Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/61

 ENGLISH WAR ADMINISTRATION. 17 personal control of the sovereign, and placed CHAP. frankly under his Ministers, — that is, under men _ approved, nay, almost nominated by Parliament, and to Parliament distinctly responsible. It so happened, however, that the devel- opment of the constitutional principle lagged greatly in rear of the changes which made a ' standing army ' essential ; and the Hanover princes apparently — dreaming heavy, German dreams in our palaces — thought to have more or less the advantages of both modern innova- tion and ancient prerogative — a standing army in readiness, and a personal right to command it without the intervention or counsel of what we now call the Ministry.(*^) Seen under the light of these days the contention was nothing less than that the royal power of commanding and administering our army should stand ex- cepted from the scope of constitutional govern- ment ; and from the time when the rights and the duties of a responsible Ministry began to be even dimly apprehended, it proved visibly im- possible that statesmen of the quality of those who owe their political existence to the will of Parliament would consent to form the ' Govern- ' ment ' of a sovereign entrusting them only by halves — consent to be a mere row of clerks, with a — possibly absurd — king above them, disposing of their country's armed forces at his mere will and pleasure. If a sovereign after William of Orange had so relied upon what I have called the ' monarchical surface ' of our laws as to think of conducting a VOL. vu. B