§ Her Majesty went in State to-day to the House of Lords, and on the House of Commons having appeared at the Bar, the Speaker addressed her Majesty as follows: —
§ "Most Gracious Sovereign,
§ "We, your Majesty's faithful Commons of Great Britain and Ireland, attend your Majesty with a Bill that closes the supplies for the present year.
§ "In granting these supplies to your Majesty, we have shown our determination to support the public credit, and to maintain the national honour; and, although it has been our painful duty to impose additional burdens on the public, we have endeavoured to increase the available revenues of the country by such measures of taxation as will produce the least possible derangement to its commerce and industry.
§ "At the commencement of the present Session your Majesty was graciously pleased to recommend to our attention the subject of an union between the Canadas, the state of Municipal Corporations in Ireland, and the Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners with reference to the Established Church. We have applied ourselves with unremitting diligence to the 1405 consideration of these important subjects. We have enabled your Majesty to reunite the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and it has been our anxious desire so to provide for the constitutional government of that colony as to insure its permanent tranquillity, and by removing every obstacle to the full developement of its resources, to lay the foundation for its future prosperity, and to render it a source of strength and greatness to the empire.
§ "The municipal institutions of Ireland have long since been ascertained to be inconsistent with the present state of society, and to be ill adapted to the wants of the Irish people. To remedy these defects, we have remodelled the corporations of the larger cities and towns: we have enlarged and defined the franchise, and by extending to Ireland the same principles which have been successfully applied to England and Scotland, we trust we have insured to the municipal institutions of that part of the United Kingdom the respect and confidence of those for whose advantage they have been established.
§ "We have anxiously considered the recommendations of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with the view of supplying the want of churches, and of resident clergy, which is so much felt in various parts of the country. To increase the fund applicable to those objects, we have made most important modifications in the constitution of chapters and cathedral colleges, which, without impairing the efficiency of those venerable institutions, will furnish the means of providing a large class of your Majesty's subjects with the blessings of public worship and sound religious instruction. Various other subjects have pressed on our consideration during the present Session, but these three important measures have been brought to completion, in pursuance of your Majesty's gracious recommendation. We anxiously hope, under the blessing of Divine Providence, that they will produce those salutary results which we have ven- 1406 tured to anticipate, and we feel confident that they will be regarded as additional proofs of your Majesty's constant desire to advance the constitutional liberties, and promote the religious welfare of your loyal and grateful people. It is now my duty to present to your Majesty a Bill to apply a sum out of the Consolidated Fund for the service of the year 1840, and to appropriate the supplies granted in the present Session of Parliament, to which, with all humility, we pray your Majesty's Royal assent."
§ The Royal assent was then given in the usual form by her Majesty to the following Bills:—Consolidated Fund; Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues; Loan Societies; Joint Stock Banking Companies; and Coal Duties (London).
§ Her Majesty then read the following most gracious Speech:—
§ "My Lords and Gentlemen,
§ "The state of public business enables me to close this Session of Parliament; and in releasing you from your attendance, I have to thank you for the care and attention with which you have discharged your important duties.
§ "I continue to receive from foreign Powers, assurances of their friendly disposition, and of their anxious desire for the maintenance of peace.
§ "I congratulate you upon the termination of the civil war in Spain. The objects for which the quadruple engagements of 1834 were contracted having now been accomplished, I am in communication with the Queen of Spain with a view to withdraw the naval force which, in pursuance of those engagements, I have hitherto stationed on the northern coast of Spain.
§ "I am happy to inform you, that the differences with the Government of Naples, the grounds and causes of which have been laid before you, have 1407 been put into a train of adjustment by the friendly mediation of the King of the French.
§ "I rejoice also to acquaint you, that the Government of Portugal has made arrangements for satisfying certain just claims of some of my subjects, and for the payment of a sum due to this country under the stipulations of the Convention of 1827.
§ "I am engaged, in concert with the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of Russia, and the Sultan, in measures intended to effect the permanent pacification of the Levant, to maintain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire, and thereby to afford additional security for the peace of Europe.
§ "The violent injuries inflicted upon some of my subjects by the officers of the Emperor of China, and the indignities offered to an agent of my Crown, have compelled me to send to the coast of China a naval and military force for the purpose of demanding reparation and redress.
§ "I have gladly given my assent to the Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland.
§ "I trust, that the law which you have framed for further carrying into effect the Reports of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners will have the beneficial effect of increasing the efficiency of the Established Church, and of better providing for the religious instruction of my people.
§ "I have observed with much satisfaction, the result of your deliberations on the subject of Canada. It will be my duty to execute the measures which you have adopted in such a manner as, without impairing the Executive authority, may satisfy the 1408 just wishes of my subjects, and provide for the permanent welfare and security of my North American Provinces.
§ "The Legislative bodies of Jamaica have applied themselves to the prepation laws rendered necessary or expedient by the altered state of society. Some of these laws require revision and amendment; but I have every reason to expect cordial assistance from the Assembly of Jamaica in the salutary work of improving the condition and elevating the character of the inhabitants of that Colony. The conduct of the emancipated negroes throughout the West Indies has been remarkable for tranquil obedience to the law, and a peaceable demeanour in all the relations of social life.
§ "Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
§ "I thank you for the Supplies which you have granted for the service of the year.
§ "I lament, that it should have been necessary to impose additional burdens upon my people; but I trust, that the means which you have adopted for the purpose of meeting the exigencies of the public service, are calculated to press with as little severity as possible upon all classes of the community.
§ "My Lords and Gentlemen,
§ "In returning to your respective Counties, you will resume those duties which you perform so much to the public benefit and advantage. It is my anxious desire to maintain tranquillity at home and peace abroad. To these objects, so essential to the interests of this country and to the general welfare of mankind, my efforts will be sincerely and unremit- 1409 tingly directed; and, feeling assured of your co-operation and support, I humbly rely upon the superintending care and continued protection of Divine Providence."
§ Then the Lord Chancellor, by her Majesty's command, said:—
§ "My Lords and Gentlemen,
§ "It is her Majesty's Royal will and pleasure, that this Parliament be prorogued to Thursday, the 8th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday, the 8th day of October next."
1410§ Her Majesty then withdraw, and the Lords separated.