The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-07 00:00:00

630 itself and each of its members. It is obvious that before making any proposition for amend- ing the connection between the State and the Civil Service, we should first endeavour to understand the ties /Allah join the sepal*, members of the Civil Corps to tho official system as it now exists. In order to do so we shall consider on the occasion one of the most grievOus defects under which the members of the Civil Service suffer. In no other department of intellectual exertion connected with the State is there such a want of " publicity " as in the Civil Service. The stimulus of immediate public approbation—the sense that a man's virtues and talents are visible to the world—are most powerful incentives to great exertions and to brilliant enterprises. These ennobling mo tives are, under the present imperfect system, almost entirely wanting in the Civil Service, where the most laborious public duties are performed as if behind a screen. The drudgery, therefore, is greater when the reward of immediate applause is entirely withdrawn, and when the subordinate has to toil uncheered by a genial ray of light. In this point of view the Civil Service is drearily distinguished from all other professional de partments. The official is shut up in a room, and he performs his sedentary labour from morning to eve, unseen and unnoticed, except by the clerks connected with his department, or his immediate superiors . In the Army and Navy, the Church, the Bar, and in the professions of medicine and literature, all the individuals have the power ful stimulus of direct, immediate, and palpa ble publicity. Is a colonel or a captain dis tinguished for soldiery qualities? You may know the fact in the way he is talked of, and even looked at, by his brother officers and the soldiers under his command. So in the Navy, the whole crew of the ship are of themselves a vast public to one of the blue jackets, whether with or without the epau lettes. The effect on a clergyman of his parishioners' approbation, and the estimate of his reverend brethren in Holy Orders, are quickening influences upon a pastor's zeal and readiness to distinguish himself in the most sacred of pursuits. At the Bar• the advocate toils in the court before the public, and his name is bruited abroad in the journals. The physician is seen on his daily rounds amongst his patients, and he is brought into inter course with a great variety of persons; and we need not illustrate the effect of " publicity " upon men of letters, to many of whom it is their principal reward. Now, we conceive that we can render no greater service to the cause of Administrative Reform than by concentrating attention on the fact that talent languishes in the Civil Service for want of a healthy and animating publicity. We are convinced that the statesman who shall have the honour of laying a new basis for the official service must take into account the absence of " publicity " under the pre• sent system. When Mr. DISRAELI alluded to the necessity for more " spiritual rewards," we surmise that the Right Honourable Gentle man must have had a clear perception of the cheerless condition of many clever and labo rious subordinates scattered all through the offices. For many of those meritorious per sons " publicity " would be a sure precursor to promotion. We need not dwell upon the disheartening effects of constantly working without being noticed. When once it is indicated, intelligent persons will apprehend it at a glance. We may give some detailed illustrations on this subject at another time, but we prefer now to offer some hints as to how these evils are to be cured. We have no sympathy with those visionaries who dream of perfection ; and we have no respect for grievance-mongers who complain much, but who suggest nothing. We shall confine our views to what is attain able, and offer only what appears to us to be practicable measures. We at once admit that there is a large range of petty officials whose duties are so merely formal, and involve so little mental exertion, and such limited individuality of Client, that an Official Reformer need not ~. THE PRESS. spend much time upon the consideration of these cases. What is wanted is some plan by which the talent and capacity of persons em ployed in secretarial aa s d secondary adminis trative Labour& 01004 be vested, and as i 4 were *Mora In ;rawly all the varinkke branch of the civil aervice there is what Is calledthe Se tart'' Department," existing sometimes undoer a leas formal designation. This 4epartment is weitekthe immediate oat nisance of certain deputed officials, who com municate with its per s.nerit " head," 'and the latter in turn transacts affairs with the Ministerial chief whom the changes of the Cabinet may have assigned to the post. At present, and under the official system as it now exists, the subordinates rise by routine alone. There is no jumping per saltum for men of surpassing power or masterly vigour. The versatile are subjected to the same rule as the dull. The mind full of resources, quick to perceive, and rapid in execution, is offered the same incentives as the heaviest of plodders. Is it absolutely necessary that such a system, so unjust to the energetic and the brilliant, should be continued amongst those who toil in her Majesty's service ? We say, " Most certainly not." The public offices might easily be conducted so as that any Ministerial chief should be able at a short notice to ascertain the reputation for ability of any individual in the department over which he presides. Rules could easily be introduced into the Civil Service by which, according to certain regulations, the subordi nate officials might receive fair chances of dis tinguishing themselves ; the abilities and attainments of the servants in the secretarial departments of the State might be tested, from time to time, with a view to selecting subjects for promotion. At present the drawing up of reports in the inner workings of a given public department falls into cer tain routine fingers, and the opportunities for displaying their knowledge is not given to the officials at large. A B and C stand by seniority at the head of the list, and they mo nopolise this department, and jog on in the same course as their predecessors. Throw those reports, summaries of public papers, examinations of documents, &c., open to the twenty-three officials ranging from D to Z, and you at once give the carriers ouverte aux talens. To illustrate this point still further. When committees of the Houses of Lords and Commons inquire into certain things, the chiefs and vice-chiefs of various public offices are examined. Sometimes the evidence so given is apt, striking, and suggestive ; at other times it is dull, flat, and formalised. Why should not the permanent chief of the depart ment in such cases he called upon to name three or more of the clerks in the departments, and let the whole office know that each and all of them had a chance of being examined under the public gaze of the first men in England? But, furthermore, when inquiry is demanded by Parliament on certain subjects, why should not the reports drawn up by clerks in the offices ap hear with the names appended? The Marquis WELLESLEY intro duced some such system into the Anglo-Indian service, and the fame of that eminent states man rests chiefly on his proved administra tive abilities. Agun, from time to time " pub licity" (of a healthy kind) may be let into the departments by selected papers being pub lished on statistics, general results, &c. The names of the subordinate officials drawing up these papers should be printed, and a working clerk should not be without hope that his talents might be made known to leading persons. It is enough for us, to-day, to point to one of the directions in which Official Reformers must strive. " More publicity," for talent will in itself be a " spiritual reward." Physicians tell us that light is a powerful tonic, and the Italians have a proverb that " Where the sun " goes not, the doctor does." So do we say upon Official Reform. Give the cheering light of publicity to the labours of your ser vants, and you will be sure to have a more elastic and vigorous display of the faculties which strengthen and adorn the executive of a country. We shall again return to this im portant subject. SATURDAY, A DANGEROUS ERROR REGARDING INDIA. A VERY prevalent but yeu dangerous error regardipg Witt is the idea that, misgovern it as we ‘lll,lpehave as, hedly towards the people as we ina3p our Gevernrevet is still much bettec end 9pr copituOintie* more humane than that c any of the e t e i t,ive •;lynasties which have preceded us. How far this is true may be judged by a consideration of the circumstances we are about to state. In the Presi dency capitals, indeed, which being under the jurisdiction of the Crown Courts of Judicature nothing like oppression on the part of the Company's officials is possible. There, of course, a man's property, whether per sonal or landed, is as safe from the Company's clutches as it would be in London. If a native Rajah die, his money and jewels lying within the Supreme Courts' jurisdiction can only be seized by the Company under an order of the courts, which if heirs of any kind were living would never be granted. Such wholesale spolia tion as that which lately took place in respect to the private property of the Nagpore family would at Calcutta be utterly impossible ; and, in the same way, if the Company claimed to confiscate a deceased Rajah's houses and lands there on the plea of the ground having been originally a fief granted by the Sovereign, the Supreme Court would restrain the officials attempting to make the resumption, and the descendants of the possessor would be upheld in their succession to the inheritance. The point has been tried and settled. At one of the Presidencies the Company set up a claim to all the houses, great and small, that had at any time been built there, on the plea of being the owner in fee of the land they were built on, in their capacity as Sovereign ; but the decision was against them, and has never since been chal lenged, it being clear that no independent coart of law would ever sanction the monstrous doctrines affirmed by the Mofussil courts, where the Company have none to curb them but their own self-nominated judges. But, indeed, if these were independent, instead of the reverse, they could of themselves do little towards the furtherance of justice in respect to such cases, for they are bound to be guided in all cases by the regulations, instead of by the provisions either of the English law or of the Hindoo or Mahomedan codes, and the Government has the power of making and altering the regulations to suit its purposes at pleasure. Now, under native Sovereigns, whether Hindoo or Mahomedan, there was no such absence of all legal security for property as there exists in India at present. The Sove reign, equally with the subject, was bound by the provisions of the codes existing, without any power to vary them whatever. It is true that right was sometimes overborne by might, but not nearly so frequently as men ignorant of the facts imagine. Indeed, any great con tinued oppression was impossible, for oppres sion it was felt must jeopardise the throne by creating a rebellion. The Sovereign was rather a primus interpares than an absolute monarch. His vassals were ordinarily too powerful to be wronged with impunity, and the lower orders in the different towns and villages were mostly under the protection of some great nobleman. Then, again, the universal practice of holding an open court, accessible to all without dis tinction, twice daily, gave every one who felt himself aggrieved an opportunity of laying his plaint before his Sovereign iu person ; and this alone afforded a considerable check against injustice. That, as a rule, the native system was not unsuccessful may be gathered from this, that in no parts M India, saving the Pre sidency capitals, are the towns and villages so prosperous, or is agriculture so flourishing, as in the majority of the native States and Jaghires—a fact to which Bishop HEBER testi fied. And even in those native States where the signs of prosperity are less evident the cause will be generally found to be in the in terference of our Government—which seems to be powerless for good and all-powerful for evil. Perhaps the only real good we have effected in those parts of India which we have annexed, (though no doubt an important one) is the put ting an end to the frequent contests of come