We shall not attempt on the present occasion to deal
with what Lord Cromer had to say in regard to smaller Cabinets. The fact that Mr. Asquith's proposal has not been published before we go to press makes it best to avoid detailed discussion till next week. We have dealt elsewhere with the general policy, and will only say hero that it is widely admitted that Cabinets of twenty-two are unwieldy, and that the numbers ought greatly to be reduced. We may point out how our present difficulties show the folly of never mending our Constitutional and administrative machinery till it breaks down—till it is too late. During the last ten years, indeed we may say twenty years, it has been a commonplace that modern Cabinets are much too large. Yet till lately no one in either House or in the Press has seriously taken up the question of reducing the size of them. We have drifted on, and allowed each new Administration to add to its numbers till the governing Council of the nation has become bloated. Now we are paying the penalty for this neglect in finding how difficult it is not merely to swap horses while crossing the stream, but to mend the harness and repair the vehicle.
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