ment of China will be brought to an early termination, and our commercial relations with that country placed on a satisfactory basis.

Commons,

"The Estimates for the year have been prepared, and will be laid before you. I rely with entire confidence on your disposition, while you enforce the principles of a wise economy, to make that provision for the service of the country which the public exigencies require.

"My Lords and Gentlemen, "I recommend to your immediate attention the state of the Finances and of the Expenditure of the country. You will have seen with regret, that, for several years past, the annual income has been inadequate to bear the public charges, and I feel confident, that, fully sensible of the evil which must result from a continued deficiency of this nature during peace, you will carefully consider the best means of averting it.

"I recommend also to your consideration the state of the laws which affect the importation of Corn, and of other articles the duce of foreign countries.

pro

"Measures will be submitted for your consideration for the amendment of the law of Bankruptcy, and for the improvement of the jurisdiction exercised by the Ecclesiastical Courts in England and Wales.

"It will also be desirable that you should consider, with a view to their revision, the laws which regulate the Registration of Electors of Members to serve in Parliament.

"I have observed with deep re

"I feel assured that your deliberations on the various important matters which will occupy your attention will be directed by a comprehensive regard for the interests and permanent welfare of all classes of my subjects; and I fervently pray that they may tend in their result to improve the national resources, and to encourage the industry and promote the happiness of my people.'

The business of the Session was commenced in the House of Lords by the Marquess of Abercorn, who, after her Majesty's Speech had been read by the Lord Chancellor, rose to move the Address in reply. His Lordship, after passing shortly in review the preliminary passages of the Speech, called the attention of the House especially to that portion of it which referred to the state of the national finances. Reduction and retrenchment, carried to the utmost limit which a due regard to the public service would admit of, had failed in rendering the income equal to the expenditure; and it would now be necessary to adopt some measure to meet the great consequent deficiency which had for several years been accumulating. With respect to the Corn-laws, he rejoiced to find that the question would be taken into early consideration. Much misapprehension and some ill-feeling had, he feared, been engendered by those agitators who had endeavoured to persuade the public that the interests of the agriculturist and of the manufacturer were at variance; but he confi

dently anticipated, notwithstanding all the difficulties of the subject, that means would be found which would protect and advance the interests both of the grower and of the consumer. After feelingly adverting to the great prevalence of distress in the manufacturing districts, and urging the necessity of instant, but well-considered legislation for its relief; he concluded by reading the Address, which, in the usual manner, responded throughout to the Speech from the Throne.

Lord Dalhousie seconded the motion, and congratulated the House upon the happy event which had added so much domestic felicity to the Sovereign; which had given the kingdom assurance that the line of succession would be preserved unbroken, and which had been made the occasion for an unquestionable proof of the firm union which existed between this country and its most distinguished Protestant ally. He then went severally through the topics suggested by the Royal Speech, and concluded by expressing his hope that the House would give its most careful attention to the measures which would be submitted to them, as well for the regulation of commerce, and the improvement of the law, as for the alleviation of the general distress, which was so deeply to be deplored.

Viscount Melbourne expressed his satisfaction with the Address itself, as well as with the speeches by which it was introduced, which, he observed, were extremely proper, and well calculated to produce unanimity of feeling. He could not but concur most cordially in the expressions of gratitude for the important event, which had diffused so much joy throughout

the country, and which had been rendered still more auspicious by the relations it had established between the Royal Family and the King of Prussia, which were calculated to obliterate all recollections of former political differences, and to insure the future peace of Europe. The noble Lord observed, with reference to the other topics contained in the Address, that it was a good omen for a country when those who had the management of it entertained a good opinion of the state of the affairs they had to conduct. His Lordship adverted particularly to the aspect of affairs in China, which appeared, he said, to have made a sudden and surprising step towards a satisfactory termination since the occasion on which the now President of the Board of Trade declared such a termination to be impossible. His Lordship then remarked upon the proposed alteration in the Cornlaws. On this subject he said :"He had been glad to hear that a prospect was held out in the Speech from the throne that some proposition would be submitted to their Lordships' consideration for a revision of the Corn-laws, and of the duties on exports generally. Of course it was not a committee of inquiry that was intended, but some measure was to be introduced. If such a measure was to be proposed, he hoped they would have nothing to do with the slidingscale. Nothing could be more absurd and ridiculous; it exceeded all that we found in romance, all that we met with in Rabelais. ("Hear, hear.") He did hope that that great absurdity would not be continued. There had been a great Conservative party, when it was necessary to deliver some opinion on the Corn-laws, laying their

heads together, and coming down to the Houses of Parliament-the present Heads of the Government and Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham-and saying, 'We cannot tell you what will be done with the Corn-laws; but one thing we will tell you, and that is, we will stand by the sliding-scale; as for pledging ourselves to the question of the Corn-laws, that cannot be done.' He did not know anything more absurd and ridiculous, and the sliding-scale must be done away with. This rising and falling, with the rise and fall of price, never could consist with the security and stability of a trade which was sufficiently uncertain and unstable of itself; they would never get the better of fraud, but they would increase the uncertainty of that which was already too uncertain. As he understood a measure was to be introduced on this subject, he entreated noble Lords opposite to reconsider this part of the question before they introduced their bill. The last topic he should advert to was the regret which her Majesty had been advised to express at the deep distress in the manufacturing districts. Whatever could be done by legislative means to alleviate that distress ought to be done with the utmost care; but he could not be a party to any proceedings in Parliament which held out a hope that legislative measures could prevent or entirely remove that distress. He agreed in what fell from the noble Lord who moved the Address, that our manufactures depended so much upon the variations of demand arising from taste, fashion, and foreign importations, and so large a mass of population were affected by those variations, that it would be holding out a delusion to the public

to pretend that any measures could prevent frequent distress and difficulty, and great vicissitudes in the rate of wages, in the mass of people exposed to the sudden transitions and changes to which manufactures were liable. Some persons were in the habit of attributing all these effects to the Cornlaws. He (Lord Melbourne) could not do so. He did not believe that the Corn-laws did produce them; they might have some part in producing them ; but he believed that the difficulty and distress now experienced were inseparable from and belonged to a state of manufacturing prosperity, and were the consequence of the great amount of capital invested in manufactures in this country. That everything should be done that could be done to alleviate it he admitted; but he did not think that it should be held out that alleviation could be effected by great changes in the Constitution, or by a change of those who administered the Government; which was only to sow a dangerous delusion in public credulity. It had been supposed that the measures of reform which had been introduced in late years had brought the greatest discredit upon those who had promoted them but if they had brought such discredit, it was the consequence of the disappointment of inordinate expectations. It had been said that the measure of Roman Catholic Emancipation had not produced the good which had been expected from it, and that the Reform Bill had not yielded many of the benefits, and had not corrected many of the evils contemplated by the Act. It might be so; but

if they had failed they had failed not from their own ill-working, for they had worked well,

but from the wild, unreasonable, and exaggerated expectations which were entertained from them. For himself, he considered that this had been the reason of the complaint, and he hoped that whatever course was taken, the same unreasonable expectations would not be indulged in, as to the effects likely to flow from the measures, otherwise the same consequences would follow.

The Earl of Ripon, in reply to Lord Melbourne's charge of his having stated his belief on a former occasion that the wars in China and Persia were not likely to be satisfactorily concluded, justified his statements with regard to the former country, and denied having made it with reference to the latter. With regard to the allusion made by the noble Lord (Melbourne), to the possibility of some Members of the present Government changing their opinions, he observed, that by so doing, were it possible they should do so, they would only be following the example set them by the noble Lord himself. With the last sentiments which had fallen from the lips of the noble Lord, about the difficulty of adequately providing against the distresses incidental to manufacturing districts, he (Lord Ripon) fully concurred.

After a few words from Lord Beaumont, who trusted that the anomalies of the sliding scale and the averages in the corn trade would be set at rest, Lord Brougham declared his satisfaction at the intimation of an intention to propose a revision of the Corn-laws. He was convinced, however, that the only safe mode of dealing with the subject, was by a total repeal of restrictions-gradual, indeed, in its progress, but total in its result. In connexion with the treaty which had been concluded for the sup

pression of the Slave-trade, his Lordship remarked upon the circumstances which had attended the recent capture of the Creole. He contended that the slaves who formed the cargo of that vessel had only acted in the exercise of a natural right in rising upon the crew, and carrying the ship in which they had been confined into an English port. A life had been lost in the scuffle which obtained them success; and eight of the slaves had been imprisoned on the charge of piracy and murder; and if a demand were made for the surrender of these slaves, compliance would be unlawful. The noble Lord proceeded to demonstrate this position at some length. In conclusion he said, he trusted their Lordships would allow him to add his congratulations to those which were announced in the opening part of the Speech, in allusion to the happy and auspicious visit to our shores of an illustrious and intelligent sovereign. He (Lord Brougham) entirely agreed in all that had been said in praise of the manner in which that illustrious Sovereign had been received by the people of England; he knew it to be deserved, because he did. not believe that there ever was a people inhabiting this island, or any other part of Europe, whose loyal affection and ardent loyalty to the Crown exceeded that of the now people of England. He would go further, and say that he knew no people, and he had been amongst the inhabitants of almost all countries in Europe he might say that he had travelled in and mixed with the inhabitants of every country in Europe, with the exception of Russia and Spain-and in no country had he ever seen a people more fond of Royalty, or more devoted

to the Throne than the people of England? How did he fortify that conclusion? By referring to the past. When his present Majesty the King of Prussia was in this country in 1814, he might well remember that the same overflowing, the same superabounding loyalty and affection were shown by the English people; and although upon that occasion, he and his Royal relative were accompanied by the other Sovereigns who were in alliance at the time, and by the noble and illustrious Duke, who had led their armies to victory after victory, yet even if he cast his eye back to 1814, he could not recollect any one expression of loyalty, of devotion to the Throne, and of affection for the Roval Person more than he had now heard and seen evinced in 1842. If it had so happened that His Majesty had visited this country some few years after 1814, he certainly would have found us less gay, but not less loyal. He would have found a whole people plunged into grief and affliction for the death of the Princess Charlotte; the grief upon that occasion he would have found as universal as in 1842 he found the exultation at the birth of an heir to the Throne. What conclusion did he draw from these facts? Since the former visit of the illustrious Sovereign, great changes had taken place in the Constitution of this country. A very large increase to the privileges of the people had been attained - a very ample extension of the representative system had been consummated. Some had called that a revolution; he had always denied, and would always deny the accuracy of the expression; but a very great change had been effected, and a great many of

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the people, who, upon the occasion of the former visit of the illustrious stranger were denied the privileges of the Constitution, had since been admitted within its pale. But had any one found that there had been any truth in the fear which had been so loudly and so often expressed while the change was being made? He then would ask, had any difficulty been found in the working of the Constitution, or was there shown any disloyalty to the Crown, or had the Throne been shaken to its foundation? the contrary, the illustrious visitor found an increase in the devotion and loyalty to the Crown, notwithstanding the extension of the privileges of the Constitution to a large section of the people heretofore shut out from them. One conclusion might be drawn from the fact by that illustrious personage, so far as respected his own country, and their Lordships might draw another with respect to our own. There was not in Europe at this or any former time a prince on the throne of any country who was more beloved, and most deservingly so, than the illustrious Sovereign to whom he alluded. He was a prince of large and liberal views, universally beloved wherever he was known (Hear, hear, from the Duke of Cambridge): it might be said of him, unlike many other princes of former times, he is the more beloved and respected the more he is known. ("Hear, hear," from the same quarter.) He (Lord Brougham) trusted that his observations on what had been the result of such liberal changes in this country, would encourage him to go on with the beneficial reforms he was making in his own country. He would find that there not only was no danger, but there would be