ADDRESS ON THE King's Speech AT THE OPENING OF THE SESSION.] The Speaker acquainted the House that that House had been in the House of Peers, where his Majesty had delivered a most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament, and of which, to prevent mistakes, he had obtained a copy. [See p. 1.] After the Speaker had read the Speech, Mr. George Bankes rose, and spoke to the following effect:-Mr. Speaker; In proposing an Address to his Majesty, of acknowledgment for the gracious Speech which we heard some hours ago, and which you have at last had an opportunity of reading to us, I shall not trouble you with any expressions of conscious insufficiency, because I am aware they are a very poor excuse for the presumption of a voluntary undertaking, and because I do not apprehend any thing very difficult in returning a suitable acknowledgment for gracious intimations and assurances, every way calculated to inspire a dutiful and affectionate feeling. As one of his majesty's many, many loyal subjects, I propose, Sir, that we approach his Throne, to assure him of the fidelity of a nation which is sound at heart-a nation not so intoxicated by the splendor of unparalleled triumphs, nor so lulled to apathy by the security of a profound peace, as to visit with ingratitude the promoter of those triumphs and the procurer of this honourable repose. In a nation in which all are free, folly must have her freedom, and mischief will mark her for its tool; folly will discharge her debts of gratitude by denying their amount-by forgetting the danger from which she has been delivered, though ever when in peril herself the loudest to complain and the foremost to despair. The spirit of mischief can have no account of gratitude to settle with the peace maker; it is a spirit obnoxious to repose; in war and tumult it can be content to hope all evil to the good order which it hates; but in peace, it must counsel and contrive it; it is then that it is seen walking restless through the dry places of the land, instigating the owner of each poor and barren plot, not to cultivate and improve, but to curse the little portion he is heir to. It was this same spirit that could heretofore with mischievous exaggeration deck out the avowed implacable enemy of its country with irresistible might, with infallible sagacity, and inexhaustible resource, and with prophetic fervor could foretel the stability of all that he should set up, and the ruin of all he should denounce; the same spirit that could boldly excuse and justify all his crimes, or more boldly could deny them. When baffled in its every hope, belied by every prophecy, this bankrupt firm of impudent invention has still new fictions ready for new credulity, new idols for folly's worship, and honourable attributes for every new disturber of the public quiet. If it be true that each several nation has a peculiar national character belonging to its inhabitants, the king who finds himself at the head of a frank, a gallant, and a generous people can wish to exchange the subjects of his government for no others on the face of the earth; in their valour he is renowned abroad-in their honourable allegiance he is secure at home; but there are circumstances that will invariably work a change in every national character, and perhaps the strongest changes are the most generous and the best. Such is the circumstance of great national success in war-this will infuse a chivalrous ardour-a zeal for enterprise-a restless desire of still finding something to oppose, and something to defend-a chivalry that will delight in the mimic circumstance of war, the polished armour and the nodding plume-a chivalry that will combat imaginary oppressors, that will liberate convicted culprits, and commission them to carry their chains and their innocence to the inspiring genius of its romantic history. Such drawback to national successes in the wild enthusiasm they inspire, it may be well for a prince, on his own personal account, to estimate before he voluntarily engages in a war; in defensive warfare, however, he can have no option, and where upon first assuming the reins of government, he finds the kingdoms of his rule already engaged up to the very crisis of a contest, no alternative remaining but between perseverance in much peril, or submission in lowest degradation, he has then only to elect whether he will choose to reign over a broken-hearted humbled people, who will never infringe his prerogatives, nor question his rights, nor obstruct his functions, nor presume to insult his person, or whether, dismissing all selfish consideration, at the risk of the throne he sits on, unappalled by the fate of his neighbour kings, then captives or in exile, unintimidated by those at home whose patriotic prudence would suggest more cautious counsels-whether he will, disdaining all compromise of national dignity, rouse the ardour of his empire, and dare to rely upon it. If he shall have pursued this course, and if in doing so he shall have saved for his kingdoms every thing, and their honour, it is no small drawback that shall cancel the gratification of his bosom; and could he, at a moment when popular ardour is misled, regret the deliverance he has worked and the laurels he has planted, he might perhaps deserve that those whose deliverance he has worked should withhold from him their gratitude and affection. The partial abuses of benefits conferred will not check the further efforts of beneficent minds; if they did so, all national improvement must stand still, the illiterate must remain without instruction, because those who had hitherto abused their ignorance are now poisoning the new springs of their knowledge. Unhappily, this wickedness has not spared us, it is, Sir, the " unkindest cut of all;" that benevolent, christian, good-will towards man, which had spared neither toil nor cost, by education, to enlighten, and, by enlightening to improve, is doomed to suffer, like the wounded bird of the Poet, who "Saw his own feather on the fatal dart, And winged the shaft which quivered in Keen was the pang, but keener still to feel, steel." As one who can share a pride in the intellectual improvement of his fellow subjects; who can admire the zeal which excites, and the liberality which promotes it; who can appreciate the laborious research which renovates pious endowments, long since sleeping with their founders; as one who can pay the humble tribute of his praise for all that has been done and is doing in this cause, I cannot but deeply share their mortification who deplore the base perversion of such noble purposes. It is no new thing, indeed, for slander to arraign all that is high and holy; but the tongue of slander, however venomous, can inflict no wound, can effect no puncture, in the character that is sound and whole; it is the pen of the libeller, against which innocence is no shield; and at a time when the evil eye of discontent not only envies its neighbour's goods, but covets its neighbour's character, we have, Sir, to dread and to repel one general levelling system, both of property and of good name. The barrier of the constitution will not fall down at the first giddy shout of the multitude; the high tribunals which are its bulwarks will yet stand, though treason deny their authority, and conscious guilt their justice; blasphemy may rail at the holy place, and hypocrisy defile it with her pageants, long, long before the dome will totter; but the ruin must come at last, if the remedy be not fitly interposed. When the league of what is base and false, profligate and malicious, shall unite honour and integrity to oppose it, the evil then works its own cure, and the remedy is near at hand; we know its efficacy, we have proved it scarce a twelvemonth since. In the shows and processions of the year which has just expired, who but must have called to mind the like exhibitions of the twelvemonth which preceded it? The music, the march, and the banner, the meeting, the resolution, and address; those first were the very prototypes of these last arrays; the same in their real origin, and in their real object, differing only in their method of pursuing it; the first pursued its object by denouncing the aristocracy, the second by denouncing the Crown; the aristocracy was then true to itself; the representatives of the people were then faithful; and if the highest duties of fidelity be now as well fulfilled, the country is yet safe.-If we turn our eyes from the cares of domestic solicitude and look abroad, the whole world is to us a scene of calm, of tranquillity; our flag flies on every sea, our busy industry plies in every port; our merchants are the rulers of kingdoms, our character every where high, and our credit every where firm. If this honour, if this power, if this peace, have been worth winning, we might, Sir, think them worth enjoying; but there is a consistency we have new functions to attend to, and a in the perverseness of those who refuse new degree of vigilance to exercise. The to enjoy the fruits of measures which they greatness we have so hardly earned we have so loudly and indiscriminately con- never shall willingly descend from; we demned. If the ill-humour which has for shall bequeath it to posterity as we won twenty long years and more, so actively it; it is a greatness which is no empty despaired of the public weal, would at last name. This greatness is the vigour of confine the limit of its despondency to its our commerce, and the credit of our merown particular views and its own private cantile good faith. We have no covetous ends, content might then rest at home, and craving to satisfy, either of riches or of in its easy seat enjoy the fire-side it has territory-the treasury of Europe was at defended; but when the shout of clamour our feet when our bayonets mounted is heard from without, that well-known guard at Paris: we parted the spoil cry which so loudly informed our enemies amongst the rightful claimants, keeping of the exhaustion of our resources and the for ourselves nothing but the satisfaction futility of our resistance; that same cry of having done so. From a nation which which so urgently demanded a reform, has so acted, no well-constituted governsince confessed by its chiefest advocates ment will fear aggression, nor will proto be impracticable or inexpedient; that voke it; and we have the satisfaction of same cry which so formidably opposed knowing, that his majesty receives from any protection to our agricultural interest, foreign powers the assurance of a conunder which protection alone, daily labour tinuance of their friendly dispositions.→→ is now eating its daily bread, as often as Whilst we lament that unfortunate cirthis cry of ill-omen is raised and is reiter- cumstances affecting the commercial ated, activity must become a duty, and credit of Ireland have impeded the rethe supineness of loyalty is a cowardice at ceipts of the public revenue in that part least. It is said that there are some, and of the United Kingdom, we turn with pethere are some who have said it them- culiar pleasure to the consolatory balance selves, that on looking back to the popular of new encouragement to our manufacdemands which they have sanctioned with tures, by the recent improvement of our their names, and supported with their trade; and it is with satisfaction we hear abilities, they are now convinced, that that his majesty has been enabled to make youthful ardour had led them to overstep some further reduction in his military esthe line of expediency and prudence. It tablishment.-Sir, in adverting to the might be well if those whose second and proposed provision for the Queen, I imabetter thoughts lead them to this con-gine it will be sufficient that on the preclusion, would apply their matured judg-sent occasion we express our humble acment to the consideration of the future as well as of the past, and would view in prospect the expediency of those measures to which they may now be lending the weight of their names and of their stations and their characters. It might be well if they would remember, that the strong assertion is received into ready ears which are shut against the subsequent explanation, and that there are some evils, easily inflicted, for which retraction is no redress. The breach of that cordial confidence which ought to subsist, and which has subsisted, between the several orders of society living under this happy constitution, must be an evil beyond redress; this confidence was our strength in battle, our union in effort, our hope, and our protection. He who dissolves it, breaks our talisman, "the only witchcraft we have used" to make of a little island a great nation. Sir, as a great nation taking a chief place amongst the chiefest powers of the earth, quiescence in his majesty's recommendation; and, without presuming to suggest what line of conduct may best become others, I am satisfied it will best become me to avoid the utterance of a single word which might provoke premature discussion, and unnecessarily disturb the unanimity of our this night's vote. It is in the sincere hope and expectation of an unanimous concurrence that I propose an Address consistent with the sentiments I have declared, and with the feelings I entertain of loyalty to the throne, and of ardent love for our constitution as it stands, and as it has so long stood.-The hon. gen tleman then moved, "That an humble Address be presented to his majesty, to return the thanks of this House for his most gracious Speech from the throne:To express the satisfaction which we feel in learning that his majesty continues to receive from foreign powers the strongest assurances of their conviction, that, notwithstanding the agitation produced by temporary circumstances, and, amidst the distress which still presses upon a large portion of his majesty's subjects, the firmest reliance may be placed on that affectionate and loyal attachment to his majesty's person and government, the testimonies of which he is graciously pleased to acknowledge as having recently received from all parts of his kingdom, and to consider as the best and surest safeguard of his throne:To assure his majesty, that, in the discharge of the important duties imposed upon us, we are fully sensible of the indispensable necessity of promoting, to the utmost of our power, a due obedience to the laws, and of instilling into all classes of our fellow subjects a respect for lawful authority, and for those established institutions, under which the country has been enabled to overcome so many difficulties, and to which, under Providence, may be ascribed our happiness and renown as a nation." friendly disposition towards this country; and gratefully to acknowledge his majesty's gracious intimation of the deep regret which he should feel if the occurrences which have taken place in Italy should eventually lead to any interruption of tranquillity in that quarter, as well as in the declaration that it would in that case be his majesty's great object to secure to his people the continuance of peace:-To thank his majesty for having directed the estimates for the current year to be laid before us, and to express our satisfaction that his majesty has been enabled to make some reduction in our military establishments:-To assure his majesty that we shall have great pleasure in finding, from the accounts of the public revenue, that notwithstanding the receipt in Ireland has proved materially deficient, in consequence of the unfortunate circumstances which have affected the commercial credit of that part of the United Kingdom, and although our foreign trade during the early part of this time was in a state of depression, the total revenue has Mr. James Browne rose to second the nevertheless exceeded that of the pre- Address. He said, that eventful times ceding year; and that, though a consi- had been lately witnessed, in which dederable part of this increase must be as-structive principles had assumed new cribed to the new taxes, the augmentation in some of those branches which are the surest indications of internal wealth will be found to have fully realized any expectation which could reasonably have been formed of it:-To assure his majesty, that we shall not fail to apply ourselves to consider what new provisions it will, under present circumstances, be necessary to make for the Queen, the separate provision which was made for her majesty as princess of Wales, in the year 1814, having terminated with the demise of his late majesty; and to thank his majesty for informing us, that he has in the mean time directed such advances to be made as are authorized by law :-To express our concurrence in the satisfaction felt by his majesty in being able to acquaint us that a considerable improvement has taken place in several of the most important branches of our commerce and manufactures; and that, in many of the manufacturing districts, the distresses which prevailed at the commencement of the last session of parliament have greatly abated:-To thank his majesty for the assurance of his most anxious desire to concur in every measure which may be considered as calculated to advance our internal prosperity: -To convey to his majesty our strong shapes, and menaced every thing valuable with ruin. He hoped such scenes would never be renewed. He could almost wish them obliterated from our history, if it were not that their remembrance might have a salutary influence on two sets of men-one of whom forgot their duty to their country, in the heated activity of party, and the other passively submitted to the developement of principles at variance with all its interests. As to the Address which had just been offered to the House, he did not know what grounds of opposition there could be to it. The present times imposed on parliament a heavy responsibility. He was sure it was the wish of every honest man to see parliament take such steps as would tend to tranquillise the country. It was only his part to show that the Address advised such a mode of proceeding. It was peculiarly necessary in these times, when principles of rational duty and conduct had been so much laid aside, that parliament should not so descend from its high station, and be so forgetful of its dignity as to allow the session to terminate without attending to the wants, the interests and the business of the nation [hear! from all parts of the House]. He should not have indulged in those general observations, if facts had not too strongly impressed on his mind the necessity of keeping such points in view. The honourable member then adverted to the actual state of Ireland. He said, that by a kind of infatuation, from which no national wisdom was at times exempt, the affairs of Ireland had been for a long time made the subject of short consultations and ill-attended debates. Yet during the progress of the events which had lately harassed and divided this country, the most furious demagogue there had not raised his voice to applaud the conduct of those who endeavoured to agitate Great Britain, and who introduced the new and odious doctrine, that the same licence should be allowed to female conduct which the established usages of society had given to men. It did not, however, require much research into history, to show, that national debauchery and national ruin went hand in hand. As to ministers, he, for one, must approve of their conduct in the most trying emergencies. He saw in them no deficiency of virtue or wisdom. They had acted in a manner worthy of themselves, and worthy of the great glories which they had achieved for the countryglories which he trusted would eventually bear them triumphant through all the aspersion and calumny which the spirit of party had endeavoured to heap upon them; but if they failed, it was his sincere opinion that they would fall in the defence of all those principles and institutions which contributed to the national safety, honour and happiness. He concluded by seconding the Address. Mr. Curwen concurred in many of the general observations expressed by the honourable mover and seconder of the Address, and agreed with them, that the Speech from the throne did not contain any topic on which there could be any material difference of opinion; but although what it contained was not likely to provoke discussion, yet he could not but remark upon what it had omitted. It was not the first time he had had to lament the ignorance which ministers showed of the real state of the country. When he looked to the state of agriculture, he would ask, could the noble lord opposite be really ignorant that the agricultural interests were in so wretched a condition, that scarcely any abatement would induce the cultivators of the land to go on with their labours? Knowing, as he did, their privations, their disappointments, their sufferings, he could not but call on every man of sound and honest feeling to admire their exemplary patience. There were men, however, who arrogated to themselves the monopoly of all the loyalty in the country; but the conduct of a community which had borne unexampled hardships with an unparalleled spirit of endurance, proved that loyalty was not an exclusive possession, that it was not confined to this or that set of men, but was the great characteristic of the country. This being the case, he was sorry to find that the Crown, on the present occasion, had not expressed one solitary feeling of regret for the fallen prosperity of agriculture, and the ruin of the spirited and hardy race, whose labours had previously placed it in so flourishing a condition. He could not tell why this topic had been passed over ; he did not speak of it as an irritating subject, nor did he wish to recall the events of past times. If he touched upon matters of so melancholy a character, it was because he wished that measures should be taken, while there was yet time, to conciliate the operation of all parties, in attempting the salvation of the country. He had long ago told ministers that they were leading the country to ruin; and he saw that their measures were so partial and confined, that in avoiding one evil they necessarily fell into another. Deeply did he lament, that session after session should be suffered to pass without any attempt to discover a real and effectual remedy for such a state of things; yet he still hoped that it was not too late for that remedy to be applied. He rejoiced in the temper evinced by the Speech from the throne; by that Speech he would wish to believe that the olive-branch was held out. Whatever might be the conduct of ministers, it showed something like a spirit to conciliate and heal, and he hoped in God, that such an expectation might be realised. The hon. gentleman then adverted to the subject of reform in parliament: he stated that a temperate reform, such a reform as would make that House be respected by the people (and further he would not go), was essential to the reestablishment of internal peace, and general confidence and prosperity. As to ministers, they had fully proved their inability to govern; never was the community so universally impressed with the conviction of the incapacity of their responsible rulers as at the present moment; so ge |