Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/70

62 COUNCIL AND CABINET, 1679-88 January form by Henry VIII the business transacted in the king's name had increased so enormously that no one body could cope with the work. Belief was afforded by the growing importance of the great departments of state and by the subdivision of the privy council into committees. The need for co-ordinating the various branches of the administration led to the inclusion during the period under review of the lord chancellor (or lord keeper), the two secretaries of state, and a representative of the treasury in the most important of these committees. They formed the nucleus of the cabinet, in which the remaining members owed their position to their political abilities, their widespread influence in parliament or with the electors, or to their popularity with the sovereign. There was as yet no sign that the wishes of the majority in parliament had any direct weight. If this increased the independence of the councillors it also diminished their importance, for the king could ignore both parliament and cabinet. In fact by 1688 the cabinet had developed as far as was possible until representative government had taken the place of the personal rule of the Stuarts. Its further progress depended on the extension of the powers of parliament, and its rapidly increasing importance after the revolution was due to the ability of parlia- ment ultimately to enforce its will on the sovereign. Until this stage in the evolution of constitutional government was reached, the cabinet could only be what it was under Charles II and James II, an irresponsible body of privy councillors chosen by the sovereign, sometimes consulted and sometimes ignored, and rarely unanimous on any one question. GODFREY DAVIES. APPENDIX I Roger North's Account of the Cabinet [The following passage is in the handwriting of Koger North, but the list of the cabinet and the marginal notes seem to have been copied verbatim from the writings of the lord keeper Guilford.] Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 32520, fo. 253. Concerning his administration from his owne hints in the former method as concerning himself and preferments. The posture of the cabinett. E. Radnor lord president M. Halifax lord privy seal 1 Lord Conoway 2 ^1 a T i T i r secretaries Sir Lyonel Jenkins J Lord Rochester in the treasury D. Ormond Sydney Godolphin. 1 Appointed lord privy seal 25 October 1682 (Foxcroft, i. 361). 8 Dismissed 28 January 1683 (Kennet, iii. 406).