truly, but
conventionally. For in the English Government there has gradually formed
itself a fourth power, entering into and sharing the vitality of each of
the other three, and charged with the business of holding them in
harmony as they march.

This Fourth Power is the Ministry, or more properly the Cabinet. For the
rest of the Ministry is subordinate and ancillary; and, though it
largely shares in many departments the labors of the Cabinet, yet it has
only a secondary and derivative share in the higher responsibilities. No
account of the present British Constitution is worth having which does
not take this Fourth Power largely and carefully into view. And yet it
is not a distinct power, made up of elements unknown to the other three;
any more than a sphere contains elements other than those referable to
the three co-ordinates, which determine the position of every point in
space. The Fourth Power is parasitical to the three others; and lives
upon their life, without any separate existence. One portion of it forms
a part, which may be termed an integral part, of the House of Lords,
another of the House of Commons; and the two conjointly, nestling within
the precinct of Royalty, form the inner Council of the Crown, assuming
the whole of its responsibilities, and in consequence wielding, as a
rule, its powers. The Cabinet is the threefold hinge that connects
together for action the British Constitution of King or Queen, Lords and
Commons. Upon it is concentrated the whole strain of the Government, and
it constitutes from day to day the true centre of gravity for the
working system of the State, although the ultimate superiority of force
resides in the representative chamber.

There is no statute or legal usage of this country which requires that
the Ministers of the Crown should hold seats in the one or the other
House of Parliament. It is perhaps upon this account that, while most of
my countrymen would, as I suppose, declare it to be a becoming and
convenient custom, yet comparatively few are aware how near the seat of
life the observance lies, how closely it is connected with the equipoise
and unity of the social forces. It is rarely departed from, even in an
individual case; never, as far as my knowledge goes, on a wider scale.
From accidental circumstances it happened that I was Secretary of State
between December 1845 and July 1846, without a seat in the House of
Commons. This (which did not pass wholly without c