The wisdom and propriety of the dissolution, too, could only be examined
as a question of expediency; but in this instance every consideration
not only recommended but compelled it. "When he undertook the arduous
duties now imposed upon him, he did determine that he would leave no
constitutional effort untried to enable him satisfactorily to discharge
the trust imposed in him. He did fear that if he had met the late
Parliament he should have been obstructed in his course, and obstructed
in a manner and at a season which might have precluded an appeal to the
people. It was the constant boast of the late government that the late
Parliament had unbounded confidence in them. And, if that Parliament
was, as had been constantly asserted, relied upon as ready to condemn
him without a hearing, could any one be surprised at his appeal to the
judgment of another, a higher and a fairer tribunal, the public sense of
the people?" Precedent, too, was in his favor on this point, since,
"whenever an extensive change of government had occurred, a dissolution
of Parliament had followed;" and he referred to the year 1784, and to
1806, when the administration of which Lord Grey was the leading member
at once dissolved the existing Parliament on coming into office; though
he believed "the present to be the first occasion on which a House of
Commons had been invited to express its dissatisfaction at the exercise
of the prerogative of dissolution.
Pages:
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536