The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-09-19

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The Dissrence-A Peculiar Feature Of the
Brisish Goverbment.
The governing executive body Il
Great Britain is spoken of sometime
A. the Cabinet" and sometimes as the
Ministry" The two terms are thus
used indifferently in the papers and in
books, as il they meant the same thing.
And in one sense they do mean the
'ame thing; that is, each is used to de-
scribe the body to which is committed
the executive affairs Of the Kingdom.
The word government" is also often
used to describe the same body. We
had the Gladstone government" the
salisbury government, used with
| this meaning.
| But in their composition the Cabinet
is one body, and the Ministry is an
other. Every member of the Cabinet
| Cabinet officer The Cabinet is what
may be termed select committee Of
the Ministry. 1t is the inner circle, the
chosen spirits of the Ministry.
The Ministry consists of all the heads
of the executive departments of the
| Kingdom. The members Of the Cabi-
net are the heads of the most import
| ant of these departments; and they
| also compose, which the ministers not
in the Cabinet do not. the select and
secret advisors of the Crown on mat
tiers of national policy.
| Mr.. Gladstone. in one of his essays.
| speaks of every member of the Cabinet
as exercising three public functions.
He is the head of a department of the
| State. He is always member OF one
| OF the Houses of Parliament. and so
| acts in a legislative capacity. And he
| is a confidential adviser of the Crown.
II is in the latter capacity that he dif-
'ers from minister not in the Cabinet.
There are certain great departments
of State, the chief OF which always oc-
| cupy seats in the inner @ rcle OF the
| Cabinet. These are. the First Lord of
the Treasury (who almost always also
| pres:des over the Cabinet as Prime Min
ister); the five Secretaries of State
for foreign affairs. home affairs, war.
the colonies. and India; the Chancellor
of Exchequer; the Lord High Chancel
lor; the First Lord of Admiralty; the
Lord President of the Council; and the
Lord Privy Seal.
There are other departments. the heads
| of which sometimes are and sometimes
are not in the Cabinet, though they are
part of the Ministry. These are the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the Post
master General the Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, the Chief Secretary
| for Ireland. the Pres dent of Che Board
| of Trade, the President of the Local
Government Board, and the Vice Presi-
dent of the Council.
Finally. there are offices held by Min
listers who are never members of tho
Cabinet: for instance, the Junior Lords
of the Treasury and Admiralty, the At
torney-Genera1 and Solicitor General for
England and Ireland.
| The Ministry, as snch, never meets in
body. The Cabinet. on the other
hand, holds frequent meetings, accord
ing to the gravity of public affairs;
always eonfers in secret, and has no
record kept of its proceedings Often
its decisions are kept secret from the
rest of the Ministers.
No law compels Cabinet Minister to
| be peer or a member of the House of
| Commons. But custom has made this
an invariable rnle. When a member of
the House of Commons is called to the
Cabinet, he resigns his seat in the House
and goes to his constituents for a re-
| election.
Every member of the Cabinet must be
a Privy Councillor. and if he has not
| previously been one. is SO created when
| he enters the Cabinet. Priyy Council
ors have the title of Right Honor
| able"
The English law does not recognize
any such body as the Cab net, or any
such official as Prime Minister. Both
the collective power of the Cabinet and
the dignity of first Minister have grown
up gradually, and have taken their
places in the British political system
without the appliance of any statute
Youths Companion.