§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House that Her Majesty had been pleased to grant two several 1269 Commissions, one for declaring Her Royal Assent to several Acts agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament, and the other for proroguing the Parliament:—And the LORDS COMMISSIONERS—namely, The LORD CHANCELLOR; The EARL OF HARDWICKE; The EARL OF BRADFORD; The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Viscount Cranbrook); and The LORD SKELMERSDALE—being in their Robes, and seated on a Form between the Throne and the Woolsack; and the COMMONS being come, with their Speaker, and the Commission to that purpose being read, the ROYAL ASSENT was given to several Bills.
Then THE LORD CHANCELLOR, pursuant to Her Majesty's Command, delivered HER MAJESTY'S SPEECH, as follows:—
§ "My Lords, and Gentlemen,
§ "As the time assigned by law for the termination of the present Parliament is near at hand, I am induced, by considerations of public policy and convenience, to select this period of the session for releasing you from your legislative duties, with a view to an immediate dissolution, and the issue of writs for a general election.
§ "I cannot part from you without expressing my deep sense of the zeal and ability which, during more than six years, you have consistently displayed in exercising your important functions, nor without tendering to you my warm acknowledgments for the useful measures which you have submitted for my acceptance, and especially for the manner in which you have upheld a policy the object of which was at once to defend my Empire and secure the general Peace.
§ "My relations with Foreign Powers are friendly, and favourable to the maintenance of tranquillity in Europe.
§ "I entertain the confident hope that the measures adopted in Afghanistan 1270 will lead to a speedy settlement of that country.
§ "I have had much satisfaction in assenting to the Acts you have passed for the relief of the distress unhappily prevalent in parts of Ireland, and trusting that these measures will be accepted by my Irish subjects as a proof of the ready sympathy of the Imperial Parliament, I look forward with confidence to the restored prosperity of their country.
§ "I rejoice to observe the indications of a general improvement in trade, and that the commercial depression which I have had to lament appears to be passing away.
§ "I have witnessed with the greatest sympathy the heavy losses sustained by the various classes connected with the cultivation of the soil, and have viewed with admiration the patience and high spirit with which they have contended against an almost unprecedented series of disastrous seasons.
§ "I trust that, with the blessing of Providence, a more favourable harvest may be looked for, and that, from the Commission which I issued to inquire into the causes of agricultural depression, suggestions may come which will lead to the more profitable use of agricultural land, and to a higher development of this branch of national industry.
§ "The electors of the United Kingdom will be called upon forthwith to choose their Representatives in Parliament, and I fervently pray that the blessing of Almighty God may guide them to promote the object of my constant solicitude—the happiness of my people."
§ Then a Commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
1271§ 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 Tuesday the thirteenth, day of April next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday the thirteenth day of April next.