THE KING'S MINISTERS 55

work the Elizabethan Privy Council had done, now that the
Council itself had grown too large. In 1714 there came to the
throne George I, who spoke no English; the Cabinet thereupon
ceased to meet at the Palace with the Sovereign presiding, and
met instead at the house of the First Lord of the Treasury.
George I's lack of English was the occasion; the real cause was
that power had passed from the King to the Cabinet The first

> Lord thus became a kind of Chairman to the Cabinet, and the
name Prime Minister was given to him. Critics quoted the
example of Richelieu and Mazarin in France, First .Ministers
whose power had overshadowed King and people alike. But
someone must preside at Cabinet meetings; on occasion there
must be someone who can speak, not merely for one department
of government, but for policy as a whole. Necessity grafted the
Premiership as well as the Cabinet on to the Constitution.
To-day the Cabinet is very rarely referred to by name in official
documents. It is only in this century that the tide of Prime
Minister has received official recognition; the holder of it is
still called ^First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister".
The Cabinet is, then, the group of the most important
Ministers. Nearly every member has a department of his own
to manage; but in addition, he shares with the other members
the task of determining the general lines of Government policy.
The details of the Milk Marketing Scheme, for example, are a
matter for the Minister of Agriculture; but the decision to make
this, and other such schemes, part of Government policy is a
matter for the Cabinet. It is necessary to co-ordinate policy
through the Cabinet because nearly all important decisions
involve the spending of money; if each Minister could decide

, independently what money he would spend, the national finances
would be in chaos. Further, the policy of one department must
affect that of its neighbours. What Armed Forces are necessary
depends on what sort of Foreign Policy is to be pursued. The
Minister of Labour cannot usefully consider the problem of
unemployment among boys and girls unless he knows the views