Laissez-Faire and State Intervention in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Arthur J. Taylor (review)

464 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW attribute a positive, ideological, andreligious quality to a forcethatmaywellbe essentially a negative andsecular response totheanarchy of thesectaries. Claire Cross points outthatthevoluntaristic Presbyterianism, established in x646,and which flourished insome cases through thex65os, was acceptable tomany clerics and laymen who would also have embraced themodified episcopacy mooted in•64•/2.In otherwords, aslongasthereformed church wasestablished, national, andbroadly tolerant withindefined boundaries, perhaps most laymen withinParliament andthe Citywerenotmuchinterested in choosing between anerastian episcopal andan erastianPresbyterian church. In general thisisan excellent collection of essays, manyof whichareclearly previews of forthcoming monographs. Writtenforthespecialist, thevolume comes fullyequipped withscholarly paraphernalia, a helpfulbibliography, andcopious notes. MICHAEL G. FINLAYSON University ofToronto Laissez-Faire andStateIntervention in Nineteenth-Century Britain.ARTHUR J. TAYLOR. London,Macmillanfor theEconomic HistorySociety; NewYork,FernhillHouse, 1972.PP.79.$•.75 paper. This pamphletis one of the surveys of recentscholarship whichthe Economic HistorySociety hascommissioned for theguidance ofstudents andteachers. It treats thedefinitionandchronology of laissez-faire, contemporary theories of economic policy,the transmission of ideasfrom economists to the generalpublic,and the interventionist or laissez-faire dimensions of nineteenth-century policy withrespect to tariffs,railways, factories, publichealth,education, and the PoorLaws.In so doing,it necessarily assumes a greatdealof prior knowledge. In conclusion, it asks whethertherewasanageof laissez-faire atall. Taylor offersan up-to-datestatement of the debates, usefulthoughbrief summaries ofsuch topics asclassical political economy, administrative reform,andpublic spending, anda scattering of wiseandperceptive comments. Confrontingthequestion ,'Wasthereanageof laissez-faire?' heasks ustodistinguish between intellectual, administrative, political, andsocio-economic history, andhereminds usthatwemust notassume anystrong linksbetween these several kindsof pastevents. Heconcludes thatinmatters of economic policyBritishgovernments were'essentially laissez-faire' because theykeptgovernment expenditure small andbecause, atleast incomparison with prior and later governments,they adhered more or lesscloselyto the non-interference principle. Because somuchhasbeencompressed intososmalla compass, thetextmustbe readwith an attentionwhichisnot at firstapparent.ThoughTaylor'sdistinctions andcategories are sensible andhelpful,somereaders mayconclude thatfurther distinctions arereallyneeded. Forexample, oneshould probably separate thesortof government intervention whichestablishes alegalor administrative frameworkfor privateactivity, withor withoutregulation of particularfirmsor activities, from the sortwhichsets up a government enterprise, perhaps coexisting withprivateenter- REVIEWS 465 prise,for theprovision of services to thepublic.Further,onecertainly shouldnot confiate thesize ofthegovernment budget withtheextentofstate intervention. It ishardtowriteofsuch GrandHistorical Abstractions withoutasking whatthey reallymean.On the wholeTaylor hasavoidedthisapproach, and the pointless searchfor Platonic Essences whichisimplicitin it. Nowandthen,admittedly, his control slips. Thusatonepointhedecries 'theageoflaissez-faire coming facetoface withtheembryo welfarestate' - essentialism joinedto personification, producing absurdity. Butsuch oddities arerare,andtheirpresence isreallywelcome, because they serve towarnthereader oftheperils withwhich such historiography isfraught. IAN M. DRUMMOND University ofToronto ABibliography ofBritish andIrishMunicipal History. I: General Works. c.•I. MARTIN and s.MeINTYRE. Leicester, Leicester University Press; NewYork,Humanities Press, •972. Pp.lviii,8o5.$33.oo. Sources for Englis hLocal History. w.B.ST•'I•I•NS. Manchester, Manchester University Press, •973. PP.x, 26o.œ4.8o cloth,œ•.5 øpaper. G.H.Martin andS.Mcintyre, theeditors ofthis bibliography ofworkg onBritish and Irish towns,facedimmensely moredifficultproblems of selection thanthosethat confronted Charles Gross whose bibliography, published in 1897,it isdesigned to continueand supplement. WhereasGross couldsurveythe printedsources and literaturein onestoutvolume, several (howmanyisnotyetapparently known)are goingtoberequiredtoperformthesame service forworkpublished between hisday and •967. The taskof the bibliographer of townlife is formidable:not only has historical workmultipliedwiththeincreasing domination of thecityin themodern worldandwiththe wideningof historians' interests, but he isfacedwiththe additionalproblemof tryingto separate thehistoryof the cityfrom the historyof the society ofwhichitisapart.Theeditors ofthisvolume escape some ofthese problems, however, forthisisabibliography notofworkin'urbanhistory' ingeneral, but,asthe titlesays, of 'municipal history.' It isconcerned, thatis,withtheliteratureof town government, with'thepublicmanagement of theurbancommunity' (p. xxvi).The problems of urbanlifeareof interest insofaraslocalgovernment hasbeenforcedto createadministrativemachineryto deal with them, but the emphasisis on the machinery, nottheproblem: therearesections onpolice, prisons, andthemaintenanceof thepeace, butnotonurbancrime. Thebibliography deals firstwithEngland andWales, andtheninturnwithworks relating exclusively toWales, Scotland, andIreland.Eachdivision begins withadmirablyrichsections onbibliographies andguides torecords, followed byaselection of workson'general'and'local'history,andthenbyliteraturedealingwiththehistory ofmunicipal functions andservices. The least authoritative section isthatdevoted to general andlocalhistory, for space hasbeenassigned for fewerthanfivehundred titles andthesubjects covered include social an• economic _history anddemographic studies; inevitably theselection hasa certainarbitraryquality.Buttheheartof the bibliography liesin the sections on the historyof municipaladministration, the ...