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No. 449, October 30, 1858 11 __ ^__. ^ —...
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THE REAL PLAGUE. The Paris correspondent...
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THE NEW INDIAN COUNCIL. Some misapprehen...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Spanish Elections. The Hopes Which U...
inspired by French counsels and by P ™ mises ? French aid . It does not suit the views of . Louis Napoleon that a really Liberal Cortes should be elected in Spain . He fvas had trouble enourf yj th a truly free and national Legislature ia England and in Piedmont ; and he cannot be supposed to relish the prospect of a third out-spoken *«* hament so near the confines of his silenced empire . O _ Uonnell was decorated not long ago - with the Giairt Cordon of the Legion of Honour in token ot the confidence reposed in him by the Emperor , and we have not heard that anything has occurred to weaken the ties of confidence and mutual esteem hi which the wily Sovereign and the plastic Mimstei regard each other .
No. 449, October 30, 1858 11 __ ^__. ^ —...
No . 449 , October 30 , 1858 11 __ ^__ . ^ — ^^^~ ~
T H E LE AIDER . H 63
The Real Plague. The Paris Correspondent...
THE REAL PLAGUE . The Paris correspondent of the Times states the following very important fact : — " I have already spoken of the Prince ' s anxiety to establish railways in Algeria as the best and most rapid means ot colonising the province ; but , unfortunately , he has to-contend ' with the complicated formalities and inertia- of the bureaucracy . I do not speak of the conduct of individuals , but of the system , which seems impervious to reform , which exhausts the spirit of the most active and the" most courageous , and which sometimes would lead us to conclude that it is not the Sovereign nor his Ministers who really le
govern the nation , but the bureaucracy . Peop arc surprised that , after a change of Ministry , or even , of ilvnasty , there should be little or no change of system , and that matters should move on as slowly as before . But they forget that the chefs de division are seldom or never changed . It is related of one of these officials that he stated to a contractor for army supplies that if Marshal Soult h | id signed the contract he would have opposed it . The real Government is the bureaucracy , whose members—well intent ioned , educated , and courteous gentlemen generally—are slaves to the system they administer . Against these traditions' -the Prince , like even / one else , has to struggle . He cannot make
men move speedily who believe it their duty to keep measured steps . " What the writer says of the system in France- , is equally true of t lie system of Germany . Nowhere now" is there any man of commanding talents on any throne of Europe except in France , but everywhere there prevails a system of minute regulations . It is wholly and entirely bureaucratic ; Sovereigns and their Ministers do not govern nations , but they are governed by officials . The first Napoleon , powerful as he was , could do nothing without them , and lie was their servant ; the present Napoleon is little better than their tool or their slave , and is toleratedand supported because lie supports and enforces the system
established by the bureaucracy , lie is its head , and its operations are carried on in his name . Its traditions , its regulations surround every man , and life can only be continued in obedience to them . Tho system does not date from to-day , it is as old nearly as the monarchies of the Continent , and changes' of ministers and of dynasties make no change in the system . Even substituting n nominal republic for a monarchy docs not alter it . The chiefs of division , the prefects , the vast hierarchy of officials , nestled in every parish , from the , Emperor down to tho lowest police-constable , continue from generation to generation , and mould ninnkind to the lonns lixed for society centuries ago . Lil ' o cannot expand according to its inherent , laws , it can only expand as the bureaucracy prescribes . We , of courso . have our bureaucracy ,. Our
numerous commissioners , our many boards , our permanent undcr-secrctaries , our largo Lands of well-drilled clerks aro composed of " wcll-iutontioued , educated ' , and courteous gentlemen ; " but they act only on tho principles of tho system they aro appointed to carry out . By these , however faulty , whatever may havo been their origin , they aro bound . These they inherit , these prescribe their duty , form thoir minds , and enslave thorn as completely as tho people of Iho Continent
aro enslaved by a system . Ministors go in and out at the bidding of Parliament , tho Parliament is renewed in a certain period as a matter of courso , or at tho pleasure of tho Crown , but the permanent secretaries of tho Treasury , and tho Homc-oflico , ami the Foroigu-oilioo , and tho Board of Trade , and (! lie . olerks of Fnrliamoilfc , and tho Hoyenuo Commissioners , remain in thoir plaocs to instruct tho new Ministers in tho courso thqy are to take , and presoribo tho routine of legislation . Nothing can bo done ,
scarcely a question answered , without them , and they guide both Ministers and Parliament . In their boxes , under their keeping , and subject to their interpretation , are all the precedents for the conduct of the Government and the making of laws , and ¦ Government only moves , and ^ an sca rcely move in safety , except it move according to precedents . Our bureaucracy is quite as much our master as the bureaucracy of the Continent is the master of Louis Napoleon , Francis Joseph , and the Prince Regent of Prussia . Red tape , more powerful than the silken bonds of love or than the bayonets of soldiers , everywhere ties the living and make it foul and
present to the dead past , can disgusting though unable to destroy it . Everybody , when questioned , denies the advantages of red tape . Permission to move , and license to ° live , are plagues abroad and at home . The bureaucracy regulating business , and always alarmed at the new , never sanctioning it till it has been turned round and round and sent from office to office to be inspected , and weighed , and measured , and judgment passed on it , is equally branded as an impediment to successful life in Paris and in London . It is , therefore , an inherited superstition , not a philosophical contrivance . It continues in spite of our convictions , not in consequence of them . It is not , like clothing factories , the offspring of our wants ,
nor , like schools , the dictate of reason , nor , like saving , the result of foresight , —it is for us what castes are for the Hindoos , and Buddhism for the Chinese , an ancestral rule of life for which no type is to be found in the material world to which mankind in all times and places look , and by which , in the long run , they judge and guide their conduct . Why , in fact , do people abroad and at home ridicule arid condemn bureaucracy or red tape ? Because it stands in the way of realising the advantages of greater freedom , greater wealth , and greater happiness ,, which the constitution of man and his surroundings make us all practically believe—for we act on the belief—is our destined lot .
Of late we have taken to improve the education of our bureaucracy , and in default of polytechnic establishments , Ruths-Collegium , & c , propose by examinations to make the administrators of the system execute it more completely , and become more completely its tools and our masters . The despotism of lieroes , of strong-willed men , of men ambitious of power and of fame , has faded away , and in its place we have substituted and are substituting a cumbrous system of minute regulations devised by dull , plodding men at their desks . It appears to be regular , it professes to attain a good end , and the nation believes in the object while practically it derides the bureaucracy . The system of " how not to do the right thing , " " the great Circumlocution-office , " are universally aanthematised , but it is supposed that by making men more skilful [ in the functions of round-about , and in not doing the right thing , the bureaucracy will be rendered more agreeable and more useful to society . This is a vain expectation . The bureaucracy of Germany is drilled so as to content the most enthusiastic advocate of drilling , and is mischievous in proportion as it is skilful . There everything is brought under its control , and even religion , which in the olden time , being often iu opposition to it , was a check on its despotism , and which to some degrco is still independent amongst us and has a life of its own , is in Germany the mere creature of the bureaucracy . To the same extent our bureaucracy is to bo exalted b y special education , and made the ono master and director of all men ' s lives and all
men a consciences . It must not be supposed that no harm can come from extending tho bureaucracy amongst us because it is paid by the public , and tho money must be voted by Parliament . As it is completely tho master of Louis Napoleon , and Francis Joseph , and all the sovereigns of tho Continent , it is clear that it ; must bo the master of the desultory usscmbly which moots a low months every your at Westminster , much more to tulk than to act . To this assembl y tho bureaucracy submits tho estimates for paying its own services , and it determines what thoso services shall bo and how they ahull bo paid . Take , for example , tho supplies voted for tho year 1857-8 for tho revenue departments : — Customs 855 , 182 Inland Rovonuo buluriua 1 , 4 * 20 , 130 Ditto Police 03 , 120 rout-oHlce 1 , 808 , 181 SunurnnmilUloni ? ' 188 , 150 Total 4 , 690 , 000
These are voted by the House of Commons on estimates made by the departments which the House of Commons has no means whatever of testing . It can neither know with any accuracy the nature of the services to be performed , nor . how they should be paid . The Treasury might be expected to be some check on the departments ; but , in truth , the Treasury , a changing board , knows nothing on these subjects , and its proceedings are guided pj representations from the departments . What is true of the services and salaries of the revenue departments is equally true of all the branches of the bureaucracy . They respectively settle their own duties ,.
settle how they shall be performed , and how they shall be paid- for performing them . Well did Mr . Bright say on Wednesday that there is no country where there is less real responsibility amongst high officials than in England . But when the high officials are not responsible , how can the low officials be made responsible ? They are not , except to one another ; and as a body , so far as regulations for them and the control of Parliament are concerned , they are quite independent . This actual irrethe
sponsible body , this bureaucracy which , on pretence of keeping society in order—the most magnificent work of the Creator outside Heaven-r—interferes with all business , and all lives , and is wholly irresponsible for what it does , is the real plague of modern society . Despotism in its hard form of cruel , arrogant self-will—such as Mr . Carlyle loves and advocates—society has outgrown , but it remains hampered by the swaddling-clothes of a minute , dull , painstaking , timid , anxions , selfish , ignorant , and irresponsible bureaucracy .
We have found this great fact duly recorded in the Times , and , as faithful journalists bound to notice facts , we call the attention of our readers to it . For us who belong to the advanced party , tothe foremost rank of the "Onwards / ' it is . not enough merely to criticise a parson or sneer at a philanthropist ; it is not enough to tell the public that examinations are going on and tests of greater official skill are coming into use ; we have to look at the tendenciesand the bearings of the old and the great institutionsof society ; and we see none of which the ' power
isnow so mischievous and which is increasing faster than that of the bureaucracy , —the institution how not to do the right thing at the right time , and how to prevent it being done . For general discomfort , general uneasiness , general dissatisfaction , there must be a general cause , and we know of no cause more general and more sure to be a source of evil than an irresponsible bureaucracy , which will allow individuals only to move and work and live as it pleases .
The New Indian Council. Some Misapprehen...
THE NEW INDIAN COUNCIL . Some misapprehension appears to have prevailed on the subject of an assumed difference of opinion ; in the new Indian Council , whi ch , as certain of our coutemporaries hinted , had resulted in the resignation of three of the members . The facts appear to be these : —Tho East Indian * Company and Government have each taken legal opinions on the subject of the powers still possessed by the Company under tho old charter . The opinion ,. as far as our information extends , is to the effect that the new act docs not touch the powers of the-Directors with respoct to the managemout of theirstock . The Company arc still a company to all intents and purposes as far as their financial character in this respect is conoornqd . Wo believe , also , that the Company have tho power by charter to unite for trading purposes , but wo cannot see what advantagethis ejives them , as they would have tho same privilege without any charter at all . When it was ascertained that the Company continuod to bo a company with respoct to its stock , three of tho now Council sold out thoir stock and thus ceased to bo Directors of tho old East India Company , retaining , of course , thoir position as members of tho new Indian Council . This proceeding was no doubt tho foundation of tho report that au important socession had taken place , Wo havo reason to bcliovo that tho most cordial fooling prevails ' between monitors of tho Council and their Bead , and that Lord Stanley is wmiunggo-lden opinions " by tho courso ho is pursuing undei tl e grave circumstances by which Jus important post is surrounded .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1858, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30101858/page/19/
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