trative Within the last ten years considerable improvements have been effected in the organisation and internal economy of the various departments of State in Great Britain. The dissatisfaction so universally felt by the nation at the conduct of the Russian war, and the widespread conviction that the disasters attending the early Crimean campaigns were mainly attributable to the inefficiency of the public departments, gave rise to a poli tical agitation, whose rallying cry was Administrative Adminis reform. A society was formed to effect this object, but reform. it soon became apparent that, however necessary it was that some alterations should be made in the machinery of the State, this association was wholly incompetent to devise appropriate remedies. Accordingly, it failed to secure any perceptible hold either upon the sympathies of the country at large or upon the convictions of the more intelligent portion of the community. Moreover, the speeches in Parliament of the leaders of the movement indicated an absence of any clear conception of the precise objects to be sought for, as well as of the means for attaining them. Fortunately, however, the statesmen then in power took warning by the misfortunes. that had befallen the country from the want of an ades quate control and responsibility in the governing body, and set themselves in earnest to the work of investigation and reform. They instituted a thorough and searching enquiry, by means of official sub-committees, into the actual condition of all the public departments. They sought the aid of parliamentary committees to enquire into the causes of mal-administration and to recommend suitable remedies for the consideration of government. The suggestions thus obtained were in their turn Annual Register, 1855, p. 144. See debates in House of Commons on Mr. Layard's motion of June 15, 1855, and on Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton's amendment thereto. The ministry had established the system of competitive examinations by Order in Coun VOL. II. N cil in the previous month; intending submitted to official scrutiny before being carried out, and the result has been the complete reorganisation of some of the leading departments of State, heretofore so grievously mismanaged, and the introduction therein of an improved system, calculated to prevent the recurrence of former evils, and to place in the hands of responsible ministers the requisite authority to carry on the government in every emergency, unfettered by official routine, and with all the strength derivable from the ready cooperation of every branch of the public service. The promptitude and efficiency displayed by the newly organised War Department, in despatching to Canada in the winter of 1861-2, and to China in the previous summer, fully equipped armies, amply supplied with the means for attack or defence, are proofs of the reality of the improvements effected, and testify to the value of administrative reform when it proceeds from within instead of from without. Nevertheless, so far as the Board of Admiralty is concerned, it must be confessed that much remains to be accomplished before this important branch of the public service can adequately discharge the duties which devolve upon it. The existence of serious defects of organisation is generally admitted; and it may be hoped that, profiting by past experience, the efforts now being made for the reform of this great department of State will not prove unavailing. When first considering the important questions involved in the reform of the War Office, and of the Board of Admiralty, Parliament had the benefit of the practical sagacity and great experience of that veteran administrator, Sir James Graham, whose services in the committees of enquiry into the working of these departments were invaluable, as we shall be able to point out more particularly when describing the routine in these several offices. One prominent feature in the reforms recently effected in the public departments of Great Britain is deserving Abolition of special mention. It is the general substitution of of boards. concentrated responsibility, in the hands of a minister of the crown, for the undefinable and irresponsible authority of boards. Formerly it was the custom, in most of the public offices, to place the supreme controlling power in the hands of a board, consisting of several members, nominally of equal rank, and who in their collective capacity met together, at stated times, to transact the business of the department. The Treasury, the Admiralty, the Board of Trade and Plantations, the Board of Control for the Government of India, the Ordnance, and the Board of Works, were all originally constituted upon this principle. Gradually, however, it became the practice for the president, or other presiding officer, to transact the ordinary business of the department, convoking the assistance of his colleagues only upon rare and unusual occasions. But while, in most cases, the outward semblance of a board is still preserved, enlarged experience in the practical working of government has led modern statesmen, with singular unanimity, to concur in condemning boards as instruments of executive authority, on account of their being impediments to prompt action, and destructive of personal responsibility, without offering any equivalent advantage. Accordingly, with the solitary See Bentham's Works, vol. ix. p. 218, n. By 6 Anne, c. 7, sec. 27, no increase in the number of commissioners for executing any existing office can be made without the consent of Parliament. Report on Official Salaries, Commons' Papers, 1850, vol. xv. Evid. 873, 874. A board is a very bad thing to administer, but a very good thing to check the expenditure of public money.' Rt. Hon. Mr. Lowe, Rep. Com. on Education, Commons' Papers, 1865, vol. vi. Evid. 670.-See Lord Henry Lennox's speech on a motion for a minister of the crown to be responsible for education, science, exception of the Admiralty, all the boards above enumerated have practically ceased to exist. The Treasury Board never assembles, except for certain formal or extraordinary business, its duties being transacted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, aided by his colleagues and assistants at the Treasury. The business of the Board of Trade is performed by the president and secretary. The Board of Ordnance has been abolished, and its powers transferred to the department in charge of the new Secretary for War. The Board of Control has also ceased to exist, upon the appointment of a Secretary of State for India. The Secretary for India is, it is true, assisted by a permanent council, or board, composed of men who have local knowledge of Indian affairs, and who are possessed of certain specially defined powers; but the secretary himself has supreme authority, and is personally responsible for everything connected with the government of India. The old Board of Works has been divided into two branches, one of which, that of Woods and Forests, has been placed under the direction of two permanent commissioners, who consider that their work is much more satisfactorily performed since they have ceased to be a board, and have been empowered to act individually; and the remaining duties of the Board of Works are performed under the sole authority of a First Commissioner. The constitution of the Board of Admiralty alone remains unchanged. But while respect for its ancient organisation, and a fear of raising discussion upon delicate questions of jurisdiction and authority, have hitherto prevented the formal remodelling of this 6 being decided by the Secretary of State for India, when Secretary Sir C. Wood maintained that on all questions arising with other powers, independent or quasi-independent, the government must act on their own responsibility, subject to the control of Parliament, and they could not shift that responsibility to the Judicial Committee of Privy Council.' Hans. Deb. vol. clxix. P. 814. Sir C. Wood in Hans. Deb. vol. clxxii. p. 784. The Indian Council may indeed control the Secretary upon one or two matters specially reserved for their concurrence by the statute, otherwise his power is supreme. See post, p. 572. J Rt. Hon. W. F. Cowper, First Commissioner of Works, Report Com. on Miscellaneous Expenditure, Commons' Papers, 1860, vol. ix. Evid.884. important department of State, its actual working has been so modified by usage as to bring it into greater harmony with the modern ideas of responsible administration. The Board of Admiralty is now conducted in accordance with the system introduced by the Duke of Wellington for the governance of the Board of Ordnance, at the time that he filled the post of MasterGeneral of that department. This system provided for the subdivision of labour among the various members of the board, to each of whom his special work was assigned, subject to the supreme control of the Master-General, to whom every important matter involving new principles was referred. This plan has been found to work very well at the Admiralty, as will appear more particularly in a subsequent chapter, when the political functions of the Board of Admiralty come under review. The President and Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education are assisted by a committee of Cabinet ministers, appointed by Order in Council, to advise upon educational questions. But this committee never meets unless specially summoned by the Lord President. It never interferes in matters of administration, being merely a consultative body, which, in point of fact, represents the Cabinet, so far as the adoption of general principles of policy and the agreement to Minutes of Council on Education is concerned. But the responsibility for every thing connected with this department rests entirely and absolutely upon the Lord President.' a concen The superior advantages of governing by means of Superiority of one responsible head, over the old-fashioned system of administration by boards of control, is now so generally trated acknowledged," that of late years the internal government bility. * 'The Admiralty is not, in practice, a board. Its affairs are administered by a responsible minister, with a council of professional officers.' Lord C. Paget, Secretary to the Admiralty, in Hans. Deb. vol. clxix. p. 824. And see post, p. 597. Rep. Com. on Education, Com mons' Papers, 1865, vol. vi. Evid. mA noticeable illustration of this responsi |