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CHAPTER VII.: OF THE PROPOSAL OF MEASURES FOR ADOPTION. - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 2 [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 2.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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CHAPTER VII.

OF THE PROPOSAL OF MEASURES FOR ADOPTION.

There ought to be in every assembly one individual officially charged with the initiative, that is bound to commence the operations, and to propose the necessary measures. For if no member in particular ought to have a plan respecting the business to be considered, it may happen that there will be no plan, and that the assembly will remain in a state of inaction.

It is not only necessary that there should be a plan upon each occasion, but there ought to be a train—a connexion, between the projects submitted. It is not enough to provide for the first sitting: there ought to be a general plan, embracing all the requisite operations, disposing them in the best order, and leading them onward to their conclusion.

This obligatory initiative naturally belongs to those who convoke a political assembly, and who are best acquainted with the wants of the state. The general distribution of labour is the duty of the administration: the ministers should propose—the assembly deliberate and resolve.

But the right of initiation ought not to be the privilege of the executive exclusively:—each member ought equally to possess it. There are three principal grounds for this arrangement:—

1. That the intelligence of the whole assembly may be improved for the general good.

There is as good a chance for obtaining the best advice from one party as from the other. To limit the right of proposing, is to renounce everything which might be expected from those who are excluded: it is to institute a monopoly mischievous in every respect, both because it extinguishes the emulation of those whom it reduces to merely a negative part, and because it may retain the greatest talents in a state of inaction. The most intelligent and clever men may, under this exclusive system, be enchained by those who are greatly their inferiors in genius and knowledge.

2. That abuses may reformed. If the right of proposing belong only to the administration, those abuses which are favourable to it would be perpetual: the assembly would have no direct method of causing them to cease. This arrangement would give to the government a most commodious species of negative as against all measures which were unpleasant to it—a negative without noise and without debate.*

3. That the danger arising from the negative right, when it exists alone, may be prevented. The assembly which should possess the power of rejecting alone, would be tempted to abuse it; that is to say, to reject good measures, either from a feeling of pride, that it might show that it was not a mere nullity, that it might exercise its authority, or that it might constrain the hand of government, and lead it to concede one point that it may obtain another: for the right of refusal may be converted into an instrument of offence, and may be employed as a positive means of constraint. Such a system, instead therefore of producing harmony, would tend to produce discord by creating a necessity on the part of the assembly for the adoption of an artificial conduct towards the executive power.

But it may be said, if the direction of affairs ought to be confided to the officers of the executive power,—if they ought to propose those measures which the necessities of the state require:—how, then, can this agree with the desire which all the members may have of making propositions? For this right, if it be to be efficacious, supposes that the assembly has the power of entertaining them. But if it thus entertain them, the ministerial plan will be liable to be interrupted by incoherent, and even entirely subversive motions: there will be no longer any regular progress; and there may even result from it general confusion in the government.

I can only answer this objection by supposing in the assembly an habitual disposition to leave to the ministers the ordinary exercise of the right of proposing.

The general privilege should be reserved for all the members without distinction; but the right of priority should be conceded by a tacit convention to the ministerial propositions.

It is here that it is proper to notice the conduct of the British parliament.

In the ordinary course of affairs, all eyes are fixed upon the minister: whether he present a plan, or speak in support of it, he is listened to with a degree of attention which belongs only to him. By a general, though tacit arrangemnt, important business is not commenced before he arrives.

He proposes all the principal measures—his opponents confine themselves to attacking them: in short, he is the director, the prime mover, the principal personage. Still he has not by right the slightest pre-eminence: there is no rule which secures to his motions, a preference above those of any other member;—there is no rule which gives him a right to speak first—it is an arrangement which exists only in virtue of its convenience and its utility. Whilst the minister possesses the confidence of the majority, he is sure to preserve the right of the initiative: when he loses this confidence, he cannot much longer remain minister, but must give place to another.

It may be well here to attempt to dissipate an error which may justly be called popular, both on account of the little reflection which it discovers, and the number of those who adopt it. This error consists in concluding, that an assembly like the House of Commons is corrupt, because in its ordinary course it is led by the ministers. This pretended proof of the corruption of the assembly, or its subjection, is, on the contrary, a real proof of its liberty and its strength. Why does the minister always take the lead in Parliament? It is because unless he had the power thus to lead, he would no longer be minister. The preservation of his place depends upon the duration of his credit with the legislative assembly. Were we to suppose all the members endowed with the most heroic independence, matters could not be better arranged than they are at present.

[* ]In ancient times, the Scottish parliament was subject, as to the order of its labours, to a committee named by the King: the Lords of Articles alone had the initiative of all measures. They prepared beforehand everything which was to be presented to the Assembly, and consequently had an absolute negative, much more powerful than they could have had after the debate.—Robertson’s History of Scotland. Book I. Reign of James V. [They were not named by the King, but by the several Estates of the Parliament.—Ed.]