In Sir Humphrey Mackworth's [or perhaps Mr. Harley's] "Vindication of the Rights of the Commons of England, 1701," _Somers Tracts_, xi. 276, the constitutional doctrine is thus laid down, according to the spirit of the recent act of settlement. "As to the setting of the great seal of England to foreign alliances, the lord chancellor, or lord keeper for the time being, has a plain rule to follow; that is, humbly to inform the king that he cannot legally set the great seal of England to a matter of that consequence unless the same be first debated and resolved in council; which method being observed, the chancellor is safe, and the council answerable."--P. 293. [277] This very delicate question as to the responsibility of the cabinet, or what is commonly called the ministry _in solidum_, if I may use the expression, was canvassed in a remarkable discussion within our memory, on the introduction of the late chief justice of the King's Bench into that select body; Mr. Fox strenuously denying the proposition, and Lord Castlereagh, with others now living, maintaining it. _Parl. Debates_, A.D. 1806. I cannot possibly comprehend how an article of impeachment, for sitting as a cabinet minister could be drawn; nor do I conceive that a privy counsellor has a right to resign his place at the board; so that it would be highly unjust and illegal to presume a participation in culpable measures from the mere circumstance of belonging to it. Even if notoriety be a ground, as has been sometimes contended, for impeachment, it cannot be sufficient for conviction. [278] Anne, c. 8; 6 Anne, c. 7. [279] This is the modern usage, but of its origin I cannot speak. On one remarkable occasion, while Anne was at the point of death, the Dukes of Somerset and Argyle went down to the council-chamber without summons to take their seats; but it seems to have been intended as an unexpected manœuvre of policy. [280] It is provided by 1 G. 1, st. 2, c. 4, that no bill of naturalisation shall be received without a clause disqualifying the party from sitting in parliament, etc., "for the better preserving the said clause in the said act entire and inviolate." This provision, which is rather supererogatory, was of course intended to show the determination of parliament not to be governed, ostensibly at least, by foreigners under their foreign master.