140 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Constitution, as a whole, and speaking generally, was framed iino ictu 

 by acute and able statesmen as a permanent thing; it was necessarily 

 in writing and litera scripta manet; the meaning at one time is the 

 meaning at another, time writes no wrinkles on its austere brow. 

 The British Constitution was not made, it was not even born — like 

 Topsy, it just growed ; it is largely unwritten and the very words in 

 w^hich it may be explained change their meaning with the changing 

 times. It is continually grafting new shoots on the old stock, building 

 more stately mansions on the old foundations; clinging fondly to the 

 old names, the old ceremonies, the old forms, it is constantly moulding 

 the old methods to new uses, and adapting the old to the purposes of 

 the new. 



Hence it is that the King, nominally King by the Grace of God, 

 is in reality King by grace of an Act of Parliament; head of Army 

 and Navy, he does not appoint an ofïicer, however humble, in either; 

 Defender of the Faith because his predecessor received the title from 

 the Pope for defending the faith against the heretic Martin Luther, 

 though he, George V., must by law be a Protestant; having the right 

 to refuse the royal consent to any Bill passed by Parliament, though 

 that has not been done since the times of William III; and able to 

 select his Ministers from any of the millions of the British subjects 

 to be found wherever the map is coloured red, so long as he selects 

 those whom the House of Commons choose for him — appointing 

 Judges, Ambassadors, Envoys, whom he never saw or heard of — 

 creating Earls, Viscounts, Barons, Baronets, Knights et hoc genus 

 omne, but only as the Prime Minister directs, '^ and to cap the climax, 

 King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland! United? 

 Ask De Valera (the successor of the Pagan Era and the Christian Era). 

 So the power exists on paper for Britain to legislate for Canada, 

 which she is as likely to do as the Electoral College to elect the Georgia 

 Negro and no more likely- — the Home Administration at Westminster 

 may annul Canadian legislation just as the King can refuse the Royal 

 Assent to a British Bill. The Governor General has, in Canada, 

 substantially the powers of the King in England, but he exercises 

 them in the same way; he must have as Ministers those approved 

 by the House of Commons at Ottawa, the members of which are 

 elected by the people of Canada, and these Ministers must get out 

 and leave room for others if they cannot obtain a majority of the 

 House of Commons. These Ministers in fact appoint Senators, 

 Judges, Commissioners (who are often really Ambassadors) and the 

 Governor General has his appellation on the Jiicns a von hicerido^^ 

 principle because he does not govern. 



