The English Constitution · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide editorial clarifications, historical corrections, and contextual updates to Bagehot's original text, including references to the 1872 preface, the Reform Act, the American Civil War, and the functioning of the British C
What happens
The endnotes provide editorial clarifications, historical corrections, and contextual updates to Bagehot's original text, including references to the 1872 preface, the Reform Act, the American Civil War, and the functioning of the British Cabinet and Parliament.
Themes in this chapter
Cabinet Government and Parliamentary Sovereignty
The anecdote about Lord Melbourne illustrates the expectation of Cabinet unanimity, a key feature of cabinet government.
Comparative Political Systems
References to the Confederate government and the U.S. vice-presidency highlight contrasts between British and American systems.
Characters to notice
- Lord Melbourne
Anecdote about Cabinet unanimity on the corn duty.
- Mr. Lincoln
Reference to his assassination and the subsequent expectation of Johnson's hostility to the South.
- Mr. Johnson
Mentioned as Lincoln's successor expected to be hostile to the South.
- Lord Cranborne
Identified as later Lord Salisbury, Indian Secretary at the time of the note.
Key passages
“It is said that at the end of the Cabinet which agreed to propose a fixed duty on corn, Lord Melbourne put his back to the door and said, 'Now is it to lower the price of corn or isn’t it? It is not much matter which we say, but mind, we must all say the same.'”
Lord Melbourne insisted that Cabinet members must publicly agree on the corn duty policy, regardless of their private views.
Illustrates the importance of collective Cabinet unity.
“The framers of the Constitution expected that the vice-president would be elected by the Electoral College as the second wisest man in the country. The vice-presidentship being a sinecure, a second-rate man agreeable to the wire-pullers is always smuggled in.”
The vice-presidency was intended to go to the second most capable person, but in practice it is filled by a mediocre candidate chosen by party insiders.
Critique of the U.S. vice-presidential selection process.