MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
A.D. 1817
Parliament was opened by the prince regent in person. The chief topics of his speech were the continued assurances of amity received from foreign powers; the recent victory at Algiers; and the still existing deficiency in the revenue. He concluded thus:—“In considering our internal situation, you will, I doubt not, feel a just indignation at the attempts which have been made to take advantage of the distress of the country for the purpose of exciting a spirit of sedition and violence. I am too well convinced of the loyalty and good sense of the great body of his majesty’s subjects, to believe them capable of being perverted by the arts which are employed to seduce them; but I am determined to omit no precautions for preserving the public peace, and for counteracting the designs of the disaffected. I rely with the utmost confidence, also, on your cordial support, and co-operation, in upholding a system of law and government from which we have derived inestimable advantages; which has enabled us to conclude, with unexampled glory, a contest whereon depended the best interests of mankind, and which has been hitherto felt by ourselves, as it is acknowledged by other nations, to be the most perfect that had fallen to the lot of any people.”
The prince regent had good reason to complain of the turbulent spirit displayed by the factions: for on his way to the house he had been assailed with tumultuous expressions of disapprobation; and on his return from it, he was assailed by missiles of every description, and the glass of his carriage was broken by what was supposed to be two balls from an air-gun, aimed at his person. This outrage was communicated to the lords by Lord Sidmouth; and a conference was held with the house of commons, at which a joint address, congratulating his royal highness on his escape, was agreed upon. The consideration of the usual address in answer to the speech was postponed till the following day, when Earl Grey moved in the lords an amendment, chiefly for the purpose of expressing an opinion that the prince regent was under a delusion respecting the degree and probable duration of the pressure on the resources of the country. He declared this to be much more extensive in its operations, more severe in its effects, more deep and general in its causes, and more difficult to be removed, than that which had prevailed at the termination of former wars. Added to this declaration in the amendment, was a profession of regret that the prince regent should not have been sooner advised to adopt measures of rigid economy and retrenchment, especially with respect to our military establishments; and a resolution that the house should go immediately into a committee on the state of the nation. This amendment, however, was negatived without a division; and a similar one moved in the commons was rejected by two hundred and sixty-four against one hundred and twelve.
GEORGE III. 1814-1818