brought together to agree upon
and execute a common policy in behalf of a widespread and diverse
constituency will be more likely to succeed if the differences that
must inevitably appear within their ranks are not published to the
world. It is in deference to this principle that the German Bundesrath
transacts its business to this day behind closed doors, and it was for
an analogous reason that the public was excluded from the sittings of
the convention by which the present constitution of the United States
was framed. Notices of meetings of the English cabinet and the names
of members present appear regularly in the press, but respecting the
subjects discussed, the opinions expressed, and the conclusions
arrived at not a word is given out, officially or unofficially. (p. 072)
The oath of secrecy, required of all privy councillors, is binding in
a special degree upon the cabinet officer. Not even the sovereign is
favored with more than a statement of the topics considered, together
with occasionally a formal draft of such decisions as require his
assent. In the earlier part of the nineteenth century meager minutes
of the proceedings were preserved, but nowadays no clerical employee
is allowed to be present and no record whatsoever is kept.[97] For
knowledge of past transactions members rely upon their own or their
colleagues' memories, supplemented at times by privately kept notes.
The meetings, which are held only as occasion requires (usually as
often as once a week when Parliament is in session) are notably
informal. There is not even a fixed place where meetings are held, the
members being gathered sometimes at the Foreign Office, sometimes at
the premier's house, and, as circumstance may arise, at almost any
convenient place.

[Footnote 97: The same thing is true of the
President's cabinet in the United States. The
reasons for the policy are obvious and ample; but
the preservation of cabinet records, whether in
Great Britain or the United States, would, if such
records were to be made accessible, facilitate
enormously the task of the historian and of the
student of practical government.]

*77. Leadership of the Premier.*--The unity of the cabinet is further
safeguarded and emphasized by the leadership of the prime minister.
Long after the rise of the cabinet