al assent to measures which the two Houses have
passed. On any bill which has not yet been passed by them he has, as has
been already implied, no legitimate means whatever of expressing his
judgment. The time has not come for him to do so. Moreover, the
statement was, probably, not believed by any one to be strictly true,
for it was pretty generally understood that the King would have
preferred a far more moderate measure. But, indeed, in the very speech
in which the Prime-minister made this use of the King's name he
presently added an observation which was a sufficient condemnation of
his previous language. For, in denouncing the "vile attacks which had
been made on his Majesty in the public press," and disclaiming all share
in them (a disclaimer which however true of himself, could not, it is
believed, have been uttered with equal truth by all his colleagues), he
pointed out that "it ought always to be recollected that it is contrary
to the principles of the constitution to arraign the personal conduct of
the sovereign." It follows, as a matter of course, that it is equally
contrary to those principles to allege his personal opinions in either
House on any measure before it, since, if alleged, they must be open to
criticism; unless, indeed, the mere allegation of the royal sentiments
were to be taken as decisive of the question, in which case all freedom
of discussion would be at once extinguished.

But this irregularity, into which the Prime minister was apparently
betrayed by his desire of victory, must not be allowed to affect our
verdict on the main question; and, now that the lapse of time has
enabled us to contemplate dispassionately the case on which he had to
decide, it will, probably, be thought that his justification of his
conduct in recommending a creation of peers is fairly made out. That,
under any pressure short of that, the peers would have again rejected
the Reform Bill, or at least would have pared it down to much smaller
proportions than would have satisfied the popular demand for Reform, may
be regarded as certain; and equally certain that such a line of conduct
would have led to a renewal of disgraceful and dangerous tumults. The
minister, therefore, as has been said before, had to choose between two
evils. It was a grievous dilemma; but those who had to deal with it
(even while it may be admitted that they cannot be held wholly free from
blame, as having themselves contributed by their own languag