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populous to elect a council. The third class is that where a division into wards is necessary, but where the wards would not be sufficiently numerous for the heads of them to form a council, and then it would be requisite that each ward should elect a certain number of members besides the heads to constitute a council. The fourth class is where the wards are so numerous, that the heads of them would be sufficient to form a council; and the fifth class is that in which the heads would be too numerous, in which case they ought to choose amongst themselves who should be of the council. I have before observed, that I do not think the population of each ward should ever be much more than one thousand, and I am of opinion that the council of the largest parishes should not exceed fifty.

For the purpose of illustration, I will again suppose a parish of thirty thousand inhabitants, divided into thirty wards, each ward having its head, his deputy, and ten of the most fit inhabitants as constables, all annually elected by residents of six months standing, paying for their own occupancy, and by rate-payers for the same period. It should be the duty of the head and his subordinates, by continual personal inspection, to see to the good keeping of the ward, both as to its peace and its local arrangements. It should also be in the power of the head to call the inhabitants together, if he or they wished it, to consult on any particular point. The business of the council should be to elect a president and his deputy, with a clerk, and what other paid officers might be necessary, and to choose from themselves the executive officers. The council should form an estimate of the expenses for the year, consolidating the rates into one for the purposes of collection, but distinguishing them as to their intended application. They should publish, as often as convenient, for circulation through the heads of the wards, statements of their estimates, and of their projected measures, together with accounts of their expenditure, so that the public might always

know what was going on, and either object in time, or cheerfully agree. Under such circumstances, there would be no danger in granting considerably increased powers of taxation, improvement, and superintendence. It should also be the duty of the council to inspect the parish from time to time, because such inspection would not only be preventive of evil, but, where it existed, would be the most efficacious mode of making it disappear. If the chief men of any large parish were to associate together for the purposes of government under such an organized system, there would, beyond all doubt, soon be a very great change for the better, and many of those drawbacks to the well-being of society, which, when seen at a distance, are supposed to be remediless, would dwindle into insignificance. At present there is an unapproached mass of evil, which it is sinful and unchristian, as well as most impolitic, to leave unattended to. A field is open for the most interesting and beneficial exercise of the moral faculties, and till it is entered, it is in vain to think of any thing really sound in any part of the state. The very

foundation is rotten.

I have asserted in my third number, that the only plan by which properly qualified persons, that is, "the most successful in the honourable conduct of their own affairs," could be induced to give up time sufficient to superintend the affairs of their respective communities, would be by making government "a social and convivial affair-a point of interesting union to the men most deserving the confidence of their fellow-citizens." It is not very difficult, often very easy, to induce such men as above described to come forward in emergencies; but when some particular grievance is redressed, or improvement carried into effect, they return again to their own affairs, leaving those of the public to the ordinary incompetent, or selfinterested superintendence, and a retrograde movement, or at least no further advance, is the consequence. Cheap government is the favourite doctrine of the day; but it is only sound

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when it means the best government on the lowest terms. any other sense it is a delusion; for however small the direct expenses of inadequate government may be, the collateral ones will be much greater in proportion. For instance, the services of an incompetent judge might be purchased for a much less remuneration, than those of a competent one; but what would be the cost of his incompetency? I have known in a single assize town the expense of unnecessary delay cost individuals, besides other inconveniences, more than half the judge's salary. So in parishes, misgovernment and want of government are much more expensive to the community than good government would be, though apparently they cost less. Our ancestors understood principles something better, and were wont to pay for public services, as in the case of justices of the peace and members of parliament; and when the practice fell into disuse, justices and members took to paying themselves at a much more extravagant rate. That grievance has been on the decline, but it is now getting into fashion to do away with citizen government, and to substitute that of mere hirelings in its place. The true system is that of the best citizens governing the rest on the social and convivial plan. In every community the style of government ought to have relation to the style of the upper part of the community, otherwise it will inevitably fall into low hands. Those who serve the public, must be treated in the style to which they are accustomed. It is perfectly useless to attempt permanently to command men's services for nothing, or even for less than they are worth. The aim should be to procure the best services on the cheapest terms, and in the most efficient way; and there is no system so cheap or so efficient as that of the table. The Athenians in their most glorious days rewarded those citizens who had deserved well of the state, by maintaining them at the public expense in the Prytaneum, or council-hall. The table also is a mode of payment for services to be performed, which goes further than any other, and will command greater

punctuality, greater attention, and greater alacrity. When properly regulated, it is the bond of union and harmony, the school for improvement of manners and civilization, the place where information is elicited and corrected better than any where else, as I know from repeated experience; and by the mixture of men of different occupations, and, to some extent, of different classes, over the social board after the discharge of their public duties, the best results are produced both on the head and heart. It is by this process only that the higher classes can come at any accurate knowledge of what relates to those below them, or the lower classes form a proper estimate of their superiors. It is only in these moments of freedom and relaxation, when suspicion and jealousy, and fear, are banished, that the truth comes out, or can come out. There is no intercourse which is so interesting or profitable as that which arises from a mixture of business and pleasure. Pleasure alone is sauce without meat, and soon palls; business alone is meat without sauce, and is equally dry; but the two together have the true relish. For want of division into communities, from parish communities upwards, and for want of self-government, society is vague, heartless, and dull. People meet by classes, without an object, without interest, and without any distinct limit as to numbers; in consequence of which the chief feature of society of the present day is a mob-like sameness. By means of self-governed communities, the boundaries of society would be more defined and significant, the objects of intercourse more interesting and profitable, and the relations between man and man more various and sympathetic. A great part of the profitless, or even pernicious pursuits into which people plunge, are merely substitutes for the occupations of such a system as I advocate—a system which cannot exist except socially and convivially. Local government efficiently organized would soon produce such an improvement as comparatively to leave little to do except to keep the machinery in order; and therefore un

less inducements were held out to keep up a constant watchfulness and general superintendence, neglect first of all, and then abuse, would creep in. As I have above remarked, the style of government ought to have relation to the style of the upper part of the community, otherwise it will inevitably fall into inferior hands; and therefore such a parish as St. George's, Hanover-square, which contains 58,000 inhabitants, and is, doubtless, for its population, the richest community in the world, ought to have a rich government establishment, if the affairs of government are expected to be permanently attended to by the chief people.

It is far from desirable that the government of any community should be exclusively in the hands of the richest; on the contrary, the greater mixture of classes there is the better, provided the selection is made on account of talent and character; but, in order to hold out sufficient inducement to the highest, and to raise the tone of those below to a height corresponding with their duties, it is necessary to adopt the standard of the chief men, or nearly so. St. George's, I should say, ought to have a splendid common hall and appendages, combining the plan of the city companies' halls, and the west-end clubs, for the purposes of business, entertainment, and daily resort; and such an establishment would offer the best encouragement to architecture, sculpture, and painting. It ought to be built and maintained out of the rates, and it would soon pay for itself by its effects. Here those placed in authority should be entertained at convenient periods and on set occasions, at the public expense, not extravagantly and excessively, but in refined moderation, and with simple refreshments, whenever thought conducive to the dispatch of business, particularly with suppers, to induce occasional inspections of the parish at uncertain hours of the night—a regulation I know to be of the greatest efficacy. On this subject, I have observed, in a little essay, republished in my third number, "It would be very desirable, I think, that

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