LITERARY NOTICES. 



413 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Civil Government in the United States 

 considered, with some reference to its 

 Origins. By John Fiske. Boston and 

 New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 

 xxx + 360. 



If not the most important book that Mr. 

 Fiske has written, this is, without doubt, one 

 of the most useful. The plan of it is good, 

 the spirit of it is good, the execution of it 

 is good. Lucid arrangement seems to come 

 naturally to Mr. Fiske, and to lucidity of 

 arrangement he is always able to add ex- 

 treme felicity of expression. With this book 

 accessible to him, no American, young or old, 

 can have any excuse for remaining ignorant 

 of the leading facts in connection either with 

 the political development or the existing po- 

 litical structure of his native country. Here 

 we have the story told in the simplest lan- 

 guage, and in a style which is not too viva- 

 cious to be serious nor too serious to be 

 vivacious. Moreover, by a happy art in se- 

 lection, Mr. Fiske has told us just what it is 

 most important to understand and remem- 

 ber. His task is one of narrative and expo- 

 sition ; and he is not, therefore, called upon 

 to any great extent for the expression of his 

 individual opinions. Here and there, how- 

 ever, he has found occasion for a judicious 

 comment or a penetrating criticism, with the 

 result of making us feel regret that his limits 

 did not permit more extended remarks of 

 this character. 



In the first chapter he deals with govern- 

 ment as the taxing power, and broadly states 

 that the taking of taxes for a wrong purpose, 

 as by a political party in order to strengthen 

 its hold on power, is robbery. In his second 

 he sketches the rise of the township, and 

 shows the connection existing between this 

 primary political unit and the church congre- 

 gation. The important functions exercised 

 by the township authorities are fully de- 

 scribed, and justice is done to the politically 

 educative effect of township institutions. 

 Very instructive parallels are drawn be- 

 tween the institutions of the parent state 

 and those established on American soil. 

 Except the development of our written Con- 

 stitution, every bit of civil government de- 

 scribed in his pages came to America, says 

 Mr. Fiske, " directly from England, and not 

 a bit of it from any other country unless by 



being first filtered through England." Much 

 detailed information is given as to the local 

 circumstances which helped to mold the 

 development of counties and States in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. Chapter V, en 

 " The City," is most important. Here, again, 

 our author takes us to the old land, and 

 shows us the development of the Roman 

 camp or military settlement into a burg, and 

 the gradual growth in the burg of princi- 

 ples and traditions of liberty, though in 

 many of them oligarchical tendencies be- 

 came manifest in course of time, giving rise 

 to the " rotten boroughs " which, on the 

 political side, were dealt with by the Reform 

 Act of 1832, and, on the civic side, by the 

 Municipal Reform Act of 1835. It was the 

 constitution of the English city or borough 

 that determined the constitution of the first 

 city governments established in this country ; 

 and here, too, a distinct tendency toward 

 oligarchy, with its attendant evils, began to 

 make itself felt. The city government, in- 

 stead of being freely elected by the people, 

 was, after the pattern of the English bor- 

 ough, a self-perpetuating corporation with a 

 very limited responsibility to the citizens in 

 general. In course of time this system was 

 abolished ; freedom of election for all city 

 officers was established ; and then, unfortu- 

 nately, other evils set in, evils which perhaps 

 reached their height in this city some twenty 

 years ago. The tendency of late years in 

 our cities, as Mr. Fiske points out, has been 

 to concentrate larger powers in the hands 

 of the mayor, and to fasten on him a pro- 

 portionately heavy responsibility. "A hun- 

 dred years ago," the author remarks, "our 

 legislators and Constitution - makers were 

 much afraid of what was called the 'one- 

 man power.' " To-day we are getting to be 

 more afraid of the myriad-headed tyrant, 

 with its manager, " the ring." Fifty years 

 ago to have had so few elective officers as, 

 for example, there are in the neighboring 

 city of Brooklyn, and so many nominated by 

 one man, would, we are told, " have greatly 

 shocked all good Americans." To-day we 

 feel that we are safer in the hands of one 

 honest man of good judgment, who knows 

 that the eyes of all the citizens are fixed on 

 him, than in those of any body of elected 

 officers, each with only a partial and more 

 or less doubtful responsibility. Mr. Fiske 



