he has to receive deputations on public business; during the sitting of Parliament he is expected to attend six or seven hours a day, while Parliament is sitting, for four or five days in the week; at least he is blamed if he is absent." In the light of these manifold and important duties it seems well that the Premier should be First Lord. of the Treasury, or hold some other sinecure office in the Cabinet. Even in this case he must avail himself as largely as possible of the services of others, and thus avoid the depressing effect of an avalanche of details, if he would give his best thought and energies to matters of governmental policy. "If you chain a man's head to a ledger,” said the late Walter Bagehot, "and keep him constantly adding up, and take a pound off his salary whenever he stops, you can't expect him to have a sound conviction on Catholic emancipation, tithes, and original ideas on the Transcaucasian provinces." 1 When you hold a man's nose to the grindstone you cannot expect his horizon to be broad and his vision unerring. 1 "English Constitution," p. 442. CHAPTER VI THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CABINET REFERENCES: Todd's Parliamentary Government in England, i. 253290, and ii. 1-24; Anson's Law and Custom of the Constitution, ii. 118-136; Bagehot's English Constitution, 69-100; Courtney's Working Constitution of the United Kingdom, 123-135; Ewald's Crown and its Advisers, Lecture on Ministers, Syme's Representative Government in England, 61-94 and 130-158. 'T will be noted from what has been said that the Cabinet consists of members of Parliament; that its members belong to the party dominant in the House of Commons and hence agree in political views; that they settle upon a definite policy before going before Parliament; that they resign when they lose the confidence of the majority in the Commons; and that they are dominated by a First or Prime Minister. These fundamental principles of the modern Cabinet were slow in being established, and a glance at their development may facilitate our investigation. Members of Parliament. Before the rise of parliamentary government in England, and while the King had real and practical authority in the affairs of state, there was a decided objection on the part of the mem- the Cabinet in bers of the House of Commons to permitting those who held office under the Crown to hold seats in that chamber. There was a feeling, not without foundation, that such officials might degenerate into mere tools of the King. Attempts were |