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tures. He corresponds with the colonial governors, and makes such recommendations or suggestions as may be expedient to assist the deliberations of the colonial councils, and to promote the welfare of colonial subjects. In his hands is placed the responsibility of devising and submitting to Parliament laws peculiarly affecting the colonies, and in these matters he is often assisted by the Privy Council Committee for Trade. The Secretary of State for the colonies is directly responsible for every act of the governor of any of the colonial dependencies of the British Crown; and all colonial governors act under his immediate directions and instructions. All colonial enactments are brought under the consideration of this important officer of state, by whom they are referred to legal officers whose duty it is to examine and report upon every act, for the purpose of discovering any defect, and of determining the expediency of allowing or disallowing the same. Under the supervision of the Colonial Secretary is the Colonial Land and Emigration Board, which considers all questions relating to colonial lands, and the conveyance of emigrants to the various colonies. Owing to the establishment of responsible government in many of our colonies, the correspondence of the Colonial Office has much

decreased; and as much of this correspondence is of a routine description, it is not necessary that every particular despatch need be submitted to her Majesty. The Colonial Office is divided into several branches, each of which takes cognisance of the affairs of a group of colonies. The despatches from the several colonies are examined in these departments, and ultimately by the Colonial Secretary, who is solely responsible for the replies sent to them. The Colonial Secretary is assisted by two under-secretaries-one political and the other permanent and a staff of clerks.

Until the commencement of the present century, the control of the army was more in the hands of the Crown than in the hands of its responsible advisers. Before 1854 the direction of military affairs, although formally centred in the administration of the time being, was practically divided between the Commander-in-chief at the Horse Guards, the MasterGeneral and the Board of Ordnance, the Secretaryat-War, and the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. On the declaration of war against Russia in 1854, the duties of War Minister were, as I have just said, separated from those of Colonial Secretary, and a Secretary of State for War appointed, in whose hands the supreme and responsible authority

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over the whole military business of the country, formerly transacted by the various departments, was placed. In the following year, the separate departments of the Ordnance and the Commissariat, together with the office of Secretary at War and the control of the militia, yeomanry, and volunteers, were consolidated, and committed to the charge of the new War Secretary. The two great functionaries who now superintend the control of military matters are the Secretary of State for War and the Commander-in-Chief. The duties of the Commander-in-Chief embrace the discipline and patronage of the army, and the direct superintendence of the personnel of the army. His duties are carried on to a very great extent under the control and in every respect under the responsibility of the War Secretary. If irreconcilable differences should occur between the Secretary of State and the Commander-in-Chief on any question, appeal must be made to the Prime Minister or to the Cabinet, and the Commander-in-Chief must ultimately defer to their decision or retire from office. With the exception of the duties performed by the Commanderin-Chief, everything connected with the management of the army, in peace or war (its matériel and civil administration, &c.), remains in the hands of

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the Minister for War. During active service the War Minister has entire control over the operations as bearing upon the conduct of the Commander-inchief, of the Admiralty, Transport Board, Commissariat, and even of the Treasury itself. It is his duty to combine the various powers of these departments in such a manner as to conduce to the proper management of the military operations of the country. As long as war continues, the operations of the War Office and the Admiralty, and the directions of the movements both of the army and navy, become a part of the special duty of the Secretary for War; but in time of peace the Admiralty is a totally independent office. When troops are required to be sent abroad, the matter is considered first by the whole Cabinet, and their decision communicated by the War Minister to the Commander-in-Chief, with instructions to take her Majesty's pleasure as to the regiments to be selected for the service. All general and other superior officers recommended by the Commander-in-Chief for commands or appointments must be first submitted to the Secretary for War (first commissions in the cavalry and infantry are, however, the peculiar patronage of the Commander-in-Chief). Should anything in the conduct of the Commander-in-Chief

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require the interference of the War Minister, not only has he the right but it is his bounden duty to interfere. As, however, the administration of the discipline of the army is intrusted to the Commanderin-Chief, the War Minister ought not to interfere, except under peculiar circumstances. To sum up the relations that exist between the War Secretary and the Commander-in-Chief, we may assert that the Secretary of State for War has the supreme authority and responsibility in all matters affecting the administration of the army; that he may act either directly himself or through the Commander-in-Chief, who is his military adviser, and subordinate to him; and that there is no act of the Commander-in-Chief that does not constitutionally come within the revision. of the War Secretary, and for which he is not responsible. During a war the commanding officer reports direct to the Secretary of State for War, as the official organ of the Queen's Government, and receives his instructions. It is only upon strictly military details that he corresponds with the Commander-in-Chief. The Secretary for War, though he presides over the administration of the army unaided, has around him experienced professional advisers, whose opinions he often consults. His department consists of the Principal Secretary of