GOVERNMENT. 



dictated by special circumstances, is as follows : I. 

 First Lord of the Treasury ; 2. Lord High Chan- 

 cellor ; 3. Chancellor of the Exchequer ; 4. Lord 

 President of the Privy Council ; 5. Lord Privy 

 Seal ; 6. Home Secretary ; 7. Foreign Secretary ; 

 8. Colonial Secretary ; 9. War Secretary ; 10. 

 Indian Secretary; II. First Lord of the Ad- 

 miralty; 12. President of the Board of Trade ; 

 1 3. Chief Secretary for Ireland ; 14. President of 

 Local Government Board ; 1 5. Vice-president of 

 the Committee of Council on Education ; 16. 

 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Such 

 usually compose the cabinet ; but there are 

 nearly twenty other ministers as Lord Chamber- 

 lain, Postmaster-general ; and occasionally several 

 of these are included in the cabinet, while one 

 or two of those above specified are excluded. 

 There is, in short, no distinctly settled ministry 

 in England. The whole affair is a matter of 

 arrangement at each change of ministry. 



The First Lord of the Treasury is in general 

 Prime-minister, and sometimes, as at present, 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Secretary of 

 State for the Home Department may be said to 

 stand at the head of the executive as far as the 

 internal affairs of the country are concerned. The 

 appointment of judges, sheriffs, and other func- 

 tionaries is in his hands. Military affairs come 

 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary at War and 

 Commander-in-chief. The royal navy is similarly 

 regulated by the First Lord of the Admiralty, 

 and other members composing his council. The 

 finances come under the cognisance and responsi- 

 bility of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 



For the sake of local administration, the country 

 is divided into counties, divisions anciently under 

 the charge of earls or counts, but now committed 

 to sheriffs and other officers. The sheriff, how- 

 ever, is a functionary of old standing. The title 

 is derived from shire and reeve the reeve of the 

 shire. Reeve is an old title for an officer of 

 justice inferior in rank to an alderman, and is 

 derived from the Anglo-Saxon term gerefa. In 

 Scotland, the sheriff of a county is a judge ordi- 

 nary of his bounds, besides being intrusted with 

 the execution of writs issuing from the crown. 

 Towns possessing burghal privileges are exempted 

 from the administration of sheriffs, and are 

 governed by town-councils, including a burgh 

 magistracy such councils being annually elected 

 by the parliamentary voters or qualified inhab- 

 itants. The chief magistrate of a town in Eng- 

 land is entitled Mayor; in Scotland, Provost. In 

 the principal cities only, the prefix Lord is added. 

 In towns, and also in the rural districts, there is 

 a miscellaneous magistracy, styled Justices of the 

 Peace, who are nominated by the crown, and who 

 possess a limited jurisdiction in civil and criminal 

 matters. 



The British is the least centralised government 

 in the world, and in no other country is so much 

 unpaid labour performed for the public, or per- 

 formed so well. 



Diplomacy 



Is in all countries a separate branch of adminis- 

 tration, which relates to intercourse with foreign 

 powers. The persons deputed to act as foreign 

 ministers are of several classes. Those of the 

 highest class, called ambassadors, are not merely 

 the agents ot their governments, but represent 



their sovereign personally, and receive honours 

 and enjoy privileges accordingly. The second 

 class are envoys extraordinary and ministers 

 plenipotentiary. A third class are called resi- 

 dents and charges d'affaires. Consuls, of whom 

 there are various grades, are confined in their 

 duties to commercial affairs, and conduct no 

 correspondence in relation to state-policy; yet, 

 along with the whole ambassadorial class, they 

 are expected to succour all subjects of the power 

 which they represent, and facilitate their journey 

 as to passports, &c. 



Ambassadors, and even ministers plenipotentiary, 

 have young gentlemen with them called attaches, 

 who have no particular charge, but merely this 

 title, to connect them with the legation, and to 

 give them admission into the highest society. 

 Sometimes they are sons of noble families, who 

 are preparing themselves for diplomatic offices, 

 and to whom the lighter duties of the embassy are 

 intrusted. The suite of ambassadors always in- 

 cludes more individuals than the business of the 

 embassy requires, a certain degree of pomp being 

 considered necessary. An ambassador has gener- 

 ally three, always two secretaries of legation ; 

 other ministers often but one. A foreign minister 

 receives letters of credence from his court, of 

 which he delivers an attested copy to the Secre- 

 tary of State, and afterwards gives himself to the 

 monarch, or head of the government if he is an 

 ambassador, in a public audience ; if not, in a 

 private audience. After the reception of the cre- 

 dentials, the minister is said to be acknowledged. 

 In some countries, he puts the arms of his nation 

 or sovereign on his mansion. After his creden- 

 tials have been received, he makes formal visits 

 to the other ambassadors, to be recognised by 

 them as such. These arrangements have been to 

 some extent modified in this country in recent 

 times, and as the Foreign Office is now far more 

 exacting than formerly, our embassies have 

 become comparatively hard-working institutions. 

 From the moment that a minister enters the 

 territory of the sovereign to whom he is sent, his 

 person is held sacred and inviolable, and he 

 acquires important privileges. To these belongs, 

 first of all, his freedom from territorial restrictions 

 that is, he is not regarded as an inhabitant of 

 the country ; but his person, suite, house, equi- 

 page, &c. are considered as never having left the 

 country to which he belongs, and as being with- 

 out the jurisdiction of that in which he actually 

 resides. From this follows the freedom of foreign 

 ministers from the civil and criminal law ; and 

 the same applies to their suite ; and all property 

 belonging to a minister is free from taxes, 

 &c. No common police-officer, tax-gatherer, 

 or other public servant, can enter his hotel and 

 make inquisition, as in the house of a private 

 citizen. One of the especial privileges of am- 

 bassadors is that of worshipping according to 

 the forms of their own religion in countries where 

 their religion is not tolerated. In general, an 

 embassy is considered as ended from the moment 

 when the minister shews his letters of recall, or 

 receives his passports for his journey home. 

 When these are furnished him, he must leave 

 the country ; but his person remains inviolable 

 even in case of war, and he is allowed to retire 

 unmolested. The same inviolability of person 

 is enjoyed in time of peace, by couriers and 



