The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-30 00:00:00

'LON DON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 30, 1855.

Tr)) 0 •YAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE
OFFICE,
ROYAL EXCHANGE, 23D MAY, 1855.
The :10ITRT OF DIRECTORS of the CORPORATION of the
ZOYAI /-1.1 XCHANGE ASSURANCE do hereby give Notice, that
heir T:•an, fer Books will he SHUT from TUESDAY, the sth of June
text, to, Tr TUESDAY, the sth of July following; and that a GENERAL
JOITRT of the said Corporation will be holden at their Office, it the
Royal. Exc Mange, on WEDNESDAY, the 20th ofJane, at Twelve o'clock
it Noon, t 4 consider of a Dividend. _ _

.JOAN A. HIGHAM, Secretary.

ROAVE AND FRASCATI RAILWAY COM-
P./ ,NY, being the First Section of the Grand Line from
Rome to Maples.
Concession, Ninety-nine years. Societe Ano-
rlYrne, with onsed by decree of the Pontifical Government, dated Bth
Nfoyemb er, 1854. Capital, Eight Millions of Francs, 310,000/., di
v ded in to 32,000 Shares of 200 Francs, 101. each, to Bearer, half of
which b aye been subscribed on the Continent.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
President—Prince ODESCALCIII, Rome.
Vice Pr esadent—he Marquis DE LA GRANGE, Senateur, Paris.
the Dia n Marine, Ter:onia, Rome.
Richard Hartley Kennedy, E 5,,., Ald., London.
Robert Keating, Esq., M.P., Director of the London and County
Ilan's, London.
Viitiviny Norris, Esm, 2, Bedford-row, London.
Joseph, Poniatowski, :lantern-, Paris.
1. 1)e Saulcy, Membre de Militant, Paris.
.e Comte Henry d'Avigdor, Director of the Victor Emmanuel Sar-
dinian Railway, Paris.
'hevaller N. Micard, Paris.
Gervoy, late DitreCtor of the Lyons and Saint Etienne Railway
Company, Paris.
3ankers of the Company—Rome: Messrs. Torlonia and Co.
London : The London and County Bank.

The concession of this railway was purchased some time since,
Ind the works brme been actively carried on during' the past six
nonths. The line will be opened for traffic on or before the 15th of
October next. The traffic returns, the details of which will be found
hereafter, show' n. profit on the capital of 15 per cent.
The contract for the works has been made with English contrac-
tors of great exrerience for 30 ),000'., which includes a double way,
tations, &c., mei sufilcient rolling stock for the estimated traffic
the contractors have guaranteed, with substantial security, 7 per
.ent. on the ca'iital during the first three years, in consideratien of
their receiving ha f the surp'us profits.
The sheireholders in this line will have a preferential right to
ihares in ;he Extension Line to Naples.
IMPORTANCE or. TEE LINE.

The Alt ftway from rime to Frascati not only the head of the
lice from Rome to Naples, but must of necessity become part of the
:mat line of Italy from Milan, Venice, and Verona o Naples,
end of w' IRA the portion connecting Verona, Mantua, Pistoja, Flor-
mce, ain't 'Sienna is already completed.
This t arofolcl character of the Railway front Rome to Frascati. as

bead ling and common trunk, is analogous to that of the Railway
from P tris to Saint Germain, of which the Rouen, Havre, Western,
nal Cherbourg lines are tributaries.
Ind( :pendently of the.e advantages, the line from Rome to Frascati
is sure. of a very large local traffic.

SPIRIT OF TILE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(From the Times of Otis day. )
In the complaints which have resulted in a cry for
Administrative Reform one of the most prominent was
levelled against what was termed the "routine" per-
vading our system of administration. Recently, how-
ever, it has been remarked in Parliament, as if in de-
precation of this protest, that routine in some form or
other is absolutely indispensable to the proper conduct
of all establishments, whether public or private, and in
Rome sense this assertion is unquestionably true. All
our commercial and manufacturing establishments are
carried on from day to day by a system of regulations
which undeniably represents a species of routine, and
those are usually the beat managed where this rou-
tine is most punctually observed. Common sense,
as well as the practice of business, teaches us that
there should be a place for everything, and that every-
thing should be in its place ; that labour is best
performed when divided, that every servant should
concentrate his attention. on his own department,
and that it is only by a strict adherence to established
regulations that the work of a lsrge concern can be got
through. Even "firms" are adopted in private as well
as public office., and observed with great precision. An
insurance-office supplies is printed form to be filled up by
a person wishing to insure ; trading or speculative com-
panies furnish forms of requisition to applicants fir
shares ; banks use particular kinds of checkbooks ; nor
is anything more common in our commercial establish-
ments than for a customer to be passed from one depart-
ment to another until his business is completed. All this
however, is nothing more or less than routine, 'and why,
then, should a practice which is not only innocent and
beneficial in one case be so seriously detrimental in ano-
ther? This question we will attempt to explain.
Is the first place, the
~routine pervading the various
departments of our public administration was exagge-
rated in character. It was carried unnecessarily into
the minutide of business, and allowed to affect the most
insignificant matters. Forms and requisitions were not
merely employed, but were refined upon and multiplied
to boot. If it were necessary or expedient that a par-
ticular application should be made in writing, it could
hardly have been requisite that it should be made on
paper of a particular kind, or that the signature of the
applicant should be precisely in a particular place, and
not an inch too high or too low. In the next place, the
importance attached to these observances was allowed
to outweigh that of the objects for which the obsery
antes themselves had been established. There appears
to have been no distribution 'of that discretionary
authority by which the forms of the service might be
overruled for the good of the service. The officers of a
department seem to have been trained not so much
to see that the purposes of their; department were
somehow or other properly answered as to see
that the traditions of the department itself were carefully
maintained. The routine, too, was not only rigorous but
inflexible, and was not modified, even in deerence to
obvious demand. We are told that the "forms" of the
several departments had been much simplified, and were
not, generally speaking, either cumbrous or complicated
overmuch. The fact is, however, that they had been
adapted to times of peace, when economy was of more
consequence than despatch, when there was no strain or
tension to try them, and when checks and counterchecks,
if they effected little good, at all events did little mis-
chief. When this state of things was succeeded by war,
and when the object was not merely to keep an accurate
collection of vouchers, but to insure that everything
should come to hand 3,000 miles off exactly when it was
wanted, the system broke down, because it had not been
calculated for any such trials.
But the great and essential difference between the
two cases to which we have referred—between the
routine of a public office and that of a private business
—consists in the fact that the Government could not,
for the purpose in question, be considered as one estab-
lishment, and that consequently the forms of one depart-
ment were not properly accommodated to the forms of
another. In a private establishment there is one head
or one source of authority, there are certain definite
purposes kept in view, and to the accomplishment of
these purposes all observances are adapted. Routine is
preserved as long as it conduses to its proper end, and
no longer. It is changed, modified, infringed, or aboli-
shed without scruple or delay, according as circum-
stances require, and the conductors of the establishment
can always take care that the routine of each department
shall coincide with the action of the rest. Where, how-
ever, departments are virtually independent of each other,
and each preserves a routine of its own, it is clear that the
work of the whole machine may be ins peded, though th e mo-
tion of particular wheels may be punctiliously secured. The
routine, in short, of a private establishment is nothing
but the observance of a system which is found from day
to day to answer the object of the whole concern ; the
routine of Government offices is the action of a strict
code of rules, special in their applioationy often unne-
cessarily
it is easy to deduce two or three
tcoe stshaer y
real m
ei nx
iugteen,
cai
en
sd
onf opt
baidi
cm
bi tut
si
nge
sosf.
From these remarks accommodation
conclusions. Of course, nobody could argue that
any G-
overnment more an
withoutthose order,
private
establishments,
cevisestriaonbnml,i
nt departments,e
regularity,nts,should
t e m
or, in fact, routine. To say
that public business should be managed without these
accessories would be absurd ; but the system itself
should not be exalted above its objects, nor
should it be invested with any such sanctity as to
impede the adoption of reforms the moment they
are required. Routine, in short, is valuable only
as the means to an end. It should be to clerks what
drill is to soldiers. It should show the readiest, the
easiest, the surest, and most compendious method of
doing a thing, and, just as new manoeuvres are adopted
in military science, so new regulations, or, in other
words, a new routine, should be introduced whenever
circumstances render it desirable. If the work of any
department is thoroughly well done the rules of that de-
partment
theygo by
the
must
namebe
ofroutine
good, and ito
signifiesranyother ;
littlewhether
but,i
f
they are so devised or enforced as to obstruct the work
itself, there is an'end of all argument for their continu-
ance. Routine, in the sense of regularity, exactness,
and systematic order, is good ; in the sense of rigid
rules, attaching paramount importance to forms, it is
bad. It should be our instrument, net our master ; it
should facilitate our operations instead of restricting
them.

(From the Daily News of this day.)

Some of the devices resorted to for the purpose of

throwing discredit on the Administrative Ref Ora; move-
ment are amusing enough. One of the newest is, with
a grave face, to call upon those who take part in it to
explain what they mean by Administrative Reform.
The best way to answer such querists would be to tell
them, as Dr. Johnson once to!d a putter of similar silly
questions—" Sir, I am bound to find you arguments,
but not understanding." Ministers at least, it is pretty
clear, have a tolerably accurate conception of what is
meant by Administrative Reform. Sir Wm. Moles-
worth, for example, so far from affecting not to know
what it means, candidly told his Southwark constituents

that its necessity would become apparent if' Mr.
Disrael's motion were carried. And Admiral Berkeley,
without waiting for any such convincing argument as a
vote of censure of the House of Commons, tells his constii
tuents—" I am quite alive to the necessity of reforming,
or rather eradicating, these evils"—i.e, the defects of the
administrative departments of government. True, the
gallant admiral says that he regrets " so much exaggera-
tion and so many false statements should have been
made 'within and without the walls of Parliament on such
subjects ;" but it has been the practice of confessing de-
linquents to extenuate their offences as much as possible
ever since the days of the frail spinster who pleaded
guilty to the charge of having had a Ckild, but added
that it was " a very little one."
Another of the devices alluded to is to insinuate, or
boldlp assert, that the movement is entirely factitious—
got up by a few ambitious men who seek to raise an
agitation that may carry them into Parliament. This
imputation may be disproved very easily : let any man
take in his hand a list of the chief promoters of the Lon-
don Administrative Reform Association—the body which
has as yet taken the most prominent part in the move-
ment—and go into the City and ascertain their charac-
ter, position, and relations. He will find that the great
majority of them are men to whom ministers might with
the utmost safety offer place, secure that their tastes,
and the immense interests which demand their constant
attention, would debar them from accepting it. We
may,add that we learn, from a source as to the reliabi-
lity of which there can be no doubt, that it is a standing
rule of the Association, that no person can have seat or
voice in the business committee who is a member of Par-
liament, or who aspires to become one, although the
co-operation and fellowship of no men, or class of men,
are rejected. This "self-denying ordinance" appears to
us judicious; not because we have any mistrust of a man
merely because-he devotes himself to public business as
a profession, but because it will relieve the members of
the committee from a world of solicitation, which might
be brought to bear with some hopes of success upon
politicians, but which would obviously be thrown away
upon men who are determined to stick to their indus-
trial pursuits. _ _ _

But, for our own part, so far from thinking it any
objection to the organised movement to obtain Admi-
nistrative Reform that it is likely to be joined by
some who look to it as a means of introducing them_
elves to a public career. we hope that it may secure the
services of many such. The public cannot divine in-
stinctively who the men are that are capable of serving
them well and effectively. The man who aspires to be-
come a legislator or administrator must embrace such
opportunities as offer to show the public that he pos-
sesses knowledge, talents, intrepedity, and firmness. It
will be better for the country to select its servants from
among those who have won their spurs by legitimate
agitation, than to take unknown men upon • trust be-
cause they are recommended by some influential
patron. Agitation necessarily trains public men. A
young man joins in some movement of the day, without
any other intention than to forward it. He is found to
possess a talent for impressive speaking, or for sooth-
ing asperities among those with whom lie co-operates,
and a great part of the business is thrown Upon his
shoulders. The character of the professional politi-
cian is thus developed in him, and his time is so oeeu.
pied that he is withdrawn from his former pursuits. lie
hall nothing for it but to follow out the career upon

which he bas entered unawares. Hence it has come
that every great national agitation we have witnessed_
has introduced a. new class of members—more or less
, numerous, to the Legislature ; every popular_ deluge (to
borrow a figure "of speech froth Prince 'Metternich and
Lord Maidstone) has deposited a new stratum of legis7
lators in Parliament. The struggle of Catholic Ernanci.
pation gave us the Shells and the O'Cannells. The strug-
gle for Parliamentary reform gave us the Attwoods,
Scholefields, Brothertons, and Horsmans. The Anti-Corn-
Law agitation gave us the Cobdens, Brights, Kershaws,
and Browns. The movement for Administrative Reform
will in its turn train new members for the Legislature, and
supply them with an opportunity of winning that public
confidence which can alone open for them the doors of the
House of Commons. We do not merely look forward to
this as inevitable; we regard it as most desirable. The
talent available in the House of Commons which was
developed in the leaders of the Catholic Emancipation
and Reform Bill struggles, was simply that of preserving
harmonious action among their fellow-agitators—a talent
of immense use in the deliberations of any popular assem-
bly, but which may be possessed in a high degree by
men destitute of almost every quality of a legislator. The
Anti-Corn-law agitation taught its leaders, in addition
to this tact of management, lessons in the theory of com-
mercial policy, but left them imperfectly acquainted with
much that the legislator requires to know. The Admi-
nistrative reform movement will be an experimental
school of practical statesmanship. To take a iewl in it
a man must necessarily make himself acquainted with
the organisation and mode of working of our executive
government. Too many of those who have been
.. .. . . ___ .

" pitchforked" into Parliament by former agitations,
have shown thnt it is one thing to be a successful
agitator and another to be a useful Fgislator. Their
utility in the House of Cornmoata has, in a great mea•
sur4s,,, been restriotid..o the bringing the sentiments of
that body somewhat more into harmony with those of
the people than they were before. But men trained in
the Administrative Reform movement will acquire habits
and knowledge calculated to inspire them with confi-
dence in their Ability to take part in the executive
councils of the State. The oligarchy will not be able to
say of them that they are unwilling to accept of office,
or that they are destitute of the acquirements which fit
men to discharge its duties. The Administrative Re-
form movement will educate "the right men for the
right p 1 aces."