The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-15

this written Constitution, different in many
capital particulars from the unwritten Consti-
| tuition that was in actual operation In the
| England Of George ILL.,. but for which no war
| rant can be found upon the statute book. by
| unwritten Constitution we mean. OF course,
| the system Of government that has reduced
! the English sovereign to a more flRurehead
| and placed the control Of the central admins
! tration in the hands OF q small body called the
Cabinet which, IL we look at It's relation to the
monarch, may be regarded as committee OF
the Privy Council invested with the powers OF a
regency, and. II we consider its dependence
on the popular branch OF the Legislature
may DO described as an executive com
mlttee Of the House OF Commons. II
we except the legislative powers OF Par
lament, which but for the check received
In the Tudor and Stuart epochs may be
said to have been continuously developed from
Saxon times. all the dynamic features OF what
we now mean when we speak OF the British
Constitution are extra-legal, while the struc-
tural and decorative PARTS are imbedded In
statute law. To trace the evolution OF this ex-
tra-legal machinery as we'll as to depict the
struggles through which the defenders Of Par
lament had to pase in the two centuries pre-
ceding 1858 will be the purpose OF MIR. Taylor's
forthcoming volume. To Americans, however,
the present installmentt OF his book should
be particularly interesting and Instructive
for here, as we have seen. are shown the
sources and modela OF our own State and
Federal institutions 1t Is. indeed, very re- |
markGble fact that the American colonies. |
after first following in their Articles Of Confed-
GRAFTON the examples OF loose union set by the |
Swiss cantons and the United Provinces OF the |
Netherlands, should have reproduced in 1887 |
not the eNtra-legal machinery which was ac-
tualy working before their eyes In England. |
but tho older English Constitution defined in
charters and in statutes with which William
and Mary had to deal. They gave the Presi.
dent the veto power because William and
Mary and Anne had exercised It. and because
1t had never been abrogated. Indeed. no stat
ute has annued it to this day. They gave the
President the power Of choosing his own Min
listers without accountability to the Federal
because such n power was recog-
niZed by the revolutonsts OF 1GSS. and because
II had never been extinGuished by law. To this
day the English sovereign possesses the same
power so far as any statute on the subject
is concerned. The Constitution makers OF
1887 cannot be blamed for not copying
those parts OF the English organic law which
existed and still exist only by virtue OF tacit
They did copy those parts
which they found embodied in statutes. and
which seemed applicable to the circumstances
about that the very men who had revolted
from Great Britain bestowed on George Wash
Ington and his successors in the Chief Magis-
tracy powers unQuestionably greater duping
their terms of office than those enjoyed in
1887 by George III. Since that time there Is
no doubt that the power Of the English SOW
areign has dwindled. while the power and in
dependence Of an American President have
since the failure to impeach Andrew Johnson
been sensibly increased.
We have never seen the anomalies presented
oy the present workings OF the British Con-
titution so distinctly and concisey indicated
10 they are by Mr.. Taylor on pages 60S609 Of
his volume. OF course we all understand
hat from political and practical view point
he Cabinet is the handspring OF the modern
constitutional system, and that only so long as
he royal authority Is welded In obedience to
he will OF the Cabinet representing the ma
GRITTY OF the House Of Commons does the ma
hnery Of government continue in notion
But 1t is much less generally and perfectly
Understood that :" no such body as the Cabinet
5 known to English law: no such office as that
I first Minister is recognized by any statute.
here Is no legal provision requiring the King
o appoint Ministers OF whom the House oil Com
mons approves. or to dis ISIS Ministers OF whom
does not approve. The law knows nothing q
nows nothing OF their duty to resign or to
ppeal to the country when they are rebuked
" an adverse vote Of the popular chamber"
ord Salisbury might tomorrow defy a vote
I censure and refuse 10 resign or appeal 10 the
ountry without committing an act Of which
ny legal tribunal could take coRnizance. He
ould not be impeached or punished In any
'ay for transgression which would consti-
ute the most glazing outrage on the modern
constitution. great jurist has averred that
Or every crime there is a remedy. yet 1t is un-
uestionably true that for the worst crime that
ould be perpetrated against British insitu-
ons the law provides no penalty. NJ. w. II.
His Wedding Coat.