402 MODERN CIVILIZATION name of the premier (the \Valpole ministry, the Pitt ministry), 5. The ministry forms a constituted body; all meas- ures to be taken are discussed in the council, every measure taken by a minister must be tacitly approved by his colleagues. One minister alone cannot with- draw; if the Parliament votes against his measure, the whole cabinet must retire. 6. The ministers can remain in power only by con- sent of Parliament. If the majority in the House of Commons expresses by vote a want of confidence, the ministry must resign, and the king must call upon the leader of the opposition to form a new ministry. 7. If the political policy of the cabinet is not in accord with that of the majority, and if the ministry think that Parliament no longer represents the opinions of the electors, it has the power to ask that the sover- eign dissolve the Parliament, and order a new elec- tion. But if the new Parliament does not give its support to the existing ministry, then the latter must go out of power. The principle is that the ministry has the right of appeal to the electors, but that their will should be sovereign. Treaties of Utrecht—In the beginning of the seven- teenth century the House of Austria, which had threat- ened to dominate all Europe, had been stopped in its career by the governments of France and Sweden; the treaties of Westphalia had sanctioned this defeat, and had fixed for some time the position of the different states of Europe. But the victorious King of France had felt that he was strong enough to dictate the laws fnr the other great powers. The "balance of power"