The English Constitution is a book by Walter Bagehot. First serialised in The Fortnightly Review between 15 May 1865 and 1 January 1867, and later published in book form in 1867, it explores the constitution of the United KingdomâÂÂspecifically the functioning of Parliament and the British monarchyâÂÂand the contrasts between British and American government. The book became a standard work which was translated into several languages.
While his observations on Parliament have become dated, his observations on the monarchy remain central to understanding the principles of constitutional monarchy. What is crucial, he insisted, is to understand the difference between the âÂÂdignified partsâ of the constitution and the âÂÂefficient partsâÂÂ. He famously summed up the monarch's role as âÂÂthe right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warnâÂÂ.
Bagehot began his book by saying, in effect: do not be fooled by constitutional theories (the âÂÂpaper descriptionâÂÂ) and formal institutional continuities (âÂÂconnected outward samenessâÂÂ) â concentrate instead on the real centres of power and the practical working of the political system (âÂÂliving realityâÂÂ). He dismissed the two theories of the division of powers (between legislature, executive and judiciary) and of âÂÂchecks and balancesâ (between the monarchical, aristocratic and democratic elements of the constitution) as âÂÂerroneousâÂÂ. What was crucial, he insisted, was to understand the difference between the âÂÂdignified partsâ of the constitution and the âÂÂefficient partsâ (admitting that they were not âÂÂseparable with microscopic accuracyâÂÂ). The former âÂÂexcite and preserve the reverence of the populationâÂÂ, the latter are âÂÂthose by which it, in fact, works and rulesâÂÂ.
England had a âÂÂdouble setâ of institutions â the dignified ones âÂÂimpress the manyâ while the efficient ones âÂÂgovern the manyâÂÂ. The dignified or âÂÂtheatricalâ parts of the system played the essential role of winning and sustaining the loyalty and confidence of the mass of ordinary people whose political capacities were minimal or non-existent; they helped the state to gain authority and legitimacy, which the efficient institutions could then use. Bagehot was an unashamed elitist who believed bleakly that the âÂÂlower ordersâ and the âÂÂmiddle ordersâ were âÂÂnarrow-minded, unintelligent, incuriousâÂÂ. Throughout The English Constitution, there are references to âÂÂthe coarse, dull, contracted multitudeâÂÂ, âÂÂthe poor and stupidâÂÂ, âÂÂthe vacant manyâÂÂ, âÂÂthe clownish massâÂÂ.
The dignified parts of the constitution were complicated, imposing, old and venerable; but the efficient parts were simple and modern. The âÂÂefficient secretâ at the heart of it all was âÂÂthe close unionâ and âÂÂnearly complete fusionâ of executive and legislative powers in the Cabinet - the âÂÂboard of controlâ which rules the nation. âÂÂThe use of the Queen, in a dignified capacity, is incalculableâÂÂ, opened the chapters of the book dealing with the monarchy. It acted as a âÂÂdisguiseâ and strengthened the government through its combination of mystique and pageantry. He famously summed up the monarch's role as involving âÂÂthe right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warnâÂÂ.
The House of Lords also had a dignified role. It had become a delaying and revising chamber â it was not a bulwark against revolution but must ultimately âÂÂyield to the peopleâ (i.e. the House of Commons). âÂÂThe cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at itâÂÂ, he quipped. The danger it faced was not abolition but decline, and Bagehot supported the creation of life peers to reform it. Bagehot counted the House of Commons as one of the efficient institutions running the country: âÂÂthe whole life of English politics is the action and reaction between the ministry and the ParliamentâÂÂ. The Commons was âÂÂthe ruling and choosing Houseâ â its main function was âÂÂelectiveâÂÂ, it was âÂÂthe assembly which chooses our presidentâÂÂ. It had other roles too: to express the mind of the people; to teach the nation; to communicate grievances; to legislate. Political parties, he recognised, were âÂÂinherent in it . . . bone of its bone, and breath of its breathâÂÂ, but he saw party politics in loose and moderate and Westminster-centric terms.
He feared and opposed dogmatic and programmatic âÂÂconstituency governmentâ and outside party organisations controlling MPs and making them into âÂÂimmoderate representatives for every âÂÂismâ in all EnglandâÂÂ. He would have no truck with what he called âÂÂultra-democratic theoryâ â one person, one vote. âÂÂOnce you permit the ignorant class to begin to rule you may bid farewell to deference for everâÂÂ, he argued â and deference was the key social prop of the system. The mass of people deferred to the pomp and splendour of the âÂÂtheatrical show of societyâÂÂ, but also the numerical majority delegated to an educated and competent minority the power of choosing its rulers. The middle classes were, in this regime, âÂÂthe despotic power in Englandâ and could be expected to choose a good legislature which in turn would select a competent government.
Bagehot was willing to accept some limited parliamentary reform to give more weight to northern industrial areas and even permit some working-class representatives. But he was shocked and dismayed by the Second Reform Act's dramatic extension of the franchise in 1867, which virtually doubled the size of the electorate. In the Introduction to the second edition of The English Constitution in 1872, he was gloomy about a political future in which âÂÂboth our political parties will bid for the support of the working man . . . [and] both of them will promise to do as he likes if he will only tell them what it isâÂÂ. âÂÂI am exceedingly afraidâÂÂ, he admitted, âÂÂof the ignorant multitude of the new constituenciesâÂÂ.
A column in the magazine The Economist, concerning British affairs, is named after Bagehot. Bagehot also influenced Woodrow Wilson, who wrote Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics in 1885, inspired by The English Constitution. Joaquim Nabuco was also inspired by The English Constitution, dedicating a whole chapter about the book in his memoirs.
Generations of British monarchs and their heirs apparent and presumptive have studied Bagehot's analysis. In season 1 of television series The Crown, young Princess Elizabeth's tutor quotes Bagehot to her, which she later recalls when she becomes Queen Elizabeth II.