Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-04-14
BRITISH CABINETS.
How Her Maje.ty's Chief Advisers
Are Officially Constituted.
ISL. Paul Pioneer Press.I

n IlcotiuR VI tue ChUiutt WIS hptu
yesterday There was present Lord
Salisbury. The lord chancellor; Mr.. Cos
chen, chancellor of the exchequer; MIR.
Balfour. Lord George Hamilton" etc,
etc. This is the usual form of an
nouncement of British cabinet deliber-
ations in the newspapers. and that
reputable organ, rarely read by any
body, called the Court Circular, contains
no additional particulars. What passes
at a cabinet conclave. whether it lasts
five minutes or a day, is not divulged
There are various surmises in circula-
ton as to what may have been done, or
what subject was discussed. but for the
most part they are only surmises, with
next TO nothing authentic for fOunGa-
ton. Members of the cabinet are
bound by honor not TO tell tales out OF
school. The utmost they can do is TO
drop hints of quasi-conidential
character among their most intimate
political friends. bat these are so
guarded as not to be OF a compromising
character. The discussions are never
allowed to go forth. but conclusion
arrived at, particularly on legislative
proposals. may leak out, so that the
government may CLEAN something of
what public opinion is, and how far it
is cOincident with their intentions.
Like other institutions Spical of the
British kingdom, The cabinet has no
logical origin, such as the French nation
would take delight in creatiug-perfect
in theory, but liable to tumble to pieces
as soon as constructed. 1t is growth
from ancient times which has again
and again been modified in shape and
character. Most of the institutions of
England have grown, not trinity as in "a
garden, but luxuariantly as in field.
The very term cabinet has no legal
Specification, and was formerly term
of opprobrium. Members of the cabi-
net are simply members of the privy
council, installed in the highest execu-
tive offices of state, and a strange thing
is that, although they ale legally and
formally servants of the crown, they
are in a far stricter responsive sense
officials holding their positions at the
will of parliament, while parliament
holds its authority from the nation.
The cabinet of to-day is the government
of the British empire, exercising all the
powers vested in the sovereign with one
or two exceptions. IT the cabinet were
to consist of all the members of the
priyy council, as in former times it did,
II would be a very numerous body.
The privy council used to be styled
under Henry the Eighth and the Stuarts
the council of state or government. and
there is at present no constitutional
objections to summoning any privy
council to meeAngs of the cabinet.
Privy councillors may be sun mon ID
without holding Office or receiving sal
airy. There is precedent for even sum-
moning the mmander-in-chIef of the
army to the deliberations of the govern
ment. but that has gone out of custom.
Macaulay gives very clear account in
his history of how the cabinet, as we
now understand it, arose and gradually
took shape in reign of William the
Third.
SELECTING MINISTRY.
The old practice of having men of
opposite views pitted against each other
was found to be inconvenient and I'M
satisfactory. The method was tried of
selecting men who could command
majority il parliament. The opposition
was then left free 10 criticise the minis
try upon conflicting set of principals,
and, if successful, and the requisite
parliamentary majority was obtained,
new ministry might be formed from the
opposition. This Grange was not fully
carried out until long afterward. The
position now occupied by the cabinet is
indeed the result of experiment, and to
some extent of accident For instance,
the number of ministers has constantly
ductuated Pitts government in 1888
consisted of himself in the house of
commons and seven peers in the house
of lords. Noolemen are not now so
much IN request, for govern me 1t is
stronger with its best men in the
peoples chamber. But apart from this,
a government of to-day consists of at
least eleven members, aud sometimes
seventeen. The irreducible minimum
of cabinet consists of the first lord of
the treasury, the lord chancellor, lord
president of the council, lord privy seal,
five principal secretaries of state, the