The Government of England (Vol. I)

by A. Lawrence Lowell

Its Early Victories.

The association had accomplished a great feat. Three Liberals had been sent to Parliament from Birmingham in spite of the minority representation clause. But a chance for another victory of the same kind did not come again until the dissolution six years later; and at first the managers were less fortunate in the elections to the school board. The Education Act of 1870 provided for cumulative voting at the election of these bodies; that is, the elector might cast all the votes to which he was entitled for one candidate, or distribute them in any way he pleased. The system made it possible for very small minorities to elect one or more candidates, and the Liberal Association, in trying to elude its effects, as they had done in the case of the parliamentary election, attempted too much and carried only a minority of the board. For a time the organisation languished; but it was soon recalled to a more vigorous life than ever.

Its Revival in 1873.

In 1873 the association was revived for the purpose of getting control of the municipal government of the town, and introducing a more progressive policy in its administration. Two names are especially associated with the new departure, that of Mr. Schnadhorst, the secretary of the association, who had a genius for organising, and that of Mr. Chamberlain, who was the leading spirit of the movement, and became the mayor of the borough in the following autumn. These men proceeded to reconstruct the association on a slightly different, and apparently even more democratic, plan. Taking the wards as the sole basis of the fabric, an annual meeting was held in each ward, at which any Liberals residing there might take part. They were entitled to do so whether voters or not, and without regard to any subscription, provided they signified their adherence to the objects and organisation of the association, a statement which was understood to imply a willingness to accept the decisions of the majority. The meeting elected a committee, a chairman and a secretary for the ward; three persons to serve with those two officers upon the executive committee of the central association; and a number of persons, fixed in 1877 at thirty, to serve on the general committee. The central executive committee contained, in addition to the five members so elected in each ward, the four officers of the association, and thirty members coöpted by itself. It chose seven of its own members, who with the four officers formed a management sub-committee of eleven. The general committee of the association was composed, as before, of the whole executive committee, together with the thirty representatives from each ward; and, as there were sixteen wards, it numbered by 1877 five hundred and ninety-four members; and was known as the "Six Hundred" of Birmingham. It had power to determine the policy of the association, and to nominate the candidates for Parliament and the school board. The members of the town council, on the other hand, being elected by wards, were nominated by the ward committees; but the whole association was bound to support them.

Its Efficiency.

Such was the new organisation of the Liberal Association.[472:1] Its efficiency as an engine for controlling elections is proved by the fact that during the four years from 1873 to 1876, inclusive, it carried all three seats in Parliament in spite of the provision for minority representation, a majority of the school board at each election in spite of the provision for cumulative voting, and all but two of the sixty-eight members elected to the town council during that period.[472:2] The association was, indeed, well constructed for the purpose.

As in the case of every political organisation based upon primary meetings, an attempt to wrest the control from those who held it was a difficult undertaking. To be successful more than half the wards must be captured at one time, and that in the face of vigilant men, who knew all the ropes, who had the management sub-committee in their hands, and who by means of coöptation could convert a narrow majority into a larger one, and thus perpetuate their own power. On the other hand, a revolt against the nominations actually made was well-nigh precluded by the agreement virtually entered into on joining the association, to abide by the decision of the majority. It has been said that for a dozen years the men who conducted the organisation sent travelling companions to one ward meeting after another to insure the election of their supporters to the various committees.[473:1] Whether this be true or not, it is certain that the power of the managers was never overturned. Their rule has, indeed, been prolonged over such a period that it must be attributed both to the excellence of the mechanism and to their own popularity. Throughout the many vicissitudes of his long career, from his early years of advanced radicalism, through his breach with Mr. Gladstone over the Home Rule Bill, his subsequent junction with the Conservatives, and finally his advocacy of a wholly new policy about preferential tariffs, Mr. Chamberlain has never failed to carry every one of the parliamentary seats in Birmingham for his own adherents. Such a result shows a power which nothing but a strong personal hold upon the people, and a hold coupled with a highly efficient organisation, could have secured.

Criticisms of the System.

The system adopted by the Liberals in Birmingham was copied in other places, and soon became the subject of vehement discussion, the arguments for and against it being the same that are commonly used in the case of every party organisation. Its adversaries declared that it threw absolute power into the hands of men with time to devote to working the machinery; that it set up a tyranny which crushed out individuality, extinguished free discussion of opinions, destroyed independence in public life, caused a loss of variety and fertility in Liberalism, and brought party politics into municipal affairs where they ought not to be.

Its Defence.