(Vol. iv., p. 9.)
I entirely dissent from your correspondent's statements that "the Lord
Mayor is no more a privy councillor than he is Archbishop of
Canterbury." First, as to the argument on which your correspondent's
conclusion is founded. He assumes first that the title of Lord is a mere
courtesy title; and, secondly, that it is because of this courtesy title
that the Mayor is deemed a privy councillor. The second assumption is
the erroneous one. It is not necessary to have the courtesy title of
Lord in order to be a privy councillor; nor are all courtesy lords
styled Right Honorables. Your correspondent's assertion in this respect
is a curious blunder, which every day's experience contradicts. No one
styles a courtesy Lord "Right Honorable" except such persons as will
persist in the equally absurd blunder of calling a Marquis "Most Noble."
The Boards of the Treasury and Admiralty are not designated "Right
Honorable" merely because of the courtesy title of "Lord" being attached
to their corporate name, but because these Boards are respectively the
equivalents of the Lord High Treasurer and Lord High Admiral, each of
whom was always a member of the sovereign's Council. No individual
member of the Board is, by membership, "Right Hon." Your correspondent's
precedent is equally inconclusive on the subject. He says, "Mr. Harley,
when (1768) Lord Mayor of London, was sworn of His Majesty's most
honorable Privy Council." This precedent does not prove the argument;
and for this simple reason, that the individual who holds the office is
not "Right Honorable," but the officer is. Mr. Harley was not, as an
individual, a privy councillor, till he was made one: he could only have
appeared in council as "the Lord Mayor," and not as "Mr. Harley." The
description, therefore, of "The Right Honorable A. B., Lord Mayor,"
which has probably misled your correspondent, is, like the "Most Noble
the Marquis," a blunder of ignorant flattery; the correct description
being "A. B., the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor:" or rather, the A. B.
ought to be suppressed, except the individual, for a particular reason,
is to be personally designated, and the style should be written, "The
Right Honorable the Lord Mayor." This distinction between the officer
and the man is almost universal in our system. Our Judges are Lords in
court (yet, by-the-bye, this courtesy "Lord" does not give any one of
them at any time the title of Right Honorable, another instance of the
fallacy of your correspondent's reasoning), and they are Sirs in
individual designation. In Scotland the Judges assume the titles of
Baronies during their tenure of office, but become mere Esquires on
surrender of it. The Lord Mayor is always summoned to the council on the
accession of a new sovereign, and was formerly, when his office was of
greater practical importance than at present, accustomed to put his name
very high on the list of signatures attached to the declaration of
accession. A commoner might by the bare delivery of the great seal
become "Lord" in the Court of Chancery, and be the President of the
House of Lords, where he would sit by virtue of his office, without
having any title to speak or vote. Mr. Henry Brougham did so for one if
not two nights before his patent of peerage was completed. The same
distinction between officer and individual applies to the Lord Mayor,
who is Right Honorable as Lord Mayor, but in no other way whatever.