A minister is elected to preside as moderator.
The mayor could not preside over the council, which appointed one of its own members to preside and to give effect to its decisions.
In the execution of this plan, Hastings removed the exchequer from Murshidabad to Calcutta, and for the first time appointed European officers, under the now familiar title of collectors, to superintend the revenue collections and preside in the civil courts.
Upon the return of new dangers, or at least of fears, Abelard left the Paraclete to make trial of another refuge, accepting an invitation to preside over the abbey of St Gildas-de-Rhuys, on the far-off shore of Lower Brittany.
He helped to upset the government of King Otho and to establish his successor, was prime minister in 1864-1865, came back from retirement to preside over the ministry formed during the crisis of the RussoTurkish war, and died in office on the 15th of September 1877.
