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inspired by French counsels and by promises of French aid . It does not suit the views of Louis Napoleon that a really Liberal Cortes should be elected in Spain . He has had trouble enough with a truly free and national Legislature in England and in Piedmont ; and he cannot be supposed . to relish the prospect of a third out-spoken Parliament so near the confines of his silenced empire . O lfcmnell was decorated not long ago . , with the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour in token of 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 in which the wily Sovereign and the plastic Minister regard each other .
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THE HEAL 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 of 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
scarcely a question answered , without them , and they guide Doth 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 can scarcely 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 present to the dead past , and can make it foul and 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 atthe 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 p hilosophical 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 and 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 mail and his surroundings make us all practically believe—for wr 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 , Rat 7 is-Coller / ium , &c , propose by examinations to make the administrators of the system execute it more completely , and become more completely its tools ana 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
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 arc guided / by representations from the departments . What is true of the services and salaries of the revenue departmentsis equally true of all the branches of the
bureaucracy . They respectively settle then : 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 hi gp 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 irresponsible body , this bureaucracy which , on the pretence of keeping society in order— -the most magnificent work of the Creator outside
Heaven—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 , anxious , 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 , to the 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 j we have to look at the tendenciesand the bearings of the old and the great institutions of society j and we see none of which the power i » now 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 .
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-offico , " 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 tho olden time , being often in opposition to it .
was a check on its despotism , aud which to some degree is still independent amongst us and has a life of its own , is in Germany the mere creature of the bureaucracy . To tho same extent our bureaucracy is to be exalted by special education , and made the one master and director of all men ' s lives and all men ' s consciences . It must not bo supposed that no harm can come from extending the bureaucracy amongst us because it is paid by the public , and tho money must bo
voted by Parliament , As it is completely tho master of Louis Napoleon , and Francis Joseph , aud all tho sovereigns of tho Continent , it is oloar that it must bo tho master of tho dosultory assembly which meets a few months every year at Westminster , much moro to talk than to not . To this assembl y tho bureaucracy submits tho estimates for paying its own services , and it dotornunos what those services shall be and how they shall bo paid . Tako , for example Hio supplies voted for tho year 1857-8 for tho revenue departments : — £ ' Customs , 855 , 482 Inland Kovonuo salaried 3 , 421 ) , 108 Ditto Polico G ;* , 12 Q Potjt-ofllco 1 , 808 , 181 Superannuation )} 483 , 150 Total 4 , 099 , 066
it is not the Sovereign nor Us Ministers who really govern the nation , but the bureaucracy . People are surprised that , after a change of Ministry , or even of dynasty , there should be little or no change of system , and that matters should move on as slowfy as before . But they forget that the chefs cle 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 had signed the contract he would have opposed it . The real Government is the bureaucracy , whose members—well intentioned , educated , and courteous gentlemen generally—are slaves to the system they administer . Against these traditions the Prince , like every one else , has to striigvle . 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 the 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 he was their servant ; the present Napoleon is little better than their tool or their slave , and is toieratedand supported because he supports and enforces the system established by the bureaucracy . He 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 . The system does not ( late 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 mbstituting a nominal republic for a monarchy does not alter it . The chiefs of division , the prefect 3 , the vast hierarchy of officials , nestled in every parish , from the Emporor down to tho lowest police-constable , continue from generation to generation , and mould mankind to tho torms fixed for sooiety centuries ago . Life cannot expand according to its inherent laws , it can only
expand as tho bureauoraoy prescribes . Wo , of course , have our bureaucracy ,. Our numerous commissioners , our many boards , our permanent under-sccretarics , oiii" largo bands of well-drilled clerks are composed of " well-intentioned , educated , and courteous gcutlemen ; " but thoy not only on the principles of tho system they nro appointed to carry out . By thoso , however Jaulty , whatever may have boon their origin , thoy are bound , Thoso they inherit , those prescribe their duty , form their minds , and
011-slavo tuoin as completely as tho peoplo of tho Continent are ensfavod by 11 system . Alinisters go in ami out at the bidding of Parliament , 1 ho Parliament is ronowed in a certain period as a matter of course , or at tho pleasure of tho Crown , but tho permanent secretaries of tho Treasury , and tl > o Home-oillco , aud tho Foreign-ofHoo , ana the Board ojT-Trndo , and tho clerks of Parliament , and tho Ilovenuo Commissioners , remain in their places to instruct tho now Ministers in tuo course tiioy are to tako , and proscribe tho routine of legislation . Nothing can bo done ,
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THE NEW INDIAN COUNCIL . Some misapprehension appears to have prevailed on the subject of an assumed difference of opinion in the new Indian Council , win ch , as certain of our contemporaries hinted , had resulted in the resignation of three of the members . The facts appear to be these : —The East Indian Company and Government have each taken legal opinions on the subject of the powers still possessed by the Company under the 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 respeot to the management of their stock . The Company are still a company to all intents and purposes as far as their financial character in this respect is concerned . We believe , also , that the Company have tho powo r by charter to unite for trading purposos , but wo oannot see what advantage this gives thorn , as they would have tho same privilege without any charter at all . When it was ascertained that tho Company continuod to bo a company with respect to its stock , throe of the new Council sold out thoir stock and thus ceased to bo Directors of the old East India Company , retaining , of course , their position as members of the new Indian Council . This proocoding was no doubt tho foundation of tho report that an important secession had taken , place . Wo have reason to bcliovo that the most cordial feeling prevails botween members of tho Council ana thoir head , and that Lord Stanley is winning goldea opinions by the courso ho is pursuing under the gravo oirouinstauooa by whioh his important post i » surroundod .
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No . 449 , * w ™ , » SO- 1858 . 1 THE L E A "D E B . 116 S
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1858, page 1163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2266/page/19/
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