Chapter 10 Monarchy
If the prime ministers didn’t know Arthur’s thoughts before, they have to know now.
In the original plan of several prime ministers, they only needed to coax Arthur into agreeing to establish a federal government united by autonomous states, and they would be able to retain a large amount of their power.
Even if he cannot enter the national government of Australia, he can still retain his identity as governor, and he can even try to sideline Arthur.
But according to Arthur's proposal, the upper and lower houses will be in Arthur's pocket, and the cabinet elected by the lower house will naturally not run away.
The states that evolved from each colony also had no other rights. They could only be a governor and wait for the end of their term to seek re-election or give up.
Several prime ministers were silent and just looked at the leader, Prime Minister Evan.
Prime Minister Evan smiled bitterly, but he did not dare to stand up and speak out. Why didn't he understand what the other prime ministers meant, but in fact they were all colonial prime ministers sent to Australia from the British Empire. Although they gained a lot of power in Australia, the control was actually divided into two, and they had executive power, while several military commanders controlled the remainder.
Now that Arthur has arrived in Australia, the Australian army is bound to hand over to Arthur.
In addition, Queen Victoria is still here, who has the courage to jump out and sing against Arthur?
Queen Victoria's destination was New Zealand's White Island, and she also spent little time in the Suez Canal and India.
But in Australia, Queen Victoria has stayed for three days and has no intention of leaving. Isn't this an expression of standing up for Arthur?
"Very well, since everyone has no other opinions, we can start preparations for converting the colony into a state and forming the House of Lords and the House of Lords. It is now approaching May, and I hope that the formal opening of the House of Commons will begin nationwide in mid-May. Election." Arthur said with a smile when no one objected.
Now it seems that these guys are all very sensible, and there are no idiots who dare to jump out and speak against Arthur.
You must know that even the entire Australian garrison only has more than 6,000 people, and they are scattered among the six major colonies.
Queen Victoria and Arthur's Guards totaled 4,000 people. Even if someone instigated rebellion, they could immediately suppress it.
"Yes, Your Highness." The six of them had no choice but to agree.
"Before the national government is formally established, Prime Minister Evan will serve as the interim prime minister for the time being, and several other prime ministers will be members of the interim cabinet. The construction of Australia still requires the joint efforts of everyone. By the end of May, we can completely transform and complete Government building,” Arthur said with a smile.
Arthur still understands the principle of giving a sweet date to a stick. After depriving the six prime ministers of the state autonomy they wanted, Arthur promoted them to cabinet members of the provisional government in order to allow them to form the government. Providing a contribution in the process can speed up the progress of government formation.
If they were really capable, Arthur wouldn't mind waiting until the government was established to push them and let them really sit on the throne of the cabinet or even the prime minister.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Sure enough, after hearing Arthur's arrangement, several prime ministers seemed to suddenly have motivation and responded one after another.
"But at the same time, the establishment of a national government needs to be guided by a charter. It is time to promulgate our own constitution, let's call it the Australian Constitution. The content of the constitution is based on the major European monarchies and revised based on our actual domestic situation. .Has the Federal Council had any previous proposals for the constitution?" Arthur asked. The Constitution is the basis for stipulating the detailed division of rights of various institutions of the state, and also fully clarifies the rights and obligations of each class.
Both ordinary Australians and Arthur need a detailed and clear constitution to determine their rights.
"We have considered formulating a constitution, but it is obviously not in line with our current national conditions." Prime Minister Evan replied.
The previous Federal Council was more biased toward a federal republic, which was completely different from the current Principality of Australia.
Prime Minister Evan also wisely did not mention the constitution they had previously envisioned. Otherwise, if Arthur was offended, his interim prime ministership might be gone.
"Then let's discuss it briefly now. Do you have any good suggestions for our constitution?" Arthur asked with a thoughtful smile.
When it comes to the constitution, the UK is a rather special country. Unlike other countries with a clear constitutional system, the UK does not have a clear written constitution, but a system composed of statutory law, customary law and practice.
This also resulted in the British monarch formally possessing a large number of powers, including the appointment and removal of all officials, colonial governors, bishops and senior church clergy, and the power to convene, stop and dissolve parliament, approve laws, declare war and make peace, etc.
But in practice, a large part of these powers were transferred to the cabinet, and the powers of the British monarch were severely restricted.
But it cannot be denied that if the British monarch has a large amount of voice, he can indeed use these formal powers easily.
Take the current British monarch Queen Victoria as an example. If Queen Victoria wanted to appoint or remove any official in the British Empire, the British political arena would basically not object.
But if Crown Prince Edward wants to appoint and remove important officials quickly after he takes office, he will have to see whether the impeachment by Parliament will be successful.
"Your Highness, I think our first constitution must first clarify the division of rights and responsibilities of various departments, as well as the structure and system of our country. Out of respect for you, your rights also need to be explained in detail." Premier Wen said with a slightly respectful smile.
Although Prime Minister Evan said very well, clarifying Arthur's rights is out of respect for Arthur.
But in fact, everyone understands that once a monarch's power is clarified, it actually means that the monarch's power has been restricted.
After all, the rights that are in the Constitution are legal, and the rights that are not in the Constitution are illegal, right?
"I think the German system with a clear constitution is very good, and Australia is also suitable for building a principality with a dual monarchy." Arthur said with a smile: "The lower house is responsible for legislation and elections, and the upper house is responsible for supervising and removing officials and reviewing the lower house. Laws passed by the House and election results. The House of Commons is accountable to the electorate, and the House of Lords is accountable to me. At the same time, the ruler of Australia, which is me, has all the powers of the House of Lords and the House of Lords, and has the right to dissolve the Cabinet and the House of Lords at any time.”
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(End of chapter)