Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-10

under the direction of
the heads of those departments.
For example, supposea considerable
Of the duties on inn
ports were in contemplation (what
we would call revision of the
tariff. 1t is first decided in a Cab
met meeting that such a measure
shall be undertaken then the Cham
cellor of the Exchequer, with the
aid probably of the Board of Trade,
is instructed to prepare sueha meas
ure for introduction into the House
of Commons. The subordinate Off
GERS of the two departments are set
to work upon the details of the
measure, and in good time a thor
uughly digested bill il drafted,
which is brought up at a second
Cabinet meeting, and If it be APP
proved by the Cabinet it becomes
what is afterwards called Cabinet
measure. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer then takes charge of.the
measure in Parliament, vindicating
its provisions throughout ali its
stages until it has passed the House
of Commons, when it is carried in a
similar manner by some other mem
Der of the Cabinet through the
House of Lords, and passing that
receives the royal assent. So far
the Cabinet seems to have more
power than our Cabinets-but sup
pose that a measure so taken in
hand by the Cabinet fails to pass in
the House of Commons. The Cabi
net is then said to be in a minority
and must resign and their political
antagonists OF the opposite party
succeed to their places.
But now suppose, on the other
hand, a Cabinet refuses to offer such
a measure, though considerable feel
ing in favor of one be manifest in
the House of Commons; what then?
There is no power in the British
Parliament of muzzling a majority
of the House by a committee created
by that House. In such an emer-
gency a member of the Opposition
would offer a resolution that a large
reduction ought to be made on GER
tain articles of import. If the Cab
met should be opposed to such
reductions he would make the lead
ing speech against the resolution,
which would be openly debated in
the House, and then should the
resolution be carried by the Oppo-
sitiOn, the Cabinet would resign
and selected members of the Oppo-
sition would succeed to their places.
The present change in the pre-
dominance of parties, however, has
not been brought about exactly in
that way. Lord Beaconsfield's Cab
met has. never been defeated in Par
lament in regard to any measures
they have proposed or any they
have resisted. How then comes
the present dissolution of Parlia-
ment? We will try to explain. 1t
was stated that the defeat of a Cab
met measure necessitates the resig-
nation of the Cabinet, but the pro-
viso should have been stated that if
the question on which they were
defeated was not point at issue,
when that Parliament was elected,
then the Cabinet has a right to
assume that the majority in Parlia-
ment does not represent the major
ity of the nation. On that presump-
ton, the Prime Minister will advise
the Sovereign to disSOlge Farlia-
meHt, and the newly elected Pariia-
ment can either ratify the vote Of
the old one and so finally eject the
Cabinet, or reverse the vote and so
retain it in Office.
But again land this describes the
transaction just effected), the Oppo-
sition may contend that the major
tiles commanded by the admins
tration do not represent the present
feeling of the nation, and by agita-
ton the issues before the people can
bring a moral pressure to bear upon
the Cabinet which will compel him
to appeal to the people by dissolu-
ton of Parliament. This has now
been done. Mr. Gladstone, the
Duke of Argyll, DR.. Fawcett and
other prominent members of the
have been for some time
heated appeals to the people
against the recent foreign policy of
the Cabinet, and have been vehe-
contending that the people
who gave a majority for Lord Bea-
Cabinet six years ago are
not now in accord with that major
ity which was elected when the
issues were different. So persist
entity has this assertion been urged
that Lord Beaconsfeld has been I'M
able to resist it and advised the dis
of Parliament; new Par
lament has been elected which
gives a majority largely in favor of
the Opposition. Lord b. will have
to resign with his Cabinet, and a
new Cabinet will be formed, the
places in which viii be filled by his
This statement is not complete
without explaining the mechanism
for effecting these changes when 1
the parliamentary majority has
thus shifted. For this purpose we
shall have to renew the subject next
week, our space and time being for
the present exhausted.
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AN APPOINTED PRESIDENT.
We did not expect to say any
thing further about Presidential !
but we see "A claim set
up by Mr.. Tilden's friends that if |
hat gentleman's name should not !
be presented to the Cincinnati Con-