Page:The Public Records and The Constitution.djvu/8

 mode of studying the public records in relation to the constitution. Of the Cabinet, as a Cabinet, there are no public records. It is always, to a great extent, made up of the Heads of Departments which are shown upon the plan and mentioned in the lecture; and so most of its constituents are named individually, though not collectively by the description of 'the Cabinet'.

Of the courts which have been omitted it may be said that they are or (where extinct) have been of inferior jurisdiction to those which are mentioned, and of them, as well as of the minor departments, that they do not illustrate any principle unnoticed in the plan or the lecture.

The plan or table of evolution is, it is believed, the first attempt to teach constitutional history through the eye, by chart or diagram, after the manner of some of the more exact sciences. There may, it has been thought, be an advantage to teachers and students in having the story of the constitution brought within a moderate compass, and freed, at the same time, from all possibility of political bias.

Dates, which in many cases can only be given approximately, have, it may be hoped, been sufficiently indicated by the position of the different courts and departments on the plan. The time of separation of Council from Parliament, for instance, is shown by the position of the King and Parliament on one side, and of the King and Council on the other side of 'Richard II'. The first appearance of the King's Secretary, as distinguished from the Chancellor, is shown on the left of 'Henry III'. The modern courts and departments are shown on either side of 'Victoria', and may be traced upwards by the lines which show their descent.

April 27, 1907.