The daily Alaskan., 1912-09-19
BRITAlN'scABlNET
IL Really Has No Legal Warrant
 For Its Existence.
YET IT RULES THE NATION.
This Most Powerful srd Important Committee h the World Is Without a ssaff, Secretary. Seal or Min ute Book snd Has Nc Fixed Home.

I OoHfNtstee w tftS WN'fe V"
 stsff, . Secretary. Seal or Min
 ute Book snd Has Nc Fixed Horne
 sidney Low, the English writer. calls attention to the fact that the British cabinet has realty no standing In law. though 1t ts actually the body which rules England. He makes several in teresting statements in describing the situation.
 The British cabinet has long been one of the mysteries of that greater mystery, the British constitution. To be cutie exact. indeed. 1t Is not correct 1 to call 1t part of the British consti- tuition. for strictly speaking it is un- known to the constitution. The cabinet todag rules the country. but it has no legal status. It was not until about 1901 that the word ''cabiuetr appeared on the notice paper or other official document
 X cabinet minister takes the same oath that every priyy councillor takes, ito be a true and faithful servan, unto the kings majesty ss one of his maIesty's privy council" and "io keep secret all matters committed and re- veaIed unto you or that shall be treated secretly in council The entire body of the privy council Is supposed to ad wise the sovcnNgn on affairs of state, but to be made privy councillor to- day is practically an empty honor. It is regarded as a high compliment, but if a prlvy councillor Is not a member of the cabinet he hears no secrets and performs no official functions,
 An the executive aud political func tions of privy councillors have passed into the hands Of those of them who form the cabinet. which is really secret committee of the kings servants who in practice collectively rule the country so long ss they remain in of- Gee
 But" as Sidney Low writes in an article in the London Daily Mail. mo act of parliament ever gave them these powers, which could not be asserted or defended in any court of law. They are due Co prescription. accident and custom
 ~TechnIcally the cabinet as cabi- net can do nothing. It cannot even write letter or issue signed order It has not indeed the means of doing go. for h does not keep a clerk or typewriter; 1t has no office. nor has it any money wherewith to buy sheet of note paper. The most powerful and important committee in the world Is without a stan, q secretary, a seal, minute book or a fixed location.
 When a cabinet council sits it has no agenda before it, nor has 1t any record of what was done at it's last meeting. No one keeps the minutes, and it Is stiil deemed little contrary to etiquette for any minister to take . note Of the proceedings or indeed to write anything at the meetings at all
 "In fact, the cabinet council Is still treated as if it were nothing more than a casual private consolidation be tween few of the privy councillors. 1t bears the traces of It's ancestry, for it was born over the dinner table.
 "It originated in the reign of Queen Anne in these famous Saturday din uers at which a select group of the privy council assembled to discuss the affairs Of thelr party without the pres ence of the queen and of colleagues whose presence was not desired. The cabinet has always kept to the trsdi- ton. IL is secret committee of gov ernment and a secret committee of the dominant party In parliament, and where the one function begins and the other ends no one can ever say.
 "An Us members are collectively re- spousible for hte acts of one of them, but there are no means of knowing what the decisions of the cabinet are at any moment till they are embodied in action. or how many of the ministers may dissent from the opinion of the majority, or whether indeed it is the majority or minority that really di- rects the policy"
 The promotion of Sir Rufus 1saacs. the attorney general. to the cabinet was a double novelty. Not only was there no precedent for sn attorney general being a member of the cabi- net, but never before had the official announcement of the conferment of cabinet rank mentioned. as It did in the case of Sir Rufus Isaacs, the words "his majesty's cabinet" This appointment therefore marked fur ther development In the acquisition of corporate existence by the cabi- uet.-New York Sun.