THE PARLIAMENTARY REGISTER, DURING THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FOURTH PARLIA MENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TH HOUSE OF LORDS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 19. HE session of parliament was opened this day by commission; the commissioners were, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Camden (president of the council), and the Duke of Montrose (master of the horse). A few minutes after three, the lords commissioners took their seats, and a message having been sent to the Commons, they appeared, with their speaker at their head, at the bar. They were informed by the Lord Chancellor, that it was not convenient for his Majesty to meet them in person, and that he had been pleased to direct his commission to certain lords therein named, to open the session, which commission they should hear read, and afterwards his Majesty's most gracious speech. The commission having been read by the clerk at the table, the Lord Chancellor then read the following speech: My Lords, and Gentlemen, We have it in command from his Majesty to state to you, that his Majesty has called you together, in perfect confidence that you are prepared cordially to support his Majesty in the prosecution of a war which there is no hope of terminating safely and honourably, except through vigorous and persevering exertion. We are to acquaint you, that his Majesty has directed to be laid before you copies of the proposals for VOL. I.-1809. B opening a negotiation, which were transmitted to his Majesty from Erfurth, and of the correspondence which thereupon took place with the governments of Russia and of France; together with the declaration issued by his Majesty's command on the termination of that correspondence. His Majesty is persuaded, that you will participate in the feelings which were expressed by his Majesty, when it was required that his Majesty should consent to commence the negotiation by abandoning the cause of Spain, which he had so recently and solemnly espoused. We are commanded to inform you, that his Majesty continues to receive from the Spanish government the strongest assurances of their determined perseverance in the cause of the legitimate monarchy, and of the national independence of Spain; and to assure you, that so long as the people of Spain shall remain true to them-selves, his Majesty will continue to them his most strenuous assistance and support. His Majesty has renewed to the Spanish nation, in the moment of its difficulties and reverses, the engagements which he voluntarily contracted at the outset of its struggle against the usurpation and tyranny of France; and we are commanded to acquaint you, that these engagements have been reduced into the form of a treaty of alliance, which treaty, so soon as the ratification shall have been exchanged, his Majesty will cause to be laid before you. His Majesty commands us to state to you, that while his Majesty contemplated with the liveliest satisfaction, the achievements of his forces in the commencement of the campaign in Portugal, and the deliverance of the kingdom of his ally from the presence and oppressions of the French army, his Majesty most deeply regretted the ter mination of that campaign by an armistice and convention, of some of the articles of which his Majesty has felt himself obliged formally to declare his disapprobation. We are to express to you his Majesty's reliance on your disposition to enable his Majesty to continue the aid afforded by his Majesty to the King of Sweden. That monarch derives a peculiar claim to his Majesty's support, in the present exigency of his affairs, from having concurred with his Majesty in the propriety of rejecting any proposal for negotiation to which the government of Spain was not to be admitted as a party. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, We are commanded by his Majesty to inform you, that he has directed the estimates of the current year to be laid before you. His Majesty relies upon your zeal and affection to make such further provision of supply as the vigorous prosecution of the war may render necessary; and he trusts that you may be enabled to find the means of providing such supply without any great or immediate increase of the existing burthens upon his people. His Majesty feels assured, that it will be highly satisfactory for you to learn, that notwithstanding the measures resorted to by the enemy for the purpose of destroying the commerce and resources of his kingdom, the public revenue has continued in a course of progressive improvement. My Lords, and Gentlemen, We are directed to inform you, that the measure adopted by parliament in the last session for establishing a local militia, has been already attended with the happiest success, and promises to be extensively and permanently beneficial to the country. We have received his Majesty's commands most especially to recommend to you, that, duly weighing the immense interests which are at stake in the war now car. rying on, you should proceed with as little delay as possible, to consider of the most effectual measures for the augmentation of the regular army, in order that his Majesty may be the better enabled, without impairing the means of defence at home, to avail himself of the military power of his dominions in the great contest in which he is engaged; and to conduct that contest under the blessing of Divine Providence, to a conclusion compatible with the honour of his Majesty's crown, and with the interests of his allies, of Europe, and of the world. The Commons having retired, the Lords withdrew to unrobe and shortly after the house being resumed, the Earl of Moira, as Baron Huntingdon, the Bishops of Bristol and Ferns, took the usual oaths and their seats. A temporary adjournment then took place until five o'clock, when the Lord Chancellor having resumed his scat on the woolsack, the Earl of Liverpool presented, pro forma, a bill respecting select vestrics, which was read a first time.. THE ADDRESS. His Majesty's speech having been again read from the woolsack, and also by the clerk, The Earl of Bridgewater rose to move an address of thanks to his majesty for the speech that had been just read. The noble earl (who spoke in a tone not to be heard distinctly at all times) began by expressing his regret, that the task of snoving the address,.which should convey to his majesty the sentiments impressed on their lordships, had not devolved upon some noble lord who was better qualified to perform it. With the permission of their lordships, he would briefly advert to the leading topics in the speech. With respect to the rupture of the negotiation, if the proposition from Erfurth deserved to be so called, he was persuaded there could be little dif ference of opinion among their lordships. It was impossible to negotiate upon the terms proposed, the chief |