Herein, too, lies that ministerial power of which sovereigns are so much afraid.

They can say, 'We will not do this or that which the sovereign wishes, because we cannot be responsible for it.' But why should a sovereign see anything here to be afraid of?
To him it is, in truth, the best of safeguards.

A really loyal servant should do nothing for which he is not prepared to answer, even though his master desires it.

This practical responsibility is of the utmost advantage to the sovereign.

Make independence, not subservience, the essential of service, and you compel the minister to keep his soul free toward the sovereign, you ennoble his advice, you make him staunch and patriotic, while time-servers, the submissive instruments of a monarch's extreme wishes and commands, may lead, and often have led, him to destruction.
"But to revert to the law of responsibility.