On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM. MEETING AT BIRMIN...

  • 

    ... ' ¦ . := ' ¦ -- . --- ¦ i ¦ ¦ ¦ , - ...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Count Nesselrode's Version Of The Vienna...

    the Sovereigns of Europe . The Plenipotentiaries of France and England refused to touch even this question of religious interest before that concerning the navigation of the Black Sea had been settled . " After this reflection , there remains nothing for us to add to the recital we have made . "

    Administrative Reform. Meeting At Birmin...

    ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM . MEETING AT BIRMINGHAM . A meeting , convened by the Mayor , was held at Birmingham on Monday . Mr . William Matthews moved , and Mr . T . Attwood seconded , the following resolution : — " That this meeting entertains a strong and earnest conviction that the disastrous and disgraceful condition in which England has been placed in the conduct of the war with Russia , is mainly attributable to the inefficiency of the executive and the defective system of conducting the business of the nation ; and that this state of things is the natural result of the systematic postponement of merit to family and personal influence in the selection of ministers and other public servants . "

    Mr . J . A . Langford , a working man , supported t he resolution . He observed that an attempt is being made to sever the working class from the middle class , and that the aristocracy is bidding high for the support of the former . The people , however , must not be led away by this delusion , since whatever has been already accomplished in the way of good government has resulted from the union of the middle with the working classes . Nevertheless , he

    thought a great sin lay at the door of the middle class , - as , having accomplished their own political freedom by means of the Reform Bill , they had not endeavoured to obtain a similar boon for their fellowworkmen . Speaking as a working man , he said the working classes would be betrayed no longer . The government must be rescued from those who are trampling the honour of the country in the mire . Iiet the people be prepared to work as well as shout , and success would be their own .

    Mr . Wright , a county magistrate , also spoke in favour of the resolution , and made use of a rather startling parody of the words which Shakspeare pufs into the mouth of Brutus . He said they were not there that day because they loved their Queen the l ess , but because they loved their country the more . —The resolution was carried by acclamation . Mr . Muntz , M . P . for Birmingham , proposed the second resolution : — " That the monopoly of the honourable and lucrative

    offices of the state by one class discourages men of ability from qualifying themselves for entering the service of the nation , and this meeting , while it disclaims any desire to exclude the aristocracy from that share in the direction and conduct of public affairs to which their ability or their special fitness may entitle them , is of opinion that the most prompt and effectual remedy for the official mismanagement from which the country is now suffering is the substitution of the test of merit and fitness for that of rank and family connexion

    in all official appointments . He regarded the present as the most momentous crisis the country has ever gone through . It could only be compared with the state of things a century ago , prior to the time when the elder Pitt came into power . That great man soon effected a change ; but he was not long in power , and the good he did was speedily undone . Mr . Muntz said he had looked ¦ with some satisfaction on the advent of Lord Palmerston ; but he was soon undeceived . What he found fault with was that many of the aristocracy are put into places for which they are thoroughly unfitted . Before now , he had seen men connected with governments whom he would not have had as porters in his counting-house . When a new man enters the House of Commons , the question often asked is— " Who is he ? " " Oh , " the reply will be ,

    "he ' s an Oxford or Cambridge man ; he was a double first-class of his time . " Now this often really means that he is a double first ass ( laughter ) , possessing many accomplishments , no doubt , but none that fit him for national employment . The constituencies must bo careful to return proper men to the House of Commons : if they omit this , the democracy will be as culpable aa the aristocracy . Tho Sebastopol expedition was a mistake , undertaken without forethought , and conducted without adequate means ; and Lord Raglan is too old and inexperienced . If some of our wiseacres had only followed the example of Julius Caesar prior to his attack on this * country two thousand years since , and had made proper inquiries , nearly all our disasters would have been avoided . Ho heartily concurred in the opidt of the resolutions ho had moved .

    Mr . Qoorgo Dawson , in seconding'tho resolution , observed that " incapacity , imbecility , senility , and frivolity "rule ovdr everything 1 connected with the war . " In Lord Pulmorston he had not been disappointed : . he is . a double-faced shuffler , and such ho jbaa boon all his Jifo , # Jp Janiea Graham is equally IV ' ., ' ., ¦ - > ., ¦ ¦ : ' . , ¦ , - ¦ ¦ , t ' , I . ' I ' ...., t . ¦'< r ' ¦ . ' . ... . ' . .

    hypocritical ; and the aristocracy are greedy , rapacious , selfish , and grasping . After a few words from Mr . Alderman Baldwin , the resolution was carried unanimously . Mr . Thomas Lloyd , merchant , then moved" That an Association be now formed in Birmingham for the purpose of promoting Administrative Reform ; and that a committee ( with power to add to their number ) be formed , to define the constitution of the society , prepare laws for its government , and to take measures for enrolling the names of members . " Mr . T . H . Gill seconded the resolution , which , was adopted without a dissentient voice .

    The foregoing terminated the resolutions framed by the promoters of the meeting ; but a working man stepped forward , and moved a resolution in favour of universal suffrage and vote by ballot , as the only means of effecting Administrative Reform . This was seconded by another working man ; but , after some discussion , it was negatived on the ground that it was not within the scope of the object for which the meeting was called .

    FINSBURY . A numerously-attended meeting of the inhabitants of the eastern division of this borough was held on Tuesday evening , in the Mechanics' Institution , Southampton-buildings , Chancery-lane . The chair was occupied by Mr . Duncombe , M . P . for the borougii , who briefly addressed the audience . The meeting was also addressed by Mr . VV . Wilkes ( who said , alluding to Lords Palmerston and Aberdeen , that we have now got " a clever knave for an old imbecile" ) , by Mr . J . Bell , Mr . Murray , Mr . Cole , Mr . Shaen , and Dr . Epps . The following resolutions were unanimously carried : —

    " That , in the judgment of this meeting of inhabitants of the borough of Finsbury , the disasters of the Crimean expedition are mainly attributable to the incapacity of her Majesty ' s Ministers , the corrupt state of the House of Commons , and the general inefficiency of the public service—the results of the undue influence of the aristocracy in the councils of the Sovereign . " " That , while the only efficient remedy for this principal evil of the State is the adoption of manhood suffrage and the protection of the voter by the ballot , this meeting heartily sympathises with every genuine movement in opposition to oligarchical misgovernment , and especially tenders its thanks to Mr . Layard for his independent and courageous conduct in the House of Commons . "

    Also , a third resolution , directing that the substance of the foregoing should be formed into a petition in support of Mr . Layard ' s motion , and requesting Mr .- Duncombe and his colleague in the representation of Finsbury to promote the adoption of that motion . Three cheers were given for ' Mr . Layard ; and Dr . Epps also called forth the prolonged acclamations of the meeting by saying that the day would come when her Majesty would send for Mr . Layard to form an administration .

    GLOUCESTER . The inhabitants of Gloucester held a meeting on Friday week at the Shire Hall , when it was determined to form a branch association to co-operate with the central London body , and also to present a petition to Parliament . The meeting-, unlike those which have been held in other localities , did not pass off without receiving two " snubbings "—one from Admiral Berkeley , M . P ., who , in a letter of apology for absence , said that , though he agreed in the necessity for reform , he greatly regretted the exaggerations and false statements on the matter which have been made both in and out of Parliament ,

    and that he " utterly despised those who lose sight of truth for the sake of notoriety ; the other from Mr . Price , M . I ' ., who thought the nation to blame for its own misfortunes , which he conceived to bo caused by our alternation of apathy with the brief worship of particular men , from whom too much is expected , and who are ultimately made victims to popular fury . —The individual more particularly pointed at by Admiral Berkeley , it is not difficult to divine . Mr Pxice probably belongs to the class of universal objectors . Both , however , belong to that perplexing description of supporters who " damn you witli faint praise . "

    YARMOUTH . The Town Hall of Yarmouth was on Thursday week the scene of an Administrative Reform Meeting , at which resolutions in harmony with the general design , were adopted . Meetings have also been held at Lincoln and Southwark . AUUHEBH OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE IUSVORM ASSOCIATION . A very able , clearly-written , and eloquent Address has been published by tho now Reform party . It commences as follows : —

    " Fellow-countrymen , — Tho Adminiatrativc Reform Association haa bcon brought into existence by tho exigency of tho time . Its members have no interest in agitation ; they have no personal ambition to serve , no

    the mismanagement , the complication of duties , the adherence to routine at the cost of human life , the thousands of brave men wasted by over-work , by exposure , by insufficiency of clothes and shelter , by unwholeso me food , by hunger , by lack of medicine and medical attendance , by neglected wounds , by starvation in the very hospitals , have called forth no popular outburst . There has been no protest against those in command , against the Ministry , against the Parliament . We believe that this silence is not safe ; that if some organisation were not set on foot to give utterance to the pent-up indignation of the people , and to give hope of a better future , some movement would speedily show itself of which it would be impossible to foretel the results . ' Where there is abuse ( says Burke ) there ought to be clamour , because it is better that our slumbers should be broken by the fire-bell than that we should perish in the flames . '

    individual advantages to gain ; they intend no personal attack—they can only enter upon the movement , which involves a long and arduous struggle , at a large sacrifice of time and means . . . . There never was a period when , under similar emergency , the people so long remained silent ; there has been a positive sense of danger in the quiet . , It has been matter of wonder that , with daily accumulated evidence of misnanagei ment , the most general and of the grossest kind , there have been so few meetings ; that , with proof that millions of pounds have been actually thrown away , an increase of taxation , amounting to more than thirty millions , has been submitted to without a murmur * that , though every post has brought letters to thousands of the poorest in the land , detailing the horror s of the winter before Sebastopol , there has been no organised movement . The want of forethought , the incapacity

    " Fellow-countrymen , the war is the first thought with all ; it is almost impossible to divert attention to anything else than that actual battle has swept down 5000 men , mismanagement 15 , « 00 ; that , , of 6 , 000 , 0007 . spent upon transport ships , full 2 , 000 , 000 / . were as utterly wasted as if the money had been thrown into the Black Sea ; that ships , filled with essential stores , provisions , and clothing , were exposed to the fury of a foreseen storm , and wrecked , and sunken from sheer obstinacy . The recent addition to the income tax , the increased duties upon tea , sugar , and coffee , have been rendered necessary by the grossest blundering and mismanagement . It is difficult to dispel the doubt that we have not yet before us the entire account of the year , and are still in i < morauce of the total cost of the war .

    " We wish it , however , to be distinctly understood , that the Administrative Reform Association is no mere war organisation . The Association has abundant matters to deal with , which have no connexion with the war ; and , whether there be war or peace , its work will be continued . " After complaining that we do not gat men of sufficient faculty and experience to fill our public offices , and that " the right men are not in the right places , " the address points out the want of a clear definition of the functions , powers , and organisation , of the different departments — mentioning more especially the Chancellorship of the Exchequer , the Treasury , the Foreign Office , the Colonial Office , and

    the Home Secretaryship . In all these divisions of the public service , thereis so chaotic and ill-arranged a mass of duties—so much confusion of details—so utter an absence of any precise definition of the amount of individual responsibility—such constant clashing of one department with another , owing to absolute ignorance of the mutual relations of the component parts—and so great an amount of uncertainty as to how far particular functions are held " under Act of Parliament , how far under notions of royal prerogative , or how far under mere prescriptive abuse of power and traditions of office- "that the Association has determined to devote itself in tho first instance to the collection of information .

    " To get at this information , wherever it exiats , and to place it before tho public in the plainest words , is , with the help of the country , one of tho first things tho Association arc determined to havo done , cost what it may . There must be an end put to every mystery of office : how the administration of tho country is carried on , must be made plain to tho most ordinary capacity . To this end , Acts of Parliament must bo searched , and returns obtained . Tho Association are resolved to havo a complete analysis of our official aystcm , a thorough clearing tip of tho qxication of personal responsibility .

    This will of necessity , be a work of timo and expense ; tho Committee , however , arc perfectly satisfied that tho required meana will bo forthcoming , that subscriptions to tho object will bo general throughout tho country , that a failing purse will never compel them to hold their hand . They have already entered upon this portion Of their labour , with tho most experienced and enorgotic help , and w ill shortly bo able to place aoino valuable information , in a convenient form , in tho hands of tho members of tho Aawociation . A knowledge of tho actual state of tho official system once attained , tho next

    atop will bo to bring every department into a thoroug hly buBineas condition . Tho nation can Afford to pension , oven upon full pay , any amount of incapacity ; but « cannot afford to retain incapacity . "

    ... ' ¦ . := ' ¦ -- . --- ¦ I ¦ ¦ ¦ , - ...

    ... ' ¦ . := ' ¦ -- . --- ¦ i ¦ ¦ ¦ , - - — — .. . ¦ . - . ~ 3 & 8 THE ip'ABBB . [ SAttjBDAT , ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051855/page/8/