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The History of London - Greater London
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63. LONDON.
GREATER LONDON.
It has been a great misfortune for London that, when
its Wall ceased to be the true boundary of the town, and when the
people began to spread in all directions outside the walls, no
statesman arose with vision clear enough to perceive that the old
system must be enlarged or abolished: that the City must cease to mean
the City of the Edwards, and must include these new suburbs, from
Richmond on the West to Poplar on the East, and from Hampstead on the
North to Balham on the South. It is true that something was done: there
are the Wards of Bridge Without, which is Southwark: and of Farringdon
Without. There should have been provision for the creation of new Wards
whenever the growth of a suburb warranted its addition. That, however,
has not been done. The Old London remains as it was, and as we now see
it, surrounded by another, and an immense{231}
City, or aggregate of cities, all placed under the rule of a Council.
This was done by the Act of 1888, which created a
County whose boundaries were the same as those of the former
Metropolitan Board of Works; in other words, it embraces all the
suburbs of London properly so called. This County extends from Putney
and Hammersmith on the West to Plumstead on the East: on the North are
Hampstead and Highgate; on the South are Tooting, Streatham, Lewisham
and Eltham. There are 138 Councillors, of whom 19 are Aldermen and one
a Chairman. The conservative tendency of our people is shown in their
retention of the old division of aldermen. It is, once more, Kings,
Lords, and Commons. But the functions of the Aldermen do not differ
from those of the Councillor. The Councillors are elected by the
ratepayers for three years, the Aldermen for six; but there is a rule
as to retiring by rotation.
The powers of the County Council are enormous. It
regulates the building of houses and streets: the drainage: places of
amusement: it can close streets and pull down houses: it administers
and makes regulations concerning parks, bridges, tunnels, subways,
dairies, cattle diseases, explosives, lunatic asylums, reformatory
schools, weights and measures. It grants licenses for music and
dancing: it carries on, in fact, the whole administration of the
greatest City in the world, and, in some respects, the best managed City.
In order to carry out these works the Council expend
about 600,000l. a year. It has a debt of 30,000,000l.,
against which are various assets, so that the real debt is no more than
18,000,000l. The rating outside the City was last
year 12½d. in the pound. The first
Chairman was Lord Rosebery. He has been succeeded by Sir{232}
John Lubbock and Mr. John Hutton. The list of County Councillors
contains men of every rank and every opinion. Dukes, Earls and Barons,
sit upon the Council beside plain working men—an excellent
promise for the future.
Such is the government of London. Within the City what
was intended to be democratic has become oligarchic. The election by
the whole people has become the election by 8,000 only. Without the
City a great democratic Parliament attracts men whose historic names
and titles belong to the aristocracy. In the London County Council the
Peers may, if they are elected, sit beside the Commons.
Lastly, what is the chief lesson for you to learn out of this history? It is short, and may be summed up in a few sentences.
1. Consider how your liberties have grown silently and
steadily out of the original free institutions of your Saxon ancestors.
They have grown as the trunk, the tree, the leaves, the flower, the
fruit, grow from the single seed. The Folk Mote, the 'Law worthiness'
of every man, the absence of any Over Lord but the King, have kept
London always free and ready for every expansion of her liberties.
Respect, therefore, the ancient things which have made the
City—and the country—what it is. Trust that the
further natural growth of the old tree—still
vigorous—will be safer for us than to cut it down and plant a
sapling, which may prove a poison tree. And with the old institutions
respect the old places. Never, if you can help it, suffer an old
monument to be pulled down and destroyed. Keep before your eyes the
things which remind you of the past. When you look on London Stone,
remember that Henry of London Stone was one of the first Mayors. When
you go up College Hill, remember Whittington who gave it that name.
When you pass the Royal Exchange think of Gresham:{233}
when you go up Walbrook remember the stream beneath your feet, the
Roman Fortress on your right, and the British town on your left. London
is crammed full of associations for those who read and know and think.
You will be better citizens of the present for knowing about the
citizens of the past.
2. The next lesson is your duty to your country. What
does it mean, the right of the Folk Mote? The Mote has now become a
House of Commons, a County Council, a School Board. You have the same
rights that your ancestor had. He was jealous over them: he fought to
the death to preserve them and to strengthen them. Be as jealous, for
they are far more important to you than ever they were to him. You have
a hundred times as much to defend: you have dangers which he did not
know or fear. Show your jealousy by exercising your right as the most
sacred duty you have to fulfil. Your vote is an inheritance and a
trust. You have inherited it direct from the Angles and the Jutes: as
you exercise that vote so it will be ill or well with you and your
children. Be very jealous of the man you put in power: learn to
distinguish the man who wants place from the man who wants justice:
vote only for the right man: and do your best to find out the right
man. It is difficult at all times. You may make it less difficult by
sending to the various Parliaments of the country a man you know, who
has lived among you, whose life, whose private character, whose
previous record you know instead of the stranger who comes to court
your vote. Above all things vote always and let the
first duty in your mind always be to protect your rights and your
liberties.
These are the two lessons that this book should teach
you - the respect that is due to the past and the duty that is
owed to the present.
{235}
History of London
London Sights to See
St. Paul's Cathedral
Buckingham
Palace
Elfin
Oak of Kensington Gardens
Shakespeare's
Globe Theatre
Harrod's
Department Store
Hyde Park
Kensington Palace and Gardens
Kew Palace and Gardens
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and London Planetarium
Piccadilly Circus
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
The
West End
Trafalgar
Square
Westminster Abbey
Whitehall
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