Other duties.

Appointments, ho

the case in question has been tried. Hence he is obliged to be in frequent communication with the presiding judges at the assizes, and of the central criminal court, and also with the local magistracy throughout the kingdom." Complaints in reference to the conduct of particular magistrates are forwarded (through the lord-lieutenant of the county) to the Home Secretary, by whom they are transmitted for the consideration of the Lord Chancellor.

These are the principal duties of the Home Secretary, in relation to administrative affairs, but he exercises controlling powers, under the provisions of several statutes, in respect to the registration of births, deaths and marriages, the commutation of tithes, the enclosure of commons, turnpike trusts, small debts courts, the registration of aliens, &c., and he is empowered to grant certificates of naturalisation, conferring civil rights as British subjects on foreigners of good repute who are able to produce proofs of a long residence and intention to continue to reside in the United Kingdom.

The Home Secretary has the formal preparation and aunours, &c. thentication of such royal warrants, grants, approbations of lords-lieutenant, appointments, patents, licenses, &c., as do not specially belong to the other branches of the secretariat, or to the Treasury. All such matters pass through his office, and are laid by him before the sovereign for signature or approbation. He also receives all addresses to the queen (except those presented at levees), and all memorials and petitions, upon which, if respectfully worded, he takes the royal pleasure, and conveys the same to the persons from whom they emanated, acting as the official channel of communication between the sovereign and her subjects.

The Home Secretary recommends to the sovereign for the honour of civil knighthood. By long custom, he no

Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850. Evid. 2887. Campbell's Chancellors, i. 19 n. Harrison v. Bush, Ellis and Black

burn, vol. v. p. 344. Ante, vol. i. p. 344. First Report on Fees, 1786, p.

19.

minates to some of the offices in the gift of the crown, and many offices have been placed in his gift by recent statutes. In his patronage is included that of his own department and the State Paper office. He nominates the Keeper of the Records in the Tower, and the Chief Porter of the Tower, the Military Knights of Windsor, and the almsmen of the various cathedrals; also the chief officers of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. He has also the patronage appertaining to the police and to prisons, and the appointment of the various government inspectors of factories, mines, &c., and to several important offices in Scotland. The minor patronage in the hands of the Home Secretary, including numerous appointments to benefices in the Established Church of Scotland, is distributed by him in the ordinary discharge of his duties, and without reference to the crown.'

tion.

His authority extends over England, Wales, and Scot- Extent of land, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, and he is jurisdicthe organ of communication between the Cabinet and the vice-regal government of Ireland, for which he is deemed personally responsible; and though he does not interfere actively in lesser matters, he is informed of and advises upon all the more important measures adopted in that country.

g

cers.

The following political officers, all of whom are usually Subordi in Parliament, are subordinate to the Home Secretary, nate offii.e. the parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Home Department, the two law officers of the crown, the President and Secretary of the Poor Law Board, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, and the Attorney-General for Ireland, and the Lord Advocate for Scotland."

There are two under-secretaries-one permanent and

f Mr. Gladstone, in Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxv. p. 1118.

account of the several minor depart-
ments, &c., which are more or less
directly subject to his control and
superintendence.

See post, p. 717. And Murray's Handbook, pp. 163-175 for further particulars respecting the patronage Rep. oh Off. Sal. 1850. Evid. of the Home Secretary, and for an 2737. Post, p. 710.

Foreign

the other parliamentary. The former has charge of the law and criminal business and the general domestic correspondence; the latter conducts the correspondence with Ireland, Scotland, and the Channel Islands, together with the parliamentary business and the correspondence connected therewith.1 Full particulars in regard to the Home Office, and the several departments subordinate thereto, will be found in the Civil Service Estimates for the year ending March 31, 1869, Class ii. No. 3.

The Foreign Secretary.

The duties of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Secretary are not so varied as those of the other secretaries, but they are nevertheless most important and influential. He is the official organ and responsible adviser of the crown in all communications between Great Britain and foreign powers. The constitution vests in the crown the conduct of all foreign negotiations, and the Foreign Secretary is the minister charged with this duty. He negotiates all treaties, leagues and alliances with foreign states, either directly with their representatives in this country, or through the British ministers abroad. It is his duty to afford protection to British subjects residing abroad, to enquire into their complaints, and to demand redress and satisfaction for any injuries they may sustain at the hands of foreigners. He introduces to his sovereign all foreign ministers accredited to the British government; he enquires into and redresses their just complaints, and maintains their privileges inviolate.

He keeps the ministers of foreign governments informed of any acts of his own government, or of her majesty's subjects, which may be liable to misconstruction, explaining their nature and purport; and it his duty to maintain, as far as possible, a friendly understanding with

1 Commons Papers, 1847-8, vol. xviii. pp. 278, 279.

foreign powers, while he loses no opportunity of advancing the interests of his own country. On such matters he is in regular and frequent communication with the diplomatic agents of the British government abroad, and receives from them like information and explanations from the governments to which they are accredited.

The Foreign Secretary grants passports to native born or naturalised British subjects going abroad, under the regulations in force concerning the same.

Intimately connected with this department of state are Ministers the ambassadors, diplomatic agents, and consuls, accre- Courts. at Foreign dited or employed in foreign countries; in fact, the diplomatic service may properly be regarded as a portion of the Foreign Office serving abroad. They are the eyes, and ears, and tongues by which the British government sees, and hears, and speaks in its foreign relations.'

Formerly, it was customary that the representatives of the British crown at all the great courts should be known political adherents of the party in power, and the heads of the principal missions, such as Paris, Vienna, Constantinople and St. Petersburg, were removed on a change of administration at home. But while it is certainly important that the ministers at the great courts should have the political confidence of the government of the day, it has not of late years been usual, as a rule, to change these officers on the appointment of a new ministry. The practice is now conformed to the system which prevails on the Continent, where foreign ministers are considered as being totally independent of any political party, and as the mere organs of the government by whom they are employed. In general, the foreign policy of the British government is so uniform and consistent, that it is not difficult for a minister to carry out instructions from secretaries of state of different political opinions. If, however, he has become

J Murray's Handbook, 176-178. agents are defined, and their duties And see p. 178, where the respective described. And see ante, vol. i. p. positions of the different diplomatic 601.

Foreign policy.

Private

dence.

personally committed to a particular policy, a new Foreign Secretary, on taking office, would naturally consult him as to whether he could conscientiously and zealously carry out instructions of a different description, more especially if, being a member of the House of Lords, he should have voted, in person or by proxy, against the incoming administration; because it is necessary for the benefit of the state that there should be reciprocal confidence between the Foreign Secretary and the agents of the crown in other countries.*

The leading features of our foreign policy are-to promote and extend our commercial relations, not to interfere unnecessarily in the affairs of other countries, and to endeavour, as far as we legitimately can, to promote the good government and prosperity of other countries. The policy of England in this respect is consistent, and, to a certain degree, unchanging; and there is no reason why ministers at the smaller missions, at all events, should not always be able to carry out a policy of this kind.'

m

Communications frequently pass between public officers correspon- on foreign service and the Foreign Office by means of private letters. This is done in cases where the interests of the public service require that freedom of communication, coupled with mutual confidence and secresy, should be maintained. These letters are strictly secret, and cannot be produced without the consent of the individual from whom they emanated, unless, as sometimes occurs, they are formally made public letters, by a subsequent act on the part of the writer." The rules respecting private correspondence between the Foreign Office and the ministers abroad have been thus stated. No instructions on which any servant of the crown is required to act should

Rep. of Com. on Diplomatic Service, 1861, pp. 89, 104, 179. And see Hans. Deb. vol. clxix. p. 1940.

1

Rep. com. Dipl. Serv. 1861, Lord Clarendon's evidence, p. 110; and see p. 179.

m Hans. Deb. vol. clvii. p. 1182.

Ante, vol. i. p. 604. And see Sir James Graham's explanation and justification of this system in his evidence before the Sebastopol Committee, Commons Papers, 1854–5, vol. ix. pt. 3, pp. 273–276.