THIS day, at a quarter after two o'clock, P.M., Her Majesty entered the House with the usual state and forms, preceded by his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, the Lord Chancellor, bearing

the great seal, Viscount Melbourne, carrying the sword of state, and the Earl of Shaftesbury the cap of maintenance. Her Majesty was attended by the Duchess of Sutherland, Her Majesty's Mistress of the Robes. Her Majesty having taken her seat on the throne, Sir Augustus Clifford, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, was directed to summon the Commons to attend. The Commons having arrived, with their Speaker at their head, at the bar, her Majesty was pleased to deliver the following most gracious Speech:

MY LORDS AND Gentlemen, Since you were last assembled I have declared my intention of allying myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. I humbly implore that the Divine blessing may prosper this union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people, as well as to my own domestic happiness; and it will be to me a source of the most lively satisfacNo. I.-SESS. 1840.

tion to find the resolution I have taken approved by my Parliament.

The constant proofs which I have reand family persuade me that you will enceived of your attachment to my person able me to provide for such an establishment as may appear suitable to the rank of the Prince and the dignity of the Crown.

I continue to receive from foreign powers assurances of their unabated desire to maintain with me the most friendly relations.

I rejoice that the civil war, which had so long disturbed and desolated the northern provinces of Spain has been brought to an end by an arrangement satisfactory to the Spanish Government and to the people of those provinces; and I trust that, ere long, peace and tranquillity will be re-established throughout the rest of Spain.

The affairs of the Levant have continued to occupy my most anxious attention. The concord which has prevailed amongst the Five Powers has prevented a renewal of hostilities in that quarter; and I hope

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that the same unanimity will bring these important and difficult matters to a final settlement, in such a manner as to uphold the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire, and to give additional security to the peace of Europe.

I have not yet been enabled to re-establish my diplomatic relations with the Court of Teheran; but communications which I have lately received from the Persian Government inspire me with the confident expectation that the differences which occasioned a suspension of those relations will soon be satisfactorily adjusted.

Events have happened in China which have occasioned an interruption of the commercial intercourse of my subjects with that country. I have given and shall continue to give my most serious attention to a matter so deeply affecting the interests of my subjects and the dignity of my crown.

I have great satisfaction in acquainting you that the military operations undertaken by the Governor-General of India have been attended with complete success; and that in the expedition to the westward of the Indus the officers and troops, both European and native, have displayed the most distinguished skill and valour.

I have directed that further papers relating to the affairs of Canada should be laid before you, and I confide to your wisdom this important subject.

I recommend to your early attention the state of the municipal corporations of

Ireland.

It is desirable that you should prosecute those measures relating to the established church which have been recommended by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of England.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COM-
MONS,

I have directed the estimates for the 'services of the year to be laid before you.

They have been framed with every attention to economy, and at the same time with a due regard to the efficiency of those establishments which are rendered necessary by the extent and circumstances of the empire.

I have lost no time in carrying into effect the intentions of Parliament by the reduction of the duties on postage; and trust that the beneficial effects of this measure will be felt throughout all classes of the community.

MY LORDS AND Gentlemen,

I learn with great sorrow that the commercial embarrassments which have taken place in this and other countries are subjecting many of the manufacturing districts to severe distress.

I have to acquaint you, with deep concern, that the spirit of insubordination has, in some parts of the country, broken out into open violence, which was speedily repressed by the firmness and energy of the magistrates, and by the steadiness and good conduct of my troops.

I confidently rely upon the power of the law, upon your loyalty and wisdom, and upon the good sense and right feeling of my people, for the maintenance of order, the protection of property, and the promotion, as far as they can be promoted by human means, of the true interests of the empire.

Her Majesty, with her Court, then retired, and the House was adjourned pro tempore.

At five o'clock their Lordships re-assembled.

The Right Honourable James Aber

cromby, having been created BARON DUN

FERMLINE, was, in the usual manner, introduced, and took the oaths.

LORD CAMOYS. - The House being inwith his writ of summons, the Lord formed, that his Lordship was attending, Chancellor explained to the House his Lordship's descent: then his Lordship was called in, and took the oaths prescribed by the Act of 10 Geo. IV. to be taken by Peers professing the Roman Catholic religion; and then took his place on the Barons' bench, next below the Lord Clinton.

The Right Honourable Thomas Spring Rice, having been created BARON MONTEAGLE of Brandon, was, in the usual manner, introduced, and took the oaths.

Sir John Colborne, G.C.B., Lieutenant General in the Army, having been created

The DUKE of SOMERSET. My Lords, it is not without much diffidence that I rise to propose to your Lordships an Address in reply to Her Majesty's gracious Speech, which we have just heard read. I feel, however, less difficulty in the performance of this duty, conceiving, as I do, that the speech which Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to address to her Parliament, this day, is one that embraces no topics calculated to create any diversity of opinion among your Lordships. I am convinced that your Lordships will coincide with me in thinking that the Royal marriage, alluded to in the first paragraph of Her Majesty's speech, is a matter of the utmost consequence to the country, as being the announcement of a satisfactory solution of a question, which, while it remained unsettled, could not but occasion much speculation, suspense, and anxiety in the public mind. Undoubtedly, then, this is, my Lords, a subject of very great interest; and I trust (as, I am sure, does every one of your Lordships), that the result of this match will be to secure the individual happiness of Her Majesty and of the illustrious Prince with whom she is about to be united, while, at the same time, it may prove advantageous to the country at large. Believing these sentiments to be fully participated in by your Lordships, I cannot doubt that you will evince your approbation of the proposed union by a cordial and unanimous concurrence in the address which I shall presently have the honour to submit to your Lordships' consideration. It is extremely gratifying to find, from the succeeding paragraph in Her

Majesty's speech, that Her Majesty continues to receive from foreign powers assurances of their unabated desire to maintain the most friendly relations with this country, and that, therefore, there is that peace and tranquillity which are so not the slightest danger of a rupture of essential to our interests and prosperity. speech is the war which has ravaged The next topic alluded to in Her Majesty's Spain for some years, and which has been carried on under circumstances of so much barbarity; of barbarity, indeed, which would hardly be considered possible in the present age, were it not for the weight of evidence that unhappily exists to substantiate it. It must, I am sure, be a subject of congratulation to your Lordships that Her Majesty's diplomatic exertions in that quarter have been so far crowned with success as to afford a hope of ultimately insuring the tranquillity of that country. But the affairs of Europe may now be considered to form but a very small part of our foreign relations. This is necessarily a consequence of the great extent of the British empire, which has brought us into contact with many nations differing in their habits and views from ourselves, but whom political circumstances render it necessary that we should hold in kindly relationship with us. With respect to Turkey, it must be a subject of congratulation to your Lordships to find that the five great Powers have been induced to direct their attention to the affairs of that country; that they have prevented a renewal of hostilities in that quarter; and that strong hopes are entertained that such a final settlement of existing disputes will be effected as shall not only uphold the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire, but may also give additional security to the peace of Europe. The Turkish Government has been for a long period justly entitled to fame for the stability with which it has uniformly adhered to all its engagements. On that account it claimed for itself the respect of the other Governments of Europe. Accordingly, now, in a period of difficulty, it is enjoying the good offices of the five great Powers, in the maintenance of its interests and independence; and I am sure that your Lordships will approve of the policy which has dictated so enlightened and so humane a course. There is another Eastern power, whose internal policy, considering her geographical position, is at present of great importance to us, especially after the great military operations which have been recently carried on in India; and, with reference to that power, it is gratifying to learn that,

though Her Majesty has not yet been enabled to re-establish her diplomatic relations with the Court of Teheran, yet that communications have lately been received from the Persian Government which justify a confident expectation that the differences which have caused the suspension of those relations will, ere long, be satisfactorily adjusted. With respect to the operations undertaken by the Governor-General of India, your Lordships must be gratified with their perfectly successful result. The good conduct of the army, British and native, which proceeded to the west of the Indus, as well as the complete and triumphant success that has crowned their efforts, must be a source of he greatest satisfaction to your Lordships and the country. The affairs of Canada have, for some years, been in a situation greatly to be deplored, and have deeply engaged the attention of the Legislature. Much information has already been laid Defore Parliament on the subject of them, and Her Majesty has now directed that all the papers relating to that interesting colony shall be laid before you. Her Majesty, having seen the evil consequences which have resulted from the ill-considered plans under which Canada has been governed for many years, now earnestly calls upon this and the other House to take the subject into serious consideration, for the purpose of making such alterations in the system of government as may be deemed necessary. In the various arrangements proposed for the settlement of peace in Ireland, municipal institutions have always formed a prominent part, and I trust that the present session will see the question brought to a final conclusion; and Her Majesty, accordingly, has recommended it to our early and serious consideration. With respect to the established Church, which has always appeared to me to be a subject of the most serious consideration, I am aware that the lapse of ages has occasioned certain defects to grow up in it, and has rendered some changes in its constitution necessary. To investigate and suggest a remedy for those defects, a Commission was some time ago appointed. Some benefit has already resulted from that inquiry; and to follow up the recommendations of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners appears to me the proper course to be adopted by Parliament. I am sure your Lordships will participate in the sorrow expressed by Her Majesty at the commercial distresses and embarrassments which have taken place in this and other countries. The causes by which those distresses have been occasioned, and the

remedial measures which ought to be applied, are, I fear, questions of very great difficulty, and such as require much investigation, and the most patient inquiry. I apprehend, however, that the distresses are in a great degree connected with the spirit of insubordination which has been manifested in certain quarters, but upon which, as the principal agents in those transactions are under course of trial, I will not now dilate, and I will merely observe that the firmness and energy of the magistrates, and the steadiness and good conduct of the troops, as manifested on the late trying occasion, must be a theme of pride and congratulation both to this House and the country. My Lords, I have now to propose to your Lordships that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty in answer to Her Majesty's most gracious Speech.

The Address, which, as usual, recapitulated the several topics of the Sovereign's Speech from the throne, having been read by the Clerk,

LORD SEAFORD said: - In rising to second the Address, I must begin by earnestly entreating the indulgence of your Lordships. It is with great reluctance that, on any occasion, I venture to address your Lordships; and, on the present occasion, my sense of the difficulty and the importance of my subject, and the consciousness of my own inadequacy, would certainly have tempted me to shrink from the attempt, had I not felt that I could not, on such an occasion, decline the honour, however much I might wish that my Noble Friend had found some other of the very many of your Lordships who are so far better qualified than myself to perform the task -to second this Address.

It

The topic in the Royal Speech most pre-eminently important, and pre-eminently entitled to your Lordship's attention, is that which refers to the Royal marriage. That event is one in itself of the greatest national importance, and, at the present moment, it comes before us with unexampled features of interest. is impossible, considering the age and sex of the Sovereign, that your Lordships can consider this event merely in the light of a political alliance, or with other than the most anxious feelings of solicitude touching its effects upon the domestic peace and happiness of Her Majesty. At no other time in the history of this country has such an event taken place, with circumstances of such intense and peculiar interest; and this interest has been enhanced, if pos

sible, by the grace with which it has been formally announced by Her Majesty. It is impossible, I think, for your Lordships to notice this subject without the warmest sympathy, and an earnest prayer that every aspiration and hope expressed for its individual and public happy results may be fully carried out and fulfilled.

[Loud and continued cheering].

Her Majesty, from her early intimate acquaintance with him, has had ample opportunity of forming a mature opinion of the character and disposition of the illustrious object of her choice; and Her Majesty having made this choice under the joint impulse of reason and feeling, affords the best pledge of its happy result. I hope, therefore, that your Lordships will concur in a unanimous Address, expressing that approval which has been so graciously asked of us as to this alliauce, and that you will follow it up by making such a provision for the Prince himself as shall be at once suitable to the liberality of this country and the rank and station of the illustrious personage himself.

My Lords, if ever there was an occasion when it was peculiarly desirable that the Address should be, altogether and throughout, in unison with the Speech from the throne, surely it is the present. With that view, the Speech has been framed most carefully, and, as it appears to me, and I should hope, successfully, -so as to avoid exciting any discordant feelings, or provoking any hostile dispositions; and I intend not to defeat that object by anything that I shall say in noticing it. It fortunately happens that the foreign events which have occurred since the prorogation of Parliament have not been of a nature necessarily to call for any particular remark. The most striking event of our foreign relations, and that which stands first in the Speech, is the expulsion of Don Carlos from Spain, and the pacification of the Basque provinces. Whatever may be the opinions of some Noble Lords with respect to the pretensions of that Prince, however much they may sympathise in the cause of those who have fought under his name, opinions, in which though I cannot agree, yet I beg to assure them that I do not, at the present moment, wish to controvert them, for I conceive that this question has been already abundantly discussed, and may very well be allowed to rest on an occasion like the present;-still, whatever difference of opinion may exist on this subject, I conceive that there can

be but one common feeling of rejoicing that the sanguinary war and revolting scenes which have so long been carried on in those provinces should, at length, have determined, and that the privileges of those provinces should have been recog nised by arrangements satisfactory to both parties. And, although it cannot be said that peace has been established throughout Spain, still the war is now confined within more narrow limits, and has assumed, at length, such a character as to afford a reasonable expectation of its complete termination at no very distant period. What further, in my mind, is matter of great satisfaction, is, that this long-protracted struggle is likely to terminate, not in the triumph either of absolutism or of extreme democratic principles, but in the confirmation of the rights of the legitimate Sovereign, and this happily joined with the confirmation of the rights and liberties of the people. With regard to the difference existing between the Sultan and Pasha of Egypt, -the Eastern question, as it is termed, notwithstanding its great importance, in which it yields to none, yet, considering the state of the pending negotiations, and the very imperfect information which your Lordships can possess on that subject, I conceive that you will not deem it a fit matter for discussion on the present occasion, or that your Lordships will be disposed to express any other opinion than that of concurrence in the Speech, in this respect. I shall therefore confine myself to the expression of my confident hope that the same judgment which has, on former occasions, brought to a satisfactory termination negotiations the most intricate and important, and in which conflicting interests were involved, not less difficult to be reconciled, will be equally effectual in bringing these important matters to that happy settlement which is contemplated in the Speech from the throne.

My Lords, the late brilliant successes of the British arms in India cannot fail to obtain from your Lordships the expres sion also of your Lordships' congratulations. With respect to the gallantry of the troops engaged, and the military skill displayed by those who led them, any expression of commendation and praise from an humble individual like myself would be of as little value as it would be superfluous and uncalled for. I cannot refrain, however, from expressing my individual satisfaction that these great successes have been achieved under the administration of a Noble Lord whom I have known from my youth, and for whom I entertain the highest esteem. I