58 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



(who was originally the governor's secretary, as the Secretary for 

 Ireland, till the other clay, was only the Lord Lieutenant's secretary) 

 differentiates into several ministries, as the department of Secretary 

 of State had differentiated in England. An anomaly is worth noting. 

 In the United States, where the whole people is the fountain of 

 power, the ministers are the servants of the President, appointed and 

 dismissed by him. In England, while they are still in theory her 

 Majesty's ministers, and the Prime Minister is nominally selected 

 by the sovereign, by a remarkable transformation they have become 

 the servants of the legislature — that is, of the people. The two 

 countries have exchanged institutions, as Hamlet and Laertes ex- 

 changed rapiers. The explanation is historical. The United States 

 parted from the development of Britain at a time when the execu- 

 tive was, far more than now, independent of the legislature and 

 dependent on the sovereign. The framers of the Constitution of the 

 United States, looking at the British Constitution from without, and 

 ignoring the subtle checks and balances that gave the lie to Montes- 

 quieu's too rigid trichotomy, petrified a still developing system, and 

 dug a gulf between the executive and the legislature. But in 

 England, with the growing weakness of the crown and the growing 

 strength of the legislature, the ministers have gone over to the 

 popular side. The younger British colonies were founded at a time 

 when this development was already far advanced, and they have 

 repeated the evolution. A curious consequence ensues. While in 

 a monarchical country and its colonies a manifestation of public 

 opinion can in a week bring the most powerful ministry to its knees, 

 the President and ministers of a popularly governed country pursue 

 their irresponsible course in apparent indifference to either pulpit 

 or press. 



A similar cleavage divides the legislative structure. The gov- 

 ernor of crown colonies, like the sovereign, is at first the sole, and 

 through his ministers to the last the chief, legislator; the legislature 

 is created by concessions wrung from him, and its history is the 

 record of successive limitations of his authority. In charter colonies 

 the legislature is the creation of the people, and the laws are made 

 by its deputies. A single tolerably perfect example of each type is 

 chosen. The early history of New South Wales is one of the best 

 preserved specimens in the museum of political paleontology. Dur- 

 ing its earliest years the governor was as absolute as the first Norman 

 sovereigns. William Rufus might ask: " You Taillebois, what have 

 you to propose in this arduous matter? . . . Potdevin, what is your 

 opinion of the measure? " And Philip, hunter or king, might as 

 unceremoniously solicit the advice of the chaplain or the commander 

 of the forces, but they were under no obligation to take it; and the 



