§ The LORDS COMMISSIONERS— namely, The LORD CHANCELLOR; The LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Earl of Kimberley); The EARL GRANVILLE (Secretary of State for the Colonies); The LORD CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD (The Viscount Sydney); and The LORD FOLEY — 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 HER MAJESTY'S SPEECH as follows:—
§ "My Lords, and Gentlemen,
§ " WE are commanded by Her Majesty to dispense with your further attendance in Parliament.
§ "Her Majesty announces to you with, pleasure that She continues to receive from all Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition, and that Her confidence in the preservation of peace has been continued and confirmed during the present year.
1538§ "The negotiations in which Her Majesty was engaged with the United States of North America have by mutual consent been suspended; and Her Majesty earnestly hopes that this delay may tend to maintain the relations between the two countries on a durable basis of friendship.
§ "Her Majesty has a lively satisfaction in acknowledging the untiring zeal and assiduity with which you have prosecuted the arduous labours of the year.
§ "In the Act for putting an end to the Establishment of the Irish Church you carefully kept in view the several considerations which, at the opening of the Session, were commended to your notice.
§ "It is the hope of Her Majesty that this important measure may hereafter be remembered as a conclusive proof of the paramount anxiety of Parliament to pay reasonable regard, in legislating for each of the three Kingdoms, to the special circumstances by which it may be distinguished, and to deal on principles of impartial justice with all interests and all portions of the nation.
§ "Her Majesty firmly trusts that the Act may promote the work of peace in Ireland, and may help to unite all classes of its people in that fraternal concord with their English and Scottish fellow subjects which must ever form the chief source of strength to Her extended Empire.
§ "Her Majesty has observed with pleasure your general and cordial readiness to unite in the removal, through the Assessed Bates Act, of a practical grievance which was widely felt.
§ "Her Majesty congratulates you on having brought your protracted la- 1539 bours on the subjects of Bankruptcy and of Imprisonment for Debt to a legislative conclusion which is regarded with just satisfaction by the trading classes and by the general public.
§ "The law which you have framed for the better government of Endowed Schools in England will render the large resources of these establishments more accessible to the community, and more efficient for their important purpose.
§ "It may reasonably be expected that the Act for the supervision of Habitual Criminals will contribute further to the security of life and property.
§ "The measure which has been passed with respect to the Contagious Diseases of Animals will, as Her Majesty believes, add confidence and safety to the important trades of breeding and feeding cattle at home, without unnecessarily impeding the freedom of import from abroad.
§ "By the repeal of the tax on Fire Insurance you have met a long-cherished wish of the community; and in the removal of the duty on Corn Her Majesty sees new evidence of your desire to extend industry and commerce, and to enlarge to the uttermost those supplies of food which our insular position in a peculiar degree both encourages and requires.
§ "Her Majesty trusts that the measure for the purchase and management of the Electric Telegraphs by the State may be found to facilitate the great commercial and social object of rapid, easy, and certain communication, and may prove no unworthy sequel to that system of cheap postage which has passed with much advantage into so many countries of the civilized world.
1540§ "Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
§ "We are commanded to state that Her Majesty thanks you for the liberal supplies which you have granted for the service of the year, and for the measures by which you have enabled Her at once to liquidate the charge of the Abyssinian Expedition.
§ "My Lords, and Gentlemen,
§ "Her Majesty reflects with pleasure that, in returning to your several homes, you may contemplate with thankfulness the fruit of your exertions in the passing of many important laws, a portion of which we have now had it in command to notice.
§ "During the recess you will continue to gather that practical knowledge and experience which form the solid basis of legislative aptitude; and Her Majesty invokes the blessing of the Almighty alike upon your recent and your future labours for the public weal.
§ Then a Commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
§ After which,
§ 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 to Thursday the 28th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday the 28th day of October next.