Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
TITLE OF MINISTER.
Campbell Bannerman is Pre-
mier by Royal Warrant.
Special ,cablesram to The Star.

LONDON, December 3O.--It Is not gener-
ally known that Sir Henry Campbell-Ban-
herman Is the first prime minister of this
country to hold his office by a title and on
terms formally known to the constitution.
The royal warrant just issued by the king
declares and defines the precedence to be
henceforth assigned to the prime minister
as such. Hitherto the first minister of the
crown has enjoyed no precedence by virtue
Of his office, nor has his authority over his
colleagues rested upon any more substan-
tial terms than that Of constitutional usage,
very slowly developed. but probably very
firmly established. Sir Henry Campbell
Bannerman Is simply the minister who is
intrusted by the sovereign with the task of
forming an administration. ard by virtue of
this commission his colleagues are appoint
ed or dismissed by the sovereign on his, adj
vice. His title of prime minister is said to
be Of comparatively modern acceptance,
and up to the present it has found little
formal recognition in public documents. 1t
is believed that the first time it was ever
ofhclally used was when, at the instance or
Lord Beaconsfsld, 1t was recited in the
preamble of the treaty of Berlin in 1873 In
the same year Mr.. Gladstone apparently
assuming that the offices of prime minister
and first lord of the treasury were 1nsep-
arabic, wrote as follows:
"Departmentaliy he is no more than the
first named of five persons by whom Jointly
the powers of lord treasureship are taken
to be exercised; he is not their master, or,
otherwise than by mere priority. their head;
and he has no special function or preroga-
tive under the formal constitution of the
Office. He has no official rank except that
of privy councillor. Eight members of the
cabinet, including five secretaries of state,
and several other members Of the govern
ment take official precedence Of him. HIS
rights and duties as head Of the administra-
ton are nowhere recorded He is almost
If not altogether, unknown to the statute
law. But, upon the whole, nowhere in the
wide world does so great substance cast
so small shadow; nowhere Ia there man
who has so much power, with so little to
show for it in formal title and prerogative"
Title Officially Recognized.
It is believed that under the terms of the
new royal warrant the shadow will be
little more in keeping with the substance
The prerogatives remain unchanged and
underlined, but the title and Office are now
officially recognized and a high precedence
is assigned to the minister who holds them
He is TO have place and precedence next
after the archbishop of York. This places
him higher than any parsonage In the realm
except princes of the blood, the prmate of
all England, the lord high chancellor and
the primate of the northern province IN
other words the prime minister is now, next
to the lord chancellor, the highest dlgnftary
of the state though he takes rank after two
great digntaries of the church. He thus
virtually enjoys the precedence accorded IN
former times to the lord high treasurer, OF
whose now extinct office the first lord of
the treasury is now the chief representative
commissioner.
The history of the office and title of fine
ministry" is very curious one Walpole
was fercely attacked by the opposition in
1901 on the ground, as stated in the pro-
tests of the lords, that "a noble or even
first minister is office unknown to the
To-, ta,,+ vx-fft, tJo nm
stitution of this country, and destructive
of liberty in any government whatsoever.
Walpole in his defense did not traverse
these propositions, for though as Mr.. Nor
ley says he was in practice able to invest
himself with more of the functions and
powers of a prime minister than any of
his successors" yet he was compelled by
the feeling of the time earnestly and pro-
fusely to repudiate both the name and title,
and every one of the pretensons it In
volved.''
In TAG the synonymous title, premier
was in general use, but even as late as
1851 George Granville declared in debate
that prime minister was an odious title
and that he was sorry that 1t was even
deemed an essential part of the constitu-
ton. 1t is said that Lord North never al
lowed his family to call him prime minis
ter. On the other hand, at the beginning
of the last century Pitt insisted ION the
absolute necessity that there should be an
avowed and real minister possessing the
chief weight in the council and the princi-
pal place in the confidence of the king. In
that respect there be no real rivalry
or division of power. That power must
rest in the person generally called first
minister"
Great as the change in public feeling has
been since the times of Walpole the title
of prime minister has not been of universal
usage. In substance the office had already
become a great deal like what it is now,
and though 1t has since been held by at
least one transient and embarrassed phan-
nm fha do Of
onward has ever seriously called in ques-
ton either the propriety or the high rank
of the office.