THE NEW ORGANISATION OF LONDON.
WE entirely agree that the easy passing of the London clauses of the County Government Bill makes a revolution in the government of the Metropolis ; but we do not sae why that fact involves any condemnation. It is the English way, when matters are ripe for great changes, to make them almost silently and as part of the day's work. Household Suffrage was practically established during an incidental debate in the House of Commons on the compound householder ; and the Married Women's Property Act, which revolutionised. the legal position of married couples in respect to property, never was publicly debated. at all. There is no foundation for the statement that Londoners have not been consulted, for Mr. Ritchie has treated the Metropolitan Members as if they were a Home- rule Parliament, and has obtained their general approval ; and as to the absence of demand for the change, acquies- cence in change almost always indicates latent demand for it. As a matter of fact, the idea that London must be remodelled has been accepted on all hands for the last ten Years, and the only serious dispute has been whether the 'controlling executive should be centralist or federal. It is one of the merits of the new Bill that it leaves this question undecided, and creates a central power which may be developed into a little Parliament, or restricted until it is only a little Congress, according to future experience as to its merits and. its working. We do not get under the Bill many things which are most desirable, but we do get a strong Central Council, chosen by direct election, and therefore popular, invested with the great attributes of the Metropolitan Board of Works—a body which is armoured in statutes—as well as the powers of a County Council, and therefore likely to attract good men, who may be hereafter made the de- positaries of far more extensive powers. To get such a Council without Sessions of fighting is an immense step in advance, as anybody will acknowledge who recollects old struggles. We can remember when Mr. Firth was regarded as a mischief-making visionary; and only two years ago, if anybody had predicted the creation of a general and democratic Council for London, Gog and Magog would have shaken their sides with laughter. A whole generation of reformers had almost learned to despair, when suddenly the hour struck, and it was found that in the only Conservative capital of Europe the ancient ways had no powerful defender. The Govern- ment, though Conservative, was compelled to be re- forming, or to see a sort of anarchy established in four rich counties under its own County Bill. The City, usually so obstinate, was paralysed by its inability to fight its usual allies, and dreaded lest resistance should bring on a worse fate ; and the Metropolitan Board, usually a most dangerous antagonist, had just slipped in the mud, and was too dirty, downcast, and disturbed to make any serious fight at all. As to the people, London is the most inarticulate of all great entities on the planet ; but it has a dull sense that it would like to be organised, that it should have a corporate life, that its mar- vellous forces, its multitudes, its riches, its historic position, and its glorious liberality in benevolence—some day we will give the almost incredible figures which justify that phrase—are not utilised, as they might be, for the benefit of all. The huge capital, whose lightest movement is felt throughout the world, so that a trumpery riot in London is an Imperial misfortune, and the breaking of a discount-house in Lombard Street a calamity to civilisa- tion, has been without a head, without a voice, with- out a spirit, of which any one could say,—' This is, in truth, London.' She has been invested under this Bill with them all, and though everything remains to be done, and there are countless anomalies to be remedied, and "the City" is not fully merged in the province of houses of which it ought to be the heart, London has ceased to be necessarily formless, silent, and impersorad. The change has its dangers, but there are dangers belonging to all living things from which mere matter is always free. No sin is possible to a mountain, and, no salvation either. That, our intense conviction that the mighty potential strength of London is a wasted force, is our substantial reason for welcoming the passing of this part of the County Bill. The Metropolis is comfortable enough, with good water, good streets, good police, and a miraculous system of provisioning; but it can be, and ought to be, more than that, —a noble and living city leading a great life. We dare say it will not lead it; that there will be endless disappointments, much suffering, and some shame; but those things may befall any child, and we do not kill it to escape them. We want, London to live, and the County Bill wakes it from its trance.. It is a minor but a great advantage from the easy passing of the clauses, that the Metropolitan Board of Works is sentenced to capital punishment. That Board has done some good things, has completed one great undertaking, has shown that London can be treated as a whole, and has raised the financial credit of the Metropolis to a marvellous height. She can raise money in millions at an hour's notice as cheaply as the British Government could last. year. These are great services ; and perhaps it is, even a larger one to have shown that a Board com- posed of the most ordinary bourgeoisie, without a single man in it whom even London has ever heard of,.
could undertake and complete works over which a Parliament might deliberate or pause. We are not ungrateful to the Board, and -we do not believe it to be corrupt; but it has been blind to corruption among its servants, and has therefore become tainted in the public sight. Its punishment is heavy ; but pecuniary corruption is the first danger of democracies, and we cannot but be glad that the strongest municipal body in England, because it has allowed its name to be smirched,. even though it be only through neglect or impatience or the harass of supervision, is to be utterly swept away. That is a good lesson for all such bodies, all the more because it has been given without any popular, or, indeed, any general excitement. It is a healthy sign when a Board, which yesterday could have faced anything but Parliament, is left, because some of its officers have taken bribes, without a defender or a friend. The purer all remaining Boards, may be, the more they will dread to find, and seek to prevent, that dry-rot in their supporting timbers.
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