THE accountability of ministers to Parliament, and
through Parliament to the nation, is the theoretical
basis of our modern English Constitution. The
Cabinet is a political council; it is a party com-
mittee; but it is also an administrative board.
It is engaged not merely in legislation, and in the
shaping of policy, but in the daily supervision and
management of the business of the nation. Great
powers are entrusted to its members, with a corre-
sponding responsibility. "The laws," as Burke
says, "reach but a very little way. Constitute
government how you please, infinitely the greater
part of it must depend upon the exercise of powers
which are left at large to the prudence and upright-
ness of ministers of state. Even all the use and
potency of the laws depends upon them. Without
them your Commonwealth is no better than a
scheme upon paper; and not a living, active, effec-
tive organisation." It is on the efficiency and
integrity of ministers, and on the ability of the
people's representatives to call them to account,
that good government ultimately depends. The
merit of cabinet government is that it defines and
concentrates ministerial responsibility, and makes it

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