John Adolphus - The Political State Of The British Empire...

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POLITICAL STATE

OF THE

BRITISH EMPIRE.

OFFICERS OF STATE.

'T'HE general necessity of employing agents of talent and credit to execute the business in the various departments of government is strongly felt in every country; but the assignment of each branch to a distinct avowed minister is peculiarly requisite in the British system. In other nations, the bounty and patronage of the crown, and the execution of all the weighty affairs of state may be committed to one person, distinguished by the name of t.ivourite, prime minister, or premier, and his malversations may be sheltered by the authority of the monarch; but, in Great Britain, the axiom, thnt the king can do no wrong, is prevented from becoming an engine for oppressing the subject, by the strict responsibility annexed to the situation of ministers, and the- power of inquiry and impeachment tenaciously reserved, and. vigorously exercised by parliament.

In the following enumeration, the dutiesof die most eminent ministers of state will be exhibited, and some details afforded respecting the offices or departments over which they preside. They are given in the order of their precedence, with the addition of embassadors and consuls in foreijni lands.

I. The Lord High Steward. In ancient times the lord1 high steward of England was the first great officer of the crown. The title is of Saxon etymology,yW signifying rooms or Jlead, and ward A warden or keeper; and therefore to the lord high steward of England belonged vice-regal power. As next under the king he supervised and regulated the administration of justice, and all other affairs of the realm both, civil and military.

Vol. II. B The The office was of great antiquity, being established before the reign of Edward the Consessor. It was annexed to she lordship of Hinckley in Leicestershire, which, belonging to the family of Montsort earl of Leicester, the poffessors of that title were, in right of their sief, hereditary lord high stewards of England. Simon de Montsort, the last earl of that family, being deseated in the rebellion which he raised against Henry III., and his estates becoming forseit, the monarch prudently embraced the opportunity of retrenching the authorities of an office which, in the hands of a turbulent and ambitious man, had been found sufficient to disquiet the rule it was intended to ensorce, and shake the throne it was destined to support. It still continued, though reduced in power, an office of inheritance, till Henry of Bolingbrokc, who last poffessed it in that form, usurped the throne by the title of Henry IV. From that period lord high stewards have been appointed pro kac vice only, generally to officiate at coronations, or at trials before the high court of parliament.