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The Irish Government ISummary of chapter. In this chapter the functions of the principal Offices of State in Ireland are described.
(i) The
Structure of the Irish Government
(ii) The Lord Lieutenant and Irish Secretary
(iii) The Chief Offices of State
(vi) Personnel and Recruitment ********************************************************************************************************* (i) The Structure of the Irish
Government By
Government is meant the body of persons, or the officials, charged with
governing the state, or part of the state. The Irish Government thus defined
was composed almost entirely of Irishmen, whether one considers the politicians
or the civil servants. Normally one important official at least, at any given
time, either the Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Chancellor,
or the Irish Secretary, was British. The
structure of the Irish Government was somewhat simpler than that of The
offices of the Irish Government were mostly housed in The
principal executive officer was the Lord Lieutenant. His secretary, called the
Irish Secretary assisted him. The office
was not therefore really separate from that of the Lord Lieutenant; the
Secretary just undertook the day to day management of the Lord Lieutenant's
affairs. The administration of justice, local government, and some administrative
matters were under the direction of the Lord Chancellor, and his Office did not
come under the supervision of the Secretary. The Law Officers of the Crown
represented the Executive in Parliament and in the courts. The office of Lord
Treasurer was, as in The
Established Church was an independent body subject to the crown and Parliament,
but the Lord Lieutenant exercised patronage, or appointment to offices.
There
was a tendency to replace offices with Boards of Commissioners. Some of these
Offices, like that of Lord Treasurer, (or Lord High Admiral) were ancient, and
were ordinary departments or offices of state. More often, as in The
Commissioners were given certain instructions by Parliament, and sufficient
funds to carry them out, and were not free to vary the instructions. If it were
necessary so to do recourse was had to Parliament again. They were described as
a body of persons officially appointed for the transaction of some particular
business.
The
Barrack Board was formed in 1699, followed by the Ballast Board in 1707 and the
Linen Board in 1710. The Board of Works had its origin in a board set up in
1730 to improve the navigation of the The
various Offices and Boards had been drastically overhauled and modernised at
the end of the eighteenth century partly for reasons of economy and efficiency,
and party to secure direct and undisputed control by the Irish Parliament Responsibility
for some public affairs was handed over to private bodies. University education
was at first the sole responsibility of (ii) The Offices
of Lord Lieutenant and Irish Secretary The
Lord Lieutenant was the chief executive officer in He had to keep up an appearance of state for
which the official salary was inadequate.
He had to maintain a court and ceremonial officers like the The
office of Lord Lieutenant was always given to a member of the party in office
in During
the absence of the Lord Lieutenant his powers were exercised by a Commission of
Lords Justices which invariably included the Lord Chancellor, and usually the
archbishop of On important occasions he was obliged to
consult the Irish Privy Council or some of the councillors. As in Membership
of the Irish Privy Council was by appointment only. The chief Officers of State
and the leading bishops were appointed and retained membership even after they
left office. Before a proclamation putting an Act or part of it into force in
the whole or part of The
office of Secretary was regarded as suitable for a young man at the beginning
of his career, a position in which he could learn much about various aspects of
Government in a short time. Several Irish Secretaries went on to be Prime
Ministers. Until 1800 this officer had been precisely the Lord Lieutenant's
secretary, but after 1800 the office was established as one in its own right as
the Secretary for The
Irish Secretary supervised those matters pertaining to the Lord Lieutenant's
office, in particular the Offices of the civil service. Succeeding to the title
of Principal Secretary of State (though that Office had long been a sinecure)
he became in fact the Chief or Prime Minister of (iii) The Chief
Offices of State There were, besides the Lord
Lieutenant, five principal offices. That of the Irish Secretary has already
been described. The others were those of the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General. The
Lord Chancellor presided over the Lord Chancellor's court or Chancery. He was
entrusted with the oversight of the administration of justice, and with making
legal appointments. As a judge he sat in the Court of Chancery the highest
equity court. He issued the three commissions of assize twice a year to the
judges of the various circuits. He appointed sheriffs and justices of the peace
in the counties and had oversight of the civil administration of the Grand
Juries, and the holding of elections. His court might administer disputed
property, and he was responsible for dealing with disputed bequests. The Lord
Chancellor had the particular duty of protecting the king's weakest subjects,
lunatics and minors. This office was by far the most important after that of
the Lord Lieutenant in the first half of the century. The Chancery dated at least from the Angevin
period. Like many medieval institutions this had a legal side and an
administrative side. At first it was concerned only with the issue of documents
requiring the king's seal, and the Lord Chancellor was the keeper of the Great
Seal. It was later divided into a legal side, the The legal side was split into two courts in
which the Lord Chancellor, in the king's name, was allowed to apply equity
instead of strict law. The Chancery Court and The
administrative side of the Court of Exchequer, had been principally concerned
with receiving the moneys levied on the counties and other duties from the
sheriffs and checking their accounts, for which purpose the chequered table had
been devised. This business had dwindled to virtually nothing especially after
the founding of the Bank of Ireland in 1784, and what
business remained was handled by the Comptroller of the Pipe (Rolls). Most of
the revenue in modern times was collected by the Revenue Boards and was paid
into the Treasury (Bank of Ireland after 1784).
The
office of Chancellor of the Exchequer was connected with the administrative
side of the Court of Exchequer, and also with the administration of the
Treasury. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer was officially the under-treasurer of the Court of Exchequer. His
confusing name is explained by the fact that he was once a clerk of the Lord
Chancellor, and also because he held the seal of the The
office only became important when the office of Lord Treasurer became a
sinecure and the administration of the Treasury Department was entrusted to the
Chancellor of the Court of Exchequer. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had
exclusive charge of such public spending which was voted by Parliament. His Office therefore prepared the budget,
and supervised Government finances, which in practice meant supervising the
Bank of Ireland.
The
Chancellor, up to 1817, had to present the budget to Parliament, and so had to
have a seat in the House of Commons. In the budget was set out the expenditures
on the Civil and Military Lists, the other expenditures normally voted by
Parliament such as for the Foundling Hospital and Maynooth College, the
interest on the National Debt, the various taxes required to raise the sum
required, and also the amount of borrowing necessary, and how the borrowing was
to be done. The
legal side of the The
Irish Treasury was originally a secure building in the yard of The office of Lord Treasurer had long been a sinecure, and the functions were discharged by Vice-Treasurers, or in Parliament by the Attorney General. In 1793 a Treasury Board replaced these. The object of the change was to ensure that responsibility for each and every disbursement of public money was in the hands of the House of Commons. Before that the Lord Lieutenant could issue letters ordering money to be spent for particular purposes. In 1793 too all revenues from whatever sources or for whatever purposes were joined into a single Consolidated Fund. A single Civil List of payments to His Majesty, to members of the Royal Family, and to His Majesty's public servants, and pensioners, was drawn up at the same time. A Military List describing the disbursements on the armed forces was also drawn up. It had no connection with administration and was abolished, along with the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, in 1817. Between 1793 and 1817 the Irish Treasury Board never established itself as the most influential office as did the British Treasury Board, where the Prime Minister is First Lord of the Treasury. Public
Revenue was derived from various sources. The important Revenue Boards will be
described separately. The sheriffs had still to present the minuscule returns
from the medieval revenues of their counties. There were also crown and quit
rents (in The
Commissioners of Imprest Accounts that had been
established in 1766 did public auditing. They audited the accounts of various
Government Boards or Departments. This Board seems to have been aimed
originally at checking the spending of the Executive and not the peculation by
the Revenue Boards.
Though
medieval monarchs had employed lawyers to act for them in the courts and
elsewhere the two law offices do not seem to have been formalised before the
sixteenth century. The Law Officers, the Attorney General and the Solicitor
General advised the Government on legal matters and acted for it in the courts
or in any case in which the State was a party. They advised the Government on
legal matters and prepared or revised legislation. The Government (or others)
could ask their opinion on the legality of various actions. They were officers
of the Government not of the courts. The
Attorney General was the principal legal officer of the state empowered to act
in all cases in which the state is a party. He acted as state prosecutor when
the crown was initiating the action, for example in trials for treason or
seditious libel. He had powers, dating from the Middle
Ages, to over-ride the verdict of a Grand Jury which found no true bill and
could himself bring the action to court acting on ex officio information. The
chief function of the Solicitor General was to take the part of the state or
the crown in suits concerning the public interest. In Those
of a 'patriotic' tendency disliked this extension of the activities of the
crown but there was no alternative to the development of a public prosecution
service. The establishment of an effective police meant that they could
undertake the prosecution in minor cases without awaiting a complaint from a
member of the public.
[Top] The
Revenue Boards or (Revenue Commissioners) were three in number, the Customs'
Board, the Excise Board, and the Stamp Board. Each of these Boards had an
Office from which they supervised the activities of the tax collectors in every
part of The
assessed taxes appear to have come under the Excise Board. The Collectors
collected the assessed taxes by placing advertisements in the newspapers
stating on which days they would attend at particular inns or hotels in various
towns to receive the money. For the collection of customs duties the ports
around the coast were placed under various Surveyors (supervisors) of Customs
each with his staff of tide and land waiters (watchers). The former went on to
the ships, the latter did not. The Board also maintained revenue cutters to
patrol the coasts. Excises were collected not on the basis of what was actually
produced, but on the size of the equipment for producing it, like stills for
whiskey, or tanning pits for leather. The law required that these should be
situated in places easily visited by inspectors. The excisemen, often assisted
by units of the army, and later by the police, had to search for illicit
distillation. The
excisemen had a reputation at the turn of the century for taking bribes, and
John Foster made a point of seeking out and dismissing corrupt officials. In
1808 a fixed salary replaced the fees payable to excisemen. In the 1820's an
enquiry into corruption among excisemen showed that Irish officials were more
honest than the British. Even minor offices in the Revenue Service were filled
by patronage, this being exercised by the Irish Secretary, not the Treasury
Board. In the 1820's the Board of Customs, under the direction of George
Villiers, later Earl of Clarendon, began the laudable practice of appointing
solely on the grounds of fitness and capability.
The
Act of Union (1800) provided that customs duties between A
Stamp Act was finally passed in A regular 'Irish Mail' dates from the reign of
Edward VI (c.1550), though of course correspondence had passed between the
king's officials and Slow
stagecoach services had been running between The
general farming of the Post Office had been discontinued but individual
contracts were placed with coach operators to carry the post between specified
towns. Mail Contractors had to advance considerable sums as security and were
given seven-year contracts. By 1815 Peter Purcell was the most important
contractor. In 1843, at the height of the Repeal movement the Government
accepted a lower contract from a Scotsman and this caused an enormous
uproar. The Government then did not dare
give the contract for carrying the mails across the In
the nineteenth century delivery to country areas was by a daily mailcoach
setting out from From
1768 there was one Post Office packet boat sailing from the About
1810 it was proposed to move the old General Post Office from a cramped site in
the older part of Within
the city of (vi) Recruitment and Personnel The
Prime Minister made appointments to the major Offices when he was forming his
government. Though the appointment was political the choice was often
determined by the personal capacities of the individual concerned. Those
appointed were often men of moderate political views who might be asked to
continue in office by an incoming Prime Minister of a different complexion.
William Saurin was a notable exception as Attorney General, but the Solicitor
General at the time was the noted moderate Kendal Bushe. From
the time of Pitt's first administration in 1783 until 1830 the Tories were
almost exclusively in office. It followed that an ambitious young man had to
attach himself to that party to obtain any public office. It is alleged that
the anti-Catholic Tory 'Orange faction' became entrenched in the Irish
administration in this period. Yet the matter was more complicated and the
Catholics were often the authors of their own misfortunes. When the Whigs were
in office during the Ministry of all the Talents, had the Catholic leaders,
John Keogh and Daniel O’Connell, been willing to accept exclusion from
Parliament they could have secured many appointments to other offices. The same
happened during the Regency, when the pro-Catholic Tories, Castlereagh and
Canning, were in office. O’Connell compounded this by denouncing as 'Castle
bishops' people like After
1830 the Whigs made considerable efforts to appoint suitable Catholics to the
higher offices, but there was the difficulty that there were very few Catholics
of sufficient education and ability to be appointed. O’Connell, once again,
secured the exclusion of Catholics by forming his Repeal Party that never had a
chance of taking office. With
few exceptions such as mayors the other public offices were filled by patronage
or appointment. The Government appointed the higher officials and they in turn
appointed the lower officials. Almost without exception those appointed were
Irish. Daniel O’Connell in 1811 maintained that Catholics were excluded from
30,000 public offices (including those in the wartime navy) either by statute
or by lack of patronage. (This figure would include the likes of doorkeepers in
the law courts). The
Irish noblemen and gentlemen naturally sought the better-remunerated positions
for themselves and their families, while others would seek positions like that
of tidewaiter in the revenue service. But to get any position one had to be
known to the patron, or know somebody who knew him, and was willing to
intervene on one's behalf. O’Connell was hypocritical, complaining on the one
hand if jobs were not given to Catholics, and also if Catholics like Archbishop
Troy asked for positions for relatives. There
is no evidence that at the beginning of the century high standards, or indeed
any standards of ability, zeal, or qualifications were required at most levels
of Irish administration. However, from the middle of the eighteenth century
proof of capability to carry out the duties of some offices began to be
required. Every officer in the navy had to pass an examination in seamanship.
Every officer in the Royal Engineers was given a formal training. Medical
qualifications were required of physicians and surgeons given public
appointments. A definite period of study was required in the major Churches of
candidates for ordination. In the New Police, constables had to be able to read
and write. The Revenue Boards began to promote on the basis of ability to carry
out the duties. This trend was to become ever more marked, even when the system
of patronage continued. The capability of the naval officers in Nelson's ships
compared with the incapacity of most army officers during the Peninsular War
has often been remarked.
If
considerations only of political bribery, favouritism, nepotism, or repaying
obligations, had prevailed in every case the holders of public office could
have been a fairly worthless lot. But in practice, the patron had to satisfy
demands on him from various quarters and at the same time appoint a reasonable
number of capable persons. He could also appoint one person to an office while
at the same time ensuring that he had a capable deputy. This was the usual
practice when appointing a commander-in chief of the army, who always had to be
provided with a capable chief of staff.
The
were few offices remaining which could be bought and sold, for at least from
the reign of Anne efforts were made to stamp out the practice. The purchase of
commissions in the army (but not in the navy or engineers) was the most notable
case. Masterships in Chancery were also purchased. It
is difficult to decide on the prevalence of corruption among officials, partly
because of recognised customs, and partly because of secrecy. For example,
until quite recently, requests to Members of Parliament or local councillors
for assistance with regard to jobs, housing, or public contracts were often
accompanied by a gift in a plain envelope 'for his trouble'. Some payments,
like those to newspaper editors, had become customary and meaningless. Again,
in the eighteenth century, Members of Parliament put a price on their vote, and
exacted it from the Government, a practice that still continues in the Down
the centuries English administrators regarded the personnel of the Irish
administration as very corrupt. One Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant in the
eighteenth century referred to the 'douceurs' without which government could
not be carried on. Peel, when he first arrived in During
the period 1800 to 1850 there was little evidence of an anti-British feeling in
the administrative class. This feeling was endemic among Irish officials in
most periods of history who resented interference from officials sent by
Lord Macartney, himself an Irishman, when Secretary to the Lord
Lieutenant, had forthright views which were probably widely shared by British
officials for a long time afterwards. An Irish Parliament, he felt, was
irrelevant to the country's needs. What were required were good administration
and the rooting out of the endemic incompetence and corruption among Irish
officials. It would seem that the Irish officials themselves came to share
these views. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright Desmond J. Keenan, B.S.Sc.; Ph.D. ;.London, U.K.
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