ion and the movement for the abolition of
the requirement see Moran, The English Government,
108-109.]

*71. Distribution Between the Houses of Parliament.*--Since the middle
of the eighteenth century the tenure of the premiership has been
divided approximately equally between peers and commoners, but the
apportionment of cabinet seats between the two houses has been
extremely variable. The first cabinet of the reign of George III.
contained fourteen members, thirteen of whom had seats in the House of
Lords, and, in general, throughout the eighteenth century the peers
were apt greatly to preponderate. With the growth in importance of the
House of Commons, however, and especially after the Reform Act of
1832, the tendency was to draw an ever increasing proportion of the
cabinet officers from the chamber in which lies the storm center of
English politics. By legal stipulation one of the secretaries of state
must sit in the upper house; and the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord
Chancellor, and the Lord President of the Council are all but
invariably peers. Beyond this, there is no positive requirement, in
either law or custom. In the ministries of recent times the number of
peers and of commoners has generally been not far from equal. To fill
the various posts the premier must bring together the best men he can
secure--not necessarily the ablest, but those who will work together
most effectively--with but secondary regard to the question of whether
they sit in the one or the other of the legislative houses. A
department whose chief sits in the Commons is certain to be
represented in the Lords by an under-secretary or other spokesman, and
_vice versa_.[95]

[Footnote 95: In France and other continental
countries in which the parliamentary system obtains
an executive department is represented in
Parliament by its presiding official only. But this
official is privileged, as the English minister is
not, to appear and to speak and otherwise
participate in proceedings on the floor of either
chamber.]

*72. Political Solidarity.*--A second fundamental principle which (p. 069)
dominates the structure of the cabinet is that which requires that the
members be men of one political faith. William III. sought to govern
with a cabinet in which there wer