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<v Speaker 1>Chapter fourteen C of Considerations on Representative Government. This LibriVox

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<v Speaker 1>recording is in the public domain. Considerations on Representative Government

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<v Speaker 1>by John Stuart Mill, Chapter fourteen A of the executive

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<v Speaker 1>in a representative government. It would be out of place

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<v Speaker 1>in this treatise to discuss the question into what departments

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<v Speaker 1>or branches the executive business of government may most conveniently

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<v Speaker 1>be divided. In this respect, the exigencies of different governments

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<v Speaker 1>are different, and there is little probability that any great

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<v Speaker 1>mistake will be made in the classification of duties. When

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<v Speaker 1>men are willing to begin at the beginning, and do

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<v Speaker 1>not hold themselves bound by the series of accidents which,

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<v Speaker 1>in an old government like ours, has produced the existing

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<v Speaker 1>division of the public business. It may be sufficient to

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<v Speaker 1>say that the classification of functionaries should correspond to that

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<v Speaker 1>of subjects, and that there should not be several departments

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<v Speaker 1>into pendent of one another, to superintend different parts of

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<v Speaker 1>the same natural whole, as in our own military administration

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<v Speaker 1>down to a recent period, and in a less degree

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<v Speaker 1>even at present. Where the object to be attained is single,

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<v Speaker 1>such as that of having an efficient army, the authority

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<v Speaker 1>commissioned to attend to it should be single. Likewise, the

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<v Speaker 1>entire aggregate of means provided for one end should be

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<v Speaker 1>under one and the same control and responsibility. If they

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<v Speaker 1>are divided among independent authorities, the means with each of

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<v Speaker 1>those authorities become ends, and it is the business of

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<v Speaker 1>nobody except the head of the government, who is probably

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<v Speaker 1>no departmental experience to take care of the real end.

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<v Speaker 1>The different classes of means are not combined and adapted

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<v Speaker 1>to one another under the guidance of any leading idea,

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<v Speaker 1>And while every department pushes forward its own requirements regardless

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<v Speaker 1>of those of the rest, the purpose of the work

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<v Speaker 1>is perpetually sacrificed to the work itself. As a general rule,

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<v Speaker 1>every executive function, whether superior or subordinate, should be at

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<v Speaker 1>the appointed duty of some given individual. It should be

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<v Speaker 1>apparent to all the world who did everything and through

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<v Speaker 1>whose default anything was left undone. Responsibility is null when

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<v Speaker 1>nobody knows who is responsible, nor even when real can

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<v Speaker 1>it be divided without being weakened. To maintain it at

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<v Speaker 1>its highest, there must be one person who receives the

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<v Speaker 1>whole praise of what is well done the whole blame

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<v Speaker 1>of what is ill. There are, however, two modes of

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<v Speaker 1>sharing responsibility by one, it is only enfeebled by the

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<v Speaker 1>other absolutely destroyed. It is enfeebled when the concurrence of

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<v Speaker 1>more than one functionary is required to the same act.

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<v Speaker 1>Each one among them has still a real responsibility. If

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<v Speaker 1>a wrong has been done, none of them can say

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<v Speaker 1>he did not do it. He is as much a

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<v Speaker 1>participant as an accomplice is in an offense. If there

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<v Speaker 1>has been legal criminality, they may all be punished legally,

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<v Speaker 1>and their punishment needs not be less severe than if

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<v Speaker 1>there had been only one person concerned. But it is

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<v Speaker 1>not so with the penalties any more than with the

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<v Speaker 1>rewards of opinion. These are always diminished by being shared.

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<v Speaker 1>Where there has been no definite legal offense, no corruption

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<v Speaker 1>or malversation, only an error or an imprudence, or what

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<v Speaker 1>may pass for such, every participator has an excuse to

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<v Speaker 1>himself into the world in the fact that other persons

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<v Speaker 1>are jointly involved with him. There is hardly anything, even

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<v Speaker 1>to pecuniary dishonesty for which men will not feel themselves

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<v Speaker 1>almost absolved if those whose duty it was to resist

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<v Speaker 1>and remonstrate have failed to do it. Still more, if

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<v Speaker 1>they have given a formal assent. In this case, however,

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<v Speaker 1>though responsibility is weakened, there still is responsibility. Every one

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<v Speaker 1>of those implicated has, in his individual capacity, assented to

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<v Speaker 1>and joined in the act. Things are much worse when

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<v Speaker 1>the act itself is only that of a majority a

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<v Speaker 1>board deliberating with closed doors, nobody knowing or except in

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<v Speaker 1>some extreme case, being ever likely to know, whether an

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<v Speaker 1>individual member voted for the act or against it. Responsibility

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<v Speaker 1>in this case is a mere name. Boards, it is

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<v Speaker 1>happily said by Bentham, are screens. What the board does

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<v Speaker 1>is the act of nobody, and nobody can be made

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<v Speaker 1>to answer for it. The board suffers, even in reputation,

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<v Speaker 1>only in its collective character, and no individual member feels

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<v Speaker 1>this further than his disposition leads him to identify his

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<v Speaker 1>own estimation with that of the body, a feeling often

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<v Speaker 1>very strong when the body is a permanent one and

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<v Speaker 1>he is wedded to it for better for worse. But

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<v Speaker 1>the fluctuations of a modern official career give no time

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<v Speaker 1>for the formation of such an esprit decorps, which, if

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<v Speaker 1>it exists at all, exists only in obscure ranks of

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<v Speaker 1>the permanent subordinates. Boards therefore are not a fit instrument

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<v Speaker 1>for executive business, and are only admissible in it when

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<v Speaker 1>for other reasons to give full discretionary power to a

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<v Speaker 1>single minister would be worse. On the other hand, it

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<v Speaker 1>is also a maximum of experience that in the multitude

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<v Speaker 1>of counselors there is wisdom, and that a man seldom

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<v Speaker 1>judges right even in his own concerns still lessen those

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<v Speaker 1>of the public when he makes habitual use of no

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<v Speaker 1>knowledge but his own or that of some single adviser.

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<v Speaker 1>There is no necessary incompatibility between this principle and the other.

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<v Speaker 1>It is easy to give the effective power in the

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<v Speaker 1>full responsibility to one, providing him when necessary with advisers,

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<v Speaker 1>each of whom is responsible only for the opinion he gives.

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<v Speaker 1>In general, the head of a department of the executive

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<v Speaker 1>government is a mere politician. He may be a good

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<v Speaker 1>politician and a man of merit, and unless this is

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<v Speaker 1>usually the case, the government is bad. But his general

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<v Speaker 1>capacity and the knowledge he ought to possess of the

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<v Speaker 1>general interests of the country will not, unless by occasional accident,

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<v Speaker 1>be accompanied by adequate and what may be called professional

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<v Speaker 1>knowledge of the department over which he is called to preside.

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<v Speaker 1>Professional advisers must therefore be provided for him wherever mere

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<v Speaker 1>experience and attainments are sufficient. Wherever the qualities required in

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<v Speaker 1>a professional adviser may possibly be united in a single

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<v Speaker 1>well selected individual, as in the case, for example, of

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<v Speaker 1>a law officer. One such person for general purposes, and

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<v Speaker 1>a staff of clerks to supply knowledge of details meet

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<v Speaker 1>the demands of the case. But more frequently it is

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<v Speaker 1>not sufficient that the minister should consult some one competent person, and,

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<v Speaker 1>when himself not conversant with the subject, act implicitly on

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<v Speaker 1>that person's advice. It is often necessary that he should

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<v Speaker 1>not only a casecasionally, but habitually listen to a variety

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<v Speaker 1>of opinions, and inform his judgment by the discussions among

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<v Speaker 1>a body of advisers. This, for example, is emphatically necessary

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<v Speaker 1>in military and naval affairs. The military and naval ministers, therefore,

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<v Speaker 1>and probably several others, should be provided with a council

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<v Speaker 1>composed at least in those two departments, of able and

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<v Speaker 1>experienced professional men, as a means of obtaining the best

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<v Speaker 1>men for the purpose under every change of administration. They

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<v Speaker 1>ought to be permanent, by which I mean that they

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<v Speaker 1>ought not like the lords of the Admiralty, to be

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<v Speaker 1>expected to resign with the ministry by whom they were appointed.

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<v Speaker 1>But it is a good rule that all who hold

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<v Speaker 1>high appointments to which they have risen by selection and

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<v Speaker 1>not by the ordinary course of promotion, should retain their

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<v Speaker 1>office only for a fixed term, unless reappointed, as is

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<v Speaker 1>now the rule with staff appointments in the British Army.

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<v Speaker 1>This rule renders appointments somewhat less likely to be jobbed,

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<v Speaker 1>not being a provision for life, and the same time

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<v Speaker 1>affords a means, without affront to anyone, of getting rid

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<v Speaker 1>of those who are least worth keeping, and bringing in

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<v Speaker 1>highly qualified persons of younger standing, for whom there might

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<v Speaker 1>never be room if death, vacancies or voluntary resignations were

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<v Speaker 1>waited for. The councils should be consultative merely in this

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<v Speaker 1>sense that the ultimate decision should rest undividedly with the

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<v Speaker 1>Minister himself. But neither ought they to be looked upon,

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<v Speaker 1>or to look upon themselves as cipher's, or as capable

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<v Speaker 1>of being reduced to such at his pleasure. The advisers

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<v Speaker 1>attached to a powerful and perhaps self willed man ought

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<v Speaker 1>to be placed under conditions which make it impossible for

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<v Speaker 1>them without discredit, not to express an opinion, and impossible

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<v Speaker 1>for him not to listen to and consider their recommendations,

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<v Speaker 1>whether he adopts them or not. The relation which ought

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<v Speaker 1>to exist between a chief and this description of advisers

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<v Speaker 1>is very accurately hit by the constitution of the Council

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<v Speaker 1>of the Governor General and those of the different presidencies

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<v Speaker 1>in India. These councils are composed of persons who have

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<v Speaker 1>professional knowledge of Indian affairs, which the Governor General and

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<v Speaker 1>governors usually lack, and which it would not be desirable

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<v Speaker 1>to require of them. As a rule, every member of

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<v Speaker 1>council is expected to give an opinion, which is of

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<v Speaker 1>course very often a simple acquiescence. But if there is

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<v Speaker 1>a difference of sentiment, it is at the option of

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<v Speaker 1>every member, and is the invariable practice to record the

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<v Speaker 1>reasons of his opinion, the Governor General or governor doing

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<v Speaker 1>the same. In ordinary cases, the decision is according to

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<v Speaker 1>the sense of the majority. The council therefore has a

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<v Speaker 1>substantial part in the government. But if the Governor General

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<v Speaker 1>or governor thinks fit, he may set aside even their

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<v Speaker 1>unanimous opinion recording his reasons. The result is that the

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<v Speaker 1>Chief is individually and effectively responsible for every act of government.

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<v Speaker 1>The members of council have only the responsibility of advisers.

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<v Speaker 1>But it is always known from documents capable of being produced,

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<v Speaker 1>and which if called for by Parliament or public opinion,

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<v Speaker 1>always are produced, what each has advised and what reasons

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<v Speaker 1>he gave for his advice. While from their dignified position

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<v Speaker 1>and ostensible participation in all acts of government, they have

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<v Speaker 1>nearly as strong motives to apply themselves to the public

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<v Speaker 1>business and to form and express a well considered opinion

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<v Speaker 1>on every part of it, as that the whole responsibility

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<v Speaker 1>rested with themselves. This mode of conducting the highest class

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<v Speaker 1>of administrative business is one of the most successful instances

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<v Speaker 1>of the adaptation of means to ends, which political history,

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<v Speaker 1>not hitherto very prolific in works of skill and contrivance,

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<v Speaker 1>has yet to show. It is one of the acquisitions

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<v Speaker 1>with which the art of politics has been enriched by

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<v Speaker 1>the experience of the East Indian Company's rule, and, like

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<v Speaker 1>most of the otherwise contrivances by which India has been

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<v Speaker 1>preserved to this country, and an amount of good government

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<v Speaker 1>produced which is truly wonderful. Considering the circumstances and the materials,

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<v Speaker 1>it is probably destined to perish in the general holocaust

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<v Speaker 1>which the traditions of Indian government seem fated to undergo,

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<v Speaker 1>since they have been placed at the mercy of public

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<v Speaker 1>ignorance and the presumptuous vanity of political men. Already, an

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<v Speaker 1>outcry is raised for abolishing the councils as a superfluous

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<v Speaker 1>and expensive clog on the wheels of government, while the

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<v Speaker 1>clamor has long been urgent and is daily obtaining more

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<v Speaker 1>countenance in the highest quarters, for the abrogation of the

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<v Speaker 1>professional civil service, which breeds the men that compose the councils,

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<v Speaker 1>and the existence of which is the sole guarantee for

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<v Speaker 1>their being of any value. A most important principle of

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<v Speaker 1>good government in a popular constitution is that no executive

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<v Speaker 1>functionaries should be appointed by popular election, neither by the

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<v Speaker 1>votes of the people themselves, nor by those of their representatives.

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<v Speaker 1>The entire business of government is skilled employment. The qualifications

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<v Speaker 1>for the discharge of it are of that special and

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<v Speaker 1>professional kind which cannot be properly judged of except by

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<v Speaker 1>persons who have themselves some share of those qualifications or

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<v Speaker 1>some practical experience of them. The business of finding the

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<v Speaker 1>fittest persons to fill public employments, not merely selecting the

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<v Speaker 1>best to offer, but looking out for the absolutely best,

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<v Speaker 1>and taking note of all fit persons who are met

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<v Speaker 1>with that they may be found when wanted, is very

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<v Speaker 1>laborious and requires a delicate as well as highly conscientious discernment.

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<v Speaker 1>And as there is no public duty which is in

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<v Speaker 1>general so badly performed, so there is none for which

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<v Speaker 1>it is of greater importance to enforce the utmost practicable

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<v Speaker 1>amount of personal responsibility by imposing it as a special

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<v Speaker 1>obligation on high functionaries in the several departments. All subordinate

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<v Speaker 1>public officers who are not appointed by some mode of

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<v Speaker 1>public competition should be selected on the direct responsibility of

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<v Speaker 1>the minister under whom they serve. The ministers all but

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<v Speaker 1>the chief, will naturally be selected by the Chief, and

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<v Speaker 1>the Chief himself, though really designated by Parliament, should be

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<v Speaker 1>in a regal government, officially appointed by the Crown. The

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<v Speaker 1>functionary who appoints should be the sole person empowered to

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<v Speaker 1>remove any subordinate officer who is liable to removal, which

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<v Speaker 1>the far greater number ought not to be except for

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<v Speaker 1>personal misconduct, since it would be vain to expect that

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<v Speaker 1>the body of persons by whom the whole detail of

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<v Speaker 1>the public business is transacted, and whose qualifications are generally

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<v Speaker 1>of much more importance to the public than those of

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<v Speaker 1>the minister himself, will devote themselves to their profession and

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<v Speaker 1>acquire the knowledge and skill on which the minister must

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<v Speaker 1>often place entire dependents, if they are liable at any

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<v Speaker 1>moment to be turned adrift for no fault, that the

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<v Speaker 1>minister may gratify himself or promote his political interest by

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<v Speaker 1>appointing somebody else. To the principle which condemns the appointment

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<v Speaker 1>of executive officers by popular suffrage, ought the chief of

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<v Speaker 1>the executive in a republican government to be an exception.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it a good rule which in the American Constitution

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<v Speaker 1>provides for the election of the president once every four

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<v Speaker 1>years by the entire people. The question is not free

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<v Speaker 1>from difficulty. There is unquestionably some advantage in a country

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<v Speaker 1>like America, where no apprehension needs to be entertained of

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<v Speaker 1>a coup de etat, in making the chief minister constitutionally

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<v Speaker 1>independent of the legislative body and rendering the two great

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<v Speaker 1>branches of the government, while equally popular both in their

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<v Speaker 1>origin and in their responsibility, an effective check on one another.

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<v Speaker 1>The plan is in accordance with that sedular avoidance of

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<v Speaker 1>the concentration of great masses of power in the same hands,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a marked characteristic of the American Federal Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>But the advantage in this instance is purchased at a

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<v Speaker 1>price above all reasonable estimates of its value. It seems

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<v Speaker 1>far better that the chief magistrate in a republic should

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<v Speaker 1>be appointed avowedly, as the chief minister in a constitutional

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<v Speaker 1>monarchy is virtually by the representative body in the first place,

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<v Speaker 1>he is certain when thus appointed to be a more

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<v Speaker 1>eminent man. The party which has the majority in Parliament

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<v Speaker 1>would then, as a rule, appoint its own leader, who

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<v Speaker 1>is always one of the foremost and often the very

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<v Speaker 1>foremost person in political life. While the President of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States, since the last survivor of the founders of

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<v Speaker 1>the Republic disappeared from the scene, is almost always either

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<v Speaker 1>an obscure man or one who has gained any reputation

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<v Speaker 1>he may possess in some other field than politics. This,

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<v Speaker 1>as I have before observed, is no accident, but the

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<v Speaker 1>natural effect of the situation. The eminent men of a

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<v Speaker 1>party in an election extending to the whole country are

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<v Speaker 1>never its most available candidates. All eminent men have made

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<v Speaker 1>personal enemies, or have done something, or at the lost

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<v Speaker 1>professed some opinion obnoxious to some local or other considerable

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<v Speaker 1>division of the community, and likely to tell with fatal

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<v Speaker 1>effect upon the number of votes. Whereas a man without antecedents,

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<v Speaker 1>of whom nothing is known but that he professes the

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<v Speaker 1>creed of the party is readily voted for by its

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<v Speaker 1>entire strength. Another important consideration is the great mischief of

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<v Speaker 1>unintermitted electioneering. When the highest dignity in the state is

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<v Speaker 1>to be conferred by popular election once in every few years,

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<v Speaker 1>the whole intervening time is spent in what is virtually

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<v Speaker 1>a canvass. President ministers, chiefs of parties, and their followers

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<v Speaker 1>are all electioneerers. The whole community is kept intent on

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<v Speaker 1>the mere personalities of politics, and every public question is

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<v Speaker 1>discussed and decided with less reference to its merits than

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<v Speaker 1>to its expected bearing on the presidential election. If a

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<v Speaker 1>system had been devised to make party spirit the ruling

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<v Speaker 1>principle of action in all public affairs, and create an

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<v Speaker 1>inducement not only to make every question a party question,

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<v Speaker 1>but to raise questions for the purpose of founding parties

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<v Speaker 1>upon them. It would have been difficult to contrive any

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<v Speaker 1>means better adapted to the purpose. I will not affirm

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<v Speaker 1>that it would, at all times and places be desirable

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<v Speaker 1>that the head of the executive should be so completely

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<v Speaker 1>dependent upon the votes of a representative Assembly, as the

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<v Speaker 1>Prime Minister is in England and is without inconvenience. If

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<v Speaker 1>it were thought best to avoid this, he might, though

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<v Speaker 1>appointed by Parliament, hold his office for a fixed period

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<v Speaker 1>independent of a parliamentary vote, which would be the American

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<v Speaker 1>system minus the popular election and its evils. There is

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<v Speaker 1>another mode of giving the head of the administration as

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<v Speaker 1>much independence of the legislature as is at all compatible

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<v Speaker 1>with the essentials of free government. He never could be

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<v Speaker 1>unduly dependent on a vote of Parliament if he had,

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<v Speaker 1>As the British Prime Minister practically has the power to

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<v Speaker 1>dissolve the House and appeal to the people if instead

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<v Speaker 1>of being turned out of office by a hostile vote,

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<v Speaker 1>he could only be reduced by it to the alternative

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<v Speaker 1>of resignation or dissolution. The power of dissolving parliament is

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<v Speaker 1>one which I think it desirable he should possess. Even

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<v Speaker 1>under the system by which his own tenure of offices

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<v Speaker 1>secured to him for a fixed period. There ought not

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<v Speaker 1>to be any possibility of that deadlock in politics which

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<v Speaker 1>would ensue on a quarrel breaking out between a president

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<v Speaker 1>and an Assembly, neither of whom, during an interval which

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<v Speaker 1>might amount to years, would have any legal means of

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<v Speaker 1>ridding itself of the other. To get through such a

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<v Speaker 1>period without a coup de'eta being attempted either side or

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<v Speaker 1>on both requires such a combination of the love of

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<v Speaker 1>liberty and the habit of self restraint, as very few

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<v Speaker 1>nations have yet shown themselves capable of, and though this

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<v Speaker 1>extremity were avoided. To expect that the two authorities would

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<v Speaker 1>not paralyze each other's operations is to suppose that the

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<v Speaker 1>political life of the country will always be pervaded by

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<v Speaker 1>a spirit of mutual forbearance and compromise, imperturbable by the

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<v Speaker 1>passions and excitements of the keenest party struggles. Such a

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<v Speaker 1>spirit may exist, but even where it does, there is

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<v Speaker 1>imprudence in trying it too far. End of Chapter fourteen,

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<v Speaker 1>a recording by Bill Burst