One effect of the descent of the crown to a female was the separation from it of Hanover, after an union which had lasted for nearly a century and a quarter. This abscission of territory, however, was scarcely noticed; it hardly called forth an observation in the newspapers, much less an expression of regret—a proof of the little value attached in this country to foreign dominion as a source of wealth or strength.
THE QUEEN’S MESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSES—EULOGIES OF THE LATE SOVEREIGN IN BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.
On the news of the death of the king both houses of parliament were immediately summoned to meet. On that and the following day, however, the administration of the oath of allegiance to the members, formed the only business transacted. On Thursday, the 22nd, Lord Melbourne brought the following message from the queen to the house of lords:—“Victoria Regina. The queen entertains the fullest confidence that the house of lords will participate in the deep affliction which her majesty feels in the death of the late king, whose constant desire to promote the interests, to maintain the liberties, and to improve the laws and institutions of the country, must ensure for his name and memory the dutiful and affectionate respect of all her majesty’s subjects. The present state of public business, and the period of the session, when considered in connection with the law which imposes on her majesty the duty of summoning a new parliament within a limited time, renders it inexpedient in the judgment of her majesty, that any new measures should be recommended for your adoption, with the exception of such as may be requisite for carrying on the public service from the close of the present session to the meeting of the new parliament.” Upon this occasion the leaders of all parties in parliament expressed their strong sense of the sterling and amiable qualities of the departed monarch. Lord Melbourne lamented the loss of a most gracious master, and said that the world had lost a man of the best intentions, the most uncompromising honour, and the strictest integrity. After adverting to the naval education of the late king, to the part which he had occasionally taken in the debates of that house, Lord Melbourne moved an address of condolence to her majesty upon the death of the late king, and of congratulation upon her accession to the throne. This was carried unanimously. Another proposition also was carried with unanimity, to the effect that an address of condolence be sent to her majesty the queen dowager, assuring her majesty of the sympathy which the house entertained for her loss. Lord John Russell brought the same message to the commons, moving a similar address in reply.
BILL FOR PROVIDING THE SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN.
A bill for providing for the contingency of another demise of the crown was brought into the upper house by the lord chancellor on the 3rd of July. Its object was to make provision for the carrying on of the executive government, in such an event, during the possible absence of the heir presumptive from the country. The bill provided that certain great officers of state, namely, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the lord-chancellor, the lord-treasurer, the president of the council, the lord privy seal, the lord high admiral, and the chief-justice of the Queen’s Bench at the time being respectively, should act as lords-justices, to exercise all the powers and authorities of the successor of the crown, as a king would exercise them at present, until his arrival in the kingdom, or until he should otherwise order. The bill also provided that the heir presumptive to the throne might at any time deposit a list—which list was revocable at pleasure—of such persons as he might appoint to act with such justices, and to be considered as part of them; and the persons named in that list were to exercise, in common with the lords already named, the functions of royalty, until the successor to the throne should otherwise determine. By another provision in the bill, however, the powers of the lords-justices were restricted to those only which were necessary to carry on the government of the country. They were not to have the power of dissolving parliament; nor of creating peers; nor of giving the royal assent to any bill altering the succession to the throne; or for changing the established religion of England, Scotland, or Ireland. The bill passed almost unanimously through both houses of parliament, Lord Brougham only urging an objection against the omission of any portion of the royal family in the lists of lords-justices named in the bill. His lordship even made this omission the subject of a protest entered in the journals of the house. His lordship began at this time to display an obstructive disposition towards the government with which he had so long acted. He had proved that his exaltation to the office of lord-chancellor had inflated his vanity, and made him so self-willed and crotchetty as to render co-operation with him either in the government of the country, or in conducting bills through the legislature, next to impossible.
THE BUDGET, ETC.
On the 30th of June the chancellor of the exchequer made his yearly financial statement. After adverting to the embarrassments which had beset the commerce of the country since the close of the preceding session, he proceeded to state the actual income and expenditure of the country, as compared with the estimate he had formed of its probable amount in the course of the last session. He had calculated, he said, that the customs would produce £20,540,000; the actual receipt was £21,445,000; the excise he had taken at £14,150,000; the actual income was, £14,439,000: the stamps he had calculated at £7,000,000; the receipts were £7,100,000: the assessed taxes he estimated at £3,575,000; they produced £3,681,000: the post-office revenue he had reckoned at £1,450,000; it amounted to £1,618,000. On the whole the income, which on the data then before him he had calculated at £46,980,000, produced £48,453,000. Mr. Rice then proceeded to state the expenditure, with reference to which he had fortunately, he said, rather under than over-estimated the probable income for the present year, as otherwise government would have become embarrassed. He had taken the interest on the funded debt at £28,528,000; the actual payment was £28,537,000: other charges upon the consolidated fund, exclusive of the West India slave-compensation, he took at £2,092,000; the actual charge was £2,183,000. With respect to the army, navy, ordnance, and miscellaneous estimates of the year, he had taken them at £14,585, but that estimate was taken before all the supplies of the year were voted: the sum actually required was £14,652,000. The estimated expenditure for the whole year, exclusive of the West India slave-compensation fund, was £45,205,000; the actual expenditure was £45,372,000. With respect to the West India loan, Mr. Rice said that he had reckoned we might be called upon to pay annually a sum of £1,111,000; but the call had on that score amounted to £1,448,342. The chancellor of the exchequer next proceeded to make several statements illustrative of the financial and commercial state of the country. He dwelt especially on the excess of the amount of tea duty in the last year over that received in former years, and observed that it was apparent that without any change of duty, the consumption of that article was increasing. Mr. Rice took the estimates for the year as follows:—the army, navy, ordnance, and miscellaneous, £14,895,000; and the charges upon the consolidated fund, and the interest upon the funded and unfunded debt which it was necessary to provide for the current year, £30,890,000. Thus the total expenditure for the current year was calculated at £45,786,000; but that was exclusive of the West India compensation, the amount of which would be £845,000. With respect to the probable amount of the income, Mr. Rice calculated it might amount in the whole to £47,240,000, which would leave a surplus of £1,454,000. When the interest of the West Indian loan, however, was deducted, the surplus would be diminished to £608,585; and that sum would be reduced by the payment necessary to be made to meet various deficiencies of former years; in fact, all the net surplus upon which they could calculate was £384,673. In conclusion, Mr. Rice made some observations on the increased interest now payable on the unfunded debt of the country, and on the general prospects of the nation. On the latter subject, he observed, that he had before him the means of showing that within the last two or three weeks the elements of improvement had been developing themselves in various parts, and that many of the most depressed branches of trade and manufactures were rapidly reviving. As a natural consequence of this the receipts of the revenue were improving, and the condition of the country was such as to inspire him with confidence. A reduction of taxation, he said, would materially assist that revival. He inferred this from the experiment he had made of lowering the duty on various articles of consumption, especially in the instances of glass and paper. The trade in these articles was now rapidly increasing; but with the present small balance of income on hand, it was impossible for him to propose any speculative reduction of taxation. A conversation followed this statement of the chancellor of the exchequer, and several members proposed various economical nostrums for the benefit of the country, but none of them met with the approbation of the house.