valuable boon conferred upon the community at large.

I hope that the measures which you have adopted for promoting extramural interment of the dead, and for improving the supply of water, may be found effectual for the remedy of evils, the existence of which has long been a reproach to this great metropolis, and may conduce to the health and comfort of its inhabitants.

"The extension of popular rights and legislative powers to my subjects resident in the Colonies is always to me an object of deep interest; and I trust that the representative institutions which, in concert with you, I have sanctioned for New Zealand, may promote the welfare and contentment of the population of that distant but most interesting colony, and confirm their loyalty and attachment to my Crown.

"It is my intention, without delay, to dissolve this present Parliament, and it is my earnest prayer that, in the exercise of the high

functions which, according to our free Constitution, will devolve upon the several constituencies, they may be directed by an all-wise Providence to the selection of representatives whose wisdom and patriotism may aid me in my unceasing endeavours to sustain the honour and dignity of my Crown, to uphold the Protestant institutions of the country and the civil and religious liberty which is their natural result, to extend and improve the national education, to develope and encourage industry, art, and science, and to elevate the moral and social condition, and thereby promote the welfare and happiness, of my people."

The Lord Chancellor then announced Her Majesty's command, that the Parliament be prorogued till the 20th day of August. The order for its dissolution appeared the next day in the Gazette, and the Members were dismissed, to seek a renewal of their respective trusts from their constituents.

THE

THE result of the general election, which took place in the summer of 1852, did not appear materially to alter the relative strength of parties. It became evident, before it concluded, that there would not, at all events, be such a decisive majority in favour of the restoration of protection to agriculture as would justify the Government, even in Lord Derby's view, in attempting to reverse the policy of free trade. The language more recently held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer pointed rather to a relief of the burdens complained of by the landed and farming interest through a re-adjustment of taxation, and prospects were held out of some comprehensive change in the financial arrangements of the country, which would afford relief to the depressed classes, without, at the same time, inflicting injustice upon any other. The curiosity felt as to the commercial and fiscal policy of the Derby Cabinet, upon which, as was generally understood, its continuance in office depended, caused the assembling of Parliament in November to be anticipated with unusual interest. One other subject alone divided the public mind with these political speculations the expected obsequies of that illustrious commander and statesman whose recent death had awakened

throughout the length and breadth of the land one general outburst of sorrow, admiration, and grati tude.

The day appointed for the meeting of the new Parliament was the 4th of November. The first business transacted on that day was the election of a Speaker. The House having met, Mr. Robert Palmer rose, and after adverting in terms of high encomium to the qualities of the right hon. Member for North Hampshire, who had filled this high office for the last 13 years with so much advantage to the country, and so much honour to himself-to his knowledge of the law and practice of Parliament, his impartiality, his equanimity of temper, and his courteous demeanour he concluded by moving that the right hon. Charles Shaw Lefevre do take the chair.

The motion was seconded by Lord Robert Grosvenor, followed by Sir R. H. Inglis, who remarked upon the severe labour which now fell upon the Speaker of that House. There being no opposition, the election would have passed by acclamation, but some Members calling "Question," the Chief Clerk put the question, which was carried nem. con. in the affirmative.

Mr. Lefevre, in a graceful and feeling speech, expressed his submission to the decision of the

House, and was conducted by the mover and seconder to the chair.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer congratulated the Speaker elect upon having been again selected by the Commons of England to receive the highest honour which they could confer upon one of their number.

Lord J. Russell expressed his satisfaction at the election to preside over the debates of a new House of Commons, of a gentleman who could enforce with judgment

its rules and orders.

After a few words from Mr. Hume, the proceedings terminated. For several days afterwards the time of the House was occupied with the swearing-in of Members. On the 11th, Her Majesty met her Parliament for the purpose of opening their deliberations. The Royal Speech was in the following terms :

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My Lords and Gentlemen, "I cannot meet you for the first time after the dissolution of Parliament, without expressing my deep sorrow, in which I am sure you will participate, that your deliberations can no longer be aided by the counsels of that illustrious man whose great achievements have exalted the name of England, and in whose loyalty and patriotism the interests of my throne and of my people ever found an unfailing support. I rely with confidence on your desire to join with me in taking such steps as may mark your sense of the irreparable loss which the country has sustained by the death of Arthur Duke of Wellington.

"I am happy to acknowledge the readiness with which my subjects in general have come forward, in pursuance of the Act of

last session, to join the ranks of the militia; and I confidently trust that the force thus raised by voluntary enlistment will be calculated to give effective aid to my regular army for the protection and security of the country.

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I continue to receive from all foreign powers assurances of their anxious desire to maintain the friendly relations now happily subsisting with my Government.

Frequent and well-founded complaints on the part of my North American colonies, of infractions, by citizens of the United States, of the Fishery Convention of 1818, induced me to dispatch, for the protection of their interests, a class of vessels better adapted to the service than those which had been previously employed. This step has led to discussions with the Government of the United States; and while the rights of my subjects have been firmly maintained, the friendly spirit in which the question has been treated induces me to hope that the ultimate result may be a mutually beneficial extension and improvement of our commercial intercourse with that great Republic.

"The special mission which, in concert with the Prince President of the French Republic, I deemed it right to send to the Argentine Confederation, has been received with the utmost cordiality; and the wise and enlightened policy of the Provisional Director has already opened to the commerce of the world the great rivers, hitherto closed, which afford an access to the interior of the vast continent of South Africa.

"I have the satisfaction of announcing to you that the sincere and zealous efforts of the Government