The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-25 00:00:00

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the ability and zeal with which the civil service commis.l
sioners bad discharged their important duties, and pro.
ceeded to adduce from their reports evidence to show
that out of 106 candidates who had been examined for
the Customs' departMent, 42 had been rejected for thee
gross(st ignorance ;• while out 01.54 candidates who bad
been examined for tbo Admiralty appointments, 19 had •
been rejected in consequence of their inability to spell
correctly. It appeared that in the case of sorne of the re-
jected candidates, the word "fingers" had been spelt
"fi :gure..,7 while the word "guilty" had been gthened
by toe addition of a second "t;" and further, that all those
who had been rejected were nominee Candidate: Now
the only remedy for the continuance of such a state of
things was, he believed, to be found in the adoption of the
syStem of free and open cornptti doze and in the maintenance
ofthat view he was upheld by the perusal of the commis-
sioners' report. It was bet and all question the duty of the
Government to obtaia for employment in the civil ser-
vice the fittest persons who could he secured. Under
the existing system a result so desirable- had failed to be
brought about, inasmuch as one-third or one-fourth of
the nominee candidates had been rejected upon account
of their deficiency in respect of the simp'est elements of
knowledge ; nor was there any guarantee that those
who had succeeded were much more conversant with
that information which it was expedient they should pos-
sess. And to what, he might ask, was the deficiency in
knowledge, to which he referred to be ascribed ? Was it
to the circumstance that the middle classes—from which
the candidates for civil service wereloi the most part de-
rived—were themselves deficient' in 'education ? In his
opinion, the cause ought rather to be sought in the pre-
sent defective mode of selecting those candidates for
examination. (Hear.) And it was because he held that
opinion that he was desirous of seeing a system of free
and open competition for the civil service established.
By the adoption of such a system we should be enlarging
the sphere of our choice and -would be enabled to
make our selection from the flower of the middle classes.
In support of his views upon that subject he might to
sonic extent quote the authority of .the right hon. gen-
tlemae the present Secretary for the Colonies, who, in
a letter to the Civil Service Commissioners, had stated
it to be his opinion that examinations conducted upon
the competitive principle afforded a better security for
the selection of fit candidates than, in its absence, the
efforts of examiners, however experienced they might
be, could provide. The opinion of the commissioners ne'ae6ith
would, he thought, upon 'a perusal of their report, be
found to be no less clear upon the point, and he there-
fore hoped that the subject would receive the serious
attention of her Majesty's Government. It might be
urged, however, by the advocates of the system of nomi-
nation, that under it a certain valuable control was exer-
cised with respect to the moral qualifications of those
who prei eated themselves as candidates for examination,
and that under the system which he proposed such must
cease to be the case. But in answer to that argument
he might ask, if it was true that under the present sys-
tem any such valuable moral control as that to which he
had just alluded prevailed ? Did the right hon. gentle-
man the member for Wells (Mr. Ilayter), for instance,
institute any inquiries upon that score ?—or if he did,
was it possible in nine cases out of ten any accurate in-
formation could be received ? He believed not, and he
could not, therefore, see that the argument to which he
had averted formed any good ground why a system of
open competition should not be favourably entertained.
He might observe that the Society of Arts bad recently
promulgated a scheme for a system of public examine-
Von for members of mechanics' institutes, which was
based upon the principle of free competition, and
that to that scheme several eminent commercial firms,
to whom a prospectus of it had been rent, had given
their approval. He need only mention the firms of the
honourable membsr for Halifax (Mr. Crossley); Fox,
Henderson, and Co., and Truman, Hanbnry, Buxton,
and Co., as among the number, to show that it was
a principle likely to find favour with the commercial
classes. It was the principle which was adopted in the
Indian civil service and in the Ordnance department,
and in both it had been found to work well. But it
might be said the civil service in this country was not so
lucrative as in India, and that the success of free compe-
tition in its regard could not be taken as a guarantee of
the success of a similar system established at home, in-
asmuch as here similar attractions, in point of emolu-
ment, would not be presented to men of ability. His
answer to that argument should be, that he believed
the Government would have no difficulty in finding
competent men in this country, too, if they set to work
in the right way, because the civil service appoint.
ments contained that element of certainty which would,
beyond all doubt, direct towards their attainment the
minds of a large number of the youth of the middle
classes. (Hear, bear.) He also wished to consider
the question of free competition in relation to its bear-
ing upon the advancement of education generally
throughout the kingdom ; and that was a point to
which he more particularly desired to call the attention
of that majority who bad, upon a late occasion, disposed
so summarily of the subject of national education in that
house. Bus, although be was anxious that the house
should sanction the principle of open competition to the
civil service; he was well aware that its adoption could
prelude no udraculous improvement in our public ad-
ministration. But in a Government like ours, where
the heads of the great offices of state were frequently
changed, a considerable advantage would necessarily
be gained by any measure which would tend to increase
the efficiency of the subordinate officials in the public
departments. Let them condder for a moment the
influence which the present system exercised over the re•
lat ions of members of that bone to the people whom they
represented. He believed that under that system both
the electors and elected were placed in a false and unbe-
coming position. The member of Parliament who re-
commended a person for employment did not ask him-
self whether he was the fittest person that could
be found, but pressed his application with a zeal pro-
portioned to the chances of support he might him-
self receive from a constituent at an election ; and the
elector put on his representative a pressure which must,
in the natural course of things, prove detrimental to the
public service. He could net for a moment believe that
such a system was necessary to the geed working of our
Pariiamentooy form of government. It was, in his opi-
nion, of the utmost importance that we should prevent
the relatitns which members of Parliament bore to their
conetitoents from sinking into thst of mere delegates and
dispensers ef patronage. The connection between them
ought to rest on nm•usl confidence—a confidence on the
part of t! e elect ors in tl e'r a is !win honesty, and patriot-
ism of their lepresentinivee, and ac infidence on the part
of the elected in the medera ion and intel,igence of their
constituents. He believed thet by adopting the compi-
titive system in that case more would be done than could
be effected by any other measure to place the relations
of both pardes on a sound and an honest footing. He
believed, t )o, that such a change would greatly con-
tribute to insure the most efficient men for the dis-
charge of the public service ; to relieve the Government
from an tent arrassing and an injurious pressure ; to pro-
mote the ditfusion of education throughout the country •
to remove class differences, and to allay the sense of
class irjustice ; and fir these reasons he begged leave to
move the address of which he hal given notice.
Sir S. NORTHCOTE seconded the motion. He sail he
had reason to think that the objects of tho e who advocated
the open competitive system in that case were very gene-
rally misunderstood by their opponents. They certainly did
not wish that the only test of fitness for an office should
be mere book learning. Tony felt, on the contrary, that
good character Was the very first of all qualifications, and
that literary or scientific attainments should be a subor-
dinate consideration. The open competitive system, as he
understood it, did not exclude, but, on the contrary, in-
cluded a careful exainination of character. It was fre-
quently said that such a man as the Duke of Wellington
would have been rejected under a competitive system.
But lie did not believe that; he wes persuaded, on the con-
trary, that the Duke of Wellington would have easily
succeeded in passing any exa,minetion for which the cir-
cumstances of his tuna might have rendered it necessary
that he should have prepared himself. There was no
reason why an examination should not be so framed that
it would make known the stuff that was in a man as well
as his proficiency in any particular branch of human
study. He had been very much struck with a passage
in the book on England lately pub'ished by M. de Mon-
talembert. lu that passage the writer contrasted the
life and freedom of our system of education with the re-
straint imposed on the boys iu the colleges of his own
country ; and he ended by etoting that the English sys-
tem turned out nut mere scholars, but men. That was
precisely the system which he eished to encourage
and to develop by the adoption of the competitive prin.
ciple in examinations for admission into our public
offices ; amid he believed that such a measure would, at
the same time, have the effect of securing for the state
the aid of the most useful and efficient public servants.
(Hear, hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—The noble
lord, in the speech so full of moderation and good taste in
which lie has brought this motion forward, has said that
those who advocate the measure which ho supports have
been charged with the intention of endangering the con-
stitution and subverting the liberties of the country. So
far as I am concerned in anything I may have formerly
said, I never certainly made any such charge as that ; and
I am far from intending to make any such imputation on
the present occasion. My noble friend likewise has argued
against the system of nomination upon the ground that it
is unnecessary, and detrimental with respect to the
working of our representative system of government.
Ho has shown the disadvantage which a system of nomi-
nation, conducted simply upon priaciples of patronage,
is calculated to produce in respect to the purity of our
electoral system. Ido not object to the principle of
open competition, upon the ground of its inconsistency
with the system of patronage ; nor, I am bound to say,
will I throw any doubt upou the doctrine which my
noble friend enforces, upon the ground that it will diminieh
the patronage at the disposal of the Crown. I wish to argue
this question simply upon the ground of the efficiency of
the service. Whether the principle my noble friend seeks
to introduce will or will not render the civil service of the
Crown more efficient than it was before--that is the issue
which I wish to raise. A motion, identical in its tendency,
though different in expression, was submitted last session by
the hon. member for the county of Cork ; it underwent full
debate, and ended with a rejection of the motion. It was
made not long after the order in council appointing the
civil service commission had issued; and the house ap-
peared reluctantly to disturb that measure before it had had
a fair trial. That system has now been in force something
less than a year. The tailor in council is dated the 2let of
May, 185-, ; and of course a little delay occurred before it
could bo carried out. The civil service commissioners have
made their report ; it is now on the table of the house ;
null in that report they have, with great perspicuity and
fulness, detailed the steps they have taken in execution of
the important trust confided to them. I hope that every
one who has read this report will agree with me in think-
ing that the civil service commissioners have discharged
their duties with great discretion, and in a highly efficient
and useful manner, and that tho choice of the Crown could
not possibly have fallen on gentlemen more calculated to
perform• the duty in a satisfactory manner. The result of
their proceedings has been to subject all the candidates for
adMiSeien into the public, sexyjoe to gi examination fore