Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen A of Considerations on Representative Government. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Considerations on Representative Government
Speaker 1: by John Stuart Mill, Chapter fifteen A of local representative bodies.
Speaker 1: It is but a small portion of the public business
Speaker 1: of a country which can be well done or safely
Speaker 1: attempted by the central authorities, And even in our own government,
Speaker 1: the least centralized in Europe, the legislative portion, at least
Speaker 1: of the governing body busies itself far too much with
Speaker 1: local affairs, employing the supreme power of the state in
Speaker 1: cutting small knots which there ought to be other and
Speaker 1: better means of untying. The enormous amount of private business
Speaker 1: which takes up the time of Parliament and the thoughts
Speaker 1: of its individual members, distracting them from the proper occupations
Speaker 1: of the Great Council of the Nation, is felt by
Speaker 1: all thinkers and observers as a serious evil, and, what
Speaker 1: is worse, an increasing one. It would not be appropriate
Speaker 1: to the limited design of this treatise to discuss at
Speaker 1: large the great question, in no way peculiar to representative government,
Speaker 1: of the proper limits of governmental action. I have said
Speaker 1: elsewhere footnote on Liberty concluding chapter, and at greater length
Speaker 1: in the final chapter of Principles of Political Economy end footnote.
Speaker 1: What seemed to me most essential respecting the principles by
Speaker 1: which the extent of that action ought to be determined.
Speaker 1: But after subtracting from the functions performed by most European
Speaker 1: governments those which ought not to be undertaken by public
Speaker 1: authorities at all, there still remains so great and various
Speaker 1: an aggregate of duties that if only on the principle
Speaker 1: of division of labor, it is indispensable to share them
Speaker 1: between central and local authorities. Not solely are separate executive
Speaker 1: officers required for purely local duties, an amount of separation
Speaker 1: which exists under all governments. But the popular control over
Speaker 1: those officers can only be advantageously exerted through a separate
Speaker 1: organ Their original appointment, the function of watching and checking them,
Speaker 1: the duty of providing, or the discretion of withholding the
Speaker 1: supplies necessary for their operations, should rest not with the
Speaker 1: national Parliament or the national executive, but with the people
Speaker 1: of the locality. That the people should exercise these functions
Speaker 1: directly and personally is evidently inadmissible. Administration by the assembled
Speaker 1: people is a relic of barbarism, opposed to the whole
Speaker 1: spirit of modern life. Yet so much has the course
Speaker 1: of English institutions depended on accident that this primitive mode
Speaker 1: of local government remained the general rule in parochial matters
Speaker 1: up to the present generation, and having never been legally abolished,
Speaker 1: probably subsists unaltered in many rules or parishes. Even now.
Speaker 1: There remains the plan of representative sub parliaments for local affairs,
Speaker 1: and these must henceforth be considered as one of the
Speaker 1: fundamental institutions of a free government. They exist in England,
Speaker 1: but vary incompletely and with great irregularity and want of system.
Speaker 1: In some other countries, much less popularly governed, their constitution
Speaker 1: is far more rational. In England there has always been
Speaker 1: more liberty but worse organization, while in other countries there
Speaker 1: is better organization but less liberty. It is necessary, then,
Speaker 1: that in addition to the national representation, there should be
Speaker 1: municipal and provisional representations. And the two questions which remain
Speaker 1: to be resolved are how the local representative bodies should
Speaker 1: be constituted and what should be the extent of their functions.
Speaker 1: In considering these questions, two points require an equal degree
Speaker 1: of our attention how the local business itself can be
Speaker 1: best done, and how its transaction can be made most
Speaker 1: instrumental to the nourishment of public spirit and the development
Speaker 1: of intelligence. In an earlier part of this inquiry, I
Speaker 1: have dwelt in strong language. Hardly any language is strong
Speaker 1: enough to express the strength of my conviction on the
Speaker 1: importance of that portion of the operation of free institutions,
Speaker 1: which may be called the public education of the citizens.
Speaker 1: Now of this operation, the local administrative institutions are the
Speaker 1: chief instrument, except by the part they may take as
Speaker 1: jurymen in the administration of justice. The mass of the
Speaker 1: population have very little opportunity of sharing personally in the
Speaker 1: conduct of the general affairs of the community, reading newspapers
Speaker 1: and perhaps writing to them. Public meetings and solicitations of
Speaker 1: different sorts addressed to the political authorities are the extent
Speaker 1: of the participation of private citizens in general or politics
Speaker 1: during the interval between one parliamentary election and another. Though
Speaker 1: it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of these various liberties,
Speaker 1: both as securities for freedom and as means of general cultivation,
Speaker 1: the practice which they give is more in thinking than
Speaker 1: in action, and in thinking without the responsibilities of action,
Speaker 1: which with most people amounts to little more than passively
Speaker 1: receiving the thoughts of someone else. But in the case
Speaker 1: of local bodies, besides the function of electing, many citizens
Speaker 1: in turn have the chance of being elected, and many,
Speaker 1: either by selection or by rotation, fill one or other
Speaker 1: of the numerous local executive offices. In these positions, they
Speaker 1: have to act for public interests, as well as to
Speaker 1: think and to speak, and the thinking cannot all be
Speaker 1: done by proxy. It may be added that these local functions,
Speaker 1: not being in general sought by the higher ranks, carry
Speaker 1: down the important political education, which they are the means
Speaker 1: of conferring to a much lower grade in society, the
Speaker 1: mental discipline being thus a more important feature in local
Speaker 1: concerns than in the general affairs of the state. While
Speaker 1: there are not such vital interests dependent on the quality
Speaker 1: of the administration, a greater weight may be given to
Speaker 1: the former consideration, and the latter admits much more frequently
Speaker 1: of being postponed to it than in matters of general
Speaker 1: legislation and the conduct of imperial affairs. The proper constitution
Speaker 1: of local representative bodies does not present much difficulty. The
Speaker 1: principles which apply to it do not differ in any
Speaker 1: respect from those applicable to the national representation. The same
Speaker 1: obligation exists as in the case of the more important
Speaker 1: function for making the bodies elective, and the same reasons
Speaker 1: operate as in that case, but with still greater force
Speaker 1: for giving them a widely democratic basis, the dangers being less,
Speaker 1: and the advantages in point of populace, our education, and
Speaker 1: cultivation in some respects even greater. As the principal duty
Speaker 1: of the local bodies consists of the imposition and expenditure
Speaker 1: of local taxation, the electoral franchise should vest in all
Speaker 1: who contribute to the local rates, to the exclusion of
Speaker 1: all who do not. I assume that there is no
Speaker 1: indirect taxation, no Octroe duties, or that if there are,
Speaker 1: they are supplementary only those on whom their burden falls,
Speaker 1: being also rated to a direct assessment. The representation of
Speaker 1: minorities should be provided for in the same manner as
Speaker 1: in the National Parliament, and there are the same strong
Speaker 1: reasons for plurality of votes. Only there is not so
Speaker 1: decisive an objection in the inferior as in the higher
Speaker 1: body to making the plural voting depend, as in some
Speaker 1: of the local elections of our own country, on a
Speaker 1: mere money qualification. For the honest and frugal dispensation of
Speaker 1: money forms so much such a larger part of the
Speaker 1: business of the local than of the national body, that
Speaker 1: there is more justice as well as policy, in allowing
Speaker 1: a greater proportional influence to those who have a larger
Speaker 1: money interest at stake. In the most recently established of
Speaker 1: our local representative institutions, the boards of Guardians the Justices
Speaker 1: of Peace of the district ex officio, along with the
Speaker 1: elected members in number limited by law to a third
Speaker 1: of the whole in the peculiar constitution of English society,
Speaker 1: I have no doubt of the beneficial effect of this provision.
Speaker 1: It secures the presence in these bodies of a more
Speaker 1: educated class than it would perhaps be practicable to attract
Speaker 1: thither on any other terms. And while the limitation in
Speaker 1: number of the ex officio members precludes them from acquiring
Speaker 1: predominance by mere numerical strength, they as a virtual representation
Speaker 1: of another class, having sometimes a different interest from the rest,
Speaker 1: are a check upon them. Class interests of the farmers
Speaker 1: or petty shopkeepers who form the bulk of the elected guardians.
Speaker 1: A similar commendation cannot be given to the Constitution of
Speaker 1: the only provincial boards we possess, the Quarter Sessions, consisting
Speaker 1: of the Justices of Peace alone, on whom over and
Speaker 1: above their judicial duties some of the most important parts
Speaker 1: of the administrative business of the country depend for their performance.
Speaker 1: The mode of formation of these bodies is most anomalous,
Speaker 1: they being neither elected nor in any proper sense of
Speaker 1: the term nominated, but holding their important functions like the
Speaker 1: feudal lords to whom they succeeded virtually by right of
Speaker 1: their acres, the appointment vested in the crown, or speaking
Speaker 1: practically in one of themselves, the Lord Lieutenant being made
Speaker 1: use of only as a means of excluding anyone who,
Speaker 1: it is thought would do discredit to the body, or
Speaker 1: now and then one who is on the wrong side.
Speaker 1: In politics, the Institution is the most aristocratic in principle
Speaker 1: which now remains in England, far more so than the
Speaker 1: House of Lords, for it grants public money and disposes
Speaker 1: of important public interests, not in conjunction with a popular assembly,
Speaker 1: but alone. It is clung to with proportionate tenacity by
Speaker 1: our aristocratic classes, but is obviously at variance with all
Speaker 1: the principles which are the foundation of representative government. In
Speaker 1: a county board, there is not the same justification as
Speaker 1: in boards of guardians for even an admixture of ex
Speaker 1: officio with elected members, Since the business of a county
Speaker 1: being on a sufficiently large scale to be an object
Speaker 1: of interest and attraction to country gentlemen, they would have
Speaker 1: no more difficulty in getting themselves elected to the board
Speaker 1: than they have in being returned to Parliament as county members.
Speaker 1: In regard to the proper circumscription of the constituencies which
Speaker 1: elect the local representative bodies, principle which when applied as
Speaker 1: an exclusive and unbending rule to parliamentary representation, is inappropriate, namely,
Speaker 1: community of local interests is here the only just an
Speaker 1: applicable one. The very object of having a local representation
Speaker 1: is in order that those who have any interest in
Speaker 1: common which they do not share with the general body
Speaker 1: of their countrymen may manage that joint interest by themselves,
Speaker 1: and the purpose is contradicted if the distribution of the
Speaker 1: local representation follows any other rule than the grouping of
Speaker 1: those joint interests. There are local interests peculiar to every town,
Speaker 1: whether great or small, and common to all its inhabitants.
Speaker 1: Every town, therefore, without distinction of size, ought to have
Speaker 1: its municipal council. It is equally obvious that every town
Speaker 1: ought to have but one. The different quarters of the
Speaker 1: same town have seldom or never any material diversities of
Speaker 1: local interest. They all require to have the same things done,
Speaker 1: the same expenses incurred, And except as to their churches,
Speaker 1: which it is probably desirable to leave under simply parochial management,
Speaker 1: the same arrangements may be made to serve for all paving, lighting,
Speaker 1: water supply, drainage, port and market regulations cannot, without great
Speaker 1: waste and inconvenience, be different for different quarters of the
Speaker 1: same town. The subdivision of London into six or seven
Speaker 1: independent districts, each with its separate arrangements for local business,
Speaker 1: several of them without unity of administration even within themselves,
Speaker 1: prevents the possibility of consecutive or well regulated cooperation for
Speaker 1: common objects, precludes any uniform principle for the discharge of
Speaker 1: local duties, compels the general government to take things upon
Speaker 1: itself which would be best left to local authorities. If
Speaker 1: there were any whose authority extended to the entire metropolis,
Speaker 1: and answers no purpose but to keep up the fantastical
Speaker 1: trappings of that union of modern jobbing and antiquated foppery,
Speaker 1: the Corporation of the City of London. Another equally important
Speaker 1: principle is that in each local circumscription there should be
Speaker 1: but one elective body for all local business, not different
Speaker 1: bodies for different parts of it. Division of labor does
Speaker 1: not mean cutting up every business into minute fractions. It
Speaker 1: means the union of such operations as are fit to
Speaker 1: be performed by the same persons, and the separation of
Speaker 1: such as can be better performed by different persons. The
Speaker 1: executive duties of the locality do indeed require to be
Speaker 1: divided into departments for the same reason as those of
Speaker 1: the state, because they are of diverse kinds, each requiring
Speaker 1: knowledge peculiar to itself and needing for its due performance
Speaker 1: the undivided attention of a specially qualified functionary. But the
Speaker 1: reasons for subdivision which apply to the execute ution do
Speaker 1: not apply to the control. The business of the elective
Speaker 1: body is not to do the work, but to see
Speaker 1: that it is properly done, and that nothing necessary is
Speaker 1: left undone. This function can be fulfilled for all departments
Speaker 1: by the same superintending body, and by a collective and
Speaker 1: comprehensive far better than by a minute and microscopic view.
Speaker 1: It is as absurd in public affairs as it would
Speaker 1: be in private that every workman should be looked after
Speaker 1: by a superintendent to himself. The government of the Crown
Speaker 1: consists of many departments, and there are many ministers to
Speaker 1: conduct them. But those ministers have not a parliament a
Speaker 1: peace to keep them to their duty. The local, like
Speaker 1: the national parliament, has for its proper business, to consider
Speaker 1: the interest of the locality as a whole, composed of parts,
Speaker 1: all of which must be adapted to one another, and
Speaker 1: attended to in the order and ratio of their importance.
Speaker 1: There is another very weighty reason for uniting the content
Speaker 1: control of all the business of a locality under one body.
Speaker 1: The greatest imperfection of popular local institutions, and the chief
Speaker 1: cause of the failure which so often attends them, is
Speaker 1: the low caliber of the men by whom they are
Speaker 1: almost always carried on. That these should be of a
Speaker 1: very miscellaneous character is indeed part of the usefulness of
Speaker 1: the institution. It is that circumstance chiefly which renders it
Speaker 1: a school of political capacity and general intelligence. But a
Speaker 1: school supposes teachers as well as scholars. The utility of
Speaker 1: the instruction greatly depends on its bringing inferior minds into
Speaker 1: contact with superior a contact which, in the ordinary course
Speaker 1: of life is altogether exceptional, and the want of which
Speaker 1: contributes more than anything else, to keep the generality of
Speaker 1: mankind on one level of contented ignorance. The school, moreover,
Speaker 1: is worthless and a school of evil instead of good, if,
Speaker 1: through the want of due surveillance and of the presence
Speaker 1: within itself of a higher order of characters, the action
Speaker 1: of the body is allowed, as it so often is,
Speaker 1: to degenerate into an equally unscrupulous and stupid pursuit of
Speaker 1: the self interest of its members. Now, it is quite
Speaker 1: hopeless to induce persons of a high class, either socially
Speaker 1: or intellectually, to take a share of local administration in
Speaker 1: a corner by piecemeal, as members of a paving board
Speaker 1: or a drainage commission. The entire local business of their
Speaker 1: town is not more than a sufficient object to induce
Speaker 1: men whose tastes incline them, and whose knowledge qualifies them
Speaker 1: for national affairs, to become members of a mere local body,
Speaker 1: and devote to it the time and study which are
Speaker 1: necessary to render their presence anything more than a screen
Speaker 1: for the jobbing of inferior persons under the shelter of
Speaker 1: their responsibility. A mere board of works, though it comprehend,
Speaker 1: the entire metropolis is sure to be composed of the
Speaker 1: same class of persons as the vestries of the law
Speaker 1: and perishes. Nor is it practicable or even desirable that
Speaker 1: such should not form the majority. But it is important
Speaker 1: for every purpose which local bodies are designed to serve,
Speaker 1: whether it be enlightened and honest performance of their special
Speaker 1: duties or the cultivation of the political intelligence of the nation,
Speaker 1: that every such body should contain a portion of the
Speaker 1: very best minds of the locality, who are thus brought
Speaker 1: into perpetual contact of the most useful kind with minds
Speaker 1: of a lower grade, receiving from them what local or
Speaker 1: professional knowledge they have to give, and in return inspiring
Speaker 1: them with a portion of their own more enlarged ideas
Speaker 1: and higher and more enlightened purposes. End of Chapter fifteen.
Speaker 1: A recording by Bill Burst