he repeated; “my determination is made, besides which I may be of use here to the down-town party.”
The hour of ten arrived and the cabinet met. I inquired at the opening of the cabinet meeting what was the business of the day; to which reply was made that it was necessary that I should sign without any delay their commissions, that thus they might proceed to the discharge of their duties. “But, gentlemen,” said I, “I expect you to send in your resignations before I can act.” My reasoning was, that, if they were now cabinet ministers, why should they appeal to me to appoint them to the places which they already filled? They hesitated, and regarded each other. “No,” I continued, “if you do not resign, I do not see how I can issue to you new commissions.” This was a point to which they did not think I would call attention, a suggestion which they had not foreseen might come from me, and they scarcely knew which way to turn. They thought that, while holding their former commissions, I ought to issue to them new ones over my royal signature. As this did not agree with my views of the matter, I stated to them definitely that it must be a question for future consideration, and that it would be best to refer the point for decision to the Supreme Court. After a lengthy period of the greatest anxiety to me, it was announced by Chief Justice Judd that the decision was in my favor, and that the commissions of the present members of the cabinet expired with the death of the king.
The ground on which the ministers had based their scheme was, that the constitution distinctly stated that
