The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON SATURDAY EVENIAG, JUNE 2, 1855,

and they have no excuse in that pretended and false chi-
valry of not punishing the guilty because theychoose to
i
say, "We are responsible." And what s their respon-
sibility ? There were times when Ministers were respon-
sible ; one of the greatest evils of the present day is this,
that nobody is responsible for anything. (Hear, hear.)
You turn out a Minister ; is that a great punishment ?
Ministers no doubt like place and power ; but you must
remember that it is the fate of all men, in the govern-
ment of a free country, to be sooner or later removed
from power ; their tenure of office is necessarily short,
and, at a time like this, the labour and responsibilities of
it must be immense. If, at a time like this, we have no
power of holding our surgeons, generals, commissaries,
and clerks responsible, we have no chance of rendering
them responsible at all, and is it to be said that, in a
country Else this, that should be the state of things I
We have not even a moral responsibility, which
might be a great deal. The man who mis-
manages the affairs of nations is not held to have
comraittsd a great crime ; the man who permits in-
competence to exist in his office, and among those over
when he has power, is not supposed, as far as I can see,
to have deserted his duty to his country. If any one,
indeed, ventures to attack an individual, there are plenty
of gentlemen to howl him down, there are plenty of gen-
tlemen to shield those who are so attacked ; and if a
Minister does such a wonderful thing as to venture to
turn nit anybody for incompetence, as Mr. Gladstone
did Mr. Kennedy, then you may always find a member
of Parliament to move for a committee which is to take
off the responsibility of the Minister, and to whitewash
the cifending subordinate. But if the House of Com-
mons should be so wise as to refuse a demand of that
sort, and if the gentleman removed happens to be, not a
noble lord, but even a right hon. gentleman, or a mem-
ber of Brooks's, you willalways find deluded individuals,
it seems, who are willing to give him an annuity, be-
cause he is found to be unfit for the public service.
(Laughter.) That is not the way to govern a great
country, or carry on a great country's affairs. And
whom of all the men who had to do with the
management of the war have you punished at all ? The
Duke of Newcastle. (Hear.) I believe he was not fit
for the arduous and very difficult post he filled, but I
am bound to say that, if there was one man in that Ca-
binet who gave every moment of his time to the service
of hie country—who worked his hardest, and who has
shown that, to the best of his abilities, he meant to do
right—it was the very man whom you have punished—
the Duke of Newcastle. (Cheers.) Who of all the
people examined before Mr. Roebuck's committee came
out 'Jest ? The Duke of Newcastle. (Hear.) lam
happy to say that he has, on a late occasion, separated
himself from his other friends, and not endorsed the doc-
trines of Mr. Gladstone and Sir James Graham, and
that he who conducted the war at its commencement is
not willing that it should be brought to an insecure and
dishonourable end. Well, what has been the result
of all this g There has been a loud cry for Adminis-
trative Reform. Surely such a cry was not unnatural
in a country like this. This is a great industrial coun-
try ; its prosperity is based upon its industry and its
commerce. Those who are engaged in that induetry
and that commerce know, and to them I appeal, whe-
ther, if they had conducted their affairs for an hour as
the affairs of the nation have been lately conducted, they
would not have soon found themselves in the Gazette ?
There are numbers iu this country who know they could
have fed, clothed, and lodged the army in the Crimea
for a less sum than has been expended ; and, therefore,
it is not unnatural that there has arisen a cry for admi-
nistrative reform. I, for one, am most desirous that that
reform should be carried out. I believe that that is the
vital question of the present moment. The watchword, it
seems, is to bey " The right men in the right places ;' and
that, indeed, must be the watchword of the future. The
essence of all good government, and of allsuccess in pub-
lic or in private life, consists in this—that yon put, as
far as you are able, the right men in the right places.
I admit that it may seem a -Utopian object. I admit
that whenever you have got the right men in the right
places you will have secured good government and
perpetual felicity ; but if you do not pitch your
ideal high you will never get on at all. What is
true in morals is true in politics ; unless you strive after
high and noble objects you will never do any good. There-
fore I say that there is the deepest truth in that cry.
True it is that it is not easy to, know when you have got
the right men, that it does require -those who are to
choose them to be the right men themselves ; and, there-
hire, this I must say, that, however imperative is admi-
nistrative reform in the lower branches of the public
iervice, the first and last of the whole matter is this, that
you should have in the Government able and fit men.
flake the head able and fit, re ponsible for the manage-
ment of its subordinates, and it will choose them well.
Is is very true that there is a great deal to be done to
carry out administrative reform in every department of
the State—in the army, the navy, and the civil service.
I mysel made a slight attempt in a matter of army re-
form. (Cheers.) I took the point I did then, f this
reason, that it seemed to me it was a practical test, a
thing which could be done at the moment, that it would
prove whether or not the House of Commons and the
Government were ready to give up the principle on which
they had hitherto made these arrangements—not hastily
but in a manner I believed would bear more fruit in fu-
ture than in the present, but which was applicable at
the moment. I failed in a manner that I confess was
gratifying to myself, from the amount of support and
cenntenance that my propo=a.l received. Other things
might be done—thingA more extensive in that depart-
ment. Gres, things might be done in the civil service,
aed you have now ample tha.teriale in the blue books
laid before Parliament for commencing changes of that
kind ; and I am bound to say that in the last few days
the Government seems to have awakened to sortie con-

eeption of the matter, and to have issued certain orders
with respect to its regulations that I trust will be üb4ul.
Bet, afterall, it is not merely the Government who ;lave
something to do in this matter; we have all something to
do ; constituencies in the country and their representa-
tives have a great deal to do with this question. We
are told that the civil service is filled with unfit men,
and how has that civil service been filled ? It has been
filled by the exigencies of party, and at the request of im-
portunate M.P.'s. Now, let me tell you this, that if you
mean to have administrative reform, to havethese changes
made in the mode of carrying on, the business of the
country, and of appointing man to discharge the duties of
that country's service, we must ourselves be prepared to
take the necessary steps on our side. We members of
Parliament and our constituencies must be prepared not
to wait in theauti-chatubers of Ministers to ask for favours.
I am told that the most importunate in these matters get
most ; but the most importunate are not likely to be the
best judges of men, because they are quite certain to be
the most shameless. It is no pleasant matter to have to
ask a favour of a minister ; and I, for one, have nose to
say that, as I desire administrative reform, and, as I be-
lieve, at this moment it is peculiarly necessary that mem-
bers of Parliament should maintain their independence
and free judgment, I for one am determined that Mr.
Hayter's office shall never again be darkened by my
shadow. That is the way to prove we are in earnest.
As long as constituencies send to Parliament so-called
Liberals—and there are plenty of them who din into the
ears of Whig secretaries of the Treasury that they want
places for this man and for that—so long as that goes on
you cannot and will not have Administrative reform.
There were times when places were bought simply and
plainly for so much money, and there are timed, I sus-
pect, when men are bought by equally efficacious, if less
patent means. I don't mean to say that members of
Parliament are open to corrupt bargains. I should be
unworthy of my position in the House of Commons if I
lent my soul to calumniate my colleagues ; but
this I say—that men are kept in good temper
by the places that are given to their friends. A
member of Parliament keeps his constituents in good
temper by the places he gives them ; the whipper-in
keeps members of Parliament in good temper b 3 the
places he enables them to give to their constituents ;
and so the whole thing goes on until by pres-
sure upon members of Parliament and upon Mini-
sters, the public service is filled with incompetent
men. Add to that all the influences that are brought to
bear by persons of high position and great wealth, who
may support the Government, and then, I think, you
will find that, after all, the share of blame which falls
upon the wretched Ministers is not so great. Those who
talk about administrative reform are scarcely, perhaps,
aware of the wide bearing which their words have. I
think I have shown yon, by what I have now said, that
the task of carrying out effectual reform is not so easy
and so simple ; that it is not to be done by arraigning
administrators at public meetings, but by the earnest
co-operation, I may say, of every man in the country ,•
and I believe, if what you mean is that the administra-
tion of the country shall be carried on; as we often hear
the phrase, in the manner in which a private business is
carried on, before you arrive at that condition of affairs
you will find yourselves called upon to make far deeper
and far wider changes than perhaps now are contem-
plated. I; for one, am prepared to face the conse-
quence of my opinion. I believe, if this country is to
maintain her high position, and we are to show that free
government and good administration are not incompa.
tible, we must pursue this object fearlessly, withersoevor
it may lead us, though cautiously and temperately.
(Cheers.) After some concluding remarks, Lord Gode-
rich sat down amid prolonged and enthusiastic cheering.

CITY BUSINESS FOR JUNE.—The following are the
arrangements for the transaction of civic business during
the present month : sth, Court of Aldermen ; Bth,
Court of Conservancy for Surrey and Middlesex; 11th,
Central Criminal Court ; 12th, Court of Conservancy of
Essex and Kent ; 14tb, Court of Common Council ; 25th,
Court of Aldermen ; 28th, Court of Common Council.

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