Questions Cabinet. generally aware of the questions under the consideration of government, but it is not customary to announce the subject for which a meeting of the Cabinet is convened. The deliberations of the Cabinet are usually confined before the to matters of general policy, whether domestic or foreign, including such measures as it may be deemed advisable to submit to the consideration of Parliament for the welfare and social advancement of the nation. But there are also other subjects that from time to time are brought before this responsible body. For example, questions will continually arise which, though not ripe for immediate settlement, nevertheless require careful preliminary investigation. The details of such questions are first examined, either by individual ministers or by a committee of the Cabinet, and when sufficiently prepared for discussion, are then submitted for the consideration of the whole Cabinet." It has been a frequent practice of late years, when any subject of importance has arisen, upon which the head of a great department of State (being a Cabinet minister) has been desirous of consulting his colleagues in the government, for a committee of the Cabinet to be convened to go into the details of the question, previously to submitting it to the Cabinet collectively. The mode of effecting this is, for the minister who desires the advice of his colleagues to request the Prime Minister to appoint a committee to assist him in preparing the statement which should afterwards be made to the Cabinet. Every year it is customary for such committees to be appointed on behalf of the War Office, the Admiralty, the Treasury, and other departments of State." All questions of administration that involve either new or important principles, or which are likely to excite discussion in Parliament,-are brought up for the judg Report, Com. on Official Salaries, Rep. Com. on Education, Commons' Papers, 1865, vol. vi. Evid. 1887-1894. WW ment of the whole Cabinet. For while, in the government of the country, each minister is virtually supreme in his own department up to a certain point (subject, however, to the constitutional control which is exercised by the Treasury, in all cases where the expenditure of public money is concerned), beyond that he must either consult the Prime Minister, or bring the matter before his colleagues in council. For example; it is the usage for the Cabinet to consider of the number of men required. for the military and naval service of the year. Their decision is reported to the queen, and then formally declared by the Queen in Council. It is afterwards communicated by one of the Secretaries of State to the Commander-in-chief and to the Board of Admiralty. It then becomes the duty of the Secretary of State for War and of the First Lord of the Admiralty to prepare estimates, to be submitted to Parliament, for the necessary supplies to carry out the intentions of the Government. The manner in which the naval power shall be distributed is also a Cabinet question. And whenever circumstances render it necessary to send troops abroad, the consideration of the measure devolves, in the first instance, upon the Cabinet. The number of battalions to be employed in the different colonies is also a matter of general policy, which is determined upon by the Cabinet. And appointments of officers to chief commands, whether naval or military, are generally made with the concurrence of the Cabinet." X Any matters of difference between subordinate members of the ministry, in regard to their official duties-if not reconcilable by the authority of the Premier-and any Kertch and Yenikale prize money. questions at issue between different departments of state, ought to be submitted to the decision of the Cabinet. Thus, on June 27, 1862, on a motion in the House of Lords for the production of certain papers, attention was called to the fact that some prize money, which had been earned by the army and navy at the capture of Kertch and Yenikale, in 1854, had not been paid, in consequence of differences on the subject between the Treasury and the Board of Admiralty. The Admiralty had strenuously advocated the payment, but the Treasury had interposed objections and difficulties, whereby the captors had been deprived of their unquestioned rights. The Cabinet, it seems, had never been appealed to in the matter. Lord Derby censured the Government for not deciding upon the case; saying that it was one with which the Government ought to deal in its executive capacity; and that when differences arose between two members of the Government, a Cabinet was of no use at all except as a final court of appeal.' On July 8 the subject was brought before the House of Commons, on a motion that it is inexpedient, in the opinion of this House, that judgment should be any longer delayed on the amount of prize money due to her majesty's land and sea forces employed in the capture of Kertch and Yenikale, on May 24, 1854, as it is calculated to injure the confidence of the soldiers, seamen, and marines in the good faith of her majesty's Government in the matters of prize.' After a short debate, Lord Palmerston (the Premier) consented to this motion, with the understanding that the question should be referred to a competent court of law;' and it was accordingly agreed to. But upon mature consideration, and after further communication with the law officers of the crown, the Government came to the conclusion that the claim was irresistible, so without appealing to a court of law they submitted a vote to the House of Commons in committee of supply for the sum of 85,9251., to compensate the troops and seamen for the value of the stores they had captured on the occasion in question. This vote was at once agreed to by the House.c And here it may be remarked, incidentally, that the public disclosure of differences of opinion between two or more departments of Government, though sometimes, perhaps, unavoidable, has always a Hans. Deb. vol. clxvii. p. 1131. To the same effect Earl Grey afterwards said, 'there ought to be free discussion between the departments, and there must often be a difference of opinion between them. But there is a mode of settling these differences. If the matter is one of importance, the Secretary of State may refer it to the b Ibid. vol. clxviii. p. 89. mischievous effect upon the public service. It is obvious that discussion between different departments, upon points of policy or practice, must frequently take place, and ought to be regarded as private and confidential. Once a decision has been arrived at, the whole administration are responsible for it; but meanwhile the disclosure of any actual disagreement is unseemly, and is calculated to produce most injurious results.d liberations secret. The deliberations of the Cabinet upon all matters Its dewhich engage their attention are strictly private and confidential; being kept secret even from the other members of the administration, who have no seat in the Cabinet, and who therefore are not directly responsible for the conduct of the Government. Upon their first introduction into the Privy Council, ministers are invariably sworn to secrecy. Hence they are not at liberty, thenceforth, to divulge proceedings in council-or to reveal to others any confidential communications they may have had, either with the sovereign or with a colleague in office-without express permission from the crown. This applies equally to those who have ceased to form part of an administration, as to members of an existing government." No secretary or clerk is permitted to be present at meetings of the Cabinet Council; neither is any official Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxv. p. 463. And see the discussion in the House of Lords on the 14th July, 1862, respecting the differences between the Treasury and the Colonial Office in regard to the Jamaica debt, ibid. vol. clxviii. p. 260. And on this subject see Commons' Papers, 1862, vol. xxxvi. p. 817. See also Mr. Disraeli's remarks upon the effect of the cases of misunderstanding between public departments, which were brought to light in the session of 1862. Hans. Deb. vol. clxviii. p. 1138. And see ibid. vol. clxix. p. 1393. And as respects differences between the Treasury and the Board of Admiralty, ante, vol. i. p. 561. And between the Board of Audit and the Board of Works, ante, vol. i. p. 572. And between the War Office and the Indian Government, see Hans. • See ante, p. 55. Mirror of Parl. 1831-2, p. 2069. See the observations in both Houses of Parliament upon a letter from the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (the Marquess of Anglesey) to the prime minister (Earl Grey), pointing out, for the information of the Cabinet, the views entertained by his lordship in regard to the situation of Ireland; which letter was read in the House of Commons by Mr. Hume and other members. The unauthorised publication of this letter was stigmatised as 'a most foul and scandalous breach of confidence.' Ibid. 1834, pp. 1373, 1375, 1430, 1446. Ibid. 1834, p. 2645. Decisions of the Cabinet, how carried out. record kept of its proceedings. The decisions of the Cabinet are either embodied in formal minutes, to be submitted to the sovereign, or else are carried into effect by the personal directions of the individual ministers, to whose departments they may particularly apply." Mere decisions of the Cabinet, unless followed up by some formal order or declaration of the Queen in Council, or other authoritative official act, are necessarily of an ephemeral character; having a present efficacy so far as concerns the matter in hand, but carrying with them no permanent authority. It is an important feature in the executive government of this country, that there is no department which is supreme over all the other departments. It is quite true that the First Lord of the Treasury is the head of the Cabinet, and the Cabinet can give any order, which it would be the duty of the departments to obey; but it is not at all true that that order would become part of our executive or administrative system. On the contrary, it dies with the Cabinet that gave it birth; and it would be for the government which followed it to revive it or not as they might think fit.'i If any authoritative action on the part of the crown should be required, in order to give effect to a decision. of the Cabinet, it would be the duty of the Prime Minister to advise a meeting of the Privy Council to be summoned, from whence orders in council, proclamations, or other official notifications might proceed. All commands of the sovereign, whether emanating from the Privy Council, or issued upon the advice of a responsible minister, should be transmitted to the officer or department of state charged with giving effect to the same by a Secretary of State.' Apart from the adoption of any formal minutes, the extent to which documentary evidence may exist in Murray's Handbook, p. 101. clxvi. p. 1847. Hans. Deb. vol. cxl. p. 1047. And see post, p. 493. |