It is an amazing circumstance
that not until the middle of the last century did the great city of
Manchester emancipate itself from the last traces of feudal subjection
by the purchase of manorial and market rights. Just as the word
_pecunia_ is derived from _pecus_, just as the merchant's mark is in all
likelihood descended from that of the yeoman, even so in many municipal
appointments there is strong evidence of the once all-prevalent
agricultural element.
If we turn to London, we shall discover that its administration was
conducted, to a large extent, on country and manorial lines. The
necessary result was chaos. As Mr. J. H. Round observes, "The genius of
the Anglo-Saxon system was ill adapted, or rather wholly unsuitable, to
urban life ... while of unconquerable persistence and strength in small
manageable rural communities, it was bound to, and did, break down when
applied to large and growing towns, whose life lay not in agriculture,
but in trade. In a parish, in a hundred, the Englishman was at home, but
in a town, and still more in such a town as London, he found himself at
his wits' end." But the practical spirit, the common sense of our race,
successfully asserted itself--e.g., in the case of the Sheriffs, who in
London are elected by the citizens. In general, sheriffs are appointed
by the Crown, and, as the name implies, they are strictly county
officers. In the case of the special franchise of the Fitzwalters we
have seen how eagerly the Corporation embraced the opportunity afforded
by the sale of Baynard Castle to secure greater freedom and homogeneity
in the government of the City.
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