[Inclosure.]
My Lords and Gentlemen: I am now released from
the necessity of calling upon you for the further prosecution of your
arduous occupations. In bidding you farewell for the recess, I make it
my first duty to thank you for the loyal promptitude with which you have
made further provision for my son, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the
occasion of his approaching marriage with the Grand Duchess Marie
Alexandrovna of Russia. This marriage will, I trust, form a new tie of
amity between two great empires. The best relations continue to subsist
between myself and all foreign powers. I am able to announce the
successful termination of the mission to Zanzibar, made known to you at
the beginning of the session. Treaties have been concluded with the
Sultan of Zanzibar, with the Imaum of Muscat, and with other native
powers, which will provide means for the more effectual repression of
the slave-trade on the east [Page 476]
coast of Africa. I have been enabled to bring to a satisfactory issue
the commercial negotiations with France, in which my government has been
for some time engaged. Under the provisions of an instrument signed on
the 23d of July, and awaiting ratification, the treaties of 1860 are
again put if force, with a comprehensive engagement contracted between
the two countries for mutual treatment on the footing of the most
favored nation; and the differential tax on the British flag has been
removed. Separate provisions are contained in the treaty for the
adjustment of the question of mineral-oils, and otherwise for the relief
and extension of trade. I have likewise concluded treaties of
extradition with Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Brazil. The ratifications
of the two last-named treaties have not yet been exchanged, but I
anticipate no difficulty in this final step; and I am engaged in
negotiations for agreements of a similar character with other states
both in Europe and beyond it. I am still occupied in giving effect to
those provisions of the treaty of Washington which relate to British
claims against the Government of the United States and to the interests
of my possessions in North America.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons: I am very
sensible of the liberality with which you have provided for the various
charges of the state, and have likewise enabled me promptly to meet the
obligations imposed upon me by the award of the arbitrators at Geneva
during the past year.
My Lords and Gentlemen: I have observed with
satisfaction the progress you have been enabled to make in the remission
of public burdens by reducing both the sugar-duties and the income-tax
to points lower than any at which they have previously stood. The act
for the establishment of the supreme court of judicature forms a
distinguished record of your persevering labor, and will be found, as I
hope, to confer corresponding benefits on the country in the more cheap,
certain, expeditious, and effectual administration of justice.
The acts for the amendment of the education act, 1870, and of the endowed
schools act of 1869, will, as I trust, tend to accelerate the attainment
of solid national advantages through the extension of education both in
the middle and the most numerous classes of the community.
The act relating to the regulation of railways and canals promises to
conduce to the more harmonious working of the railway-system of the
country.
I have with pleasure assented to the act relating to merchant-shipping,
from which, and from the labors of the commission recently appointed, I
hope for a diminution of the risks to which the seafaring population are
exposed.
The revenue has, up to this time, fully answered my expectations; and,
although the activity of trade in some of its branches may have been
somewhat restrained by a varity of causes, the general condition of the
people continues to exhibit evidences of improvement.
These and all mercies of Divine Providence will, I trust, find their
suitable acknowledgment alike in our words and in our hearts.
Then a commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
After which the Lord Chancellor said:
My Lords and Gentlemen: By virtue of Her
Majesty’s commission, under the great seal, to us and other lords
directed, and now read, we do, in Her Majesty’s name, and in obedience
to her commands, prorogue this Parliament to Wednesday, the 22d day of
October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly
prorogued to Wednesday, the 22d day of October next.
