able and misguided individuals.He alluded to those wretched carpenters and tailors found plotting in public-houses. He warned the noble Lord, that a reaction would succeed, and that the people of this country would not be satisfied unless some larger and more comprehensive measures were resorted to than the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, or any of the other miserable Downing Street precedents for ruling a people.

The debate then terminated. At length, on the 5th of September, the end of this unprecedeuted session arrived. With the exception of the recess at Christmas, and the short intervals at Easter and Whitsuntide, Parliament had been sitting continuously for nearly ten months. Although the legislative results bore but a very scanty proportion to this vast consumption of time, the labours which the Members of the House of Commons had undergone had been very severe, and the relief afforded by the prorogation was both a needful and a welcome one. The long-desired event took place on the day above mentioned, Her Majesty being present in person. The magnificent new chamber of the Peers was crowded with persons of distinction. Among the spectators at the ceremony were the Duc de Némours and the Prince de Joinville. The Commons being summoned, the Speaker addressed the Queen in the following

ful examination of the Estimates which by your Majesty's commands were laid before us, we have made every practicable reduction in the public expenditure: at the same time that we have had regard to the financial state of prosperity of this country as affected by the commercial embarrassments of the past year, and by the interruption of trade consequent upon the late political events in Europe, we have taken every precaution to secure the efficiency of all departments of the public service.

"In obedience to your Majesty's most gracious recommendation, which was communicated to us by the Lords Commissioners at the commencement of the Session, our attention has been specially directed to measures relating to the public health. It is impossible to overrate the importance of a subject so deeply affecting the comfort and happiness of the poorer classes; and we confidently hope that, if the Bills which have been passed are carried out in the same spirit in which they have been framed, they will greatly tend to lessen the amount of human suffering, and to promote the moral improvement, as well as contentment, of the labouring classes in dense and populous districts.

"Not unmindful of the condition of Ireland, or of the distressed state of the poor in that country, owing to the limited demand for labour, we have provided additional funds, arising from the repayment of additional loans, to be expended in public works; and we have removed the impediments to the sale of encumbered estates, in order to encourage as much as possible the application of capital to the improvement of land.

"The spirit of insubordination which has prevailed in various parts of the country, especially in Ireland, has forced upon our consideration topics of a far more grave and anxious character. We have cordially concurred in those measures which have been thought necessary to secure obedience to the laws, and to repress and to prevent outrage and rebellion.

"Deeply sensible of the value of those institutions under which we have the happiness to live, no effort on our part has been wanting to preserve them from the evil designs of misguided men, who, taking advantage of a season of temporary distress, have endeavoured to excite discontent and insurrection.

"We have witnessed with gratitude and proud satisfaction the unequivocal expression, on the part of the great mass of the people, of those marks of attachment to their Sovereign and respect for the law; and we, as their representatives, participating to the fullest extent in these feelings, now tender to your Majesty the sincere expression of our devotion and loyalty."

The Queen, after having given the Royal Assent to some Bills presented by the Speaker, then read from the throne the following speech:

My Lords and Gentlemen,-I am happy to be able to release you from the duties of a laborious and protracted Session.

"The Act for the Prevention of Crime and Outrage in Ireland, which received my assent at the commencement of the Session, was attended by the most beneficial ef fects. The open display of arms intended for criminal purposes was checked; the course of justice was no longer interrupted; and several

atrocious murderers who had spread terror through the country were apprehended, tried, and convicted.

The distress in Ireland, consequent upon successive failures in the production of food, has been mitigated by the application of the law for the relief of the poor, and by the amount of charitable contributions raised in other parts of the United Kingdom.

"On the other hand, organized confederacies took advantage of the existing pressure to excite my suffering subjects to rebellion. Hopes of plunder and confiscation were held out to tempt the distressed, while the most visionary prospects were exhibited to the ambitious. In this conjuncture I applied to your loyalty and wisdom for increased powers; and, strengthened by your prompt concurrence, my Government was enabled to defeat in a few days machinations which had been prepared during many months. The energy and decision shown by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in this emergency deserve my warmest approbation.

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In the midst of these difficulties, you have continued your labours for the improvement of the laws. The Act for facilitating the Sale of Encumbered Estates will, I trust, gradually remove an evil of great magnitude in the social state of Ireland.

"The system of perpetual entails of land established in Scotland produced very serious evils both to heirs of entail and to the community; and I have had great satisfaction in seeing it amended upon principles which have long been found to operate beneficially in this part of the United Kingdom.

"I have given my cordial assent to the measures which have in view the improvement of the public

"I have to thank you for the readiness with which you have granted the Supplies necessary for the public service. I shall avail myself of every opportunity which the exigencies of the State may allow for enforcing economy.

"My Lords and Gentlemen

"I have renewed in a formal manner my diplomatic relations with the Government of France. The good understanding between the two countries has continued without the slightest interruption.

"Events of deep importance have disturbed the internal tranquillity of many of the states in Europe, both in the north and in the south. Those events have led to hostilities between neighbouring countries. I am employing my good offices, in concert with other friendly Powers, to bring to an amicable settlement these differences; and I trust that our efforts may be successful.

"I am rejoiced to think that an increasing sense of the value of

peace encourages the hope that the nations of Europe may continue in the enjoyment of its blessings.

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Amidst these convulsions, I have had the satisfaction of being able to preserve peace for my own dominions, and to maintain our domestic tranquillity. The strength of our institutions has been tried, and has not been found wanting. I have studied to preserve the people committed to my charge in the enjoyment of that temperate freedom which they so justly value. My people, on their side, feel too sensibly the advantages of order and security, to allow the promoters of pillage and confusion any chance of success in their wicked designs.

"I acknowledge with grateful feelings the many marks of loyalty and attachment which I have received from all classes of my people. It is my earnest hope that by cultivating respect to the law, and obedience to the precepts of religion, the liberties of this people may, by the blessing of Almighty God, be perpetuated."

The Lord Chancellor then declared the Parliament to be prorogued to the 2nd November, and the protracted Session of 1847-8 was at an end.

or shaken to their centre, and the deposition and flight of monarchs have attested the irresistible energy with which the people have risen to vindicate for themselves their real or fancied rights. We have not now to record the squabbles of a Chamber of Deputies, or a Cortes, or to chronicle changes of Ministry brought about by faction and intrigue, and exercising no important influence upon the world's history,-but the commencement and progress of mighty revolutions, which have swept away, as with a flood, the landmarks of ancient institutions, and introduced a new era in the political condition of Europe. These changes have happened with startling suddenness, and we believe that no one at the close of the preceding year could have conjectured from the aspect of affairs on the Continent the likelihood of their occurrence. And yet the mine was ready laid, and nothing was wanting but the match to produce the explosion. This was supplied by France; and to that country we must first turn, and contemplate the events which have produced such tremendous consequences.

The position of the Guizot Ministry at the close of the year 1847 was very anomalous. It possessed a large majority in the Chambers, but was mistrusted and disliked by the nation. Owing to the narrow basis of the electoral constituency, and the enormous amount of patronage whereby the Government was enabled to purchase the votes of that body, the Chamber of Deputies could hardly be called the representatives of the nation. The Minister relied upon a majority there and in the Chamber of Peers; but the people had begun loudly to complain that

they had practically no voice in the Legislature, and to insist upon an extension of the franchise. There was a deep-seated feeling that the majority in the Chamber of Deputies was purchased by the corrupt exercise of patronage, and hence it was looked upon as no index of the opinions of the French nation. But although it was very generally thought that, on the death of Louis Philippe, some great political convulsion would ensue, few, if any, looked forward to such an event during the lifetime of that monarch. That there was a Republican party in France was well known, but its numbers and influence were greatly underrated, and the abortive nature of the attempts which it had made to effect a change of Government, on several previous occasions since the accession of Louis Philippe to the throne, had induced the belief that no serious apprehension need be entertained of it during his life.

It was thought that the middle classes in France were too much interested in the preservation of order and tranquillity to embark willingly in the vortex of a revolution, and as the National Guard was composed of citizens taken chiefly from that important body, it was looked to more than the army as affording a guarantee for the maintenance of peace within the kingdom. The Guizot Ministry had, however, become very unpopular with the middle classes, and the King had so identified himself with his successive Governments, and it was so well known that he strongly influenced, if he did not altogether direct, the policy of his Cabinet, contrary to the favourite maxim of the Opposition in France, Le Roi règne, mais il ne gouverne pas, that the hostility en-,