Politics and Progress: A Survey of the Problems of Today by Ramsay Muir

Author:Ramsay Muir [Muir, Ramsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317246923
Google: 45xACwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-12-22T12:32:49+00:00

IV. IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POLITICAL DEMOCRACY

When we turn to the sphere of domestic reorganization, no one will deny to Liberalism the credit of having played the main part in shaping the machinery of democracy. The Reform Act of 1832, which began the history of the Liberal party, was followed by the Reform Act of 1867, which, though it was introduced by a Conservative government, was turned into a democratic measure by the Liberal opposition; and this in its turn was succeeded by the Act of 1884, which enfranchized the rural labourer and very nearly established manhood suffrage. But the enlargement of the franchise formed only a minor element in the establishment of democracy. Vote by ballot was needed to make it real, and this was a Liberal measure (1871). The restriction of the power of the House of Lords was a necessary supplement; and this was only achieved, after a fierce fight, in 1911. With these changes may be associated the opening of the civil service to brains rather than to influence, which was secured by the establishment of appointment by competitive examination in 1871. These measures gave to the nation as a whole, when its will was clearly formulated, the power of carrying it into effect.

Not less important, and in some ways even more directly beneficent, was the creation of a new system of local government. Elected Boards of Guardians replaced the old irresponsible Justices of the Peace in the management of the Poor Law; elected Municipal Councils gave for the first time to the towns a unified system of administration, and enabled them to begin the long fight against squalor and degradation: few greater services have been rendered to the British people than the creation of the system which made this work possible. Elected Boards of Health and other authorities, including, presently, School Boards, followed. These were all Liberal achievements. Later (1888) the counties were also equipped with representative councils. This Act, though it had been drafted by a Liberal statesman, was actually carried by a Conservative government. But a Liberal government completed the structure by establishing District and Parish Councils (1894). The people, in their town, county, or village communities, had been endowed once more with the long-lost power of controlling their own affairs.

Political freedom needs more than the mere machinery of self-government. It needs a just system of law and an efficient judiciary. It got both from Liberalism, which revised the penal code, and made it humane; reconstructed the commercial code, and adapted it to the needs of growing industry; and, finally, reorganized the whole judicial system. Religious disabilities were swept away. The Press, without which political democracy is all but impossible, was freed from all restrictions save those of the libel law, and relieved of the special taxation which had been deliberately imposed to hamper its development.

All these are achievements of a kind which even its bitterest critics are ready to credit to Liberalism: they are all a necessary part of the establishment of political democracy, which is sometimes held to have been the main achievement of Liberalism.

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