It is
impossible to reconcile any, even the smallest, abatement of this
doctrine, with the perfect, absolute immunity of the Sovereign from
consequences. There can be in England no disloyalty more gross, as to
its effects, than the superstition which affects to assign to the
Sovereign a separate, and so far as separate, transcendental sphere of
political action. Anonymous servility 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.
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