The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-02-24
THE QUEEN AND THE CABINET.
EDITOR BULLETIN

my yesterdays letter, by some error,
the word mot" has crept in, in such
a way as to exactly reverse the
meaning intended to be conveyed. .
1t should have read as follows:
"And that, contrary to his argu- .
ment, it is, in all civilized countries .
of the world, monarchical as well as
republican, the inyariahle fact that
ministers do resign on the death Of I
tue head of the nation" etc.
Having put my meaning straight
in that one particular, and having
further shown yesterday that none
of Mr.. ThurstOn's quotations, or re-
marks therein, bear upon the state
ment in dispute, propounded in his
second argument, viz, the death of
the sovereign does not terminate the
tenure of office Of the ministry, but
are irrelevant subjects drawn in to
hide the fact that the question is left
unsoNed except by his simple "ipse
dixit, let me proceed to take up his
third argument in favor of the min-
isters' position.
He says: Sd. The claim that the
death Of the sovereign thereby ter
inmates the term of office of the min
listers is unsound on its own merits,
irrespective of the Constitution and
laws quoted.
III this claim is correct, the in
slant the breath left the body of the
King, the authority of the Ministers
ceased. From that time on they
were interIopers, trespassers. They
had no more authority to act than
any other citizen. All their subse-
quent acts are void. All drafts
drawn; all commissions signed; ali
contracts made; all pay rolls APP
proved; all indictments, every act
of Whatsoever nature done by any
Minister since the death of the King
is absolutely null, void and illegal.
In other words, there is and has been
no Government in this country since
the goth day OF January last.
IF the claim is correct, that the
commissions of the Ministers, signed
by the late King, are good only 50
long as he lives, then logically, all
other commissions signed by him eX-
pire with him, and ale void.
"There is no Minister Resident at
Washington no Marshal; no Post
master-General no ollector Of Gus.
toms; no Board Of Health no Board
of Education no Board of lmmigra-
ZION, and no Judges of the Supreme
or Circuit Courts, and every act per
formed by any Of these bodies is lille
cal, nail and void. -
MIR. 1huroton uses above very
strong language in regard to what he
states is the position Of affairs if the
claim is correct: but, when he him
self with his colleagues resigned in
June last. if his statements of the
effects are true that is what must
have been the position for four days,
so far as Ministerial acts are con-
cerned. For, during that period OF
time, he aud his colleagues held office
and transacted departmental business
until their successors were appointed
and took the oath of office, and yet,
/ | do not believe Mr.. ThurstOn would,
for one moment, argue that such
state of chaos and want of authority
existed then, although be and his
| colleagues were no more legally
Ministers for that four days than |
am, according 10 his views of the
Constitution. The argument, that
the other commissions signed by the
King also lose validity if the Minis
ters' commissions do, is falIacous on
the face of it. All such commissions
were signed by the Sovereign as
official head of The executive, and
countersigncd by a Cabinet Minister
/ (to whom by Art. 81 OF the Consti-
tuition share of the Executive be-
/ longs) aud not, as those of the Cabi-
net are, by the King alone in the
exercise of his personal prerogative
granted to him by the Constitution
| They, therefore, beng executive
commissions do not expire with com
missions signed in the exercise of
the Prerogative.
And we have abundant precedent
| Gin this country in 1873 and 1874,
as well as in other countries) that the
purely de, artmenta acts of Minis
tiers, performed notwithstanding that
their commissions had been rendered
void, by the death of the Sovereign
whose personal Cabinet they were,
have been held to be good till their
successors were appointed and took
the oath of office. SO that the
"luinous state of affairs, - depicted
above by Mr.. Thurston, as a Conse
quence of the claim being correct,
| that Ministerial commissions expire
with the death of the Monarch whose
Signature they bear, exists wholly III
his imagination: and is warranted by
no statute, or section of the Const-
tuition of this country, or even by
/ precedents drawn from the history Of
this or any other country.
Mr. rhurston further states that
'!the Constitution plainly points out
/ how the Ca oinet can be removed
and that "this excludes every other
method of removing them. " He
carefully forgets to state that tie
Constitution plainly points oHt that
this prohibition of removal i, direct
| cd auainst HE aunnilaLnr alntLn mn