Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell Project Gutenberg's The Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Government of England (Vol. I) Author: A. Lawrence Lowell Release Date: November 28, 2010 [EBook #34471] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND (VOL. I) *** Produced by Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by underscores. Words in bold are surrounded by =equal signs=. Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original. Ellipses match the original. A complete list of typographical corrections follows the text. Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell 1 THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND VOLUME I THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND BY A. LAWRENCE LOWELL PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOLUME I New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1908 All rights reserved COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY A. LAWRENCE LOWELL. Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1908. Reprinted June, 1908. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. PREFACE Measured by the standards of duration, absence of violent commotions, maintenance of law and order, general prosperity and contentment of the people, and by the extent of its influence on the institutions and political thought of other lands, the English government has been one of the most remarkable the world has ever known. An attempt, therefore, to study it at any salient epoch cannot be valueless; and the present is a salient epoch, for the nation has now enjoyed something very near to manhood suffrage in the boroughs for forty years, and throughout the country more than twenty years, a period long enough for democracy to produce its primary if not its ultimate effects. Moreover, England has one of the most interesting of popular governments, because it has had a free development, little hampered by rigid constitutional devices. It is an organism constantly adapting itself to its environment, and hence in full harmony with national conditions. An endeavour has been made in these volumes to portray the present form of that organism and the forces which maintain its equilibrium. In preparing a study of this kind one feels the need of limiting its scope, by reducing the denominator as Arthur Helps remarked. Hence the work covers only the English government as it stands to-day; and further, only those institutions, national and local, that have a general bearing. The British Constitution is full of Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell 2 exceptions, of local customs and special acts with which town clerks must be familiar. They fill the path of these men with pitfalls, but they do not affect seriously the general principles of the government, and no attempt is made to describe them here. Even the institutions of Scotland and Ireland, interesting as they are in themselves, have been referred to only so far as they relate to the national government or throw light upon its working. Even so limited, the subject is not without difficulties. The forces to be studied do not lie upon the surface, and some of them are not described in any document or found in any treatise. They can be learned only from men connected with the machinery of public life. A student must, therefore, rely largely upon conversations which he can use but cannot cite as authorities, and the soundness of his conclusions must be measured less by his references in footnotes than by the judgment of the small portion of the public that knows at first-hand the things whereof he speaks. The precise effect of the various forces at work must be a matter of opinion on which well-informed people may differ, and the writer has drawn the picture as it appeared to him. To undertake a study of this kind would be impossible without manifold assistance from others; and the writer is glad of this chance to express his sense of obligation to the many persons who have given him help and information, men in public life belonging to different parties, permanent officials, national and local, officers of political associations, jurists, publicists and many others. It is pleasant for him to recall the constant courtesy with which he was treated, not infrequently, in the case of local officers, without any introduction or claim of any kind. Among many men to whom he owes much he desires to acknowledge his debt to Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Lord Fitzmaurice, Rt. Hon. John Morley, the late Sir William Harcourt, Lord Reay, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Sir William James Farrer, Sir Alexander Hargreaves Brown, Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir C. P. Lucas, Sir Horace Plunkett, Mr. Sidney Webb, Mr. Graham Wallas, Dr. William Cunningham, Mr. Francis W. Hirst, the late Capt. R. W. E. Middleton, Mr. A. E. Southall of the National Union of Conservative Associations and Mr. Charles Geake of the Liberal Publication Department. His thanks are especially due to Professor A. V. Dicey, Sir Courtenay Ilbert, Professor H. Morse Stephens, now of the University of California, and Professor W. B. Munro of Harvard University, who, besides giving him information, have kindly read a part of the manuscript or proof sheets and made many valuable suggestions. Above all he feels the deepest gratitude to Rt. Hon. James Bryce, now happily British ambassador to the United States, the master and guide of all students of modern political systems, whose unwearied assistance, counsel and encouragement have been a constant help throughout the preparation of this work, and who has read the whole of the proof sheets except the chapters that deal with the Empire. These friends have made the writing of the book possible, and saved the author from many blunders. It is needless to say that none of them are in any way responsible for any opinions in these pages; and in fact the writer has tried not to express, and so far as possible not to form, opinions on matters of current party politics. The writer is indebted also to a number of his students at Harvard, who have made researches in several different subjects. While some of the more important of these contributions have been referred to in the notes, it has been impossible to do this in all cases. Finally he desires to acknowledge the help he has received in his investigations from three assistants: Mr. Emerson David Fite, now of Yale University, Mr. Robert Lee Hale, now of the Harvard Law School, and Mr. Thomas N. Hoover of the Harvard Graduate School, the last of these having also verified the citations and prepared the index. APRIL, 1908. TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I PAGE INTRODUCTORY NOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION 1 PART I THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell 3 CHAPTER I THE CROWN 16 CHAPTER I 4 CHAPTER II THE CROWN AND THE CABINET 27 CHAPTER II 5 CHAPTER III THE CABINET AND THE MINISTERS 53 CHAPTER III 6 CHAPTER IV THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 81 CHAPTER IV 7 CHAPTER V THE TREASURY 115 CHAPTER V 8 CHAPTER VI MISCELLANEOUS OFFICES 131 CHAPTER VI 9 CHAPTER VII THE PERMANENT CIVIL SERVICE 145 CHAPTER VII 10 [...]... CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XVIII THE COMMONS' CONTROL OF THE CABINET 327 21 CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XIX THE FORM AND CONTENTS OF STATUTES 356 22 CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XX PRIVATE BILL LEGISLATION 367 23 CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXI THE HOUSE OF LORDS 394 24 CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXII THE CABINET AND THE HOUSE OF LORDS 405 25 CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIII THE CABINET AND THE COUNTRY 423 PART II. THE PARTY SYSTEM 26 CHAPTER... XIII PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMITTEES AND PUBLIC BILLS 264 16 CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XIV PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS MONEY BILLS AND ACCOUNTS 279 17 CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XV PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CLOSURE 292 18 CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVI PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS SITTINGS AND ORDER OF BUSINESS 302 19 CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVII THE CABINET'S CONTROL OF THE COMMONS 309 20...CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER VIII THE MINISTERS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE 173 11 CHAPTER IX CHAPTER IX THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONSTITUENCIES AND VOTERS 195 12 CHAPTER X CHAPTER X THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ELECTORAL PROCEDURE 219 13 CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XI THE HOUSE OF COMMONS DISQUALIFICATIONS, PRIVILEGE, SESSIONS 239 14 CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XII PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS THE HOUSE, ITS RULES AND OFFICERS 248 15 CHAPTER... CHAPTER XXIV PARTY AND THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM 435 27 CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXV PARTY ORGANISATION IN PARLIAMENT 448 28 CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVI NON-PARTY ORGANISATIONS OUTSIDE OF PARLIAMENT 458 29 CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVII LOCAL PARTY ORGANISATIONS 466 30 CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXVIII ACTION OF LOCAL ORGANISATIONS 491 31 CHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXIX THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CAUCUS THE LIBERALS 501 32... CHAPTER XXIX THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CAUCUS THE LIBERALS 501 32 CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXX THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CAUCUS THE CONSERVATIVES 535 VOLUME II 33 CHAPTER XXXI CHAPTER XXXI ANCILLARY PARTY ORGANISATIONS 1 34 CHAPTER XXXII CHAPTER XXXII THE FUNCTIONS OF PARTY ORGANISATIONS 18 35 CHAPTER XXXIII CHAPTER XXXIII THE LABOUR PARTY 24 36 . Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell Project Gutenberg's The Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell. match the original. A complete list of typographical corrections follows the text. Government of England (Vol. I), by A. Lawrence Lowell 1 THE GOVERNMENT OF