possible to bring the popular judgment to bear
upon the servants of the State, when they have lost
the public confidence, or discharged the duties badly.

But an English Cabinet is a group of political
leaders, not a body of persons trained to administra-
tion. They have risen to prominence by the arts of
the platform, the senate, or the Salon; and they are
not, as a rule, selected for high office because of any
special knowledge or understanding of the important
departmental work they are appointed, and paid, to
control. In our time, a Ministry consists of a certain
number of men of, as a rule, proved integrity and
good social standing, most of whom have attained a
certain distinction in one or the other House of
Parliament. Two or three may be persons of bril-
liant talent and acknowledged force; two or three
more have a deserved reputation for character and
ability; several of the others have a full share of
that capacity which one commonly expects to find
in the best kind of English gentleman, well-born,
well-educated, well-placed, and well-to-do.

But they are seldom "experts" in a business,
to which they bring no more than a general know-
ledge of affairs, such as a reasonably intelligent
person may be assumed to possess. Sometimes they
may not even reach this moderate standard. In
one Cabinet a country landowner, in another a
lawyer or a financier, may be acting as the nominal
chief and "responsible" director of the Navy of
Britain. The Army may be under the control of
a middle-aged civilian --

"That never set a squadron in the field;
Nor the division of a battle knows,
More than a spinster."

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