Lord Melchett is a peer, a captain, of industry and a politician of great experience, He certainly. startled the. political world by indicating hat his unbending attitude in opposition to any form of protective tariff had been considerably modified. He has followed up this Jegitimate recognition of the force of economic facts as expressed the present state of British industry by a far less defensible departure, For some reason or othe! in his enthusiasm as.a partial ce vert to the merits of protection, Lord Melchett rushed into print in support of Lord Rothermere's prepooterous proposal that Mr. Baldwin, oF any other Prime Minister, Thould. submit. the names of his proposed Cabinet to Lord Rother mere for approval, as the price of securing the vath>r dubious support of Lerd Rothermere's journals.
Lord Melchett permits himself to endorse the argument that Lord Rothermere's proposal is no more would be expected in any circle. His actual words "Surety, if anyone is endeavouring roaches a Bhancier rge and important considerable interest i his Undertaking, fein not unmavaral that int "later" should "noe" merely ase who Wier "gentlemen of" importance Stherwise would be asked to Join PST the reply th that that the reply then was that, tha wan no" concern of anyone. but the Chairman, who would deal' with member of the Balfour Commission of 1917, and he held for about nine years the important post of Judicial Adviser to the Egyptian Government. His eminence in the law has not impaired his faculty for lucid explanation, and the manner in which he unfolds the practical common sense underlying the apparent inconsistencies of the English Constitution is marked by conciseness and simplicity. It is backed by those facts on which so often the commentator is liable to go astray, if he dos not keep himself closely touch, with the modifications which constantly are made in Engish constitutional practice, either 'a5 the result of judicial decisions, or the Acts of Parliament itself. For instance, the discontinuance of the cumbrous device of compelling a Minister, on appointment, to vacate his seat and offer himself for eleetion, existed only quite recently, and its abolition did not take place until 1926, by authority of an Act of Parliament.
It_is very important that the English people should appreciate the main outlines of the Constitution under which they are governed. There are many Constitutions ju the world to-day, but a large part of them bear many marks of the influence of the English Constitution, either in the way of imitation or in the direction of an attempt to avoid difficulties which experience shows have been created by English practice, To return for the moment to Lord Melchett, the introduction ta the book by the Chief Justice of England shows exactly how Lord Rothermere's argument can be met. Lord Hewart points out:— s.. The Ministry, if it ceased a hie Pres a Baldwin' and his Pavty.
Here can be perceived two dangers—one the danger of making a false analogy between business and the constitutional government of the country, and secondly, the danger of believing-that in' suecessfub basi "Tis men the embodiment of all wisdom is to be found. If, however, the theory that the business man would be more successful than th civil servant in administration was over seriously supported by any thinking man, it was triumphantly exploded during the War, and some of the biggest failures in administration during that period lie Girectly at the doors of the so-called superman who were brought. into she Government at the dictates of the hysterical Press of which Lord Rothermere's is a shining example, Leaving that aside for the moment, Lord Melchett in this extract com: mits an error for which a sixth Jorm school boy would be severely rated, He shows, in fact, a surprisingly inadequate knowles! the principles of the English Constitution. Much will befor Lord Melchett, because he pro is not singular in this his own sphere he hi too fully occupied to give thought to matters of this kind, But it seems unfortunate that he should have lent the weight of his name to so dangerous a comparison. AS Mr. Wickham Steed has cogently pointed out, the selection of His Majesty's Ministers is a responsible task to be performed by a party Jeader when he has been sent for the King, and Lord Rothermere's proposal, in effect, means that he, or the newspaper magnates for whom he stands, would usurp the King's prerogative, Incidentally, the manner in which the Board of a company under flotation is chosen is not always so free from defects that it merits recommendation to an aspiring Prine Minister, and Lord Melchett is probably aware that recent events in the City have ay Grawn caustic attention to certain aspects of the selection of directorships for public companies.
This examination of a fund: mental error in constitutional practice by an eminent politician-'Yusiness man is useful as a text for introducing "Sir Maurice Amos' Jittle handbook on the English Gorstitution, in the excellent Eng-Sish Heritage Series which Messrs. Longmans are in process of produc: ing. Sir Maurice Amos is a distinguished constitutional lawyer, who ie well-known in America as a St censure fin Important. question inet of dalton of Sigm or to appeal to the electorate by
tis this system which ie in opens:
fo" remain' in ofice in' Jefanew of tion to-day. If'a Ministry. attempt the "House. of "Commons. the. House.
which has the exclusive control of the. pablic "finances, could render government impossible by, refusing the necessary supplies... and that is really, in a nutshell, the basis of the Constitution. The House of Commons, selected, it may be, in @ most unscientific way, is taken as the reflection of the mind of the people, and by the gradual development of code and function it can express this mind with an accuracy hardly to be found in any other country in the world. Of course, Lord Rothermere might claim that the "Daily Mail" is the mirror of the British mind, The answer to this claim can be brief: is the "Daily Mail" read outside England to any extent for guidance on this particular point? Hansard, probably, is not read either with that end in view. But in this matter it may be suggested that "The Times" and at least six other papers would be, and are, studied by the intelligent foreigner before recourse to the organ of Lord Rothermere's oracular—_bathos. Indeed, Sit Maurice Amos' handbook might be usefully studied by the Dictator of Northcliffe House—
Eat.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.