The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-02-19

party ANU lhCISlOIc may NC plCoulh-
ed to have been in harmony on ques-
tions of state, so the retention in Of
flee of some OF the Cabinet is easily
accounted for. But in neither case
did the whole Cabinet retain office at
the time of change Of ruler nor did
many of then. retain office till the eX-
piration of the Presidential term.
And in both cases being as Mr..
Thurston says simply clerks to the
President and solely responsible to
him the resignation of the commits
sions or appointments were first ten
dered to the new President and fresh
warrants of office made out and sign
ed by him for those that he retained.
In therefore the history of that coun-
try whence he derives his origin Mr..
Thurston has to say the least of it
made lamentable confusion between
being retained in office by new
commission and holding on on the
strength of the old one.
1t is therefore no matter for aston
ishment that he should make such
slips as he does in stating the condi-
ton of constitutional matters in Eng
land-a country of whose laws and
customs he may, and no doubt will
plead ignorance.
Here is what he says
,.>-,,,,g,, ,,nH,EnrNu
"Upon the death of William w.,
and the accession of Queen Victoria,
Lord Melbourne was the Prime Min
lister.
He and his Cabinet retained their
portfolios and held office for four
years thereafter.
''Under the English system of Gov
eminent, the Cabinet are not only
unknown to the Constitution, but
there is no law authorizing Cabinet,
The English Cabinet has come into
existence through simple custom.
Theoretically they are appointed
by the Queen, and execute her po-
Icy.
''As a matter of fact, they are APP
pointed by the House of Commons,
in that the Queen always appoints
the leader of the majority in that
House, no matter how distasleful to
herself personally. She never re-
quests the resignation of Minister
! . tNhn N
they can no longer control a majority
in the House; and, if, in such case,
the Queen should call any one but
the leader of the successful oppOsl-
ton, she would be deemed to be per-
forming a revolutionary act"
Now the facts are these: Queen
Victoria at her accession was but II
years of age, and having been
brought up in Wing principles, of
which Lord Melbourne was the chief
exponent and party leader, naturally
consented to his being recommissiOn-
ed Premier on her accession. But
in 1889, that is only two years there
after, they went out of office, and Sir
Robert Peel was sent for, who form
ed a Cabinet which went immedi-
ately out of office, because the Queen
refused to regard the Ladies Of the
bedchamber as having to be changed
with the Cabinet Lord Melbourne
then came into office again, although
in minority in the House of Com
mons, and held office for two years
longer.
The English Government has no
written Constitution, but Lord Chief
Justice Campbell says, by our Con-
stitutlon, it (the Cabinet) is in prac-
tice defined and acknowledged body
for carrying on the executive gov
eminent of the country"
The Sovereign of England has the
power to dismiss her ministers when
they cease to possess her confidence,
but an entire change of ministry
would be useless without the support
of the House of Commons. She has
however insisted on the resignation
of individual members Of ministries
who were dispensing 10 her, notably
ia the case of Palmerston Cat that
time the popular idol was backed by
a majority of the House) in 1851,
who had then expressed his admira-
tion of Napoleon's corp @etdt with
out consulting the Queen and con-
trary to her expressed direction that
he should consult her through the
Premier, before taking any import
ant step or making any important
arrangement in foreign affairs; and
she does not always appoint the
leader of the majority in the House
of Commons, the case being more
frequently that the leader of the Min
istry is in the House of Lords. In
several cases where Ministry has
been defeated and resigned she has
formed Ministries out of the rem
nants Of the same party, and ignored
the leader of the opposition, and her
course has not been considered revo-
lutionary so far.
As for the German Ministries they
are personal appointees of the En-
peror and when he dies they must
receive fresh commissions of appoint-
ment to validate their acts under the
new Sovereign if they are to hold Of
flee. As a matter of fact, as soon as
time had been taken to formulate his
line of action, the present Emperor
did change almost all his father $
ministers.
As will have been seen above Mr..
Thurston throughout confOunds { let