ainst the political and temporal
claims of the Roman Pontiff. The Vestry can never again become a
popular vehicle of administration. The second is the Board of
Guardians--though this is not properly a village or local authority
at all, but merely a representative firm for the supervision of
certain funds in which a number of villages are partners, and which
can only be applied to a few stated purposes, under strictly limited
conditions. There is no popular feeling involved in the expenditure
of this fund, except that of economy, and almost any ratepayer may
be trusted to vote for this; so that the office of guardian is a
most routine one, and offers no opportunity of reform. Often one
gentleman will represent a village for twenty years, being simply
nominated, or even not as much as nominated, from year to year. If
at last he grows tired of the monotony, and mentions it to his
friends, they nominate another gentleman, always chosen for his
good-fellowship and known dislike to change or interference--a man,
in fact, without any violent opinions. He is nominated, and takes
his seat. There is no emulation, no excitement. The Board of
Guardians would assume more of the character of a local authority if
it possessed greater freedom of action. But its course is so rigidly
bound down by minute regulations and precedents that it really has
no volition of its own, and can only deal with circumstances as
they arise, according to a code laid down at a distance. It is not
permitted to discriminate; it can neither relax nor repress; it is
absolutely inelastic. In consequence it does not approach to the
idea of a real local power, but rather resembles an assembly of
unpaid clerks doling out infinitesimal sums of money to an endless
stream of creditors, according to written instructions left by the
absent head of the firm. Next there is the Highway Board; but this
also possesses but limited authority, and deals only with roads. It
has merely to see that the roads are kept in good repair, and that
no encroachments are made upon them. Like the Board of Guardians, it
is a most useful body; but its influence upon village life is
indirect and indeterminate. There only remains the Court Leet. This,
the most ancient and absolute of all, nevertheless approaches in
principle nearest to the ideal of a local village authority. It is
supposed to be composed of the lord of the manor, and of his court
or jury of tenants, and its object is to see th