364. ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



Address of the Speaker of the House 

 of Commons to the Prince Re- 

 gent, and the I'rmce Regent's 

 Speech. 



House of Lords, Thursday, 

 July 22. 



This being the last day of the 

 session, soon after two o'clock the 

 Prince Regent came in state to 

 the House, for the purpose of pro- 

 roguing the Parliament with a 

 speech from the throne. 



The arrival of the Prince Regent 

 in the royal chamber adjoining 

 the Houseof Lords, was announced 

 by a salute of twenty-one guns 

 from the river. The side benches 

 of the House were previously oc- 

 cupied by a large assemblage of 

 ladies of the first distinction. The 

 Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese 

 anibassadors, were upon a bench 

 on the right of the throne ; and a 

 considerable number of peers and 

 judges were also assembled in their 

 robes. 



The Prince Regent then entered, 

 and took his seat on the throne, 

 having the great ministers of state 

 on each side of him, with their 

 different emblems of oflice. The 

 earl of Liverpool, as prime minis- 

 ter, bore the sword of state. The 

 Prince Regent himself was in mili- 

 tary uniform. 



The Usherof theBlackRod then 

 proceeded to summon the atten- 

 dance of the House of Commons, 

 the members of which, with the 

 Speaker at their head, soon after 

 appeared at the bar, when the 

 Speaker addressed the Prince Re- 

 gent as follows : — 



May it please your Royal High- 

 ness, 



We, his majesty's most dutiful 

 and loyal subjects, the Commons 



of Great Britain and Ireland, in 

 parliament assembled, have closed 

 the supplies for the service of the 

 present year; and, reflecting upon 

 the various transactions which have 

 come before us, we look back with 

 satisfaction upon those which con- 

 cern our domestic policy ; enter- 

 taining also a confident hope in 

 the prosperous issue of those great 

 events which must regulate the set- 

 tlement of our foreign relations. 



Under the pressure of great bur- 

 thens nt home, and the still conti- 

 nuing necessity for great exertions, 

 a plan has been devised and exe- 

 cuted, which by a judicious and 

 skilful arrangement of our finances, 

 will for a considerable period post- 

 pone or greatly mitigate the de- 

 mands for new taxation, and at 

 the same time materially accelerate 

 the final extinction of the national 

 debt. 



Our reviving commerce also 

 looks forward to those new fields 

 of enterprise which are opening in 

 the east ; and after long and labo- 

 rious discussions, we presume to 

 hope, that (in conformity with the 

 injunctions delivered to us by your 

 Royal Highness at the commence- 

 ment of the present session) such 

 prudent and adequate arrange- 

 ments have been made for the fu- 

 ture government of the British 

 possessions in India, as will com- 

 bine the greatest advantages of 

 commerce and revenue, and pro- 

 vide also for the lasting prospe- 

 rily and happiness of that vast 

 and populous portion of the British 

 empire. 



But, Sir, these are not the only 

 subjects to which our attention has 

 been called : other momentous 

 changes have been proposed for 

 our consideration. Adhering, how- 



