te Audience which Lord Derby
had with the Queen, he had asked her permission to be allowed to
announce that, in the event of an adverse majority, he had Her
Majesty's sanction to a Dissolution of Parliament.

That the Queen had declined to give such sanction, or even such a
pledge, and equally guarded herself against being supposed to have
made up her mind to refuse her sanction to a Dissolution, had told
Lord Derby that she could not then make any prospective decision
upon the subject. I told him that in point of fact Her Majesty was
disinclined to grant to Lord Derby her authority for a Dissolution,
but that the Queen had at once refused to grant to Lord Derby her
sanction for making the announcement he wished, as she considered that
it would be a very unconstitutional threat for him to hold over the
head of the Parliament, with her authority, by way of biassing their
decision.

Lord Aberdeen interrupted me by saying that the Queen had done quite
right--that he never heard of such a request being made, or authority
for such an announcement being sought--and he could not at all
understand Lord Derby making such an application. He knew that the
Government had threatened a Dissolution, that he thought that they had
a perfect right to do so, but that they would have been quite wrong in
joining the Queen's name with it.

He said that he had never entertained the slightest doubt that if
the Minister advised the Queen to dissolve, she would, as a matter
of course, do so. The Minister who advised the Dissolution took upon
himself the heavy responsibility of doing so, but that the Sovereign
was bound to suppose that the person whom she had appointed as a
Minister was a gentleman and an honest man, and that he would not
advise Her Majesty to take such a step unless he thought that it
was for the good of the country. There was no doubt of the power and
prerogative of the Sovereign to refuse a Dissolution--it was one
of the very few acts which the Queen of England could do without
responsible advice at the moment; but even in this case whoever
was sent for to succeed, must, with his appointment, assume
the responsibility of this act, and be prepared to defend it in
Parliament.

He could not remember a single instance in which the undoubted power
of the Sovereign had been exercised upon this point, and the advice of
the Minister to dissolve Parliament had been rejected--for it was
to be remembered that Lord Derby would be st