NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 351 



mitted under the competitive system, the level of capacity has been 

 rising. Many of the best men from the great universities now enter 

 it. It is, perhaps, still deficient in special training for the scientific 

 side of administrative work, but this defect diminishes as better 

 provision is made for instruction in these subjects, a matter hereto- 

 fore neglected in England. It is not always abreast of new ideas 

 and expedients, but one can hardly expect a public service using 

 public money to be as bold and enterprising as private firms. It 

 maintains an extremely high level of purity, scandals being almost 

 unknown. It has a strong corporate public spirit and sense of duty 

 to its own reputation and to the country. It exerts a great and, 

 I think, a growing influence upon legislation and upon the way in 

 which legislation is carried out in practice. This it does, not because 

 the law allows a wide stretch of power to officials, for in this respect 

 England resembles the United States, and gives no such free hand 

 as France and Germany do, but because each department has formed 

 its own settled habits and traditions, and impresses these traditions 

 and its own views upon its parliamentary head. That head is, no 

 doubt, its absolute master. But he is obliged by his want of special 

 knowledge to lean upon the experience and judgment of his staff, 

 and he needs a keen mind and a firm will if he is to overrule their 

 counsels. The permanent officials usually serve him loyally, what- 

 ever their private political views may be. The trust he reposes in 

 them and the credit they enjoy in the country are due to the fact 

 that a civil servant is understood to have no politics and must not 

 meddle with party controversies, either by speaking at meetings or 

 by writing in the press. It is against constitutional doctrine to impute 

 any blame or attribute any policy or any responsibility to a member 

 of the permanent civil service. Policy and responsibility belong to 

 the parliamentary head, because he has the power of controlling and, 

 if necessary, of dismissing, for serious fault, his subordinates. 



In my own country of Scotland a sermon and this sermon would 

 be for Scotland a short one usually winds up with what is called 

 " The Application." If I am to append an application to this dis- 

 course, in extenuation of the dryness of which I must plead the 

 overmastering necessity of severe compression, the practical lesson 

 to be enforced is the following: 



Every country which desires to be well administered must keep 

 two things vital. One is to keep its public service pure. To keep it 

 pure it ought, in these days of increased temptation, to be well paid. 

 If it is well paid, it is sure to attract plenty of ability, and ability may 

 be trusted, under an honest and careful system of promotion, to find 

 its way to the top. 



The other thing is to make appointments by merit and promo- 

 tions by seniority and merit combined. For this purpose it must be 



