guilty of corrupt or illegal practices may be prosecuted. No member of Parliament can resign his seat, theoretically speaking, but he can achieve the same purpose by accepting the office of honour or profit under the Crown known as the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds or of the manors of Poynings or Northstead, granted to him by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and resigned immediately its object is served.

A seat in the House of Commons is vacated when the holder is created a peer or succeeds to the peerage, and also by death or by the acceptance of any office of profit under the Crown; and there are likewise certain disabilities attached to bankruptcy. All the principal members of the Government on accepting office vacate their seats and are eligible for re-election; but this rule does not apply to such offices as Secretary to the Treasury or other similar appointments which are not held direct from the Crown; and a change from one office to another does not involve going again to the constituency.

If a seat becomes vacant during a session, a new writ is moved for at the commencement of an ordinary sitting, generally by one of the whips of the party to which the deceased member belonged. Provision is further made for the issue of writs during the recess without the intervention of the House, it being enacted that the Speaker may, on the production of a certificate signed by two members that a member has died or accepted an office held direct from the Crown, or has been called to the House of Lords, or that the seat has become vacant by the bankruptcy of a member, order a writ to be issued for a fresh election to fill the vacancy thus caused. But a writ may not be issued during the recess on the acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds or of the like offices Means are provided under the Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act, 1886, by which the seat of any member who may have been received into a lunatic asylum shall be declared vacant.

XIV.

THE SOVEREIGN, THE MINISTRY, THE CABINET, AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

The British Sovereign enjoys certain clearly defined prerogatives, including those of convoking, adjourning, removing, and dissolving Parliament, refusing assent to bills-without which they cannot become law-and the creation of peers. Formerly the Crown could increase or diminish the number of members of the House of Commons by either enabling towns to send members or withdrawing the representation from them; but this power has long been obsolete, and that also of vetoing bills is practically so. The Sovereign declares war; chooses and appoints all commanders and officers by land and sea; appoints all judges, magistrates, councillors, and officers of state, archbishops, bishops, and high ecclesiastical dignitaries; bestows all public

honours; pardons criminals; and exercises many other powers, usually by the advice of the Cabinet Ministers, who, however, alone are responsible, the theory of English law being that the Sovereign can commit no wrong. Theoretically the king or queen never dies-that is, the throne is never vacant, the succession of the heir being instantaneous. The ceremony of coronation is merely a solemn recognition and confirmation of the royal descent, and consequent right of succession; and it is not necessary for the security of the title to the crown. But it is highly necessary to the formal establishment of those rights which the people claim from the monarch in return for the duty and allegiance they are bound to observe towards the new Sovereign.

The Ministry is the body carrying on the executive government. When the Sovereign calls upon a statesman to form a new administration, the person usually selected is the leader of the opposing party in one of the two Houses. He first nominates the Cabinet, taking himself the principal position, and he is variously styled the Prime Minister, First Minister, head of the Government, or Premier. Those who accept office under him are in general agreement with his policy. Though each Minister conducts his own department, all important departmental matters are submitted to the Prime Minister-most of them being afterwards laid before the whole Cabinetand no appointment of moment is made or recommended to the Crown without his knowledge and concurrence. The Premier's patronage is very extensive. Upon his advice, as vacancies occur, archbishops, bishops, deans, judges, and other dignitaries are appointed, and upwards of one hundred Crown livings are filled. Peerages, baronetcies, the order of the Garter, and other distinctions are conferred on his recommendation, as well as such high appointments as the lord lieutenancy of Ireland, the viceroyalty of India, the principal ambassadorships and colonial governorships, and the lord lieutenancies of counties. He is the leader of the House of Parliament in which he sits. Yet his official existence is not recognised by statute, nor does he enjoy any legal precedence over his colleagues.

The Cabinet, which is really the Executive Government, is an important inner circle in the Ministry, and it may be described theoretically as an irregular committee of the Privy Council. It is now an essential part of our polity, and it is composed of the most important members of the administration. Yet it is not known to the law; the names of its members are not officially announced to the public; no record is kept of its meetings and resolutions; and its existence has never been recognised by any act of Parliament. Formerly the members of the Privy Council were the advisers of the Crown, but as the Privy Council was a large body, a small informal council of royal advisers grew up within it. But the rise of the Cabinet as it now exists dates from the revolution of 1688 and the effectual establishment of Parliamentary government. George III. endeavoured to subordinate the Cabinet into Ministers dependent on himself; and even William IV. on one occasion dismissed a Cabinet which was personally objectionable to him. Such a step would now be condemned as unconstitutional. The

Cabinet now depends on a majority of the House of Commons for its existence, and it acknowledges a collective responsibility to Parliament for its principal acts, though its functions are not governed by written rules. The Cabinet now always includes the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Secretaries of State for the Home, Foreign, Colonial, War, and Indian Departments, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the First Lord of the Admiralty. Other Ministers may be included, and frequently are. The minimum number of Ministers in the Cabinet is eleven, but it has sometimes reached the unwieldy figure of seventeen. Political unanimity, unity of responsibility, and concert in action are the main features of Cabinet government. The Sovereign cannot now constitutionally preside at a Cabinet council. Members of the Cabinet are necessarily Privy Councillors. The Prime Minister generally takes the office of First Lord of the Treasury, though Lord Salisbury gave it to another member of the Cabinet, in order to assume for himself the post of Foreign Secretary. The Prime Minister may likewise be First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury and Lord Privy Seal. Other offices in the Ministry, holders of which may or may not be members of the Cabinet, are those of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, First Commissioner of Works, Postmaster-General, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary for Scotland, President of the Board of Trade, President of the Board of Agriculture, President of the Local Government Board, and Vice-President of the Council on Education. Appointments to all these offices, as well as to the under-secretaryship, and many others, are made by or on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Ministers do not vacate their seats on going from one office to another. A Government does not now resign upon an adverse vote of the House of Lords, but only when it is defeated in the Commons on a question of importance. Ministers have continued to hold office after defeat on a trifling matter in the Lower House. When defeated on a question of importance, the Premier either resigns or appeals to the country. If in the latter event the elections go against him, he usually resigns, though he may if he pleases wait for a formal vote of want of confidence passed by the new House of Commons. Touching the legislative duties of certain of the Ministers, if the Secretary for War and the First Lord of the Admiralty are peers, the Financial Secretary to the War Office generally and the Secretary to the Admiralty have charge of the estimates in the House of Commons. The education estimates for England and Wales are introduced by the Vice-President of the Council. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury has charge of most of the civil service estimates ; and, in addition to other matters, he arranges the course of Government business in the House of Commons. The Patronage Secretary is the principal Ministerial whip, and issues the official summonses, or whips, for securing the attendance of the Ministerial supporters. He is aided in his party duties by the Junior Lords of the Treasury and by some of the

holders of subordinate Household appointments, and with their assistance he tells for the Government in divisions.

The Privy Council is a development from the Curia Regis, as described in an early chapter of the present work. The present name of Privy Council was assumed in the time of Henry V., when its functions were partly administrative and partly judicial. At one time its jurisdiction was very extensive, but its judicial powers were restricted by the Long Parliament, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries its functions as the adviser of the Crown in matters of Government and State policy were gradually usurped by the Cabinet. The Privy Council as now constituted includes the members of the royal family, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishop of London, the great officers of state, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Lords Justices of the Court of Appeal, the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, the law officers of the Crown, the members of the Judicial Committee, several of the Scotch judges, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the ambassadors, some of the ministers plenipotentiary and governors of colonies, the Commander-in-chief, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the VicePresidents of the Board of Trade and Education Council, the Paymaster of the Forces, and all the members of the Cabinet, and private individuals and politicians who have never been in office upon whom the Sovereign has conferred the distinction. Any Privy Councillor can act as a justice of the peace. Privy Councillors are appointed by the Sovereign without either patent or grant, and are subject to removal at discretion. It was enacted in the reign of Queen Anne that the Privy Council should continue for six months after the demise of the Crown, unless sooner determined by the successor of the deceased Sovereign. No members now attend its deliberations except those specially summoned, and the occasions are very rare when summonses are sent to the whole Council. Generally only the Ministers, the great officers of the Household, and the Archbishop of Canterbury are summoned. Meetings of council are usually held at the Sovereign's residence, at intervals of every three or four weeks; and six Privy Councillors, with one of the Clerks of the Council, may constitute a meeting. A Privy Councillor must be a natural-born British subject. The Lord President of the Council is appointed by letters patent under the Great Seal. He presides over the debates, proposes matters from the Sovereign at the council table, and reports to her Majesty the resolutions taken thereon. A full meeting of the members takes place on the demise of the Crown, when it is the duty of the Privy Council to meet and proclaim the new Sovereign. The Council has many important functions, including the establishment of quarantine when necessary, the granting of charters of incorporation to public and private bodies, and the enforcement by Orders in Council of many statutes which Parliament leaves to the discretion of the executive. Royal proclamations summoning, proroguing, or dissolving Parliament, and for many other purposes, are drawn up by and with the advice of the Privy Council before being issued. Various public departments have grown out of or are now committees of the Council. The

Board of Trade, though now independent, is still officially entitled the Committee of Council for Trade. The Education Department is a committee of the Council; and there are in addition a Universities Committee-which reviews the statutes made under the Oxford and Cambridge Act-a Scottish Universities Committee, and a Judicial Committee for appellate business. The newly established Board of Agriculture possesses many powers and discharges many duties which formerly pertained to the Agricultural Department of the Privy Council. The old Privy Council of Scotland was merged in that of England by the act 6 Anne. Ireland has a separate Privy Council, which in 1891 consisted of fifty eight members, who are sworn pursuant to a sign-manual warrant directed to the Lord Lieutenant.

XV.

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE, ORDER, PROCEDURE, ETC.

On the day appointed by royal proclamation for the meeting of a new Parliament, the members of both Houses assemble in their respective chambers. In the Upper House, the five Lords Commissioners appointed by the Sovereign take their seats on a form placed between the throne and the woolsack, and the Lord Chancellor commands the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to let the Commons know that their attendance is desired. In the Commons, all responsibility pending the election of the Speaker devolves upon the Clerk of the House, who receives from the Clerk of the Crown a book containing the names of the members returned to serve in the new Parliament. Black Rod having knocked at the door and informed the Clerk of the object of his visit, the latter joins the official from the Lords, and the two gentlemen, followed first by Privy Councillors and afterwards by unofficial commoners, proceed together to the bar of the Upper House. There they are informed by the Lord Chancellor of the appointment of the Royal Commissioners by her Majesty under the Great Seal, after which the Clerk of the Parliaments reads the letters patent in extenso, and the Lord Chancellor dismisses the Commons to elect their Speaker. After their departure, the process of swearing in is proceeded with in the Upper House, the Lord Chancellor, as keeper of the Queen's conscience and principal Lord Commissioner, being the first to take the oath and subscribe the roll of Parliament.

Upon the return of the Commons to their own House, the Clerk points with his finger to the gentleman who is to nominate the Speaker. He is usually a leading, but unofficial, member of the Ministerial party, and his motion is seconded by a prominent member of the Opposition. If two members should be proposed as Speaker, a debate and a division ensue, but this has not occurred since 1839, when Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Liberal, was elected Speaker over Mr. Goulburn, Conservative, by 317 to 299 votes. If