e person who may be thought by him
most fit to form a new cabinet. In several instances the statesmen selected
by the crown have found themselves unable to accomplish the task confided
to them. But in more favourable cases the minister chosen for this supreme
office by the crown has the power of distributing all the political offices
of the government as may seem best to himself, subject only to the ultimate
approval of the sovereign. The prime minister is therefore in reality the
author and constructor of the cabinet; he holds it together; and in the
event of his retirement, from whatever cause, the cabinet is really
dissolved, even though its members are again united under another head.

AUTHORITIES.--Sir W. Anson, _Law and Custom of the Constitution_ (1896); W.
Bagehot, _The English Constitution_; M.T. Blauvelt, _The Development of
Cabinet Government in England_ (New York, 1902); E. Boutmy, _The English
Constitution_ (trans. I.M. Eaden, 1891); A. Lawrence Lowell, _The
Government of England_ (1908), part I.; A.V. Dicey, _Law of the
Constitution_ (1902); Sir T. Erskine May, _Constitutional History of
England_ (1863-1865); H. Hallam, _Constitutional History of England_; W.E.
Hearn, _The Government of England_ (1867); S. Low, _The Governance of
England_ (1904); W. Stubbs, _Constitutional History of England_; Hannis
Taylor, _Origin and Growth of the English Constitution_ (Boston,
1889-1900); [v.04 p.0920] A. Todd, _Parliamentary Government in England_
(1867-1869); much valuable information will also be found in such works as
W.E. Gladstone's _Gleanings_; the third earl of Malmesbury's _Memoirs of an
ex-Minister_ (1884-1885); Greville's _Memoirs_; Sir A. West's
_Recollections_, 1832-1886 (1889), &c.

CABINET NOIR, the name given in France to the office where the letters of
suspected persons were opened and read by public officials before being
forwarded to their destination. This practice had been in vogue since the
establishment of posts, and was frequently used by the ministers of Louis
XIII. and Louis XIV.; but it was not until the reign of Louis XV. that a
separate office for this purpose was created. This was called the _cabinet
du secret des postes_, or more popularly the _cabinet noir_. Although
declaimed against at the time of the Revolution, it was used both by the
revolutionary leaders and by Napoleon. The _cabinet noir_ has now
disappeared, but the right to open letters in cases of emergency appears
still to be