Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-02-07

reign of Queen Victoria, of sovereigns
withholding the royal assent to meas
ures enacted by parliament, the last
case having been when King George
w. declined in 1929 to give his con-
sent to the measure passed by both
houses of the national legislature ad-
hitting Roman Catholics for the first
time to the offices of state. u may
be added that the king was ultimately
persuaded by Lord Eldon to give way
in the matter.
1t is this faculty of giving or with
holding the royal signature that vir-
tually places supreme power in the
hands of the English sovereign, for
it is not only every parliamentary
measure, but likewise every admin
istrative act of any Importance that
must receive the monarchs sign
manual before it can be put into force
or become endowed with any degree
of validity. During the last quarter
of a century of Queen Victoria's reign
it has been estimated that she was
obliged to put her signature to at least
5000 official documents of one kind or
another in the year, or 200 day. and
the new king, like his mother, may be
trusted to show himself, not only too
conscientious, but likewise too jealous
Of his prerogatives, ever to affix his
signature to any paper before he has
read and mastered its contents.
Another but little known preroga-
tive of the British sovereign is the
constitutional right to dismiss either
a single cabinet minister or else the
entire administration, if either have
ceased to enjoy the confidence of the
monarch. 1t does not matter whether
the cabinet has parliamentary ma
jority or not, the students of history
may remember that in 1884 King Will
liam Nv. turned out the administra-
ton of Lord Melbourn, which had an
enormous majority In the commons
without any other reason than that the
cabinet had ceased to enjoy his con-
fidence. Although the liberal party
was extremely indignant at this dis
missal, which, even the leading con-
seryatives looked upon as ill-judged,
no one attempted to deny its perfect
legality.
If mention these facts it is to show
that the British monarch is far less
of figurehead and of a dummy than
is asserted in print, not only abroad,
but even in England itself, pre-
sumably by scribes who have never
taken the trouble to make themselves
acquainted with the constitutional
history of the British empire. Those
who have had the privilege of being
personally acquainted with the prince
of Wales, as has the writer since his
boyheod, and who, therefore, have
some knowledge of his personality and
character, have reasn for believing
that while manifesting the breadth of
view and the liberal sentiments that
have characterized his social reign
during the last four decades, he will,
on the other hand, exercise to their
fullest extent the rights and prero-
gatives that are granted to him by
the terms of the British constitution
He is thoroughly alive to the progress
of the democratic movement in the old
world, and possessed of too much com.
mon sense not to appreciate that some
of the demands which it puts forward
are justied, and if one may indulge in
any speculation as to the policy which
Albert Edward is likely to pursue, |
would be disposed to express the
opinion that it will be less conserva.
tive than liberal-unionist. But what
ever happens, the new monarch, who
now becomes supreme head of the
church of England and defender of
the faith, win certainly never show
himself to be a 'roi faineant."