M. de Persigny has been making a great speech about
Parlim- mentary liberty, the drift of which is, that in England Ministerial responsibility transfers power from statesmen to orators. A pop's- hr body is always compelled to obey its best speakers, who are not necessarily the men most competent to govern. There is a certain amount of truth in this idea, though England has repeatedly obeyed men who, like the Duke of Wellington, were not orators, but M. de Persigny forgets the argument on the other side. Every government requires of its ministers something besides administra- tive power. In a despotism the needful supplementary quality is suppleness, in a Republic like America, party following, in a Par- liamentary system ability to speak clearly. Why is the latter, so seldom wanting to able men, the worst of the three ? The real evil of Parliamentary Government is the limitatieti of choice not to orators, but to men whom constituencies will ratairn. What earthly right has Droitwich to a veto on the Queen's selection of a Secretary of War?
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