262 
zo be president of the board of con- 
zroul in the place of Mr. Grenville, 
who had succeeded to that office, 
with a cabinet place, on the ap- 
pointment of lord Minto to the 
government of Bengal ;. lord: Sid- 
mjnouth to succeed to the presidency 
of the council, from which lord 
Fitzwilliam, on account of bad 
health, was desirous to withdraw ; 
and lord Holland to succeed lord 
Sidmouth as lord privy seal. In 
zhese appointments, it is worthy of 
wemark, that lord. Holland, the 
nephew of Mr. Fox, was the only 
mew member brought, into the 
cabinet. When these new arrange- 
ments were submitted to his majesty, 
he was graciously pleased to ac- 
quiesce in them. 
The only measure of the new 
ministry, that falls under our notice 
in the course of the present year, 
is the dissolution of parliament,. on 
which we confess that we cannot 
bestow our commendation. Even 
the advocates of this whig admini- 
stration, we apprehend, must admit, 
that in this measure they sacrificed 
to temporary expediency the per- 
manent interests of the constitu. 
tion. The crown has unquestion. 
ably the right of dissolving parlia- 
ment. But from the composition 
of that assembly, the exercise of 
this right tends infallibly to increase 
the influence of ministers in the 
house of commons ; and, therefore, 
were it ever to become the usual 
practice of our government, for 
those in office to dissolve parlia- 
ments, when not constituted to 
their liking, these assemblies, in- 
fluenced by the terrors of a prema- 
ture dissolution, which is always 
inconvenient and expensive to their 
snembers, would lose all spirit of 
liberty or resistance, and become 
at 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806, 
the tame and servile instruments of 
court. If septennial parliaments 
are found to be of too long dura- 
tion, it would be better at once to 
revive the triennial act, than palliate 
the evil by a remedy, which, every 
time it is repeated, adds to ‘the in- 
fluence of the crown over the repre- 
sentatives of the people. We are 
not ignorant that particular situa. 
tions and emergencies call for this 
exertion of the prerogative ; but we 
know of no. sufficient reason to 
justify the advice to exercise it on 
the present occasion.. There was 
ne difference of opinion between 
the two houses of parliament, 
Peace, it is true, had not been ob= 
tained; but the causes, that had 
led to a rupture of the negotiation, 
were unknown to the public,, when 
parliament was dissolved ; and judg- 
ing from past experience, there 
could be no apprehension of too 
strong a disposition to péace in the 
existing house of commons, or of 
any reluctance in its members to 
concur in the most expensive mea, 
sures for the vigorous prosecution 
of the war. 
The returns to the new parlia- 
ment were such as greatly to add 
to the weight and influence of the 
friends of administration in. the 
house of commons. The whig 
party, which had been driven out 
of the representation of Yorkshire 
in 1784, recovered one of the seats 
for that great and independent 
county. In Norfolk, after a hard 
fought contest, both members ree 
turned were Whigs. One of the 
seats for Liverpool was carried by 
the abolitionists, against the traf. 
fickers in human flesh. But on the 
other hand a friend of administra~ 
tion was turned out of the repre. 
sentation of Southwark, and an- 
: othey 
