, 1875-07-17
The ga vi s"
THE INFLUENCE OF THE COURT.
From the Spectator.)
IS PUBLISHED

AHo paper Oh Iue court OF queen VIC
toria in the Contemporary ReUiev for this
month, if not so interesting as it was ex-
pected to be, has nevertheless a certain
real Importance. 1t is rumoured to be the
work of Mr.. Gladstone, the internal evi,
dence of style is in favour of the rumour,
and if it is written, or even inspired, by
the late Premier, it contains, amid much
that must be accounted verbiage-we
mean no disrespect by the phrase, great
orators rarely can write conciseIy-a def
mite opinion by a statesman of unusual
experience as to the precise position of
the Sovereign in our modern Constitu-
ton. This opinion is summed up in the
statement quoted every where this week,
that during the long reign of Queen Vic
toria the klngship has finally been trans
formed by the silent "substitution oil in
fiuence for power" Not that the owe
in its more. direct form has wholly depart
ed. According to the essayist, the
whole power of the State periodically re-
turns into the Royal hands whenever a
Ministry is changed" the Sovereign,
. though no longer able to reject a policy
on which her counselIors have decided, as
George III. and George ". for many
years rejected Catholic emancipation, be-
ing still able to delay, to prevent, or
greatly TO modify an impending change
in the Administration. This actually oc-
Cured in 1889, on the resignation of
Lord Melbourne, when the Queen, then d
girl, did, says the essayist, by an exercise of
will on what was known as the Bedcham-
Der question, delay the entrance of Sir
Robert Peel to Office for two and a half
years. Of course Sir Robert PeeI's posi-
ton as Premier, without a clear majority,
was a special one but still he might
have formed a sufficiently stable Ministry,
but tor the determined resistance of the
Queen, a resistance which on the point at
issue was ultimately successful. 1t is ru-
INQUIRED also that a direct exercise of pow
eT was made when in 1853 the Queen, by
positively refusing to sign any mere 1ndi-
an Commissions, forced the policy of ANAL
gamation upon her advisers and in 1851,
when Lord Palmerston was so sharply eX-
PEELED from place, the Sovereign's displea-
sure was certainly the cause. AS o rule,
however, influence has been substituted
for power, and the object OF the essayist,
"PSiO&iOli TX 0uloSy III JIG l. Il"OO OO"
sort, which is just, but in this year OF
grace a little tiresome, is to show that
this transformation, which is now, he be-
~lieves, "matured," still leaves the Throne
a most important factor in the Constitu-
tional system.
There can be no doubt that the essayist
is correct as. to the fact, but the expIana-
tlons he advances for the fact do not, we
confess, content us. That Queen Victoria
has great power in Great Britain. much
greater power than she is popularity be-
ieyed to have, is, we imagine, a statement
which will be accepted or denied in exact
proportion to the questioner's experience
or Ignorance, of the. inner. political life OF
this country during the last thirty years;
and this power is not derived entirely
from either her history, which is only
half remembered by the new generation,
or her character, which is only partially
understood. Any Sovereign who would
work must, while the Throne endures,
have ains this country a considerable share
ofupower. After all the changes and trans
formations which have taken place in the