for the time being the
head of the Government, in which a majority of my
colleagues, a _considerable_ majority of my
colleagues--I may say that without violating the
obligation of cabinet secrecy...--are of a
different opinion; and the Government in those
circumstances has announced a policy which is the
result of their combined deliberations, and by
which it is the duty of all their members, and
myself not least, to abide loyally. That is the
position, so far as I am personally concerned."]

[Footnote 101: Low, The Governance of England,
Chap. 9; M. Sibert, Etude sur le premier ministre
en Angleterre depuis ses origines jusqu'a l'epoque
contemporaine (Paris, 1909).]

*78. The Cabinet's Central Position.*--In the English governmental
system the cabinet is in every sense the keystone of the arch. Its
functions are both executive and legislative, and indeed, to employ
the figure of Bagehot, it comprises the hyphen that joins, the buckle
that fastens, the executive and the legislative departments
together.[102] As has been pointed out, the uses of the crown are by
no means wholly ornamental. None the less, the actual executive of the
nation is the cabinet. It is within the cabinet circle that
administrative policies are decided upon, and it is by the cabinet
ministers and their subordinates in the several departments that these
policies, and the laws of the land generally, are carried into effect.
On the other side, the cabinet members not only occupy seats in one or
the other of the houses of Parliament; collectively they direct the
processes of legislation. They--primarily the prime minister--prepare
the Speech from the Throne, in which at the opening of a parliamentary
session the state of the country is reviewed and a programme of
legislation is outlined. They formulate, introduce, explain, and
advocate needful legislative measures upon all manner of subjects; and
although bills may be submitted in either house by private members it
is a recognized principle that all measures of large importance shall
emanate directly or indirectly from the cabinet. Statistics
demonstrate that measures introduced by private members have but an
infinitesimal chance of enac