Lords Sitting of 2 August 1858

MINUTES.
ROYAL ASSENT.—Consolidated Fund (Appropriation); Copyright of Designs; Inclosure of Lands; Sheep, &c. Contagious Diseases Prevention; Turnpike Acts Continuance; Police (Scotland) Act Amendment; Bishops' Trusts Substitution; Titles to Land (Scotland); Sale and Transfer of Land (Ireland); Stipendiary Magistrates; County Court Districts; Chelsea Bridge Act Amendment; Returns to Secretary of State; Detached Parts of Counties; Herring Fisheries (Scotland); Cowley's Charity; Leases and Sales of Settled Estates Act Amendment; Administration of Oaths by Committees; Four Courts (Dublin) Extension; Railway Cheap Trains, &c.; Lunatics (Scotland) Act Amendment; Medical Practitioners; Joint Stock Banking Companies; County Property Conveyance; Legitimacy Declaration; Copyholds Acts Amendment; Universities (Scotland); Probates and Letters of Administration Act Amendment; Turnpike Trusts Arrangements; Vaccination (Ireland); Drafts on Bankers Law Amendment; Incumbered Estates (West Indies) Act Amendment; Militia Pay; Militia (Service Abroad) Act Continuance; Militia Act Continuance (No.2); Corrupt Practices Prevention Act Continuance; Public Health; Local Government; Government of British Columbia; Clerk of Petty Sessions (Ireland); Friendly Societies Act Amendment; Art Unions Indemnity; Reformatory Schools (Ireland); New Writs; Metropolis Local Management Act Amendment; Civil Bills, &c. (Ireland) Act Amendment; Judgments (Ireland) Act Amendment; Government of India; Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act Amendment; Cornwall Submarine Mines.
PROROGATION OF THE PARLIAMENT.

  SPEECH OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS.
  THE PARLIAMENTwas this day prorogued by Commission.
  The Lords Commissioners, the LORD CHANCELLOR, (Lord Chelmsford) the LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (the Marquess of Salisbury), the LORD PRIVY SEAL (the Earl of Hardwicke), the LORD CHAMBERLAIN (Earl De La Warr), and the DUKE of BEAUFORT, being in their robes and seated on a form between the Throne and the Woolsack; and the Commons being come, with their Speaker, the Royal Assent was given to several Bills.
  Then THE LORD CHANCELLOR delivered the Speech of the LORDS COMMISIONERS as follows:—
  "My Lords and Gentlemen,
  "WE are commanded by Her Majesty to express Her Satisfaction at being enabled to release you from the
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  Duties of a Session, which, though interrupted, has, by your unremitting Assiduity, been productive of many important Measures.
  "HER Majesty is happy to believe that Her Relations with Foreign Powers are such as to enable Her Majesty to look with Confidence to the Preservation of General Peace.
  "HER Majesty trusts that the Labours of the Plenipotentiaries now sitting in Conference at Paris may lead to a satisfactory Solution of the various Questions which have been referred to them.
  "THE Efforts, the Gallantry, and Devotedness, displayed in India by Her Majesty's Forces, and those of the East India Company, have been above all Praise; and Her Majesty hopes that those Efforts have already been so far crowned with Success that the formidable Revolt which has raged throughout a large Portion of Her Indian Possessions may now, under the Blessing of Almighty God, be speedily suppressed, and Peace be restored to those important Provinces.
  "IN this Hope Her Majesty has given Her willing Assent to the Act which you have passed for transferring to Her direct Authority the Government of Her Indian Dominions; and Her Majesty hopes to be enabled so to discharge the high Functions which She has assumed, as, by a just and impartial Administration of the Law, to secure its advantages alike to Her Subjects of every Race and Creed, and, by promoting their Welfare, to establish and strengthen Her Empire in India.
  "Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
  "HER Majesty commands us to thank you for the judicious Liberality

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  with which you have made Provision for the Exigencies of the Public Service.
  "THE present State of the Revenue authorises Her Majesty to entertain a confident Hope that the Supplies which you have granted will be found fully adequate to the Demands upon them.
  "My Lords, and Gentlemen,
  "THE sanitary Condition of the Metropolis must always be a Subject of deep Interest to Her Majesty, and Her Majesty has readily sanctioned the Act which you have passed for the Purification of that noble River, the present State of which is little creditable to a great Country, and seriously prejudicial to the Health and Comfort of the Inhabitants of the Metropolis.
  "HER Majesty has also willingly assented to an Act whereby greater Facilities are given for the Acquisition by Towns and Districts of such Powers as may be requisite for promoting Works of local Improvement, and thus extending more widely the Advantages of Municipal Self-government.
  "HER Majesty trusts that the Act which you have passed for the future Government of the Scotch Universities will be found highly advantageous to those venerable Institutions, and will greatly promote and extend a System of sound Moral and Religious Education in Scotland.
  "THE Transfer of Land Bill, which extends the Powers hitherto exercised by the Incumbered Estates Commissioners, and facilitates the Acquisition of an indefeasible Title by Purchasers of Land in Ireland, cannot fail to be highly beneficial to the Landed Proprietors, and to advance the Pros-
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  perity of that Part of Her Majesty's Dominions.
  "THE Act to which Her Majesty has assented for the Establishment of the Colony of British Columbia was urgently required in consequence of the recent discoveries of Gold in that District; but Her Majesty hopes that this new Colony on the Pacific may be but one Step in the Career of steady Progress, by which Her Majesty's Dominions in North America may ultimately be peopled, in an unbroken Chain, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by a loyal and industrious Population of Subjects of the British Crown.
  "HER Majesty thankfully acknowledges the Diligence and Perseverance which has enabled you in a comparatively short Time to pass these and other Measures of inferior but not insignificant Importance.
  "MANY of you, in returning to your respective Counties, have extensive Influence to exercise, and Duties to perform of hardly less Value to the Community than those from the Labours of which you are about to be released; and Her Majesty entertains a confident Assurance that, under the Guidance of Providence, that Influence will be so employed, and those Duties so performed, as to redound to your own Honour, and to promote the general Welfare and the Happiness of a loyal and contented People.
  Then a Commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
  After which
  THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid,
  "MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
  "By virtue of her Majesty's Commission under the Great Seal, to us and other Lords directed, and now read, we do, in Her Majesty's Name, and in obedience to Her Commands, Prorogue this Parliament

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  to Tuesday the Nineteenth Day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday the Nineteenth Day of October next."