prosecuted within a year after the passing of the Act. Under this clause Sir James Lowther commenced a series of proceedings unprecedented in their kind, and amounting almost to a public convulsion. The authority of Parliament was invoked, but unsuccessfully and ultimately the Inglewood estate remained in good Tory hands. Modern increase of : 5. These sources of influence have long passed away. No King of Great Britain has ever granted to a favourite courtier the greater part of a county, or has introduced to a youthful heiress the highest patronage. bidder for her hand. But in the room of the fountains that have been thus dried up, others scarcely less copious have been discovered. Since the accession of the House of Hanover every public department has been greatly increased; and many new and important branches of the Public Service have come into existence. The new modes of raising revenue brought with them new modes of collecting it. The Customs, the Excise, the Stamps, the Post-office, and the Income Tax all require for their collection a large staff of skilled officials. The army is entirely of post-revolutionary growth. The navy, for the whole expenses of which in the times of peace £600,000 seemed to the Convention Parliament an ample provision, now requires for its non-effective service more than twice that sum,* and expends in wages alone, and even at a very low rate, upwards of three millions sterling. There are about 40,000 persons engaged in the Civil Service.+ There are more than twice that number in the navy; and between three and four times that number in the British army. All these persons hold their places during the pleasure of the Crown; and may be dismissed either Levi, On Taxation, 154. + Levi's Annals, ii. 240. peremptorily and without any reason assigned, or under such regulations as the Crown thinks fit to impose upon itself. Nor is this all. Immense sums are sometimes raised by way of loan; and great public works are undertaken. In all these cases there is ample room for political favour. We have already seen that George the Third distributed in pensions a yearly sum of nearly a quarter of a million; and that the exercise of his bounty was not subject to any restriction. The concurrent operation of all these forces gives the Executive power, as Blackstone observes,* "so persuasive an energy with respect to the persons themselves, and so prevailing an interest with their friends and families, as will amply make amends for the loss of external prerogative." It was, therefore, the policy of the Whig leaders, who fought the battle of the Constitution against the great resources and the settled obstinacy of George the Third, to limit in some degree the Royal influence. They desired, in the words of Mr. Fox,† "to give a good stout blow to the influence of the Crown;" and if that were done, they were content to leave the rest to time. Various attempts were made to effect this object by excluding from the House of Commons those who were within the reach of the predominating power. But although these disabling acts were useful in establishing that distinction between political and nonpolitical officers which I have already noticed, they were insufficient for their intended purpose. I had in a preceding chapter occasion to notice the despair with which the boldest chief of the Opposition regarded, even under the Regency, a contest with the Crown. But there are other grounds from which we may infer both the former greatness of that power and the extent to which that greatness has * 2 Stephen, Com., 609. + Memorials and Correspondence, i. 316. departed. In every case, prior to the Reform Act, of what is called an Appeal to the Country, in 1784, in 1807, and in 1831, the Crown obtained a decided majority. In the first quarter of a century after the passing of the Reform Act there were five such dissolutions-in 1835, in 1841, in 1852, in 1857, and in 1859; and the ministry in whose favour the dissolution took place, with the exception of the election of 1857, was invariably defeated. § 6. If we seek the means by which this great increase to the power of the Executive Government has been accomplished without an undue extension of the Why power of Crown not personal authority of the King, we shall find increased. that they consist in something deeper than the creation of a political incapacity. If placemen and pensioners and contractors once abounded in Parliament, the exclusion of these persons from the House of Commons or from the electoral franchise did not diminish the power of granting places or pensions or contracts. The true remedy lay in the proper regulation of this power; and this regulation again was found in dealing with these matters according to their real use, and not for any other purpose. When places were granted for the bond fide performance of the duties of each place by its incumbent, when pensions were given as the reward of actual merit or as the expression of real sympathy, when contracts were treated as matters of business and not as matters of grace, no degree of influence that could disturb the most timid constitutionalist remained. The great reforms which Burke commenced and which Pitt carried out got rid of the nuisance of offices executed by deputies and of menial services nominally rendered by noblemen. The turnspit of the King's kitchen was no longer either a member of Parliament or a person in the rank of a member of Parliament. When the old excuses for corruption were abolished, when the Royal household and the Public Service were rendered at least comparatively efficient, the course of influence was checked. Probably this test of efficiency will be found the great safeguard against political favour, and the great protector of the Public Service. The patronage of the Crown, whether it be dispensed by the King himself or by a minister, can never do much harm, if precaution be taken either by the previous application of a reasonable educational test or otherwise that it shall not be extended to undeserving persons. Thus, too, Lord Rockingham and his party conceived that they had effected a great reform when they disfranchised revenue officers. Lord Rockingham declared that, by the votes of the revenue officials, the Crown had a predominating influence in seventy boroughs. But the evil was more deeply seated than the Whig statesman seems to have supposed. It sprang not from the rights of the servants of the Crown, but from the abuses of the electoral system. If there were seventy boroughs which could be secured by the presence of so small a body as the officers of revenue, and if their representation continued to be an object of desire to the Crown, and if the Crown had sufficient funds at its disposal, it was sure soon to find new means of controlling the elections. It was not until such boroughs were abolished, or at least rendered less manageable, and until the pecuniary resources of the Crown were subjected to control, that this evil was completely removed. This method of extirpation was successfully applied by Mr. Pitt to another case with which Lord Rockingham had tried his feeble palliatives. By an Act passed in 1782 contractors were excluded from the House of Commons. But no attempt was made to check the practice of using for purposes of patronage contracts whether for loans of money or for the execution of public works. The abuse of these contracts, not so much by the King as by his servants, had been almost incredible. Even Mr. Fox seemed to regard them as legitimate sources of ministerial patronage, and only complained of their abuse. But with prudent boldness Mr. Pitt ventured to discard these dangerous supports. When he required his first loan, he gave notice that he would contract for the loan with those who offered the lowest tenders. He opened the sealed tenders in the presence of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England, and at once accepted the lowest offer for the entire amount.* The example thus set has served as a precedent and a model for all subsequent transactions of the kind. The same remarks apply to pensions. There was one way, and one way only, of dealing with them. The gross sum available for pensions was limited; and its distribution was put under stringent regulations. Thus during the early part of the reign of William the Fourth two great constitutional changes were effected which concurrently reduced the authority of the King. By the Reform Act the constituencies were so purified and enlarged as to be at least in a less degree than formerly within the reach of “the persuasive energy" of the Crown. By the regulation of the Civil List the chief source of that energy was removed. Nothing now remains to the Crown except the regulated exercise of its patronage, and the distribution of its honours. Even these resources have lost much of their original power. Not merely has the number of political offices been diminished, but the emoluments of those offices which remain have |