13 Aug 1809 + '.5

Parl y. Reform

B.III Duration

Ch. 7. 5. [...?] prerogative

1

1 [...?] King from producing [...?]. 2. - So nothing new.

Ch. 7. Objection 5. The result of this arrangement would be to destroy in effect that part of the King's prerogative which consists in the right of his choosing his own time for the dissolution of Parliaments /regards /respects/ the dissolution of parliaments/.

Answer. So far as concern matter of form the objection has no place. If there be any whose wish it is to see the Crown divested of this prerogative, it is more than I ever heard of. I at any rate am not of the number: it is no part of this plan it is no part that the King /Crown/ should be divested of this right. Of any such change I can find no use: inconvenience from it I could find without difficulty: from what has been here said on the subject already in investigation of them it would be no difficult matter: but no such divestment being as it should seem in contemplation, or likely so to be, objections against /to/ it may be spared.

Certain it is - and this much must be admitted - that in proportion as the frequency of the advantage which in point of sinister interest the advisers of the Crown, open or secret, are at present capable of reaping war and thus from the exercise of this prerogative the frequency of [...?] is diminished, the effective power of derived /derivable/ by them /vested in them/ from the case /[...?]/ of this prerogative will be proportionally diminished. The more frequently the composition of the House is made liable to undergo a change at stated times, the less need the Crown can have and the less advantage it can derive from the faculty of exposing it to the like change on the sudden at occasional times.