Note (4) — Chapter III
Reading edition
How very recent the establishment of these principles is will be seen by anyone who studies the history of the reign of George the Third in the work of Sir T. E. May. Mr. Pitt, as is well known, kept office in defiance of repeated votes of the House of Commons, and at last, by a dissolution at a well-chosen moment, showed that the country was on his side. Such conduct would not be deemed constitutional now, but the wide difference between the constitution of the House of Commons then and now should be borne in mind.