It was this mixed government which the prudence of our ancestors devised, and which it will be our wisdom to support.

They experienced all the vicissitudes and distractions of a republic; they felt all the vassalage and despotism of a simple monarchy.

They abandoned both; and, by blending each together, extracted a system which has been the envy and admiration of the world.

This system it is the object of the present address to defeat and destroy.

It is the intention of this address to arrogate a power which does not belong to the House of Commons; to place a negative on the exercise of the prerogative, and to destroy the balance of power in the government as it was settled at the Revolution." Fox had urged that our history afforded no example of a ministry retaining office after the House of Commons had passed a resolution condemning it.