ervility has, indeed, in these last days,
hinted such a doctrine[13]; but it is no more practicable to make it
thrive in England, than to rear the jungles of Bengal on Salisbury
Plain.

There is, indeed, one great and critical act, the responsibility for
which falls momentarily or provisionally upon the Sovereign; it is the
dismissal of an existing Ministry, and the appointment of a new one.
This act is usually performed with the aid drawn from authentic
manifestations of public opinion, mostly such as are obtained through
the votes or conduct of the House of Commons. Since the reign of George
III there has been but one change of Ministry in which the Monarch acted
without the support of these indications. It was when William IV, in
1834, dismissed the Government of Lord Melbourne, which was known to be
supported, though after a lukewarm fashion, by a large majority of the
existing House of Commons. But the royal responsibility was, according
to the doctrine of our Constitution, completely taken over, _ex post
facto_, by Sir Robert Peel, as the person who consented, on the call of
the King, to take Lord Melbourne's office. Thus, though the act was
rash, and hard to justify, the doctrine of personal immunity was in no
way endangered. And here we may notice, that in theory an absolute
personal immunity implies a correlative limitation of power, greater
than is always found in practice. It can hardly be said that the King's
initiative left to Sir R. Peel a freedom perfectly unimpaired. And, most
certainly, it was a very real exercise of personal power. The power did
not suffice for its end, which was to overset the Liberal predominance;
but it very nearly sufficed. Unconditionally entitled to dismiss the
Ministers, the Sovereign can, of course, choose his own opportunity. He
may defy the Parliament, if he can count upon the people. William IV, in
the year 1834, had neither Parliament nor people with him. His act was
within the limits of the Constitution, for it was covered by the
responsibility of the acceding Ministry. But it reduced the Liberal
majority from a number considerably beyond three hundred to about
thirty; and it constituted an exceptional but very real and large action
on the politics of the country, by the direct will of the King. I speak
of the immediate effects. Its eventual result may have been different,
for it converted a large disjointed mass into a smaller but organized
and sufficient force, which hel