The Government of England (Vol. I)

by A. Lawrence Lowell

The draft rules prepared by the Federation are merely typical, and although in their general outlines they give a very fair idea of the organisation of local associations throughout the country, there are endless variations in detail and in nomenclature. If, indeed, the constitutions of a number of these bodies are examined at random, no two of them will probably be found exactly alike. It may be observed that the draft rules make no provision for coöptation, an arrangement that appears nevertheless in the rules of many local associations. Nor do they require the payment of any subscription as a condition for membership; but this again is not infrequently done, the sum required running from a nominal amount up as high as five shillings. Sometimes the payment is a condition for any participation in the organisation; sometimes it is not needed for voting in the ward or district meetings, but confers a right to vote in the general meetings of the association, or to be elected to the committees by coöptation. Occasionally Liberal members of the town council and school board have ex officio seats on the council of the association; or local Liberal clubs, although not strictly democratic, are given a representation upon it. But owing to the fact, which will be explained hereafter, that the competition for nomination to Parliament is not very keen, and hence there is rarely a close canvass of the members of the committees, all these differences in detail are of little practical importance. The essential point is that in almost every English parliamentary constituency, whether county or borough, where the chance of carrying the election is fair, there is to-day an association of a representative and nominally, at least, of a democratic character. It contains habitually the three organs, of officers, executive committee, and council; while in the great towns that have several seats there is a still larger organisation comprising all the parliamentary divisions.

The Paid Agents.

It is an old custom for parliamentary candidates to employ paid agents, usually solicitors by profession, to take charge of the election, and with the growth of popular organisations the business has assumed in most places a more systematic form. The association for each parliamentary division, and sometimes for a smaller district, has a paid as well as an honorary secretary. His duties are many, for he is the maid-of-all-work of the organisation, and is known by the comprehensive title of Liberal Agent for that division. He acts as clerk for the association, organises committees for wards or polling districts, supervises subordinate agents, arranges public meetings, gives advice and assistance wherever needed, canvasses the voters, attends to their registration, and conducts the hearings before the Revising Barrister. He is also usually appointed by the candidate his statutory election agent; and, if so, he takes general charge of the whole campaign, having under him a band of clerks, sub-agents, and messengers, and a small army of volunteer canvassers. He is an important factor in politics; for upon his skill as an organiser, and his tact and good sense in conducting the fight, the result of the election may often depend.

These agents have been said to be the only professional politicians in England; and in one sense that is true, for they are the only class of men who make a living out of party politics; but the expression is inappropriate, because they are not politicians at all in the sense in which the term is used in other countries. They have nothing to do with the direction of politics; they merely help to elect a candidate in whose selection they have no voice; and although their advice may have weight, their duty is solely to carry out the instructions of others. Like all other permanent officials in England, their actual influence depends upon circumstances. If a chairman is capable and active, the power of the agent will not be so great as in the more common case where the chairman leans very much upon him. The agents, in short, are more nearly akin to the permanent official than to the politician. In fact they have no political aspirations for themselves, for they are not of the class from which members of Parliament are taken.

Their salaries, which vary much, run all the way from forty pounds to four hundred pounds, with about one hundred and fifty pounds as the average, the scale of pay having risen somewhat of late years. They must be thoroughly familiar with the law of registration and election, and are commonly recruited from solicitors with a small practice, or from accountants; although many of them—perhaps nearly one half—finding that their work as agents fills their whole time, have given up all other business. The occupation tends, indeed, to become a profession by itself; one to which a man devotes his life after he has once entered it. The Liberal agents have a national association of their own, containing some two hundred and fifty members, and a few years ago, in order to maintain a higher standard, a smaller society was formed, which issues certificates of qualification. The association meets every year at the time of the meeting of the National Liberal Federation, and such of the agents attend as can afford to go, or can get their employers to pay their expenses. They meet usually about one hundred and fifty strong, and are given a breakfast at which they are addressed by the chief whip, and by the leader of the party in Parliament or some other prominent member; for their importance is now thoroughly appreciated. Thus there has arisen in English political life a class of men whose counterpart exists in no other country. They occupy in the party a position not unlike that of the non-commissioned officers in the army. Their work is essential to success, but they have no hope of promotion beyond their own grade. Their position is perfectly well understood, and they tend to surround it with professional safeguards and supports.

Liberal Agents in Scotland.

In Scotland political associations with paid agents have developed more slowly than in England; partly because a great deal of the work connected with registration, which falls upon the party agents in England, is done by the public authorities north of the Tweed; and partly because it was the old Scotch habit to have election business, like everything else, conducted for the candidate by his regular attorney. The result is that although there are many Liberal associations in Scotland, and the agents have tended to become a class so far as to form a society among themselves, they have as a rule much less work to do than in England, and are still usually paid almost entirely out of the candidate's own pocket. Hence, when he is defeated, and gives up the fight, the constituency is apt to lose its agent altogether, and become derelict.

Conservative Local Organisations.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion, the Conservatives have, in the matter of party organisation, been more than once the first in the field; and although their machinery has neither been so democratic nor attracted so much attention as that of the Liberals, it has been on the whole more effective. The Reform Act of 1832 was no sooner passed than they began energetically to form registration societies; and the extension of the borough franchise in 1867 brought a renewed activity. They tried at once to enlist the interest, and win the support, of the workingmen who had been made voters in large numbers. At the general election of the following year they worked in vain, but in a short time they succeeded so well, that at the next election, in 1874, they obtained a majority in the House of Commons for the first time since 1841. Their victory was, indeed, commonly attributed to their superior organisation, a fact which gave a powerful incentive to the adoption by their rivals of Mr. Chamberlain's plan for a National Liberal Federation.

Their Growth after 1867.