The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-11 00:00:00

PROMOTION BY MERIT.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN

Sir,—The inevitable result of an assemblage of men
collected together for the purposes of labour will be to
bring to the surface those who are possessed of the greatest
degree of courage or ability, and these men bequeath to
their descendants, often unworthy, the nearest approxi-
mate places to those which they have obtained by their
audacity or learning. Few will be disposed to question
the validitty of the pl2ceman who has gained his post by
either of the above qualities, but how many will try to
oust his successor unless he is possessed of the same.
Granted this, the basis of my argument is established,
and I can proceed on a disquisition of the strange ano-
malies of our service.

I take it that the Civil Service was originally esta-
blished for attending to the work of the King's private
affairs, and was was attached to the royal person, taking
orders from royalty alone—the members must necessarily
have been limited, as the position was honourable, rank-
ing next to the navy and army, the navy being worked by
the different clerks on each ship reporting to the King's
deputy the financial state of each. From the small navy
staff arose the cumbrous machinery of Whitehall and
Somerset House, now happily arranged in a little order.
Other official establishments were speedily raised to meet
the exigencies of State, and to these were appointed as
clerks the protoges of the great. Individual ability was
seldom the criterion for advancement, and patronage was
the order of the day.
Till a very few years ago the same routine was observed
in each governmental department. Promotion was made
solely by seniority, and ability lay dormant and fretful
of its claims. Yet the conservatism of the civil servants
was such that they rebelled against change, and preferred
their chance of promotion by seniority (which would take
them years) to that of promotion by merit, which raised
them at once to a superior class.
The system so lately introduced has its demerits, like
everything else. It gives a marvellous power into the
hands of the chief of an office, and a fearful responsibility
rests on him as to the right use of it.
Too much has lately been said on this matter for me
to advance further than facts will enable me. Far be it
from me to say that any recent promotion has not been
merited by those advanced, or that any gentleman holding
so high a position as the chief of a department would use
his power for the advancement of a personal friend.
Still it would be useless to deny that such imputations
have been levelled at the heads of departments where
young men have been suddenly elevated over their seniors
by ten, fifteen, or twenty years' standing.
Let us inquire how far these allegations are true, and
the causes of their existence. We, of the Civil Service—
in fact, we of the universal service of mankind—
are aware of the dignity of labour, of the respect
which some labours demand—of the disgust which others
engender. We could not compare that of the street
sweeper with that of the astronomer, anylmore than we
could compare that of the stevedore with that of the
clerk. There always has been and will be different classes
in labour as in society—even from the time of Joseph,
Prince of Egypt, who, by the bye, gives the first instance
of promotion by merit. Excuse this digression—pardon-
able when we look at the argument—Promotion by Merit.
Merit, as interpreted in Civil Service language, means the
advancement of a man who has been told off to a certain
duty which had hitherto been performed by a man of a
superior grade. If this duty is satisfactorily performed,
the man whom the chief delighteth to honour is promoted
at the first opportunity. It will hence be seen that pro-
motion arises from the fact of a man meriting to perform
a certain duty—not from any intrinsic merit
of the man himself. Then comes the dark
shade of the scene, and the question is
naturally asked " But why should a man merit
to be employed on a duty which leads to promotion ?"
That the chief can explain better than anyone else. Still
some elucidation of the system is needed, and I think the
best plan will be to state the matter thus :—A does a duty
which has hitherto been performed by B, who is a first-
class clerk ; but A has had considerable insight during
B's tenure of office into the intricacies of the work. It is
done well ; tht. chief considers him a good clerk ; and when
a vacancy arises he is promoted. But, presuming that he
is on promotion removed from this to another sphere of
official duty, which has also been performed by a first-
class clerk, and presuming that his incapacity is so glaring
that a man in an inferior class is obliged to supply his
place, should not the man who so supplies his position be
promoted ? Yes, if it is so destined. But, again, sup-
posing that the man so acting has not the favour of the
chief, he is actually employed at the same work
which his more fortunate brother, has been
doing, and at a much less pecuniary recompense.
Here, then, lies the fault of the system, here the cry of
partiality, and we may admit that there are some grounds
for the suspicion; still, we ask, can such immorality (we can
call it nothing else) be ? Can the heads of departments
so act ? It is at least suspected. A commander, to insure
the loyalty of his men, should be above suspicion.
In conclusion, my labour has been to throw some light
on this subject of promotion by merit. To shew the great
power entrusted in the hands of the chief of a department,
his power to make a man happy or to mar his existence,
to sour his disposition, to make him, in fact, a mere
spiritless machine. I speak of the present, as lam of the
present, and I look at the future, as I hope to be of the
future, it • may be in the same humble position
as at present, but if by chance I am raised
from this to a higher one, my task would
be, to seek by personal inspection the most deserving, and
to reward their labour of years by that species of en-
couragement to which they are most entitled. This would
prevent the :petty intrigues and the heartburnings of the
present system ; and would restore a healthful vigour to
a service which is now only to be compared to a snug
business managed by an astute firm of fast friends, only
desirous of their own interests, and that of their clients.
A CIVIL SERVANT.

THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.—Mr. MacGregor
of the Rob Roy, who has long been connected with indus-
trial, ragged, and reformatory schools, with the Shoe-
black Brigade, and the Children's Agency, is a candidate
for Greenwich.

DEAN MVEILE'S STATUE.—At a meeting of the
Liverpool Town Council on Wednesday, a proposal by
Mr. E. Whitley, to the effect that a statue of the Dean
of Ripon (who was formerly resident in Liverpool), sub-
scribed for and presented to the Corporation by the
Dean's admirers, should be erected in St. George's
Hall, gave rise to a very animated discussion. The
Roman Catholic members of the Council opposed the
motion on the ground that the location in the chief public
building of the town of the statue of one who had so bit-
terly assailed their creed and ridiculed its ministers,
would be to them nothing less than a permanent insult.
Several Dissenters, as well as members of the Church of
England, also spoke in opposition to the proposal, on the
ground that the Dean was the representative of too
sectional a portion of the Church of England, and enjoyed
too local a fame to be entitled to the distinction now
sought for him. The motion had the support of certain
other Dissenters, and on being put to the vote it was car-
ried by 36 tol6.

THE VOTING IN PARIS. Writing on the
4th instant, the Paris correspondent of the Standard
says :—The Government of necessity has received
the sanction of legality. At eleven to-day the
votes were publicly declared to be (less those of the
garrison and a few of the suburban communes), ayes,
321,373; noes, 53,585. Order triumphant by a
majority of over 250,000 voices ! The partisans of
the Commune confess themselves badly beaten.
The Reveit, which is the ablest and the accredited mouth-
piece of extreme Republicanism, admits that the Govern-
ment has a crushing majority, and, consistent with its role
of opposition (" Whatever is, is wrong," is the apparent
motto of this party), predicates an armistice which will be
the preface of a treaty of peace shameful and ruinous to
France as the consequence. It reproaches the provisional
rulers of France with having avenged the disasters of
Metz and Sedan on the suffering backs of Belleville. Still
the Reds, though admitting a bad beating, do not allow it
to be a fair beating. Two reasons are assigned as excuse
for the victory at the voting tables, the one, sound, is,
that the armistice was the talisman that multiplied the
" Ayes "—the other, wilfully false and exaggerated,
" more than 200,000 electors of the army and the
Mobile voted with the powers that be, and made up more
than half of its supporters." The votes of the garrison
were not counted, and, moreover, there are not 200,000
military electors here, but in that point silence is exacted,
as it would be helping the enemy to state secrets to define
the numbers. But assuming that the statement were
true, this query will arise, "Should not the men who
watch over Paris, who are ready to shed their blood for
it, have a voice determining for whom and what, and
under what flag they battle ?" No fighting. The weather
glass and the political barometer seem to be running a
race—the one to freezing point, the other to peace.
Order reigns in Paris still ; and if the truth must
be hinted at, I conjecture very much for the
same reason that it reigned formerly in Warsaw. The
governor, like a stern constable, has pretty plainly
intimated that any more attempts to provoke
a breach of the peace will be checked by the
truncheon. A rumour goes about in whispers that Flou-
rens and some other unruly spirits have been put out of
harm's way till the storm blows over. The policy may be
compared to that of a certain Second of December, but
when the ship is czuising on a lee shore the man at' the
helm should not be meddled with.
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