The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-01 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE SESSION
OF PARLIAMENT.

Yesterday Her Majesty Queen Victoria opened the
Parliamentary Session of the year 1856 in person.
•At ten minutes before two o'clock her Majesty,
accompanied by Prince Albert, left Buckingham Palace
in state, and was loudly cheered by an enormous crowd
which had collected, despite the extreme coldness of the
day. The procession moved at a tolerably rapid pace
through the Park to the Horse Guards, and thence along
Whitehall and Parliament-street to the Victoria Tower.
The usual preparatious were made al-ng the line of
route for the accommodation of persons desirous of
witnessing the royal procession. At the Horse Guards,
at the Chapel Royal, and at must of the private houses,
there was a large number of visitors. From Bucking-
ham Palace to the Houses of Parliament her Majesty's
progress was greeted with onecontinueus cheer. When
the royal procession arrivel at the house a salute was
fired, and the bells of S. Margaret's church rang cut a
merry peal.

11;ralajestv alighted at the Victoria Tower, and was
received by the Lord Chancellor, Eirl Granville, the
Duke of Argyll, the Earl or Harrowhy, and others of the
ministry, and by them escorted to the Royal Robing-
room.

Long before this time the House of Lords was well
filled with peer,, and the galleries were crowded with
reresses and thi it friends, every available seat, whether
in the body of the house or in the galleries, being
occupied. The (o,ps diplornatique occupied scats at the
back of the ecclesiadical bench. The attendance of the
respective foreign courts was very large.
Precisely at two o'clock her Majesty, robed and wear-
ing the insignia of the garter, and a splendid diamond
tiara, entered tie house amidst a flourish of trumpets
and salvo of Artillery. All present rose, and at this
moment the house presented a most brilliant and animated
appeal mice, owing to the beauty of the ladies and ti►e
brilliancy of their attire, the colours and rays of which
were of every hue that the eye can conceive, and being
most tastefully, almost artistically, interspersed, had a
most pleasing effect.
lice Majesty, having ascended the throne, with Prince
Albert on her left-hand, and surrounded by the great
officers of state, graciously requested the assembly to be
seated, and at oni:e commanded Sir Augustus Clifford,
the Gentleman-Usher of the Black Rod, to summon the
immediate attendance of the House of Commons.

The Speaker, attired in his full state robes, shortly
after appeared at the bar of the house, attended by a
great number of members.
The Lord Chancellor, kneeling at the foot of the
throne, then delivered to her Majesty the speech.
Ibe Queen, with great dignity and unsurpassable
grace, then delivered the following

MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH.
my LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

Since the close of the last session of Parliament,
the arms of the Allies have achieved a signal
and important success: Sebastopol, the great
stronghold of Russia in the Black Sea, has
yielded to the persevering constancy and to
the daring bravery of the allied forces. The
naval and military preparations for the ensu-
ing year have necessarily occupied my serious
attention ; but, while determined to omit no effort
which could give vigour to the operations of the
war, I have deemed it my duty not to decline any
overtures which might reasonably afford a prospect
of a safe and honourable peace. Accordingly, when
the Emperor of Austria lately offered to myself and
to my august ally, the Emperor of the French, to
employ his good offices with the Emperor of
Russia, with a view to endeavour to bring about
an amicable adjustment of the matters at issue
between the contending powers, I consented, in
concert with my Allies, to accept the offer thus
made:; and I have the satisfaction to inform you
that certain conditions have been agreed upon
which I hope may prove the foundation of a
general Treaty of Peace.

Nogoo:o.tinno £o» ....ob. t €arockloy -4•411 oborkly bo
opened at Paris.

In conducting those negotiations, I shall bo
careful not to lose sight of the objects for which
the war was undertaken; awl I shall deem it right
in no degree to relax my naval and military
preparations until a satisfactory treaty of peace
shall have been concluded.

Although the war in which I am engaged was
brought on by events in the South of Europe, my
attention has not been withdrawn from the state of
things in the North; aid, in conjunction with the
Emperor of the French, I have concluded with the
King of Sweden and Nom ty, a treaty containing
defensive en;a4l:nents applicable to his domi-
nions, and tending to the preservation of the
balance of power in that part of

ll'Op 0

I have also concluded a treity of frieniship,
commerce, and navigation with the Republic of
Chili. I have given directions that these treaties

shall be laid before you.
:..ELEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS—
The E.,Limates for the ensuin4 year will be laid
before yo,.t. You will find them framed in such a
manner IN to provide for the exigencies of war, if
peace should, unfortunately, not be concluded.
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN—

It is gratifying to me to ob:i,rve that, notwith-
standing the pressure of the war, and the burthens
and sacrifices which it has , unavoidably imposed
upon my people, the resources of my Empire
remain unimpaired. I rely with confidence on the
manly spirit, and enlightened patriotism; of my loyal
subjects for a continuance of that support which
they have so nobly afforded me, and they may be
assured that I shall not call upon them for exer-
tions beyond what may be required by a die
regard for the great interests, the honour, and the
dignity of the Empire.
There are many subjects connected with internal
improvement, which I recommend to your attentive
consideration.

The difference which exists in sev,;ral im-
portant particulars between the commercial
laws of Scotland and those of the other parts
of the United Kingdom, has occasioned inconven-
ience to a large portion of my subjects engaged in
trade. Measures will be proposed to you for remedy-
in g this evil.

Measures will also be proposed to you for
improving the laws relating to partnership, by
simplifying those laws, and thus rendering more
easy the employment of capital in commerce.

The system under which merchant-shipping is
liable to pay local dues, and passing tolls, has been
the subject of much complaint. Measures will be
proposed to you for affording relief in regard
to those matters.

Other important measures for improving the
Law in Great Britain and in Ireland will be
proposed to you, which will, I doubt not, receive
your attentive consideration.

Upon these and all other matters upon which
you may deliberate, I fervently pray that the bles-
sing of Divine Providence may favour your coun-
cils, and guide them to the promotion of the great
object of my unvarying solicitude—the welfare and
the happiness of my people.

. .
Her Majesty then bowed to the assemhlr.d Peers, and
deseendiHg from the throne, quitted the House in the
same state as she had entered.

Their Lordships then adjourned during pleaure.

. _
The Queen returned to buckinghain Palace, and along
the whole line of route was greeted with the must
enthusiastic cheers of an immense concourse of her
loyal and devoted subjects.

At th re-astemblinz of their Lordships at five o'clock, after the
tran.action of some thimportant business,

The Earl of GDSE's)iio moved th t a Ilreqs in answer to her
itiajnsty's speech. He observed that from experience gained ,luring
the last two 3-earn he had ant cipated a bril 'ant and successful
camoaign this year, but the cbcomitances had changed before their
Lordships, and he now appt.arcd as an advocate for peace. Tho
prospect of war came suddenly upon the country, ju,t as she had
shaken eff the effects of forty years' peace, and it must not give star-