amongst its own members, subject to the approval of the Crown, and holds his office till the dissolution of the parliament in which he was elected. His salary is £6000 a year, exclusive of a furnished residence. At the end of his official labours he is generally rewarded by a peerage, and a pension of £4000 for two lives.

He is always a member of the privy council, and entitled to rank immediately after barons, and before the commissioners of the great seal (vide No. LXXIX. in the article on PRECEDENCE). Generally speaking, business cannot be transacted in his absence, though to this rule there was an exception in the year 1606, a prisoner being released by order of the house during the illness of a Speaker. Should a member persevere in breaches of order, the Speaker may “name” him, as it is called; a course uniformly followed by the censure of the house. In extreme cases the Speaker may order members or others into custody until the pleasure of the house be signified. He has a casting vote on divisions.

In the house of Lords the Keeper of the Great Seal is ex-officio Speaker, and whether a peer of parliament or not, he becomes speaker of the Upper house by the mere delivery of the great seal into his possession.

There has always been a deputy speaker, and sometimes two. The chairman of committees, who is elected every session, generally fills the latter office. The Speaker is the organ or mouthpiece of the house, and it therefore is his duty to represent their lordships in their collective capacity when holding intercourse with other public bodies or with individuals.

S

He has not a casting vote upon divisions, for should the numbers prove equal, the not contents prevail. The deputy Speakers of the Lords are appointed by the Crown.

LORD HIGH TREASURER.

This is he

Who rides on the court gale; controls its tides;
Knows all their secret shoals and fatal eddies ;
Whose frown abases, and whose smile exalts.
He shines like any rainbow-and perchance,
His colours are as transient."

SCOTT.

For nearly two centuries this office has been executed by five persons styled Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. One of these is called the First Lord of the Treasury, and in common parlance is described as the Premier, or prime minister; or rather more correctly, "the head of her Majesty's government ;" another of the Lords Commissioners is the Chancellor and Under-treasurer of the Exchequer; and the remaining three are simply described as Lords of the Treasury.

The office of Lord High Treasurer was held, as every person is aware, during the pleasure of the Crown, and was conferred by letters patent; its duties consisted in the government of the court of Exchequer, the custody of the king's treasure, the appointment of all employed in collecting the revenues of the Crown, and the regulation of public revenues. All these powers are now delegated under letters patent to the commissioners, and the first lord is for all practical

purposes the Lord High Treasurer; but his connexion with the court of Exchequer is now merely nominal.

Killing the Lord High Treasurer during the execution of his office is high treason.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is always a commoner, but the First Lord of the Treasury is sometimes a peer as the house of Lords can never alter, amend, or originate measures involving the expenditure of public money, the Chancellor is always a member of the Lower house. The First Lord of the Treasury may also be, and frequently is, a commoner; but in that case he usually unites the office with that of Chancellor of the Exchequer. There are numerous exceptions, however, to this rule, of which the most recent commission issued, is perhaps the best marked; for the First Lord; though a commoner and well skilled in finance, did not also accept the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, although he subsequently performed some of the most conspicuous duties of that officer.

Among the duties of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is that of making each year a general statement of the financial condition of the country. This speech is technically termed "the budget," and embraces a review of the income and expenditure of the last year, as compared with those of preceding years; remarks upon the financial prospects of the country; an exposition of the intended repeal, modification, or imposition of taxes during the session; a detail of the public expenditure during the current period, with its grounds of justification; an account of all operations relating to the national debt, and, finally, the excess of income over expenditure, or vice versá,

accompanied by such observations as the occasion may seem to require.

On the death of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, it has been the practice to commit the Exchequer seal (which he holds) to the custody of the lord chief justice of the Queen's Bench. By act 2 and 3 of Victoria, cap. 52, the Lords of the Treasury were invested with a temporary authority to alter, fix, reduce, or remit all or any of the rates of postage to which letters were then liable. These powers they exercised in the establishment of the uniform penny postage, and the carrying out of the provisions of the statute by which in that respect their authority was conferred.

SECRETARY OF STATE.

Your Secretaries

Of State, attend me, Sire, to render up
The ledgers of a realm. I do beseech you

Suffer these noble gentlemen to learn

The nature of the glorious task that waits them.”
BULWER'S Richelieu, act v. sc. 3.

THOUGH in modern times it has been the practice to entrust the duties of Secretary of State to three individuals, yet this division of labour is only an arrangement to facilitate the dispatch of public business, and the three secretaries are in theory but one; for their duties may all be discharged by an individual, and their authority being co-ordinate, each is competent to execute any of the functions of the other two.

To the Secretary of State is delegated the authority

of the Crown throughout all our colonial possessions -governors, lieutenant governors, and all other public officers being chosen at his immediate recommendation. To him is entrusted the appointment of all ambassadors, envoys, and other diplomatic ministers. -the conduct of all negotiations and transactions with foreign powers-and the general superintendence and management of our relations with other countries. It likewise belongs to the Secretary of State to fulfil the duties of a minister of police, to superintend the domestic and internal government of the country, to regulate the administration of justice, and in effect to exercise the prerogative of

mercy.

It is evident then, that the office naturally divides itself into a triple arrangement, namely, the Home Department, Foreign Affairs, and the Colonies. Each of these being now entrusted to different individuals, may be considered as a distinct branch of the executive government; for the only remaining trace of their original concentration under a single officer, consists in the fact, that no exchange of departments among the three is considered as a new acceptance of office under the Crown; and it therefore does not unseat such Secretaries of State as are members of the house of Commons.

Secretaries of State are always privy councillors, members of the cabinet, and of parliament. generally happens that there are two Secretaries of State in the Lower house and one in the Upper: this, however, is sometimes reversed, but there is no instance of the three secretaries being at once members of the same branch of the legislature.