be proposed. When these
had been accepted or rejected, the bill was passed and became law upon
receiving the assent of the Viceroy, though it might still be disallowed
by the Secretary of State in Council.

A code, or even a measure which is to form part of a code, should be a
work of art--unequivocal in language, consistent in its logic, and
luminous in its arrangement. Like other works of art, therefore, it must
be essentially the product of a single mind. It is as impossible, as
Fitzjames often repeats, for a number of people to make a code as for a
number of artists to paint a picture. The legal artist requires, indeed,
to receive information from numerous sources, and to be carefully and
minutely criticised at every point by other experts and by the persons
whose interests are affected. But the whole can only be fused into the
necessary unity by passing through a single understanding. These
conditions were sufficiently secured by the preliminary processes just
described. Nor was there any risk that a measure should lose its
symmetry in the process of passing through the Council. The Council was
composed of men capable, on the one hand, of judging of the expediency
of the general policy involved, and willing, on the other hand, to trust
for details to the official in charge of the measure, without any desire
for captious interference with details. It consisted largely of men,
each of whom had important duties to discharge, and was anxious to
facilitate the discharge of duties by his colleagues. It was
emphatically a body which meant business, and had no temptation to
practise the art of 'not doing it.'

There is a quaint contrast, therefore, between the reports of the
debates in Council and those which fill the multitudinous pages of
Hansard. The speeches, instead of being wordy appeals to constituents,
are (so far as one can judge from the condensed official Reports) brief
logical expositions of the leading principles involved, packing the
essential arguments into the briefest possible space. When a body such
as the British Parliament undertakes to legislate, it has certain
weaknesses too familiar to require much exposition. If a measure is not
adapted to catch the popular ear, it is lucky, however great may be its
real importance, in obtaining a hearing at all. It may be thrust aside
at any moment by some of the storms of excitement characteristic of a
large body agitated by endless party quarrels. Many of the l