The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1898-05-25

Nowhere Else In the W orld Is There ANY
Anomalous The onice Is without Legal
Foundation.
Nowhere else i'll the world il there
any position ut once So powerful and So
anomalous. So long as no romans
prime minister the premier of tho Unit.
ed Kingdom is possessed of moro real
power than any single individual. un.
less II be tho car or tho president of
tho United States.
Yet, great AS is the power of primo
minister, tho Office has no foundation on
law. Tho prime minister is quite as UNI
known to the law rs is tho cabinet. II
legal podant, blind to all facts not in
tho statutes or tho textbooks of tho
common law, were asked to define tho
office of primo minister and to describe
| the cabinet, he would bo utterly ut a
loss,
In theory the prime minister Is only
privy councillor at tho head of n de-
partment of state who is specially i'll
| ally presides at an informal gathering
of certain Of the privy councillors who
happen to hold offices of stato-a gath.
oring which is called tho cabinet That
is the furthest which the legal pedant of
our thought would dare To GO Yet, of
course, tho prime minister il. i'll fact,
far more than the mere chairman of tho
| cabinet.
Tho cabinet no doubt, has IL great
deal Of power, but ovon if it were true
once it is certainly not truo now that
England il governed by committoo of
ID or 10 persons
The prime minister, as Il rule, makes
his cabinet. lilo is commissioned by tho
queen to form u cabinet, because no is
tho man whom sho considers to possess
| tho confidence Of IL majority of tho house
of commons. lie forms his cabinet by
asking certain members Of tho two
houses to hold tho great offices of state.
lle might do this in ono day and with
out consulting any ono
As IL matter of fact, what usually
happens is this: AS soon as tho commits
| sion To form government has been ro-
ceiyed, the primo minister takes into
his confidence the two or three who will
hold tho chief offices, and they talk
| together over tho other names. Whom II
man is decided upon, he, as II rule
| Joins the conelavo and helps To consult
as to men and places, and so the cabinet
gradually evolves itself. No doubt, as
| generally happens in this world, tho
| prime minister's choice IL never really
FREQ
Certain men must bo i'll the cabinet
whatever happens, and hence they may
be said not to bo chosen by the premier,
| but to be- ministers III thoir own right.
| In spite, however, of this, tho fact that
they are asked to serve by the premioI
makes them feel his superiority. When
the cabinet Is made the theory Of tn,
unwritton constitution is that tho cabi
net governs. In reality il seldom does
anything Of tho kind.
Each cabinet minister has very great
power in his own department, but tho
cabinet rs cabinet can do little. Since.
however, il knows everything that il
going on il can exercise "A great doal of
indirect power. Tho previous knowl-
edge that tho majority of tho cabinet
would like or dislike II particular pol.
! ICY has great influence, but still tho
cabinet does not rule. The prime minis
ter summons, prosdos over and largely
controls the cabinet meetings. II va
canoy occurs, ho fills it up. and 10 can
promote from tho lower to tho higher
Offices.
Then no can and does confer with his
colleagues i'll regard to tho business of
/ their departments, and so has hold
upon the whole machine of government.
Sir Robert Pool saw every member Of
his cabinet separately every day. Again,
if there be difference between two
other members of tho government, the
premier decides. If there be IN irreCun-
cilahle difference between himself and
"a minister, il Is tho minister and not
! tho premier who resigns.
Lastly, tho prime minister can. by ro-
signing himself, dissolve the whole min
istry. These things, small in Thorn
selves, taken together, mako tho primo
minister's position what il Is. He
makes and can unmako IA cabinet. Ilo
presides over it, and ho has tho right
toadyise in regard to every department,
though this right Is Of course seldom
exercised, and no has secured to him
beforehand the support Of tho rank and
file or Of any cabinet if it comes to a
struggle between him and II colleague,
because tho rank and flo know that il
the premier il beaten no has it in his
power to upset tho whole machine Of
/ government.
Hence the voices Of those who want
To keep in office are always found on
the side Of tho premier --pcarson Il
Weekly.