[To ram EDITOR OP TIM especreent.•9
Sra,—I would like to have the views of your journal as to the King's right to change his Ministers. I should myself have thought that it was his duty to summon an Opposition Ministry (which could advise him to dissolve) if and when
the Ministry then in power seemed to be forcing Acts or an Act that committed the country to a policy it did not in his (the King's) opinion approve. Possibly it is now de fide that the King shall not change his Ministers while they have a majority in the House of Commons; but one would like to have a bald statement of this doctrine. I do not wish to imply that the King should now summon an
Opposition Ministry.—I am, Sir, lei, C. M. K.
[Although there is no constitutional embargo upon the King's changing his Ministers if he so wills, the whole tendency of monarchical custom since the reign of William IV. has been steadily in the direction of removing the Monarchy more and more from the political arena. To change Ministers is obviously to court the appearance of "taking sides." We cannot imagine the King changing Ministers while they had a majority in the Commons, nor can we imagine the Opposition leaders being so blind to the interests of the Monarchy as to attempt to form a Ministry under such conditions. It was said that Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Balfour were prepared to form a Ministry in the summer of 1911 and then instantly to dissolve. Those may believe it who like. We never believed it.—E. Spectator.J
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