Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

The Secretaries of State, 1681-1782
ISBN: 9780429623035
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Taylor & Francis Group
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Political Science;

Published in 1968: While giving a lucid account of the functions and difficulties of the office of Principal Secretary, the author shows clearly how the retention of this position was a characteristic example of the English habit of clinging to old forms in political matters long after these forms have ceased to bear any relationship to reality. Originally a clerk in the King's private household and writer of his letters, by the end of the seventeenth century the position had become a political office, second only in importance to that of Lord High Treasurer.