JAMES BRYCE (1838-1922)

Author(s): Charles E. Merriam

Source: American Bar Association Journal , FEBRUARY, 1922, Vol. 8, No. 2 (FEBRUARY,
1922), pp. 87-89
Published by: American Bar Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/25710764

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 JAMES BRYCE (1838-1922)
Accomplished in Many Fields, He Found His Real Life Interest in the Study of Government
and Exercised Widespread Influence Upon the Problems of Politics

By Charles E. Merriam
Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

HE passing of Lord Bryce in his 84th year marks in psychology, but this idea he did not develop. In
the end of a career notable alike in theoretical Bryce's opinion there can be no such degree of pre
and practical politics. Statesman, historian, jur cision and predictability in politics as in the natural
sciences, although he is loath to discuss the points of
ist and political scientist, his influence upon the prob
difference. He believed, however, that by skillful use
lems of politics was widespread, and perhaps nowhere
greater than in the United States. of the comparative method in the examination of insti
tutions, similar results may be traced to similar causes,
By occupation Lord Bryce was a lawyer, and and thus certain general conclusions may be deduced.
Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford from 1870
The best way to arrive at real knowledge of politics,
to 1893. His inaugural and valedictory addresses pub he held, was through actual contacts. Plato in his
lished in his Studies in History and Jurisprudence are Republic would have his prospective guardians of the
notable. His contributions to jurisprudence were not law spend 15 years "in the den"?that is, in actual
as great, however, as those made in other fields. Some government. Bryce said: "The best way to get a genu
of his essays, especially those on the Roman and the ine and exact first-hand knowledge of the data is to
English law, are remarkable, and in general he dis mix in practical politics. In such a country as France
played illuminating insight into juristic problems. One or the U. S. a capable man in a dozen years may acquire
might say that he could have become a great jurist if a comprehension of the realities of popular govern
he had cared to devote his life to the study of juris ment ampler and more delicate than any which books
prudence; but he did not rank with the great jurists supply." Much of his own material was obtained
of his time, such as Anson, Maitland or Dicey in that by personal observation of political phenomena
particular branch of thought. ranging over half a century and more than half the
The political career of Lord Bryce was not so globe. Through Europe, America, north and south,
Africa, Australia, and the Orient he went, the most
notable in itself, as it was useful as a preparation for
his scholarly work. Among other positions held, he intelligent traveler of his time.
was member of Parliament for over twenty years, Lord Bryce in the actual execution of his work
President of the Board of Trade, Chief Secretary for developed a very close relationship with the historical
Ireland, and Ambassador to the United States. In studies, with whose methods he was very familiar, and
these and other capacities he rendered distinguished from which he drew many illustrations. Yet his hori
zon was not a limited one. In fact his address before
service to his country and at the same time obtained
a practical insight into the actual workings of politics the British Academy on "The Next Thirty Years"
without which his other inquiries would not have been (1917) is notable for its breadth of view. As early as
possible. 1896 he discussed in significant fashion the relation
In the historical field the great achievement of ship between geography and the social sciences in a
Lord Bryce was his Holy Roman Empire, written in remarkable article in the Contemporary Review of that
1862, when he was only 24, and still regarded as a year; and throughout his life he was intensely inter
great piece of historical interpretation. The keen ested in the undertakings and the achievements of
historical sense displayed in this remarkable volume geography.1
and its fine literary quality gave it a much loneer life He turned a friendly ear toward psychology, and
than is accorded to most historical treatises. Numer in his works introduced a number of psycho!ogical
ous other essays in historical interpretation came from classifications, but not on any extensive or remarkable
scale. Toward statistics and economics (this latter
the pen of Bryce and are characterized by the same
qualities of penetrating insight and lucid exposition. considered chaotic) he was on the whole indifferent.
Lord Bryce's real life interest, however, was in He once exclaimed in his Modern Democracies, "It is
the field of the study of government?political science. Facts that are needed, Facts, Facts, Facts"?and more
workers in the field of facts. He conceived the func
To this end his historical and legal training and his
practical political experience were clearly subordinate. tion of politics to be that of presenting facts and of
In estimating the political science of Lord Bryce, inducing the habit of reasoning from facts in public
we may appropriately begin by raising the question, affairs; of creating a rational attitude:?this, rather
what was his conception of politics? The material of than presenting dogmatic conclusions. Conclusions
political science in Bryce's view was certain tendencies were to be general rather than specific, tentative and
in human nature?"that basic and ever-present ele qualified rather than definite and positive.
ment in the endless flux of social and political phenom In method then we may say that Bryce was the
sage rather than the scientist?historical rather \hm
ena which enables general principles to be determined."
The foundation of politics then is human nature which dogmatic and systematic?appreciating psychology,
is assumed to be permanent in its essential character economics, statistics, but preferring to select his ma
istics. At titr es he declared that politics has its roots 1 In 1859 he wrote The Fauna of the Island of Aryan,
87

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 88 American Bar Association Journal

terial and his illustrations from history and law, chiefly civil, religious, political or individual, which he con
through the agency of description and comparison. cedes is description rather than definition. He dis
In many ways his procedure closely resembles that of tinguishes between liberty that is civil, political or
Montesquieu who also combined in felicitous style social, but does not undertake to say what liberty is,
philosophy and fact. The Frenchman was more in and he defines the main ends of government by which
clined, however, to generalization than the English various forms of it may be tested as the maintenance
thinker and was perhaps less careful regarding his of Justice and Happiness.
facts. Montesquieu was a prophet of democracy, de Lord Bryce discusses in some detail the strength
fending it against the ancient regime, while Bryce was and weakness of democracies, excluding unhappily
proclaiming its triumphant creed in the hours of its England, and adverts to the later phases of democ
greatest triumphs. racy and to the struggle v^ith Socialism and Commun
Lord Bryce developed few political ideas by the ism. Of democracy he is a severe but friendly critic.
direct process of systematization. His sympathetic It has provided safety against external attack; internal
understanding of all types of theories was surprising, order; justice as between men; assistance in trade and
and his power of expounding them was remarkable, industry to its citizens. But it has not developed broth
but as a rule he did not care to go beyond this. He was erhood as between races and classes; it has not evolved
equally at home with Dante and St. Thomas, with practical political capacity; it has not escaped from
Karl Marx, Theodore Roosevelt or Lenine; with the the influence of the money power; it has not produced
monuments of the Roman law and the very latest ex that general satisfaction and contentment anticipated
periments in Australasia. His mind seemed to pene by its early advocates.
trate and illuminate with delicate perception everything Notable among the features of this remarkable
on which it was focused. It would be safe to say that analysis are his grave discussion of the decline of
in 1888 when he published The American Common legislative bodies, his thoughtful consideration of the
wealth,2 he understood the spirit of American gov initiative and referendum, his analysis of the revival
ernment and law as well and far better than many? of the executive power, his penetrating view of Plu
I shall not say Americans?but American students of tocracy in relation to Democracy, his portrayal of the
government and law. The truth is that the kindly sage influence of Press and Propaganda, his discussion of
was really more interested in accurately describing and Democracy and Communism, his treatment of the rela
justly interpreting ideas and institutions than in their tion of backward races to Democracy.
criticism or in the construction of modified mechanisms In reality government will always be in the hands
of control. He was, first of all, a traveler, collector, of the few. For, says he: "Free government cannot but
observer, photographer; after that an analyst. be, and has in reality always been, an oligarchy within
Of his scattered essays in political theory those a Democracy." The future of Democracy is by no
on Sovereignty and on Obedience are the most signifi means assured, for it is entirely possible that the love
cant. In the former essay he drew the now well-known of liberty and Democracy may decline and even dis
distinction between legal and practical sovereignty, appear. He finally concludes with an expression of
made familiar by his efforts together with those of faith in the ultimately successful outcome of the demo
Ritchie and Dicey. In the latter he discussed with cratic experiment. "Without Faith nothing is accom
keen insight the types and forms of obedience under plished and Hope is the mainspring of Faith.
different systems of political control. Under the heads Throughout the course of History every winter of
of Indolence, Deference, Sympathy, Fear and Reason despondency has been followed by a joyous springtime
he grouped and analyzed the chief grounds of obedi of hope"?an example of intellectual modesty at the
ence or compliance. Students of political theory end of a life of amazing opportunity for observation
lament that he laid down his pen when he did in the and reflection.
treatment of this fundamental subject, regarding which The great monuments of Lord Bryce are his com
so little useful has been said. The same observation prehensive descriptions and interpretations of modern
may be made regarding his discussion of centripetal institutions. The United States, South America, Ice
and centrifugal forces. land, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Switzerland,
In his final study of Modern Democracies (1921), France, were all within the range of his observation;
Bryce at various points approached the field of specu and the world is his debtor for the tempered and ma
lation, but in general avoided the theory of democracy ture judgments of a keen and wise observer, to a great
and confined himself to specific discussion of its prac extent free from prejudices, passion and narrow
tical operations in the six countries he selected. But ness. These have permanent value in the world's
after all he must needs define democracy and set up archives.
standards or tests by means of which he will evaluate But we may also inquire what service he rendered
the workings of the institution. He must and does to the more scientific knowledge of the process of
consider the theoretical foundations of democracy and political control? In what way did he assist in the
the ideas of liberty and equality, as well as the chief advance of the science of politics as distinguished from
purposes of government.3 the art or practise of government? He was not an
He accepts Herodotus' definition of democracy inventor of scientific method or of abstract logical
as "that form of government in which the ruling power formula. He was skeptical of the possibility of the
of the state is legally vested not in any particular class former, and distrustful of the latter. At this point his
or classes, but in the members of the community as a chief contribution was to the creation of an attitude
whole." With this, he contends, the functions of toward the essential facts regarding the organization
democracy or the social or industrial content of democ and operation of political institutions?to the Political
racy has nothing to do. Equality, he believes, may be Prudence that should characterize the statesman and
2 The most notable review of this was written by Woodrow Wilson the public rather than to technical scientific knowledge.
in the Political Science Quarterly, IV, 153. A word might weil be said regarding the relation
S A critical analysis of this volume is given by the writer in 7 he
Bookman, LIU, 354-58. of Lord Bryce to his contemporaries in the field of

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 Taxation of Tax Exemptions 89

political inquiry. Bryce emerged from a period which tudinous banalities?dull and heavy with respectability
had seen a dramatic, struggle between the interesting and responsibility. But not so in such types as Bage
and divergent types represented by such thinkers as the hot or Bryce. An unusual power of lucid statement, a
liberals Mill and Mazzini, and the Collectivists, Marxquaint sense of humor from his Scotch father, a fit
and Proudhon. His contemporaries included repre fully recurring, musing strain of philosophy, a remark
sentatives of many widely varying points of view. ably sympathetic tolerance, a flavor of fairness arising
Among the German group were Gierke, Kohler, Jelli from temperament, training and human contacts, a
nek, Laband, Preuss, as well as Treitschke, Nietzsche, range of eloquence?from the Irish mother perhaps?
and Hasbach. In France there were Leroi Beaulieu, - that sometimes in rare passages sweeps his readers up
to great heights; these were qualities that made Lord
Duguit, Sorel, Reclus; in Russia, Tolstoi, Krapotkin
Bryce the most notable expounder of the rationale of
and Milyukov; among the Italians, Loria, Ferri and modern democracy.
Ferrero; in his own land there were Dicey, Lecky, His training reflects the political philosophy of a
Maitland, Mallock, Morley, Ritchie, Spencer, Cecil, great people, the sagacity of the Scotch, the savoir faire
the Webbs, and in the later period Graham Wallas of the English. It rationalizes the political prudence
and his school.
of the parent branch of the English speaking peoples.
Among these Bryce is a notable defender of 19th Psychology, statistics, the tardy development of social
century Liberalism, as against the monarchial ten sciences will delve deeper into the secrets of that
dencies of the German group, or the collectivist ten human nature to which he so often referred (there
dencies of the Socialists and the Communists: He may be radium in the mind as well as in the ground),
spoke especially for the British type of democratic and supersede his facts and his admittedly tentative
liberalism of which he was so graceful and effective conclusions; but it will be long before there rises again
an exponent?cultured, erudite, grave and responsible an individual so sage, so adapted to his task by tem
in attitude, as becomes one of the world's managerial perament, training and experience, so richly endowed
group; soundly and thoroughly practical and judicious. in opportunity for observation and contact in the poli
These qualities may combine in a formula of plati tical world as this great student.

TAXATION OF TAX EXEMPTIONS

Legal Distinction Between Tax on the Security and That on Property Right Represented by
Exemption Has Apparently Escaped Attention of Authorities

By Edward A. Harri man

Of the Washington, D. C. Bar

AVALID contract granting exemption from taxa the bargain is a fair one, A is in the same position
tion, whether by the State or by the Unitea practically that he was before. His assets originally
States, creates a property right of which the consisted of a farm and ten horses. Now they consist
owner cannot be deprived without due process of of a farm and a franchise, ten horses having been
law, either by the United States, under the Fifth paid for the franchise. The franchise may be taken
Amendment, or by any State, under the Fourteenth as of the same value as the ten horses. The result
Amendment. (Choate v. Trapp, 224 U. S. 665; Glea would be just the same if, instead of ten horses, A had
son v. Wood, Ibid. 679; English v. Richardson, Ibid. a thousand dollars in cash, and paid a thousand dollars
680; Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17.) for the exemption from taxation. The exemption in
Such property right is a franchise, and, like other this case attaches to the farm as such, and therefore
franchises, is subject to taxation. Apparently, how passes with the sale of the farm like an appurtenance.
ever, this class of property generally escapes taxation If the farm was worth $10,000 when subject to taxa
entirely. In some States all property subject to taxa tion, and the franchise, or tax exemption is worth
tion must be taxed according to its value, with certain $1,000, B, who purchases the farm and thereby ac
specific exceptions. In other States the tax laws are quires the franchise, will pay $11,000 for the tax
undoubtedly sufficiently broad to cover this species of exempt farm instead of $10,000 for the same farm
franchise. It is only recently that the amount of prop subject to taxation. By his purchase, therefore, B
erty thus escaping taxation has become of great im acquires, first, a farm worth $10,000; and, second, a
portance. It is now estimated, however, that there are franchise, appurtenant to that farm, of tax-exemption
from ten to fifteen billion dollars of tax-exempt securi worth $1,000. B should, therefore, be taxed on his
ties outstanding, and a constitutional amendment is farm at the rate of taxation applicable to farm prop
proposed to prevent the further issue of such securi erty in the sum of $10,000, and on his tax-exemption,
ties. It would seem that the distinction between the at the rate applicable to such franchise, for $1,000.
taxation of the security and the taxation of the tax The same principles apply to tax-exempt securi
ties. Suppose that in a given jurisdiction a bond is
exemption has escaped the notice of the taxing authori
subject to a tax of $4 a thousand, which is not an
ties. The legal distinction, however, is clear. A owns
a farm and ten horses. He makes a contract with theuncommon rate of taxation on such property, ancl
suppose that the rate of interest on the best taxable
State by which he transfers the horses to the State, and
in consideration therefor the State grants him ex securities is 5%. If A buys a $1,000 taxable bond, he
emption from taxation on his farm. Assuming that will receive $50 income and pay $4 in taxes, making

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