his appeal to the king on Mr. Canning's behalf, but still without success; until at length, through the intercession of the Duke of Wellington, his Majesty was induced, very reluctantly, to yield." In 1823, in deference to the wishes of the king, the claims of Mr. Huskisson to a seat in the cabinet were not pressed." In 1827, Mr. Herries was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, to please the king, instead of Lord Palmerston, who was the nominee of the premier (Lord Goderich). The appointment proved disastrous to the fate of the ministry.P Though a member of the succeeding administration, the king's desire to see him reinstated at the Exchequer was not acquiesced in by the new premier (Duke of Wellington). When the Wellington Coalition ministry was about to be formed, in 1828, George IV., while expressing his wishes in regard to several statesmen, on the whole gave a carte blanche for the selection of any persons who had heretofore been in his service, except Lord Grey, whom he objected to receive again into the cabi net. Upon the reappointment of the Melbourne ministry, in 1835, William IV. stipulated that Lord Brougham, who was personally displeasing to his Majesty, should not be replaced in the office of Lord Chancellor.s In like manner, in the event of a vacancy occurring in an administration, whether from ordinary circumstances, or as the unavoidable result of differences between individual members of the same, it is the duty of the prime minister to take the pleasure of the crown in regard to the appointment of some one selected by himself to fill the vacant office. And, as Lord Liverpool ventured to assure George IV., in a Memorandum urging upon the king the propriety of accepting Mr. Canning as a cabinet minister, that the principle of exclusion has rarely been attempted without having the effect of lowering the crown and exalting the individual proscribed.' 1859. consults ministry, it is always competent for the sovereign to The king send for, and take the advice of, any peer or privycouncillor of weight and experience in public affairs, the forma- whose counsel he might consider would be serviceable ministry. to him in the emergency. peers on tion of a W Thus George II. repeatedly availed himself of the advice of Sir Robert Walpole, upon state emergencies, after the retirement of Walpole from public life. In 1812, upon the crisis arising out of the assassination of Mr. Perceval, when it became necessary to reconstruct the cabinet of which he was the chief, the Prince Regent applied for and acted upon the advice of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland. In 1827, during the interregnum occasioned by the break-up of the Liverpool Administration, on account of the death of the premier, and the delay in the formation of a new ministry by Mr. Canning, the Duke of Newcastle used his privilege as a peer to obtain an audience of the king, at which he threatened the withdrawal of the support of the Tory party from the government if his Majesty should select Mr. Canning as prime minister.x Upon the resignation of the Russell ministry in 1851, after several ineffectual attempts on the part of various statesmen to form a new administration, her Majesty sent for the Duke of Wellington, not for the purpose of entrusting the making of a cabinet to his hands, but in order that she might take counsel from him in regard to the existing state of affairs, determining also to pause awhile before she again commenced the task of forming an administration.' Again, in 1852, upon the resignation of the Derby ministry, and in 1855, after the resignation of Lord Aberdeen, her Majesty sent for he Marquis of Lansdowne for a similar purpose. Both the Duke of Wellington and (after his death) the Marquis of Lansdowne, from their eminent position, acknowledged patriotism, and freedom from all selfish aims, were regarded by common consent as the personal advisers and referees of the Queen. In this capacity they often and successfully intervened to reconcile political adversaries and rival competitors for power, and afforded substantial assistance to the crown upon occasions of grave emergency.a The act of the sovereign, in communicating with trusty counsellors in circumstances of political exigency, is in strict accordance with constitutional principle; and it is not to be confounded with the attempts made by George III., during the early years of his reign, to govern with the aid of secret and irresponsible advisers. For advice given to the sovereign upon any such emergency, the peer or privy-councillor is liable to be called to account by Parliament, should his counsel be followed by consequences that require parliamentary interposition.b 1859. between and his Once a ministry is formed, it becomes the duty of a Mutual constitutional monarch to give it his implicit confidence confidence and support, co-operating heartily and sincerely with the king the members of his cabinet, so long as he may consider ministers. that the best interests of the country are served by their continuance in office; and so long as the ministry retain. the confidence of parliament. Should the sovereign. have reason to believe that the public interests would be promoted by a change in his advisers, he is at liberty to insist that they shall give place to others, in whom he can repose more perfect trust: but he must always take care to assure himself beforehand that the proposed alteration in the ministry is one that will satisfy the nation, and will merit and secure the approbation of Parliament." councils by the The sovereign never attends at meetings of the Cabinet cabinet council. Previous to the accession of the pre- not sent dynasty it was otherwise; and so long as it was attended consistent with the practice of the constitution for sovereign. the monarch to take an active and immediate part in the direction of public affairs, it was fitting that no meeting of the cabinet should be held without his presence. But under the existing system of government, through responsible ministers, it is obvious that in order to enable the cabinet to arrive at impartial conclusions upon any matter, it is necessary that their deliberations should be private and confidential.a See ante, p. 118. c Ib.. p. 136. d See post, v. 2. minister. The proper medium of communication between the The sove- sovereign and the administration collectively is the reign and prime minister; not merely on account of his position as head of the government, but especially because he is the minister who has been personally selected by the sovereign as the one in whom the crown reposes its entire confidence. He is bound to keep the sovereign duly informed of all political events of importance, including the decisions of Parliament upon matters of public concern. Formal decisions of the cabinet upon questions of public policy are also submitted to the sovereign by the prime minister, upon whom it devolves to take the royal pleasure thereupon. Subordinate ministers, however, have the right of access to the sovereign and of direct communication with him, upon departmental business." Etiquette to The mode in which ministers address the sovereign in writing in epistolary communications is peculiar. It is the sovereign. established etiquette for the minister to use the third person, and to address his sovereign in the second.' When or by whom this epistolary form was introduced is unknown. Mr. Grenville's letters to George III., in 1765, are in the ordinary form. But, twenty years later, we find Mr. Fox employing the phraseology which is now in use: Mr. Fox has the honour of transmitting to your Majesty the minute of the cabinet council. assembled this morning at Lord Rockingham's, 18th May, 1782.'h Royal signmanual. When it is necessary to obtain the royal signmanual to any important document, the various secretaries and other ministers of state who may require it, in their respective departments, should make personal V. 2. e See further on this subject, post, Grenville Papers, v. 3, pp. 4–15. h Russell's Fox, v. 1, p. 351 Stanhope's Pitt, v. 4, Appx. pp. i. n, xiii. application for the same. But if the paper to be signed be of an ordinary and unimportant character, it may be transmitted to the sovereign in a departmental despatch-box. It is the duty of the Lord Chancellor to attend upon the sovereign in order to obtain the sign-manual for the sanction of bills that have passed the two Houses of Parliament.i k sign If at any time the sovereign should be unable, Royal through physical infirmity, to append the royal sign- manual, manual to the multifarious papers which require his when dispensed signature, the intervention of Parliament must be in- with. voked to give legal effect to the arrangements necessary under the circumstances. In the last year of the reign of George IV., an Act was passed authorising his Majesty to appoint one or more persons to affix his royal signature to papers, by means of a stamp, the state of the king's health being such as to render it painful and inconvenient for him to sign his own name.' And in 1862, with a view to relieve her Majesty from the excessive labour of signing every separate commission for officers of the army, marines, &c., after having already signed a submission paper' authorising the issue of such commission, an Act was passed empowering the Queen in Council to direct that the said commissions may be signed by the commander-in-chief and a secretary of state, and to dispense with the necessity for the royal signature being appended thereto." The urgency for this relief will be apparent when it is stated that in 1862 her Majesty was signing commissions of 1858, and that up to the time when an Order in Council was issued to permit the commander-in-chief and the secretary of state to sign on her behalf, there 6 |