Page:A School History of England (1911).djvu/255

 manages the Navy. Each is responsible for some particular part of the task of government; but all must agree upon all important questions, and the minister who doesn’t agree with the rest of the Cabinet must resign.

I shall not trouble you with a list of the ministries that have held office since 1815; two things only you should remember: first, that ministries are more short-lived now than they used to be; and secondly, that they are more dominated by the Prime Minister for the time being than they used to be. The most distinguished Prime Ministers have been Mr. Canning (died 1827), Lord Grey (died 1845), Sir Robert Peel (died 1850), Lord Palmerston (died 1865), Lord Beaconsfield, better known as Mr. Disraeli (died 1881), Mr. Gladstone (died 1898), and Lord Salisbury (died 1903). Each in his own way has contributed something to the greatness of England; but each, with the exception of Sir Robert Peel, has had a weak side. Speaking generally, those ministers who have paid most attention to finances and to internal reform have been less successful in upholding the honour of England abroad and in strengthening the army and navy.

With regard to the law and the law courts, it is not such a very different England in which we live from what it was in the days of our great-grandfathers. The House of Lords is still the highest ‘Court of Appeal’ in Great Britain and Ireland; but to hear appeals, only those peers sit who are specially appointed to be judges for that purpose. There is a Court of Appeal below it and a High Court of Justice below that. The Judges are still appointed by the King, and still ‘go on circuit’ four times a year to the several districts of England to