itself from the Privy Council, which gradually lost
its efficiency and became merely formal. Similarly,
the Inner Cabinet may draw to itself the effective
power of the whole body in the moulding of legisla-
tion and the direction of policy. The real business
may be transacted at little meetings, still more
private than those to which "His Majesty's
Servants" are summoned; and a Cabinet Council
may in time become a rare, and almost superfluous,
ceremony. ^* The Cabinet is a long way from this
stage at present. But even now, ministers are
rendered nominally responsible for many matters,
of which some of them have little real knowledge,
and on which they can bring to bear no genuine
influence.

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