Download or read book The Secretaries of State, 1681-1782. written by MARK A. THOMSON and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 1968: While giving a lucid account of the functions and difficulties of the office of Principal Secretary, the author shows clearly how the retention of this position was a characteristic example of the English habit of clinging to old forms in political matters long after these forms have ceased to bear any relationship to reality. Originally a clerk in the King's private household and writer of his letters, by the end of the seventeenth century the position had become a political office, second only in importance to that of Lord High Treasurer.