IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATION 885 
remarkable. Rome did indeed allow—with a half-contemp- 
tuous indifference—the subject peoples to retain their own 
customs and religions, but she encroached more and more 
upon the political liberties of her most cherished allies, till all 
were embraced™n the iron grasp of one great administrative 
system. England has set herself from the first to carry out nd 
a devolution of authority to the largest extent possible. In gs ol 
1619 King James granted a constitution under which English- pd 
men living in Virginia were able to express their views as to Zou ; 
the manner in which the government of the colony should be 
carried on, In one after another of the territories which 
have been planted since that time, governmental institutions, 
on the model of those at home, have been created ; and efforts 
are made, not only to enable Englishmen to retain the 
practice of self-government in their new homes, but to train 
subject peoples for the discharge of similar responsibilities. 
As English constitutional liberties have developed, the type 
of government which is created in the new countries has 
been modified. The government of the American colonies 
reflected the ideas of the Stuart monarchy; while the new 
nineteenth century colonies have been modelled on demo- 
cratic lines, where authority lies in the hands of a cabinet 
which is responsible to the citizens for its measures. 
The contrast is noticeable, too, when we look not merely 
at the diffusion of political power in the English Empire but 
at the character of the civil administration. The creation of and te 
administrative machinery was the great feature of English incorrupt 
economic history in the middle of last century, and a oi 
corresponding change was taking place in the government of of ell 
the country and her dependencies. There are areas where tation 
the older type of administration survives, and the officials of 
a royal household are responsible for the control of public 
affairs; there is still a castle in Dublin. But, on the whole, 
it is true that the method of selecting the personelle of the 
administration throughout the various parts of the Empire 
is wholly appropriate to a democratic realm. The Roman 
Empire was governed by an official class; there i® always a 
danger that such a caste may become the slave of its own 
traditions, or that it should avail itself of opportunities of