his ap-
pointee, but his agent. The minister carried on a
war which he disapproved and hated, because it was
a war which his sovereign approved and liked. In-
evitably, therefore, the American Convention believed
the king, from whom they had suffered, to be the real
executive, and not the minister, from whom they had

If we leave literary theory, and look to our actual
old law, it is wonderful how much the sovereign
can do. A few years ago the Queen very wisely
attempted to make life Peers, and the House of
Lords very unwisely, and contrary to its own best
interests, refused to admit her claim. They said her
power had decayed into non-existence ; she once had
it, they allowed, but it had ceased by long disuse,
If any one will run over the pages of Comyn's " Di-
gest," or any other such book, title " Prerogative,"
he will find [the Queen has a hundred such powers
which waver between reahty and desuetude^nd
which would cause a protracted ;ind very interesting

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

124 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

legal ai^ument if she hied to exercise tiiem. Some
good lawyer ought to write a careful book to say
which of these powers are really usable, and which
are obsolete. (There is no authentic explicit infor-
mation aa to wljat tlie Queen can do, any more than
of what she does)

In the bare superficial theory of free institutions
this is undoubtedly a defect. Every power in a pop-
ular government ought to be known. The whole
notion of such a government is that the political peo-
ple — the governing people — rules as it thinks fit.
All the acts of every administration are to be can-
vassed by it ; it is to watch if such acts seem good,
and in some manner or other to interpose if they
seem not good. But it cannot judge if it is to be kept
in ignorance ; it cannot interpose if it does not know.
A secret prerogative is an anomaly__/— perhaps the
greatest of anomahes. That secrecy is, however,
essential to the utility of English royalty as4t now
is. Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced,
and if you begin to poke about it you cannot rever-
ence it. When there is a select committee on the
Queen, the charm of royalty will be gone. Its mys-
tery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon
magic. We must not bring the Queen into the com-
bat of pontics, or she will cease to be reverenced by
all combatants ; she will become one combatant
among many. The existence of this secret power
is, according to abstract theory, a defect in our con-
stitutional pohty, but it is a defect incident to a civ-
ilization such as ours, where august and therefore
unknown powers are needed, as well as known and
serviceable powers.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 125

If we attempt to estimate the working of this inner
power by the evidence of those, whether dead or liv-
ing, who have been brought in contact ivith it, we
shiiU find a singular difference. Both the courtiers
of George III. and the courtiers of Queen Victona
are agreed as to the magnitude of the royal influence.
It h with both an accepted secret doctrine that the
Crown does more than it seems- But there is a wide
discrepancy in opinion as to the quality of that action.
Mr. Fox did not scruple to describe the hidden influ-
ence of George III. as the undetected agency of " an
infernal spirit." The action of the Crown at that
period was the dread and terror of Liberal politi-
cians. But now the best Liberal politicians say,
" We shall never know, but when history is written
our children may know, what we owe to the Queen
and Prince Albert." The myyteiy of the constitu-
tion, which used to be hated by our calmest, most
thoughtful, and instructed statesmen, is now loved
and reverenced by them.

Before we try to account for this change, there is
one part of the duties of the Queen which should be
struck out of tlie discussion. I mean the formal
part. The Queen has to assent to and sign counties^
formal documents, which contain no matter of policyi
of which the purport ia insignificant, which any cler^
could sign as well. One great class of documents
George III. used to read before he signed them, till
Lord Thurlow told him, " It was nonsense his looking
at them, for he could not understand them." But
the worst case is that of commissions in the army.
Till an Act passed only three years since the Queen
used to sign all military commissions, and she still

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

126 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

signs all...£c&sli commissions. The inevitable and
natural consequence is that such commissions ■were,
and to some extent stiU are, in arreara by thousands.
Men have often been known to receive tlieir commis-
sions for the first time years after they have left the
service. If the Queen had been an ordinary officer
she would long since have complained, and long since
have been relieved of this slavish labor. A cynical
statesman is said to have defended it on the ground
" that you may have a fool for a sovereign, and then
it would be desirable he should have plenty of occu-
pation in which he can do no harm." But it is in
truth childish to hfeap formal duties of biisiuess upon
a person who has of necessity so many formal duties
of society. It is a remnant of the old days when
Geoi^e III. would know every thing, however trivial,
and assent to every thing, however insignificant.
These labors of routine may he dismissed from the
discussion. It is not by them that the sovereign
acquires his authority either for evil or for good.

The best mode of testing what we owe to the
Queen is to make a vigorous effort of the imagina-
tion, and see how we should get on without her.
Let us strip cabinet govei-nment of all its accessories,
let us reduce it to its two necessary constituents — a
representative assembly (a House of Commons) and
a cabinet appointed by tliat assembly — and examine
how we should manage with them only. We are so
little accustomed to analyze the constitution ; we are
so used to ascribe the whole effect of the constitution
to the whole constitution, that a great many people
will imagine it to be impossible that a nation should
thrive or even live with only these two simple ele-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 127

ments. But it is upon that possibility that the gen-
eral imitabUity of the English Government depends.
A monarch that can be truly reverenced, a House of
Peers that can be really respected, are historical acci-
dents nearly peculiar to this one island, and entirely
peculiar to Europe. A new country, if it is to be
ciipalile of a cabinet government, if it is not to de-
;.;ra<le it-'-eU 1,0 prf:si<lcntj,'il goviii.'rnncntf muet create
that cabinet out of its native resoui'ces — must not
rely on these old world dibria.

Many modes might be suggested by which a par-
liament might do in appearance what our parliament
does in reality, viz., appoint a premier. But I prefer
to select the simplest of all modes. 'We shall then
see the bare skeleton of this polity, perceive in what
it differs from the royal form, and be quite free from
the imputation of having selected an unduly charm-
ing and attractive substitute.

Let us suppose the House of Commons — existing
alone and by itself — to appoint the premier ciuite
simply, just as the shareholders of a railway choose a
director. At each vacancy, whether caused by death
or resignation, let any member or members have the
rigiit of nominating a successor ; after a proper inter-
val, such as the time now commonly occupied by a
ministerial crisis, ten days or a fortnight, let the
members present vote for the candidate tbey prefer;
then let the Speaker count the votes, and the candi-
date with the greatest number he premier. This
mode of election would throw the whole choice into
the hands of party organization, just as our present
mode does, except in so far as the Crown interferes
with it ; no outsider would ever be appointed, because

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

128 THE ESGLISII COxaTlTUTION.

the immense number of votes which every great
party brings into the field would iiar outnumber
every casual and petty minority. The premier
should not be appointed for a fixed time, hut during
good behavior or the pleasure of parliament. Muta-'
ti» mutandis, subject to the differences now to he
investigated, what goes on now would go on then.
The premier then, as now, must resign upon a vote
of want of confidence, but tlie volition of parliament
would then be the overt and single force in the selec-
tion of a successor, whereas it is now the predomi-
nant though latent force.

It will help the discussion very much if we divide it
into three parts. The whole course of a representar
tive government has three stages — first, when a min-
istry is appointed ; next, during its contuiuance ; last,
when it ends. Let us consider what is the exact use
of the Queen at each of these stages, and how our
present form of government differs in each, whether
for good or for evil, from that simpler form of cabinet
government which might exist without her.

At the beginning of an administration thei'c would
not he much difference between the royal and
unroyal species of cabinet governments when there
were only two great parties in the State, and when
the greater of those parties was thoroughly agreed
within itself who should be its parliamentary leader,
and who therefore should be its premier. The sover-
eign must now accept that recognized leader ; and if
the choice were directly made by the House of Com-
mons, the House must also choose him ; its supreme
section, acting compactly and harmoniously, would
sway its decisions without substantial resistance, and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 129

perhaps without even apparent competition, A pre-
dominant party, rent by no intestine demarcation,
would be despotic. In such a case cabinet govern-
ment would go on without friction whether there was
a Queen or whether there was no Queen. The best
sovereign could then achieve no good, and the worst
effect no harm.

But the difficulties are far greater when tlie pre-
dominant party is not agi'eed who should he its
leader. In the royal form of cabinet government the
sovereign then has sometimes a substantial selec-
tion; ill the unroyal, who woidd choose J* There
must be a meeting at " Willis's Rooms ; " there must
be that soi'fc of interior despotism of the majority over
the minority within the paiiy, by which Lord John
Russell in 1859 was made to resign his pretensions to
the supreme government, and to be content to serve
as a subordinate to Lord Palmerston. The tacit com-
pression which a party anxious for office would exer-
cise over leaders who divided its strength, would be
used and must be used. Whether such a party would
always choose precisely the best man may well be
doubted. In a party once divided it is very difficult
to secure unanimity in favor of the very person whom
a disinterested bystander would recommend. All
manner of jealousies and enmities are immediately
awakened, and it is always difficult, often impossible,
to get them to sleep again. But though such a party
might not select the very best leader, they have the
strongest motives to select a very good leader. The
maintenance of their rule depends on it. Under a
presidential coiLstitution the prehminary caucuses
which choose the president need not cai'e as to the ulti-

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180 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

mate fitness of the man they choose. They are solely
concerned with his attractiveness aa a candidate ;
they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler. If
they elect a man erf weak judgment, he will reign
his stated term ; even though he show the best judg-
ment, at the end of that term there will be by con-
stitutional destiny another election. But under a
ministerial government there is no such fixed destiny.
The government is a removable government ; its ten-
ure depends upon its conduct.! If a party in power
were so foolish as to choose a wealc man for its head,
it would cea^e to be in power. Its judgment is its
life. Suppose in 1859 that the Wliig party had
determined to set aside both Earl Russell and Lord
Palmerston, and to choose for its head an incapable
nonentity, the Whig party would probably liave been
exiled from office at the Sehleswig-Holstein diffi-
culty. The nation would have deserted them, and
Parliament would have deserted them, too ; neitlier
would have endured to see a secret negotiation, on
which depended the portentous alternative of war
or peace, in the hands of a person who was thought
to be weak — who had been promoted because of his
mediocrity — \yhom his own friends did not respect.
A ministerial government, too, is carried on in the
face of day. Its life is in debate, A president may
be a weals man ; yet if he lieep good ministers to the
end of his administration, he may not he found out
— it may still be a dubious controversy whether he is
wise or foolish. But a prime minister must show
what he is. He must meet the House of Commons
in debate ; he must be able to guide tliat assembly in
the management of its business, to gain its ear in

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCIIY. 131

every emergency, to rule it in its hours of excite-
ment. He is conspicuously submitted to a searebiag
test, and if lie fails he must resign.

Nor would any party like to trust to a weak man
the gi'eat power which a cabinet government commits
to its premier. The premier, though elected by par-
liament, can dissolve parliament. Members would be
naturally anxious that the power which miglit desti'oy
their coveted d^ity should be lodged in fit bands.
They dare not place in unfit hands a power wiiieh,
besides, burting the nation, might altogether ruin
them. / We may be sure, therefore, that whenever
the predominant party is divided, the wM-royal form
of cabinet government would secure for us a fair and
able parliamentaiy leader — that it would give us a
good premier, if not the very best. Can it be said
that the royal form does more ?;

In one case I think it may. If the constitutional
monarch be a man of singular discernment, of iin-
prejudiced disposition, and great political knowledge,
he may pick out from the ranks of the divided party
its very best leader, even at a time when the party,
if left to itself, would not nominate him. If the sov-
ereign be able to play the part of that thoroughly
intelligent but perfectly disinterested spectator who
is so prominent in the works of certain moralists, he
may be able to choose better for his subjects than
they would choose for themselves. But if the mon-
arch be not so exempt from prejudice, and have not
this nearly miraculous discernment, it is not likely
that he will be able to make a wiser choice than the
cboice of tbs party itself. He certainly is not under
the same motive to choose wisely. His place is fixed

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132 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

whatever happens, but the failure of an appointing
party depends on the capacity of their appointee.
J There is great danger, too, that the judgment of
ihe sovereign may he prejudiced. For more than
forty yeara the personal antipathies of George III-
materially impaired successive administrations. | Al-
most at the heginniiig of his career he discarded Lord
Chatham : almost at the end he would not permit
Mr. Pitt to coalesce with Mr, Fox. He always pre-
ferred mediocrity ; he generally disliked high ability ;
he always disliked great ideas. If constitutional
monarehs be ordinary men of restricted experience
and common capacity (and we have no right to sup-
pose that hy miracle they will be more), the judgment
of the sovereign will often be worse than the judg-
ment of the party, and he will be very subject to the
chronic danger of preferring a respectful common-
place man, such as Addington, to an independent
first-rate man, such as Pitt.

We shall arrive at the same sort of mixed conclu-
sion if we examine the choice of a premier under
both systems in the critical case of cabinet govern-
ment— U;he case of three parties. This is the ease in
which that species of government is most sure to ex-
hibit its defecte, and least likely to exhibit its merits)
The defining characteristic of that government is the
choice of the executive ruler by the legislative assem-
bly ; but when there are three parties a satisfactory
choice is impossible. - A really good selection is a
selection hy a large majority which trusts those it
chooses, but when there are three parties there is no
such trust. |The numerically weakest has the casting
TOte ; it can determine which candidate shall be chosen.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCny. 133

But it does so under a penalty. Itforfeits the right of
voting for its own candidate. It settles which of otlier
people's favorites shall be chosen, on condition of
abandoning its own favorite. A choice based on such
Bclf-denial can never be a, finfr choice. — it is a choice
at any moment liable to be revoked. The events of
1858, though not a perfect illustration of what I mean,
are a sufficient illustration. The Radical party, acting
apart from the moderate Liberal party, kept Lord
Derby in power. The ultra-movement party thought
it expedient to combine with the non-movement party.
As one of tliem coarsely but clearly put it, " We get
more of oiir way under these men than under the
other men; "hemeantthat, in his judgment, the Tories
would be more obedient to the Radicals than the
Whigs. But it is obvious that a union of oppositea
so marked could not be durable. The Radicals bought
it by choosing the men whose principles wei'e most
adverse to them; the Conservatives bought it by
agreeing to measures whose scope was most adverse
to them. After a short interval the Radicals retui-ned
to their natui'al alliance and their natural discontent
with the moderate Whigs. They used their deter-
mining vote first for a governmeiit of one opuiion and
dien for a government of the contrary opinion.

I am not blaming this policy. I am using it merely
as an illustration. I say that if we imagine this sort
of action greatly exaggerated and greatly prolonged
parliamentary government becomes impossible. If
there iii'e three parties, no two of which will steadily
combine for mutual action, but of which the weakest
gives a rapidly oscillating preference to the two others,
the primary condition of a cabinet polity is not satis-

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184 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOM.

fied. We have not a parliament fit to choose ; we
cannot rely on the selection of a sufficiently permanent
executive, because there is no fixity in the thoughts
and feehngs o£ the choosers.

Under every species of cabinet government, whether
the royal or the rmroyalithis defect can he cured in
one way only. The moderate people of every party
must combine to support the government wlfich, on
the whole, suits every party best.] This is the mode
in which Lord Palmerston's administration has been
lately maintained: a ministry in many ways defective,
but more beneficially vigorous abroad, and more bene-
ficially active at home, than the vast majority of Eng-
lish ministries. The moderate Conservatives and the
moderate Radicals have maintained a steady govern-
ment by a sufficiently coherent union with the moderate
Whigs^ Whether there is a king or no Mng, this
preservative self-denial is the main force on which we
must rely for the satisfactory continuance of a par-
liamentary government at this ite period of greatest
trial. Will that moderation he aided or impaired by
the addition of a sovereign ? Will it be more effect-
ual under the royal sort of ministerial government,
or will it be less effectual ?

If the sovereign has a genius for discernment, the
aid which he can give at such a crisis will be great.
He will select for his minister, and if possible main-
taui as his minister, the statesman upon whom the
moderate party will ultimately fix their choice, but
for whom at the outset it is blindly searching ; being
a man of sense, experience, and tact, he will discern
which is the combination of equilibrium, which is the
section with whom the milder members of tlie other

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 135

sections will at last ally themselves. Amid the shift-
ing trtinsitions of confused parties, it is probable that he
will have many opportunities of exercising a selection.
It iviU rest with him to call either on A B to form
an adminiati-ation or upon X Y, and either may have
a chance of tilal. A disturbed state of parties is in-
consistent with fixity, hut it abounds in momentary
tolerance. Wanting something, hut not knowing \vith
precision what, parties will accept for a brief peiiod
any tliiug, to see whether it may be that unknown
something — to see what it will do. During the long'
succession of wealr governments which begins with
tile resignation of the Duke of Newcastle in 1762 and
ends with the accession of Mr. Pitt in 1784, the vig-
orous will of George III. was an agency of the first
magnitude. If at a period of complex and proti'aeted
division of parties, such as are sure to ofiour often and
last long in every endui'ing parliamentary government,
the extiinsie force of royal selection were always
exercised discreetly, it would be a political benefit of
incalculable value.

But wiU it be so exercised ? A constitutional sov-
ereign must in the common course of government be a
man cf but common ability. I am afraid, looking to
the early acquired feebleness of hereditaiy dynasties,
that we must expect him to be a man of infeiior abil-
ity. Theoiy and experience both teach that the
education of a prince can be but a poor education,
and tliat a royal family will generally have less ability
than other families. "What right have ^ve then to
expect the pei'petual entail on any family of an exquis-
ite discretion, which, if it be not a sort of genius, is
at least as rare as genius ?

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

136 THE ENGLISH COKSTITQTION.

Probably in most cases the greatest wisdom of a
constitutional king would show itself in well consid-
ered inaction. In the confused interval between 1S57
and 1859 the Queen and Prince Albert were far too
wise to obtrude any selection of their owu. If they
had chosen, perliaps they would not have chosen Lord
Pahnerston. But they saw, or may he believed to
have seen, that the world was settling doivn without
them, and that by interposing an extidnsic agency,
they would but delay the beneficial crystallization of
intrinsic forces. There is, indeed, a permanent reason
which would make the wisest king, and the king who
feels most sure of hia wisdom, very slow to use that
wisdom. The responsibility of parliament should be
felt by parliament. So long as parliament thinks it
is the sovereign's business to find a government, it
■wiU be sure not to find a government itself. The
royal form of ministerial government is the worst of
aU forms if it erect the subsidiary apparatus into the
principal force, if it induce the assembly which ought
to perfortn paramount duties to expect some one else
to pei'foi'm them.

It should be observed, too, in fairness to tlie unroyal
species of cabinet government, that it is exempt from
one of the greaEest'and "most characteristic defects of
the royal spe^s. Where there'is no court there can
be no evil influeHc§"Trom a court. "What these influ-
ences are every one Itnows; though no one, hiirdly
the best and closest observer, can say with confidence
and precision how great their effect is. Sir Robert
Walpole, in language too coarse for our modern man-
ners, declared after the death of Queen Cai'oline, that
he woidd pay no attention to tlie king's daughters

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE 3I0NAP.CHY. 137

(" those girls," as lie called them), but would rely
excluaively on Madame de Walmoden, the king's mis-
tress. " The king," says a writer in George IV. 's
time, "is in our favor, and what is more to the
purpose, the Marchioness of Conyngham is so too,"
Everybody knows to what sort of influences several
Italian changes of government since the unity of Italy
have been attributed. These sinister agencies are
likely to be most effective just when every thing else
is troubled, and when, therefore, they are particularly
dangerous. The wildest and wickedest king's mis-
tress would not plot against an invidnerable adminis-
tration. But very many will inti'igue when parliament
is perplexed, when parties are divided, when alterna-
tives are many, when many evil things are possible,
when cabinet government must be difficult.

It is very important to see that a good administra-
tion can be started without a sovereign, because some,
tolonial statesman have doubted it. " I can con-
ceive," it has been said, " that a ministry would go
on well enough without a governor when it was
launched, but I do not see how to launch it," It has
even been suggested that a colony which broke away
from England, and had to form its own government,
might not unwisely choose a governor for life, and
solely trusted with selecting ministers, something like
the Abb-? Sieyes' grand elector. But the introduc-
tion of such an officer into such a colony would in fact
be the voluntary erection of an artificial encumbrance
to it. He would inevitably be a party man. The
most dignified post in the State must be an object of
contest to the great sections into which every active
political community is divided. These parties mix

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138 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

in every thing and meddle in every thing ; and they
neither would nor could permit the most honored
and conspicuous of all stations to be filled, except at
their pleasure. They know, too, that the grand elec-l
tor, the gi'eat chooser of ministries, might be, at a.
sharp crisis, either a good friend or a bad enemy.,
The strongest party would select some one who would
be on their side when he had to take a side, who would:
incline to them when he did incline, who should be a'
constant auxihary to them and a constant impediment;
to their adversaries. It is absurd to choose by con-
tested party election an impartial chooser of ministers.

But it is during the c ontinuance of a feiinistry^ i
rather than at its creation, that the fiinctions of the!
sovereign will mainly interest most persons, and that,
most people will think them to be of the gravest im^l
portance. I own I am myself of that opinion- I
think it may be shown that the post of sovereign over
an intelligent and political people under a constitu-
tional monarchy is the post which a wise^rfian would
choose above any other — where he ivould find the
inteUeetual impulses best stimulated and the worat
intellectual impulses best controlled.

On the duties of the Queen during an administra-
tion we have an invaluable fragment from her own
hand. In 1851 Louis Napoleon had his coup d'dtat ;
in 1852 Lord John Russell had his — he expelled Lord
Palnierston. By a most instructive breach of etiquette
he read in the House a royal memorandum on the
duties of his rival. It is as follows : " The Queen
requires, first, that Lord Palmerston will distinctly
state what he proposes in a given case, in order that
the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is giv-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY. 139

ing her royal sanctioQ. Secondly, having once given
her sanction to such a measure, that it be not arbitra-
rily altered or modified by the minister. ( Such an act
she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the
Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her
constitutional right of dismissing that minister.) She
expects to be kept informed of what passes between
him and foreign ministers before important deckions
are taJtea based upon that intercourse ; to receive the
foreign despatches in good time ; and to have the drafts
for her approval sent to her in sufBeient time to make
herself acquainted with their contents before they
must be sent off."

In adcUtion to the control over particular ministers,
and especially over the foreign minister, the Queen
has a certain control over the Cabinet. The first min-
ister, it is understood, transmits to her authentic infor-
mation of all the most important decisions, together
with what the newspapera would do equally well,
the more important votes in Parliament. He is bound
to take care that she knows every thing which there is
\a know as to the passing polities of the nation. She
has by rigid usage a right to complain if she does not
know of every great act of her ministrj', not only before
it is done, but while there is yet time to consider it
— while it is still possible that it may not be done.

To state the matter shortly, the sovereign has,
under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three
rights —(the right to be consulted, the right to encourH
age, the right to warn.) And a king of great sense
and sagacity would want no othe^. He would find
that liis having no other's would enable him to use
ihc'se with singular efPcct. He would say to his min-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

140 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

ister : " The responsibility of these measures is upon
you. Whatever you think best must be done. What-
ever you think beat shall have my full and effectual
support. £ut you wiR observe that for this reason
and that reason what you propose to do is bad ; for
this reason and that reason what you do not propose
is better. I do not oppose, it is my duty not to op-
pose ; but observe that I warn." Supposing the king
to be right, and to have what kings often have, the
gift of effectual expression, he could not help moving
his minister. He might not always turn his course,
but he would always ti'ouble his mind.

In the course of a long reign a sagacious king would
Iacc[uire an expeiience with which few ministers could
[contend. The king could say : " Have you referred
to the transactions which happened during such and
such an administration, I thuik about fourteen j^ears
ago ? They afford an instructive example of the bad
results which are sure to attend the policy which you
propose. You did not at that time talie so prominent
a part in pubhc life as you now do, and it is possible
you do not fully remember aU the events. I should
recommend you to recur to them, and to discuss them
with your older colleagues who took part in them.
It is unwise to recommence a policy which so lately
worked so ill." The king would indeed have the
advantage which a permanent under-secretary has
over his superior the parliamentary secretary — that
of having shared in the proceedings of the previous
parliamentary secretaries. These proceedings were
pai-t of his own life ; occupied the best of his thoughts,
gave him perhaps anxiety, perhaps pleasure, were
commenced in spite of his dissuasion, or were sanc-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONAEOHy. 141

tioned by his approval. The parliameatary secretary
vaguely remembers that something was done in the
time of some of his predecessor, when he very likely
did not know the least or care the least ahoiit that
sort of public business. He has to begin by learning
painfully and imperfectly what the permanent secre-
tary knows by clear and instant memory. No doubt
a parliamentary secretary always can, and sometimes
does, silence his subordinate by the tecit might of liis
superior dignity. He says : " I do not think there is
much in all that. Many errors were committed at
the time you refer to which we need not now discuss."
A pompous man easily sweeps away the suggestion8|
of those beneath him. But though a minister may so
deal with his subordinate, he cannot so deal with his
king. The social force of admitted superiority by
which he overturned his under-secretary is now not
with him, but against him. He has no longer to regard
the deferential hints of an aclcnowledged inferior, but
to answer the ai^uments of a superior to whom he has
himself to be respectful, George III, in fact knew
the forms of public business as well or better than any
statesman of bia time. If, in addition to his capacity as
a man of business and to his industry, he had possessed
the higher faculties of a discerning statesman, bia
influence would have been despotic. The old Consti-
tution of England undoubtedly gave a sort of power
to the Crown which our present Constitution does not
give. While a majoritj' in parliament was principally
purchased by royal patronage, the king was a party to
the balsam either with his minister or without his
minister. But even under our present constitution a
monai'ch like George III., with high abilities, would

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

142 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

possess the greatest influence. It is known to al'
Etirope that in Belgium King Leopold has exercisec
immense power by the use of such means as I havt
described.

It is known, too, to every one conversant with the
real course of the recent history of Ei'^land, that
Prince Albert really did gain great power in precisely
the same way. He had the rare gifts o£ a constitn-
tional monarch. If his life had been prolonged twenty
years, his name would have been kiio^vn to Europe as:
that of King Leopold is known; While he lived he
was at a disadvantage. The statesmen who had most
power in England were men of far greater experience
than himself. He might, and no doubt did, exercise
a great, if not a commanding influence over Lord
Mahnesbury, but he could not rule Lord Pahnerston.
The old statesman who governed England, at an f^e
when most men are unfit to govern their own fami-
lies, remembered a whole generation of statesmen who
were dead before Prince Albert was born. The two
were of different ages and different natures. The
elahorateness of the German prince — an elaborate-
ness which lias been justly and happily compared with
that of Goethe — was wholly alien to the half- Irish,
half-English statesman. The somewhat boisterous
courage in minor dangers, and the obtrusive use of an
always effectual, but not always refined, common-
place, which are Lord Palmerston'a defects, doubtless
grated on Prince Albert, who had a scholar'a caution
and a scholar's courage. The fects will be known to
our children's children, though not to us. Prince
Albert did much, but he died ere he could have made
his influence felt on a generation of statesmen less

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MOKAECnr. 143

xperienced tlian he was, and anxious to learn from
iiim.

It would be childish to suppose that a conference
l)etween a minister and his sovereign can ever be a
jonference of pure, argument. " The divinity which
ioth hedge a king " may have less sanctity than it
lad, but it still has much sarictity. No one, or
scarcely any one, can argue with a cabinet minister in
lis own room as well as he would ai^ue with another
man in another room. He cannot make his own
points as well ; he cannot unmake as well the points
presented to him. A monarch's room is worse. The
best instance is Lord Chatham, the most dictatorial
and iraperioua of English statesmen, and almost the
first English statesman who was borne into power
against the wishes of the king and against the wishes
of the nobility — the first popular minister. "We
might have expected a proud tribune of the people
to be dictatorial to his sovereign — to be to the king
what he was to all others. On the contrary, he was
the slave of hia own imagination ; there was a kind
of mj^tio enchantment in vicinity to the monarch
which divested him of his ordinary nature, " The
last peep into the king's closet," said Mr. Burke,
" intoxicates him, and will to the end of his life,"
A wit said that, even at the lev^e, he bowed so low
that you could see the tip of his hooked nose between
his legs. He was in the habit of kneeling at the
bedside of George III,' while transacting business.
Now no man can argite on his knees. The same
superstitious feeling which keeps him in that physical
attitude will keep him in a corresponding mental
attitude. He will not refute the bad arguments

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

144 THE ESGIrlSW CONSTITUTION.

of the king as he will refute another man's bad argij
ments. He will not state his own best argument
effectively and incisively when he knows that tlii
kiiig would not like to hear them. In a nearly bal
aneed argument the king must always have the bet
ter, and in politics many most important argument!
are nearly balanced. Whenever there was much U
be said for the king's opinion it would have its fill
weight ; whatever was said for the ]ninister's opinion]
would only have a lessened and enfeebled weight.

The king, too, possesses a power, according to the
ory, for extreme use on a critical occasion, hut whicl
he can in law use on any occasion. He can dissolve
he can say to his minister in fact, if not in words
" This parliament sent you here, but I will see if }
cannot get another parliament to send some one els(
here." | George III. well understood that it was hesi
to take his stand at times and on points when it was
perhaps likely, or at an^- rate not unlikely, the nalioi
would support him. He always made a minister that
he did not like tremble at the shadow of a possiblel
successor. He had a cunning in such mattera like]
the cunning of insanity. He had conflicts .with the|
ablest men of his time, and he was hai'dly ever baf-
fled. He understood how to help a feeble argument
by a tacit threat, and how beat to address it to an
habitual deference.

Perhaps such powers as these are what a T\'ise man
would most seek to exercise and le&Bt fear to possess.
To wish to be a despot, " to hunger after tjTannJ," as
the Greek phrase had it, marks in our day an uncul-
tivated mind. A person who so wishes cannot have
we^hed what Butler calls the " doubtfulness things

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MOKABCHY. 145

ire involved in." To be sure you are right to impose
vour will, or to wish to impose it, with violence upon
others; to see your own ideas vividly and fixedly,
and to be tormented till you can apply them in life
and practice, not to like to hear the opinions of
others, to be unable to sit down and weigh the truth
they have, are but crude states of intellect in our
present civilization. We know, at least, that facts
are many ; that progress is complicated ; that burn-
ing ideas (such as young men have) ace mostly false
and always incomplete. The notion of a far-seeing
and despotic statesman, who can lay down plans for
ages yet unborn, is a fancy generated by the pride of
the human intellect to which facts give no support.
The plans of Charlemagne died with him ; those of
Richelieu were mistaken ; those of Napoleon gigan-
tesque and frantic. But a wise and great constitu-
tional monarch attempts no such vanities. His career
is not in the air ; he labors in the world of sober fact ;
he deaJs with schemes which can be effected —
schemes which are desirable — schemes which arc
worth the cost. He says to the ministry his people
send to him, to ministry after ministry, " I think so
and so ; do you see if there is any thing in it. I
have put down my reasons in a certain memorandum,
which I Tivill give you. Probably it does not exhaust
the subject, but it will suggest materials for your con-
sideration," By years of discussion with ministry
after ministry, the best plans of the wisest king
would certainly be adopted, and the inferior plans,
the impracticable plans, rooted out and rejected. He
could not be uselessly beyond his time, for he would
have been obhged to convince the representatives.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

146 THE ENGLISH COSSTITUKOT^,

the characteristic men of his time. He -would havii
the best means of proYing that he was right on al
new and strange matters, for he woukl have won tii
his side probably, after years of discussion, the choser
agents of the common-place world — men who wert
where they were, hecausw they had pleased the mei
of the existing age, who will never be much disposeq
to new conceptions or profound thoi^'bts, A sagai
cious and original constitutional monarch might go td
his grave in peace if any man could. He would
know that his best laws were in harmony with his
age ; that they suited the people who were to work
them, tlie people who were to be benefited by
them. And he would have passed a happy life. He
would have passed a Ufe in which he could always
get his ai^uments heard, in which he could always
make those who had the responsibility of action
think of them before they acted — in which he could
know that the schemes which he had setatworkin the
world were not the casual accidents of an individual
idiosyncrasy, which are mostly much wrong, but the
likehest of all things to be right — the ideas of one
very intelligent man at last accepted and acted on by
the ordinary intelligent many.

But can we expect such a king, or, for that is the
material point, can we expect a Uneal series of such
kings ? Every one has heard the reply of the Empe-
ror Alexander to Madame de Stael, who favored him
with a declamation in praise of beneficent despotism.
" Yes, Madame, but it is only a happy accident." He
well knew that the great abihties and the good inten-
tions necessary to make an efficient and good despot
never were continuously combined in any line of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE JIONAECHY. 147

■iilers. He knew that they were far out of reach of
lereditary human nature. Can it be said that the
iliaracteristie qualities of a constitutional monarch
ire more within its reach? I am afraid it cannot.
tVe found just now that the characteristic use of an
lereditaiy constitutional monarch, at the outset of
m administration, greatly surpassed the ordinaiy
competence of hereditary faculties. I fear that an
mpartial investigation will establish the same con-
slusion as to his uses during the continuance of an
idministration.

If we look at history, we shall find that it is only
luring the period of tlie present reign tliat in England
the duties of a constitutional sovereign have ever been
well performed. The first two Georges were igno-
rant of English affairs, and wholly unable to guide
bhem, whether well or ill ; for many years in their time
the Prime Minister ha;d, over and above the labor of
managing parliament, to manage the woman — some-
times the queen, somciimes the mistress — who man-
aged the sovereign ; Gooigc i 1 1 . i i.i i.'vfcri!i.l unceasingly,
but he did harm unceasingly ; George IV, and William
IV. gave no steady continuing guidance, and were
unfit to give it. On the Continent, in first-class
countries, constitutional royalty has never lasted out
of one generation. Louis Philippe, Victor Emmanuel,
and Leopold are the founders of their dynasties ; we
must not reckon in constitutional monarchy any more
than in despotic monarchy on the permanence in the
descendants of the peculiar genius which founded
the race. As far as experience goes, there is no rea-
son to expect an hereditary series of useful limited
mouarchs.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

148 THE ENGLISH CONSTITU^'IOS.

If we look to theory, there is even less ret^on t,
expect it. A monarch is useful when he gives aj
effectual and beiieficial guidance to his ministe]^
But these ministers are sure to be among the ables
meji of their time. They will have had to conduc;
the business of parliament so as to satisfy it: the^
wiU have to speak so as to satisfy it. The two togethei
cannot be done save by a man of very great and variecj
ability. The exercise of the two gifts is sure to teacl
a man much of the world ; and if it did not, a pap
liamentary leader has to pass through a magnifleenj
training before he becomes a leader. He has togaiij
a seat in pai'liament ; to gain, the .ear of parliament i
to gain the confidence of parliament ; to gain the conl
'M^ence of his colleagues. No one can achieve these
— no one, still more, can both achieve them and retail
them — without a singular ability, nicely trained ir
the varied detail of life. What chance has an hered-
itary monarch such as nature forces liim to be, suet
as history shows he is, against men so educated and
BO bom? He can but be an average man to begii^
with ; sometimes he will be clever, but sometimes he
will be stupid ; in the long run he will be neither
clever nor stupid : he wiil be the simple, common man
who plods th^lain routine of life from the cradle to
the grave.'ii^Ks education will be that of one who
has never had to struggle ; who has always felt that
he has nothing to gain ; who has had the firet dignity
given him ; who has never seen common life as in
trath it is. It is idle to expect an ordinary man born
in the purple to have greater genius than an ex-
traordinary man born out of the purple ; to expect
a man whose place has always been fixed to have a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE WOITAECHY. 149

jetter judgment than one who has lived by his judg-
nent ; to expect a man whose cai'eer will he the same
flfhether he is discreet or whether he is indiscreet to
lare the nice discretion of one who has risen by his
ivisdora, who will fall if he ceases to be wise.

The characteristic advant^e of a constitutional
Idng is the permanence of his place. This gives him
the opportunity of acquiring a consecutive knowledge
of complex transactions, but it gives only an oppor-
tunitj'. The kuig must use it. There is no royal
road to political affauB : their detail is vast, disagree-
able, compUcated, and miscellaneous. A Mng, to be
the equal of his mmisters in discussion, must work as
they work; he must be a man of business as they
ai'e men of business. Yet a constitutional prince is
the man who is most tempted to pleasure, and the
least forced to business. A despot must feel that he
is the pivot of the State. The stress of his kingdom
is upon him. As he is, so are his affairs. He may
be seduced into pleasure ; he may neglect all else ;
but the risk is evident. He will hurt himself; he
may cause a revolution. If he becomes unfit to gov-
ern, some one else who is fit may conspire against
him. But a constitutional king need fear nothing.
He may neglect his duties, but he will not he injm;ed.
His place \vil! be as fixed, his income as permanent,
his opportunities of selfish enjoyment as full as ever.
Why should he work ? It is true he will lose the quiet
and secret influence which in the course of years
industry would gain for him ; but an eager young
man, on whom the world is squandering its luxuries
and its temptations, wiU not be much attraeted by the
distant prospect of a moderate influence over dull

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

150 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

matters. He may form good intentions ; he may say
" Nejit year I will read these papers ; I will try anc
ask more questions; I will not let these women tall
to me so." But they will talk to him. The mosi
hopeless idleness is that most smoothed with exeellenl
plans. "" The Lord Treasurer," says Swift, "promisee
he will settle it to-night, and so he will say a hundrec,
nights." ' We may depend upon it, the ministry whos^
power will he lessened by the prince's attention wil3
not be too eager to get him to attend.

So it is if the prince come young to the throne ; bu^
the case is worse when he cornea to it old or middleJ
aged. He is then unfit to work. He wOl then have
spent the whole of youth and the first part of man^
hood in idleness, and it is unnatural to expect him ia.
labor. A pleasure-loying lounger in middle hfe will
not begin to work as George III. worked, or as Princ^
Albert worked. The only fit material for a constitu-J
tional king is a prince who begins eai'ly to reign —
who in his youth is superior to pleasure — who in hia
youth is wilhng to labor — who has by nature a geniusi
for discretion. Such kings are among God's greatest
, gifts, hut they are aiso among His rarest.

An ordinary idle king on a constitutional throne
fwiU leave no mark on his time ; he will do little good
and as little harm ; the royal form of cabinet govern-
ment will work in his time pretty much as the unroyal.
The addition of a cypher will not matter though it:
take precedence of the significant figures. But cor-
Tuptio optima pessima. The most evil case of the royal
form is far worse than the most evil case of the un-
royal. It is easy to imagine, upon a constitutional
throne, an active and meddling fool who iilways acts

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MONARCHY, 151

when he should not, who never acts when he should,
who warns his ministers against their judicious meas-
ui'es, who encourages them in their injudieions
measures. It is easy to imagine that such a king
should be the tool of others ; that favorites should
guide him ; that mistresses should corrupt him ; that
the atmosphere of a bad court should be used to
degrade free government,

We have had an awful instance of the dangers of
constitutional royalty. We have had the case of a
meddling maniac. During gi'eat part of his life
George Ill.'a reason was half upset by every crisis.
Throughout his life he had an obstinacy akin to that
of insanity. He was an obstinate and an evil influ-
ence ; he could not be turned from what was inexpe-
dient ; by the aid of his station he turned truer but
weaker men from what was expedient. He gave an
excellent moral example to his contemporaries, but he
is an instance of those whose good dies with them,
while their evil lives after them. He prolonged the
American war, — perhaps he caused the American
war, — so we iuheiit the vestiges of an Ameiican
hatred ; he forbade Mr. Pitt's wise plans, so we in-
herit an Irish difficulty. He would not let us do
r^ht in time, so now our attempts at right are out of
time and fruitless. Constitutional royalty under an
active and half-insane king is one of the worst of
governments. There is in it a secret power which is
always eager, which is generally obstinate, which is
often wrong, which rules ministers more than they
know themselves, which overpowers them much more
than the public believe, which is irresponsible because
it is inscrutable, which cannot be prevented beeaujc

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

152 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

it cannot be seen. The benefits of a good monarch
are almost invaluable, but the evils o£ a bad monarch
are almost irreparable.

We shall find these conclusions confirmed if -we
examine the powers and duties of an English mon-
arch at the break-up of an administration. But the
power of dissolution and the prerogative of creating
peers, the cardinal powers of that moment, are too
important and involve too many complex matters to
be siifficiently treated at the very end of a paper as
long as this.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE Ob' LOBDS.

THE HOUSE or LOEDS,

In my last ' essay I showed that it was possible for
a eonstitutiona! monarch to be, when occasion served,
of first-rate use both at the outset and during the con-
tinuance of an administration ; but that in matter of
fact it was not likely that he would be useful. The
requisite ideas, habits, and faculties far surpass the
usual competence of an average man, educated in the
common manner of sovereigns. The same arguments
are entirely applicable at the close of an administra-
tion. But at that conjuncture the two most singular
prerogatives of an English king — the power of cre-
ating new pee rs and th e power of dissolving' tji e
Commons — come into 'play; and we cannot duly
criticise the use or misuse of these powers till we
know what the peers are and what the House of
Commons is.

The use of the House of Lords — or, rather, of the
Lords, in its dignified capacity — is very great. It
does not attract so much reverence as ihe Queen, but
it attracts very much. The ofBce of an order of
nobility is to impose on the common people — not
necessarily to impose on them what is untrue, yet less
what is hui-tful ; but still to impose on their quiescent
imaginations what would not otherwise be there. The
fancy of the mass of men is incredibly weak ; it can

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

: ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

see nothing without a visible symbol, and there is
much that it can scarcely make out with a symbol,
Nobility_is_^6.._sjiQb,QL.Qf_m.incrr* It has the marks
from which the mass of men alwaj'S used to infer
mind, and often stiU infer it, A common clever man
who goes into a country place will get no reverence ;
but the " old squire " will get reverence. Even after
he is insolvent, when every one knows that his ruin
is but a question of time, he will get five times -as
much respect from the common peasantry as the newly
made rich man who sits beside him. The common
peasantry will listen to his nonsense more submis-
sively than to the new man's sense. An old lord will
get iitfinite respect. His very existence is so far use-
ful that it awakens the sensation of obedience to a
sort of mind in the coarse, dull, contracted multitude,
who could neither appreciate or perceive any other.

The order of nobility is of great use, too, not only
in what it creates, but in what it prevents. It pre-
vents the rule of wealth -:::7 the religion of gold. Th^
is the obvious and natural idol of the Anglo-Saxon.
He is always trying to make money ; he reckons every
thing in coin ; he bows down before a great heap, and
sneers as he passes a little heap. He has a " natural
instinctive admiration of wealth for its own sake."
And within good limits the feeling is quite right. So
long as we play the game of industry vigorously and
eagerly (and I hope we shall long play it, for we
must be very different from what we are if we do
anything better), we shall of necessity respect and
admire those who play successfully, and a little de-
spise those who play unsuccessfully. Whether this
feeling be right or wrong, it is useless to discuss : to

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TEE nOUSE OF LOEDS. 155

a certain degree, it is involuntary : it is not for mor-
tals to settle whether we will have it or not ; nature
settles for us that, within moderate lunite, we must
have it. But the admiration of wealth in many coun-
tries goes far beyond this ; it ceases to regard in any
degree the skill of acquisition ; it respects wealth in
the hands of the inheritor just as much as in the hands
of the maker ; it is a simple envy and love of a heap
of gold as a heap of gold. From this our aristocracy
preserves us. There is no country where a "poor
devil of a millionnaire is so ill off as in England."
The experiment is tried every day, and every day it is
proved that money alone — money pur et simple —
will not buy " London Society." Money is kept down,
and, so to say, cowed by the predominant authority
of a different power.

But it may be said that this is no gain ; that wor-
ship for worship, the worship of money is aa good as
the worship of rank. Even granting tiiat it were so,
it is a gi'eat gain to society to have two idols ; m the
competition of idolatries, the true worship gets a
chance. But it is not true tliat the reverence for
rank — at least, for hereditary rank — is as base as
the reverence for money. As the world has gone,
manner has been half-hereditary in certain castes, and
manner is one of the iine arts. It is the style of
society ; it is in tlie daily spoken intercourse of hu-
man beings what the art of literary expression is in
their occasional written intercourse. In reverencing
wealth we reverence not a man, but an appendix to
a man ; in reverencing inherited nobility, we rever-
ence the probable possession of a great faculty — the
faculty of bringing out what is in one. The uneon-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

156 THE ENGLISH: CONSTITUTION.

scious grace of life m-ay be in the middle classes :
finely mannered persona are born everywhere ; but
it ougH to be in the aristocracy ; and a man must be
bom with a hitch in bis nerves if he has not some
of it. It is a physiological possession of the race, ■
though it is sometimes wanting in the individual.

There is a third idolatry from which that of rank
preserves us, and perhaps it is the worst of an}' —
that of oiSce. The basest deity is a subordinate
employ^, and yet just now in civilized governments
it is the commonest. In France and all the best of
the Continent it rules like a superstition. It is to no
purpose that you prove that the pay of petty officials
is smaller than mercantile pay ; that their work is
more monotonous than mercantile work ; that their
mind is less useful and their life more tame. They
are still thought to be greater and better. They are
dieorSa ; they have a little red on the left breast of
their coat, and no argument will answer that. In Eng-
land, by the odd course of our society, what a the-
orist would desire has in fact turned up. The gi'eat
offices, whether permanent or parliamentary, which
require mind now give social prestige, and almost
only those. An Under-Secretary of State with
i£2,000 a-year is a much greater man than the di-
rector of a finance company with ,£5,000, and the
country saves the difference. But except in a few
ofBces like the Treasury, which were once filled with
aristocratic people, and have an odor of nobihty at
second-hand, minor place is of no social use. A big
grocer despises the exciseman ; and what in many
countries would be thought impossible, the exciseman
envies the grocer. Solid wealth tells where there is

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE or LORDS. 157

no artificial dignity given to petty piiblic functions.
A clerk in the public service is " nobody ; " and you
could not make a common Englishman see why he
should be anybody.

But it must be owned that this turning of society
into a political expedient has half spoiled it. A great
part of the " best " English people keep their mind
in a state of decorous dulneas. They maintain their
dignity ; they get obeyed ; they are good and chari-
table to their dependants. But they have no notion
of flay of mind ; no conception that the charm of
society depends upon it. They think cleverness an
antic, and have a constant though needless horror of
being thought to have any of it. So much does this
stiff dignity give the tone, that the few Englishmen
capable of social brilliancy mostly secrete it. They
resei-ve it for persons whom they can trust, and whom
they know to be capable of appreciating its nuances.
But a good government is well worth' a great deal of
social dulness. The dignified toi-por of English soci-
ety 18 inevitable if we give precedence, not to the
cleverest classes, but to the oldest classes, and we
have seen how useful that is.

The social prestige of the aristocracy is, as every
one knows, immensely less than it was a hundred
years or even fifty years since. Two great move-
ments — the two gi-eatest of modern society — have
been unfavorable to it. The rise of industrial wealth
in countless forms has brought in a competitor which
has generally more mind, and which would be supreme
were it not for awkwardness and intellectual ffSne,
Every day our companies, our railways, our deben-
tures, and our shares, tend more and more to multi-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

158 THE ENGLISH COXSTITUTIOS.

ply these surroundings of the aristocracy, and in
time they will hide it. And while thia undergrowth
has come up, the aristocracy have come down. They
have less means of standing out than they used to
have. Their power is in their theatrical exhibition,
in their state. But society is every day becoming' less
stately. As our great satirist has observed, " The
last Duke of St. David's used to cover the north road
with his carriages; landladies and waiters bowed
before him. The present Duke sneaks away from
a railway station, smoking a cigar, in a brftugliam."
The aristocracy cannot lead the old life if they
would ; they are ruled by a stronger power. They
suffer from the tendency of all modern society fo
raise the average, and to lower — comparatively, and
perhaps absolutely, to lower — the summit. As the
picturesqueness, the featureliness, of society dimin-
ishes, aristocracy loses the single insti-ument of its
peculiar power.

If we remember the great reverence which used to
b^paid to nobility as such, we shall he surprised that
the House of Lords, as an assembly, has always been
inferior ; that it was always just as now, not the
first, but the second of our assemblies. I am not, of
course, now speaking of the middle ages ; I am not
deahng with the embryo or the infant form of our
Constitution ; I am only speaking of its adult form.
Take the times of Sir E. Walpole. He was Prime
Minister because he managed the House of Com-
mons ; he was turned out because he was beaten on
an election petition in that House : he ruled Eng-
land because he ruled that House. Yet the nobihty
were then the governing power in England. In many

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 159

districts tlae word of some lord was law. The
" wicked Lord Lowther," as he was called, left ;i
name of terror in WeKtmorelaiid during the memorj-
of men now living, A great part of the borough
members and a great part of the county members
were their nominees ; an obedient, unquestioning
deference was paid them. As individuals the peers
were the greatest people ; as a House the collected
peers were but the second House.

Several causes contributed to create this anomaly,
but the main cause was a natural one. The House
of Peers has nevei' been a House where the most im-
portant peers were most important. It could not bo
so. The qualities which fit a man for marked emi-
nence, in a deliberative assembly, are not hereditaiy,
and are not coupled with great estates. In the na-
tion, in the provinces, in his own province, a Duke
of Devonshire, or a Duke of Bedford, was a much
greater man than Lord Thurlow. They had gre;it
estates, many boroughs, innumerable retainers, fol-
lowings like a court. Lord Thurlow had no bor-
oughs, no retainers ; he lived on his salary. Till
the House of Lords met, the dukes were not only
the greatest, but immeasurably the greatest. But as
soon as the House met, Lord Thurlow became the
greatest. He could speak, and the others could not
speak. He could ti'ansact business in half an hour
which tliey could not have transacted in a day, or
could not have transacted at all. When some foolish
peer, who disliked his domination, sneered at his
birth, he had words to meet the case : he said it wii;;
better for any one to owe his place to his own exer-
tions than to owe it to descent, to being the " acci-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

160 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

dent of an accident." But such a House as this
could not be pleasant to great noblemen. They
could not like to be second in tlieir own assembly
(and yet that was their position from age to age) to
a lawyer who was of yesterday, — whom everybody
could remember without briefe, — who had talked
for "hire," — who had "hungered after six-and-
eightpence." Great peers did not gain glory from
the House ; on the contrary, they lost glory when
they were in the House. They devised two expe-
dients to get out of this difficulty ; they invented
proxies which enabled them to vote without being
present, — without being offended by vigor and in-
vective, — without being vexed by ridicule, — with-
out leaving the rural mansion or the town palace
where they were demigods. And what was more
effectual still, they used tlieir iniluence in the House
of Commons instead of the House of Lords. In
that indirect manner a rural potentate, who half
returned two county members, and wholly returned
two borough members, — who perhaps gave seats to
members of the Government, who possibly seated the
leader of the Opposition, — became a much greater
man than by sitting on his own bench, in his own
House, hearing a chancellor talk. The House of
Lords was a second-rate force, even when the peers
were a first-rate force, because the greatest peers,
those who had the greatest social importance, did not
care for their own House, or like it, but gained great
part of their political power by a hidden but potent
influence in the competing House.

When we cease to look at the House of Lords
under its digniiied aspect, and come to regard it

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THK flOXiSE OF LORDS. 161

under its stiictly useful aspect, v,-e find the literary
theory of the English Constitution wholly wrong, as
usual. This Uieory says that the House of Lords is
a co-ordiuiite estate of the realm, of equal ]'ank with
the House of Commons ; that it is the aristocratic
branch, just as the Commons is the popular branch;
and that by the principle of our Constitution the
aristocratic l)ranch has equal authority with the
popular bi-aneh. So utterly false is this doctJine that
it is a remarkable peculiarity, a capital excellence of
the British Constitntion, that it contains a sort of
Upper House, which is not of equal authority to the
Lower House, yet still has some authority.

The evil of two co-equal Houses of distinct natures
is ohvious. Each House can stop all legislation, and
yet some Jegislation may be necessary. At this
moment we have the best instance of this which
could he conceived. The Upper House of our Vic-
torian Constitution, representing the rich wool-
growers, has disagreed with the Lower Assembly,
and most business is suspended. But for a most
curious stratagem the machine of government would
stand still. Most constitutions have committed this
blunder. The two most remarkable Republican
institutions in the world commit it. In both the
American and the Swiss Constitutions the Upper
House has as much authority as the second ; it could
produce the maximum of impediment — the dead-
lock, if it liked ; if it does not do so, it is owing not
to the goodness of the legal constitution, but to the
discreetness of the members of the Chamber. In
both these constitutions this dangerous division is
defended by a peculiar doctrine with which I have

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

1G2 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

nothing to do now. It is said that there must be
in a Federal Government some institution, some
authority, some body possessing a veto in which the
separate States composing the Confederation are all
equal. I confess this doctrine has to me no self-
evidenee, and it is assumed, but not proved. The
State of Delaware is not equal in power or influence
to the State of New York, and you eannot make it
so by giving it an equal veto in an Upper Chamber.
The history of such an institution is indeed most
natural, A little State will like, and must like, to
see some token, some memorial mark of its old inde-
pendence preserved in the Constitution by which
that independence is extinguished. But it is one
thing for an institution to be natural, and another
for it to be expedient. If indeed it be that a Fed-
eral Government compels the erection of an Upper
Chamber of conclusive and co-ordinate authority, it
is one more in addition to the many other inherent
defects of that kind of government. It may be
necessary to have the blemish, but it is a blemish
just as much.

There ought to be in every Constitution an avail-
able authority somewhere. The sovereign power
must be come-at-able. And the English have made
it so. The House of Lords, at the passing of the
Reform Act of 1832, was as unwilling to concur with
the House of Commons as the Upper Chamber at
Victoria to concur with the Lower Chamber. But it
did concur. The Crown has the authority to create
new peers ; and the king of the day had promised
the ministry of the day to create them. The House
of Lords did not like the precedent, and they

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE MOUSE OS' LORDS. 163

passed tlie Bill. The power was not used, liut its
existence was as useful as its energy. Juat as tlie
knowledge that his men can strike makes a master
yield in order that they may not strike, so the knowl-
edge that their House could be swamped at the will
of the king — at the will of the people — made the
Lords yield to the people.

From the Reform Act the function of the House
of Lords has heen altered in English history. Before
that Act it was, if not a directing Chamber, at least
a Chamber of Directors. The leading nobles, who
had most iniluenee in the Commons, and swayed the
Commons, sat there. Aristocratic influence was so
powerful in the House of Commons, that there never
was any serioiis breach of unity. When the Houses
quaiTeUed, it was, as in the great Aylesbury case,
about their respective privileges, and not about the
national policy. The influence of the nobility was
then so potent, that it was not necessary to exert it.
The English Constitution, though then on this point
very different from what it now is, did not even then
contain the blunder of the Victorian or of the Swiss
Constitution, It had not two Houses of distinct
origin ; it had two Houses of common origin — two
Houses in which the predominant element was the
same. Thedanger of discordance was obviated by
a latent unity.

~^ince the Reform Act the House of Lords has
become a revising and suspending House. It can
alter Bills ; it can reject Bills on which the llou-se
of Commons is not yet thoroughly in earnest ■ — upon
which the nation is not yet determined. Their veto
is a sort of hypothetical veto. They say, "VVe reject

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

164 THE ENGLISH 00>rSTITUTIOK.

your Bill for this once, or these twice, or even these
thrice ; but if you keep on sending it up, at Inst we
won't reject it. The House has ceased to be one of
latent directors, and has become one of temporary
rejectors and palpable alterers.

It is the sole claim of the Duke of Wellington to
the name of a statesman that he presided over this
change. He wished to guide the Lords to their true
position, and he did guide them. In 1846, in the
crisis of the Corn-Law struggle, and when it was a
question whether the House of Lords should resist
or yield, he wrote a very curious letter to the late
Lord Derby : —

" For many years, indeed from the year 1830, when
I retired from office, I have endeavored to manage the
House of' Lords upon the principle on which I con-
ceive that the institution exists in the Constitution
of the country, that of Conservatism. I have invaii-
ably objected to all violent and extreme measures,
which is not exactly the mode of acquiring influence
in a pohtical party in England, particularly one in
opposition to Government. I have invariably sup-
ported Government in Parliament upon important
occasions, and have alwa}'s exercised my personal
influence to prevent the mischief of any thing like.
a difference or division between the two Houses, —
of which there are some remarkable instances, to
which I will advert here, as they will tend to show
you the nature of my management, and possibly, in
some degree, account for the extraordinary power
which I have for so many years exercised, without
any apparent claim to it.

•' Upon finding the difficulties in which the late

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LOKDS. 165

King Williiim was involved by a promise mado to
create peers, the number, I believe, indefinite, I de-
teiinined myself, and I prevailed upon others, the
number very large, to be absent from the House in
the discussion of the last stages of the Reform BiU,
after the negotiations had failed for the formation
of a new Administration. This course gave at the
time great dissatisfaction to the party; notwith-
standing that I believe it saved the existence of the
House of Lords at the time and the Constitution of
the country.

" Subsequentlj', throughout the period from 1835
to 1841, I prevailed upon the House of Lords to de-
part from many principles and systems which they as
well as I had adopted and votted on Irish tithes, Irish
corporations, and other measures, much to the vexa-
tion and lumoyance of many. But I recollect one
particular measure, the union of the provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada, in the early stages of
which I had spoken in opposition to the meaaure, and
had protested against it ; and in the last stages of it
I prevailed upon the House to i^'ee to, and pass it,
in order to avoid the injury to the public interests of
a dispute between the Houses upon a question of
such importance. Then I supported the measures
of the Government, and protected the servant of
the Government, Captain Elliot, in China. All of
which tended to weaken my influence with some
of the party ; others, possibly a majority, might have
approved of the course which I took. It was at the
same time well known that, from the commencement
at least of Lord Melbourne's Government, I was in
constant eoiiimunieation with it, upon all mililary

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

166 THE EKGLiail CONSTITUTION.

matters, whether oeeurring at home or abroad, at all
events. But likewise upoo many others.

" All this tended, of course, to diminish my influ-
ence in the Conservative party, while it tended essen-
tially to the ease and satisfaction of the Sovereign,
and to the maintenance of good order. At length
came the resignation of the Government by Sir Rob-
ert Peel, in the month of December last, and the
Queen desiring Lord John Russell to form an Ad-
ministration. On the 12th of December the Queen
wrote to me the letter of which I enclose the copy,
and the copy of my answer of the same date ; of
which it appears that you have never seen copies,
although I communicated them immediately to Sir
Robert Peel. It was impo&iible for me to act other-
wise than is indicated in my letter to the Queen. I
am the servant of the Crown and people. I have
been paid and rewarded, and I consider myself re-
tained ; and that I can't do otherwise than serve as
required, when I can do so without dishonor, that is
to say, as long as I have health and strength to ena-
ble me to serve. But it is obvious that there is, and
there must be, an end of all connection and counsel
between party and me. I might with consistency,
and some may think that I ought to, have declined to
belong to Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet on the night of
the 20th of December. But my opinion is, that if
I had. Sir Robert Peel's Government would not have
been framed ; that we should have had ^ — and — ^ —
in office next morning.

" But, at all events, it is quite obvious that when
that arrangement comes, which sooner or later must
come, there will be an end to all influence on my

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LOKDS. 167

part over the Conservative party, if I should be so
indiscreet as to attempt to exercise any. You will
see, therefore, that tlie stage is quite clear for you,
and that you need not apprehend the consequences of
differing in opinion from me when you will enter upon
it ; as in truth I have, by my letter to the Queen of
the 12th of December, put an end to the connection
between the party and me, when the party will be in
opposition to lier Majesty's Government.

" My opinion is, that the great object of all is that
you should assume the station, and exercise the in-
fluence, which I have so long exercised in the House
of Lords. The question is, how is that object to be
attained ? By guiding their opinion and decision, or
hy following it? You will see that I have endeav-
ored to guide their opinion, and have succeeded upon
some most remarkable occasions. But it has been by
a good deal of management.

" Upon the important occasion and question now
before the House, I propose to endeavor to induce
them to avoid to involve the country in the addi-
tional diflSculties of a difference, of opinion, possibly
a dispute between the Houses, on a question in the .
decision of which it has been frequently asserted that
then- lordships had a personal interest ; which asser-
tion, however false as affecting each of them person-
ally, could not be denied as affecting the proprietors
of land in general. I am aware of the difficulty, but
Idon't despair of carrying the Bill through. You must
be the best judge of the course which you ought to
take, and of the course most likely to conciliate the
confidence of the House of Lords. My opinion is,
that you should advise the House to vote that which

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

168 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

would tend most, lo public order, and would be most
beneficial to the immediate interests of the country."

This is the mode in which the House of Lords
came to be what it now is, a chamber with (in most
cases) a veto of delay, with (in most eases) a power
of revision, but with no other rights or powers. The
question we have to answer is, " The House of Lords
being such, what is the use of the Lords? "

The common notion evidently fails, that it is a bul-
wark against imminent revolution. As the Duke's
letter in every line evinces, the wisest members, the
guiding members of the House, know that the House
must yield to the people if the people is detennined.
The two cases — that of the Reform Act and the
Corn Laws — were decisive cases. The great major-
ity of the Lords thought Reform revolution ^Fi*ee-
trade confiscation, and the two together ruin. If
they could ever have been trusted to resist the peo-
ple, they would then have resisted it. But in truth
it is idle to expect a second chamber — a chamber of
notables — ever to resist a popular chamber, a nation's
chamber, when that chamber is vehement and the
nation vehement too. There is no strength ta it for
that purpose. Every class chamber, every minority
chamber, so to speak, feels weak and helpless when
the nation is excited. In a time of revolution there
are but two powers, the sword and the people. The
executive commands the sword; the great lesson
which the First Napoleon taught the Parisian popu-
lace — the contribution he made to the theory of rev-
olutions at the 18th Brumaire — is now well known.
Any strong soldier at the head of the army can use
the army. But a second chamber cannot use it. It

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LOKDS. 169

is a pacific assembly, composed of timid peers, aged
lawyers, or, as abroad, clever littSrateurs. Such a
body has no force to put down the nation, and if the
nation will have it do something it must do it.

The very nature, too, as has been seen, of the Lords
in the English Constitution, shows that it cannot stop
revolution. The constitution contains an exceptional
provision to prevent its stopping it. The executive,
the appointee of the popular chamber and the nation,
can make uew peers, and so create a majority in the
peers ; it can say to the Lords, " Use the powers of
your House as we like, or you shall not use them at
■ all. We will find others to use them ; your virtue
shall go out of yon if it is not used as we like, and
stopped when we please." An assembly under such
a threat cannot arrest, and could not be intended to
arrest, a determined and insisting executive.

In fact the House of Lords, as a House, is not a-
bulwark that will keep out revolution, but an index
that revolutionis unlikely. Resting as it does upon
old deference^ and inveterate, homage, it shows that
the spasm of new forces, the outbreak of new agen-
cies, which we caJl revolution, is for the time simply
impossible. So long as many old leaves linger on tlie
November trees, you know that there has been little
frt^t and no wind : just so while the House of Lords
retains much power, you may know that there is no
desperate discontent in the country, no wild agency
likely to cause a great demolition.

There used to be a singular idea that two chambers
— a revising chamber and a suggesting chamber —
were essential to a free government. The iii'st per-
son who threw a hai'd stone — an effectually hitting

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

170 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

stone — against the theory was one very little likely
to be favorable to democratie infiuence, or to be blind
to the use of aristocracy ; it was the present LoM
Grey. He had to look at the matter practically. lie
was the first great colonial minister of England who
ever set himself to introduce representative institu-
tions uito all her capable colonies, and the difficulty
stared him in the face that in those colonies there
were hardly enough good people for one assembly, and
not near enough good people for two assemblies. It
happened — and most naturally happened — that a
second assembly was mischievous. The second as-
sembly was either the nominee of the Crown, which
in such places naturally allied itself with better in-
structed minds, or was elected by people with a
higher property qualification — some peculiarly well-
judging people. Both these choosers choose tlie best
men in the colony, and put them into the second as-
sembly. But thus the popular assembly was left
without those best men. The popular assembly was
denuded of those guides and those leaders who would
have led and guided it best. Those superior men were
put aside to talk to one another, and perhaps dispute
with one another ; they were a concentrated instance
of high but neutralized forces. They \\ished to do
good, but they could do nothing. The Lower House,
with all the best people in the colony extracted, did
what it liked. The democracy was strengthened rather
than weakened by the isolation of it« best opponents
in a weak position. As soon as expeiienee had shown
this, or seemed to show it, the theory that two cham-
bers were essential to a good and free government
vanished away.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LOKDS. 171

With a perfect Lower House it is certain that an
Upper House would be scarcely of any value. If we liad
an ideal House of Commons perfectly representing the
nation, always moderate, never passionate, abounding
in men of leisure, never omittir^ the slow and steady
forms necessary for good consideration, it is certain
that we should not need a higher chamber. The work
would be done so well that we should not want any
one to look over or revise it. And whatever is un-
necessary in government is pernicious. Human life
makes so much complexity necessary that an artificial
addition is sure to do harm i you cannot tell where the
needless bit of machinery will catch and clog the hun-
dred needful wheels ; but the chances are conclusive
that it will impede them somewhere, so nice are they
and so deUcate. But though beside an ideal House
of Commons the Lords would be unnecessary, and
therefore pernicious, beside the actual House a revis-
ing and leisured legislature ia extremely useful, if not
quite necessary.

At present the chance majorities on minor ques-
tions in the House of Commons are subject to no eifeetr-
ual control. The nation never attends to any but the
principal matters of pohcy and state. Upon these it
forms that rude, rough, ruling judgment which we
call public opuiion ; but upon other things it does not
thiidi at all, and it would be useless for it to think.
It has not the materials for forming a judgment : the
detail of Bills, the instrumental part of policy, the
latent part of legislation, are wholly out of its way.
It knows nothuig about them, and could not find time
or labor for the careful investigation by which alone
they can be apprehended. A casual miijoriry of the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

172 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

House of Commons has therefore Jominaot power;
it can legislate as it wishes. And though the whole
House of Commons upon great subjects very fairly
represents public opinion, and though its judgment
upon minor questiona is, from some secret excellen-
cies iu its composition, remarkably sound and good ;
yet, like all similar assemblies, it is suhjeot to the sud-
den action of selfish combinations. There are said to
be two hundred " memhers for the raUwajT, " in the
present Parliament. If these two hundred choose to
combine on a point which the public does not care
for, and which they care for because it affects their
purse, they are absolute. A formidable sinister inter-
est may always obtain the complete command of a
dominant assembly by some chance and for a moment,
and it is therefore of great use to have a second cham- '
ber of an opposite sort, differently composed, in which
that interest in all likeHhood will not rule.

The most dangerous of all sinister interests is that of
the executive Government, because it is the most pow-
erful. It is perfectly possible — it has happened, and
Avill happen again — that the Cabinet, being very
powerful in the Commons, may inflict miuoi' measures
on the nation which the nation did not like, but
which it did not miderstand enough to forbid. If,
therefore, a tribunal of revision can be found in which
the executive, though powerful, is less powerful, the
government will be the better ; the retarding chamber
will impede minor instances of parliamentary tyranny,
tltough it wiU not prevent or much impede revolution.

Every large assembly is, moreover, a fluctuating
body; it is not one house, so to say, but a set of houses ;
it is one set of men to-niglit and another to-morrow

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOL'SE OF LORDS, 173

night. A eertain unity is doubtless preserved by tlie
duty which the executive is supposed to undertake,
and does undertake, of keeping a house ; a constant
element is so provided about which ail sorts of vari-
ables accumulate and pass away. But even after due
allowance for the full weight of this protective machin-
ery, our House of Commons is, as ail such chambers
must be, subject to sudden turns and bursts of feeling,
because the members who compose it change from time
to time. The pernicious result is perpetual in our
legislation ; many acts of Parliament are medleys of -
different motives, because the majority which passed
one set of its clauses is different from that 'which
passed another set.

But the greatest defect of the House of Commons
is that it has no leisure. The life of the House is the
worst of ail lives — a life of distracting routine. It
has an amount of business brought before it such as
no similar assembly ever has had. The British em-
pire is a miscellaneous aggregate, and each bit of the
segregate brings its bit of business to the House of
Commons. It is India one day and Jamaica the next :
then j^ain China, and then Schleswig-Holstein. Our
legislation touches on all subjects, because our coun-
try contains all ingredients. The mere questions
which are asked of the ministers run over half human
affairs ; the Private Bill Acts, the mere priviUgla of
our Government — subordinate as they ought to be —
probably give the House of Commons more absolute
work than the whole business, both national and pii-
vflte, of any other assembly which has ever sat. The
whole scene is so encumbered with changing business,
that it is hard to keep }our head in it.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

174 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

Whatever, too, may be the case hereafter, when a
better system has been struck out, at present the
House does all the work of legislation, all the detail,
and all the clauses itself. One of the most helpless
exhibitions of helpless ingenuity and wasted mind
is a committee of the whole House on a BUI of many
clauses which eager enemies are trying to spoil, and
various &iends are trying to mend. An Act of Parlia-
ment is at least as complex as a marriage settlement;
and it is made much as a settlement would be if it were
left to the vote and settled by the major part of persons
concerned, including the unborn children. There is an
advocate for every interest, and every interest elamora
for every advantage. The executive Government by
means of its disciplined forces, and the few invaluable
members who sit and think, preserves some sort of
unity. But the result is very imperfect. The best
test of a machine is the work it tumsBli t. Let any one
who knows what legal documents ojight to be, read
first a will he has just been making anfl then an Act
of Parliament ; he will certainly say, "I would have
dismissed my attorney if he had done my business
as the legislature has done the nation's business."
While the House of Commons is what it is, a good
revising, regulating, and retarding House would be a
benefit of great magnitude.

But is the House of Lords such a chamber? Does
it do this work ? This is almost an undiscussed ques-
tion. The House of Lords, for thirty years at least,
has been in popular discussion an accepted matter.
Popular passion has not crossed the path, and no
vivid imagination has been excited to clear the mat-
ter up.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE 0"F LORDS. 175

The House of Lords has the greatest merit which
such a chamber can have ; it ia possible. It ia incred-
ibly difficult to get a reviaing aasembly, becauae it is
difficult to find a class of respected revisera, A fed-
eral senate, a second House, which represents State
Unity, has this advantage ; it embodies a feeling at
the root of society — a feeling which is older than
complicated politics, which is stronger a thousand
times over than common political feelings — the local
feeling. " My shirt," said the Swiss state-right pa-
triot, " ia dearer to me than my coat." Every State
in the American Union would feel that disrespect to
the Senate was disrespect to itaelf. Accordingly, the
Senate is respected : whatever may be the merits or
demerits of its action, it can act ; it is real, independ-
ent, and elRcient. But in common governments it is
fetally diiBeult to make an wnpopular entity power-
ful in a popular government.

It is almost the same thing to say that the House
of Lords is indepei"j?.ent. It would not be po^verful,
it would not be possible, unless it were known to be
independent. The Lords are in several respects more
independent than the Commons ; their judgment may
not be so good a judgment, but it is emphatically
their own judgment. The House of Lords, as a
body, is accessible to no social bribe. And this, in
our day, is no light matter. Many members of the
House of Commons, who are to be influenced by no
other manner of cormption, are much influenced by
thia its most insidious sort. The conductoiw of the
press and the writers for it are worse — at least the
more influential who come near the temptation ; for
" position ," as they call it, for a certain intimacy with

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

170 THE EKGLISH CONSTITUTION.

the aristocracy, some of them would do almost any-
thing and say almost any thing. Bat the LokIs are
those who give social bribes, and not tliose who take
them. They are above corruption because they ai'e
the^CQirupteST" They have no constituency to fear
or wheedle ; they have the best means of forming a
disinterested and cool judgment of any class in the
country. They have, too, leisure to form it. They
have no occupations to distract them which are Morth
the name. Field sports are hut playthmgs, though
some Lords put an Englishman's seriousness into
them. Few Englishmen can bury themselves in sci-
ence or literature ; and the aristocracy have less, per-
haps, of that impetus than the middle classes. Society
is too correct and dull to be an occupation, as in
other times and ages it has been. The aristocracy live
in the fear of the middle classes — of the grocer and
the merchant. They dare not frame a society of
enjoyment as the French aristocracy once formed it.
Polities are the only occupation »*peer has worth the
name. He may pursue them nndiatractedly. The
House of Lords, besides independence to revise judi-
cially and position to revise effectually, has leisure to
revise intellectually.

These ai'e great merits ; and, considering how dif-
ficult it is to get a good second chamber, and how
much with our present first chamber we need a sec-
ond, we may well be thankful for them. But we
must not pennit them to blind our eyes. Those
merits of the Lords have faults close beside them
which go far to make them useless. With its wealth,
its place, and its leisure, the House of Lords would,
on the verv surface of the matter, rule us far more

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE or LOKDS. 177

than it does if it liacl not secret defects ivliich ham-
per and weaken it.

The first of these defects is hardly to be called
secret, though, on the other hand, it is not well
known. A severe though not unfriendly critic of
our institutions said that " the cure for adinii'ing the
House of Loi'ds was to go and look at it " — to look
at it not on a great party field-day, or at a time of
parade, but in the ordinary transaction of business.
There are perhaps tf-n peers in the House, possibly
only six; three is the quorum for transaeling busi-
ness. A few more may dawdle in or not dawdle in ;
those are the principal speakers, the lawyei's (a few
years f^o when Lyndhurst, Brougham, and Campbell
were in vigor, they were by far the predominant
talkers) and a few statesmen whom every one knows.
But the mass of the House is nothing. This is why
orators trained in the Commons detest to speak in
the Lords. Lord Chatham used to call it the " Tap-
estry." The Hour • of Commons is a scene of life
if ever there was a scene of life. Every member in.
the throng, every atom in the medley, has his own.
objects (good or bad), bis own purposes (great or
petty) ; his own notions, such as they are, of what
is ; his own notions, such as they are, of what ought
to be. There is a motley confluence of vigorous ele-
i|Aits, but t he result is one and good. There is a
''feenn^^fcthe House," a "sense" of the House,
and no ^B^vho knows any thing of it can despise it.
A verj' Biu'ewd man of the world went so far as to
say that " the House of Commons has more sense
than any one in it," But there is no such " sense "
in the House of Lords, because there is no life. The

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

178 TUB ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

Lower Chamber ia a chamber of eager politicians ;
the Upper (to say the least) of not eager ones.

This apathy is not, indeed, as great as the outside
show would indicate. The committees of tiie Lords
(as is well known) do a great deal of work, and do
it veiy well. And such as it is, the apathy is very
natural. A House composed of rich men who can
vote by proxy without coming will not come rery
much.* But after every abatement tlie real indif-
ference to their duties of most peers is a great defect,
and the apparent indifference is a dangerous defect.
As far as politics go there is profound truth in Lord
Che stei-fi eld's axiom, that " the world must judge of
you by what you seem, not by what you are." The
world knows what you seem ; it does not know what
you are. An assembly — a revising assembly espe-
cially — which does not assemble, which loolis as if it
does not care how it revises, is defective in a main
political ingredient. It may be of use, but it will
hardly convince mankind that it is so.

The next defect is even more serious; it affects
not simply the apparent work of the House of Lords,
but the teal work. For a revising legislature, it ia
- too uniformly made up. Errors are of various kinds ;
but the constitution of the House of I-ords only
guards against a single en-or — that of too quick
change. The Lords — leaving out a few law Jfcp
and a few outcasts — are all land-owner^^«irere or
less wealth. They all have more or iJ^Bie opin-
ions, the merits, the faults of that one cla^. They
revise legislation, as far as they do reyise it, exclu-

• In accordance' wiili a recent resolution ttt tlie House of Lonla,
proxies arc now disused. Nolo to second edition.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TilE HOUSE 0"F LORDS. 179

eively according to the supposed interests, the pre-
dominant feeh'ngs, the inherited opinions, of that
class, -Since the Reform Act, this uniformity of ten-
dency has been very evident. The Lords have feit
— it would be harsh to say hostUe, but still dubious,
as to the new legislation. There was a spirit in it
alien to their spirit, and which when they could they
have tried to oast out. That spirit is what has been
termed the " modem spirit," It is not easy to con-
centrate its essence in a phrase : it lives in our life,
animates our actions, suggests our thoughts. We all
know what it means, though it would take an essay
to limit it and define it. To this the Loi'ds object;
wherever it is concerned, they ai'e not impartial revis-
ers, but biassed revisers.

This singleness of composition would be no fault,
it would be, or might be, even a merit, if the criti-
cism of the House of Lords, though a suspicious
criticism, were yet a criticism of great understand-
ing. The characteristic legislation of every age
must have characteristic defects ; it is the outcome
of a character, of necessity faulty and hmited. It
must mistake some kind of things ; it must over-
look some other. If we could get hold of a comple-
mental critic, a critic who saw what the age did
not see, and who saw lightly what the age mistook,
we should have a eiitie of inestimable value. But is
the House of Lords that critic ? Can it be said that
its unfriendliness to the legislation of the age is
founded on a perception of what the age does not
see, and a rectified perception of what the age
does see ? The most extreme pai'tisan, the most
warm admirer of the Lords, if of fair and tempered

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

180 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

mind, cannot say so. The evidence ib too strong.
On free trade, for example, no one can doubt that
the Lords — in opinion, in what they wished to do,
and would have done, if they had acted on their own
minds — were utterly wrong. This ia the clearest
test of the " modern spirit," It is easier here to be
sure it is right than elsewhere. Commerce is like
war ; its result is patent. Do you make money or do
you not make it ? There is as little appeal from
figures as from battle. Now no one can doubt that
England is a great deal better off because of free
trade ; that it has more money, and that its monej' is
diffused more as we should wish it diffused. In the
one case in which we can unanswerably test the mod-
era spirit, it was right, and the dubious Upper House
— the House which would have rejected it, if possi-
ble — was wrong.

There is another reason. The House of Lords,
being an hereditary chamber, cannot be of more than
common ability. It may -contain — it almost always
has contained, it almost always will contain — ex-
traordinary men. But its average born law-makers
cannot be extraordinary. Being a set of eldest sons
picked out by chance and history, it cannot be veiy
wise. It would be a standing miracle if such a
chamber possessed a knowledge of its age superior to
the other men of the age; if it possessed a superior
and supplemental knowledge ; if it descried what
they did not discern, and saw truly that which they
saw, indeed, but saw untruly.

The difficulty goes deeper. The task of revising,
of adequately revising the legislation of this age, is
not only that which an aristocracy has no facility in

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 181

doing, but one which it has a difficulty in doing.
Look at tlie statute book for 1865 — the statutes at
large for the year. You will find, not pieces of liter-
ature, not nice and subtle mattei's, but coarse matters,
crude heaps of heavy business. They deal with
bade, with finance, with statute law reform, with
common law reform ; they deal with various sorts of
business, but with business always. And there is no
educated human being less likely to know business,
worse placed for knowing business, than a young lord.
Business is really more agreeable than pleasure ; it
interests the whole mind, the aggregate nature of
man more continuously, and more deeply. But it
does not look as if it did. It is diflSeult to convince
a young man, who can have the best of pleasure, that
it will. A young lord just come into ^30,000 a
year will not, as a rule, care much for the law of
patents, for the law of " passing toUs," or the law of
prisons. Like Hercules, he may choose virtue, but
hardly Hercules could choose business. He has
every thing to allure him from it, and nothing to
allure him to it. And even if he wish to give him-
self to business, he has indifferent means, Pleasui'e
is near him, but business is far from him. Few tilings
are mo'rS" amusing than the ideas of a well-intentioned
young man, who is born out of the business world,
but who wishes to take to business, about business.
He has hardly a notion in what it consists. It really
is the adjustment of certain particular means to
equally certain particular ends. But hardly any
young man destitute of experience is able to separate
end and means. It seems to him a kind of mystery ;
and it is lucky if he do*not think that the forms ai'e

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

182 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

the main part, and that the end is but secondary.
There are plenty of business men, falsely so called,
■who will advise him so. The subject seems a kind of
maze. " What would you recommend me \areadf
the nice youth asks ; and it is impossible to explain to
him that reading has nothing to do with it, that he has
not yet the original ideas in his mind to read about ;
that administration is an art as painting ^ an art ;
and that no book can teach the practice of either.

Formerly this defect in the aristocracy was hidden
by their other advantages. Being the only class at
ease for money and cultivated in mind they were
without competition ; and though they might not be,
as a rule, and extraordinary ability excepted, excel-
lent in State business, they were the best that could
be had. Even in old times, however, they sheltered
themselves from the greater pressure of coarse work.
They appointed a manager — a Peel or a Walpole,
any thing but an aristocrat in manner or in nature —
to act for them and manage for them. But now a
class is coming up trained to thought, full of money,
and yet trained to business. As I write, two membere
of this class have been appointed to stations consider-
able in themselves, and sure to lead (if any tiling is
sure in politics) to the Cabinet and power. This is
tlie cIj^s of h^hly cultivated men of business who,
after a few years, are able to leave business and begin
ambition. As yet these men are i^-w in public life,
because they do not know their own strength. It is
like Columbus and the egg once again ; a few original
men will show it can be done, and then a crowd of
common men will follow. These men know business
partly from tradition, and this is much. There are

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LOEDS, 183

University families — families who talk of fellow-
ships, and who invest their ehildren's ability in Latin
verses as soon as they discover it ; there used to be
Indian families of the same sort, and probably will be
again when the competitive system has had time to
foster a new breed. Just so there are business fami-
lies to whom all that concerns money, all that con-
cerns administration, is as familiar as the air they
breathe. Ail Americans, it has been said, know
business ; it is in the air of their country. Just so cer-
tain classes know business here ; and a lord can hardly
know it. It is as great a difficulty to learn business
in a palace as it is to learn agriculture in a parJt.

To one kind of business, indeed, this doctrine does
not apply. There is one kind of business in which
our aristocracy have still, and are likely to retain
Jong, a certain advantage. This is the business of
diplomacy. Napoleon, who knew men weU, would
never, if he could help it, employ men of the Revolu-
tion in missions to the old courts ; he said, " They
spoke to no one, and no one spoke to them ; " and so
they sent home no information. The reason is obvi-
ous. The oid-world diplomacy of Europe was largely
carried on in drawing-rooms, and, to a great extent^
of necessity stiU is so. Nations toiici at Jlieir sum-
mits. It is always the highest class which travels
most, knows most of foreign nations, has the least of
the territorial sectarianism which calls itself patriot-
ism, and is often thought to be so. Even here,
indeed, in England the new trade-class is in real
merit equal to the aristocracy. Their knowledge of
foreign things is as great, and their contact with them
often more. But, notwithstanding, the new race is

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

184 THK ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

nob as serviceable for diplomacy as the old race. An
ambassador is not simply an agent ; he is also a spec-
tacle. He is sent abroad for show as well as for sub-
Btance; he is to represent the Queen among foreign
courts and foreign sovereigns. An aristocracy is in its
nature better suited to such work : it is trained to the
theatrical part of life j it is fit for that if it is iit for
any thing.

But, with this exception, an aristocracy is neces-
sarily inferior in business to the classes nearer busi-
ness ; and it is not, therefore, a suitable class, if we
had our choice of classes, out of which to frame a
chamber for revising matters of business. It is indeed
a singular example how natural business is to the
English race, that the House of Lords works as well
as it does.j The common appearance of the " whole
House " is a jest — a dangerous anomaly, which Mr.
Bright will sometimes use ; but a great deal of sub-
stantial work is done in " Committees," and often
very well done. The great majority of the Peers do
none of tbeir appointed work, and could do noire of
it; but a minority — a minority never so large and
never so earnest as in this age — do it, and do it
weU. Still no one, who examines the matter without
prejudice, can say that the work is done perfectly.
In a country so rich in mind as England, far more
intellectual power can be, and ought to be, applied to
the revision of our laws.

And not only does the House of Loi-ds do its work
imperfectly, but often, at least, it does it timidly.
Being only a"S6eti6n of the nation, it is afi'aid of the
nation. Having been used for years and years, on
the gi'catest matters to act contrary to its own judg-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 185

ment, it hardly knows wiien to act on that judgment.
The depressuig languor \vith which it damps an
eai-nest young Peer is at times ridiculous. " When
the Corn Laws are gone, and the rotten boroughs,
why tease about Clause IX. in the Bill to regulate
Cotton Factories?" is the latent thought of many
Peers. A word from the leaders, from " the Duke,"
or LokI Derby, or Lord Lyndhurst, will rouse on any
matters the sleeping energies ; but most Lords are
feeble and forlorn.

These grave defects would have been at once les-
sened, and in the course of yeare nearly effaced, if
the House of Lords had not resisted the proposal of
Lord Palmerston's first government to create peers
for life. The expedient was almost perfect. The
difficulty of reforming an old institution like the
House of Lords ia necessarily great; its possibility
rests on continuous caste and ancient deference.
And if you begin to agitate about it, to bawl at
meetings about it, that deference is gone, its peculiar
charm lost, its reserved sanctity gone. But, by an
odd fatality, there was in the recesses of the Consti-
tution an old prerogative which would have rendered
agitation needless — which 'would have effected, with-
out agitation, all that agitation could have effected.
Lord Pahperston was — now that he is dead, and his
memory can be calmly viewed — as firm a friend to
an aristocracy, as thorough an aristocrat, as any in
England ; yet he proposed to use that power. If
the House of Lords had still been under the rule of
the Duke of Wellington, perhaps they would have
acquiesced. Tho Duke would not indeed have re-
flected on all tho considerations which a philosophic

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

186 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

Btafesman would have set otbf Im btle
would have been brought right Ij f 1 j i-

harities. He disliked, above 11 th n s to n tl e
Crown. At a great crisis, at the f tl G ti

Laws, what he considered wab t what tl p pie
were thinking of, the econom 1 1 lis. us-

sion, the welfare of the count 3 I" n tl b 1-

aiice, but the Queen's ease. H th ht tl C wn
BO superior a part in tlie Con tttintht n n
vital occasions, he looked solely — or said he looked
solely — to the momentary comfort of the present
sovereign. He never was comfortable in opposing a
conspicuous act of the Crown. It is very hkely that,
if the Duke had still been the President of the House
of Lords, they would have permitted the Crown to
prevail in its weU-chosen scheme. But the Duke
was dead, and his authority — or some of it — had
fallen to a very different person. Lord Lyndhurst
had many great qualities ; he had a splendid intel-
lect — as great a faculty of finding truth as any one
in his generation ; but he had no love of truth.
With this great faculty of finding truth, he was a
believer in error — in what his own party now admit
to be error — all his life through. He could have
found the truth as a statesman just as he found it
when a judge ; but he never did find it. He never
looked for it. He was a great partisan, and he ap-
plied a capacity of argument, and a faculty of intel-
lectual argument ■ rarely equalled, to support the
tenets of his party. The proposal to create life-peers
was proposed by the antagonistic party — was at the
moment likely to injure his own party. To him this
was a great opportunity. The speech he delivered

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSK OF LORDS. 187

on that occasion lives in the memory of those who
heard it. His eyes did not at that time let him read,
so he repeated by memory, and quite accurately, all
the black-letter authorities bearing ou the question.
So great an intellectual effort has rarely been seen in
an English asserably. But the result was deplorable.
Not by means of his black-letter authorities, but by
means of his recognized authority and his vivid im-
pression, he induced the House of Lords to reject
the proposition of the Government. Lord Lyud-
hurst said the Crown could not now create life-peers,
and so there are no life-peeis. The House of Lords
rejected the inestimable, the unprecedented opportu-
nity of being tacitly reformed. Such a chance does
not come twice. The life-peers who would have been
then introduced would have been among the first
men in the country. Lord Macaxilay was to have
been among the first ; Lord Wensleydale — the most
learned and not the least logical of our lawyers — to
be the very first. Thirty or forty such men, added
judiciously and sparingly as years went on, would
have given to the House of Lords the very element
which, as a criticising Chamber, it needs so much.
It would have given it critics. The most accom-
plished men in each department might then, without
irrelevant considerations of family and of fortune,
have been added to the Chamber of Review. The
very element which was wanted to the House of
Lords was, as it were, by a constitutional providence,
offered to the House of Lords, and they refused it.
By what species of effort that error can be repaired,
I cannot tell ; hut, unless it is repaired, the intellect-
ual capacity can never be what it would have been.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

188 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

will never be what it ought to be, will never be suf-
ficient for its work.

Another reform ought to have accompanied the
creation of life-peers. Proxies ought to have been
abolished. Some time or otlier the slack attendance
of the House of Lords will destroy tlie House of
Lords. There are occasions in which appearances
are realities, and this is one of them. The House of
Lords on most days looks so unlike what it ought to
be, that most people wiU not believe it is what it
ought to be. The attendance of considerate peers
will, for obvious reasons, be larger when it can no
longer be overpowered by the Mon-attendance, by the
commissioned votes of inconsiderate peers. The abo-
lition of proxies would have made the House of
Lords a real House ; the addition of life-peers would
.have. made it a good House.

The greater of these changes would have most
materially aided the House of Lords in the perform-
ance of its subsidiaiy functions. It always perhaps
happens in a great nation, that certain bodies of sen-
sible men posted prominently in its constitution,
acquire functions, and usefully exei'cise functions,
which, at the outset, no one expected from them, and
which do not identify themselves with their original
design. This has happened to the House of Lords
especially. The most obvious instance is the judicial
function. This is a function which no theorist would
assign to a second chamber in a new constitution,
and which is matter of accident in ours. Gradually,
indeed, the unfitness of the second chamber for judi-
cial functions has made itself felt. Under our pres-
ent arrangements this function is not intrusted to the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 189

House of Lords, but to a Committee of the House of
Lords. On one occasion only, the trial of O'Con-
nell, the whole House, or some few in the whole
House, wished to vote, and they were told they conld
not, or they would destroy the judicial prerogative.
No one, indeed, wouJd venture really to place the
judicial function in the chance majorities of a fluc-
tuating assembly : it is so by a sleepy theory ; it is
not so in living fact. As a legal question, too, it is a
matter of grave doubt whether there ought to be two
supreme courts in this country — the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council, and (what is in fact
though not in name) the Judicial Committee of the
House of Lords. Up to a very recent time one com-
mittee might decide that a man was sane as to money,
and the other committee might decide that he was
insane as to land. This absurdity has been cured ;
but the error from which it arose has not been cured
— the error of having two supreme courts, to both
of which, as time goes on, the same question is sure
often enough to be submitted, and each of wbich is
sure every now and then to decide it differently. I
do not reckon the judicial function of the House of
Lords as one of its true subsidiary functions, first
because it does not in fact exercise it, next because I
wish to see it in appearance deprived of it. The
supreme court of the English people ought to be a
great conspicuous tribunal, ought to rule all other
eourte, ought to have no competitor, ought to bring
our law into unity, ought not to be hidden beneath
the robes of a legislative assembly.

The real subsidiary functions of the House of
Lords are, unlike its judicial functions, very analo-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

190 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION.

gous to its substantial nature. The first is the fac-
ulty of criticising the executive. An assembly in
which the mass of the members have nothing to lose,
where most have nothing to gain, where every one
has a social position firmly fixed, where no one has a
constituency, where hardly any one cares for the
■minister of the day, is the very assembly in which to
look for, from which to expect, independent criticism.
And in matter of fact, we find it. The criticism
of the acts of late administrations by Lord Grey
has been admirable. But such criticism, to have its
full value, should be many-sided. Every man of
great ability puts his own mark on his own criticism ;
it will be full of thought and feeling, but then it is
of idiosyncratic thought and feeling. We want many
critics of ability and knowledge in the Upper House
— not eq^ual to Lord Grey, for they would be hard to
find — but like Lord Grey. They should resemble
him in impartiality ; they should resemble him in
clearness ; they should most of all resemble him in
taking the supplement-al view of a subject. There is
an actor's view of a subject which (I speak of mature
and discussed action — of Cabinet action) is nearly
sure to include every thing old and new — every
thing ascertained and determinate. But there is also
a bystander's view, which is Hkely to omit some one
or more of these old and certain elements, but also
to contain some new or distant matter which the
absorbed and occupied actor could not see. There
ought to be many life-peers in our secondary chamber
capable of giving ns this higher criticism. I am
afraid we shall not soon see them, but as a first step
we Khoiihl learn to wisli for them.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE or LORDS. 191

Tho second subsidiary action of the House of Lords
is even more important. Taking the Hoiise (if Com-
mons, not after possible but most unliliely improve-
ments, but in matter of fact and as it stands, it is
overwhelmed with work. The task of managing it
falls upon the Cabinet, and that task is very hard.
Every member of the Cabinet in the Commons has to
" attend the House ;" to contribute by his votes, if not
by his voice, to the management of the House. Even
in so smaJl a matter as the education department, Mr.
Lowe i^lPeohsuiiim ate observer, spoke of the desirabil-
ity of finding a chief " not exposed to the prodigious
labor of attending the House of Commons." It is all
but necessary that certain members of the Cabinet
should be exempt from its toil, and untouched by its
excitement. But it is also necessary that they should
have the power of explaining their views to the nation ;
of being heard as other people are heard. There are
various plans for so doing, which I may discuss a little
in speaking of the House of Commons. But so much
is evident : the House of Lords, for its own members,
attains this object ; it gives them a voice ; it gives
them what no competing plan does give them —
position. The leisured members of the Cabinet speak
in the Lords with authority and power. They are
not administrators witli a right to speech — clerks (as
is sometimes suggested) brought down to lecture a
House, but not to vote in it ; but they are the equals
of those they speak to ; they speak as they like, and
reply as they choose ; they address the House, not
with the " bated breath " of subordinates, but with
the force and dignity of sure rank. > Life-peers would
enable iis to use this facidty of our Constitution more

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

192 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

freely and more variously. It would give ua a larger
command of able leisure ; it would improve the Lords
as a political pulpit, for it would enlarge the list of its
select preachers.

The danger of the House of Commons is, perliaps,
that it will be reformed too rashly ; the dajiger of
the House of Lords certainly is, that it may nevei- be
reformed. Nobody asks that it should be so ; it is
quite safe against rough destruction, but it is not safe
against inward decay. It may lose its veto as the
Crown has lost its veto. If most of its members neg-
lect their duties, if all its members continue to be of
one class, and that not quite the best ; if its doors are
shut against genius that cannot found a family, and
ability which has not five thousand a year, its power
will be less year by year, and at last be gone, as so
much kingly power is gone — no one knows how.
Its danger is not in assassination, but atrophy ; not
abolition, but decline.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS *

The dignified, aspect of the House of Commons is
altogether secondary to its efficient use. It i8 digni-
fied : in a government in which the most prominent
parts are good because they are very stately, any promi-
nent part, to be good at all, must be somewhat stately.
The human imagination exacts keeping in government
as much as in art ; it will not he at all influenced by in-
stitutions which do not match with those by which it is
principally influenced. The House of Commons needs
to be impressive, and impressive it is ; but its use resides
not in its appearance, but in its reality. Its office ia
not to win power by awing mankind, but to use power
in governing mankind.

The main function of the House of Commons is
one which we know quite well, though our com-
mon constitutional speech does not recognize it. The
House of Commons is an electoral chamber ; it is the
assembly which chooses our president. Washington
and his fellow-pqlitieiaps' contrived an electoral col-
lege, to be. coifipoaed (as was hoped) of the wisest
people in tlfe nation, which, after due deliberation,
was to choose for President the wisest man in the

* I reprint this chapter substantially aa it was first written. It is
too soon, as 1 have explitiiied in the introduction, to say what changes
the late Reform Act will mate in the House of Commons.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

194 THE ENGLISH CONSlTrUTIOS.

nation. But that colloge is a sham ; it has no inde-
pendence and no life. No one knows, or cares to
know, who its members are. They never discuss,
and never deliberate. They were chosen to vote that
Mr. Lincoln be President, or that Mr. Breckin-
ridge be President ; they do so vote, and they go
home. But our House of Commons is a real choosing
body ; it elects the people it likes. And it dismisses
whom it hkes too. No matter tliat a few months
since it was chosen to support Lord Aberdeen or Lord
Palmerston ; upon a sudden occasion it ousts the
statesman to whom it at first adhered, and selects an
opposite statesman whom it at first rejected. Doubt-
less in such cases there is a tacit reference to probable
pubhc opinion ; but certainly also there is much free
will in the judgment of the Commons. The House
only goes where it thinks in the end the nation will
follow ; but it takes its* chance' of the nation following
or not following ; it assumes the initiative, and acts
upon its discretion or its caprice.

When tlie American nation has chosen its Presi-
dent, its virtue goes out of it, and out of the Trans-
missive College through which it chooses. But because
the House of Commons has the power of dismissal in
addition to the power of election, its relations to the
Premier are incessant. ■ They guide him, and he leads
them. He is to them what they are to the nation.
He only goes where he believes they will go after him.
But he has to take the lead ; he must choose his direc-
tion, and begin tlie journey. Nor must he flinch. A
good horse likes to feel the rider's bit ; and a great
deliberative assembly likes to feel that it is under
worthy guidance. A minister who succumbs to the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OP COMMONS. 195

House, — -Nvlio ostentatiously seeks its pleasure, — who
does not try to regulate it, — who will not boldly point
out plain errors to it, seldom thrives. The great
leaders of Parliament have varied much, but they
have all had a certain firmness. A great assembly is
as soon spoiled by over-indulgence as a little child,
The whole life of English politics is the action and
reaction between tire Ministry and the Parliament.
The appointees strive to guide, and the appointors
sui^e under the guidance.

The elective ia tiow the rnp'*'- ""pm-i-frif fani't^i nn
of the House of Commons. _It is most desirable to
"Insist, and be tedious, on this, because our tradition
ignores ifc. At the end of half the sessions of Parlia-
ment, you will read iu the ne^vspapers, and you will
hear even fi-om those who have looked close at the
matter and should know better, " Parliament has done
nothing this session. Some thuigs were promised in
the Queen's speech, but they were only little things ;
a,nd most of them have not passed." Lord Lyndhurat
used for years to recount the small outcomings of
legislative achievement ; and yet those were the days
of the first Whig Governments, who had more' to do
in legislation, and did more, than any Government.
The true answer to such harangues as Lord Lynd-
hurst'a by a Minister should have been in the first
person. He should have said firmly, " Parliament
has maintained ME, and that was its greatest duty ;
Parliament has carried on what, in the language of
traditional respect, we call the Queen's Government;
it has maintained what wisely or unwisely it deemed
the best Executive of the English nation."

The second function of the House of Cninnums is

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

12G THE BNGMSn CONSTITUTION.

what I may call an expressive function. It is its
office to express the mind of the English people on
all matters which come before it. Whether it does
so well or ill I shall discUss presently.

T he third fmicjion of Fatli ^Tpniit. ic what I may
call — preserving a sort of teelinicality even in famil-
iar mattei's for the sake of distinctness — the teaeliing
function. A great and open council of considerable
men cannot be placed in the middle of a society with-
out alteiing that society. It ought to alter it for the
better. It ought to teach the nation what it does not
know. How far the House of Commons can so teach,
and how fai' it does so teach, are matters for subse-
quent discussion.

Fmu-tblv, the House nf Commons has what may
be calle d an informing functio n — a function which
though In ita present form quite modern is singularly
analogous to a mediaeval function. In old times one
office of the House of Commons was to inform the
Sovereign what was wrong. It laid before the Crown
the grievances and complaints pf particular interests.
Since the publication of the Parliamentary debates
a coiTCSponding office of Parliament is to lay these
same grievances, these same complaints, before the
nation, whieh is the present sovereign. The nation
needs it quite as much as the king ever needed it. A
free people is indeed mostly fair, liberty practises men
in a give-and-take; which is the rough essence of jus-
tice. The English people, po^ibly even above other
free nations, is fair. But a free nation rarely can be —
and the English nation is not — quick of apprehension.
It only comprehends what is familiar to it — what
comes into its own experience, what squares with its

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COJJIIOSS, 197

OMii thoughts. " I never heard of such a thing in iny
]ife," the middle-class Enghshman says, and he thinha
he BO refutes an ai^ument. The common disputant
caniioysay in reply that his experience is b\it limited,
and' that the assei'tioii maybe true, though he had
never met with any thing at all Uke it. But a great ■
debate in Parliament does bring home something of
tliis feeling. Any notion, any creed, any feeling, any
gi'ievance which can get a decent nrunber of English
members to sta,u(l up for it, is felt by almost all Eng-
lislimen to be perhaps a false and pernicious opinion,
but at any rate possible — an opinion within the iutel-
leetutil sphere, an opinion to be reckoned with. And
it is an immense achievement. Practical diplomatists
say that a free government is harder to deal with than
a despotic government : you may be able to get the
despot to hear the other side ; his ministers, men of
trained intelligence, will be sure to know what makes
against them ; and they ma^ tell him. But a free
nation never hears any side save its own. The news-
papers only repeat the side their purchasers like : the
favorable arguments are set out, ekboiated, illus-
trated ; the advei-se arguments maimed, misstated,
confused. The worst judge, they say, is a deaf
judge ; the most dull government is a free govern-
ment on matters its ruling classes will not hear. I
am disposed to reckon it as the second function of
Parliament in point of importance, that to some
extent it makes us hear what otherwise we should
not.

Lastly, there is the function of legislation, of
which of course it would be preposterous to deny the
great importiincej and which I only deny to bo as im-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

198 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTKIN.

portant as the executive management of the whole
state, or the political education given by Parliament
to the whole nation. There are, I allow, seasons
when legislation is more important than either of
these. The nation may he misfitted with its laws,
and need to change them : some particular corn law
may hurt all industry, and it may be worth a thou-
sand administrative blunders to get rid of it. But
generally the laws of a nation suit its life ; special
adaptations of them are but subordinate ; the admin-
istration and condiict of that life is the matter which
presses most. Nevertheless, the statute-book of evei-y
great nation yearly contains many important new laws,
and the English statute-hook does so above any. An
immense mass, indeed, of the legislation is not, in
the proper language of jurisprudence, legislation at'
all, A law is a general command applicable to many
cases. The " special acts " which crowd the statute-
book and weary parliamentary committees are appli-
cable to one case only. They do not lay down rules
according to which railways shall be made, they enact
that such a railway shaU be made from this place to
that place, and they have no bearing upon any other
transaction. But after every deduction and abate-
ment, the annual legislation of Parliament is a result
of singular importance ; were it not so, it could not
be, as it often is considered, the sole result of its
annual assembling.

Some persons wiU perhaps think that I ought to
enumerate a sixth function of the House of Commons
— a financial function. But I do not consider that,
upon broad principle, and omitting legal technicah-
ties, the House of Commons has any special fimction

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 199

with regard to finaneial different from its fuDCtions
with respect to other legislation. It is to rule in both,
and to rule in hoth through the Cabinet. Financial
legislation is of necessity a yeai'ly reciuring legisla-
tion ; but frequency of occurrence does not indicate
a diversity of natiu-e or compel an antagonism of
treatment.

In truth, the principal peculiarity of the House of
Commons in financial affairs is now-a-days not a
special privilege, but an exceptional disability. On
common subjects any member can propose any thii^,
but not on money — the minister only can propose to
tax the people. This principle is commonly involved
in mediseval metaphysics as to the prerogative of the
Crown, but it is as useful in the nineteenth century
' as in the fourteenth, and rests on as sure a principle.
The House of Commons — now that it is the true
sovereign, and appoints the real executive — has long
ceased to be the checking, sparing, economical body
it once was. It now is more apt to spend money than
the minister of the day. I have heard a very expe-
rienced financier say, " If you want to raise a certain
cheer in the House of Commons, make a general pan-
egyric on economy; if you want to invite a sure
defeat, propose a particular saving," The process is
simple. Every expenditure of public money has
some apparent pubUc object; th<Ke who wish to
spend the money e xpatia te on that object j they say,
" What is 60,000i. to this great country? Is this a
time for cheeseparing objection ? Our industry' was
never so productive ; our resources never so immense.
What is 50,000?. in comparison with this great national
interest?" The members who are for the expendi-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

200 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

ture always come down; perhaps a constituent or a
friend who will profit by the outlay, or is keen on the
object, baa asked them to attend ; at any rate, there
is a popular vot« to be given, on which the news-
papers — always philanthropic, and sometimes talked
over — win be sure to make encomiums. The mem-
bers against the expenditure rarely come down of
themselves ; why should they become unpopular with-
out reason ? The object seems decent ; many of its
advocates are certainly sincere : a hostile vote will
make enemies, and be censui-ed by the joufiials. If
there were not some check, the "people's house"
would soon outrun the people's money.

That check is the responsibility of the Cabinet for-
the national finance. If any one could propose a tax,
they might let the House spend it as it would, and
wash their hands of the matter ; but now, for what-
ever expenditiu'6 is sanctioned — even when it is
sanctioned against the ministry's wish — the ministry
must find the money. Accordingly, they, have the
strongest motive to oppose extra outlay. They will
have to pay the bill for it ; they will have to impose
taxation, which is always disagTeeable, or suggest
loans which, under ordinary circumstances, are shame-
ful. The ministry is (so to speak) the breadwinner
of the political family, and has to meet the cost of
philanthropy and glory, just as the head of a family
has to pay for the charities of his wife and the toilette
of his daughters.

In truth, when a Cabinet is made the sole execu-
tive, it follows it must have the sole financial charge*
for all action costs money, all policy depends on
money, and it is in adjusting the relative goodness

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF OOJIMOXS, 201

of action and policies that the execiitive is em-
ployed.

From a consideration of these functions, it follows
that we are ruled by the House of Commons ; we are,
indeed, so used to be so ruled, that it does not seem
to be at all stninge. But of aU odd forms of govern-
ment, the oddest really is goverament by a public
meeting. Here are six hundred and iifty-eight per-
sons, collected from all parts of England, different in
nature, different in interests, different in look and
language. If we think what an empire the English
is, how various are its components, how incessant its
concerns, how immersed in history its policy :, if. we
think what a vast information, what a nice discre-
tion, what a consistent wOl ought to mark the rulers
of that empire, — we shall be surprised when we see
them. We see a changing body of misoellaneous
persons, sometimes few, sometimes many, never the
same for an hour ; sometimes excited, but mostly dull
and half weary, — impatient of elociueiice, catching
at any joke as an alleviation/- These are the persons
who rule the British empire, — who rule England, —
who rule Scotland, — who rule Ireland, — who rule
a great deal of Asia, — who rule a great deal of Poly-
nesia, — who rule a great detd of Americaf and
scattered fragments everywhere.

Paley said many shi'ewd things, but he never said
a better thing than that it was much harder to make
men see a difficulty tliaik comprehend the explana-
tion of it. The key to the difficulties of most dis-
cussed and unsettled questions is commonly in their
undiscussed parts ; they ai'e hke the background of
a picture which looks obvious, easy, just what any

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

202 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

one might have painted, but which, in fact, sets the
figures in their right position, chastens them, and
makes them what they are. Nobody will understand
parHament government who fancies it an easy thing,
a natural thing, a thing not needing explanation.
You have not a perception of the first elements in
this matter till you know that government by a duh
is a standing wonder.

There has been a capital illustration lately how
helpless many English gentlemen are when called
together on a sudden. The Government, rightly or
wrongly, thought tit to intrust the quarter-sessions
of each county with the duty of combating its cattle
plague; but the scene in moat "shire halls" was
unsatisfactory. There was the greatest difficulty in
getting, not only a right decision, but ani/ decision.
I saw one myself which went thus. The chairman
proposed a very complex resolution, in which there
was much which every one liked, and much which
every one disliked, though, of couise, the favorite
parts of some were the objectionable parts to others.
This resolution got, so to say, wedged in the meet-
ing ; everybody suggested amendments ; one amend-
ment was carried whieli none were satisfied with,
and so the matter stood over. It is a saying in
England, " A big meeting never does any thi^ig ; " and
yet we are governed by the House of Commons — by
"a big meeting."

It may be said that the House of Commons does
not rule, it only elects the rulers. But there must
be something special about it to enable it to do that.
Suppose the Cabinet were elected by a London club,
what confusion there would be, what writing and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OP COMMONS. 203

answering! "Will you speak to So-and-So, and
ask him to vote for my man ? " woxild be heard on
every side. How the wife of A. and the wife of B.
would plot to confound the wife of C. Whether the
club elected under the dignified shadow of a queen, or
without the shadow, would hardly matter at all ; if
the substantial choice was in them, the confusion
and intrigue would be there too. I propose to begin
this paper by asking, not why the House of Commons
governs well ? but the fundamental — almost un-
asked-question — how the House of Commons coawrt
to be able to govern, at all ?

The House of Commons can do wort which the
quarter-sessions or clubs cannot do, because it is an
oi^anized body, while quarter-sessions and clubs are
unorganized. Two of the greatest orators in Eng-
land — Lord Brougham and Lord Bolingbroke —
spent much eloquence in attacking party government.
Bolingbroke probably knew what he was doing ; he
was a consistent opponent of the power of the Com-
mons ; he wished to attack them in a vital part. But
Lord Brougham does not know ; he proposes to amend
parhamentary government by striking out the very
elements which make parhamentary government pos-
sible. At present the majority of Parliament obey
certain leaders ; what those leaders prnpose t^ey sup-
port, what tliose leaders reject they reject. An old
Secretary of the Treasury used to say, " This is a bad
case, an indefensible case. We must apply our major-
ity to this question." That secretary lived fifty years
ago, before the Reform Bill, when majorities were
very blind, and very "applicable." Now-a-days, the
power of leaders over their followers is strictly and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

204 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

wisely limiteti : they can take their followers but a
little way, and that only in certain directions. Yet
still there are leaders and followers. On the Conser-
vative side of the House there are vestiges of 'the des-
potic leadership even now. A cynical politician is
said to have watched the long row of county niemhers,
so fresh and respectable-looking, and muttered, " By
JovB) they ai'e the finest brute votes in Europe I " But
ah satire apart, the principle of Parliament is obedieice
to leaders. Change your leader if you will, take
another if you will, but obey Number One while you
serve Number One, and obey Number Two when you
have gone over to Number Two. The penalty of
not doing so, is the penalty of impotence. It is not
that you will not be able to do any good, but you will
not be able to do any thing at all. If everybody does
what he thhiks right, there will be six hinidred and
fifty-seven amendments to every motion, and none of
them will be carried or the motion either.

The moment, indeed, that we distinctly conceive
that the House of Commons is mainly and above aE
things an elective assembly, we at once perceive that
party is of its essence. There never was an election
without a party. You cannot get a child into an
asylum without a combination. At such places you
may see "Vote for orphan A." upon a placard, and
" Vote for orphan B. (also an idiot! I !) " upon a
banner, and the party of each is busy about its placard
and banner. What is true at such minor and momen-
tai-y elections must be much more true in a great and
constant election of rulers. The House of Commons
lives in a state of perpetual potential choice : at any
moment it can choose a rnler and dismiss a ruler.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COJIMOJTS, 205

And therefore party is inherent in it, is bone of its
bone, and breatli of its breath.

Secondly, though the leaders of party no longer
have the vast patronage of the last century with
which to biibe, they can coerce by a threat far more
potent than any allurement — they can dissolve.
This is the secret which keeps parties together. Mr.
Cobden most justly said, " He had never been able
to discover what was the proper moment, according
to members of Parliament, for a dissolution. He had
heard them say they were ready to vote for every
tiling else, but he had never heard them say they
were ready to vote for that." EfSciency in an as-
sembly requires a solid mass of steady votes ; and these
are collected by a deferential attachment to particular
men, or by a belief in the principles those men rep-
resent, and they are maintained by fear of those men
— by the fear that if you vote against them, you may
yourself s&on not have a vote at all.

Thirdly, it may seem odd to say so, just after incul-
cating that party, organization is the vital pi-ineiple of
representative government, but that organization is
pennanently efficient, because it is not composed of
warm pai'tisans. The body is eager, but the atoms
are cool. If it were otherwise, parliamentary gov-
ernment would become the worst of governments —
a sectarian government. The party in power would
go all the lengths their orators proposed — all that
their fonuulie enjoined, as fer as they had ever said
they would go. But the partisans of the English
Parliament are not of such a temper. They are
Whigs, or Radicals, or Tories, but they are much else
too. They are common Englishmen, and, as Father

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

206 THE "ENGLISH C0N8TITUTI01S".

Newman complains, " hard to be worked up to the
dogmatic Jevel." They are not eager to pr^s the
tenets of their party to impossible conclusions. On
the contrary, the way to lead them — the best and
acknowledged way — is to aifeet a studied and illog-
ical moderation. You may hear men say, " Without
committing myself to the tenet that 3 j-2 make 5,
though I am free to admit that the honorable member
for Bradford has atlvauced very grave arguments in
behalf of it, I think I may, with the permission of the
Committee, assume that 2 + 3 do not make 4, which
will be a sufficient basis for the important propositions
which I shall venture to submit on the present occa-
sion." This language is very suitable to the greater
part of the House of Commons. Most men of busi-
ness love a sort of twilight. They have lived all
their lives in an atmosphere of probabilities and of
doubt, where nothing is very clear, where there are
some chances for many events, where there is much
to be said for several courses, where nevertheless
one course must he determinedly chosen and fixedly
adhered to. They like to heai' arguments suited to
this intellectual haze. So far from caution or hesita-
tion in the statement of the argument striking them
as an indication of imbecility, it seems to them a sign
of practicality. They got rich themselves by ti'ans-
aetions of which they could not have stated the
a^umentative ground — and all they ask for is a
distinct, though moderate conclusion, that they can
repeat when asked; something which they feel not
to be abstract ai^ument, but abstract argument
dduted and dissolved in real life. " There seem tti
me," an impatient young man once said, "to be no

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TUB HOUSE OF COMMONS. 207

stays in Peel's arguments." And that was why Sir
Robert Peel was the best leader of the Commons in
our time ; we like to have the rigidity taken out of
siO avgiunent, and the substance left.

Nor indeed, under our system of government, are
the leaders themselves of the House of Commons, for
the most i art, eager to carry party conclusions too
fEir. Thej TJe m contact with reality. An Oppo-
sition, on crmmg into power, is often like a specula-
tive meiuhont whose bills become due. Ministers
have to make good their promises, and they find a
difficulty m so doing. They have said the state of
things !-■ so and so and if you give us the power we
will di thus \nl thus. But when they come to
handle the official documents, to convei'se with the
perminent uiidei secretary — familiar with disagree-
able facts and though in manner most respectful,
yet most imperturbable in opinion — very soon doubts
intervene. Of course, something must be done : the
speculative merchant cannot forget his bills ; the late
Opposition camiot, in office, foi^et those sentences
which terrible admirers in the country still quote.
But just as the merchant asks his debtor, " Could
you not lake a bill at four months?" so the new
minister says to the permanent under-seeretary,
-' Could you not suggest a middle course ? I am of
course not bound by mere sentences used in debate ;
I have never been accused of letting a false ambition
of consistency warp my conduct ; but," &c. And
the end always is, that a middle course is devised
which looks as much as possible like what was sug-
gested in opposition, but which is as much as possible
what patent facts — facts which seem to live in the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

208 THR EXGLISIt CONSTITUTION.

ofGce, so teasing and unceasing are thoy — prove
ought to be done.

Of all. modes of enforcing moderation on a party,
the best is to contrive that the members of that party
shall be intrinsically moderate, careful, and almost
shrinking men ; and the next best to contrive, tliat
the leaders of the party, who have protested most in
its behalf, shall be placed in the closest contact with
the actuiil world. Our English system contains both
conti'ivancea : it malies party government permanent
and possible in the sole way in which it can be'so, by
making it mild.

Bnt tliese expedients, though they sufficiently re-
move the defects which make a common club or
quarter-sessions impotent, would not enable the
House of Commoiia to govern England. A repre-
sentative public meeting is subject to a defect over
and above those of other public meetings. It may
not be independent. The constituencies may not
let it alone. But if they do not, all the cheeks which
have been enumerated upon the evils of a party organ-
ization would be futile. The feeling of a constitu-
ency is the feeling of a dominant party, and that
feeling is elicited, stimulated, sometimes even manu-
factured by the local political agent. Sucli an opinion
could not be moderate ; could not be subject to
effeetual discussion ; could not be in close contact
with pressing facts ; could not be framed under a
chastening sense of near responsibility ; could not be
formed as those form their opinions who have to act
upon them. Constituency government is the precise
opposite of parliamentary government. It is the
government of immoderate persons far from the scene

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 209

of action, instead of the government of moderate
persons close to the scene of action ; it is the judg-
ment of persons judging in the last resort and without
a penalty, in heu of persons judging in fear of a
dissolution, and ever conscious that they are subject
to an appeal.

Most persons would admit these conditions of par-
liamentary government when they read them, but
two at least of the most prominent ideas in the public
mind are inconsistent with them. The scheme to
which the arguments of our demagogues distinctly
tend, and the scheme to which the predilections of
some most eminent philosophers cleave, are both so.
They would not only make parliamentjiry government
work ill, but they would prevent its working at all ;
they would not render it bad, for they would make it

The first of these is the ulti'a-demoeratic theory.
This theory demands that every man of twenty-one
years of age (if not every woman, too) should have
an equal vote in electing Parliament. Suppose that
last year there were twelve millions adult males in
England. Upon this theory each man is to have one
twelve-millionth share in electing a Parliament ; the
rich and wise are not to have, by explicit law, more
votes than the poor and stupid ; nor are any latent
contrivances to give them an influence equivalent to
more votes. The machinery for carrying out such a
plan is very easy. At each census liie country ought
to be divided into six hundred and fifty-eight electoral
districts, in each of which the number of adult males
should be the same ; and these districts ought to be
the only constituencies, and elect the whole Parlia-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

210 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

ment. But if the above prerequisites are needful
for parliamentary government, that Parliament would
not work.

Such a Parliament could not be composed of mod-
erate men. The electoral districte would be, some
of them, in purely agricultural places, and in these
the parson and the sqiiire would have almost unlim-
ited power. They would be able to drive or send to
the poll an entire laboring population. These districts
would return an unmixed squirearchy. The scattered
8m.all towns, which now send so many members to
Parliament, would be lost in the clownish mass ; their
votes would send to Parliament no distinct membei's.
The agricultural part of England would choose ita
representatives from quarter sessions exclusively. On
the other hand, a large part of the constituencies
would be town districts ; and these would send up
persons representing the beliefs or the, unbeliefe of
the lowest classes in their towns. They would, per-
haps, be divided between the genuine representatives
of the artisans — not possibly of the best of the arti-
sans, who are a select and intellectual class, but of
the common order of work-people — and the merely
pretended members for that class, whom I may call
the members for the public-houses. In all big towns
in which there is electioneering these houses are the
centres of illicit corruption and illicit management.
There are pretty good records of what that corruption
and management are, but there is no need to describe
them here. Everybody will understand what sort
of things I mean, and the kind of unprincipled mem-
bers that are returned by them. Our new Parlia-
ment, therefore, would be made up of two sorts of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OP COMMONS. 211

representatives from the town lowest class, and one
sort of representatives from the agricultural lowest
class. The genuine representatives of the country
would be men of one marked sort, and the genuine
representatives for the county men of another marked
sort, but very opposite : one would have the preju-
dices of town artisans, and the other the prejudices
of county magistrates. Each class would speak a
language of its own ; each would be unintelligible to
the other ; and the only thriving class would be the
immoral representatives, who were chosen by corrupt
machination, and who would probably get a good
profit on the capital they laid out in that corruption.
If it be true that a parliamentary government is pos-
sible only when the overwhelmir^ majority of the
representatives are men essentially moderate, of no
marked varieties, free from class prejudices, this
ultra-democratic Parliament could not maintain that
government, for its members would be remarkable
for two sorts of moral violence and -one sort of im-
moral.

I do not for a moment rank the scheme of Mr.
Hare with the scheme of the ultra-democrats. One
can hardly help having a feeling of romance about
it. The world seems growing young when grave old
lawyers and mature philosophers propose a scheme
promising so much. It is from these classes that
young men suffer commonly the chilling demonstra-
tion that their fine plans are opposed to rooted obsta-
cles, that they are repetitions of other plans which
failed long ago, and that we must be content with
the very moderate results of tried machinery. But
Mr. Hare and Mr, Mill offer as the effect of their

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

212 THE ENGLISH CONSTJTUTIOK.

new scheme results as large and improvements as
interesting as a young enthusiast ever promised to
himself in his happiest mood,

I do not give any weight to the supposed impracti-
cability of Mr. Hare's scheme because it is new. Of
course it cannot be put in practice tiU it is old. A
great change of this sort happily cannot be sudden ;
a free people cannot be confused by new institutions
which they do not understand, for they will not adopt
them till they understand them. But if Mr. Hare's
plan would accomplish what its friends say, or half
what they say, it would be worth working for, if it
were not adopted till the year 1966._ We ought
incessantly to popularize the principle by writing ;
and, what is better than writing, small preliminary
bits of experiment. There is so much that is weari-
some and detestable in all other election machineriea,
that I well understand, and wish I could share, the
sense of relief with which the believers in this scheme
throw aside all their trammels, and look to an almost
ideal future, when this captivating plan is canied.

Mr. Hare's scheme cannot be satisfactorily discussed
in the elaborate form in which he presents it. No
common person readily apprehends all the details in
which, with loving care, he has embodied it. He was
so anidous to prove what could be done, that he has
confused most people as to what it is. I have heard
a man say, " He never could remember it two days
running," But the difficulty which I feel is funda-
mental, and wholly independent of detail.

There are two modes in which constituencies may
be made. First, the law may make them, as in Eng-
land and almost everywhere: the law may say siich

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 21S

and such qualifications shall give a vote for constitu-
ency X; those who have that qualification shall he
constituency X. These are what we may call com-
pulsory constituencies, and we know all about them.
Or, secondly, the law mayleave the electors themselves
to make them. The law may say all the adult males of
a country shall vote, or those males who can read and
■write, or those who have X50 a year, or any persons
any way defined, and then leave those voters to
group themselves as they like. Suppose there were
658,000 voters to elect the House of Commons ; it is
possible for the legislature to say, " We do not care
how you combine. On a given day let each set of
persons give notice in what group they mean to vote ;
if every voter gives notice, and every one looks to
make the most of his vote, each group will have just
1,00,0. But the law shall not make this necessary —
it shall take the 658 most numerous groups, no matter
whether they have 2,000 or 1,000, or 900, or 800
votes — the most numerous groups, whatever their
number may be ; and tliese shall be the constitu-
encies of the nation." These are voluntary con-
stituencies, if I may so call them ; the simplest
kirtd of voluntary constituencies. Mr. Hare proposes
a far more complex kind ; but to show the merits and
demerits of the voluntary principle the simplest form
is much the best.

The temptation to that principle is very plain.
Under the compulsory form of constituency the votes
of the minorities are thrown away. In the city of
London, now, there are many Tories, but all the
members are Whigs ; every London Tory, therefore,
is by law and principle misrepresented ; ids city sends

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

214 THE ENGLTSH CONSTITUTIOX.

to Parliament not the member whom he wished to
have, but the member he wished not to have. But
upon the voluntary system the London Tories, who
are far more than 1,000 in number, may combine ;
they may make a constituency, and return a member.
In many existing constituencies the disfranchisement
of minorities k hopeless and chronic. I have myself
had a vote for an agricultural county for twenty
years, and I am a Libera! ; but two Tories have
always been returned, and all my life will be re-
turned. As matters now stand, my vote is of no
use. But if I could combine with 1,000 other Lib-
erals in that and other Conservative counties, we
might choose a Liberal member.

Again, this plan gets rid of all our difficulties as to
the size of constituencies. It is said to be unreason-
able that Liverpool should return only the same num-
ber of members as King's Lynn or Lyme Regis ; but
upon the voluntary plan, Liverpool could come down
to King's Lynn, The Liberal minority in King's
Lynn could communicate with the Liberal minority
in Liverpool, and make up 1,000 ; and so everywhere,
The numbers of popular places would gain what is
called their legitimate advantage ; they would, when
constituencies are voluntarily made, be able to make,
and he willing to make, the greatest number of con-
stituencies.

Agfun, the admirers of a great man could make a
worthy constituency for him. As it is, Mr. Mill was
returned by the electors of Westminster ; and they
have never, since they had members, done them-
selves so great an honor. But what did the electors
of Westminster know of Mr. Mill ? What fraction

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE UOUSE OF COMMONS, 215

of his mixid could be imagined by any percentage of
their minds ? A great deal of his genius most of
them would not hke. They meant to do homage to-
mental ability, but it was the worship of an unknown
god — if ever there was such a thing in this world.
But upon the voluntary plan, one thousand out of
the many thousand students of Mr. Mill's book could
have made an appreciating CQnstituency for him.

I could reckon other advantages, but I have to
object to the scheme, not to recommend it. What
are the counterweights which overpower these mer-
its? I reply that the voluntary composition of
constituencies appeal's to me inconsistent with the
necessary prerequisites of parliamentaiy government
as they have been just laid down.

Under the voluntary system, the crisis of polities
is not the election of the member, but the making
the constituency. President-making is already a
trade in America ; and constituency-making Avould,
ynder the voluntary plan, be a trade here. Every
party would have a numerical problem to solve. #The
leadei« would say, " We have 350,000 votes, we
must take care to have 350 members ; " and the only
way to obtain thera is to organize. A man who
waited to compose pai't of a liberal constituency
must not himself hunt for 1,000 other Liberals; if he
did, after writing 10,000 letters, he would probably
find he was making part of a constituency of 100, all
whose votes would be thrown away, the constituency
being too small to be reckoned. Such a Liberal must
write to the great Registration Association in Parlia-
ment Street ; he must communicate with its able
managers, and they would soon use his vote for him.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

216 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

They would say, " Sir, you are late ; Mr. Gladstone,
sir, is fuU. He got his 1,000 last year. Most of the
gentlemen you read of in the papers are full. As
soon as a gentleman makes a nice speech, we get a
heap of letters to say, ' Make us into tliat gentle-
man's constitueney.' But we cannot do that. Here
is our list. If you do not want to throw your vote
away, you must he guided by us : here are three very
satisfactory gentlemen (and one is an Honorable) :
you may vote for either of these, and we will write
joui name down ; but if you go voting wildly, you'll
be thrown out altogether."

The evident result of this organization would be
tlie return of party men mainly. The member-mak-
ers would look, not for independence, but for sub-
servience — and they could hardly be blamed for so
doing. They are agents for the Liberal party ; and,
as siich, they should be guided by what they take to
be the wishes of their principal. The mass of the
Liberal party wishes measure A, measure B, measure
C. Tlie managers of the registration — the skilled
manipulators — are busy men. They would say,
" Sir, here is our eai'd ; if you want to get into par-
liament on our side, you must go for that card ; it
was drawn up by Mr. Lloyd ; he used to be engaged
on railways, but since they passed this new voting
plan, we get him to attend to us ; it is a sound card ;
stick to that and you will be right." Upon this (in
theory) voluntary plan, you would get together a set
of members bound hard and fast with party bands
and fetters, infinitely tighter than any members now.

Whoever hopes any thing from desultory popular
action if matched against systematized popular ac-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOC8E OF COMMONS. 237

tion, should consider the way in which the American
President is chosen. The plan was that the citizens
ftt large should vote for the statesman they liked best.
But no one does any thing of the sort. They vote
for the ticket made by " the caucus," and the caucus
is a sort of representative meeting which sits voting
and voting till they have cut out all the known men
against whom much is to be said, and agreed on some
unknown man gainst whom there is nothing known,
and therefore nothing to be alleged. Caucuses, or
their equivalent, would be far worse here in constitu-
ency-making than there in President-making, because
on great occasions the American nation can iix on
some one great man whom it knows, but the English
nation could not fix on six hundred and fifty-eight
great men and choose them. It does not know so
many, and if it did, would go wrong in the difficul-
ties of the manipulation.

But though a common voter could only be ranged
in an effectual constituency, and a common candidate
only reach a constituency by obeying the orders of
the pohtical election-contrivers upon his side, certain
voters and certain members would be quite independ-
ent of both. There are organizations in this counti-y
which would soon make a set of constituencies for
themselves. Every chapel would be an office for
vote tiansferring before the plan had been known
three months. The Church would be much slower
in learning it, and much less handy in using it ; but
would learn. At present the Dissenters are a most
energetic and valuable component of the Liberal
party ; but under the voluntary plan they would not
he a component — they would be a separate, inde-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

218 THE ENGLISH CONSTITXJTIOIT.

pendent element. We now propose to group bor-
oughs ; but then they would combine chapels. There
would be a member for the Baptist congregation of
Tavistock, cum Totnea, cum, &c.

The full force of this cannot he appieciated except
by referring to the former proof that the mass of a
Parliament ought to be men of moderate sentimentia,
or they will elect an immoderate minntiy, and enact
violent laws. But upon the plan sUj,'gested, the
House would be made up of party pubticians selected
by a party committee, chained to that committee and
pledged to party violence, and of characteristic, and
therefore immoderate representatives, for every " ism "
in all England. Instead of a deliberate assembly of
moderate and judicious men, we should have a vari-
ous compound of all sorts of violence.

1 may seem to be drawing a caricature, but I have
not reached the worst. Bad as these members would
be, if they were left to themselves — if, in a free
Parliament, they were confronted with the perils of
government, close responsibility might improve them
and make them tolerable. But they would not be
left to themselves. A voluntary constituency wiU
nearly always be a despotic constituency. Even in
the best case, where a set of earnest men choose a
member to expound their earnestness, they will look
after him to see that he does expound it. The mem-
bers will be like the minister of a dissenting congre-
gation. That congregation is collected by a unity of
sentiment in dootrine A, and the preacher is to preach
doctrine A ; if he does not, he is dismissed. At
present the member is free because the constituency
is not in earnest : no constituency has an acute, aecu-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 219

rate doctrinal creed in politics. The law made the
constituencies by geographical divisions ; and they
are not bound together by close unity of belief. They
hav'e vague preferences for particular doctrines ; and
that is aU. But a voluntary constituency would be
a church with tenets ; it would make its representa-
tive the messenger of its mandates, and the delegate
of its determinations. As in the case of a dissenting
congregation, one gi'eat minister sometimes I'uies it,
while ninety-nine ministeiB in the hundred are ruled
by it, so here one noted man would rule his electors,
but the electors would rule all the others.

Thus, the members for a good voluntary constitu-
ency would be hopelessly enslaved, because of ite
goodness ; but the members for a bad voluntary con-
stituency would be yet more enslaved because of its
badness. The makers of these constituencies would
keep the despotism in their own hands. In America
there is a division of politicians into wire-pullers and
blowers ; under the voluntary system the member of
Parliament would be tlie only momentary mouth-
piece — the impotent blower ; while the constituency-
maker would be the latent wire-puller — the constant
autocrat. He would write to gentlemen in Parlia-
ment, and say, " You were elected upon ' the Liberal,
ticket ; ' if you deviate from that ticket you canuot
be chosen again." And there would be no appeal for
a common-minded man. He is no more likely to
make a constituency for himself than a mole is likely
to make a planet.

It may indeed be said that against a septennial
Parliament such machinations would be powerless ;
that a member elected for seven years might defy tlie

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

220 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

remonstrances of an earnest constituency, or the im-
precations of the latent manipulators. But after the
voluntary composition of constituencies, there would
soon he but short-lived Parliaments. Earnest con-
stituencies would exact frequent elections ; they
would not like to part with their virtue for a long
period ; it would anger them to see it used contrary
to their wishes, amid circumstances which at the
election no one thought of. A seven years' Parlia-
ment is often chosen in one political period, lasts
through a second, and is dissolved in a third, A
constituency collected by law and on compulsion en-
dures tliis change because it has no collective earnest-
ness ; it does not mind seeing the power it gave used
in a manner that it could not have foreseen. But a
self-formed constituency of eager opinions, a mission-
ary constituency, so to spealr, would object ; it woidd
think it its bounden duty to object ; and the crafty
manipulators, though they said nothing, in silence
would object still more. The two together would
enjoin annual elections, and would rule their mem-
bers unflinchingly.

The voluntary plan, therefore, when tried in this
easy form, is inconsistent with the extrinsic inde-
pendence as well as with the inherent moderation of
a Parhament — two of the conditions which, as we
have seen, are essential to the bare possihihty of par-
liamentary government. The same objections, as is
inevitable, adhere to that principle under its more
complicated forms. It is in vain to pile detail on de-
tail when the objection is one of first principle. If
the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constitu-
encies are necessary, voluntary constituencies de-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TUB HOUSE or COMMONS. 221

struetive ; the optional transferability of votes is not
a salutary aid, but a ruinous innovation.

I bave dwelt upon the proposal of Mr, Hare and
upon the ultra-ilemocratic proposal, not only because
of the high intellectual interest of the former and the
possible practical interest of the latter, but because
they tend to bring into relief two at least of the nec-
essary conditions of parliamentary government. But
besides these necessary qualities which are needful
before a parliamentary government can work at all,
there are some additional prerequisites before it can
work well. That a House of Commons may work
well it must perform, as we saw, iive functions well :
it must elect a ministry well, legislate well, teach the
nation well, express the nation's will well, bring mat-
ters to the nation's attention well.

The discussion has a difficulty of its own. What
is meant by " well " ? Who is to judge ? Is it to he
some panel of philosophers, some fancied posterity, or
some other outside authority ? I answer, no phQos-
opby, no posterity, no external authority, but the
Enghsh nation here and now.

Free government is self-government — a govern-
ment of the people by the people. The best govern-
ment of this sort is that which the people think best.
An imposed government, a government like that of
the English in India, may very possibly be better ; it
may represent the views of a higber race than the
governed race ; but it is not therefore a free govern-
ment. A free government is that which the people
subject to it voluntarily choose. In a casual collection
of loose people the only possible free government is
a democratic government. Where no one knows or

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

222 THE EKGLISTT CONSTITUTION.

cares for or respects any one else, all must ran^
equal ; no one's opinion can be more potent than that
of another. But, as has been explained, a deferen-
tial nation has a structure of its own. Certain per-
sons are by common consent agreed to be wiser than
others, and their opinion is, by consent, to rank for
much more than its numerical value. We may in
these happy nations weigh votes as well as count
them, though in less favored countries we can count
only. But in free nations, the votes so weighed or so
counted must decide. A perfect free government is
one which decides perfectly according to those votes ;
an imperfect, one which so decides imperfectly ; a
bad, one which does not so decide at all. Public
opinion is the test of this polity; the best opinion
which, with its existing habits of deference, the na-
tion will accept : if the free government goes by that
opinion, it is a good government of its species ; if it
contravenes that opinion, it is a bad one.

Tried by this rule the House of Commons does its
appointing business well. It chooses rulers as we
wish rulers to be chosen. If it did not, in a speak-
ing and writing age we should soon know. I have
heard a great Liberal statesman say, " The time
was coming when we must advertise for a griev-
ance."* What a good grievance it would be were
the' ministiy appointed and retained by the Parlia-
ment a ministry detested hv the nation. An anti-
present-government league wouM be instantly created,
and it would be more instantly powerful and more
instantly successful than the Anti-Oorn Law I

It has, mdeed, been objected that the ■

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE or C0MM0H8. 223

business of Parliament is done ill, because it does not
choose strong governmente. And it is certain that
when public opinion does not definitely decide upon
a marked policy, and when in consequence parties in
the Parliament are nearly even, individual cupidity
and changeability may make Parliament change its
appointees too often ; may induce them never enough
to trust any of them ; may make it keep aU of them
under a suspended sentence of coming dismissal, liut
the experience of Lord Palmerston's second Govern-
ment proves, I think, that these fears are exaggerated.
When the choice of a nation is really fixed on a
statesman, Parliament will fix upon him too. The
parties in the Parliament of 1859 were as nearly di-
vided as in any probable Parliament ; a great many
Liberals did not much like Lord Palraerston, and
they would have gladly co-operated in an attempt to
dethrone him. But the same influence acted on Par-
liament within which acted on the nation without.
The moderate men of both parties were satisfied that
Lord Palmerston's was the best government, and they
therefore preserved it though it was hated by the im-
moderate on both sides. We have then found by a
critical instance that a government supported by what
I may call "the common element," — by the Uke-
minded men of unlike parties, — will be retained in
power, though parties are even, and though, as Treas-
ury eoimting reckons, the majority is imperceptible.
If happily, by its intelligence and attractiveness, a
cabinet can gain a hold upon the great middle part
of Parliament, it will continue to exist notwithstand-
ing the hatching of small plots and tlie machinations
of mean factions.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

224 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOK.

On the whole, I think it indisputable that the se-
lecting task of Parliament is performed aa well as
puhlic opinion wishes it to be performed ; and if we
want to improve that standard, we must first improve
the English nation, which imposes that standard. Of
the substantial part of its legislative task the same,
too, may, I think, be said. The manner of our legis-
lation is indeed detestable, and the machinery for set^
tlii^ that manner odious. A committee of the whole
House, dealing, or attempting to deal, with the elabo-
rate clauses of a long Bill, is a ^vretched specimen of
severe but misplaced labor. It is sure to wedge some
clause into the Act, such as that which the judge said
" seemed to have fallen by itself, perhaps, from
heaven, into the mind of the legislature," so little
had it to do with any thing on either side or around it.
At such times government by a public meeting dis-
plays its inherent defects, and is little restrained by
its necessary checks. But the essence of our legisla-
ture may be separated from its accidents. Subject to
two considerable defects I think Parliament passes
laws as the nation wishes to have them passed.

Thirty years ago this was not so. The nation had
outgrown its institutions, and was cramped by them.
It was a man in the clothes of a boy ; every limb
wanted more room, and every garment to be fresh
made, " D-mn me," said Lord Eldon in the dialect
of his age, "if I had to'begin life again I would be-
gin as an agitator." The shrewd old man saw that
the best life was that of a miscellaneous objector to
the old world, though he loved that world, believed
iu it, could imagine no other. But he would not say
so now. Tliere is no worse trade than agitation ;^t

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 225

this time. A man can hardly get an audience if he
wishes to complain of any thing, Now-it-days, not
only does the mind and policy of Parliament (subject
to the exceptions before named) possess the common
sort of moderation essential to the possibility of par-
liamentary government, but also that exact gradation,
that precise species of moderation, most agreeable to
the nation at lai^e. Not only does the nation endure
a parliaraentaiy government, ivhieh it would not do
if Parliament were immoderate, but it likes parlia-
mentary government, A sense of satisfaction per-
meates the country because most of the country feels
it has got the precise thing that suits it.

The exceptions are two. First. That Parliament
leans too much to the opinions of the landed inter-
est. The Cattle Plague Act is a conspicuous instance
of this defect. The details of that Bill may be good
or bad, and its policy wise or foolish. But the man-
ner in which it was hurried through the House
savored of despotism. The cotton trade or the wine
trade could not, in their maximum of peril, have
obtained such aid in such a manner. The House of
Commons would hear of no pause and would heed no
arguments. The greatest number of them feared for
their incomes. The land of England returns many
members annually for the counties; these members the
constitution gave them. But what is curious is that
the landed interest gives no seats to other classes, but
takes plenty of seats from other classes. Half the
boroughs in England are represented by considerable
land-owners, and when rent is in question, as in the
cattle case, they think more of themselves than of
those who sent them. In number the landed gentry

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

226 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

in the House far sui-pass any otlier class. Tliey have,
too, a more intimate connection with one another ;
they were educated at the same schools ; know one
another's family name from boyhood ; form a society ;
are the same kind of men ; maiTj the same kind of
women. The merchants and manufacturers in Parlia-
ment are a motley race — one educated here, another
there, a third not educated at all ; some are of the
second generation of traders, who consider self-made
men intruders upon an hereditary place ; others are
self-made, and regard the men of inherited wealth,
which they did not make and do not augment, as
beings of neither mind nor place, inferior to them-
selves because they have no brains, and inferior to
lords because they have no rank. Traders have no
bond of union, no habits of intercourse ; their wives,
if they care for society, want to see not the wives of
other such men, but " better people," as they say —
the wives of men certainly with land, and, if Heaven
help, with the titles. Men who study the structure
of Parliament, not in abstract books, but in the con-
crete London woild, wonder not that the landed in-
terest is very powerful, but that it is not despotic. I
believe it would be despotic i£ it were clever, or
rather if its representatives were so, but it has a
fixed device to make them stupid. The counties not
only elect land-owners, which is natural, and perhaps
wise, but also elect only land-owners of their own
county, which is absurd. There is no free trade in
the agricultural mind ; each county prohibits the im-
port of able men from other counties. This is why
eloquent sceptics — Bolingbroke and Disnieli — have
been so apt to lead the unseeptieal Tories. They

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 227

will have people with a great piece of land in a par-
ticular spot, and of course these people generally can-
not speak, and often cannot think. And so eloquent
men who laugh at the party come to lead the party.
The landed interest has much more influence than it
should have ; hut it wastes that influence so much
that the excess is, except on aingular occurrences
(like the cattle plague), of secondary moment.

It is almost another side of the same matter to
say that the structure of Parliament gives too little
weight to the growing districts of the country and
too much to the stationary. In old times the south
of England was not only the pleasantest but the great-
est part of England. Devonshhe was a great maritime
county when the foundations of our representation
were fixed ; Somersetshire and Wiltshire gTeat manu-
facturing counties. The harsher climate of the north-
ern counties was associated with a ruder, a sterner,
and a sparser people. The immense preponderance
which our Parliament gave before 1832, and, though
pruned and mitigated, still gives to England south of
the Trent, then corresponded to a real preponderance
in wealth and mind. How opposite the present con-
trast is we all know. And the case gets worse every
day. The nature of modern trade is to give to those
wlio have ^much and take from those who have little.
Manufacture goes where manufacture is, because there
and there aione it finds attendant and auxiliary manu-
facture. Every railway takes trade from the little
town to the big town, because it enables the customer
to buy in the big town. Year by year the North (as we
may roughly call the new industrial world) gets more
important, and the South (as we may call the pleas-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

228 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION.

ant remnant of old times) gets less important. It is
a grave objection to our existing parliamentary con-
stitution that it gives much power to regions of past
greatness, and refuses ec[ual power to regions of pres-
ent greatness.

I think (though it is not a popular notion) that by
far the greater part of the cry for parliamentary reform
is due to this inequality. The great capitalists, Mr.
Br^ht and his friends, believe they are sincere in
asldng for more power for the working man, but, in
fact, they very naturally and very properly want more
power for themselves. They cannot endure — they
ought not to endure — that a rich, able manufacturer
should be a less man than a small, stupid squh'e. The
notions of political equality which Mr. Bright puts
forward are as old as political speculation, and have
been refuted by the first efforts of that speculation.
But for all that they are likely to last as long aa
political society, because they are based upon indehble
principles in human nature. Edmund Burke called
the flxst East Indians " Jacobins to a man," because
they did not feel their " present importance equal to
their real wealth." So long as there is an uneasy
class, a class which has not its just power, it will
rashly clutch and bUndly beUeve the notion that all
men should have the same power.

I do not consider the exclusion of the working
classes from effectual representation a defect in this
aspect of our parliamentary representation. The work-
ing classes contribute almost nothing to our" corporate
pubhc opinion, and therefore the fact of their want
of influence in Parliament does not impair the coinci-
dence of Parhament with pubhc opinion. They are

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TTiB TiorsB or COMMONS. 229

left out in the representation, and also in the thing
represented.

Nor do I think the number of persons of aristocratic
descent in Parliament impairs the accordance of Par-
liament with public opinion. No doubt the direct
descendants and collateral relatives of noble families
supply members to Parliament in far greater propor-
tion than is warranted by the number of such familiea
in comparison with the whole nation. But I do not
believe that these families have the least corporate
character, or any common opinions, different from
others of the landed gentry. They have the opinions
of the propertied rank ui which they were born. The
English aristocracy have never been a caste apart,
and are not a caste apart now. They would keep
up nothing that other landed gentlemen would not.
And if any landed gentlemen are to be sent to the
House of Commons, it is desirable that many should
be men of some rank. As long as we keep up a double
set of institutions, — one dignified and intended to
impress the many, the other efficient and intended
to govern the many, — we should take care that the
two match nicely, and hide where the one begins and
where the other ends. This is in part effepted by
conceding some subordinate power to the august part
of our polity, but it is equally aided by keeping an
aristocratic element in the useful part of our polity.
In truth, the deferential instinct secures both. Aris-
tocracy is a power in the "constituencies." A man
who is an hononible or a baronet, or better yet, per-
haps, a real earl, though Irish, is coveted by half the
electii^ bodies ; and cceteris paribus, a manufactui'er's
son has no chance with him. The reality of the def-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

230 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

erential feeling in the community is tested by the
actual election of the class deferred to, where there
is a lai^e free choice betwixt it and others.

Subject therefore to the two iniiior, but still not
inconsiderable, defects I have named, Parliament
conforms it-self accurately enough, both as a chooser
of executives and as a legislature, to the formed opin-
ion of the country. Similarly, and subject to the same
exceptions, it expresses the nation's opinion in words
well, when it happens that words, not laws, are
wanted. On foreign matters, where we cannot legis-
late, whatever the English nation thinks, or thinks it
thinks, as to the critical events of the world, whether
in Denmark, in Italy, or America, and no matter
whether it thinks wisely or unwisely, that same some-
thing, wise or unwise, will be thoroughly well said
in Parliament. The lyrical function of Parliament,
if I may use such a phrase, is well done ; it pours out
in characteristic words the characteiistic heart of the
nation. And it can do little more useful. Now that
free government is in Europe so rare and in America
so distant, the opinion, even the incomplete, erroneous,
rapid opinion of the free Englisli people is invaluable.
It may ^e very wrong, but it is sui'e to be unique ;
and if it is right it is sure to contain matter of great
mt^nitude, for it is only a fiast-class matter in distant
things which a free people ever sees or learns. The
English people must miss a thousand minutiaa that
continental bureaucracies know even too well ; but if
they see a cardinal truth which those bureaucracies
miss, that cardinal truth may greatly help the world.

But if in these ways, and subject to these excep-
tions. Parliament by its policy and its speech well em-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 231

bodies and expresses public opinion, I own I think it
must be conceded that it is not equally successful in
elevating public opinion. The teaching task of Par-
liament is the task it does worst. Probably at this
moment it is natural to exaggerate this defect. The
greatest teacher of all in Parliament, the head-master
of the nation, the great elevator of the country —
so far as Parliament elevates it — must be the Prime
Minister ; he has an influence, an authority, a facility
in giving a great tone to discussion, or a mean tone,
which no other man has. Now Lord Palmerston
for many yeai's steadily applied his mind to giving,
not indeed a mean tone, but a light tone, to the
proceedings of Parliament. One of his greatest ad-
mirei« has since his death told a story of which he
scarcely sees, or seems to see, the full effect. When
Lord Palmerston was first made leader of the House,
his jaunty manner was not at all popular, and some
predicted failure. " No," said an old member, " he
will soon educate us down to his level ; the House
will soon prefer this Ha ! Ha 1 style to the wit of Can-
ning and the gravity of Pee!." I am afraid that we
must own that the prophecy was accomplished. No
prime minister, so popular and so influential, has ever
left in the public memory so little noble teaching.
Twenty years hence, when men inquire as to the then
fading memory of Palmerston, we shall he able to
point to no great truth which he taught, no great dis-
tinct policy which he embodied, no noble words which
once fascinated his age, and which, in after years, men
would not willingly let die. But we shall be able to
say, " He had a genial manner, a firm, sound sense ; he
had a kind of cant of insincerity, but we always knew

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

232 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

what be meant ; he had the brain of a ruler in the
clothes of a man of fashion." Posterity will hardly
understand the worda of the aged re i^cent 1 t we
now feel their effect. The House of Common s ice
it eai^ht its tone from such a state man hi taught
the nation worse, and elevated it les. tha s ol

I think, however, that a correct ob er e o ild
decide that in general, and on principle, the House of
Commons does not teach the public as much as it
might teach it, or as the public would wish to learn.
I do not wiah very abstract, very philosophical, very
hard matters to be stated in Parliament. The teach-
ing there given must be popular, and to he popular
it must be concrete, embodied, short. The prob-
lem is to know the highest truth which the people
wUi bear, and to inculcate and preach that. Certainly
Lord Palmerston did not preach it. He a little de-
graded us by preaching a doctrine just below our own
standard ; — a doctrine not enough below us to repel
us much, but yet enough below to harm us by aug-
menting a worldhneas which needed no addition, and
by diminishing a love of principle and philosophy
ivhich did not want deduction.

In comparison with the debates of any other as-
sembly, it is true the debates by the English Par-
liament are most instructive. The debates in the
American Congress have little teaching efficacy ; it
is the characteristic vice of Presidential Government
to deprive them of that etficacy ; in that government
a debate in the legislature has little effect, for it can-
not turn out the executive, and the executive can
veto all it decides. The French Chambei-s * are suit-
• This of course relates to the assemblies of the Empire.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE iroUSli OF COMMONS. 233

able appendages to an Empire which desires the power
of despotism without its shame ; they prevent the
enemies of the Empire being quite correct when they
say there is no fre^ speech : a few permitted objec-
tors fill the air with eloquence, which every one knows
to he often true, and always vain. The debates in an
English Parliament fill a space in the world which,
in these auxiliary chambers, is not possible. But I
think any one who compares the discussions on great
questions in the higher part of the press, with the
discussions in Parliament, will feel that there is (of
coui-se amid much exaggeration and vagueness) a
gi-eater vigor and a higher meaning in the writing
than in the speech ; a vigor which the public appre-
ciate — a meaning that they Uke to Lear.

The Saturday Review said, some years since, that
the ability o£cParliament was a " protected ability ; "'
that there was at the door a differential duty of at
least 2,000?. a year. Accordingly the House of Com-
mons, representing only mind coupled with property,
is not equal in mind to a legislature chosen for mind
only, and whether accompanied by wealth or not.
But I do not for a moment wish to see a representa-
tion of pure mind ; it would he contrary to the main
thesis of this essay. I maintain that ParUament
ought to embody the public opinion of the English
nation ; and, certainly, that opinion is much more
fixed by its property than by its mind. The " too
clever by half" people, who live in '-Bohemia,"
ought to have no more influence in Parliament than
they have in England, and they can scarcely have
less. Only, after every great abatement and deduc-
tion, I think the country would hear a little more

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

234 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

mind ; and that there is a profusion of opulent dul-
ness in Parharoent which might a little — though
only a little — be pruned away.

The only function of Parliament which remains to
be considered is the informing function, as J just now
called it ; the function which belongs to it, or to mem-
bers of it, to bring before the nation the ideas, griev-
ances, and wishes of special classes. This must not
be confounded with what I have called its teaching
function. In life, no doubt, the two run one into
another. But so do many things which it is very im-
portant in definition to separate. The fact of two
things being often found together is rather a reason
for, than an objection to, separating them in idea.
Sometimes they are not found together, and then we
may be puzzled if we have not trained ourselves to
separate them. The teaching function brings true
ideas before the nation, and is the function of its
highest minds. The expressive function brings only
special ideas, aud is the function of but special minds.
Each class has its ideas, wants, and notions ; and
certain brains are ingrained with them. Such secta-
rian conceptions are not those by which a determin-
ing nation should regulate its action, nor are orators,
mainly animated by such conceptions, safe guides in
policy. But those orators should be heard ; those
conceptions should be kept in sight. Tlie great
maxim of modern thought is not only the toleration
of every thing, but the examination of every thing.
It is by examining very bare, very dull, verj unprom-
ising things, that modern science has come to be what
it is. There is a story of a great chemist who said
lie owed half his fame to his habit of examinnig, aftei

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE HOUSE OP COMMON'S. 235

his experiments, what was going to be thrown away ;
everybody knew the result of the experiment itself,
but in the refuse matter there were many little facts
and unknown ehauges, which suggested the discover-
ies of a famous life to a person capable of looking for ,
them. So with the special notions of neglected
classes. They may contain elements of truth which,
though small, are the very elements which we now
require, because we already know all the rest.

This doctrine was well known to our ancestors.
They labored to give a character to the various con-
stituencies, or to many of them. They wished that
the shippmg trade, the wool trade, the linen trade,
should each have their spokesman : that the unsec-
tional Parliament should know what each section in
the nation thought before it gave the national deci-
sion. This is the true reason for admitting the work-
ing classes to a share in the representation, at least
as far as the composition of Parliament is to be im-
proved by that admission. A great many ideas, a
great many feelings have gathered among the town
artisans — a pecuhar intellectual life has sprung up
among them. They believe that they have interests
which are misconceived or neglected ; that they know
something which others do not know ; that the
thoughts of Parliament are not as their thoughts.
They ought to be allowed to try to convince Par-
liament ; their notions ought to be stated as those of
otiier classes are stated ; their advocates should be
heard as other people's advocates are heard. Before
the Reform Bill, there was a recognized machinery
for that purpose. The member for Westminster, and
other members, were elected by universal suffrage

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

236 THE ENGLISir COKSTITTITION.

(m- what was in substance such) ; those members did,
n their day, state what were the grievances and
ideas — or were thought to be the grievances and
deas — of the worliing classes. It was the single
unbending franchise introduced in 1832 that has
caused tliis difficulty, as it has others.

Until such a change is made the House of Com-
mons will be defective, just as the House of Lords
was defective. It will not look right. As long as
the Lords do not come to their own House, we may
prove on paper that it is a good revising chamber, but
it will be difficult to make the literary argument felt.
Just so, as long as a great class, congregated in po-
litical localities, and known to have political thoughts
and wishes, is without notorious and palpable advo-
cates in Parliament, we may prove on paper that our
representation is adequate, but the world wiU not be-
lieve it. There is a saying of the eighteenth century,
that in politics "gross appearances are great reali-
ties." It is in vain to demonstrate that the working
classes have no grievances ; that the middle classes
have done all that is possible for them, and so on
■with a crowd of arguments which I need not repeat,
for the newspapers keep them in type, and we can
say them by heart. But so long as tlie "gross ap-
pearance " is that there are no evident, incessant rep-
resentatives to speak the wants of artisans, the
"great reality" will be a diffused dissatisfaction.
Thirty years ago it was vain to prove that Gatton
and Old Sarum were valuable seats, and sent good
members. Everybody said, " Why, there are no peo-
ple there." Just so everybody must say now, " Our
reprrsentative system must be imperfect, for an iin-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THB HOUSE OF COMMONS. 237

menae class has no members to speak for it." The
only answer to the cry against constituencies without
inhabitants was to transfer their power to constitu-
encies with inhabitants. Just so, the way to stop
the complaint that artisans have no members is to
give them members, — to create a body of repre-
sentatives, chosen by artisans, believing, <is Mr.
Carlyle would say, " that artisanism is the one thing
needful."

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE JINGURH CONSTITUTION.

ON CHANGES OF MINISTHr.

Theee ia one error as to the English Constitution
which crops-up periodically. Circumstances which
often, though irregularly, occur naturally suggest
that error, and as surely as they happen it revives.
The relation of Parliament, and especially of the
House of Commons, to the Executive Government is
the specific peculiarity of our constitution, and an
event which frequently happens much puzzles some
people as to it.

That event is a change of ministry. All our ad-
ministvators go out together. The whole execulive
government changes — at least, all the heads of it
change in a body, and at every such change some
speculators are sure to exclaim that such a habit is
foolish. They say, " No doubt Mr. Gladstone and
Lord Russell may have heen wrong about Reform ;
no doubt Mr. Gladstone may have been cross in the
House of Commons ; but why should either or both
of these events change all the heads of all our prac-
tical departments ? What could be more absurd
than what happened in 1858? Lord Palmerston
was for once in his life over-buoyant ; he gave
rude answers to stupid inquiries ; he brought into
the Cabinet a nobleman concerned in an ugly trial
about a woman ; he, or his Foreign Secretary, did not

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTEY. 239

answer a French despatch by a despatch, but told
our ambassador to reply orally. And because of
these trifles, or at any rate these isolated wK-admin-
istrative mistakes, all our administoation had fresh
heads. The Poor Law Board had a new chief, the
Home Department a new chief, the Public Works a
new chief. Surely this was absurd." Now, is this
objection good or had ? Speaking generally, is it
wise so to change all our rulers ?

The practice produces three great evils. First, it
brings in on a sudden new persons and untried per-
sona to preside over our policy. A little while ago
Lord Cranhorne * had no more idea that he would
now he Indian Secretary than that he would he a bill
broker. He had never given any attention to Lidian
affairs ; he can get them up, because he is an able edu-
cated man who can get up any thing. But tiiey are
uot " part and parcel " of his mind ; not his subjects
of familiar reflection, nor things of which he thinks
by predilection, of wliich he cannot help thinking.
But because Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone did not
please the House of Commons about Reform, there
he is. A perfectly inexperienced man, so far as In-
dian affairs go, rules all our Indian empire. And if
all our heads of ofBces change together, so very fre-
quently it must be. If twenty offices are vacant at
once, there are almost never twenty tried, competent,
clever men ready to take them. The difficulty of
making up a government is very much like the dif-
ficulty of putting together a Chinese puzzle: the
spaces do not suit what you have to put into them,

* Now LorH Salisbury, who when this was wtltten was Indian
Secretary. Note to seooud edition.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

240 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

And the difficulty of matching a ministry is more
than that of fitting a puzzle, because the ministers to
be put in can object, though the bits of a puzzle can-
not. One objector can throw out the combination.
In 1847 Lord Grey would not join Lord John Rus-
sell's projected government if Lord Palmerston was
to be Foreign Secretary ; Lord Palmerston would be
Foreign Secretary, and so the government was not
formed. The cases in which a single refusal prevents
a government are rare, and there must be many con-
current circumstances to make it effectual. But the
cases in which refusals impair or spoil a government
are very cojumon. It almost never happens that the
ministry-maker can put into his offices exactly whom
he would like ; a number of placemen are always too
proud, too eager, or too obstinate to go just where
they should.

Again, this system not only makes new ministers
ignorant, but keeps present ministers indifferent. A
man cannot feel the same interest that he might in
his work if he knows that by events over which he
has no control, — by errors in which he had no share,
— by metamorphoses of opinion which belong to a
different sequence of phenomena, he may have to
leave that work in the middle, and may very likely
never return to it. The new man put into a fresh office
ought to have the best motive to leara his task thor-
oughly, but, in fact, in England, he hau not it all the
best motive. The last wave of party and politics
brought him there, the next may take him away.
Young and eager men take, even it this disidvan-
tage, a keen interest in office woiL, but most men,
especially old men, hardly do so. Manj a battered

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MiSISTEY, 241

minister may be seen to think much more of the vicis-
situdes which make Mm and unmake him, than of any
office matter,

Lastly, a sudden change of ministers may easily
liLiiise a mischievous change of policy. In many mat-
ters of business, perhaps in most, a continuity of me-
diocrity is better than a hotch-potch of excellences.
For example, now that progress in the scientific arts
is revolutionizing the insti'uments of war, rapid
changes in our head-preparera for land and sea war
are most costly and most hurtful. A single compe-
tent selector of new inventions would probably in
the course of years, after some experience, arrive at
something tolerable ; it is in the nature of steady,
regular, experimenting ability to diminish, if not
vanquish, such difficulties. But a quick succession
of chiefs has no similar facility. They do not learn
from each other's experience ; — you might as well
expect the new head hoy at a public school to learn
from the experience of the last head boy. The most
valuable result of many years is a nicely balanced
mind instinctively heedful of various errors ; but such
a mind ia the incommunicable gift of individual ex-
perience, and an outgoing minister can no more leave
it to his successor than an elder brother can pass it on
to a younger. Thus a desultory and uicaleulable pol-
icy may follow from a rapid change of mmisters.

These are formidable arguments, but four things
may, I think, he said in reply to, or mitigation of
them. A little examination will show tliat this
change of ministere is essential to a Parliamentary
government ; — - that something like it will happen m
all elective governments, and that worse happens

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

242 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

under p^esi<^enti^l government ; — that it is not nec-
essaiil-^ pieju h<,ial to a good administration, but thit,
on the contniy, something like it is a prerequisite of
good idniinistration ; — that the evident evils of Eng-
lish idmim&tr vtion are not the results of Parliament-
ary go\etnment, bat of grave deficiencies in other
parts of our political and social state ; — tliat, in a
word, they result not from what we have, but from
what we have not.

As to the first point, those who wish to remove the
choice of ministers from Parliament have not ade-
quately considered what a Parliament is. A Parlia-
ment is nothing less than a big meeting of more or
less idle people. In proportion as you give it power
it will inquire into every thing, settle every thing,
meddle in every thing. In an ordinary despotism, the
powers of a despot are limited by his bodily capacity,
and by the calls of pleasure ; he is but one man ; —
there are but twelve houre in his day, and he is not
disposed to employ more than a small part in dull
business; — he keeps the rest for the court, or the
harem, or for society. He is at the top of the world,
and all the pleasures of the world are set before him.
Mostly there is only a very small part of political
business which he cares to understand, and much of ■
it (with the shrewd sensual sense belonging to the
race) he knows that he will never understand. But
a Parliament is composed of a great number of men
by no means at the top of the world. When you
establish a predominant Parliament, you give over
the rule of the country to a despot who has unlim-
ited time, — who has unlimited vanity, — who has,
or believes he has, unlimited t(.mprehensiou, whose

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHAKGES or MINISTRY. 243

pleasure is in action, whose life is work. There is
no limit to the curiosity of Parliament. Sir Robert
Peel once siig-gest^d that a list should be token down
of the questions asked of him in a single evening;
they touched more or less on fifty subjects, and there
were a thousand other subjects which by parity of
reason might have been added too. As soon as boi't-
A ends, bore B begins. Some inquire fcom genuine
love of knowledge, or from a real wish to iniprovo
what they ask about, — others to see their name in
the papers, — others to show a watchful constituency
that they are alert, — others to get on and to get a
place in the government, — others from an accumu-
lation of little motives they could not themselves
analyze, or because it is their habit to ask things.
And a proper reply must be given. It was said that
" Darby Griffith destroyed Lord Palmerston's first
Government," and undoubtedly the cheerful imper-
tinence with wliicb in the conceit of victory that
minister answered grave men much hurt his Parlia-
mentary power. There is one thing which no one
will permit to be treated lightly, — himself. And bo
there is one too which a sovereign assembly will never
permit to be lessened or ridiculed, — its own power.
The minister of the day will have to give an account
in Parliament of all branches of administration, to
say why they act when they do, and why they do not
when tliey don't.

Nor is chance inquiry all a public department lias
most to fear. Fifty members of Parliament may be
zealous for a particular policy affecting the depart-
ment, and fifty others for another policy, and between
them they may divide its action, spoil its favorite

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

244 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTtOS.

aims, and prevent its consistently working out either
of their own aims. The process is very simple.
Every depai-tment at times looks as if it was in a
scrape ; some apparent blunder, perhaps some real
blunder, catches the public eye. At once the antag-
onietjtparliamentaj'y sections, which want to act on
the department, seize the opportunity. They make
speeches, they move for documents, they amass sta-
tistics. They declare " that in no other country is
such a policy possible as that which the department
is pursuing ; that it is mediaeval ; that it costs money ;
that it wastes life ; that America does the contrary ;
that Prussia does the contrary," The Jiewsijapers
folloH' according to their nature. These bits of ad-
ministrative scandal amuse the public. Articles on
them are very easy to write, easy to read, easy to
talk about. They please the vanity of mankind.
We think as we read, " Thank God, /am not as that
man ; I did not send green coffee to the Ciimca ;
/ did not send patent cartridge to the common
guns, and common cartridge to the breech-loaders.
I make money ; that miserable public functionary
only wastes money." As for the defence of the de-
partment, no one cares for it or reads it. Naturallj' at
first hearing it does not sound true. The opposition
have the unrestricted selection of the point of attack,
and they seldom choose a case in which the depart-
ment, upon the surface of the matter, seems to be
right. The case of first impression will always be that
something shameful has happened ; that such and such
men did die ; that this and that gun would not go off ;
that this or that ship will not sail. All the pretty read-
ing is unfavorable, and all the praise is very dull.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 245

Nothing is more helpless than such a depaitment
in Parliament if it has no authorized official defender.
The wasps of the House fasten on it ; here they per-
ceive is something easy to sting, and safe, for it
cannot sting in return. The small grain of founda-
tion for complaint gei-minates, till it becomes a whole
crop. At once the minister of the day is appealed
to ; he is at the head of the administration, and he
miist put the errors right, if such they are. The
opposition leader says, " I put it to the right honor-
able gentleman, the First Lord of the Treasury, He
is a man of husiness. I do not agree with him in his
choice of ends, but he is an almost perfect master of
methods and means. What he wishes to do he does
do. Now I appeal to him whether such gratuitous
errors, such fatuous incapacity, are to be permitted
in the public service. Perhaps the right honorable
gentleman will grant me his attention while I show
from the very documents of the department," &c,
What is the minister to do ? He never heard of this
matter. He does not care about the matter. Sev-
eral of the supporters of the Government are inter-
ested in the opposition to the department ; a grave
man, supposed to be wise, mutters, " This is too
bad." The Secretary of the Treasury tells him,
" The House is uneasy. A good many men are
shaky. A. B. said yesterday he had been dragged
through the dirt four nights following. Indeed I
am disposed to think myself that the department
has been somewhat lax. Perhaps an inc[uiry," &c,
And upon that the Prime Minister rises and says,
" That Her Majesty's Government having given
very serious and grave consideration to this most

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

2i() TUB BXGLISn CONSTITUTION.

important subject, are not prepared to say that in
80 complicated a matter tlie department has been
perfectly exempt from error. He does not indeed
concur in all the statements which have been made ;
it is obvious that several of the charges advanced are
inconsistent with one another. I. If A. had really died
from eating green coffee on the Tuesday, it is plain
he could not have suffered from insufficient medical
attendance on the following Thursday. However,
on so complex a subject, and one so foreign to com-
mon experience, he will not give a judgment. And if
the honorable member would be satisfied with having
the matter inquired into by a committee.of that House,
he will be prepared to accede to the suggestion."

Possibly the outlying department, distrusting the
ministry, crams a friend. But it is happy indeed if
it chances on a judicious friend. The persons most
ready to take up that sort of business are benevolent
amateurs, very well intentioned, very grave, very
respectable, but also rather dull. Their words are
good, but about the joints their arguments are weak.
They speak very well, but while they are speaking,
the decorum is so great that everybody goes away.
Such a man is no match for a couple of House of
Commons gladiators. They pull what he says to
shreds. They show or say that he is wrong about
his facts. Then he rises in a fuss and must explain :
hut in his hurry he mistakes, and cannot find the
right paper, and becomes first hot, then confused,
next inaudible, and so sits down. Probably he leaves
the House with the notion that the defence of the
department has broken down, and so the Times an-
nounces to aU the world as soon as it awakes.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 247

Some tliinkers have naturally suggested that the
heads of departments should as such have the right
of speech in the House. But the system when it has
been tried has not answered. M. Guizot tells us
from his own experience that such a system is not
effectual. A great popular assembly has a corporate
character ; it has its own privileges, prejudices, and
notions. And one of these notions is tliat its own
members — the persons it sees every day — whose
quaUties it knows, whose minds it can test, are those
whom it can most trust. A clerk speaking from with-
out woiild be an unfamiliar object. He would be an
outsider. He would speak under suspicion ; he would
speak without dignity. Very often he would speak
as a victim. All the bores of the House would be
upon him. He would he put upon examination. He
would have to answer inteiTogatoiies. He would be
put through the figures and cross-questioned in detail.
The whole effect of what he said would be lost
in qucestiuneul(e and hidden in a controversial de-
tritus.

Again, such a person would rarely speak with
great ability. He would speak as a scribe. His
habits must have been formed in the quiet of an
office ; he is used to red tape, placidity, and the re-
spect of subordinates. Such a person will hardly
ever be abfe to stand the hurly-burly of a public
assembly. He will lose his head — he will say what
he should not. He .will get hot and red ; he will feel
he is a sort of culprit. After being use& to the flat-
tering deference of deferential subordinates, he will
be pestered by fuss and confounded by invective. He
will hate the House as naturally as the House does

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

248 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

not like him. He will be an incompetent speal^er
addressing a hostile audience,

And what is more, an outside administrator ad-
dressing Parliament, can move Parliament only by
the goodness of his arguments. He has no votes to
back them up with. He is sure to be at chronic war
with some active minority of assailants or others.
The natural mode in which a department is improved
on great points and new points is by external sug-
gestion ; the worst foes of a department are the plau-
sible errors which the most visible facts suggest, and
which only half visible facts confute. Both the good
ideas and the bad ideas are sure to find advocates
first in the press and then in Parliament. Against
these a permanent clerk would have to contend by
ai^ument alone. The Minister, the head of the
parliamentary Government, will not care for him.
The Minister will say in some undress soliloquy,
" These permanent ' feUowa ' must look after them-
selves. I cannot be bothered. I have only a major-
ity of nine, and a very shaky majority, too. I cannot
afford to make enemies for those whom I did not
appoint. They did noUiing for me, and I can do
nothing for them." And if the permanent clerk
come to ask his help he will sayin decorous language,
" I am sure that if the department can evince to the
satisfaction of Parliament that its past management
has been such as the public interests require, no one
will be more gratified than myself. I am not aware
if it will be in my power to attend in my place on
Monday ; but if I can be so fortunate, I shall listen to
your official statement with my very best attention."
And so the permanent public servant wiU be teased

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 249

by the wita, oppressed hj the bores, and massacred by
the innovatoi's of Parliament.

The incessant tyranny of Parhament over the pub-
lic offices is prevented and can only be prevented by
the appointment of a parliamentary head, connected
by close ties with the present ministry and the ruhng
party in Parliament. The parliamentary head is a
protecting machine. He and the friends he brings
stand between the department and the busyhodies
and crotchefc-makers of the House and the country.
So long as at any moment the policy of an office could
be altered by chance votes in either House of Parlia-
ment, there is no security for any consistency. Our
guns and our ships are not, perhaps, very good now,
But they would be much worse if any thirty or forty
advocates for this gun or that gun could make a
motion in Parliament, beat the department, and get
their ships or their guns adopted. The " Black Breech
Ordnance Company " and the " Adamantine Ship
Company " would soon find representatives in Paiiia-
ment, if forty or fifty members would get the national
custom for their rubbish. But this result is now pre-
vented by the parliamentary head of the department.
As soon as the opposition begins the attack, he
looks up his means of defence. He studies the sub-
ject, compiles his aTguments, and builds little piles
of statistics, which he hopes will have some effect.
He has his reputation at stake, and he wishes to show
that he is worth Ms present place, and fit for future
promotion. He is well known, perhaps liked, by the
House — at any rate the House attends to him ; he is
one of the regular speakers whom they hear and heed.
He is sure to he able to get himself heard, and he is

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

250 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

sure to make the best defence he can. And. after he
has settled his speech he loiters up to the Secretary
of the Treasury, and says quietly, " They have got a
motion againat me on Tuesday, you know. I hope
you will have your men here. A lot of feUows have
crotchets, and though they do not agree a bit with
one another, they are all against the department ;
they will all vote for the inquiry." And the Secre-
tary answers, " Tuesday, you say ; no (looking at a
])aper), I do not think it will come on on Tuesday.
There is Tliggins. on Education. He is good for a
loji;^' tiiuo. But anyhow it shall be all right." And
then he glides about and speaks a word here and a
word there, in conBequence of which, when the anti-
official motion is made, a considerable array of steady,
grave faces sits behind the Treasury Bench — nay,
possibly a rising man who sita in outlying independ-
ence below the gangway rises to defend the transaction ;
the department wins by thirty-three, and the manage-
ment of that business pursues its steady way.

This contrast is no fancy picture. The experiment
of conducting the administration of a public depart-
ment by an independent unsheltered authority has
often been tried, and alwaya failed. Parliament
always poked at it, till it made it impossible. The
most remarkable ia tliat of the Poor Law. The ad-
ministration of that law is not now very good, but it
is not too much to say that almost the whole of its
goodne^ has been preserved by its having an official
and party protector in the House of Commons. With-
out that contrivance we should have drifted back into
the errors of the old Poor Law, and superadded to
them the present meanness and incompetence in our

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY, 2.51

laitge towns. All would have been given up to local
manageinent. Parliament would have interfered with
the central board till it made it impotent, and the
local authorities would have been despotic. The first
administi-ation of the new Poor Law was by " Com-
missioners " — the three kings of Somerset House, as
they were called. The system was certainly not
tried in untrustworthy hands. At the crisis Mr. Chad-
wick, one of the most active and best administrators
in England, was the secretary and the motive power :
the principal -Commissioner was Sir George Lewis,
perhaps the best selective admuiistrator of our time.
But the House of Commons would not let the Com-
mission alone. For a long time it was defended
because the Whigs had made the Commission, and
felt bound as a party to protect it. The new law
started upon a certain intellectual impetus, and till
that was spent its administration was supported in a
rickety existence by an abnormal strength. But after-
wards the Commissioners were left to their intrinsic
weakness. There were members for all the localities,
but there were none for them. There were members
for every crotchet and corrupt interest, but there were
none for them. The rural guardians would have
liked to eke out wages by rates ; the city guardians
hated control, and hated to spend money. The Com-
mission had to be dissolved, and a parliamentary head
was added ; the result is not perfect, but it is an
amazing improvement on what would have happened
in the old system. The new system has not worked
well because the central authority has too little
power; but under tlie previous system the central
authority was getting to have, and by this tunc would

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

252 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

have had, no power at all. And if Sir George Lewia
and Mr. Chadwiek could not maintain an outlying
department in the face of Parliament, how unlikely
that an inferior compound of discretion amd activity
will ever maintain it !

These reasonings show why a changing parliamen-
tary head, a Lead changing as the ministry changes,
is a necessity of good Parliamentary government, and
there is happily a natural provision that there will be
such heads. Party organization insures it. In Amer-
ica, where on account of the fixedly recurring presi-
dential election, and the perpetual minor elections,
party organization is much more effectually oigan-
ized than anywhere else, the effect on the offices is
tremendous. Every office is filled anew at every
presidential change, at least every change which brings
in a new party. Not only the greatest posts, as in
England, but the minor posts change their occupants.
The scale of the financial operations of the Federal
government is now so increased that most likely in
that department, at least, there must in future remain
a permanent element of great efficiency ; a revenue of
90,000,000?. sterling cannot be collected and expend-
ed with a trifling and changing staff. But till now
the Americans have tried to get on not only with
changing heads to a bureaucracy, as the English, but
without any stable bureaucracy at all. They have
facilities for trying it which no one else has. All
Americans can administer, and the number of them
really fit to be in succession lawyers, financiers, or
military managers is wonderful ; they need not be as
afraid of a change of all their officials as European
countries must, for the incoming substitutes are sure

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY, 253

to be much better tbere than here ; and they do not
fear, as we English fear, that the outgoing officials
will be left destitute in middle life, with no hope for
the future and no recompense for the past, for in
America (whatever may be the cause of it) opportu-
nities are numberless, and a man ivho is ruined by
being " off the rails " in England soon thg^re gets on
another line. The Americans will probably to some
extent modify their past system of total administrative
cataclysms, but their very existence in the only com-
peting form of free government should prepare us
for and make us patient with the mild transitions of
Parliamentary government.

These arguments wUl, I think, seem conclusive to
almost every one ; but, at this moment, maiiy people
will meet them thus: they will say, "You prove
what we do not deny, that this system of periodical
change is a necesaary ingredient in Parliamentary
government, but you have not proved what we do
deny, that this change is a good thing. Parliamen-
tary government may have that effect, among others,
for any thing we care : we maintain merely that it
is a defect." In answer, I think it may be shown
not, indeed, that this precise change is necessary to a.
permanently perfect administration, but that some
analogous change, some change of the same species,
is so.

At this moment, in England, there is a sort of
leaning towards bureaucracy — at least, among writers
and talkers. There is a seizure of partiality to it.
The English people do not easily change their rooted
notions, but they have many unrooted notions. Any
great European event is sure for a moment to excite

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

254 THE ENGUSH CONSTITUTION.

a sort of twinge of conversion to something or other.
Just now, the triumph of the Prussians — the bureau-
cratic people, as is believed, par excellence — has
excited a kind of admiration for bureaucracy, which
a few years since we should have thought impossible.
I do not presume to criticise the Prussian bureau-
cracy of my own knowledge ; it certainly is not a
pleasant institution for foreigners to come across,
though agreeabieness to travellers is but of very
second-rate importance. But it is quite certain that
the Prussian bureaucracy, though we, for a moment,
lialf admire it at a distance, does not permanently
please the most intelligent and liberal Prussians at
home. What are two among the principal aims of
the Fortschritt Partei — the party of progress — as
Mr. Grant Duff, the most accurate and philosophical
of our describers, delineates them?

First, " a liberal system, conscientiously carried
out in all the details of the administration, with a
view to avoiding the scandals now of frequent occur-
rence, when an obstinate or bigoted official sets at
defiance the liberal initiations of the government,
trusting to backstairs influence."

Second, "an easy method of bringing to justice
guilty officials, who are at present, as in France, in
all conflicts with simple citizens, like men armed cap-
d'pie fighting with undefeneeless." A system against
which the most intelligent native liberals bring even
with color of reason such grave objections, is a dan-
gerous model for foreign imitation.

The defects of bui'eaucracy are, indeed, well known.
It is a form of government which has been tiled often
enough in the world, and it is easy to show what,

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES or MINISTRY. 255

human nature being what it in the long run is, the
defects of a bureaucracy must in the long run be.

It is an inevitable defect, that bureaucrats will care
more for routine than for results ; or, as Burke put
it, " that they will think the substance of business
not to be much more important than the forms of it."
Their whole education and all the habit of their lives
make them do so. They are brought young into the
particular part of the public service to which they are
attached ; they are occupied for years in learning its
forms — afterwards, for years too, in applying these
forms to trifling matters. They are, to use the phrase
of an old writer, " but the tailors of business ; they
cut the clothes, but they do not find the body." Men
so trained must come to think the routine of business
not a means, but an end — to imagine the elaborate
machinery of which they form a part, and from which
tliey derive their dignity, to be a grand and achieved
result, not a working and changeable instrument.
But in a miscellaneous world, there is now one evil
and now another. The very means which best helped
you yesterday, may very likely be those which most
impede you to-morrow — you may want to do a dif-
ferent thing to-mor]-ow, and all your accumulation
of means for yesterday's work is but an obstacle to
the new work. The Prussian military system is the
theme of popular wonder now, yet it sixty years
pointed the moral against form. We have all heard
the saying tliat " Frederic the Great lost the battle
of Jena." It was the system which he had estab-
lished — a good system for his wants and his times,
■which, blindly adhered to, and continued into a dif-
ferent ago — put to strive with new competitors,—

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

256 TIKE KKGLISH CONSTITUTIOX.

brought his country to ruin. The " clead and formal "
Prussian system was then contrasted with the " living "
French system — the sudden outcome of the new
explosive democracy. The system which now exists
is the product of the reaction ; and the history of
its predecessor is a warning what its future history
may be too. It is not more celebrated for its day
than Frederic's for his, and principle teaches that a
bureaucracy, elated by sudden success, and marvel-
ling at its own merit, is the most uuimproving and
shallow of governments.

Not only does a bureaucracy thus tend to under-
government, in point of quality ; it tends to over-
government, in point of quintity. The trained official
hates the rude unti lined public. He thinks that
they are stupid ignoiint lecldess — that they cannot
tell their own niteiest — that they should have the
leave of the cffioe lefoie they do anything. Pro-
tection is the natural inborn creed of every official
body ; free trade is an extrinsic idea, alien to its
notions, and hardly to be assimilated with life ; and
it is easy to see how an accomplished critic, used
to a free and active life, could thus describe the
official.

" Every imr^inable and real social interest," says
Mr. Laing, " religion, education, law, police, every
branch of public or private business, personal liberty
to move from place to place, even from parish to
parish within the same jurisdiction ; liberty to engage
in any branch of trade or industry, on a small or large
scale, all the objects, in short, in which body, mind,
and capital can be employed in civilized society, were
gradually laid hold of for the employment and sup-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MIKISTEY. 257

port of functionaries, were centralized in bureaux,
were superintended, licensed, inspected, reported
upon, and interfered with by a host of ofSeials scat-
tered over the land, and maintained at the public ex-
pense, yet with no conceivable utility in their duties.
They are not, however, gentlemen at large, enjoying
salary without service. They are under a semi-mili-
tary discipline. In Bavaria, for instance, the superior
civil functionary can place his inferior functionary
under house-arrest, for neglect of duty, or other offence
against civil functionary disciphne. In Wurtemberg,
the functionary cannot marry without leave from his
superior. Voltaire says, somewhere, that ' the art
of government is to make two-thirds of a nation
pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of tho
other third.' This is realized in Germany by the fimc-
tionai-y system. The functionaries are not there for
the benefit of the people, but the people for the
benefit of the functionaries. All this machinery of
funcfionarism,with its numerous ranks and gradations
in every district, filled with a staff of clerks and ex-
pectants in every department looking for employment,
appointments, or promotions, was intended to be a
new support of the throne in the new social state of
the Continent ; a thii-d class, in connection with the
people by their various oificial duties of interference
in all public or private affairs, yet attached by their
interests to the kingly power. The Beamptenstand,
or functionary class, was to be the ec[uivalent to the
class of nobility, gentry, capitalists, and men of larger
landed property than the peasant-proprietors, and
was to make up in numbers for the want of indi-
vidual weight and influence. In France, at the ex-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

258 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

pulsion of Louis Phillipe, the civil functionaries were'
stated to amount to 807,030 individuals. This civU
army was more than double of the military. In Ger-.
many, this class is necessarily more numerous in.
proportion to the population, the landwehr system;
imposing many more restrictions than the conseiiption,
on the free action of the people, and requiring more
officials to manage it, and the semi-feudal jurisdictions'
and forms of law requiring much more writing and'
intricate forms of procedure before the courts than
the Code Napoleon,"

A bureaucracy is sure to think that its duty is
to augment officjal power, official business, or official
members, rather than to leave free the energies of
mankind; it overdoes the quantity of government,
as well 09 impairs its quality.

The truth is, that a skilled bureaucracy — a bureau-
cracy trained from early life to its special avocation

— is, though it boasts of an appearance of science,
quite inconsistent with the true principles of the art
of business. That art has not yet been condensed
into precepts, but a great many experiments have
been made, and a vast floating vapor of knowledge
floats through society. One of the moat sure princi-
ples is, that success depends on a due mixture of
special and nonspecial minds — of minds wliich attend
to the means, and, of minds which attend to the end.
The sucess of the great joint-stock banks of London

— the moat remarkable achievement of recent busi-
ness — has been an example of the use of this mix-
ture. These banks are managed by a board of persons
mostly not trained to the business, supplemented by,
and annexed to, a body of specially trained officers.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHAKGES OP MINISTRY. 259

■who have been bred to banking all their lives. These
mixed banks have quite beaten the old banks, com-
posed exclusively of pure bankers ; it is found that the
board of directors has greater and more flexible knowl-
edge — more insight into the wants of a commercial
community — knows when to lend and when not to
lend, better than the old bankers, who had never looked
at life, except out o£ the bank windows. Just so
the most successful railways in Europe have been
conducted — not by engineers or traffic managers —
but by capitalists ; by men of a certain business cul-
ture, if of no other. These capitalists buy and use
the services of skilled mani^ers, as the unlearned
attorney buys and uses the services of the skilled bar-
rister, and manage far better than any of the different
sorts of special men under them. They combine these
different specialties — make it clear where the realm
of one ends and that of the other begins, and add to
it a wide knowledge of large affairs, which no special
man can have, and which is only gained by diversified
action. But this utility of leading minds used to gen-
eralize, and acting upon various materials, is entirely
dependent upon their position. They must not be at
the bottom — they must not even be half way up —
they must be at the top. A merchant's clerk would
be a child at a bank counter ; but the merchant him-
self could, very likely, give good, clear, and useful
advice in a bank court. The merchant's clerk would
be equally at sea in a railway office, but the merchant
himself could give good advice, very bkely, at a board
of directors. The summits (if I may so say) of the
various kinds of business are, like the tops of moun-
tains, much more alike than the parts below — the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

260 THE EN

bare principles are m 1 the same t s only tJ- rich
vai-iegated details of the lo e t t tl L trast

with one another, Btt It Unt know-
that tlie suminits a t! me Tl o e 1 o 1 'e on
one mountain belie e that th noui t n is holly
pnlike all others.

The apphcation of this principle to Parliamentary
government is very plain ; it shows at once that the
intrusion from without upon an office of an exterior
head of the office, is not an evil, but that, on the con-
trary, it is essentia] to the perfection of tliat office.
If it is left to itself, the office will become technical,
self-absorbed, self-multiplying. It will be likely to
overlook the end in the means ; it will fail from nar-
rowness of mind ; it will be eager in seeming to do ;
it will he idle in real doing. An extrinaio chief is the
fit corrector of such errors. He can say to the per-
manent chief, skilled in the forms and pompous with
the memories of his office, " Will you. Sir, explain to
me how this regulation conduces to the end in view ?
According to the natural view of things, the applicant
should state the whole of his wishes to one clerk on
one paper ; you make him say it to five clerks on five
papers." Or, again, " Does it not appear to you.
Sir, that the reason of this formality is extinct ?
When we were building wood ships, it was c[uite
right to have such precautions against fire ; but now
that we are building iron ships," &o. If a junior
clerk asked these questions, he would be " pooh-
poohed I " It is only the head of an office that can get
them answered. It is he, and he only, that brings
the rubbish of office to the burning-glass of sense.

The immense importance of such a fresh mind is

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 261

greatest in a conntry where business changes most.
A dead, inactive, agricultural country may be gov-
erned by an unalterable bureau for years and years,
and no barm come of it. If a wise man ai'ranged
the bureau rightly in the beginning, it may run
rightly a long time. But, if the country be a pro-
gressive, eager, changing one, soon the bureau will
either cramp improvement, or be destroyed itself.

This conception of the use of a Parliamentary
head shows how wrong is the obvious notion which
regards him as the principal administrator of his
oflice. The late Sir George Lewis used to be fond
of explaining this subject. He had every means of
knowing. He was bred in the permanent civil ser-
vice. He was a very successful Chancellor of the
Exchequer, a very successful Home Secretary, and
he died iiinisier for "War. He used to say, " It is not
the business of a Cabinet Minister to work his depart-
ment. His business is to see that it is properly
worked. If he does much, he is probably doing harm.
The permanent staff of the office can do what he
chooses to do much better, or if they cannot, they
ought to be removed. He is only a bnd of passage,
and cannot compete with those who are in the office
all their lives round." Sir George Lewis was a per-
fect Parhamentary head of an office, so far as that
head Ls to be a keen critic and rational corrector of it.

But Su- George Lewis was not perfect : he was not
even an average good head in another respect. The
use of a fresh mind applied to the official mind is not
only a corrective use, it is also an animatuig use, A
public department is very apt to be dead to what is
wanting for a great occasion till the occasion is past.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

262 THE BKGUSH CONSTITUTION.

The vague public mind wili appreciate some signal
duty before the precise, occupied administration per-
ceives it. The Duke of Newcastle was of this use at
least in the Crimean war. He roused up his depart-
ment, though when roused it couM not act. A per-
fect parliamentary minister would be one who should
add the aidmating capacity of the Duke of Newcastle
to the accumulated sense, the detective instinct, and
the laissezfaire habit of Sir Geoi^e Lewis.

As soon as we take the true view of Parliamentary
office we shall perceive that, fairly, frequent change
ill the official is an advantage, not a mistake. If his
function is to biing a representative of outside sense
and outside animation in contact with the inside
world, he ought often to be changed. No man is a
perfect representative of outside sense. " There is
some one," says the true French saying, " who is
more able than Talleyrand, more able than Napoleon.
Cest tout le monde." That many-sided sense finds
no microcosm in any single individual. Still less
are the critical function and the animating function
of a Parliamentary minister likely to be perfectly ex-
ercised by one and the same man. Impelling power
and restraining wisdom are as opposite as any two
things, and are rarely found together. And even if
the natural mind of the Parliamentary minister was
perfect, long contact with the office would destroy
his use. Inevitably he would accept the wa}'s of
office, think its thoughts, live its life. The " dyer's
hand would be subdued to what it works in." If
the fimction of a Parliamentary minister is to be an
outsider to his office, we must not choose one who, by
habit, thought, and life, is acclimatized to its ways.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES 01" MISISTEY. 263

There is every reason to expect that a Parliamen-
tary statesman will be a man of quite sufficient
intelligence, quite enough various knowledge, quite
enough miaeeUaneoiis experience, to represent ef-
fectually general sense in opposition to bureaucratic
sense. Most Cabinet ministers in charge of consid-
erable departments are men of superior ability ; I
have heard an eminent living statesman of long
experience say that in his time he only knew one
instance to the contrary. And there is the best
protection that it shaU be so. A considerable Cab-
inet minister has to defend his Department in the
face of mankind ; and though distant observers and
sharp writeis may depreciate it, this is a very diffi-
cult thing. A fool, who has publicly to explain
great affairs, who has publicly to answer detective
questions, who has publicly to argue against able
and quick opponents, must soon be shoini to be
a fool. The very nature of Parliamentary govern-
ment answers for the discovery of substantial in-
competence.

At any rate, none of the competing forms of gov-
ernment have nearly so effectual a procedure for put-
ting a good untechnical minister to correct and impel
the routine ones. There are but four important forms
of government in the present state of the world, —
the Parliamentary, the "Presidential, the Hereditary,
and the Dictatorial, or Revolutionary. Of these I
have shown that, as now worked in America, the
Presidential form of government is incompatible with
a skilled bureaucracy. If the whole official class
change when a new party goes out or comes in, a
good official system is impossible. Even if more

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

264 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION,

officials should be permanent in America than now,
still, vast numbers will always be changed. The
whole issue is based on a single election — on the
choice of President ; by that internecine conflict all
else is won or lost. The managers of the contest
have that greatest possible facility in using what I
may call patronage-bribery. Everybody knows that,
as a fact, the President can give what places he likes
to what persons, and when his friends tell A. B., " If
we win, C. D, shall be turned out of Utica Post-
office, and you, A. B., shall have it," A, B, believes
it, and is justified in doing so. But no individual
member of Parliament can promise place effectually.
He may not be able to give the places. His party
may come in, but he will be powerle^. In the United
States party intensity is aggravated by concentrating
an overwhelming importance on a single contest, and
the efficiency of promised offices as a means of cor-
ruption is augmented, because the victor can give
what he Hkes to whom he likes.

Nor is this the only defect of a presidential govern-
ment in reference to the choice of officers. The
President has the principal anomaly of a Parliameur
taiy government without having its corrective. At
each change of party the President distributes (as
here) the principal offices to his principal supporters.
But he has an opportunity for singular favoritism.
The minister lurks in the office ; he need do nothing
in pubUe ; he need not show for years whether he is
a fool or wise. The nation can tell what a Parlia-
mentary member is hy the open test of Parliament ; but
no one, save from actual contact, or by rare position,
can teir any thing certain of a Presidential minister.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 265

The case of a minister under an hereditary form of
government is yet worse. The hereditary Icing may
be weak ; may be under the government of women ;
may appoint a minister from childish motives ; may
remove one from absurd whims. There is no secu-
rity that an hereditary king will be competent to
choose a good chief minister, and thousands of such
kings have chosen millions of bad ministers.

By the Dictatorial, or Revolutionary, sort of gov-
ernment, I mean that very important sort in which
the sovereign — the absolute sovereign — is selected
by insurrection. In theoiy, one would have certainly
hoped that by this time such a crude elective machin-
ery would have been reduced to a secondary part.
But, in fact, the greatest nation (or, perhaps, after
the exploits of Bismarck, I should say one of the two
greatest nations of the Continent) vacillates between
the Revolutionary and the Parliamentary, and now
is governed under the revolutionary form. _Fmnce
elects its ruler in the streets of Paris. Flatterers
may suggest that the democratic empire will become
hereditary, hut close observers know that it cannot.
The idea of the government is that the Emperor rep-
resents the people in capacity, in judgment, in instinct.
But no family through gener9,tion8 eau have sufficient,
or. half sufficient, mind to do so. The representative
deispot must be chosen by fighting, as Napoleon I.
and Napoleon III. were chosen. And such a govern-
ment is likely, whatever be its other defects, to have
a far better and abler administration than any other
government. The head of the government must be
a man of the most consummate ability. lie cannot
keep his place, he can hardly keep his life, unless he

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

266 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

is. He is sure to be active, because he knows that
his power, and perhaps his head, may be lost if he be
negligent. The whole frame of his State is strained
to heep down revolution. The most difficult of all
political problems is to be solved — the people are
to be at once tlioroughly restrained and thoroughly
pleased. The executive must be like a steel shirt of
the middle ages — extremely hard and extremely
flexible. It must give way to attractive novelties
which do not hurt ; it must resist such as are dan-
gerous ; it must maintain old things which are good
and fitting ; it must alter such as cramp and give
pain. The dictator dare not appoint a bad minister
if he would. I admit that such a despot is a better
selector of administrators than a parliament ; that he
will know how to mix fresh minds and used minds
better ; that he is under a stronger motive to combine
them well ; that here is to be seen the best of all
choosers with the keenest motives to choose. But I
need not prove in England that the revolutionaiy
selection of rulers obtains administrative efficiency
at a price altogether transcending its value ; that it
shocks credit by its catastrophes ; that for intervals
it does not protect property or life ; that it maintains
an undergrowth of fear through all prosperity ; that
it may take years to find the true capable despot;
that the interregna of the incapable are full of all
evil ; that the fit despot may die as soon as found ;
that the good administration and all else hang by the
thread of his life.

But if, with the exception of this terrible revo-
lutionary government, a Parliamentary government
upon principle surpasses all its competitors in admin-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 267

istrative etfieiency, why is it that our English Gov-
ernment, which is beyond comparison the best of
Parliamentary governments, is not celebrated llirough
the world for administrative efficiency ? It is noted
for many things, why is it not noted for that ? Why,
according to popular belief, is it rather characterized
by the very contrary ?

One great reason of the diffused impression is, that
the English Government attempts so much. Our
military system is that which is most attacked. Ob-
jectors say we spend much more on our army than
the great military monarchies, and yet with an infe-
rior result. But, then, what we attempt is incal-
culably more difficult. The continental monarchies
have only to defend compact European territories
by the many soldiers whom they force to fight ; the
English try to defend without any compulsion — only
by such soldiers as they persuade to serve — territo-
ries far surpassing all Europe in magnitude, and situ-
ated all over the habitable globe. Our Horse Guards
and War Office may not be at all perfect — I believe
they are not : but if they had sufficient recruits se-
lected by force of law — if they had, as in Prussia,
the absolute command of each man's time for a few
years, and the right to call him out afterwards when
they liked, we should be much surprised at the sud-
den ease and quickness with which they did things.
I have no doubt too that any accomplished soldier of
the Continent would reject as impossible what wo
after a fashion effect. He would not attempt to
defend a vast scattered empire, with many islands,
a long frontier line in every continent, and a very
tempting bit of plunder at the centre, by mere vol-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

268 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION.

uiiteer recruits, who mostly come from the worst clasa
of the people, — whom the Great Duke called the
"scum of the earth," — who come in uncertain num-
bers year by yeai', — who by some political accident
may not come in adequate numbers, or at all, in the
year we need tliem most. Our War Office attempts
what foreign War Offices (perhaps rightly) would
not try at ; their officers have means of incalculable
force denied to ours, though ours is set to harclet
tasks.

Again, the English navy undertakes to defend a
line of coast and a set of dependencies far surpassing
those of any continental power. And the extent of
our operations is a singular difficulty just now. It
requires us to keep a large stock of ships and arms.
But on the other hand, there are most important
reasons why we should not keep much. The naval
art and the military art are both in a state of tran-
sition ; the last discovery of to-day is out of date, and
superseded by an antagonistic discovery to-morrow.
Any large accumulation of vessels or guns is sure to
contain much that will be useless, unfitting, antedi-
luvian, when it comes to be tried. There are two
cries against the Admiralty which go on side by side :
one says, "We have not ships enough, no 'rehef
ships, no nav^, to tell the truth ; " the other cry says,
" We have all the wrong ships, all the wrong guns,
and nothing but the wrong ; in their foolish con-
structive mania the Admiralty have been building
when they ought to have been waiting ; they have
heaped a curious museum of exploded inventions, but
they have given us nothing serviceable." The two
Giles for opposite policies go on together, and blacken

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OP MINISTER. 269

our Executive together, thoi^h each is a defence of
the Executive against the other.

Again, the Home Department in England struggles
with difficulties of which abroad they have long got
rid. We love independent " local authorities," little
centres of outlying authority. When the metropoli-
tan executive most wishes to act, it cannot act effect-
ually hecauae these lesser bodies hesitate, deliberate,
or even disobey. But local independence has no nec-
essaiy connection with Parliamentary government,
The degi'ee of local freedom desirable in a country
varies according to many circumstances, and a Par-
liamentary government may consist with any degree
of it. We certainly ought not to debit Parliamen-
tary government as a general and applicable polity
with the particular vices of the guardians of the poor
in England, though it is so debited every day.

Again, as our administration has in England this
pecuhar diificulty, so on the other hand foreign com-
peting administrations have a pecuhar advantage.
Abroad a man under Government is a supeiior be-
ing ; he is higher than the rest of the world ; he is
envied by almost all of it. This gives the Govern-
ment the easy pick of the Slite of the nation. All
clever people are eager to be under Government, and
are hardly to be satisfied elsewhere. But in England
there is no such superiority, and the English have no
such feeling. We do not respect a stamp-office clerk,
or an exciseman's assistant. A pursy grocer consid-
ers he is much above either. Our Government can-
not buy for minor clerks the best ability of the nation
in the cheap currency of pure honor, and no govern-
ment is rich enough to buy veiy much of it in money.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

270 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

Our mercantile opportunities allure away the most
ambitious minds. The foreign bureaux are filled with
a selection from the ablest men of the nation, but
only a very few of the best men approach the Eng-
lish offices.

But these are neither the only nor even the princi-
pal reasons why our public administration is not so
good as, according to principle and to the unimpeded
effects of Parliamentary government, it should he.
There are two great causes at work, which in their
consequences run out into many details, but which in
their fundamental nature may be briefly deserihed.
The first of tliese causes is our ignorance. No polity
can get out of a nation more than there is in the na-
tion. A free government is essentially a government
by persxiasion ; and as are the people to be persuaded,
and as are the persuaders, so will that government
he. On many parts of our administration the effect
of our extreme ignorance is at once plain. The for-
eign policy of England has for many years been, ac-
cording to the judgment now in vogue, inconsequent,
fruitless, casual ; aiming at no distinct preimagined
end, based on no steadily preconceived principle. I
have not room to discuss with how much or how little
abatement this decisive censure should he accepted.
However, I entirely concede that our recent foreign
policy has been open to very grave and serious blame.
But would it not have been a miracle if the English
people, directing their own policy, and being what
they are, had directed a good policy? Are they not
above all nations divided from the rest of the world,
insular both in situation and in mind, both for good
and for evil ? Are they not out of the current of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MIKISTKY. 271

common European causes and affairs ? Are they nob
a race contemptuous of others ? Are they not a race
with 110 special education or culture as to the modern
world, and too often despising such culture ? Who
could expect such a people to comprehend the new
and strange events of foreign places ? So far from
wondering that the English Parliament has been in-
efficient in foreign policy, I think it is wonderful, and
another sign of the rude, vague imagination that is
at the bottom of our people, that we have done so
well as we have.

Again, the very conception of the English Consti-
tution, as distinguished from a purely Parliamentary
constitution, is that it contains "dignified" parts —
parts, that is, retained, not for intrinsic use, but from
their imaginative atti'action upon an uncultured and
rude population. All such elements tend to dimin-
ish simple efficiency.. They are like the additional
and solely ornamental wheels introduced into the
clocks of the middle ages, which tell the then age of
the moon or the supreme constellation ; — which
make little men or birds come out and in theatri-
cally. All such ornamental work is a source of fric-
tion and error ; it prevents the time being marked
accurately ; each new wheel is a new source of
imperfection. So if authority is given to a per-
son, not on account of bis working fitness, hut on
account of his imaginative efficiency, he will com-
monly impair good administration. He may do
something better than good work of detail, but wiU
spoil good work of detail. The English aristocracy
is often of this sort. It has an infl[ienee over the
people of vast value still, and of infinite value for-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

272 THE ENGLISH COSSTITUTIOS.

merly. But no man would select the cadets of an
aristocratic house as desirahle administrators. They
have peculiar disadvantages in the acquisition of
business knowledge, business training, and business
habits, and they have no peculiar advantages.

Our middle class, too, is very unfit to give us the
administrators we ought to have. I cannot now dis-
cuss whether all that is said against our education is
well grounded ; it is called by an excellent judge
" pretentious, insufficient, and unsound." But I will
say that it does not fit men to be men of business as
it ought to fit them. Till lately the very simple at-
tainments and habits necessary for a banker's clerk
had a sear city- value. The sort of education which
fits a man for the higher posts of practical life is still
very rare ; there is not even a good agreement as to
what it is. Our public ofl5cers cannot be as good as
the corresponding officers of some foreign nations till
our business education is as good as theirs.*

But strong as is our ignorance in deteriorating our
administration, another cause is stronger still. There
are but two foreign administrations probably better
than ours, and both these have had something which
we have not had, Theira in both cases were arranged
by a man of genius, after careful forethought, and
upon a special design. Napoleon built upon a clear
stage which the French Revolution bequeathed him.
The originality once ascribed to his edifice was in-
deed untrue ; Tocqueville and Lavergne have shown
that he did but run up a conspicuous structure in im-

• 1 am happy to state that this evil is much diminisliing. The im-
provement of school eiluc.ition of the jniclJIe class in the last twejily-
five years is marvellous.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OIT MINISTRY. 273

itation of a latent one before concealed by the mediae-
val complexities of the old regime. But what we
are concerned with now is, not Napoleon's originality,
but his work. He undoubtedly settled the adminis-
tration of France upon an effective, consistent, and
enduring system ; the succeeding governments have
but worked the mechanism they inherited from him.
Frederick the Great did the same in the new mon-
archy of Prussia. Both the French system and the
Prussian are new machines, made in civiUzed times to
do their appropriate work.

The English offices have never, since they were
made, been arranged with any reference to one an-
other ; or rather thay were never made, but grew as
each could. The sort of free-trade which prevailed
in public institutions in the English middle ages is
very curious. Our three courts of law — the Queen's
Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer — for
the sake of the fees extended an originally contracted
sphere into the entire sphere of litigation. Soni
judicis est ampliare Jurisdietionem, went the old say-
ing ; or, in English, " It is the mark of a good judge
to augment the fees of his court," his own income,
and the income of his subordinates. The central
administration, the Treasury, never asked any ac-
count of the moneys the courts thus received ; so long
as it was not asked to pay any thing, it was satisfied.
Only last year one of the many remnants of this sys-
tem cropped up, to the wonder of the public. A
clerk in the Patent Office stole some fees, and nat-
urally the men of tlie nineteenth century thought our
principal finance minister, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, would he, as in France, responsible for it.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

274 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

But the English law was different somehow. The
Patent Office was under the Lord Chancellor, and
the Court of Chancery is one of the multitude of
our institutions which owe their existence to fee com-
petition, — and so it was the Lord Chancellor's busi-
ness to look after the fees, which of course, as an
oeeupied judge, he could not. A certain Act of Par-
liament did indeed require that the fees of the Pa-
tent Office should be paid into the " Exchequer ; "
and, again, the " Chancellor of the Exchequer " was
thought to be responsible in the matter, but only by
those who did not know. According to our system
the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the enemy of the
Exchequer ; a whole aeries of enactments try to pro-
tect it from him. Until a few months ago there was
a very lucrative sinecure called the " Comptrollership
of the Exchequer," designed to guard the Exchequer
against its Chancellor ; and the last holder, Lord
Monteagle, used to say he was the pivot of the Eng-
lish Constitution. I have not room to explain what
he meant, and it is not needful ; what is to the pur-
pose is that, by an inherited series of historical
complexities, a defaulting clerk in an office of no lit-
igation was not under natui'al authority, the finance
minister, but under a far-away judge who had never
heard of him.

The whole office of the Lord Chancellor is a heap
of anomalies. He is a judge, and it is contrary to
obvious principle that any part of administration
should be intrusted to a judge ; it is of very grave
moment that the administration of justice should be
kept clear of any sinister temptations. Yet the Lord
Chancellor, our chief judge, sits in the Caliinct, and

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY. 275

makes party speeches in the Lords. Lord Lyndhurst
was a principal Toiy politician, and yet he pretiidtd in
the O'Counell case. Lord Westbnry was in ehronie
wrangle with the bishops, but he gave judgment upon
" Essays and Reviews." In truth, the Lord Chan-
cellor became a Cabinet Minister, because, being near
the person of the sovereign, he was high in court
precedence, and not upon a political theory wrong or
right.

A friend once told me that an intelhgent Italian
asked him about the principal English officers, and
that he was very puzzled to explain their duties, and
especially to explain the relation of their duties to
their titles. I do not remember all the eases, hut I
can recollect that the Italian could not comprehend
why the First " Lord of the Treasury "' had as a rule
nothing to do with the Treasury, or why the " Woods
and Forests " looked after the sewerage of towns.
This conversation was years before the cattle plague,
but I should like to have heard the reasons why the
Privy Council office had charge of that malady. Of
course one could give an historical reason, but I mean
an administrative reason — a reason which would show,
not how it came to have the duty, but wliy m future
it should keep it.

But the unsystematic and casual arrangement of
our public offices is not more striking than their dif-
ference of arrangement for the one purpose they have
in common. They all, being under the ultimate
direction of a Parliamentary official, ought to have the
best means of bringing the whole of the higher con-
cerns of the oiBce before that official. "VVlien the fresh

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

2lb THE EKGLISH COKSTITUTION.

mind rules, the fresh mind requires to be informed.
And most business being rather alike, the machinery
for bringing it before the extrinsic chief ought, for
the most part, to be similar; at any rate, where it is
different, it ought to be different iipon reason ; and
where it is similar, similar upon reason. Yet there
are almost no two offices which are exactly alike in
the defined relations of the permanent official to the
Parliamentary chief. Let lis see. The armi/ and
navy are the most similar in nature, yet there is in
the army a permanent outside oifiee, called the Horse
Guards, to which there is nothing else Uke. In the
navy, there is a curious anomaly — a Board of Ad-
miralty, also changing with every government, which
is to instruct the First Lord in what he does not
know. The relations between the First Lord and
the Board have not always been easily intelligible, and
those between the War Office and the Horse Guards
are in extreme confusion. Even now a Parliamen-
tary paper relating to them has just been presented
to the House of Commons, which says the fundamen-
tal and ruling document cannot be traced beyond the
possession of Sir George Lewis, who was Secretary
for War three years since ; and the confused details
are endless, as they must be in a chronic contention
of offices. At the Board of Trade there is only the
hypothesis of a Board; it has long ceased to exist.
Even the President and Vice-President do not regu-
larly meet for the transaction of affairs. The patent
of the latter is only to transact business in the ab-
sence of the President, and if the two are not inti-
mate, and the President chooses to act himself, the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES 01' MINISTRY. 277

Vice-PretiitJent sees no papers, and does nothing. At
the Treasury the shadow of a Board exists, but its
members have no power, and are the very oiiiciala
whom Canning said existed to make a House, to
keep a House, and to cheer the ministers. The India
Office has a fixed " Council ; " but the Colonial Office^
wliich rules over our other dependencies and colonies,
has not, and never had, the vestige of a council. Any
of these varied Constitutions may be right, but all of
them can scarcely be right.

In truth the real constitution of a permanent office
to be ruled by a permanent chief has been discussed
only once in England : that ease was a peculiar and
anomalous one, aiid the decision then taken was dubi-
ous. A new India Office, when the East India Com-
pany was abolished, had to be made. The late Mr.
James Wilson, a consummate judge of administrative
affairs, then maintained that no council ought to be
appointed eo nomine, but that the true Council of a
Cabinet minister was a certain number of highly paid,
much occupied, responsible secretaries, whom the
minister could consult, either separately or together,
as, and when, he chose. Such secretaries, Mr. Wil-
son maintained, must be able, for no minister will
sacrifice his own convenience, and endanger his own
reputation by appointing a fool to a post so near- him-
self, and where he can do much harm. A member
of a Board may easily be incompetent ; if some other
members and the chairmen are able, the addition of
one 01' two stupid men will not be felt ; they will re-
ceive their salaries and do nothing. But a permanent
under-seeretary, charged with a real control over

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

278 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

much important business, must be able, or his supe-
rior will be blamed, and there will be " a scrape in
Parliament."

I cannot here discuss, nor am I competent to dis-
cuss, the best mode of composing public offices, and
of adjusting them to a Parliamentary head. There
ought to be on record skilled evidence on the subjecti
before a person without any specific experience can
to any purpose think about it. But I may observe
that the plan which Mr. Wilson suggested is that
followed in the most successful part of our adminis-
tration, the " Ways and Means " part. When the
Chancellor of the Exchequer prepares a Budget, he
requires from the responsible heads of the revenue
department their estimates of the public revenue upon
the preliminary hypothesis that no change is made,
but that last year's taxes will continue; if, afterwards,
he thinks of making an alteration, he requires a re-
port on that too. If he has to renew Exchequer bills,
or operate anyhow in the City, he takes the opinion,
oral or written, of the ablest and most responsible
person at the National Debt Office, and the ablest and
most responsible at the Treasury. Mr. Gladstone, by
far the greatest Chancellor of the Exchequer of this
generation, oue of the very greatest of any generation,
has often gone out of his way to express his obligation
to these responsible skilled advisers. The more a man
knows himself, the more habituated he is to action in
genei'al, the more sure he is to take and to value
responsible counsel emanating from ability and sug-
gested by experience. That this principle brings
good fruit is certain. We have, by unequivocal

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHANGES OF MINISTRY.

admission, tlie beat budget in tlie world. Why
should not the rest of our administration be as good
if we did but apply the same method to it ?

I leave this to stand as it was originally written,
since it does not profess to rest on my own laiowl-
edge, and only offers a suggestion on good authority.
Recent experience seems, however, to show that in
all great administrative departments there ought to
he some one permanent responsible head through
whom the changing Parliamentary chief always acts,
from whom he learns every thing, and to whom he
communicates every thing. The daily work of the
Exchequer is a trifle compared with that of the Ad-
miralty or the Home Office, and therefore a single
nrincipal hpad is not there so necessary. But the
preponderance of evidence at present is that in all
offices of very great work some one such head is
essential.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

XHK ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

IT9 SUPPOSED CHECKS AND BALANCES-

In a former essay I devoted an elaborate ctiscussion
to the comparison of the royal and unroyal form of
Paiiiamentary Government. I showed that at the
formation of a ministry, Euid during the continuance
of a ministry, a really sagacious monarch might be
of rare use. I ascertained that it was a mistake to
fancy that at such times a constitutional monarch had
no rSle and no duties. But I proved likewise that
the temper, the disposition, and the faculties then
needful to fit a constitutional monarch for usefulness
were very rare, at least as rare as the faculties of a
great absolute monarch, and that a common man in
that place is apt to do at least as much harm as good
— perhaps more harm. But in that essay I could
not discuss fully the functions of a king at the con-
clusion of an administration, for then the most pe-
culiar parts of the English government — the power
to dissolve the House of Commons, and the power to
create new peers — come into play, and until the
nature of the House of Lords and the nature of the
House of Commons had been explained, I had no
premises for an argument as to the characteristic
action of the king upon them. We have since con-
sidered the functions of the two houses, and also the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 281

effects of changes of ministry on our administrative
system ; we are now, therefore, in a position to dis-
cuss tlie functions of a king at the end of an admin-
istration.

I may seem over-formal in this matter, hut I am
very formal on purpose. It appears to me that the
functions of our executive in dissolving the Commons
and augmenting the Peers are among the most im-
portant, and the least appreciated, parts of our whole
government, and that hmidreds of errors have been
made in copying- the English Constitution from not
comprehending them.

Hobbes told us long ago, and everybody now un-
derstands that there must be a supreme authority,
a conclusive power, in every state on every point
somewhere. The idea of government involves it —
when that idea is properly understood. But there
are tivo elapses of governments. In one the supreme
determining power is upon all points the same ; in
the other, that ultimate power is different upon dif-
ferent points — now resides in one part of the consti-
tution, and now in another. The Americans thought
that they were imitating the English in making their
constitution upon the last principle — in having one
ultimate authoiity for one sort of matter, and another
for anotlier sort. But in trutii, the English constitu-
tion is the type of the opposite species ; it hits only
one authority for all sorts of matters. To gain a
Jiving conception of the difference let us see what
the Americans did.

First, they altogether retained what, in part, they
could not lielp, the sovei'eignty of the separate states.
A fundamental article of the Federal constitution

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

282 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

says that the powers not " delegated " to the central
government are " reserved to the states respectively."
And the whole recent history of the Union — per-
haps all its history — has been more determined by
that enactment than by any other single cause. The
sovereignty of the principal matters of state has
rested not with the highest government, but witli
the subordinate government. The Federal govern-
ment could not tonch slavery — the " domestic insti-
tution" which divided the Union into two halves,
nnlike one another in morals, politics, and social con-
dition, and at last set them to fight. This determining
political fact was not in the jurisdiction of the highest
government in the country, where you might expect
its highest wisdom, nor in the central government,
where you might look for impartiality, but in local
governments, where petty interests were sure to be
considered, and where only inferior abilities were
likely to be employed. The capital fact was reserved
for the minor juiisdictions. Again there has been
only one matter comparable to slavery in the United
States, and that has been vitally affected by the State
governments also. Their ultra-democracy is not a
result of Federal legislation, but of State legislation.
The Federal constitution deputed one of the main
items of its structure to the subordinate governments.
One of its clauses provides that the suffrages for the
Federal House of Representative shall be, in each
State, the same as for the most numerous branch of
the legislature of that State ; and as each State fixes
the suffrage for its own legislatures, the States alto-
gether fix the suffrage for the Federal Lower Cham-
ber. By another clause of the Federal constitution

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 283

tlic States fix the electoral qualification foe voting
at a Presidential election. The primary element in
a free government — the determination how many
people shall have a share in it — in America depends
not on the government, but on certain subordinate
local, and sometimes, as in the South now, hostile
bodies.

Doubtless the framers of the constitution had not
njuch choice in the matter. The wisest of them were
anxious to get as much power for the central govern-
ment, aud to leave as little to the local governments
as they could. But a cry was got up that this wisdom
■would create a tyranny and impair freeijora, and with
that help, local jealousy triumphed easily. All Fed-
eral government is, in tmth, a case in which what I
have called the dignified elements of government do
not coincide with the serviceable elements. At the
beginning of every league the separate States are the
old governments which attract and keep the love and
loyalty of the people ; the Federal government is a
useful thing, but new and unattractive. It must
concede much to the State governments, for it is
indebted to them for motive power : they are the
governments which the people voluntarily obey. When
the State governments are not thus loved, they vanish
as the little Italian and the little German potentates
vanished ; no federation is needed ; a single central
government rules all.

But the division of the sovereign authority in the
American constitution is far more complex than this.
The part of that authority left to the Federal govern-
ment is itself divided and subdivided. The greatest
instance is the most obvious. The Congress rules the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

284 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

law, but the President rules the administration. One
means of unity the constitution does give ; the Presi-
dent can veto laws he does not like. But when two-
thirds of both houses are unanimous (as has lately
happened), they can overrule the President and make
the laws without him ; so here there are three sepa-
rate repositories of the legislative power in different
cases: first, Congress and the President when they
agree ; next, the President when he effectually exerts
his power; then the requisite two-thh'ds of Congress
when they overrule the President. And the Presi-
dent need not be over-active in carrying out a law he
does not approve of. He may indeed be impeached
for gross neglect ; but between criminal non-feasance
and zealous activity there are infinite degrees. Mr.
Johnson does not carry out the Freedman's Bureau
Bill as Mr. Lincoln, who approved of it, would have
carried it out. The American constitution has a
special contrivance for varying the supreme legisla-
tive authority in different cases, and dividing the
administrative authority from it in all cases.

But the administrative power itself is not left thus
simple and undivided. One most important part of
administration ia international pohey, and the su-
preme authority here is not in the President, still less
in the House of Representatives, but in the Senate.
The President can only make treaties, " provided
two-thirds of Senators present " concur. The sover-
eignty therefore for the greatest international ques-
tions is in a different part of the State altogether from
any common administrative or legislative question.
It is put in a place by itself.

Again, the Congress declares war, but they would

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 285

iind it very difficult, ace-ordiiig to the recent eon-
strnction of their laws, to compel the President to
make a peace. The authors of the constitution doubt-
losa intended that Congress should he able to control
tlie American executive as our Parliament controls
ours. They placed the granting of supplies in the
House of Representatives exclusively. But they
forgot to look after " paper money ; " and now it
has been held that the President has power to emit
such money witliout consulting Congress at all. The
first part of the late war was so carried on by Mr.
Lincoln ; he relied not on the grants of Congress, but
on the prerogative of emission. It sounds a joke,
but it is true nevertheless, that this power to issue
greenbacks is decided to. belong to the President as
commander-in-chief of the army ; it is part of what
was called the " war power." In truth, money was
wanted in the late war, and the administration got
it in the readiest way ; and the nation, glad not to
he more taxed, wholly approved of it. But the fact
remains that the President has now, by precedent
and decision, a mighty power to continue a war with-
out the consent of Congress, and perhaps against its
wish. Against the united will of the American people
a President would of course be impotent ; such is the
genius of the place and nation that he would never
think of it. But when the nation was (as of late)
divided into two parties, one cleaving to the Presi-
dent the other to the Congress, the now unquestion-
able power of the President to issue paper-money
may give him the power to continue the war, though
Parliament (as we should speak) may enjoin the
war to cease.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

286 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

And lastly, the whole region of the very highest
questions is withdrawn from the ordinary authorities
of the State, and reserved for special authorities,
The " constitution " cannot be altered by any author-
ities within the constitution, but only by authorities
without it. Every alteration of it, however ui^ent
or however tiifling, must be sanctioned by a compli-
cated proportion of States or legislatures. The con-
sequence is that the most obvious evils cannot be
quickly remedied ; that the most absurd fictions must
be framed to evade the plain sense of mischievous
clauses; that a clumsy working and curious techni-
cality mark the politics of a rough-and-ready people.
The practical arguments and the legal disquisitions in
America are often like those of trustees carrying out
a misdrawn will — the sense of what they mean is
good, but it can never be worked out fully or de-
fended simply, so hampered is it by the old words of
an old testament.

These instances (and others might be added)
prove, as history proves too, what was the principal
thought of the American constitution -makers. They
shrank from placing sovereign power anywhere.
They feared that it would generate tyranny ; George
III. had been a tyrant to them, and come what might,
they would not make a George III. ■ Accredited the-
ories said that the Enghsh Constitution divided the
sovere^n authority, and in imitation the Americans
split up theirs.

The result is seen now. At the critical moment of
their history there is no ready, deciding power. The
South, after a great rebellion, lies at the feet of its
conquerors ; its conquerors have to settle what to do

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 287

with ifc.* They must decide the conditions upon
which the Secessioniste shall again become fellow-
citizens, shall again vote, again be represented, again
perhaps govern. -.The moat difficult of problems is
how to change late foes into free friendsjl The safety
of their great public debt, and with that debt their
future credit and their whole power in future wars,
may depend on their not giving too much power
to those who must see in the debt the cost of their
cvn subjugation, and who must have an inclination
towards the repudiation of it, now that their own
debt, — the cost of their defence, — has been repudi-
ated. A race, too, formerly enslaved, is now at the
mercy of men who hate and despise it, and those
who set it free are bound to give it a fair chance for
new hfe. The slave was formerly protected by hia
chains ; he was an article of value ; but now he be-
longs to himself, no one but himself has an interest
in his life; and he is at the mercy of the "mean
whites," whose labor he depreciates, and who regard
him with a loathing hatred. The greatest moral duty
ever set before a government, and the most fearful
political problem ever set before a government, are
now set before the Ameiican, But there is no de-
cision, and no possibility of a decision. The Presi-
dent wants one coui-se, and has power to prevent any
other; the Congress wants another course, and has
power to prevent any other. The splitting of sov-
ereignty into many parts amounts to there being no
sovereign.

• Tliia waa wrilten just after tlip close of tha dvil 'irnr. but Iilonot
know tliat tlie great prulilem stated in it lias as yet Lecjn uilequately

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

288 TriE RXGLISH COXSTITUTIO:^.

The Americans of 1787 thought they were copying
ttie English Constitution, but they were conti'iviiig a
contrast to it. Just as the American is the type of
composite governments, in which the anpremo power
is divided between many bodies and funetionaiies,
so the Engh.sh is the type of simple eonstitufioiis. in
which the ultimate power upon all qupsliniis i-i in llio
hands of the same persons.

The ultimiite anthoi-ity in the English Constitution
is a newly elected House of Commons. No mat-
ter whether the question iipon which it decides be
administrative or legislative ; no matter whether it
concerns high matters of the essential constitution or
small matters of daily detail ; no matter whether it be
a question of making a war or continuing a war ; no
matter whether it be the imposing a tax or the issuing
a paper currency ; no matter whether it be a question
relating to India, or Ireland, or London, — anew House
of Commons can despotically and finaUy resolve.

The House of Commons may, as was exphiined,
assent in minor matters to the revision of the House
of Lords, and submit in matters about which it cares
little to the suspensive veto of the House of Lords ;
but when sure of the popular assent, and when freshly
elected, it is absolute, — it can rule as it likes and
decide as it likes. And it can take the best security
that it does not decide in vain. It can insure that
its decrees shall be executed, for it, and it alone, ap-
points the executive ; it can inflict the most severe of
all penalties on neglect, for it can remove the execu-
tive. It can choose, to effect its wishes, those who
wish the same ; and so its will is sure to be done. A
stipulated majority of both Houses of the Amet-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS A^■D BALANCES. 289

can Congress can overrule by stated enactment their
executive ; but the popular branuh of our legislature
;an make and unmake oars.

The English constitutiou, in a word, is framed oq
^he principle of choosing a single sovereign authority,
md making it good : the American, upon the princi-
ple of having many sovereign authorities, and hoping
that their multitude may atone for their inferiority.*
The Americans now extol their institutions, and so
iefraud themselves of their due praise, Ent if they
had not a genius for politics ; if they had not a mod-
eration in action singularly curious where superficial
speech is so violent ; if they hod not a regard for law,
such as no gi'eat people have yet evinced, and infi-
nitely surpassing ours, — the multiplicity of authori-
ties in the American Constitution would long ago
have bror^ht it to a bad end. -Sensible shareliolders,
I ha.ve heard a shrewd attorney say, can work any
deed of settlement; and so the men of Massachu-
setts could, I believe, work any constitution.* But
political philosophy must analyze political history ; it
must distinguish what is due to the excellence of the
people, and what to the excellence of the laws ; it
must carefully calculate the exact effect of each part
of the constitution, though thus it may destroy many
an idol of the multitude, and detect the secret of
utility where hut few imagined it to lie.

How important singleness and unity are in political
action no one, I imagine, can doubt. We may dis-
tinguish and define its parts ; but policy is a unit and

• Ofcourselam not speaking here of the South and South-East, bs
they noBf are. How any free goTernttient is to exist in societies wlie/e
ED many bad elements are so muoh perturbed, I eannot imagine.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

290 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION".

a whole. It acts by laws — liy administrators ; it re;
quires now one, now the other; unless it can easilj
move both it wiU be impeded soon ; unless it has ar
absolute command of both its work will be imperfect
The interlaced character of human affairs requires ?
^gle determining energy ; a distinct force for eacl
artificial compartment will make but a motley patch-
work, if it live long enough to make any thing. The
excellence of the British Constitution is that it hat
achieved this unity ; that in it the sovereign power it
single, possible, and good.

The success is primarily due to the peculiar provi-
sion of the English Constitution, wiiich places the
choice of the executive in the " people's house ; " but
it could not have been thoroughly achieved except
for two parts, which I venture to call the" safety-
valve " of the constitution, and the " regulator."

The safety-valve is the peculiar provision of the
constitution, of . which I spoke at great length in my
essay on the House of Lords. The head of the exec-
utive can overcome the resistance of the second
chamber by choosing new members of that chamiier ;
if he do not find a majority, he can make a majority.
This is a safety-valve of the truest kind. It enables
the popular will — the will of which the executive
is the exponent, the will of which it is the appointee
— to carry out within the constitution desires and
conceptions which one branch of the constitution dis-
likes and resists. It lets forth a dangerous acccumu-
lation of inhibited power, which might sweep this
constitution before it, as like accumidations have
often swept away like constitutions.

The regulator, as I venture to call it, of our single

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 25)1

sovereignty is the power of dissolving the otherwise
sovereign chamber confided to the chief executive.
Tlie defects of the popular branch of a legislature as
a sovereign have been expounded at length in a pre-
vioLis essay. Briefly, they may be summed up in
tlii'ee accusations.

First. Caprice is the commonest and most formid-
able vice of a choosing ohamber. Wherever in our
colonies parliamentary government is unsuccessful, or
is alleged to be unsuccessful, this is the vice which
first impairs it. The assembly cannot be induced to
maintain any administration ; it shifts its selection now
from one minister to another minister, and in conse-
quence there is no government at all.

Secondly. The very remedy for such caprice en-
tails another evd. The only mode by which a cohe-
sive majority and a lasting administratiou"" can be
upheld in a Parliamentary govemmeut, is party or-
ganization ; but that organization itself tends to
aggravate party violence and party animosity. It
is, in substance, subjecting the whole nation to the
rule of a section of the nation, selected because of
its speciality. Parliamentary government is, in its
essence, a sectarian government, and is possible only
when sects are cohesive.

Thirdly. A parliament, like every other sort of
sovereign, has peculiar feelings, peculiar prejudices,
peculiar interests ; and it may pursue these in oppo-
sition to the desires, and even in opposition to the
well-being of the nation. It has its selfishness as
well as its caprice and its parties.

The mode in which the regulating wheel of our
con^i^itution produces it effect is plain. It does not

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

292 THE ENCLISK CONSTITUTION.

impair the authority of Parliaments as a species, bu
it impairs the power of the individual Parliament.- I
enables a particular person outside parliament to say
" You Members of Parliament are not doing you
duty. You are gratifying caprice at the cost of th^
nation. You are indulging party spiiic at the coat of
the nation. You are helping yourself at the cost of
the nation. I will see whether the nation approves
what you are doing or not ; I will appeal from Par-
liament No. 1 to Parliament No. 2."

By far the best way to appreciate this peculiar pro-
vision of our constitution is to trace it in action, — to
see, as we saw before of the other powers of English
royalty, how far it is dependent on the existence of
an hereditary king, and how far it can be exercised
by a premier whom Parliament elects. When we
examine the nature of the particular person required
to exercise the power, a vivid idea of that power is
itself brought home to us.

First. As to the caprice of parhament in the choice
of a premier, who is the best peraon to check it?
Cleai'ly the pi'emier himself. He is the person most
interested in maintaining his administration, and
therefore the most likely person to use efficiently and
dextrously the power by which it is to be maintained.
The intervention of an extrinsic king occasions a dif-
ficulty. A capricious Parliament may alwajTs hope
that his caprice may coincide with theirs. In the
days when George III. assailed his governments, the
premier was habitually deprived of his due authority.
Intrigues were encouraged because it was always du-
bious whether the king-hated minister would be per-
mitted to appeal from the intriguers, and always a

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

< 13ALAKCES.

3haiioo that the conspiring monarch might appoint
one of the coiiKpii'ators to be premier in his room.
The caprice of ParUamenfc is better checked when
the faculty of dissolution is intruBt«d to its appointee,
than when it is set apart in an outlying and an alien
authority.

But, on the contrary, the party zeal and the self-
seeking of Parliament are best checked by an au-
thority which lias no connection with Parliament or
dependence upon it — supposing that such authority
is morally and intellectually equal to the performance
of the intrusted function. The Prime Minister obvi-
ously being tlie nominee of a party majority is likely
to share its feeling, and is sure to be obl^ed to sat/
that he shares it. The actual contact with affaus is
indeed likely to purify him from many prejudices, to
tame him of many fanaticisms, to beat out of him
many eri'ors. The present Conservative Government
contains more than one member who regards his pai-ty
as intellectually benighted ; who either never speaks
their pecuhar dialect, or who speaks it condescend-
ingly, and with an " aside ; " who respects their accu-
mulated prejudices as the "potential energies" on
which he subsists, but who despises them while he
Hyes by tliem. Years ago Mr. Disi'aeli called Sir
Robert Peel's Mmistry — the last Conservative Min-
istry that had real power — " an organized hypocrisy,"
so much did the ideas of its "head " diifer from the
sensations of its "tail." Probably he now compre-
hends — if he did not always — that the air of Down-
ing Street brings certain ideas to those who hve there,
and that the hard, compact prejudices of opposition
are soon melted and mitigated in the great gulf

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

294 THE EKGLISH CONS TIT UTIO^J".

stream of affairs. Lord Palmeraton, too, was a tj-pi-
cal example of a leader lulling, rather than arousing,
assuaging rather than acerbating the minds of his
foUowere. But though the composing eJFecfc of close
difficulties will commonly make a premier cease to be
an immoderate partisan, yet a partisan to some extent
he must be, and a violent one he may be ; and in that
case he is not a good person to check the party.
When the leading sect (so to speak) in Parliament is
doing what the nation do not like, an instant appeal
ought to he registered, and Parliament ought to be
dissolved. But a zealot of a premier will not appeal ;
he wiU follow his formula) ; he will believe he is doing
good service when, perhaps, he is but pushing to
unpopular consequences the narrow maxims of an
inchoate theory. At such a minute a constitutional
king — such as Leopold the First was, and as Prince
Albert might have been — is invaluable ; he can and
will prevent Parliament from hurting the nation.

Again, too, on the selfishness of Parliament an ex-
trinsic cheek is clearly more efficient than an intrinsic.
A premier who is made by Parliament may share the
bad impulses of those who chose him ; or, at any rate,
he may have made " capital" out of them — he may
have seemed to share them. The self-interests, the
jobbing propensities of the assembly are sure indeed
to be of very secondary interest to him. What he
will care most for is the permanence, is the interest
— whether corrupt or uncorrupt — of his own minis-
try. He will be disinclined to any thing coarsely
unpopular. In the order of nature, a new assembly
must come before long, and he will be indisposed to
shock the feelings of the electors from whom that

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 295

r must emanate. But though the interest of
the minister is inconsistent with appalling jobbery, he
will be inclined to mitigated jobbery. He will tem-
porize ; he will try to give a seemly dress to unseemly
matters ; to do as much harm as will content the
assembly, and yet not so much harm as will offend
the nation. He wiU not shrink irom becoming a parti'
ceps criminis ; he will but endeavor to dilute the crime..
The intervention of an extrinsic, impartial, and capable
authority — if such can be found — will undoubtedly
resti'aiu the covetousness as well as the factiousness of
a choosing assembly.

But can such a head be found ? In one ease I think
it has been found. Our colonial governors are pre-
cisely Dei ex mackind. They are always intelligent,
for they have to live by a difficult trade ; they are
nearly sure to be impartial, for they come fi-om tlie
ends of the earth ; they are sure not to participate in
the selfish desires of any colonial class or body, for
long before those desires can have attained fruition
they will have passed to the other side of the world,
be busy with other faces and other minds, be almost
out of hearing what happens in a region they have
half forgotten. A colonial governor is a super-parlia-
mentary authority, animated by a wisdom which is
probably in quantity considerable, and is different
from that of the local Parliament, even if not above
it. But even in this case the advantage of this ex-
trinsic authority is purchased at a heavy price — a
price which must not be made light of, because it is
often worth paying. A colonial governor is a ruler
who has no permanent interest in the colony he gov-
erns ; who perhaps had to look for it in the map when

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ZVb THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

he was sent thither ; who takes years before he really
understands its parties and its controversies ; who,
though without prejudice himaelf, is apt to be a slave
to the prejudices of local people near him ; who inevi-
tably, and almost laudably, governs not in the interest
of the colony, which he may mistake, but in his own
interest, which he sees and is sure of. The first desjr e
of a colonial governor is not to get into a "scrape,"
not to do any thing which may give trouble to his su-
periors — the Colonial Office — at home, which may
cause an untimely and dubious recall, which may hurt
his after career. He is sure to leave upon the colony
the feeling that they have a ruler who only half knows
them, and does not so much as half care for them.
We hardly appreciate this common feeling in our col-
onies, because we appoint their sovereign; but we
should understand it in an instant if, by a political
metamorphosis, the choice were turned the other way
— if the^ appointed our sovereign. We should then
say at once, " How is it possible a man from New Zea-
land can understand England ? how is it possible that
a man longing to get back to the antipodes can care
for England ? how can we trust one who lives by the
fluctuating favor of a distant authority ? how can we
heartily obey one who is but a foreigner with the ac-
cident of an identical langu^e ? "

I dwell on the evils which impair the advantage of
colonial governorship because that is the most favored
case of super-parliamentary royalty, and because from
looking at it we can bring freshly home to our minds
what the real difficulties of that institution are. We
are so familiar with it, that we do not understand it.
We are like people who have known a man all theii'

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 297

lives, and yet are quite surprised when he displays
some obvious characteristic which casual observers
have detected at a glance. I have known a man who
did not know what color his sister's eyes were, though
he had seen her every day for twenty years ; or
rather, he did not know because he had so seen her :
so true is the philosophical maxim that we neglect the
constant element in our thoughts, though it is proba-
bly the most important, and attend almost only to
the varying elements — the differentiating elements
(as men now speak) — though they are apt to be less
potent. But when we perceive by the roundabout
example of a colonial governor how diificult the task
of a constitutional king is in the exercise of the func-
tion of dissolving parliament, we at once see how
unlikely it is that an hereditary monarch will be pos-
sessed of the requisite faculties.

An hereditary king is but an ordinaiy person, upon
an average, at best ; he is nearly sure to be badly edu-
cated for busuiess ; he is very little likely to have a
taste for business ; he is solicited from youth by every
temptation to pleasure ; he probably passed the whole
of Ms youth in the vicious situation of the heir-appar-
ent, who can do nothing because he has no appointed
work, and who will be considered almost to outstep
his function if he undertake optional work. For the
most part, a constitutional king is a damaged common
man ; not forced to business by necessity as a despot
often is, but yet spoiled for business by most of the
temptations which spoil a despot. History, too,
seems to show that hereditary royal families gatlier
fi'om the repeated influence of their corrupting situa-
tion some dark taint in the blood, some transmitted

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

298 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

and growing poison which hurts their judgments,
darkens all their sorrow, and is a cloud on half their
pleasiu'e. It has been said, not truly, but with a pos-
sible approximation to truth, " That in 1802 every
hereditary monarch was insane." Is it likely that
this sort of monarchs will be able to catch the exact
moment when, in opposition to the wishes of a tri-
umphant ministry, tbey ought to dissolve Pai'Iiament ?
To do so with efficiency they must be able to perceive
that the Parliament is wrong, and that the nation
knows it is wrong. ^ Now to know that Parliament is
wrong, a man must be, if not a great statesman, yet
a considerable statesman — a statesman of some sort.
He must have great natural vigor, for no less will
comprehend the hard principles of national policy.
He must have incessant industry, for no less will keep
him abreast with the involved detail to which those
principles relate, and the miscellaneous occasions to
which they must be applied. A man made common
by nature, and made worse by life, is not likely to
have either ; he is nearly sure not to be ioth clever
and industrious. And a monarch in the recedes of
a palace, listening to a charmed flattery, unbiassed
by the misceUaneoua world, who has always been
hedged in by rank, is likely to be but a poor judge
of public opinion. He may have an inborn tact for
finding it out ; but his hfe will never teach it him,
and will probably enfeeble it in him.

But there is a still worse case, a case which the life
of George III. — which is a sort of museum of the
defects of a constitutional king — suggests at once.
The Parliament may be wiser than the people, and
yet the king may be of the same mind with the peo-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 299

pie. During the last years of the American war, the
Prcmifsr, Lord North, upon whom the first responsi-
bility rested, was averse to continuing it, and knew
it could not succeed. Parliament was much of the
same mind ; if Lord North had been able to come
down to Parliament with a peace in his hand, Parlia-
ment would probably have rejoiced, and the nation
under the guidance of Parliament, though saddened
by its losses, probably would have been satisfied.
The opinion of that day was more like the American
opinion of the present day than like our present opin-
ion. It was much slower in its formation than our
opinion now, and obeyed much more easily sudden
impulses from the central administration. If Lord
North had been able to throw the undivided energy
and the undisti-acted authority of the Executive Gov-
ernment into the excellent work of making a peace
and carrying a peace, years of bloodshed might have
been spared, and an entail of enmity cut off that has
not yet run out. But there was a power behind the
Prime Minister ; George HI. was madly eager to con-
tinue the war, and the nation — not seeing how hope-
less the strife was, not comprehending the lasting
antipathy which their obstinacy was creating — igno-
rant, dull, and helpless — was ready to go on too.
Even if Lord North had wished to make peace, and
had persuaded Parliament accordingly, all his work
would have been useless ; a superior power could and
would have appealed from a wise and pacific Parlia-
ment to a sullen and warlike nation. The check
which our constitution finds for the special vices of
our Parliament was misused to curb its wisdom.
The more we study the nature of Cabinet Gov-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

dVO THE ENGLISH OOSSTITTJTION,

ernmeEt, the more we shall ehrink from exposing at
a vital instant its delicate machinery to a blow from
a casual, incompetent, and perhaps semi-insane out-
sider. The preponderant piobabiUty is that on a
great occasion the Premier and Parliament will really
be wiser than the king. The Premier is sure to be
able, and is sure to be most anxious to decide well ;
if he fail to decide, he loses his place, though through
all blunders the king keeps his; the judgment of
the man, naturally very discerning, is shai^pened by a
heavy penalty, from which the judgment of the man,
by nature much less intelligent, is exempt. Parlia-
ment, too, is for the most part a sound, careful, and
practical body of men. Principle shows that the
power of dismissing a Government with which Par-
liament is satisfied, and of dissolving that Parliament
upon an appeal to the peo.ple, is not a power which a
common hereditary monareli will in the long run be
able beneficially to exercise.

Accordingly this power has almost, if not quite,
dropped out of the reality of our constitution. Noth-
ing, perhaps, would more surprise the English people
than if the Queen by a coup d'etat and on a sudden
destroyed a ministry firm in the allegiance and secure
of a majority in Parliament. TJiat power indisputa-
bly, in theory, belongs to her ; but it has passed so
fai- away from the minds of men, that it would ter-
rify them, if she used it, like a volcanic eruption from
Primrose Hill. The last analogy to it is not one to
be coveted as a precedent. In 1835 William IV. dis-
missed an administration which, though disorganized
by the loss of its leader in the Commons, was an
existing Government, had a premier in the Lorda

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AKD BALANCES. 301

ready to go on, and a leader in the Commons willing
to begin. The King fancied that public opinion was
leaving the Whigs and going over to the Tories, and
he thought he should accelerate the transition by eject-
ing the former. But the event showed that he mis-
judged. His perception indeed was right ; the English
people were wa verify in their allegiance to the
Whigs, who had no leader that touched the popular
heavt, none in whom Liberalism could personify it-
self and become a passion — who besides were a body
long used to opposition, and therefore making blun-
ders in office — who were borne to power by a popu-
lar impulse which they only half comprehended, and
perhaps less than half shared. But the King's policy
was wrong ; he impeded the re-action instead of aid-
ing it. He forced on a premature Tory Government,
which was as unsuccessful as all wise people per-
ceived that it must be. The popular distaste to the
Whigs was as yet but incipient, inefficient; and the
intervention of the Crown was advantageous to them,
because it looked inconsistent with the liberties of
the people. And in so far as William IV. was right
in detecting an incipient change of opinion, he did but
detect an erroneous change. What was desirable
was the prolongation of Liberal rule. The commenc-
ing dissatisfaction did but relate to the personal
demerits of the Whig leaders, and other temporary
atljimcts of free principles, and not to those princi-
ples intrinsically. So that the last precedent for a
royal onslaught on a ministry ended thus : — in oppos-
ing the right principles, in aiding the wrong princi-
ples, in hurting the party it was meant to help. After
such a warning, it is likely that our monarchs will

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

e02 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION,

pursue the policy which a long course of quiet prece-
dent at present directs — they will leave a Ministry
trusted by Parliament to the judgment of Parliament.
Indeed, the dangers arising from a party spirit ia
Parliament exceeding that of the nation, and of a self-
ishnees in Pai'liament contradicting the true interest
of the nation, are not great dangers in a country where
the mind of the nation is steadily political, and where
its conti-ol over its representatives is constant. A
steady opposition to a formed public opinion is hardly
possible in oui- House of Commons, so incessant is the
national attention to politics, and so been the fear in
the mind of each member that he may lose his val-
ued seat. These dangers belong to early and scattered
communities, where there are no interesting political
questions, where the distances are great, where no
vigilant opinion passes judgment on parliamentary
excesses, where few care to have seats in the cham-
ber, and where many of those few are from their
characters and their antecedents better not there than
there. The one great vice of parliamentary govern-
ment in an adult political nation is the caprice of
Parliament in the choice of a ministry. A nation
can hardly control it here ; and it k not good that,
except within wide limits, it should control it. The
Parliamentary judgment of the merits or demerits of
an administration very generally depends on matters
which the Parliament, being close at hand, distinctly
sees, and which the distant nation does not see. But
where personality enters, capriciousness begins. It
is easy to imagine a House of Commons which is dis-
contented with all statesmen, which is contented with
none, which is made up of little parties, which votes

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS ANT) BALANCES. 303

in small knots, which will adhere steadily to no
leader, which gives every leader a chance and a hope.
Such Parliaments require the imminent checli of pos-
sible dissolution; but that check is (as has been
shown) better in the premier than in the sovereign ;
and by the late practice of our constitution, its use is
yearly ebbing from tlie sovereign and yearly centi'ing
in the premier. The Queen can hardly now refuse a
defeated minister the chance of a dissolution, any
moi?e than she can dissolve in the time of an unde-
feated one, and without his consent.

We shall find the ease much the same with the
safety-valve, as I have called it, of our constitution.
A good, capable, hereditary monarch would exercise
it better than a premier, but a premier could manage
it well enough ; and a monarch capable of doing bet-
ter will be born only once in a century, ivhereas mon-
archs likely to do worse will be born every day.

There are two modes in which the power of our
executive to create Peers — to nominate, that is,
additional members of our upper and revising cham-
ber — now acts ; one constant, habitual, though not
adequately noticed by the popular mind as it goes
on ; and the other possible and ten'ific, scarcely ever
really exercised, but always by its reserved magic
maintaining a great and a restraining influence. The
Crown creates Peers, a few year by year, and thus
modifies continually the characteristic feeling of the
House of Lords. I have heard people say, who ought
to know, that the English peerage (the only one upon
which unhappily the power of new creation now acts)
is now more Whig than Tory. Thirty years ago the
majori'y ivas indisputably the other way. Owing to

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

304: THE ENGLISH COSSTITUTION.

very curious cii'cumstances English partica have not
alternated in power as a good deal of speculation pre-
dicts they would, and a good deal of current language
assumes they have. The "Whig party were in office
some seventy years (with very smaU brealts), from
the death of Queen Anne to the coalition between
Lord Nortli and Mr. Fox ; then the Tories (with only
such breaks) were in power for neaily fifty yeiirs, till
1832; and since, the Whig party has alwayw, with
very tiifling intervals, been predominant. Conse-
quently, each continuously governing party has had
the means of modifj-ing the upper house to suit its
views. The profuse Tory creations of half a century
had made the House of Lords bigotedly Tory before
the first Reform Act, but it is wonderfully mitigated
now. The Irish Peers and the Scotch Peers — being
nominated by an almost unaltered constituency, and
representing the feelings of the majoiity of that
constituency only (no minority having any voice)
— present an unchangeable Tory element. But the
element in which change is permitted has been
changed. Whether the English Peerage be or be
not predominantly now Tory, it is certainly not Tory
after the fashion of the Toryism of 1832. The Whig
additions have indeed sprung from a class commonly
rather adjoining upon Toryism than much inclining
to Radicalism. It is not from men of large wealth
that a very great impetus to organic change should
be expected. The additions to the Peers have matched
nicely enough with the old Peers, and therefore they
have effected more easily a greater and more perme-
ating modification. The addition of a contrasting
mass would have excited the old leaven, biit the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AKD TSALANCES. 305

deKcate infusion of ingredients similar in genua,
though different in species, has modified the new
compound without irritating the old original.

This ordinary and common use of the peer-creating
power is always in the hands of the premier, and
depends for its characteristic use on being there. He,
as the head of the predominant party, is the proper
person to modify gradually the permanent chamber
which, perhaps, was at starting hostile to him ; and,
at any rate, can be best harmonized with the public
opinion he represents by the additions he makes.
Hardly any contrived constitution possesses a machin-
ery for modifying its secondary house so delicate, so
flexible, and so constant. If the power of creating
life peers had been added, the mitigating influence
of the responsible executive upon the House of Lords
would have been as good as such a thing can be.

The catastrophic creation of Peers for the purpose
of swamping the upper house is utterly different. If
an able and impartial exterior king is at hand, tliia
power is best in that king. It is a power only to be
used on great occasions, when the object is immense,
and the party strife unmitigated. This is the con-
clusive, the swaying power of the nioment, and of
course, therefore, it had better be in the hands of a
power both capable and impartial, than of a premier
who must in some degree be a partisan. The value
of a discreet, calm, wise monarch, if such should
happen to be reigning at the acute crisis of a nation's
destiny, is priceless. He may prevent years of tumult,
save bloodshed and civil war, lay np a store of grateful
fame to himself, prevent the accumulated intestine
hatred of each party to its opposite. But the ques-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

306 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION.

tion comes back, Will there be'such a monarch just
then ? Wliat is the chance of having him just then ?
What will be the use of the monarch whom the acci-
dents of inheritance, such as we know them to be,
must upon an average bring us just then ?

The answer to these questions is not satisfactory,
if we take it from the little experience we have had
in this rare matter. There have been but two eases
at all approaching to a catastrophic creation of Peers
— to a creation which would suddenly change the
majority of the Lords — in English history. One
was in Queen Anne's time. The majority of peers
in Queen Anne's time were Whig, and by profuse
and quick creations Harley's Ministry changed it to
a Tory majority. So great was the pppular effect,
that in the next reign one of the most contested min-
isterial proposals was a proposal to take the power of
indefinite peer-creation from the Crown, and to make
the number of Lords fixed, as that of the Commons
is fixed. But the sovereign had little to do with the
matter. Queen Anne was one of the smallest people
ever set in a gi-eat place. Swift bitterly and justly
said "she had not a store of amity by her for more
than one friend at a time," and just then her affection
was concentrated on a waiting-maid. Her waiting-
maid told her to make peers, and she made them.
But of large thought and comprehensive statesman-
ship she was as destitute as Mrs. Marsham, She
supported a bad ministry by the most extreme of
measures, and she did it on caprice. The case of
William IV. is still more instructive. He was a very
conscientious king, hut at the same time an exceed-
ingly weak king. His correspondence with Lord

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 307

Grey on this subject fills more than half a large
volume, or rather his aecrefcaiy's correspondence, for
he kept a very clever man to write what he thought,
or at least wliat those about him thought. It is a
strange instance of high-placed weakness and consci-
entious vacillation. After endless letters the king
consents to make a reasonable number of peers if
rec[uired to pass the second reading of the Refoiin
Bill, but owing to desertion of the " Waverers " from
the Tories, the second reading is carried without it
by nine, and then the king refuses to make peers,
or at least enough peers, when a vital amendment
is carried by Lord Lyndhursfc, which would have
destroyed, and was meant to destroy the bill. In
consequence, there was a tremendous crisis, and
nearly, a Revolution. A more striking example of
well-meaning imbecility is scarcely to be found in
history. No one who reads it carefully will doubt
that the discretionary power of making peers would
have been far better in Lord Grey's hands than in
the king's. It was the uncertainty whether the king
would exercise it, and how far he would exercise it,
that mainly animated the opposition. In fact, you
may place power in weak hands at a revolution, but
you cannot keep it in weak hands. It runs out of
them into strong ones. An ordinary hereditary sover-
eign — a William IV., or a Geoi^e IV. — is unfit to
exercise the peer-creating power when most Wanted.
A half-insane king, like George III., would be worse.
He might use it by unaccountable impulse when not
required, and refuse to use it out of sullen mad-
ness when required.

The existence of a fancied check on the premier is

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308 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

ill truth an evil, becaii3e it prevents tbe enforcement
of a real check. It would be easy to provide by law
that an extraordinary number of Peers — say more
than ten annually — should not be created except on
a vote of some lai^e majority, suppose three-fourths of
the lower house. This would insure that the premier
should not use the reserve force of the constitution as
if it were an ordinary force ; that he should not use if
except when the whole nation fixedly wished it ; that
it should be kept for a revolution, not expended on
administration; and it would insure that he should
then have it to use. Queen Anne's ease and Wil-
liam IV.'s case prove that neither object is certainly
attained by intrusting this critical and extreme force
to the chance idiosyncrasies and habitual mediocrity
of an hereditary sovereign.

It may be asked why I argue at such length a ques-
tion in appeaTanee so removed from practice, and in
one point of view so irrelevant to my subject. No
one proposes to remove Queen Victoria ; if any one ia
in a safe place on earth, she is in a safe place. In
tliese very essays it has been shown that the mass of
our people would obey no one else, that the reverence
she excites is the potential energy — as science now
speaks — out of which all minor forces are made, and
from which lesser functions take their efficiency. But
looking not to the present hour, and this single coun-
try, but to the world at large and coming times, no
question can be more practical.

What grows upon the world is a certain matter-of-
factness. The test of each century, more than of the
century before, is the test of results. New countries
are arising all over the world where there are no fixed

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 309

Bources of reverence ; which have to make them ;
which have to create institutions which must generate
loyalty by conspicuous utility. This matte r-of-faet-
ness is the growth even in Europe of the two greatest
and newest intellectual agencies of our time. One
of these is business. We see so much of the material
fruita of commerce, that we forget its mental fruits.
It begets a mind desirous of things, careless of ideas,
not acquainted with the niceties of words. In all
labor there should be profit, is its motto. It is not
only true that we have " left swords for ledgers," but
war itself is made as much by the ledger as by the
sword. The soldier — that is, the great soldier — of
to-day is not a romantic animal, dashing at forlorn
hopes, animated by frantic sentiment, full of fancies
as to a lady-love or a sovereign ; but a quiet, grave
man, busied in charts, exact in sums, master of the
art of tactics, occupied in trivial detail ; thinking, as
the Duke of Wellington was said to do, most of the
shoes of his soldiers ; despising all manner of ^clat and
eloquence; perhaps, Uke Count Moltke, "silent in
seven languages." We have reached a " climate " of
opinion where figures rule, where our very supporter
of Divine right, as we deemed him, our Count Bis-
marck, amputates kings right and left, applies the
test of results to each, and lets none live who are not
to do something. There has in truth been a great
change during the last five hundred years in the pre-
dominant occupations of the ruling part of mankind ;
formerly they passed their time either in exciting
aetioi) or inanimate repose. A feudal baron had noth-
ing between war and the chase — keenly animating
things both — and what was called " inglorious ease."

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

810 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTION".

Modem life is scanty in excitements, but i
C[uiet action. Its perpetual commerce ia creating a
" stock-taking " habit — the habit of asking each man,
thing, and inatitution, " Well, what have you done
since I saw you last '! "

Our physical science, which is becoming the domi-
nant culture of thouaanda, and which is beginning to
permeate our common literature to an extent which
few watch enough, quite tends the same way. The two
peculiarities are its homeliness and its inquisitiveness :
its value for the most" stupid " facts, as one used to caU
them, and its incessant wish for verification — to be
sure, by tiresome seeing and hearing, that they are
facts. The old exitement of thought has half died
out, or rather it is diffused in quiet pleasure over a
life, instead of being concentrated in intense and eager
spasms. An old philosopher — a Descartes, suppose

— fancied that out of primitive truths, which he could
by ardent excogitation know, he might by pure deduc-
tion evolve the entire universe. Intense self-examina-
tion, and intense reason would, he thought, make out
every thing. The soul, " itself by itself," could tell aU
it wanted if it would be true to its sublimer isolation.
The greatest enjoyment possible to man was that
which this philosophy promises its votaries — the
pleasure of being always right, and always reasoning

— without ever being bound to look at any thing.
But our most ambitious schemes of philosophy now
start quite differently. Mr, Darwin begins : —

"When on board H,M,S, Beagle, as naturalist, I
was much struck with certain facts in the distribution
of the organic beings inhabiting South America, and
in the geological relations of the present to the past

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECES AND BALANCES. 311

inhabitants of that continent. These facts, as will be
seen in tbe latter chapters of this volume, seemed to
throw some light on the origin of species — that
mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one
of our greatest philosophers. On my retiim home,
it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might
perhaps be made out on this question by patiently
accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts
which could possibly have any bearing on it. After
five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on
tbe subject, and drew up some short notes ; these
I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions
which then seemed to me probable : from that period
to the present day I have steadily pursued the same
object. I hope that I may be excused for entering
on these personal details, as I give them to show that
I have not been hasty in coming to a decision."

If he hopes finally to solve his great problem, it is
by careful experiments in pigeon fancying, and other
sorts of artificial variety making. His hero is not a
self-enclosed, excited philosopher, but " that most
skilful breeder, Sir John Sebright, who used to say,
with respect to pigeons, that he would produce any
given feathers in three years, but it would take him
six years to obtain a bead and a beak." I am not
saying that the new thought is better than the old ;
it is no business of mine to say any thing about that ;
I only wish to bring home to the mind, as nothing but
instances can bring it home, how matter-of-fact, how
petty, as it would at first sight look, even our most
ambitious science has become.

In the new communities which our emigrating
habit now constantly creates, this prosaic turn of

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312 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOK.

mind is intensified. In the American mind and in
the colonial mind there is, aa contrasted with the old
English mind, a Uteralness, a tendency to say, " The
facta are so-and-so, whatever may be thought or fan-
cied about them." We used before the civil war to
say that the Americans worshipped the almighty dol-
lar ; we now know that they can scatter money ahnost
recklessly when they will. But what we meant was
half right — they worship visible value : obvious, un-
deniable, intrusive result. And in Australia and
New Zealand the same turn comes uppermost. It
grows from the struggle with the wilderness. Phys-
ical difficulty is the enemy of early communities, and
an incessant conflict with it for generations leaves a
mark of reality on the mind — a painful mark almost
to us, used to impalpable fears and the half-fanciful
dangers of an old and complicated society. The
" new Englands " of aU latitudes are bare-minded
(if I may so say) as compared with the " old."

"When, therefore, the new communities of the col-
onized world have to choose a government, they must
choose one in which all the institutions are of an ob-
vious evident utility. We catch the Americans smil-
ing at our Queen with her secret mystery, and our
Prince of Wales with his happy inaction. It is impos-
sible, in fact, to convince theii' prosaic minds that
constitutional royalty is a rational government, that
it is suited to a new age and an unbroken country,
that those who start afresh can start with it. The
princelings who run about the world with excellent
intentions, but an entire ignorance of business, ai-e to
them a locomotive advertisement tliat this sort of
government is European in its limitations and mediag-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CHECKS AKD BALANCES. 313

val in its origin ; that though it has yet a great part
to play in the old states, it has no place or part in new
states. The rialisme impitoyahU which good critics
find in a most characteristic part of the literature of
the nineteenth century, is to be found also in its poli-
tics. An ostentatious utility must characterize its
creations.

The deepest interest, therefore, attaches to tiie
problem of this essay. If hereditary royalty had been
essential to parliamentary government, we might well
have despaired of that government. But accurate
investigation shows that this royalty is not essential ;
that, upon an average, it is not even in a high degree
useful; that though a king with high coui'age and
fine discretion, — a king with a genius for the place,
— is always useful, and at rare moments priceless,
yet that a common king, a king such as birth brings,
is of no use at difficult crises, while in the common
course of things his aid is neither likely nor required
— he will do nothing, and he need do nothing. But
we happUy find that a new country need not fall back
into the fatal division of powers incidental to a presi-
dential government ; it may, if other conditions
serve, obtain the ready, well-placed, identical sort of
sovereignty which belongs to the English Constitu-
tion, under the unroyal form of Parliamentary Gov-
ernment.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

THE EKGLISH CONSTITCTTION.

THE PEEREQUISITES OF CABINET GOVERNMENT,
ASD THE X'ECULIAR EOBM WHICH THEY HAVE
ASSUMED IN ENGLAND.

Cabinet government is rare because its prerequi-
sites are many. It requu^ea the co-existence of sev-
eral national characteristics which are not often found
together in the world, and which should be perceived
more distinctly than they often are. It is fancied
that the possession of a certain intelligence, and a
few simple virtues, are the sole requisites. These
mental and moral qualities are necessary, but much
else is necessary also. A cabinet government is the
government of a committee elected by the legislature,
and there are therefore a double set of conditions to
it : first, those which are essential to all elective gov-
eriunents as such ; and second, those which are requi-
site to this particular elective government. There
are prerequisites for the genus, and additional ones
for the species.

The first prerequisite of elective government is the
mutual confidence of the electors. We are so accus-
tomed to submit to be ruled by elected ministers,
that we are apt to fancy all mankind would readily
be so too. Knowledge and civilization have at least
made this progress, that we instmotively, without
argument, almost without consciousness, allow a cer-
tain number of specified persons to choose our rulers

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVEENMENT. 815

for US. It seems to us the simplest thing in the
world. But it is one of the gravest things.

The peculiar marks of semi-harbarous people are
diffused distrast and indiscriminate suspicion. Peo-
ple, in all but the most favored times and places, are
rooted to the places where they were born, think
the thoughts of those places, can endure no other
thoughts. The next parish even is suspected. Its
inhabitants have different usages, almost impercepti-
bly different, but yet different ; they speak a varying
accent ; they use a few peculiar words ; tradition
says that their faith is dubious. And if the next
palish is a little suspected, the next county is much
more suspected. Here is a definite beginning of new
maxims, new thoughts, new ways: the immemorial
boundary mark begins in feeling a strange world.
And if the next county is dubious, a remote county
is untrustworthy. " Vagrants come fi'Om thence "
men know, and they know nothing else. The inhab-
itants of the north speak a dialect different from the
dialect of the south : they have other laws, another
aristocracy, another life. In ages when distant ter-
ritories are blanks in the mind, when neighborhood
is a sentiment, when locality is a passion, concerted
co-operation between remote regions is impossible
even on trivial matters. Neither would rely enough
upon the good faith, good sense, and good judgment
of the other. Neither could enough calculate on
the other.

And if such co-operation is not to be expected in
trivial matters, it is not to be thought of in the most
vital matter of government — the choice of the ex-
ecutive ruler. To fancy that Northumberland in the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

S16 THE EKGLISH CONSTITUTION.

thirteenih century would have consented to ally
itself with Somersetshire for the choice of a chief
magistrate is absurd ; it would scarcely have allied
itself to choose a hangman. Even now, if it were
palpably explained, neither district would like it.
But no one says at a county election, " The object of
this present meeting is to choose our delegate to what
tlie Americans call the " Electoi-al College," to the
assembly which names our first magistrate — our sub-
stitute for their president. Representatives from this
county will meet representatives from other counties,
from cities and boroughs, and proceed to choose out
rulei's." Such bald exposition would have been im-
possible in old tunes ; it would be considered queer,
eccentric, if it were used now. Happily, the process
of election is so indirect and hidden, and the intro-
duction of that process was so gradual and latent,
that we scarcely perceive the immense political trust
we repose in each other. The best mercantile credit
seems to those who give it, natural, simple, obvious ;
they do not ai^ue about it, or think about it. The
best political credit is analogous ; we trust our coun-
trymen without remembering that we trust them.

A second and very rare condition of an elective
government is a calm national mind — a tone of mind
sufficiently stable to bear the necessary excitement
of conspicuous revolutions. No barbarous, no semi-
civilized nation has ever possessed this. The mass of
uneducated men could not now in England be told
"go to, choose your rulers;" they would go wild;
their imaginations would fancy unreal dangers, and
tho attempt at election would issue in some forcible
usurpation. The incalculable advantage of august

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVEKKMENT. SIT

institutions in a free state is, that tliey prevent this
collapse. The excitement of choosing our rulers is
prevented by the apparent existence of an unchosen
ruler. The poorer and more ignorant classes — those
who would most feel excitement, who would most be
misled by excitement — really believe that the Queen
governs. You could not explain to them the recon-
dite difference between "reigning" and "govern-
ing ; " the worda necessary to express it do not exist
in their dialect ; the ideas necessary to comprehend
it do not exist in their minds. The separation of
principal power from principal station is a refinement
which they could not even conceive. They fancy
they are governed by an hereditary queen, a queen
by the grace of God, when they are reaUy governed
by a cabinet and a parliament ^ men like themselves,
chosen by themselves. The conspicuous dignity
awakens the sentiment of reverence, and men, often
very undignified, seize the occasion to govern by
means of it.

Lastly. The third condition of all elective govern-
ment is what I may call rationality, by which I mean
a power involving intelligence, but yet distinct from
it. A whole people electing its rulers must be able to
form a distinct conception of distant objects. Mostly,
the " divinity " that surrounds a king altogether pre-
vents any thing like a steady conception of him. You
fancy that the object of your loyalty is as much ele-
vated above you by intrinsic nature as he is by ex-
trinsic position ; you deify him in sentiment, as once
men deified him in doctrine. This illusion has been
and still is of incalculable benefit to the human
race. It prevents, indeed, men from choosing their

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

318 THE ENGLISH COSSTITUIIOS.

rulers ; you cannot invest with tliat loyfil illusion a
man who was yesterday what you are, who to-morrow
may be so again, whom you chose to be what he is.
But though this superstition prevents the election
of rulers, it renders possible the existence of un-
elected rulers. Untaught people fancy that their
king, crowned with the holy crown, anointed with
the oil of Rheims, descended of the House of Plantag-
enefc, is a different sort of being from any one not
descended of the Royal House — not crowned — not
anointed. They beheve that there is one man whom
by mystic right they should obey ; and therefore they
do obey him. It is only in later times, when the
world is wider, its experience lai^er, and ite thought
colder, that the plain rule of a palpably chosen ruler
is even possible.

These conditions narrowly restrict elective govern-
ment. But the prerequisites of a cabinet government
are rarer still ; it demands not only the conditions I
have mentioned, but the possibility Ukewise of a good
legislature — a legislature competent to elect a suf-
ficient administration,

Now a competent legislature is very rare. Any
permanent legislature at all, any constantly acting
mechanism for enacting and repealing laws, is, though
it seems to us so natural, quite contrary to the invet-
erate conceptions of mankind. The great majority
of nations conceive of their law, either as something
Divinely given, and therefore unalterable, or as a fun-
damental habit, inherited from the past to be trans-
mitted to the future. The English Parliament, of
which the prominent functions are now legislative,
was not all so once. It was rather a ^preservative

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVERNMENT. 61\)

body. The custom of the realm — the aboriginal
transmitted law — the law which was in the breast of
the judges, could not be altered without the eonseut
of parliament, and therefore ererybody felt sure it
would not be altered except in gi'ave, peculiar, and
anomalous cases. The valued use of parliament was
not half so much to alter the law, as to prevent the
laws being altered. And such too was its real use.
In early societies it matters much more that the law
should be fixed than that it should be good. Any
law which the people of ignorant times enact is sure
to involve many misconceptions, and to cause many
evils. Perfection in legislation is not to be looked for,
and is not, indeed, much wanted in a rude, painful,
confined life. But such an age covets fixity. That
men should enjoy the fruits of then' labor, that the
law of property should be known, that the law of
marriage should be known, that the whole course of
life shoidd be kept in a calculable track, is the gum-
mum honum of early ages, the first desire of semi-
civilized mankind. In that age men do not want to
have their laws adapted, but to have their laws steady.
The passions are so powerful, force so eager, the
social bond so weak, that the august spectacle of an
aU but unalterable law is necessary to preserve society.
In the early stag-es of human society all change is
thought an evil. And most change is an evil. The
conditions of life are so simple and so unvarying that
any decent sort of rides suffice, so long as men know
what they are. Custom is the first check on tyranny ;
that fixed routine of social life at which modern in-
novations chafe, and by which modern improvement
is impeded, is the primitive cheek on base power.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

320 THE ENGLISH COSSTrTUTIOS.

The perception of political expediency has then harclly
begun ; the sense of abstract justice is weak and
vague ; and a rigid adherence to the fixed mould of
transmitted usage is essential to an unmarred, un-
spoiled, unbroken life.

In such an age a legislature continuously sitting,
always making laws, always repealing laws, would
have been both an anomaly and a nuisance. But in
the present state of the civilized part of the world
such difficulties are obsolete. There is a diffused
desire in civihzed communities for an adjusting legis-
lation ; for a legislation which should adapt the in-
herited laws to the new wants of a world which now
changes every day. It has ceased to be necessary to
maintain bad laws, because it is necessary to have
some laws. Civilization is robust enough to bear the
incision of legal improvements. But taking history
at large, the rarity of cabinets is mostly due to the
greater rarity of continuous legislatures.

Other conditions, however, limit even at the present
day the area of a cabinet government. It must be
possible to have not only a legislature, but to have
a competent legislature — a legislature willing to elect
and willing to maintain an efficient executive. And
this is no easy matter. It is indeed true that we need
not trouble ourselves to look for that elaborate and
complicated oiganization which partially exists in the
House of Commons, and which is more fully and
freely expanded in plans for improving the House
of Commons. We are not now concerned with per-
fection or excellence ; we seek only for simple fitness
and bare competency.

The conditions of fitness are two. First, you must

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVERNMENT. o21

get a good legislature ; and next, you must keep it
good. And these are by no means so nearly con-
nected as might be thought at first sight. To keep
a legislature efficient, it must have a sufficient supply
of substantial business. If you employ the best set
of men to do nearly nothing, they will quarrel with
each other about that nothing. Where great ques-
tions end, little parties begin. And a very happy
community, with few new laws to make, few old bad
laws to repeal, and but simple foreign relations to
adjust, has great difficulty in employing a legislature.
There is nothing for it to enact, and nothing for it to
settle. Accordingly, there is great danger that the
legislature, being debarred from all other kind of
business, may take to quarrelling about its elective
business ; that controversies as to ministries may
occupy all its time, and yet that time be perniciously
employed ; that a constant succession of feeble admin-
istrations, unable to govern and unfit to govern, may
be substituted for the proper result of cabinet govern-
ment, —a sufficient body of men long enough in
power to evince their sufficiency. The exact amount
of non-elective business necessary for a parliament
which is to elect the executive cannot, of course, be
formally stated. There are no numbers and no sta^
tistics in the theory of constitutions. All we can say
is, that a parliament with little business, which is to be
as efficient as a Parliament with much business, must
be in all other respects much better. An indifferent
parliament may be much improved by the steadying
effect of grave affairs ^ but a parliament which has no
such affairs must be intrinsically excellent, or it will
fail utterlv.

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322 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

But tlie difficulty of keeping a good 1
evidently secondary to the difficulty of first getting
it. There aie two kinds of nations ivhich can elect
a good parliament. The firat is a nation in which
the mass of the people are intelligent, and in which
tliey are comfortable. Where there is no honest
poverty, where education is diffused, and pohtieal
intelligence is common, it is easy for the mass of the
people to elect a fair legislature. The ideal is roughly
realized in the North American colonies of, England,
and in the whole fi'ee States of the Union. In these
countries there is no sueh thing as honest poverty ;
physical comfort, such as the poor cannot imagine
here, is there easily attainable by healthy industry.
Education is diffused much, and is fast spreading.
Ignorant emigrants from the Old World often prize
the intellectual advantages of which they are them-
selves destitute, and are annoyed at their inferiority
in a place where rudimentary culture is so common.
The greatest difficulty of such new communities is
commonly geographical. The population is mostly
scattered ; and where population is sparse, discussion
is difficult. But in a country very large, as we reckon
in Europe, a people really intelligent, really educated,
really comfortable, would soon form a good opinion.
No one can douht that the New England States, if
they were a separate community, would have an edu-
cation, a political capacity, and an intelligence such
as the numerical majority of no people, equally
numerous, has ever possessed. In a state of this
sort, wliere all the community is fit to choose a
sufBeieiit legislature, it is po,?sible, it is almost easy,
to create that legislature. If the New England States

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVERITMENT, S23

1 a cabinet govemnient as a separate nation,
they would be as renowned in the world for poiitieal
Bagaeity as they now are for diifused happiness.

The structure of these communities is indeed based
on the principle of equality, and it is impossible that
any such community can wholly satisfy the severe
requirements of a poiitieal theorist. In every old
commiinity its primitive and guiding assumption is at
war with truth. By its theory all people are entitled
to the same political power, and they can only be so
entitled on the ground that in politics they are equally
wise. But at the outset of an agricultural colony
this postidate is as near the truth as politics want.
Thei'e are in such communities no large properties,
no great capitals, no refined classes — every one is
comfortable and homely, and no one is at all more.
Equality is not artificially established in a new colony ;
it estabhshes itself. There is a story that among the
first settlers in Western Australia, some, who were
rich, took out laborers at their own expense, and also
carriages to ride in. But soon they had to try if they
could live in the carriages. Before the masters' houses
were built, the laborers had gone off — they were
building houses and cultivating land for themselves,
and the masters were left to sit in their carriages.
Whether tliis exact thing happened I do not know,
but this sort of thing has happened a thousand times.
There have been a whole series of attempts to trans-
plant to the colonies a graduated English society.
But they have always failed at the first step. The
rude classes at the bottom felt that they were equal
to or better than the delicate classes at the top ; they
shifted for themselves, and left the " gentlefolks " to

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

324 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

shift for themselves ; the base of the elaborate pyramid
spread abroad, and the apex tumbled in and perished.
In the early ages of an agricultural colony, whether
you have political democracy or not, social democracy
you must have, for nature makes it, and not. you.
But in time, wealth grows and inequality begins.
A and his children are industrious, and prosper ; B
and his children are idle, and fail. If manufactures
on a considerable scale are established — and most
young communities strive even by protection to estab-
lish them — the tendency to inequality is intensified.
The capitalist becomes a unit with much, and his
laborers a crowd with little. After generations of
education, too, there arise varieties of culture — there
will be an upper thousand, or ten thousand, of highly
cultivated people in the midst of a great nation of
moderately educated people. In theory it is desirable
that this highest class of wealth and leisure should
have an influence far out of proportion to its mere
number: a perfect constitution would find for it a
delicate expedient to make its fine thought tell upon
the surrounding cruder thought. But as the world
goes, when the whole of the population is as instructed
and as intelligent as in the case I am supposing, we
need not care much about this. Great communities
have scarcely ever — never save for transient moments

— been ruled by their highest thought. And if we
can get them ruled by a decent capable thoL^ht, we
may be well enough contented with our work. We
have done more than could be expected, though not ail
which could be desired. At any rate, an isocratic polity

— a polity where every one votes, and where every
one votes alike — is, in a community of sound educa-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVEKNMENT. 325

tion and diffused intelligence, a conceivable case of
cabinet government. It satisfies the essential con-
dition ; there is a people able to elect a parliament
able to choose.

But suppose the mass of the people are not able to
elect — and this is the ease with the numerical major-
ity of all but the rarest nations — how is a cabinet
government to be then possible ? It is only possible
in what I may venture to call deferential nations. It
has been tliought strange, but there are nations in
which the numerous unwiser part wishes to be ruled
by the less numerous wiser part. The numerical
majority — whether by custom or by choice, is imma-
terial — is ready, is eager to delegate its power of
choosing its ruler to a certain select minority. It
abdicates in favor of its ^lite, and consents to obey
whoever that Hite may confide in. It acknowledges
as its secondary electoi's — as the choosers of its gov-
ernment — an educated minority, at oiiee competent
and unresisted ; it has a kind of loyalty to some
superior persons who are fit to choose a good govern-
ment, and whom no other class opposes. A nation
in such a happy state as this has obvious advantages
for constructing a cabinet government. It has the
best people to elect a legislature, and therefore it may
fairly be expected to choose a good legislature — a leg-
islature competent to select a good administration.

England is the type of deferential countries, and
the manner in which it is so, and has become so, is
extremely curious. The middle classes — the ordi-
nary majority of educated men — are in the present
day the despotic power in England. "Public opin-
ion," now-a-days, "is the opinion of the bald-headed

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

326 THE ENGLISH COl^'STITUTIOX.

man at the back of the omnibus." It is not the
opinion of the aristocratical classes as stich ; or of
the most educated or refined classes as such; it ia
simply the opinion of the ordinary mass of educated,'
but still commonplace mankind. If you look at the i
mass of the constituencies, you will see that they are
not very interesting people ; and perhaps if you look
behind the scenes and see the people who manipulate
and work the constituencies, you will find that these
are yet more uninteresting. The English constitution
in its palpable form is this — the mass of the people
yield obedience to a select few ; and when you see
this select few, you perceive that though not of the
lowest class, nor of an unrespectable class, they are
yet of a heavy sensible class — the last people in the
world to whom, if they were drawn up in a row,
an immense nation would ever give an exclusive
preference.

In fact, the mass of the English people yield a def-
erence rather to sometiiing else than to their rulers.
They defer to what we may call the theatrical show
of society. A certain state passes before them; a
certain pomp of great men ; a certain spectacle of
beautiful women ; a wonderful scene of wealth and
enjoyment is displayed, and they are coerced by it.
Their imagination is bowed down ; they feel they
are not equal to the life which is revealed to them.
Courts and aristocracies have the great quality which
rules the multitude, though philosophers can see noth-
ing in it — visibility. Courtiers can do wha.t others
cannot. A common man may as well try to rival
the actors on the stage in their acting, as the aiistoc-
racy in their acting. The higher world, as it looks

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVEENMEKT. 327

from without, is a stage on which the actors walk
their parts much better than the spectatoi-s can.
This play is played in every district. Every rustic
feels that his house is not like my lord's house ; his
life like my lord's life ; his wife like my lady. The
climax of the play is the Queen : nobody supposes
that their house is like the court ; their life like her
life ; her orders like their ordera. There is in Eng-
land a certain charmed spectacle which imposes on
the mauy, and guides their fancies as it will. As a
rustic on coming to London finds himself in presence
of a great show and vast exhibition of inconceivahle
mechanical things, so by the structure of our society
he finds himself face to face with a great exhibition
of political things which he could not have imagined,
which he could not make — to which he feels in him-
self scarcely any thing analogous.

Philosophers may deride this superstition, but its
results are inestimable. By the spectacle of this au-
gust society, countless ignorant men and women are
induced to obey the few nominal electors — the 101.
borough renters, and the 50/. county renters — who
have nothing imposing about them, nothing which
would attract the eye or fascinate the fancy. "What
impresses men is not mind, but the result of mind.
And the greatest of these results is this wonderful
spectacle of society, which is ever new, and yet ever
the same ; in which accidents pass and essence re-
mains ; in which one generation dies and another
succeeds, as if they were birds in a cage, or animals
in a menagerie ; of which it seems almost more than
a metaphor to treat the parts as limbs of a perpetual
living thing, so silently do they seem to change, t;o

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

828 THE BKGLISH CONSTITUTION.

wonderfully and so perfectly does the conspicuous
life of the new year take the place of the conspicu-
ous life of last year. The apparent rulers of the
English nation are like the moat imposing personages
of a splendid procession : it is by them the mob are
influenced; it is they whom the spectators cheer.
The real rulers are secreted in second-rat« carriages ;
no one cares for them or asks about them, but they
are obeyed implicitly and unconsciously by reason of
the splendor of those who echpsed and preceded
them.

It is quite true that this imaginative sentiment 13
supported by a sensation of political satisfaction. It
cannot be said that the mass of the English people
are well off. There are whole classes who have
not a conception of what the higher orders call
comfort ; who have not the prerequisites of moral
existence ; who cannot lead the life that becomes a
man. But the most miserable of these classes do not
impute their misery to polities. "If a political agita-
tor were to lecture to the peasants of Dorsetshire,
and try to excite political dissatisfaction, it is much
more likely that he would be pelted than that he
would succeed. Of parliament these miserable creat-
ures know scarcely any thing ; of the cabinet they
never heard. But they would say that, " for all they
have heard, the Queen is very good ; " and rebelling
against the structure of society is to their minds re-
belling against the Queen, who rules that society, in
whom all its most impressive part — the part that
they know— culminates. The mass of the English
people are politically contented as well as politically
deferential.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVBENMENT. 329

A deferential community, even though its lowest
classes are not intelligent, is far more suited to a cab-
inet government than any kind of democratic country,
because it is more suited to political excellence. The
highest classes can rule in it ; and the highest classes
must, as such, have more pohtieal ability than the
lower classes. A life of labor, and incomplete edu-
cation, a monotonous occupation, a career in which
the hands are used much and the judgment is used
little, caiinot create as much flexible thought, as
much appHcablc intelligence, as a life of leisure, a
long culture, a varied experience, an existence by
which the judgment is incessantly exercised, and by
which it may he incessantly improved. A country
of respectful poor, though far less happy than where
there are no poor to be respectful, is nevertheless far
more fitted for the best government. You can use
the best classes of the respectful country ; you can
only use the worst where every man thinks he is as
good as every other.

It is evident that no difficulty can be greater than
that of founding a deferential nation. Respect is
traditional ; it is given not to what is proved to be
good, but to what is- known to be old. Certain
classes in certain nations retain by common accept-
ance a marked political preference, because they have
always possessed it, and because they inheiit a sort
of pomp which seems to make them worthy of it.
But in a new colony, in a community where merit
may be equal, and where there cannot be traditional
marks of merit and fitness, it is obvious that a politi-
cal deference can be yielded to higher culture, only
upon proof, first of its existence, and next of its

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

880 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOH.

political value. But it is nearly impossible to give
such a proof so as to satisfy persons of less culture.
In a future and tetter age of the world it may
be effected ; but in this age the requisite premises
scarcely exist; if the discussion be effectually open,
if the debate be fairly begun, it is hardly possible to
obtain a rational, an argumentative acquiescence in
the rule of the cultivated few. As yet the few rule
by their hold, not over the reason of the multitude,
but over their imaginations, and their habits ; over
their fancies as to distant thin^ they do not know at
all, over their customs as to near things which they
know very well.

A deferential community in which the bulk of the
people are ignorant, is therefore in a state of what
is called in mechanics unstable equilibrium. If the
equilibrium is once disturbed there is no tendency to
return to it, but rather to depart from it. A cone
balanced on its point is in unstable equiUbrium, for
if you push it ever so little it will depart farther and
farther from its position and fall to the earth. So in
communities where the masses are ignorant but re-
spectful, if you once permit the ignorant class to
begin to mle you may bid farewell to deference for
ever. Their demagogues wiU inculcate, their news-
papers will recount, that the n.ile of tlie existing
dynasty (the people) is better than the rule of the
fallen dynasty (the aristocracy). A people very
rarely hears two sides of a subject in which it is much
interested ; the popular organs take up the side which
is acceptable, and none but the popular organs in fact
reach the people. A people never hears censure of
itsflf. No one will tell it that the educated minority

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

CABINET GOVEHNJKraNT. 331

whom it dethroned governed hetter or more wisely
than it governs. A democracy will never, save after
an awful catastrophe, return what has once been
conceded to it, for to do so would be to admit an
inferiority in itself, of which, except by some al-
most unbearable misfortune, it could never be con-
vinced.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

TRE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

ITS HISTORY, AND THE EFFECTS OF THAT HISTORY, —
CONCLtJSION.

A VOLUME might seem wanted to say any thing worth
saying* on the History of the English Constitution,
and a great and new volume might still be written on
it, if a competent writer took it in hand. The sub-
ject has never been treated by any one combining
the lights of the newest reseai'ch and the lights of the
most matured philosophy. Since the masterly book of
Hallam was written, both political thought and his-
torical knowledge have gained much, and we might
have a treatise applying our strengthened calculus to
our augmented facts. I do not pretend that I could
write such a book, but there are a few salient par-
ticulars which may be fitly brought together, both
because of their past interest and of their present
importance.

There is a certain common pohty, or germ of polity,

« Since the flrat edition of this book was publiehed, sevei^l valuable
works hare appeared, which, on man; points, throw much light on
our early constitutional higtory, especially Mr. Stubbs' " Select Char-
ters and other Illustrations of English Constitutional History, from
the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward the First," Mr. Freeman's
lecture on "The Growth of the English Constitution," anil the chapter
on the Anglo-Saion Constitution in his " History of the Norman Con-
quest ; " but we have not yet a, great and authoritative work on the
whole subject such as I wished for when I wrote the passage in the
text, and as it is most desirable that we should have-

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HiSTORr. 333

which we find in all the rude nations that have at-
tained civilization. These nations seem to begin in
what I may call a consultative and tentative absolu-
tism. The king of early days, in rigorous nations,
was not absolute as despots now are ; there was then
no standing army to repress rebellion, no organized
espionage to spy out discontent, no skilled bureau-
cracy to smooth the ruts of obedient life. The early
king was indeed consecrated by a religious sanction ;
he was essentially a man apart, a man above otheiB,
divinely anointed, or even God-begotten. But in
nations capable of freedom this rehgious domina-
tion was never despotic. There was indeed no legal
limit : the very words could not be translated into
the dialect of those times. The notion of law as we
have it — of a rule imposed by human authority,
capable of being altered by that authority when it
likes, and in fact, so altered habitually — could not
be conveyed to early nations, who regarded law half
as an invincible prescription, and half as a Divine
revelation. Law " came out of the king's mouth ; "
he gave it as Solomon gave judgment, — embedded
in the particular ease, and upon the authority of
Heaven as well as his own. A Divine limit to the
Divine revealer was impossible, and there was no
other source of law. But though there was no legal
limit, there was a practical limit to subjection in
(what may be called) the pagan part of human na-
ture, — the inseparable obstinacy of freemen. They
never would do exactly what they were told.

To early royalty, as Homer describes it in Greece
and as we may well imagine it elsewhere, there were
always two adjnncts: one, the " old men," the men

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

334 THE ENGLISH COKSTITUTIOX.

of weight, the council, the ^ovX'^, of whieli the king
asked advice, from the debates m which the king tried
to learn what he could do and what he ought to do.
Besides this there was the kyoQa, the purely listening
assembly, as some have called it, but the tentative
assembly, as I think it might best be called. The ting
came down to his assembled* people in form to an-
nounce his will, but in reality, speaking in very mod-
ern words, to "feel his way." He was sacred, no
doubt ; and popular, very likely ; still he was half
like a popular premier speaking to a high-spirited
chamber; there were limits to his authority and
power — limits which he would discover by trying
whether eager cheers received his mandate, or only
hollow murmurs and a thinking silence.

This polity is a good one for its era and its place,
but there is a fatal defect in it. The reverential
associations upon which the govemmeut is built are
transmitted according to one law, and the capacity
needful to work the government is transmitted ac-
cording to another law. The popular homage clings
to the line of god-descended kings ; it is transmitted
by inheritance. But very soon that line comes to a
child or an idiot, or one by some defect or other in-
capable. Then we find everywhere the truth of the
old saying, that hberty thrives under weak princes ;
then the listening assembly begins not only to mur-
mur, but to speak ; then the gi'ave council begins not
so much to suggest as to inculcate, not so much to
advise as to enjoin.

Mr. Grote has toid at length how out of these ap-
pendages of the original kingdom the free States of
Greece derived their origin, and how they gradually

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTORY. 335

grew — the oligarchical States expanding the council,
and the democratical expanding the assembly. The
history has as many varieties in detail as there were
Greek cities, but the essence ia the same everywhere.
The political characteristic of the eai'ly Greeks, and
of the early Romans, too, is tliat out of the tenia-
cula of a monarchy they developed the organs of a
republic.

English history has been in substance the same,
though its form is different, and its growtli far slower
and longer. The scale ■was larger, and the elements
more various. A Greek city soon got rid of its kings,
for the political sacredness of the monarch would not
bear the daily inspection and constant criticism of an
eager and talking multitude. Everywhere in Greece
the slave population — the most ignorant, and there-
fore the most unsusceptible of iuteUectnal influences
— was struck out of the account. But England
began as a kingdom of considerable size, inhabited by
distinct races, none of them fit for prosaic criticism,
and all subject to the superstition of royalty. In
early England, too, royalty was much more than a
supei'stitioii. A very strong executive was needed
to keep down a divided, an armed, and an impatient
country ; and therefore the problem of pohtical de-
velopment was delicate. A formed free government
in a homogeneous nation may have a strong execu-
tive ; but during the transition state, while the repub-
lic is in course of development and the monarchy in
course of decay, the executive is of necessity weak.
The polity is divided, and its action feeble and failing.
The different orders of English people have pro-
gressed, too, at different rates. The change in the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

3S0 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIOX.

state of the higher classes since the MidJle Ages is
enormous, and it is all improvement ; but the lower
have varied little, and many argue that in some im-
portant respects they have got worse, even if in
others they liave got better. The development of the
English Constitution was of necessity slow, because
a quick one would have destroyed the executive, and
killed the State, and because the moat numerous
classes, who changed very little, were not prepared
for any catastrophic change in our institutions.

I cannot presume to speak of the time before the
conquest, and the exact nature even of all Anglo-Nor-
man institutions is perhaps dubious : at least, in nearly
all cases there have been many controversies. Politi-
cal zeal, whether Whig or Tory, has wanted to find
a model in the past ; and the whole state of society
being confused, the precedents altering with the
caprice of men and the chance of events, ingenious
advocacy has had a happy field. But all that I need
speak of is quite plain. There was a great " council "
of the realm, to which the king summoned the most
considerable persons in England, the persons he most
wanted to advise him, and the persons whos: ''•mpers
he was most anxious to ascertain. Exactly who came
to it at first is obscure and unimportant. I need not
distinguish between the " magnum concilium in Par-
liament " and the " magnum concilium out of Parlia-
ment." Gradually the principal assemblies summoned
by the English sovereign took the precise and definite
form of Lords and Commons, as in their outside we
now see them. But their real nature was very dif-
ferent. The^Parliament of to-day is a ruling body ;
the medifeval Parliament was, if I may so say, an

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTORY. 837

e body. Its function was to tell the executive
— the king — what the nation wished he should do;
to some extent, to guide him hy new wisdom, and,
to a very great extent, to guide him hy new facts.
Tliese facts were their own feelings, which were the
feelings of the people, because they were part and
parcel of the people. From thenee the king learned,
or had the means to learn, what the nation would
endure, and what it would not endiu-e ; — what he
might do, and what be might not do. If he much
mistook this, there was a rebellion.

There are, as is well known, three great periods in the
English Constitution. The first of these is the ante-
Tudor period. The English Parhament then seemed
to be gaining extraordinary strength and power.
The title to the crown was uncertain ; some raonarehs
were imbecile. Many ambitions men wanted to " take
the people into partnership." Certain precedents of
that time were cited with grave authority centuries
after, when the time of freedom had really arrived.
But the causes of this rapid growth soon produced an
even more sudden decline. Confusion fostered it,
ind conf;' "on destroyed it. The structure of society

en was feudal ; the towns were only an adjunct
and a make-weight. The principal popular force was
an aristocratic force, acting with the co-operation of the
gentry and yeomanry, and resting on the loyal fealty
of sworn retainers. Tlie head of this force, on whom
its efficiency depended, was the high nobility. But
the high nobihty killed itself out. The great bai-ons
who adhered to the "Red Rose" or the "White
Rose," or who fluctuated from one to the other,
became poorer, fewer, and less potent every year.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

338 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

When the great struggle ended at Boswortli, a large
part of the greatest combatants were gone. The rest-
less, aspiring, rich barons, who made the civil war,
were broheu by it. Henry VII. attained a kingdom
in which there was a Parliament to advise, but scarcely
a Parliament to coiitrol.

The consultative government of the ante-Tndor
period had little resemblance to some of the modem
governments which French philosophers call by that
name. The French Empire, I believe, calls itself so.
But its assemblies are symmetrical " shams." They are
elected by a universal suffrage, by the ballot, and in
disti'icts once marked out with an eye to equality, and
still retaining a look of equality. But our English par-
liaments were unsymmetrical realities. They wei'e
elected anyhow ; the sheriff had a considerable Heense
in sending writs to boroughs, that is, he could in part
pick its constituencies ; and in each borough there
was a rush and scramble for the franchise, so that the
strongest local party got it, whether few or many.
But in England at that time there was a great and
distinct desire to know the opinion of the nation,
because there was a real and close necessity. The
nation was wanted to do something — to assist the
sovereign in some war, to pay some old debt, to con-
tribute its force and aid in the critical conjuncture of
the time. It would not have suited the ante-Tudor
kings to have had a fictiMous assembly ; they would
have lost their sole feeler, their only instrument for
discovering national opinion. Nor could they have
manufactured such an assembly if they wished. The
instrument in that behalf is the centralized executive,
and there was then no -prefet by whom the opinion of

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTOET. 339

a rural locality could be made to order, and adjusted
to suit the wishes of the capital. Looking at the
mode of election a theorist wo\ild say that these par-
liaments were but " chance " collections of influential
Englislunen, There would be many con-ections and
limitations to add to that statement if it were wanted
to make it accurate, but the statement itself hits
exactly the principal excellence of those parliaments.
If not " chance " collections of Englislnnen, they were
"undesigned" collections; no administrations made
them or could make them. They were bona fide coun-
sellors, whose opinion might be wise or unwise, but
was anyhow of paramount importance, because their
co-operation was wanted for what was in hand.

Legislation as a positive power was very secondary
in those old parliaments. I believe no statute at all,
as far as we know, was passed in the reign of Eichai'd
I., and all the ante-Tudor acts together would look
meagi'e enough to a modern Parliamentary agent who
had to live by them. But the negative action of
parliament upon the law was essential to its whole
idea, and ran through every part of its use. That
the king could not change what was then the almost
sacred dalwm of the common law, without seeing
whether his nation liked it or not, was an essential
part of the " tentative " system. The king had to
feel his way iu this exceptional, singular act, as those
ages deemed original legislation, as well as in leaser
acta. The legislation was his at last; he enacted
after consulting his Lords and Commons ; his was the
sacred mouth which gave holy fii-mness to the enacts
ment ; but he only dared alter the rule regulating
tiie common life of liis people after consulting those

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

S40 THE BNGLtSH CONSTITtTTION.

people ; he would not have been obeyed if be bad
not, by a rude age which did not fear civil war as we
fear it now. Many most important enactments of
that period (and the fact is most characteristic) are
declaratory acts. They do not profess to enjoin by
inherent authority what the law shall in future be,
but to state and mark what the law is ; they ai'e
declarations of immemorial custom, not precepts of
new duties. Even in the " Great Charter " the
notion of new enactments was secondary, it was
a great mixture of old and new ; it was a sort of
compact defining what was doubtful in floating
eust«m, and was re-enacted over and over again,
as boundaries are perambulated once a year, and
rights and claims tending to desuetude thereby made
patent and cleared of new obstructions. In truth,
such great " charters " were rather treaties between
different orders and factions, confirming ancient
rights, or what claimed to be such, than laws m our
ordinary sense. They were the " deeds of arrange-
ment " of medireval society affirmed and re-affirmed
from time to time, and the pi-incipal controversy
was, of coulee, between the king and nation — the
king trj'ing to see how far the nation would let him
go, and the nation murmuring and recalcitrating,
and seeing how many acts of administration they
could prevent, and how many of its claims they
could resist.

Sir James Mackintosh says that Magna Charta
" converted the right of taxation into the shield of
liberty," but it did nothing of the sort. The liberty
existed before, and the 'right to he taxed was an
efflorescence and instance of it, not a substratum or

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTOEX, 341

a cause. The necessity of consulting the great coiincil
of the realm before taxatiim, the principle that the
declaration o£ grieyanoes by the Parliament was to
precede the grant of supplies to the sovereign, are
but conspicuous instances of the primitive doctrine
of the ante- Tudor period, Uiat the king must consult
the great council of the realm before he did any thing,
suice he always wanted help. The right of self-
taxation was justly inserted in the "great treaty;"
but it would have been a dead letter, save for tlie
armed force and aristocratic organization wliich com-
pelled the king to make a treaty ; it was a result,
not a basis — an example, not a cause.

The civil wars of many years killed out the old
councils (if I mig'ht so say) ; that is, destroyed three
parts of the gi'eater nobility who were its most potent
members, tired the small nobility and the genti-y, and
overthrew the aristocratic organization on which all
previous effectual resistance to the sovereign had been
based.

The second period of the British Constitution he-
gins with the accession of the House of Tudor, and
goes down to 1688 ; it 'is in substance the history of
the gi'owth, development, and gradually acquired
supremacy of the new great council. I have no room
and no occasion to narrate again the familiar history
of tlie many steps by wldeh the slavish Parliament of
Henry VIII. grew into the murmuring Parliament
of Queen Elizabeth, the mutinous Parliament of
James I., and the rebellious Parliament of Charles I.
The steps were many, but the energy was one — the
growth of the English middle-class using that word
in its most inclusive sense, and its animation under

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342 THE IMGLISa CONSTITUTION.

the influence of Protestantism, No one, I tliink, can
doubt tliat Lord Macaulay is right in saying that
political causes would not alone have then provoked
Bueh a resistance to the sovereign, unless propelled hy
religious theory. Of course the English people went
to and fro from Catholicism to Protestantism, and
from Protestantism to Catholicism (not to mention
that the Protestantism was of several shades and
sects), just as the first Tudor kings, and q^ueena
wished. But that was in the pre-Puritan era. The
mass of Englishmen were in an undecided state, just
as Hooper tells ns his father was — "Not helieving
in Protestantism, yet not disinclined to it." Gradu-
ally, however, a strong Evangehc spirit (as we should
now speak) and a stiU stronger anti-Papal spirit en-
tered into the middle sort of Englishmen, and added
to that force, fibre, and substance which they have
never wanted, an ideal warmth and fervor which they
have almost always wanted. Hence the saying that
Cromwell founded the English Constitution. Of
course, in seeming, Cromwell's work died with Mm ;
his dynasty was rejected, his republic cast aside ; but
the spirit which culminated in liim never sank again,
never ceased to be a potent, though often a latent
and volcanic, force in the country. Charles II. said
that he would never go again on his travels for any
thing or anybody ; and he well knew that though the
men whom he met at Worcester might be dead, still
the spirit which warmed them was alive aud young
in others.

But the Cromwellian republic and the strict Puri-
tan creed were utterly hateful to most Enghshmen.
They were, if I may venture on saying so, like the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTOEY. MS

"Rouge" element in France and elsewhere — the
sole revolutionary force in the entire State, and were
hated as such. That force could do little of itself ;
indeed, its hare appearance tended to fiighten and
alienate the moderate and dull as well as the reiined
and reasoning classes. Alone it was impotent against
the solid clay of the English apathetic nature. But
give this iiery element a body of decent-looking
earth ; give it an excuse for breaking out on an
occasion, when the decent, the cultivated, and aristo-
cratic classes could join with it, and they could con-
quer by means of it, and it could be disguised in
their covering.

Such an excuse was found in 1688. James II., by
incredible and pertinacious folly, irritated not only
the classes which had fought against his father,
but also those who had fought for his father. He
offended the Anglican classes as well as the Puritan
classes ; all the Whig nobles and half the Tory nobles,
as well as the dissenting bourgeois. The rule of Par-
liament Wits established by the concurrence of the
usual supporters of royalty with the usual opponents
of it. But the result was long weak. Our revolu-
tion has been called the minimum of a revolution,
because in law, at least, it only changed the dynasty,
bnt exactly on that account it was the greatest shock
to the common multitude, who see the dynasty but
see nothing else. The support of the main aristocracy
held together the bulk of the deferential classes, but
it held them together imperfectly, uneasily, and un-
willingly. Huge masses of crude prejudice swayed
hither and thither for many years. If an able Stuart
had with credible sincerity professed Protestantism,

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

844 THE ,BNGI.ISH COSSTITUTIOX.

probably he might have overturnecl the House of
Hanover. So strong ivas inbred reverence for hered-
itary right, that nntil the accession of George IH. the
English government was always subject to the un-
ceasing attrition of a competitive sovereign.

This was the result of what I insist on tediously,
but what is most necessary to insist on, for it is a car-
dinal particular in the whole topic. Many of the
English people — the higher and more educated por-
tion — had come to comprehend the nature of constitu-
tional government, but the m^s did not comprehend
it. They looked to the sovereign as the government,
and to the sovereign only. These were carried for-
■ ward by the magic of the aristocracy, and piincipally
by the influence of the great Whig families with their
adjuncts. Without that aid reiwion or liberty would
never have held them.

Though the rule of Parliament was definitely estab-
lished in 1688, yet the mode of exercising that rule
has since changed. At fii-st Parliament did not know
how to exercise it; tlie oi^anization of parties and
the appointment of cabinets by parties grew up in the
manner Macaulay has described so well. Up to the
latest period' the sovereign was supposed, to a most
mischievous extent, to interfere in tlie choice of the
persons to be Ministers. When George III. finally
became insane, in 1810, every one believed that
George IV., on assuming power as Prince Regent,
would turn out Mr. Perceval's government and em-
power Lord Grey or Lord GrenviJle, the Whig leadera,
to form another. The Tory ministiy was caii'ying
on a SLieeessful war — a war of existence — against
Napoleon ; but in the people's mind, the necessity at

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTOEY. 345

sucli an occasion for an unchanged government did
not outweigh the fancy that George IV. was a Whig.
And a Wliig, it is true, he had been before the Fi'ench
Revolution, ivhen he lived an indescribable life in St.
James's Street with Mr. Fox. But LoimI Grey and
Lord Grenvilie were rigid men, and had no immoral
sort of influence. What liberalism of opinion the
Regent ever had was frightened out of him (as of
other people) by the Reign of Terror. He felt, ac-
cording to the saying of another monarch, that " he
lived by being a royalist." It soon appeared that he
was most anxious to retain Mr. Perceval, and that he
was most eager to quarrel with the Wh^ Lords. As
we all know, he kept the ministry whom he found in
office ; but that it should have been thought he could
then change them, is a significant example how
exceedingly modern our notions of the despotic action
of Parliament in fact are.

Ey the steps of the struggle thus rudely mentioned
(and by others which I have no room to speak of,
nor need I), the change which in the Greek cities
was effected both in appearance and in fact, has been
effected in England, though in reality only, and not
in outside. Here, too, the appendages of a mon-
archy have been converted into the essence of a
republic ; only here, because of a more numerous
heterogeneous political population, it is needful to
keep the ancient show while we secretly intei'polate
the new reality.

This long and curious history has left its trace on
almost every part of our present political condition :
its effects he at the root of many of our most impor-
tant controversies ; and bccauae these effects are nor

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346 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

rightly perceived, many of these controversies ai'e
misconeeiyed.

One of the most curious peculiarities of the Eng-
hsh people is its dislike of the executive govern-
ment. We are not in this respect " un vrai peuple
moderne," like the Americans. The Americans con-
ceive of their executive as one of their appointed
agents; when it intervenes in common life, it does
so, they consider, in virtue of the mandate of the
sovereign people, and there is no invasion or derelic-
tion of freedom in that people interfering with itself.
The French, the Swiss, and all nations who breathe
the full atmosphere of the nineteenth century, think
so too. The material necessities of this age require
a strong executive ; a nation destitute of it cannot
be clean, or healthy, or vigorous like a nation posses-
sing it. By definition, a nation calling itself free
should have no jealousy of the executive, for free-
dom means that the nation, the pohtieal part of the
nation, wields the execiitive. But our history has
reversed the English feeling : our freedom is the re-
sult of centuries of resistance, more or less legal,
or more or less illegal, more or less audacious, or
more or less timid, to the executive Government.
We have, accordingly, inherited the traditions of con-
flict, and preserve them in the fulness of victory.
We look on State action, not as our own action, but
as alien action ; as an imposed tyranny from without,
not as the consummated result of our own organized
wishes. I remember at the Census of 1851 hearing
a very sensible old lady say that " the liberties of
England were at an end ; " if Government might be
thus inquisitorial, if they might ask who slept in

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTORY. 34T

your house, or what your age was, what, she argued,
miglit they not ask and what might they not do ?

The natural impulse of the English people is to
resist authority. The introduction of effectual police-
men was not liked ; I know people, old people I ad-
mit, who to this day consider them an infringement
of freedom, and an imitation of the gendarmes of
France. If the original policemen had been started
with the present helmets, the result might have been
dubious ; there might have been a cry of military
tyranny, and the inbred insubordination of the Eng-
lish people might have prevailed over the very mod-
ern love of perfect peace and order. The old notion
that the Government is an extrinsic agency still rules
our imaginations, though it is no longer true, and
thoi^h in calm and intellectual moments we well
know it is not. Nor is it merely oui history which
produces this effect; we might get over that; but
the results of that history co-operate. Our double
Government so acts : when we want to point the
antipathy to the executive, we refer to the jealousy
of the Croivn, so deeply imbedded in the very sub-
stance of constitutional authority ; so many people
are loath to admit the Queen, in spite of law and fact,
to be the people's appointee and agent, that it is a
good rhetorical emphasis to speak of her prerogative
as something Mon-popular, and therefore to be dis-
trusted. By the very nature of our Government our
executive cannot be liked and trusted as the Swiss or
the American is liked and trusted.

Out of the same history and the same results pro-
ceed our tolerance of those "local authorities " which
so puzzle many foreigners. In the struggle with the

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

348 THE ENGLISH CONHTITUTIOH.

Crown these local centres served as pi'ops and fnl-
crums. In the early parliaments it was the local
bodies who sent members to parliament, the counties,
and the boroughs ; and in that way, and because of
their free life, the parliament was free too. If active,
real bodies had not sent the representatives, they
would have been powerless. This is very much the
reason why our old rights of suffrage were so vari-
ous; the Government let whatever people happened,
to be the strongest in each town choose the members.
They applied to the electing bodies the test of " nat-
ural selection ; " whatever set of people were locally
strong enough to elect, did so. Afterwards, in the
civil war, many of the corporations, like that of Lon-
don, were important bases of resistance. The case
of London is typical and remarkable. Pi'obably,
if there is any body more than another which an
educated Englishman now-a-days regards with little
favor, it is the Corporation of London. He connects
it with hereditary abuses perfectly preserved, with
large revenues imperfectly accounted for, with a sys-
tem which stops the principal city government at an
old archway, with the perpetuation of a hnndred
detestable parishes, with tlie maintenance of a hoixie
of luxurious and useless bodies. For the want of aU
which makes Paris nice and splendid we justly re-
proach the Corporation of London ; for the existence
of much of what makes London mean and squalid
we justly reproach it too. Yet the Corporation of
London was for centuries a bulwark of English lib-
erty. The conscious support of the near and organ-
ized capital gave the Long ParUament a vigor and
vitality which tliey could have found no^vhere else.

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTOEY. 349

Their leading patriots took refuge in the City, and
the nearest approach to an English " sitting in per-
manence " is the committee at Guildhall, where aU
members " that came were to have voices." Down to
Geoi;ge III/b time the City was a useful centre of
popular judgment. Here, as elsewhere, we have
built into our polity pieces of the scaffolding by
which it was erected.

De TocqueviUe indeed used to maintain that in
this matter the EngUsh were not merely historically
excusable, but likewise politically judicious. He
founded what may be called the culte of corpora^
tions. And it was natural that in France, where
there is scarcely any power of self-oi^anization in the
people, where the frifet must be asked upon every '
subject, and take the initiative in every movement, a
BoHtary thinker should be repelled from the exagger-
ations of which he knew the evil, to the contrary ex-
aggeration of which he did not. But in a country
like England, where business is in the air, where we
can organize a vigilance committee on every abuse
and an executive committee for every remedy — as
a matter of political instruction, which was De Toc-
queville's point — we need not care how much power
is delegated to outlying bodies, and how much is
kept for the central body. We have had the instruc-
tion municipalities could give us : we have been
through all that. Now we are quito grown up, and
can put away childish things.

The same causes account for the inniimerable
anomalies of our polity. I own that I do not en-
tirely sympathize with the horror of these anomalies
which haunts some of our best critics. It is natural

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

350 THE ENGiiSH CONSTITUTION.

that those who by special and admirable culture have
come to look at all thhigs upon the artistic side,
should stai't back from these queer peculiarities.
But it is natural also that persons used to analyze
political institutions should look at these anoraaliea
■with a httle tenderness and a little interest. They
may have something to teach us. Political philoso-
phy is still more imperfect ; it has been framed from
observations taken upon regular specimens of politics
and States ; as to these its teaching is most valu-
able. But we miist ever remember that its Hata are
imperfect. The lessons are good where its primitive
assumptions hold, but may be false where those
assumptions fail. A philosophical politician regards
a political anomaly as a scientific physician regards
a rare disease — it is to him an " interesting case."
There may still be instruction here, though we have
■worked out the lessons of common eases, I cannot,
therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies ; in
my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and
BO miss ^\'hat we should be glad to find.

Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only
admit, but maintain, that our constitution is full of
eurioua oddities, which ai-e impeding and mischiev-
ous, and ought to be stnick out. Our law very often
reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you
cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to
wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a man-
ner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house
by house, on the devious tracts of the old green
lanes ; and if you follow on to the existing fields,
you may often find the change half complete. Jujit
BO the lines of our constitution were framed in old

Hn^lcdbyGoOglc

ITS HISTORY. 351

eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple hab-
its ; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though
civilization has come with its dangers, complications,
and enjoyments. Thewe anomalies, in a hundred
instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitu-
tional struggle. The casual line was traced according
to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding
generations fought elsewhere ; and the hesitating
line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a
perpetual limit.

I do not count as an anomaly the existence of our
double government, with all its infinite accidents,
though half the superficial peculiarities that are
often complained of arise out of it. The co-exist-
ence of a Queen's seeming prerogative and a Down-
ing Street's real government is just suited to such a
country as this, in such an age as oui-s.*

* So well 18 our real Government concealed, tliflt if you tell n cnli-
man to drire to " Downing Street " he most likely will never Imve
heutd of it, and will not in tlie le«9t know where to take you. It is
only a "difguieed republic " wliidi is suited to suuh a bi;i:;g as tlie
"i snch a centiu'y as tlie nineteenth.

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Hn^lcdbyGoOglc