12 THK WINTKU TROUBLES. CHAP, besides, a pair of JJepartments, which connected " themselves with the mighty word War ' by three quaintly distinctive prepositions ; '"' but their bellicose names were deceptive. Well- informed people knew — though the printed lists might not so tell them — that the ' Minister of Tiie Minis- ' the Colouies ' was also the ' Minister of War ; ' and Col- and that, though lying dormant in peace-time, his authority over the conduct of military busi- ness might at once be awakened, if England should take the field against a European Power ; but they also knew equally well that, so far as concerned its machinery, the Department over which he presided was only in actual truth what its more peaceful title imported — that is, the ' Colonial Office ' — an office most ably manned, but devoted to the conduct of our relations M^ith the colonies, and not versed in the business of The War wsiT.^^) And again, what men called the * War ' Office,' with the ' Secretary at War ' for its chief, transacted, it is true, some matters of business connected with the uniforms of our troops, and a few other minor details, but was, under its general aspect, a merely financial department entrusted with the duty of keeping our military expenditure within the limits sanctioned by Par- liament, and exempt, one may say, from all the anxious labour of maintaining an army in the field.(3)
- The so-called ' Colonial Minister ' was also the Minister
of War, or, in other phraseology, the Secretary of State /or War, whilst the chief of the War Office was the Secretary at War. Office.
