7 MAY 1831, Page 14

WHAT HAS THE KING GAINED BY THE DISSOLUTION ?

FIRST, the power of choosing the Officers of his Household. Why should this power be any longer withheld from the King ? For above a, century it was usurped by the Boroughmongers, as an es- sential means of controlling the Monarch ; but as the Borough- mongers are, as such, extinct, who will henceforth name the per- sonal servants of the King? Not the People, who have gained all the power they want—that of making laws for themselves by means of their representatives. Who then ?—who, indeed, but the Kinc, himself? The government of a Few, which was established at the Revolution in place of the Government of One, and which flou- rished for a hundred and forty years under the pretence of three equally balanced powers, is at an end. The real powers of go- vernment are now divided between the One and the Many. The King. of England is now really a king ; and the most popular king, too, in the world. Shall not he have a free choice of the servants who attend on his person? The Reformed Parliament answers— Yes !

Secondly, the power of bestowing rewards and favours of his own free-will. The shameful Pension-list is not a list of Royal favourites ; for not a name that it contains was placed there by a King. The great amount of pensions which the Nation has yet to pay, is enjoyed by the Boroughmongers and their dependents ; and every pension was bestowed by the late Government of a Few. The King has not the least interest in maintaining the Pension-list ; but it is fitting that a real King, such as WILLIAM the Fourth became by the dissolution of Parliament, should have a pension- fund at his own sole disposal. The new Government of King and People will probably abolish the Boroughmonger Pension-list ; and a grateful People will not wait for a hint from the King before they place a new fund for pensions at his Majesty's sole disposal. Oh, how mad the once powerful, monopolizing Boroughmongers will be, to see the King granting pensions to those whom it may be his free pleasure to reward or favour ! Thirdly, by the dissolution of Parliament the King has gained freedom from the late constant, suspicious, watchful, and insolent control of the Boroughmongers. He has gained also the hearts of his people. Having thrown off the shackles of the Borough- mongers, he is liable to no control but that of the Nation repre- sented in Parliament ; and having acquired the warm affections of the people, there is no supposable reason why he should be con- trolled at all ;—more especially as WILLIAM the Fourth has the merit, so rare and so great in a king, of loving to be popular. Under the Boroughmongers, the King was powerless for good, though his name was their tower of strength for inflicting evils on the nation. Under the new system, the King will be all-powerful for good ; and our second ALFRED will not even permit others to injure his subjects. Henceforth, a good King of England will enjoy unlimited power. What may happen to a bad one is an- other question, which cannot arise during the life of WILLIAM the Fourth.

Some of those whom the Standard calls " the PEEL and DAWSON crew," whisper that the King supports 'Reform for the

purpose of increasing the Royal authority. These men hate the

single-minded and brave successor of GEORGE the Fourth, and their extreme selfishness disables them from believing in a gene-

rous motive ; but they are right in supposing that the Royal

power will be, or rather is, increased by Reform. Though we should deny that WILLIAM the Fourth had any merely personal

object in dissolving—which, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, means reforming—the Parliament, still, a merely selfish King, if a cunning and a brave one also, would not have missed that opportunity of destroying the Boroughmongers, and dividing their usurped power between himself and the People.