MR. MATTHEWS AND MR. MONI10.
THE easiest arrangement of the personal difficulty in the Police Force would probably be for Mr. Monro to withdraw his resignation, and for Mr. Matthews to accept the withdrawal with an assurance of continued con- fidence. It is impossible to think Mr. Monro in the right, unless the Home Secretary has distinctly shown want of confidence in him ; but the question is a little complex, and the error committed is, after all, only an error of judgment not infrequent in public affairs. Mr. Monro, a very competent servant of the State, attributes a little too much importance to his own position,—that is all. Upon the ground of quarrel originally stated, he had, no doubt, a right to resign. He believed that Mr. Matthews intended to appoint Mr. Ruggles-Brise, his private secre- tary, to the vacant Assistant-Commissionership, and if he thought that a bad selection, he was justified in retiring. The head of a department must have some- voice in the selection of the colleagues he is to work' with, and if he dislikes or distrusts his immediate- subordinates too much, may fairly consider that his own usefulness has been impaired by their appointment. So far we have no quarrel with Mr. Monro ; but then, Mr.. Matthews has none either; for, whatever his original intentions, he has reconsidered them under remonstrance., and Mr. Howard, the experienced officer whom Mr. Monro would have recommended, has been appointed to the. vacancy. As regards the superannuation allowances of the- Force, however, Mr. Monro seems to us to have acted hastily. The Chief Commissioner does not represent the Force to Government, but Government to the Force_ He is not responsible for payments to the Police, but the Minister of State. It was Mr. Monro's duty, if he thought his subordinates ill-paid, to represent the matter strongly, and' even with urgency ; but it was not his duty to resign en such a ground, and scarcely even allowable. The Police of London is too like a small army, in fact though not in, law, for that course to be permissible in a man devoted to , the interests of the State. A strike of the police in: London, of which some men write so lightly, though it is not a mutiny, would be almost as disastrous to the com- munity, and probably be far more shocking in its attendant incidents. It would for a moment let loose the , criminal classes of the Metropolis upon the wealthiest city in the world, and the mischief effected even in a moment might be nearly irreparable. Society would be practically in a state of anarchy, and the Government would be compelled either to use soldiers and marines for the pro- tection of the streets, with orders to use their weapons. too, for the banks would be attacked, or to call on the, citizens to protect themselves by Vigilance Committees, and promise a Bill of Indemnity for any acts they might find it necessary to perform. Respectability in London is quite irresistible if it can organise itself for action, and could, if need were, destroy the criminal classes wholesale ;. but the training of centuries cripples its initiative, and it would do nothing without legal warrant. Any person whatever who helps to bring on such an anarchical crisis. incurs a terrible responsibility, and more especially if, from, his official position, his action is certain to encourage the violent. Mr. Monro, in resigning because he thought the State ungenerous to his force, was almost in, the position- of a Commander-in-Chief who resigned to obtain more pay for his soldiers, an action which no Government in the world would be expected to endure. His attitude was made clear by his conduct as to the gratuity for extra service during meetings in Hyde Park. Mr. Monro asked for- an allowance to the police as payment for extra work, but the Home Secretary refused it, thinking, as he explained. on Tuesday, that it introduced extra pay for extra work as- a general principle. He, however, granted £100 as an acknowledgment of the men's zeal and success ; but Mr.. Monro distributed it as the allowance granted, though, if so considered, it was inadequate by £38. Naturally, the - Police were annoyed, believing that, instead of a gratuity, they had received less regular pay than they thought themselves entitled to obtain. It is, however, quite possible that Mr. Monro was under their mistake, and that throughout he has acted for the best, and with the single idea of making his force as efficient as it could possibly be made. To that end, fair pay is necessary ; and though Mr. Monro was wrong in his very peculiar position in trying to force- his superior's hand, we must not forget that the only victim which could be made by the course he adopted was-. himself. Even if he misconceived his duty as grievously as we think, it was a generous misconception, and might be overlooked in the case of a man acknowledged to be entirely competent. Mr. Monro has had much difficult work to do during his term of office, which has been. marked by a sort of explosion of ultra-democratic feeling,. and has done it so well that he is liked by the public, andl something more than liked by the force which he commands. That liking should be carried to his credit, for it is not fair that an occasionally imprudent expression of it should be registered against Soldiers never love an incompetent General, or police- men either. As to the substance of the dispute,- that so much the better. What is wanted in the Home Office and excuses the deliberate breach of voluntary contract, to-day is a resolute administrator, and a just Judge, who and the section which still condemns the one as a crime knows that a criminal may on occasion deserve pardon, and the other as a sin. We must say that we do find but who knows also that the multitude who clamour for it difficult to understand this great leap into moral dark- his respite is made up for the most part of men and women ness which the Gladstonians have taken, and find it very in whom pity, hysterical emotion, and intellectual ill- difficult to avoid, though we sincerely desire to avoid, what temper—nowadays a great factor in discussion—entirely the Gladstonians regard as Pharisaism in our attitude overbalance solid judgment. They ought not to be towards the new doctrines. And we should have thought punished for their folly, but they ought to be quietly set that Mr. G. W. E. Russell, far from ignoring that part of at naught. We do not know, and do not care to say, that the Liberal Unionists' case, would have sympathised with Mr. Matthews adds strength to the Ministry ; but he it so heartily as to accept, with whatever qualifications does add strength to the administration of the country, he might have been disposed to suggest, this part of the and that is the quality which is more and more becoming Liberal Unionist creed. indispensable. We have a great deal too many men in Apparently it is not so, and we must deal with the high position who take their guidance from newspapers, difficulty as we best can without Mr. G. W. E. Russell's who shiver at every breeze of public opinion, and who sympathy or aid. Yet we are not willing to exaggerate the believe that if Moses had lived in our day, he would have chasm which has sprung into existence between the two allowed that the Tables of Stone required ratification from parties, or to admit that it can be right to treat Mr. Glad- universal suffrage. They will be drowned some day in stone and his followers as politicians on whom we ought their efforts to follow an ignis fatuus ; and though Mr. to look down with supercilious condescension, saying, Matthews is no favourite of ours, we respect him as a man " Stand by ; I am holier than thou." We are deeply who, although in office, has the nerve to keep on the path convinced that such conduct as theirs would in us be through the morass in spite of the cries of a respectable most culpable ; but we are also deeply convinced that . and often merciful mob. the greater number of the politicians who have followed
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