The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

PROROGATION

PAR LTA ME NT.

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(THIS DAY.)

The protracted session of 1853 was brought to
a close to-day, by Royal Commission. Owing to
the absence of her Majesty, the event excited
little interest, and there was nothing to distin-
guish the sitting of the house from an ordinary
one, except the presence of a considerable number
of ladies, and the attendance of the Lords' Com-
missioners in their scarlet robes.

Precisely at 2 o'clock the Lords' Commissioners
entered, and took their seats on the bench imme-
diately in front of the throne. They were the
Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Breadalbane,
the Duke of Argyll, the Duke of Newcastle, and
Earl Granville.

Sir Augustus Clifford, the Usher of the Black
Rod, was then directed to summon the Commons,
and he immediately left the house. In a few
minutes afterwards, the Speaker appeared at the
bar, accompanied by the Sergeant-at-Arms and
Sir Augustus Clifford, and followed by Lord Pal-
merston, Mr. Brotherton, Sir G. Pechell, Lord
D. Stuart, Mr. Walpole, and a considerable num-
ber of other members.

The Commission was then read by the 'Clerk
at the table, and the Royal Assent was given in
the usual form to several public and private bills.

The LORD CHANCELLOR then read the
Royal speech, as follows :
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

We are commanded by her Majesty to release
you from your attendance iu Parliament, and at
the same time to express her Majesty's cordial
approbation of the zeal and assiduity with which,
during a protracted and laborious session, you
have applied yourselves to the consideration of
many subjects of great importance to the public
welfare.

Her Majesty has seen with much satisfaction
that, by the remission and reduction of taxes
which tended to cramp the operations of trade
and industry, you have given fresh extension to
a system of beneficent legislation, and have largely
increased the means of obtaining the necessaries of
life.

The provision which you have made for meet-
ing the demands of the public service, not only in
the present but also in future years, is of a nature
to give permanent stability to our finances, and
thereby to aid in consolidating the strength and
resources of the empire.

The buoyant state of the Revenue, and the
steady progress of our Foreign Trade, are proofs
of the wisdom of the commercial policy now firmly
established ; while the prosperity which pervades
the great trading and producing classes, happily,
without even a partial exception, affords con-
tinued and increasing evidence of the enlarged
comforts of the people.

The measure which you have passed for the
future government of India has been readily sanc-
tioned by her Majesty, in the persuasion that it
will prove to have been wisely framed, and that
it is well calculated to promote the improvement
and welfare of her Majesty's Eastern dominions.
Her Majesty regards with peculiar satisfaction
the provision you have made for the better ad-
ministration of Charitable Trusts. The obstacles
which existed to the just and beneficial use of
property set apart for the purposes of Charity and
of Education, have been a serious public evil, to
which her Majesty is persuaded that in your wis-
dom you have now applied an efficient remedy.