CABINET. According to the con stitution of England, the king is irre sponsible, or, as the phrase is, he can do no wrong. The real responsibility rests with his ministers, who constitute what is termed the Cabinet. In their collective capacity they are called also the Administration, the Ministry, his Majesty's Ministers, or the Government. The king may dismiss his ministers if they do not possess his confidence, and he is dissatisfied with their policy. But this is a step not to be lightly hazarded, for if a ministry is supported by a majority of the House of Commons, the change would be useless, as the measures of a new mi nistry, of different principles, could not be carried in opposition to the opinions of majority of the Commons, and the func tions of government would be paralysed. A ministry may. therefore, retain their posts in spite of the well-known dislike of the king. He may dissolve Parliament and appeal to the country, and in this way may gain his object; but he may also be foiled in the attempt. If the mi nisters resign from inability to carry their measures, or are dismissed, the king sends for some leader of the party op posed to the late ministers and authorises him to form a new cabinet. The indivi dual who thus receives the king's com mands selects from those who are friendly to his policy the members of the new cabinet, and usually takes the post of Prime Minister himself. The Prime Minister is generally First Lord of the Treasury. The ministry is spoken of fre quently as the ministry of the person who is its head. The other principal members of the Cabinet are the Lord Chancellor, the three Secretaries of State for Home, Colonial, and Foreign Affairs, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It should contain members of both Houses of Par liament. Other heads of public depart ments may also be called upon to take a seat in the Cabinet, as the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Postmaster-General, the President of the Board of Trade, the President of the Board of Control, the Secretary at War, the Paymaster-Gene ral, the Chief Secretary of Ireland, the Master of the Mint, all of whom have been Cabinet ministers at one time or another within the last twelve years. In the ministry of Earl Grey the Earl of Carlisle had a seat in the Cabinet without any office ; but in this case it is usual to take the post of Lord Privy Seal or Lord President of the Council. One of the members of the present Cabinet, who fills the office of Lord Privy Seal, has no ex ecutive duties apart from his being a member of the Cabinet Council. It has not been usual for the Commander-in Chief to be a member of the Cabinet; but this is the case at present (1845). Lord Mansfield was a Cabinet minister at the time he was Lord Chief-Justice of England; but this is also an exception.
The Privy Council was formerly the adviser of the king in all weighty matters of state. Affairs were debated and de termined by vote in his presence, sub ject, however, to his pleasure. This
body was, probably, too numerous for the dispatch of executive business. Some of the members of this body would be se lected by the king for more private advice, as persons in whom he had greater confidence than the rest. This was an approximation to the Cabinet as now constituted. The period when this change became decidedly marked was in the reign of Charles I., though no formal constitutional change had yet been made. Speaking of this period Mr. Hallam says :—" The resolutions of the Crown, whether as to foreign alliances or the issuing of orders and proclamations at home, or any other overt act of govern ment, were not finally taken without the deliberation and assent of that body (the Privy Council) whom the law recognized as its sworn and notorious counsellors." (Coast. Hist., p. 537.) The next step was to render the ratification of measures of state by the Privy Council a matter of form. In the reign of Wm. III. Mr. Hallam states, that "the distinction of the Cabinet from the Privy Council and the exclusion of the latter from all business of state became fully established." The feeling in favour of the old constitutional practice was sufficiently strong to occa sion the introduction of a clause in the Act of Settlement (4 Anne, c. 8) provid ing that on the accession of the House of Hanover, all regulations upon mea sures of public policy should be debated in the Privy Council, and be signed by them ; but the clause was repealed in about two years afterwards by 6 Anne, c. 7. Mr. Hallam is of opinion that in devolving upon the Cabinet the functions formerly exercised by the Privy Council the power of the members of the exe cutive government has been greatly in creased, and their responsibility seriously diminished, even if it is not altogether illusory. But this is a matter on which there may be a difference of opinion. The change seems calculated to render an ad ministration more consistent and efficient. The Privy Council is, even now, occa sionally assembled to deliberate on public affairs, but only those counsellors attend who are summoned. Proclamations and orders still issue from the Privy Council, and for the reason, it is said, that the Ca binet Council is not a body recognized by law.
In France, the executive government is divided into nine departments, the heads of which constitute the cabinet. These are the Interior; Justice and Public Wor ship; Public Instruction ; Public-Works; Commerce and Agriculture; Finances; Foreign Affairs ; War ; Marine and Co lonies.
In the United States of North America, the following officers of the executive government form the Cabinet, and hold their offices at the will of the President : Secretary of State ; Secretary of the Trea sury; Secretary of War; Secretary of the Navy; the Postmaster-General.