Queen Victoria next opened the first session of the Liberal Parliament on February 11, 1869, in which Gladstone for the first time was Prime Minister. The great measure of that session was the Bill for the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church in Ireland. “The ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland,” said the Queen’s Speech, “will be brought under your consideration at a very early date.” It went on to say:
I am persuaded that in the prosecution of the work you will bear careful regard to every legitimate interest which it may involve, and that you will be governed by the constant aim to promote the welfare of religion through the principles of equal justice, to secure the action of the individual feeling and opinion of Ireland on the side of loyalty and law, to efface the memory of former contentions and to cherish the sympathies of an affectionate people.
As the time approached for the meeting of Parliament in the following year, 1870, Gladstone was most anxious that it should be opened by the Queen. The chief business was to be a Bill dealing with the Irish land question. Gladstone said to Lord Granville: “It would be almost a crime in a Minister to omit anything that might serve to mark and bring home to the minds of men the gravity of the occasion.” “Moreover,” he added, “I am persuaded that the Queen’s own sympathies would be—not as last year—in the same current as ours.” This shows how important it was for the success of the Government’s legislative programme that Parliament should, in the opinion of Gladstone, be opened with the impressiveness that attends the ceremony when it is performed by the Sovereign in person. But her Majesty was unable, or disinclined, to comply with his request. The opening passage of the Speech from the Throne is significant, in the light of what happened—as we now know—behind the scenes. It runs: “We have it in command from her Majesty again to invite you to resume your arduous duties, and to express the regret of her Majesty that recent indisposition has prevented her from meeting you in person, as had been her intention, at a period of remarkable public interest.”
The last time that Queen Victoria appeared at Westminster was on January 21, 1886, at the assembling of a new Parliament, with the Conservatives in office but not in power. “The Queen’s Speech” which was read on that occasion was perhaps—having regard to what occurred subsequently in Parliament—the most remarkable of Victoria’s long reign. The session of 1886, which was destined to be made historic by Gladstone’s first attempt to carry Home Rule, was opened with a Speech from the Throne strongly reprobating any disturbance of the Legislative Union.
The events which led up to this extraordinary constitutional situation may be briefly related. In June 1885 the Gladstone Administration, defeated on an amendment to their Budget condemning the increases proposed in the beer and spirit duties, resigned, and they were succeeded by a Conservative Government, with Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister for the first time. There was a General Election in November, and the Liberals came back from the polls in triumph. The Government, although in a minority, did not resign. They decided to meet Parliament, not to put their fortune to the test, for they knew that was hopeless, but in order to have a Speech from the Throne in which there should be an emphatic declaration against any attempt to disturb the legislative relations between Great Britain and Ireland, and the session was opened in person by Queen Victoria to show her sympathy with the maintenance of the Union. The Speech from the Throne, as in every instance of the opening of Parliament by the Queen since the death of the Prince Consort, was read by the Lord Chancellor. The principal passage, relating to the Irish situation, was as follows:
I have seen with deep sorrow the renewal, since I last addressed you, of the attempt to excite the people of Ireland to hostility against the Legislative Union between that country and Great Britain. I am resolutely opposed to any disturbance of that fundamental law, and in resisting it I am convinced that I shall be supported by my Parliament and my people.
That Gladstone was committed to Home Rule was well known at the time, and it was hoped by the Conservatives that this declaration would prove embarrassing to him. Five days later the Government were defeated on an amendment to the Address in reply to the Speech in favour of small allotments for agricultural labourers. Gladstone once again returned to office. The new Liberal Government accepted the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, drawn up by their Conservative predecessors, only adding to it the amendment expressing regret that there was no promise in the Speech of legislation to enable agricultural labourers to obtain allotments and small holdings. At that time the Address was an echo of the Speech itself. The Sovereign was thanked, separately and specifically, for every expression of promise, hope or regret contained in the Speech. Here is one sentence from the Address, agreed to by the Liberal Government, which, in view of the introduction of the Home Rule Bill by Gladstone as Prime Minister a few months later, is one of the curiosities of constitutional history:
We humbly thank your Majesty for informing us that your Majesty has seen with deep sorrow the renewal, since your Majesty last addressed us, of the attempt to excite the people of Ireland to hostility against the Legislative Union between that country and Great Britain; that your Majesty is resolutely opposed to any disturbance of that fundamental law; and that in resisting it your Majesty is convinced that your Majesty will be heartily supported by your Parliament and your People.
Sure enough, the Home Rule Bill brought in by the Prime Minister in June was rejected by a majority of thirty.
King Edward VII opened his first Parliament on February 14, 1901, the Unionists being in office and Lord Salisbury Prime Minister. His Majesty said: