§ This day his Majesty came in state to the House of Peers, and being seated on the Throne, the gentleman usher of the black rod was directed to summon the Commons to attend. The Speaker immediately presented himself at the bar, attended by a great number of members. His Majesty then delivered the following Speech to both Houses:
§ "My Lords and Gentlemen,
§ "I have called you together at this time for the special purpose of communicating to you the measure which 1 judged it necessary to take, in the month of September, for the admission into the ports of the United Kingdom of certain sorts of foreign grain not then admissible by law.
§ "I have directed a copy of the Order in Council issued on that occasion to be laid before you, and I confidently trust that you will sec sufficient reason for giving 10 your sanction to the provisions of that order, and for carrying them into effectual execution.
§ "I have great satisfaction in being able to inform you, that the hopes entertained at the close of the last session of parliament, respecting the termination of the war in the Burmese territories, have been fulfilled, and that a peace has been concluded in that quarter highly honourable to the British arms, and to the councils of l the British government in India.
§ "I continue to receive from all foreign powers assurances of their earnest desire to cultivate the relations of peace and friendly understanding with me.
§ "I am exerting myself with unremitting anxiety, either singly or in conjunction with my allies, as well to arrest the progress of existing hostilities as to prevent the interruption of peace in different parts of the world.
§ "Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
§ "I have directed the Estimates for the ensuing year to be prepared, and they will, in due time, be laid before you.
§ "I will take care that they shall be formed with as much attention to economy, as the exigencies of the public service will permit.
§ "The distress which has pervaded the commercial and manufacturing classes of my subjects, during the last twelve months, has affected some important branches of the Revenue; but I have the satisfaction of informing you, that there has been no such diminution in the internal consumption of the country, as to excite any apprehensions that the great sources of our wealth and prosperity have been impaired.
§ "My Lords and Gentlemen,
§ "I have deeply sympathised with the sufferings which have been, for some time past, so severely felt in the manufacturing districts of this country; and I have contemplated with great satisfaction the exemplary patience with which those sufferings have been generally borne.
§ "The depression under which the trade and manufactures of the country have 11 been labouring has abated more slowly than I had thought myself warranted in anticipating; but I retain a firm expectation that this abatement will be progressive, and that the time is not distant when, under the blessing of Divine Providence, the commerce and industry of the United Kingdom will have resumed their wonted activity."
§ His Majesty then retired, and the Commons returned to their House.