f the Cabinet system have been much
more marked since the war than at any earlier time. But the two chief
among them--lessened coherence due to unwieldiness of size, and
diminished responsibility to Parliament--were already becoming apparent
during the generation before the war. On the question of responsibility
to Parliament we shall have something to say later. But it is worth
while to ask whether there is any means whereby the old coherence,
intimacy and community of responsibility can be restored. If it cannot
be restored, the Cabinet system, as we have known it, is doomed. I do
not think that it can be restored unless the size of the Cabinet can be
greatly reduced, without excluding from its deliberations a responsible
spokesman for each department of government.

But this will only be possible if a considerable regrouping of the great
departments can be effected. I do not think that such a regrouping is
impracticable. Indeed, it is for many reasons desirable. If it were
carried out, a Cabinet might consist of the following members, who would
among them be in contact with the whole range of governmental activity.
There would be the Prime Minister; there would be the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, responsible for national finance; there would be the Minister
for Foreign Affairs; there would be a Minister for Imperial Affairs,
speaking for a sub-Cabinet which would include Secretaries for the
Dominions, for India, and for the Crown Colonies and Protectorates;
there would be a Minister of Defence, with a sub-Cabinet including
Ministers of the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force; there would be a
Minister for Justice and Police, performing most of the functions both
of the Home Office and of the Lord Chancellor, who would cease to be a
political officer and be able to devote himself to his judicial
functions; there would be a Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and
Commerce, with a sub-Cabinet representing the Board of Trade, the Board
of Agriculture, the Ministry of Mines, the Ministry of Labour, and
perhaps other departments.

Ministers of Public Health and of Education would complete the list of
active administrative chiefs; but one or two additional members, not
burdened with the charge of a great department might be added, such as
the Lord President of the Council, and one of these might very properly
be a standing representative upon the Council of the League of Nations.
The heads of productive trading departments--t