登陆注册
5589700000008

第8章 POLITICAL CONDITIONS(3)

When Lord North opposed Pitt's reform in 1785he said(4)that the Constitution was 'the work of infinite wisdom.the most beautiful fabric that had ever existed since the beginning of time.'He added that 'the bulk and weight'of the house ought to be in 'the hands of the country-gentlemen,the best and most respectable objects of the confidence of the people.'The speech,though intended to please an audience of country-gentlemen,represented a genuine belief.(5)The country-gentlemen formed the class to which not only the constitutional laws but the prevailing sentiment of the country gave the lead in politics as in the whole social system.Even reformers proposed to improve the House of Commons chiefly by increasing the number of county-members,and a county-member was almost necessarily a country-gentleman of an exalted kind.Although the country-gentleman was very far from having all things his own way,his ideals and prejudices were in a great degree the mould to which the other politically important class conformed.There was indeed a growing jealousy between the landholders and the 'monied-men.'Bolingbroke had expressed this distrust at an earlier part of the century.But the true representative of the period was his successful rival,Walpole,a thorough country-gentleman who had learned to understand the mysteries of finance and acquired the confidence of the city.The great merchants of London and the rising manufacturers in the country were rapidly growing in wealth and influence.The monied-men represented the most active,energetic,and growing part of the body politic.Their interests determined the direction of the national policy.The great wars of the century were undertaken in the interests of British trade.The extension of the empire in India was carried on through a great commercial company.The growth of commerce supported the sea-power which was the main factor in the development of the empire.The new industrial organisation which was arising was in later years to represent a class distinctly opposed to the old aristocratic order.At present it was in a comparatively subordinate position.The squire was interested in the land and the church;the merchant thought more of commerce and was apt to be a dissenter.But the merchant,in spite of some little jealousies,admitted the claims of the country-gentleman to be his social superior and political leader.His highest ambition was to be himself admitted to the class or to secure the admission of his family.As he became rich he bought a solid mansion at Clapham or Wimbledon,and,if he made a fortune,might become lord of manors in the country.He could not as yet aspire to become himself a peer,but he might be the ancestor of peers.The son of Josiah Child,the great merchant of the seventeenth century,became Earl Tylney,and built at Wanstead one of the noblest mansions in England.His contemporary Sir Francis Child,Lord Mayor,and a founder of the Bank of England,built Osterley House,and was ancestor of the earls of Jersey and Westmoreland.The daughter of Sir John Barnard,the typical merchant of Walpole's time,married the second Lord Palmerston.Beckford,the famous Lord Mayor of Chatham's day,was father of the author of Vatheh,who married an earl's daughter and became the father of a duchess.The Barings,descendants of a German pastor,settled in England early in the century and became country-gentlemen,baronets,and peers.Cobbett,who saw them rise,reviled the stockjobbers who were buying out the old families.

But the process had begun long before his days,and meant that the heads of the new industrial system were being absorbed into the class of territorial magnates.That class represented the framework upon which both political and social power was moulded.

This implies an essential characteristic of the time.A familiar topic of the admirers of the British Constitution was the absence of the sharp lines of demarcation between classes and of the exclusive aristocratic privileges which,in France,provoked the revolution.In England the ruling class was not a 'survival';it had not retained privileges without discharging corresponding functions.The essence of 'self-government,'says its most learned commentator,(6)is the organic connection 'between State and society.'On the Continent,that is,powers were intrusted to a centralised administrative and judicial hierarchy,which in England were left to the class independently strong by its social position.The landholder was powerful as a product of the whole system of industrial and agricultural development;and he was bound in return to perform arduous and complicated duties.How far he performed them well is another question.At least,he did whatever was done in the way of governing,and therefore did not sink into a mere excrescence or superfluity.I must try to point out certain results which had a material effect upon English opinion in general and,in particular,upon the Utilitarians.

III.Legislation and Administration

The country-gentlemen formed the bulk of the lawmaking body,and the laws gave the first point of assault of the Utilitarian movement.One explanation is suggested by a phrase attributed to Sir Josiah Child.(7)The laws,he said,were a heap of nonsense,compiled by a few ignorant country-gentlemen,who hardly knew how to make good laws for the government of their own families,much less for the regulation of companies and foreign commerce.He meant that the parliamentary legislation of the century was the work of amateurs,not of specialists;of an assembly of men more interested in immediate questions of policy or personal intrigue than in general principles,and not of such a centralised body as would set a value upon symmetry and scientific precision.

同类推荐
  • 佛说本相倚致经

    佛说本相倚致经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说帝释岩秘密成就仪轨

    佛说帝释岩秘密成就仪轨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • REGINALD

    REGINALD

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 青眉

    青眉

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 东海文集

    东海文集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 做人要有心机做事要有心计说话要有心眼

    做人要有心机做事要有心计说话要有心眼

    做人有心机,就能在人生长河中腾空踏浪,左右逢源,做事有心计,就能把智慧发挥得淋漓尽致,事事如愿,做人没有心机,清澈如水看似美好,却食之无味,做事没有心计,自视清高看似骨气,却四处碰壁。
  • 多彩的乡村

    多彩的乡村

    这是一幅九十年代中国北方农村绚丽多彩的生活画卷。主人公赵国强即是当今的乡村英雄,他不畏权势,不谋私利,勇于冲破重重阻力,冲破各种传统观念的束缚,终于走上共同富裕的康庄大道。 小说现实感极强,并具有浓郁的生活气息。
  • 张司马定浙二乱志

    张司马定浙二乱志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 川江号子

    川江号子

    2005年初,以四川省音乐舞蹈研究所为主成立了“川江号子项目组”,并于2005年6月至2008年7月,分组数批在四川省和重庆市境内就“川江号子现状”进行了大量实地调研工作。三年中历时180天,走访了18个市、县、镇,行程数千公里,直接采访号子传承人数十人,拍摄、录制及复制当地政府各类号子相关资料若干,拍摄照片数百张,并组织相关专家多次召开研讨会、论证会、学术交流会,对川江号子现状进行了深入细致的讨论和研究。
  • 城南哀歌

    城南哀歌

    少女因爱情毒死母亲,毁掉自己,也毁了家,伦理和生命不敌世俗欲念。如果人生重来一次,她能找到解脱之路吗?三十年前,十七岁的怀珠因为母亲极力反对她和本城的二流子徐平君谈恋爱,在母亲的汤药里加了一勺老鼠药,毒死了母亲。怀珠被判死刑,行刑的那一天,一辆破卡车载着她经过城南往马鬃岭驶去。看着她长大的邻居们站在城南路边夹道观望。他们看见怀珠还没有长熟的身体被麻绳捆绑得像个粽子,一路哭泣着,小脸煞白。卡车经过她家的时候,她挣着扭过脖子,哀哀地喊“阿妈救救我呀阿妈救救我”!几个上了年纪的阿婆先软了心肠,感叹怀珠到底还是个不懂事的孩子,不知道死是怎么回事,现在想起阿妈救命了。
  • 摩天轮上的浪漫告白

    摩天轮上的浪漫告白

    本来是毫不相干的两人,却被一桩商业联姻纠缠在一起。他们慢慢从不爱到爱。当任性大小姐遇上霸道总裁时,会擦出怎样的火花呢?
  • 豪门挚宠调香妻

    豪门挚宠调香妻

    "六年后,她回归故土,在亲人们的哀求以及家族企业受困的双重压力下,她答应了与他人订婚,成为别人的新娘。然而就在这时,他回来了。他说,“宋佳蕊的良人是我,我才是宋佳蕊的名副其实的未婚夫,一个月后我们也将完婚!”他以全新的外貌及尊贵的身份再次闯入了她的生活,摇身一变成为了她的准未婚夫、准新郎……"
  • 快穿之我的世界有个你

    快穿之我的世界有个你

    《1v1绝宠文,互宠》一场意外,女大学生莎华,魂魄被不知名的力量带到了茫茫的混沌之地,接着一场交易,让她游走于各个三千小世界。什么霸道总裁、青梅竹马、冷漠上神、嚣张小混混、呆萌小鲜肉……等等!归根结底都只是一人罢了。生生世世的守护,生生世世的宠溺,当任务九九归一后,那人早已在莎华心中深深的扎了根……
  • 百年老课文

    百年老课文

    人类最大的使命是制造翅膀,最大的成功就是飞翔。看一种书,接受了一个人的见解,又立刻能把那人那书的思想排逐了出去,永远不把别人的思想砖头在自己的周围起墙头来。
  • 高校诡秘事件档案

    高校诡秘事件档案

    秦纤纤是一个喜欢写作推理小说的业余作家,智商高得惊人,但她怎么都想不到在就读的西川大学校园中,就在自己的身边,竟会发生那么多诡异的杀人事件。舞蹈社的社花被人用硫酸毁容,楼梯间惊现焦尸;篮球高手死在球场上,身后忽现诡异的巫毒符号;诅咒娃娃的肚子里,有一根根怵目惊心的断发;废弃教学楼的尸池里,总是保持着同数目的教具尸体每起案件的凶手,都毫无例外地运用高智商故布疑阵,令警方调查陷入一个个僵局之中。