I.  Europa.  610  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

“©  The  Cabinet,

The  most  important  factor  in  the  British  legislature,  politics  and  constitution  is  the  Cabinet;
and  yet  constitutionally  and  legally  spoken  no  such  institution  exists!.  Practically  speaking
the  English  Government  is  neither  carried  on  by  the  Crown,  nor  the  Parliament,  but  the  Cabinet;
which  however  is  recruited  from  Parliament,  and  still  dependent  on  the  Commons.  though  not
by  far  to  the  extent  usually  supposed.  ‘Our  cabinet  system  is  the  solution  of  the  puzzle  of  the
17th  century:  we  fix  responsibility  upon  a  group  of  ministers  who  can  be  removed  if  they  fail;
we  are  therefore  in  less  danger  of  a  rash  exercise  of  power,  while  at  the  same  time  the  Crown  and
the  nation  possess  a  body  of  servants  who  are  bound  not  to  shirk  from  responsibility  if  occasion
should  arise  when  responsibility  must  be  incurred’.  Its  origin  is  to  be  found  in  the  Privy  Council.
Low  defines  the  Cabinet  as  a  “‘cross  between  a  committee  of  the  Privy  Council  and  a  committee
of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament’.  (Governance  of  England,  p.  21.)  And  further  he  remarks
(p.  125):  Harley  is  repestediy  described  by  Swift  as  first  Minister,  or  chief  Minister,  and  it  is  in
the  writings  of  Swift  that  we  first  find  the  term  Prime  Minister.  But  Harley  did  not  choose  his
own  collegues,  nor  could  he  exclude  from  the  Cabinet  persons  opposed  to  his  policy.

The  Cabinet  meetings  are  secret,  and  proceed  in  camera;  no  records  are  kept.  It  has
no  regular  time  of  assembly,  nor  has  it  a  fixed  place  of  meeting?.

The  number  of  ministers  who  go  to  form  &amp;  cabinet  is  not  fixed;  it  usually  fluctuates
between  18  and  22.  At  present  (1909,  Liberal  Gov.  under  Mr.  Asquith)  there  are  20.  The
Ministry  and  Cabinet(*)  are  composed  as  follows:  —

1*  Prime  Minister  (unpaid);
2*  Lord  High  Chancellor  (£  10  000);
3*  Lord  President  of  the  Council  (£  2000),
4*  Lord  Privy  Seal  (unpaid)?.
(1)*  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  (£  5000)%,
6*  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  (£  4500).
6*  Secretary  of  State  for  Home  Affairs  (£  5000),
7*  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  (  £5000),
8*  Secretary  of  State  for  Colonies  (£  5000),
9*  Secretary  of  State  for  India  (£  5000),
10*  Secretary  of  State  for  War  (£  5000),
11*  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  (£  5000),
12*  Secretary  for  Scotland  (£  2000),
13*  Chief  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  (£  4425),

Secretaries
of  State

tional  Mistory  of  England”,  1878;  E.  A.Freeman’s  “The  Growth  of  the  English  Constitutions
  from  the  Earliest  Times”,  1873;  Lord  Brougham  ,“The  British  Constitution’,  3rd  ed,
1863;  Sir  Thomas  Erskine  May,  ‘Constitutional  History  of  England”,  2nd  ed.  1871;  Hennis
Taylor,  “The  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution’,  1889;  Albert  V.Dicey,  “The
Law  of  the  Constitution”,  3rd  ed.  1899;  L.  Courtney,  ‘The  Working  Constitution  of  the
United  Kingdom”,  1901,  W.  Bagehot,  “The  English  Constitution”,  1872;  Sir  Edward
Creasy,  “Rise  and  Progress  of  the  English  Constitution”,  15th  ed.  1886;  also  Vachel’s
“«Parliamentary  Companion  ’  (yearly);  and  ‘“Parliamentary  Gazette”  (3  Times  during  Session).

1  «The  Cabinet  is  to  us  a  definite  body,  unknown  to  the  law  but  known  well  enough  in  fact:
it  consists  of  a  group  of  persons  who  are  collectively  responsible  for  the  policy  and  government
of  the  country;  it  is  not  the  Executive,  but  it  controls  and  guides  the  Executive,  and  it  contains
the  chiefs  of  the  great  executive  departmente;  these  persons  are  selected  by,  and  work  under,
&amp;  chief  whom  we  call  the  Prime  Minister,  and  he  is  the  most  important  member  of  that  political
party  which  for  the  time  is  in  a  majority  in  the  country  and  the  House  of  Commons.“  Anson,
vol.  II.  p.  105  (1892  ed).

3  «It  has  no  office,‘  writes  Sidney  Low  “no  staff,  no  secretary,  no  rules,  no  corporate
funds,  no  permanent  location.  It  could  not  receive  a  letter  or  answer  it,  except  through  the  First
Lord  of  the  Treasury  or  some  other  of  ite  members,  for  it  has  no  note-paper,  and  no  seal,  and  no  petty
cash  to  buy  stationery  or  pay  messengers.“

®  Office  held  by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies.

«  The  Prime  Minister.