Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/165



affairs, with strong remonstrance when effective control was denied; yet on account of the spe- cific nature of the system of Cabinet government, such has not been the case. Under the two-party system as it exists in England the conduct of for- eign affairs is always in the hands of a minister trusted and supported by the majority in the Lower House. Even if the minority should at- tempt to censor the conduct of foreign affairs as being carried on apart from the knowledge and active consent of the House, the majority whose leaders form the Cabinet which is managing things, will always prevent such a vote from suc- ceeding. Only in case of a cabinet going abso- lutely and openly counter to the policy of its own party in Parliament could a real conflict of this nature arise; and such a contingency is itself im- possible, because of the party control exercised by the cabinet.

According to the theory of the Stuarts, the man- agement of foreign affairs belonged entirely to the Crown which had not at that time been put in commission. In 1677 the House of Commons ob- jected to granting money for alliances and for wars, unless the matter in question had been pre- viously communicated to it. Charles II, however, declared the conduct of foreign affairs to be the