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Stockmar's Theory of the English Monarchy. 319

our political history will find much to learn and profit by.' In spite, however, of the sympathetic attention paid to all the utterances of the Baron by the Prince Consort and by Mr. Theodore Martin, it is not necessary to impute to the Royal personages directly concerned either an unqualified approval of any of the doctrines asserted, or even any want of perception of the ignorance of English constitutional history which the Baron's statements disclose. It is sufficient to note that the doctrines in question have as it were been floating in the air at Court for several years; that no distinct repudiation of any one of them is contained in the numerous published replies and letters of the Prince Consort; and that some conspicuous acts, both of the Prince Consort and of the Queen, are, to say the least of them, not inconsistent with the supposition that Baron Stockmar's views were looked upon with favour. Recent utterances in the Houses of Parliament on the part of fulsome panegyrists of the Court, or idealistic adulators of the English Monarchy as likely to become ultimately the sole saviour of society, are entirely in harmony with Baron Stockmar's conceptions, and give weight to the suspicion that an organised attempt has been, or is being, made to take advantage of a lull of party controversy and political enthusiasm to supersede the well-established notion of purely Parliamentary Government by an ill-defined and long-discarded notion of Government by Parliament with the assiduous aid of the Royal Prerogative, or by an irresponsible exercise of the Royal Prerogative alone. The particular passages in Baron Stockmar's letters above alluded to are as follows:

'Dec. 27, 1845.

'Since the theory of the Constitution has been brought more into harmony with the spirit and the 'wants of the age, its practical working has retrograded 'just as much as its theory has advanced. Whigs and Tories saw that from the moment the democratic 'element became so powerful there was only one thing ' which could keep this element within safe bounds, and 6 prevent it from swallowing up first the aristocracy, and then itself. This one thing was the upholding ' and strengthening of the autonomy of the Monarchi'cal element, which the fundamental idea of the Eng'lish Constitution had from the first conceded to Royalty, and indeed concedes in theory up to the present hour. But, unfortunately, Peel has done nothing towards 'this upholding and strengthening; the most that can be said of him is, that he has not helped to make Royalty weaker than it was when handed over to him by Melbourne. In reference to the Crown the secret is simply this. Since 1830 the executive power has 'been entirely in the hands of the Ministry, and these being more the servants of Parliament-particularly of the House of Commons-than of the Crown, it is practically in the hands of that House. This is a 'distortion of the fundamental idea of the English • Constitution, which could not fail to grow by degrees 'out of the incapacity of her Sovereigns rightly to • understand and to deal with their position, and out of 'the encroachments on their privileges by the House of Commons. This perversion of the fundamental 'idea of the English Constitution is fraught with this 'great mischief for the State, that the head of the Ministry for a time can only be the head of a party, and

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Stockmar on the Crown and the Cabinet. 321

'consequently must only too often succumb to the 'temptation of advancing the imagined interests of his party to the prejudice of the public weal. To counteract on the part of the Crown this injurious tendency 'must at the present moment be a difficult task, inas'much as Ministers and Parliament will construe the legal powers of the Crown in accordance, not with the original spirit of the Constitution, but with the 'practice which has prevailed since 1830. Still, the 6 right of the Crown to assert itself as permanent head of 'the Council over the temporary leader of the Ministry, and to act as such, is not likely to be gainsaid even by those who regard it through the spectacles of party.''

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Jan. 22, 1854.

Even in England all that is generally known is 'the position of the Throne towards the Legislature. Its position in Government proper,-in the Cabinet 'towards the responsible Ministers, has (especially since 1830) fallen more and more into an obscurity, which leads to misconceptions, and from them to absurd 'mischievous assertions, which are incompatible with 'the subsistence of Constitutional Monarchy. As the rights of the Crown in England are assured more by the traditions of ancestry and usage than by written laws, their continuance in their integrity is continually menaced, and Constitutional Monarchy has since 1830 been constantly in danger of becoming a pure 'Ministerial Government. In theory one of the first 'duties of Ministers is to protect and preserve intact the traditional usages of Royal prerogative.

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'Our Whigs, again, are nothing but partly conscious, 'partly unconscious Republicans, who stand in the same ' relation to the Throne as the wolf does to the lamb. 'And these Whigs must have a natural inclination to push to extremity the constitutional fiction—which, although undoubtedly of old standing, is fraught with 6 danger-that it is unconstitutional to introduce and 'make use of the name and person of the irresponsible Sovereign in the public debates on matters bearing on the Constitution. But if the English Crown permit 'a Whig Ministry to follow this rule in practice, without exception, you must not wonder if in a little time 'you find the majority of the people impressed with 'the belief, that the King, in the view of the law, is 6 nothing but a mandarin figure, which has to nod its head in assent, or shake it in denial, as his Minister 'pleases. Now, in our time, since Reform, the extinc'tion of the genuine Tories, and the growth of those politicians of the Aberdeen school, who treat the existing Constitution merely as a bridge to a Republic, it is of extreme importance, that this fiction should 'be countenanced only provisionally, and that no oppor'tunity should be let slip of vindicating the legitimate position of the Crown. And this is not hard to do, and can never embarrass a Minister, where such 'straightforward loyal personages as the Queen and the "Prince are concerned. For the most jealous and dis'trustful Liberalism, in any discussion about the definite 'interpretation of the law of Royal prerogative, must 'be satisfied, if this be placed no higher than a right on the part of the King to be the permanent Pre'sident of his Ministerial Council. Ministerial responsibility in these days, for such Ministers as are

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Royal Control of Ministerial Policy. 323

'incapable, and at any rate for such as are unscrupulous, ' is a mere bugbear. The responsible Minister may do the most stupid and mischievous things. If they are not found out, he may even continue to be popular; ' if they do come to light, it only costs him his place. 'He resigns or is removed, that is all,-the whole 'punishment, the whole restitution made for the mis'chief done to the common weal. But who could have 'averted, whose duty was it to avert, the danger, either 'wholly or in part? Assuredly he, and he alone, who, 'being free from party passion, has listened to the voice ' of an independent judgment. To exercise this judg'ment is, both in a moral and constitutional point of 'view, a matter of right, nay, a positive duty. The Sovereign may even take a part in the initiation and 'the maturing of the Government measures; for it 'would be unreasonable to expect that a King, himself as able, as accomplished, as patriotic as the best of his Ministers, should be prevented from making use ' of these qualities at the deliberations of his Council. 'In practice, of course, the use so made will be as various as the gifts and personal character of the occupants of the throne are various; and these are decided not merely by the different degrees of capability, but also by their varieties of temperament and 'disposition. Although the right has, since the time ' of William III., been frequently perverted and exer'cised in the most pernicious way, since 1830, on the ' other hand, it has scarcely been exercised at all, which is fundamentally less injurious to the State than in the • other case. At the same time it is obvious, that its 'judicious exercise, which certainly requires a master 'mind, would not only be the best guarantee for Con

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