The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-06 00:00:00

THE VESTRIES BILL.

On the motion of Earl GRA NVILLE, this bill was read
a first time.

THE ADDRESS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR read her Majesty's Speech
as follows :

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

Her Majesty commands us to inform you that
since you were last assembled she has declared
her consent to a marriage between His Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales and Her Royal
Highness the Princess Alexandra, daughter of
Prince Christian of Denmark; and her Majesty
has concluded thereupon a treaty with the King of
Denmark, which will be laid before you.
The constant proofs which her Majesty has
received of your attachment to her person and
family persuade her that you will participate
in her sentiments on an event so interesting
to her Majesty, and which, with the blessing
of God, will, she trusts, prove so conducive to the
happiness of her family and to the welfare of her
people.
Her Majesty doubts not that you will enable her
to make provision for such an establishment as you
may think suitable to the rank and dignity of the
Heir Apparent to the Crown of these realms.
A revolution having taken place in Greece, by
which the Throne of that Kingdom has be-
come vacant, the Greek nation have ex-
pressed the strongest desire that her Majesty's
son Prince Alfred should accept the Greek
Crown. This unsolicited and spontaneous
manifestation of good-will towards her Majesty and
her Family, and of a due appreciation of the bene-
fits conferred by the principles and practice of the
British Constitution, could not fail to be highly
gratifying, and has been deeply felt by her
Majesty.
But the diplomatic engagements of her Majesty's
Crown, together with other weighty considerations,
have prevented her Majesty from yielding to this
general wish of the Greek nation.
Her Majesty trusts, however, that the same
principles of choice which led the Greek nation
to direct their thoughts, in the first instance, to-
wards His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, may
guide them to the selection of a Sovereign under
whose sway the Kingdom of Greece may
enjoy the blessings of internal prosperity
and of peaceful relations with other States ;
and if in such a state of things the Republic
of the Seven Islands should declare a deliberate
wish to be united to the Kingdom of Greece, her
Majesty would be prepared to take such steps as
may be necessary for a revision of the Treaty
of November, 1815, by which that Republic
was reconstituted and was placed under the pro-
tection of the British Crown.

Her Majesty's relations with foreign Powers
continue to be friendly and seisfactory.
Her Majesty has abstained from taking any step
with a view to induce a cessation of the conflict
between the contending parties in the North Ame-
rican States; because it has not yet seemed to Her
Majesty that any such overtures could be attended
with a probability of success.
Her Majesty has viewed with the deepest
concern the desolating warfare which still
rages in those regions ; and she has wit-
nessed with heartfelt grief the severe dis-
tress and suffering which that war has inflicted
upon a large class of her Majesty's subjects, but
which have been borne by them with noble forti-
tude and with exemplary resignation. It is some
consolation to her Majesty to be led to hope that
this suffering and this distress are rather dimi-
nishing than increasing; and that some revival of
employment is beginning to take place in the manu-
facturing districts.
It has been most gratifying to her Majesty to
witness the abundant generosity with which all
classes of her subjects in all parts of her Em-
pire have contributed to relieve the wants of
their suffering fellow-countrymen ; and the libe-
rality with which her Majesty's colonial subjects
have on this occasion given their aid has proved
that, although their dwelling-places are far away,
their hearts are still warm with unabated affection
for the land of their fathers.

The Relief Committees have superintended with
constant and laborious attention the distribution of
the funds entrusted to their charge.
Her Majesty commands ns to inform you that
she has concluded with the King of the Belgians a
treaty of commerce and navigation, and a conven-
tion respecting joint-stock companies. That treaty
and that convention will be laid before you.
Her Majesty has likewise given directions that
there shalt be laid before you papers relating to the
affairs of Italy, of Greece, and of Denmark, and
that papers shall also be laid before you relating to
occurrences which have lately taken place in Japan.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
Her Majesty has directed that the Estimates
for the ensuing year shall be laid before you.
They have been prepared with a due regard
to economy, and will provide for such reductions of
expenditure as have appeared to be consistent with
the proper efficiency of the public service.
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
We are commanded by her Majesty to inform
you that notwithstanding the continuance of the
civil war in North America, the general commerce
of the country during the past year has not sensibly
diminished.
The Treaty of Commerce which her Majesty
concluded with the Emperor of the French has
already been productive of results highly advan-
tageous to both the nations to which it applies ; and
the general state of the Revenue, notwithstanding
many unfavourable circumstances, has not been un-
satisfactory.
Her Majesty trusts that these results may be
taken as proofs that the productive resources of the
country are unimpaired.
It has been gratifying to her Maj. sty to ob-
serve the spirit of order which happily prevails
throughout Ner dominions, and which is so
essential an element in the well being and pro
sperity of nations.
Various measures of public usefulness and im-
provement will be submitted for your considera-
tion; and her Majesty fervently prays that in all
your deliberations the blessing of Almighty God
may guide your counsels to too promotion of the
welfare and-happiness of her pple.
The Earl of DUDLEY rose to move that an humble
address be presented to her Majesty in answer to her most
gracious Speech, and said he was relieved of much of the
anxiety which naturally attached to those performing the
duty that now devolved upon him in consequence of the
satisfactory statements it contained, The intimation abet
Majesty that the marriage of his Royal Highness had been
determined on would be received with the greatest joy by
with the greatest
the whole country, and he sincerely trusted that it would be
productive of the greatest happiness to her Majesty and his
dis-
tant—would be calledduomp
Royal Highness. It was a source of the highest gratifica-
tion to their lordships that his Royal Highness on that
occasion had taken his place amongst the peers of England.
Greece, and
0 trusted that that marriage would be attended
the first chosen of
could not be obtained, in the course of time—which he hoped was far is-
ful as England upon to
gohvaeprnpinaescsount:ryosneepowwdhe.or:
andi. t Tahb el e
tnextouifieldol,
th topicea vtahcaatn pt rtehsreonntee
throne, but
uitselfwasstill
fervently to be hoped, although
the people of that country
found willing
cession
nvern that country. The
would be found capable to govern sovereign would be
hoped that amongst the themselves some one
paragraph relating to the c
the first might seem to some as :f the lonian Islands at
might appear that a portion of this kingdomerY atartling, because it
be given to another country, but that wawas about to
England had but the protectorate of those not
islso, because
savage warfare that at present existed onantdhs. The
' side of the Atlantic was a cause of
universal
eother
grief, and he hoped in the interests of humanity th
that state of things would shortly end. It was the mostat
earnest desire of all in this country that the war should