49-601: The English Constitution is a book by Walter Bagehot . First serialised in The Fortnightly Review between 15 May 1865 and 1 January 1867, and later published in book form in 1867, it explores the constitution of the United Kingdom —specifically the functioning of Parliament and the British monarchy —and the contrasts between British and American government . The book became a standard work which
98-452: A Reform Bill. It was a cautious bill, which proposed to enfranchise "respectable" working men, excluding unskilled workers and what was known as the "residuum", those that the MPs of the time described as feckless and criminal poor. This was ensured by a £7 annual rent qualification to vote—or 2 shillings and 9 pence (2s 9d) a week. This entailed two "fancy franchises", emulating measures of 1854,
147-407: A borough franchise for all who paid rates in person (that is, not compounders), men who paid more than £10 rent per year, and extra votes for graduates, professionals and those with over £50 savings. These last "fancy franchises" were seen by Conservatives as a weapon against a mass electorate. However, Gladstone attacked the bill; a series of sparkling parliamentary debates with Disraeli resulted in
196-575: A bout of pneumonia he suffered in 1867, and he died in 1877 from complications of what was said to be a cold. Collections of Bagehot's literary, political, and economic essays were published after his death. Their subjects ranged from Shakespeare and Disraeli to the price of silver. Every year, the British Political Studies Association awards the Walter Bagehot Prize for the best dissertation in
245-545: A good legislature which in turn would select a competent government. Bagehot was willing to accept some limited parliamentary reform to give more weight to northern industrial areas and even permit some working-class representatives. But he was shocked and dismayed by the Second Reform Act 's dramatic extension of the franchise in 1867, which virtually doubled the size of the electorate. In the Introduction to
294-590: A major role in passing the 1832 Reform Act, attempted this in 1860; but the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston , a fellow Liberal , was against any further electoral reform. The Union victory in the American Civil War in 1865 emboldened the forces in Britain that demanded more democracy and public input into the political system, to the dismay of the upper class landed gentry who identified with
343-706: A moral achievement whereby, through the actions of the will, the "accomplished" elite was able to morally differentiate themselves from "rude men" by a "hereditary drill". He equally applied such reasoning to develop a form of pseudoscientific racism , whereby those of mixed race lacked any "inherited creed" or "fixed traditional sentiments" upon which, he considered, human nature depended. He attempted to provide empirical support for his views by citing John Lubbock and Edward Tylor although, in their writings on human evolution , neither of them accepted arguments for innate hereditary differences, as opposed to cultural inheritance. Tylor, in particular, rejected Bagehot's view of
392-547: A £10 lodger qualification for the boroughs, and a £50 savings qualification in the counties. Liberals claimed that "the middle classes, strengthened by the best of the artisans, would still have the preponderance of power". When it came to the vote, however, this bill split the Liberal Party: a split partly engineered by Benjamin Disraeli , who incited those threatened by the bill to rise up against it. On one side were
441-616: Is described as "an analysis of British life and politics, in the tradition of Walter Bagehot". As of January 2022 , the column has been written by Duncan Robinson, political editor of the publication. Second Reform Act The Representation of the People Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102), known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act , is an act of the British Parliament that enfranchised part of
490-782: Is named after Bagehot. Bagehot also influenced Woodrow Wilson , who wrote Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics in 1885, inspired by The English Constitution . Joaquim Nabuco was also inspired by The English Constitution , dedicating a whole chapter about the book in his memoirs. Generations of British monarchs and their heirs apparent and presumptive have studied Bagehot's analysis. In season 1 of television series The Crown , young Princess Elizabeth's tutor quotes Bagehot to her, which she later recalls when she becomes Queen Elizabeth II . Walter Bagehot Walter Bagehot ( / ˈ b æ dʒ ə t / BAJ -ət ; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877)
539-417: Is possible for them to mature into systems which allow for greater diversity and freedom. His viewpoint was based on his distinction between the qualities of an "accomplished man" and those of a "rude man", which he considered to be the result of iterative inheritances by which the "nervous organisation" of the individual became increasingly refined down through the generations. He regarded that distinction as
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#1732765076346588-792: The Conservative Party . The Adullamites were anti-reform, as were the Conservatives, but the Adullamites declined the invitation to enter into Government with the Conservatives as they thought that they could have more influence from an independent position. Despite the fact that he had blocked the Liberal Reform Bill, in February 1867, Disraeli introduced his own Reform Bill into the House of Commons. By this time
637-521: The Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1868 and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 . In Scotland, five existing constituencies gained members, and three new constituencies were formed. Two existing county constituencies were merged into one, giving an overall increase of seven members; this was offset by seven English boroughs (listed above) being disenfranchised, leaving
686-486: The "moral" improvement of workingmen and felt that they should therefore have the opportunity of "demonstrating their allegiance to their betters". However the opposition warned against the low-class democracy of the United States and Australia. Palmerston's death in 1865 opened the floodgates for reform. In 1866 Russell (Earl Russell as he had been since 1861, and now Prime Minister for the second time), introduced
735-531: The 1840s, they were powerful movements. The high point came when a demonstration in May 1867 in Hyde Park was banned by the government. Thousands of troops and policemen were prepared, but the crowds were so huge that the government did not dare to attack. The Home Secretary , Spencer Walpole , was forced to resign. Faced with the possibility of popular revolt going much further, the government rapidly included into
784-650: The Exchequer . They were faced with the challenge of reviving Conservatism: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston , the powerful Liberal leader, was dead and the Liberal Party was split and defeated. Thanks to manoeuvring by Disraeli, Derby's Conservatives saw an opportunity to be a strong, viable party of government; however, there was still a Liberal majority in the House of Commons . The Adullamites , led by Robert Lowe , had already been working closely with
833-502: The House with the same number of members. The representation of Ireland remained unchanged. The slur of local bribery and corruption dogged early debates in 1867–68. The whips' and leaders' decision to steer away discussion of electoral malpractice or irregularity to 1868's Election Petitions Act facilitated the progress of the main Reform Act. The unprecedented extension of the franchise to all householders effectively gave
882-637: The People (Scotland) Act 1868 the next year, their last number of MPs shown as blocks: The following boroughs were reduced from electing two MPs to one: Three further boroughs (Honiton, Thetford, Wells) were also due to have their representation halved under the 1867 Act, but before this reduction took effect they were disenfranchised altogether by the 1868 Scottish Reform Act as noted above. The Act created nine new single-member borough seats: The following two boroughs were enfranchised with two MPs: The following two were enlarged: The reforms for Scotland and Ireland were carried out by two subsequent acts,
931-516: The US Southern States planters and feared the loss of influence and a popular radical movement. Influential commentators included Walter Bagehot , Thomas Carlyle , Anthony Trollope , Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill . Proponents used two arguments: the balance of the constitution and "moral right". They emphasized that deserving, skilled, sober, thrifty, and deferential artisans deserve the franchise. Liberal William Gladstone emphasized
980-429: The act did not address the issues of compounding and of not being a ratepayer in a household. Compounding (counting of one's under-tenants payments and using that count as a qualification) as to all rates and rents was made illegal, abolished in the enactment of a bill tabled by Liberal Grosvenor Hodgkinson . This meant that all male tenants would have to pay the parish/local rates directly and thus thereafter qualified for
1029-433: The act immediately doubled that number. Further, by the end of 1868 all male heads of household could vote, having abolished the widespread mechanism of the deemed rentpayer or ratepayer being a superior lessor or landlord who would act as middleman for the money paid ("compounding"). The act introduced a near-negligible redistribution of seats, far short of the urbanisation and population growth since 1832. The overall intent
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#17327650763461078-750: The attitude of many in the country had ceased to be apathetic regarding reform of the House of Commons. Huge meetings, especially the ‘Hyde Park riots' , and the feeling that many of the skilled working class were respectable, had persuaded many that there should be a Reform Bill. However, wealthy Conservative MP Lord Cranborne resigned his government ministry in disgust at the bill's introduction. The Reform League , agitating for universal suffrage , became much more active, and organized demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people in Manchester , Glasgow , and other towns. Though these movements did not normally use revolutionary language as some Chartists had in
1127-534: The bill amendments which enfranchised far more people. Consequently, the bill was more far-reaching than any Members of Parliament had thought possible or really wanted; Disraeli appeared to accept most reform proposals, so long as they did not come from William Ewart Gladstone . An amendment tabled by the opposition (but not by Gladstone himself) trebled the new number entitled to vote under the bill; yet Disraeli simply accepted it. The bill enfranchised most men who lived in urban areas. The final proposals were as follows:
1176-435: The bill becoming much more radical. Having been given his chance by the belief that Gladstone's bill had gone too far in 1866, Disraeli had now gone further. Disraeli was able to persuade his party to vote for the bill on the basis that the newly enfranchised electorate would be grateful and would vote Conservative at the next election. Despite this prediction, in 1868 the Conservatives lost the first general election in which
1225-462: The centrality of physical heredity, or that the modern "savage" mind had become "tattooed over with monstrous images" by which base instincts had been preserved in crevices, as opposed to accomplished European man, for whom such instincts had been smoothed away through the inherited will to exercise reason. In Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873) Bagehot seeks to explain
1274-526: The constitution were complicated, imposing, old and venerable; but the efficient parts were simple and modern. The ‘efficient secret’ at the heart of it all was ‘the close union’ and ‘nearly complete fusion’ of executive and legislative powers in the Cabinet - the ‘board of control’ which rules the nation. ‘The use of the Queen, in a dignified capacity, is incalculable’, opened the chapters of the book dealing with
1323-410: The field of government and public administration . Bagehot's collected works were issued in a set of 15 volumes, published by The Economist between 1965 and 1986, and edited by Norman St. John-Stevas . Minor planet 2901 Bagehot , discovered by Luboš Kohoutek , is named in his honor. The Economist carries a weekly current affairs commentary entitled "Bagehot", which is named in his honour and
1372-511: The ignorant class to begin to rule you may bid farewell to deference for ever’, he argued – and deference was the key social prop of the system. The mass of people deferred to the pomp and splendour of the ‘theatrical show of society’, but also the numerical majority delegated to an educated and competent minority the power of choosing its rulers. The middle classes were, in this regime, ‘the despotic power in England’ and could be expected to choose
1421-851: The ministry and the Parliament’. The Commons was ‘the ruling and choosing House’ – its main function was ‘elective’, it was ‘the assembly which chooses our president’. It had other roles too: to express the mind of the people; to teach the nation; to communicate grievances; to legislate. Political parties, he recognised, were ‘inherent in it . . . bone of its bone, and breath of its breath’, but he saw party politics in loose and moderate and Westminster-centric terms. He feared and opposed dogmatic and programmatic ‘constituency government’ and outside party organisations controlling MPs and making them into ‘immoderate representatives for every “ism” in all England’. He would have no truck with what he called ‘ultra-democratic theory’ – one person, one vote. ‘Once you permit
1470-413: The monarchy. It acted as a ‘disguise’ and strengthened the government through its combination of mystique and pageantry. He famously summed up the monarch's role as involving ‘the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn’. The House of Lords also had a dignified role. It had become a delaying and revising chamber – it was not a bulwark against revolution but must ultimately ‘yield to
1519-463: The newly enfranchised electors voted. The bill ultimately aided the rise of the radical wing of the Liberal Party and helped Gladstone to victory. The Act was tidied up with many further Acts to alter electoral boundaries. Four electoral boroughs were disenfranchised by the Act, for corruption, their last number of MPs shown as blocks: Seven English boroughs were disenfranchised by the Representation of
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1568-403: The people’ (i.e. the House of Commons). ‘The cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it’, he quipped. The danger it faced was not abolition but decline, and Bagehot supported the creation of life peers to reform it. Bagehot counted the House of Commons as one of the efficient institutions running the country: ‘the whole life of English politics is the action and reaction between
1617-618: The reactionary conservative Liberals, known as the Adullamites ; on the other were pro-reform Liberals who supported the Government. The Adullamites were supported by Tories and the liberal Whigs were supported by radicals and reformists. The bill was thus defeated and the Liberal government of Russell resigned. The Conservatives formed a ministry on 26 June 1866, led by Lord Derby as Prime Minister and Disraeli as Chancellor of
1666-399: The real centres of power and the practical working of the political system (‘living reality’). He dismissed the two theories of the division of powers (between legislature, executive and judiciary) and of ‘checks and balances’ (between the monarchical, aristocratic and democratic elements of the constitution) as ‘erroneous’. What was crucial, he insisted, was to understand the difference between
1715-590: The reporting of politics by The Economist , and increased its influence among policy-makers. He was widely accepted by the British establishment and was elected to the Athenaeum in 1875. He considered himself a "conservative Liberal or 'between size in politics.'" Defunct In 1867, Bagehot wrote The English Constitution , a book that explores the nature of the constitution of the United Kingdom , specifically its Parliament and monarchy . It appeared at
1764-488: The same time that Parliament enacted the Reform Act of 1867 , requiring Bagehot to write an extended introduction to the second edition which appeared in 1872. Bagehot also wrote Physics and Politics (1872), in which he examines how civilisations sustain themselves, arguing that, in their earliest phase, civilisations are very much in opposition to the values of modern liberalism, insofar as they are sustained by conformism and military success but, once they are secured, it
1813-441: The second edition of The English Constitution in 1872, he was gloomy about a political future in which ‘both our political parties will bid for the support of the working man . . . [and] both of them will promise to do as he likes if he will only tell them what it is’. ‘I am exceedingly afraid’, he admitted, ‘of the ignorant multitude of the new constituencies’. A column in the magazine The Economist , concerning British affairs,
1862-473: The six demands of the Chartist movement. After 1848, this movement declined rapidly, but elite opinion began to pay attention. It was thus only 27 years after the initial, quite modest, Great Reform Act that leading politicians thought it prudent to introduce further electoral reform. Following an unsuccessful attempt by Benjamin Disraeli to introduce a reform bill in 1859, Lord John Russell , who had played
1911-625: The system played the essential role of winning and sustaining the loyalty and confidence of the mass of ordinary people whose political capacities were minimal or non-existent; they helped the state to gain authority and legitimacy, which the efficient institutions could then use. Bagehot was an unashamed elitist who believed bleakly that the ‘lower orders’ and the ‘middle orders’ were ‘narrow-minded, unintelligent, incurious’. Throughout The English Constitution , there are references to ‘the coarse, dull, contracted multitude’, ‘the poor and stupid’, ‘the vacant many’, ‘the clownish mass’. The dignified parts of
1960-510: The urban male working class in England and Wales for the first time, extending the franchise from landowners of freehold property above a certain value, to leaseholders and rental tenants as well. It took effect in stages over the next two years, culminating in full commencement on 1 January 1869. Before the act, one million of the seven million adult men in England and Wales could vote;
2009-472: The vote to many working-class men, quite a considerable change. Jonathan Parry described this as a "borough franchise revolution"; Overwhelming election of the landed class or otherwise very wealthy to the Commons would no longer be assured by money, bribery and favours, those elected would reflect the most common sentiment of local units of the public. The brand-new franchise provisions were briefly flawed;
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2058-595: The vote. A 2022 study found that the Act reduced political violence in the UK. The Liberal Party was worried about the prospect of a socialist party taking the bulk of the working-class vote, so they moved to the left, while their rivals the Conservatives initiated occasional intrigues to encourage socialist candidates to stand against the Liberals. Thomas Carlyle 's essay "Shooting Niagara: And After?" compares
2107-531: The world of finance and banking. His observations on finance are often cited by central bankers , in particular in the period after the 2007–2008 financial crisis . More specifically, there was particular popularity " Bagehot's Dictum " that in times of crisis of the financial system, central banks should lend freely to solvent depository institutions , yet only against sound collateral and at interest rates high enough to dissuade those borrowers that are not genuinely in need. Bagehot never fully recovered from
2156-433: The ‘dignified parts’ of the constitution and the ‘efficient parts’ (admitting that they were not ‘separable with microscopic accuracy’). The former ‘excite and preserve the reverence of the population’, the latter are ‘those by which it, in fact, works and rules’. England had a ‘double set’ of institutions – the dignified ones ‘impress the many’ while the efficient ones ‘govern the many’. The dignified or ‘theatrical’ parts of
2205-529: Was an English journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race. He is known for co-founding the National Review in 1855, and for his works The English Constitution and Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873). Bagehot was born in Langport , Somerset , England , on 3 February 1826. His father, Thomas Watson Bagehot,
2254-432: Was managing director and vice-chairman of Stuckey's Bank . He attended University College London (UCL), where he studied mathematics and, in 1848, earned a master's degree in moral philosophy. Bagehot was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn , but preferred to join his father in 1852 in his family's shipping and banking business. In 1858, Bagehot married Elizabeth (Eliza) Wilson (1832–1921), whose father, James Wilson ,
2303-410: Was the founder and owner of The Economist . The couple were happily married until Bagehot's untimely death at age 51, but had no children. A collection of their love-letters was published in 1933. In 1855, Bagehot founded the National Review with his friend Richard Holt Hutton . In 1861, he became editor-in-chief of The Economist . In the 16 years he served as its editor, Bagehot expanded
2352-551: Was to help the Conservative Party , Benjamin Disraeli expecting a reward for his sudden and sweeping backing of the reforms discussed, yet it resulted in their loss of the 1868 general election . For the decades after the Great Reform Act of 1832 (the First Reform Act), cabinets (in that era leading from both Houses) had resisted attempts to push through further reform, and in particular left unfulfilled
2401-528: Was translated into several languages. While Walter Bagehot's references to the Parliament of the United Kingdom have become dated, his observations on the monarchy are seen as central to the understanding of the principles of constitutional monarchy . Bagehot began his book by saying, in effect: do not be fooled by constitutional theories (the ‘paper description’) and formal institutional continuities (‘connected outward sameness’) – concentrate instead on
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