STATE PAPERS. 



177 



hess, have been productive of the 

 most important and lasting advan- 

 tages in the general situation of af- 

 fairs ; and the determination mani- 

 fested in your recent declarations 

 andconduct,mustafford me the best 

 means of promoting, in conjunction 

 with my allies, the general interests, 

 and of providing under every cir- 

 cumstance for the honour of my 

 crown, for the happiness of my sub- 

 jects, and for the security and wel- 

 fare of every part of the British 

 empire. 



Speech of his Majesty, on opening 

 the Session, Wth November. 



My lords and gentlemen, 



MY tender concern for the wel- 

 fare of my subjects, and a 

 sense of the difficulties with which 

 the poorer classes particularly have 

 to struggle, from the present high 

 price of provisions, have induced 

 me to call you together at an earlier 

 jieriod than I had otherwise intend- 

 ed. No object can be nearer my 

 heart than that, by your care and 

 wisdom, all such measures may be 

 adopted as may, upon full consider- 

 ation, appear best calculated to al- 

 leviate this severe pressure, and to 

 prevent the danger of its recurrence, 

 by promoting, as far as possible, the 

 permanent extension and improve- 

 ment of our agriculture. 



For the object of immediate re- 

 lief, your attention will naturally be 

 directed, in the first instance, to the 

 best mode of affording the earliest 

 and the most ample encouragement 

 for the importation of all descrip- 

 tions of grain from abroad. 



Such a supply, aided by the ex- 

 amples which you have set on for- 



VoL. XLII. 



mer occasions of attention to eco- 

 nomy and frugality in the consump- 

 tion of com, is most likely to con- 

 tribute to a reduction in the present 

 high price, and to insure, at the same 

 time, the means of meeting the de- 

 mands for the necessary consump- 

 tion of the year. 



The present circumstances will 

 also, I am persuaded, render the 

 state of the laws respecting thecom- 

 merce in the various articles of pro- 

 vision the object of your serious 

 deliberation. 



If on the result of that delibera- 

 tion it shall appear to you that the 

 evil necessarily arising from unfa- 

 vourable seasons has been increased 

 by any undue combinations or frau- 

 dulent practices for the sake of add- 

 ing unfairly to the price, you will 

 feel an earnest desire of effectually 

 preventing such abuses; but you 

 will, I am sure, be careful to distin- 

 guish any practices of this nature 

 from that regularand long-establish- 

 ed course of trade which experience 

 has shown to be indispensable, in 

 the present state of society, for the 

 supply of the markets, and for the 

 subsistence of my people. 



You will have seen with concern 

 the temporary disturbances which 

 have taken place in some parts of 

 the kingdom. Those malicious and 

 disaffected persons who cruelly take 

 advantage of the present difficulties 

 to excite any of my subjects to acts 

 in violation of the laws and of the 

 public peace, are, in the present cir- 

 cumstances doubly criminal, as such 

 proceedingsmustnecessarilyandim- 

 mediately tend to increase, in the 

 highest degree, the evil complained 

 of, while they, at the same time, 

 endangerthe permanent tranquillity 

 of the countrv, on which the well- 

 N 



