president, and the secretaries; no other members having been appointed since the year 1823, with the exception of Dr. Nicholl in 1846, and of sir James Stephen and sir Edward Ryan in 1848, who were appointed for special purposes and in reference to certain duties.

Mr. THOMAS, Secretary of the Record Office, thus describes the business of this Board:

"The business of this department is of a very miscellaneous character. All matters relating to the interests of trade, which come before the several departments of the government, are usually referred to the Board of Trade, either for the information of its members or for the purpose of obtaining their advice. Thus, for example, there are frequent communications with the Foreign Office on the subjects of the negotiation of commercial treatles, of difficulty arising out of them, and of the proceedings necessary to give effect to them. With the Treasury, on the alterations made or contemplated in the laws of the customs, on cases of hardship to individuals arising from the operation of those laws, and on points connected with them which require solution. And with other departments on matters of interest in a commercial point of view. The preparation also of bills and of orders in council for carrying out the intentions of the government on these subjects frequently falls to the care of this board. The correspondence of the board with private individuals on the subjects of which it has cognizance is likewise ex

tensive.

"Every private bill passing through parliament is submitted to the Board of Trade; and, in cases where the public interest is affected, it frequently interferes to procure the modification or rejection of certain clauses. All applications made to the Queen in council by committees or individuals seeking charters or letters-patent and all cases of parties desiring to establish joint stock banks, are referred to this board to be reported on. And so likewise are all acts passed by colonies having legislative governments before they are laid before her majesty; but in regard to these the Colonial Secretary, through whom they are transmitted, recommends what should be done, and his recommendation is always followed as a matter of course. Still, all acts of this class must receive the formal sanction of the Board of Trade before being assented to by the crown. Such also of the ordinances of what are called Crown Colonies (that is, those having no legislative assemblies) as relate to the matters of trade are usually submitted to this board either by the Colonial Secretary, or by the Lords of the Treasury.

"The Board of Trade contains, amongst other subordinate departments, the following: The Corn Returns Department The Statistical Department, established in 1832. And the Railway Department, originally constituted in 1840; enlarged in its powers in 1844; and again modified and its functions considerably curtailed in 1845."

In connexion with this department may also be mentioned the duty imposed on the Board by the late act for the "Protection of Merchant Seamen," 8 and 9 Victoria cap. 116, of granting licences to fit persons to act as shipping agents, etc. ;" and the more recent act (13 and 14 Victoria, cap. 93) passed 14th August, 1850, for "Improving the condition of Masters, Mates, and Seamen, and maintaining discipline in the Merchant Service."

THE BOARD OF CONTROL.

THIS Board was originally established by an act of parliament (Mr. Pitt's celebrated East India bill) passed on the 18th of May, 1784. The act empowered his majesty (George III.) to appoint six privy councillors to be Commissioners for the affairs of India, with very extensive powers; they having the "controul and superintendence of all the British territorial possessions in the East Indies, and over the Affairs of the United Company of Merchants trading thereto." One of the principal secretaries of state was constituted President, and in his absence the chancellor of the exchequer, and in the absence of both, then the senior commissioner was to be President. Subsequently, however, to the passing of this act, it was found necessary to alter the constitution of the Board. The President is now always specially appointed, and is chosen for his great abilities. He is necessarily a privy councillor, and is one of the most important members of the cabinet, entering upon office and retiring with his official friends on every change in the administration.

The lord president of the council, the lord privy seal, the first lord of the treasury, the principal secretaries of state, and the chancellor of the exchequer, for the time being, are, ex officio, members of the Board (popularly the India Board), and the sovereign may appoint any other personages to be members also.

COMMISSIONERS.

The following dates are those of the patents, in all | Rt. hon. Henry Dundas. cases, unless otherwise expressed.

KING GEORGE III.
Sept. 3, 1784.

THOMAS, lord SYDNEY, president.

Rt. hon. William Pitt, chancellor of the exchequer.

Thomas, lord Walsingham.

Rt. hon. William Wyndham Grenville.
Constantine-John, lord Mulgrave.

1 By the 33d George III. cap. 52, sec. 3, it is enacted, "that any three or more commissioners shall and may form a board, and that the first-named commissioner in the letters-patent or commission for the time being shall be the president of the said board; and that when any board shall be formed in the absence of the president, the commissioner whose name shall stand next in the order of their nomination in the said commission of those who shall be present, shall for that turn preside at the said board.” — Statutes at large.

WILLIAM WYNDHAM GRENVILLE, afterwards Rt. hon. William Dundas.

Rt. hon. HENRY DUNDAS, the first paid presi- Edward Golding, and dent.

GEORGE, Viscount LEWISHAM, president. Suc- John, lord Teignmouth.

**By the act 3 & 4 William 4. cap. 85. sect. 20.' it is provided, as before, "That the lord president of the council, the lord privy seal, the first lord of the treasury, the principal secretaries of state, and the chancellor of the exchequer, for the time being, shall, by virtue of their respective offices, be Commissioners for the affairs of INDIA in conjunction with the person or persons to be nominated in any such commission as aforesaid." It will be seen, however, that from and after the passing of this act (Aug. 28, 1833) fewer commissioners (other than the ex officio commissioners) have been named as a Board, and that, latterly, but one commissioner has been named. The letters-patent, since Sept. 1841, have been addressed to but one commissioner (exclusively of the ex officio commissioners), and the whole powers of the former boards are now vested in that one commissioner, at present sir John Hobhouse.

SECRETARIES TO THE BOARD.

Robert Gordon, esq., again, and

Robert-Vernon Smith, esq. April 21.
Edward Adolphus, lord Seymour, and
William Clay, esq., now sir William
Clay, bart. Sept. 30.

1841. Charles Buller, esq., in the room of lord
Seymour. June 21.

1807. George-Peter Holford, esq., again. April 8.
1810. Sir Patrick Murray. Jan. 6.
1812. John Bruce, esq. March 14.

1841.

1812. Thomas-Peregrine Courtenay, esq. Aug.

James-Emerson Tennent, esq., now sir
James-Emerson Tennent, and

Hon. William-Bingham Baring, now
lord Ashburton. Sept. 8.

Robert, viscount Jocelyn. Feb. 17.
Philip-Henry, viscount Mahon. Aug. 5.
Rt. hon. George-Stevens Byng, now
viscount Enfield, and
Thomas Wyse, esq. July 6.
George-Cornewall Lewis, esq. Nov. 30.
James Wilson, esq. May 16.

Hon. John-Edmund Elliot. Jan. 26.
The PRESENT (1850) Secretaries of
the Board of Controul.

Assistant Secretary.

Hugh Stark, esq.

This very important act received the royal assent August 28, 1833. It is entitled "An Act for effecting an arrangement with the East India Company, and for the better government of His Majesty's Indian territories till the 30th of April, 1854." Besides the provision above recited, this act empowers the Board of Commissioners to control all the acts of the company concerning India (section 25), and directs that no official communications shall be transmitted by the Court of Directors in London to India, until they shall have been approved of by the Board (section 30). The act further directs that the government of India shall be in a Governor-General and Councillors, to be styled "the Governor-General of India in Council." Until the passing of this act, the Governor-General had been styled "the Governor-General of Bengal," but his authority had, nevertheless, extended over all the presidencies.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER.

THE Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is an officer of great eminence in the government, and frequently a cabinet minister. He holds his office by letters-patent; and if a peer, takes precedence according to his rank in the peerage; if not, he takes precedence next after the chancellor of the exchequer, and immediately before the lord chief justice of the queen's bench. He formerly sat as judge of the Duchy court of Lancaster, held in Westminster, in which all causes any way relating to the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster were tried. Another branch of the same court was established at Preston, in Lancashire, called the court of the county palatine of Lancaster, for the same purposes in that county as the other was in Westminster.

These courts were erected by Henry IV. after he had deposed Richard II., when possessing the Duchy of Lancaster in right of his mother, he imagined his claim to it better than that to the throne, and therefore separated it from the crown, and erected these courts for its use. The office of Chancellor of the Duchy is now, practically, a sinecure.

CHANCELLORS OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER.

KING CHARLES II.

1803. Thomas, lord Pelham, afterwards earl of Chichester. Nov. 9.

1660. Charles, lord Seymour, of Trowbridge. 1804. Henry, lord Mulgrave. June 6.

June 1.

1805. Robert, earl of Buckinghamshire. Jan. 14.
Dudley, lord Harrowby, afterwards earl of
Harrowby. July 10.

1806. Edward, earl of Derby. Feb. 12.
1807. Rt. hon. Spencer Perceval, afterwards first
lord of the treasury. March 30.

1812. Robert, earl of Buckinghamshire.

May

When Mr. Perceval became first minister of the crown, in 1809, he continued to hold the office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster conjointly with the two superior offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. This is the only instauce we have met with of the three offices having been united in the same individual.