Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-09-09
BRITA|N's CABINET
II Really Has No Legal Warrant
q For Its Existence.
YET IT RULES THE NATION.
This Most Powerful and Important
Committee In the World 10 Without
STAT, . Secretary, . Seal Or Min.
uts Book and hss Nc Fixed Home.

Committee In the World 1, Without
STAT, . Secretary, . Seal Or . Min.
Ute Book and Has Nc FIXED Home.
Sidney Low. the English writer. calls
attention 10 the fact that the British
cabinet has really no standing in law.
though II is actually the body which
rules England. He makes several IN.
teresting statements In describing the
d situation.
The British cabinet has long been
y Of the mysteries Of that greater
mystery. the British constitution. To
he quite exact. indeed. ii is not correct
10 call 1t a part OF the British consti-
tutfon. for strictly speaking it is un-
known 10 the constitution. The cabinet
today rules the country. but il has
no legal status. II was not until about
1901 that the word cabinet appeared
on the notice paper or other Official
document
A cabinet minister takes the same
oath that every priyy councillor takes.
'to be a true and faithful servant
unto the kings majesty as one OF his
ma jesty's priyy council and ITO keep
secret all matters committed and re-
yealed unto you or that shall be treated
secretly in council" The entire body
OF the priyy council is supposed to ad-
wise the sovereign on affairs OF state.
but TO I've made A priyy councillor TO-
day is practically an empty honor. IT
IL regarded as a high compliment. but
Il a priyy councillor is not a member
Of the cabinet he hears no secrets and
performs no official functions.
All the executive aud political func-
tons Of Drjyy councillors have passed
into the hands Of those OF them who
form the cabinet, which is really a
secret committee Of the kings servants
who in practice collectively rule the
country so long as they remain in Of
fee.
"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 to prescription, accident and
custom.
'"TcchnicaIly the cabinet as a cabi-
net can do nothing, 1t cannot even
write a letter or issue a signed order.
1t has not indeed the means Of doing
so. for 1t does not keep a clerk or q
type writer; It has no Office, nor has
II any money wherewith TO buy a sheet
Of note paper. Tho most powerful and
important committee In the world IL
without a stafr, n secretary, a seal, q
minute book or n Fixed location.
when a cabinet council sits 1t has
no agenda before It. nor has 1t any
record OF what was done at its last
meeting. No n keeps the minutes.
and 1t is still deemed n little contrary
to etiquette for any minister TO take a
note OF tho proceedings or indeed to
write anything at the meetings at all.
"ln fact, the cabinet council IL still
treated as X 1t were nothing more
than n casual private consultation be.
tween n few Of the prlvy councillors.
1t bears the traces OF it's ancestry, for
IL was born over the dinner table.
ut originated in the reign OF Queen
Anne IN those famous Saturday din
at which n select group of the
privy council assembled to discuss the
OF their party without the pres
ence OF the queen and OF colleagues
whose presence was not desired. The
c cabinet has always kept to the tradi-
ton, 1t Is Il secret committee Of gov
aud n secret committee Of the
dominant party in parliament, and
where the one function begins and the
other ends no M can ever say.
"All its members arc collectively re-
sp0nsible for hte acts OF one of them, !
but there are no mean OF knowing
what the decisions OF the cabinet are at
any moment TIL they are embodied In
action, or how many Of the ministers
may dissent from the opinion OF the
majority. or whether indeed 1t Is the
majority or a minority that really d.
reefs the policy"
The promotion Of Sir Rufus lsaacs,
the attorney general, to tho cnblnet
was a double novelty. Not only was
there no precedent for an attorney
general being n member OF the cabi.
net, but never before had tho odlcial
announcement Of tho conferment Of
ca binet rank mentioned. as It did In
the case Of Sir Rufus Isaacs. the
words his majcsty's cabinet" This
appointment therefore marked a fur
development In the acquisition
Of 4 corporate existence by tho cabi-
nat NAM VnuI. Gun th @##