Notes:
[Footnote 1: "Constitutional History," vol. iii., p. 380; ed. 3, 1832.
The first edition was published in 1827.]
[Footnote 2: Grampound. Corrupt voters had been disfranchised in New
Shoreham as early as 1771, and the franchise of the borough of Cricklade
had been transferred to the adjoining hundreds in 1782.]
[Footnote 3: Parliament was dissolved March 19. Lord Bute succeeded Lord
Holdernesse March 25.]
[Footnote 4: The greater part of Lord Bute's colleagues did, in fact,
retain their offices. Lord Egremont and Lord Halifax continued to be
Secretaries of State; Lord Henley (afterward Lord Northington) retained
the Great Seal; Lord North and Sir John Turner remained as Lords of the
Treasury; and Mr. Yorke and Sir Fletcher Norton were still Attorney and
Solicitor General.]
[Footnote 5: Parliament was prorogued April 19, and _The North Briton_
(No. 45) was published April 23.]
[Footnote 6: A letter of the Prince Consort examines the principle of
ministerial responsibility with so remarkable a clearness of perception
and distinctness of explanation, that we may be excused for quoting it
at length: "The notion that the responsibility of his advisers impairs
the monarch's dignity and importance is a complete mistake. Here we have
no law of ministerial responsibility, for the simple reason that we have
no written constitution; but this responsibility flows as a logical
necessity from the dignity of the crown and of the sovereign.
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