ABSTRACT
Both the Secretary for the Northern and the Secretary for the Southern Department attended to domestic affairs. No attempt was made to establish a division of functions. Both indifferently transacted domestic business, which was of a very miscellaneous character. Moreover, no letters patent could be issued without a sign manual warrant, which was prepared by a Secretary, who was also concerned in other ways with several later steps preparatory to their issue. The Lord-Lieutenants drew up lists of the persons they considered suitable to be Deputy-Lieutenants. These lists they transmitted to a Secretary, whose duty it then was to ascertain whether or no the King assented to the appointment of the persons named therein. When troops of the regular army were employed to quell a riot an order from a Secretary of State to the Secretary at War would probably be necessary, if the troops were to be moved from one place to another.
