Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

the principal secretaries of state, and under-secretaries, to hold seats in that House."

Every principal secretary of state receives a salary of Salary. 5.0007. per annum; and there is attached to each branch

Secretaries

of the secretariat a permanent under-secretary, with a Undersalary of 2,000l. a year, and a parliamentary, or political of State. under-secretary, with a salary of 1,500l. a year.3

The Under-Secretaries of State

are appointed by the joint action of the head of the
department, and the Prime Minister.
The secretary
would probably consider that the Premier was respon-
sible for the general conduct of public affairs, and would
be ready to acquiesce in the appointment of any capable
person suggested by him, while he might himself recom-
mend some one in whom he had particular confidence.*

All matters relating to the discipline of the office devolve upon the permanent under-secretary, and the whole of the work passes through his hands.

Under

The political under-secretary has the general super- Political vision of all that is done in the department, but is unable Secretary. to devote much time to the details of ordinary official business, on account of the engrossing nature of his parliamentary duties. He is required to represent his department in Parliament; and if the principal secretary of state be a member of the House of Lords, he should have a seat in the House of Commons. Political under-secretaries are also frequently called upon to represent either their own department, or the government generally, upon parliamentary committees."

21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, sec. 4. In 1864, a question of order arose in the House of Commons, in consequence of five under-secretaries of state holding seats in the House together. The particulars of this case have VOL. II.

K K

been already noted. See ante, p. 257.
See Civil Service Estimates for
1868-9. Class II.

Rep. on Official Salaries, 1850.
Evid. 300.

u

Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850. Evid.

Permanent
Under-
Secreta-

ries.

Every branch of the secretariat, with the exception of the Home Department, has a permanent assistant undersecretary, who shares the labours of his superior, and superintends the business of the office, during his unavoidable absence. These assistants receive, each of them, 1,500l. per annum.

The permanent heads of departments have to write the drafts of despatches. If a despatch arrives which adverts to former correspondence, they are required to refer to the same, and to prepare a minute of the subjects which particularly require attention, suggesting the course that ought to be taken in the matter. This minute is first submitted to the permanent under-secretary, then to the parliamentary under-secretary, and then to the secretary of state. All ordinary business is expected to reach the secretary of state in such a form, that he can dispose of it by simply adding his initials."

The permanent under-secretaries of the great departments of state are empowered in all official correspondence to make use of the name of the department, as they would a common seal. They do so upon their own responsibility; and if they abuse or misuse their trust, an appeal can be made to the chief; who is really as responsible to the crown and to Parliament for the act of his subordinate as if he had signed the document himself." Thus, in the Treasury, the Admiralty, or the Education Office, the secretary would write in the name of 'My Lords,' and in any branch of the secretariat, in the name of the particular secretary of state, although practically the communication would emanate from the under-secretary himself. Considering the immense amount of business which passes through the principal public departments, such an arrangement is unavoidable, as it would be impossible to submit the correspondence, in every instance, to

89, 1471, &c., 1939, &c. Rep. Com.
on Diplomatic Service, 1861, pp.
50, 94.

Rep. Off. Sal. 1850. Evid. 1548,&c. See Hans. Deb. vol. excii. p 1825; ante, p. 174.

the official head. But in every doubtful or difficult case, the head of the department is appealed to, and his instructions obeyed.*

boxes.

Drafts of despatches, and other important papers, are Cabinet circulated amongst the members of the Cabinet, in private despatch boxes, to which each Cabinet minister has a master-key. These boxes are conveyed to and fro in charge of queen's messengers, who are confidential servants, all of them, nominally, upon the staff of the Foreign Secretary's office. In practice, however, they are divided into two classes, for home and foreign service; and as their duties require them to be at the command of all the Cabinet ministers, vacancies in their number are filled up by each of the secretaries of state, in rotation."

The establishments of the several branches of the secretariat are regulated by order in council.

counsel.

The Secretaries of State for the Home Department, for Standing the Colonies, and for India, are each assisted by a standing counsel, as their confidential adviser upon legal questions. The standing counsel to the Home Office is usually employed professionally in drafting government Bills."

The Home Secretary.

retary.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department has Home Secdirect supervision over all matters relating to the internal affairs of Great Britain and Ireland; but England is such a self-governing country that a large proportion of administrative business is transacted without the necessity for his immediate control. His duties and responsibilities are principally confined to the maintenance of the internal peace of the United Kingdom, the security of the laws,

1

And

Rep. Com. on Education, 1865. Evid. 145, &c. 290, 338-356. see post, p. 649.

Murray's Handbook, p. 276.

▾ Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxv. pp. 1208, 1235. As to the eligibility of the standing counsel to sit in the House of Commons, see ante, p. 266.

To main

peace.

and the general oversight in the administration of criminal justice.

The Home Secretary is especially responsible for the tain public preservation of the public peace, for the due administration of the criminal law, so far as the prerogative of the crown is concerned, and for the security of life and property throughout the kingdom. For this purpose, acting in the name of the sovereign, he exercises by long usage extensive powers over the civil and military authorities of the country. He himself is a magistrate, and has a power of commitment to prison by warrant for just cause.* So far as regards the movements of the regular army, and the direction of the militia, yeomanry, and volunteer forces, his authority was superseded by the appointment, in 1854, of a Secretary of State for War. But in the suppression of riots and tumults, the Home Secretary would still be the proper channel for conveying her majesty's commands to the lords-lieutenant of counties, or to the officers in charge of districts, placing them in communication with the magistracy upon any emergency, and directing them how to act."

To control adminis

justice.

In addition to his prescriptive police powers, large tration of statutory authority has, within the last forty years, been specially assigned to the Home Secretary. He has a direct controlling power over the administration of justice and police in the municipal boroughs, and over the police in and around London, and the supervision of the county constabulary. He also exercises, by long usage, a power

Lord Campbell, in 5 Ellis and Blackburn, 353. Lord John Russell, in Hans. Deb. vol. xcii. p. 355.

Hans. Deb. vol. cxxxi. p. 237. And see Ibid. vol. clxix. p. 198. Report of Commissioners on the Volunteer Force, Commons Papers, 1862, vol. xxvii. p. 89. For returns of applications to Home Secretary for a military force in aid of the civil power in England, and of cases wherein magistrates have

acted without previous application to government, see Commons Papers, 1855, vol. xxxii. p. 669, and l1856, vol. 1. p. 521.

c

Objections have been urged against the excessive extension of the police force of late years, and its subjection to the direct and exclusive control of the Home Office. Peto on Taxation, pp. 332-339. In 1833, complaint was made to the H. of Commons of the conduct of the

See

1

to examine and commit for trial persons charged with offences against the state; and he may, by virtue of recent statutes, direct certain fugitive offenders from France and the United States of America to be delivered to their respective governments. He has a similar power with respect to colonial offenders, and may authorise the execution of warrants, under which they may be apprehended and returned to the colonies for trial.

In carrying out the provisions of the Local Government Local GoAct of 1858, for self-government, local improvement, and vernment. the preservation of the public health in towns, the Home Secretary (in connection with the medical department of the Privy Council) has a superintending power; also, in regard to interments, and the opening and closing of burial grounds, on sanitary considerations.

&c.

Other duties have been imposed upon the Home Secre- Protection tary by the Acts for the regulation of factory labour, for of labour, the inspection of fisheries and of coal mines, for the regulation of labour in mines and collieries, for the regulation of schools of anatomy, for the protection of pauper lunatics, and for the general control and supervision of lunatic asylums.

matters.

The Home Secretary has the general oversight and Criminal ultimate control in all matters relating to prisons, penitentiaries, reformatories, criminals, and the administration of criminal justice. He is especially responsible for the exercise of the royal prerogative in the reprieve or pardon of convicted offenders, or the commutation of their sentences. Applications for the exercise of the prerogative of mercy, amounting to some thousands of cases in a year, occasion great labour to this officer, requiring always his personal investigation and decision, with such assistance as may be derived from the judges before whom

police force, imputing to them equivocal practices, too much akin to the spy system, so prevalent on the Continent; but enquiry by a select

committee elicited little more than
the misconduct of a single policeman,
who was dismissed from the service.
See ante, vol. i. p. 358.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »