or expedient with regard to the dearness of corn, so necessary to the sustenance of the poorer sort, they cannot escape the wisdom of Parliament, to which I recommend the due consideration thereof. At the same time I must with concern take notice that, notwithstanding my cares for my people, a spirit of the most daring insurrection has, in divers parts, broke forth in violences of the most criminal nature. Necessary orders have been given for bringing such dangerous offenders to condign punishment and speedy justice; nor shall vigilance and vigour on my part be wanting to restore obedience and reverence to law and government. I have the satisfaction to inform you that, since I last met you, I have concluded a treaty of commerce with my good sister the Empress of Russia, whereby that considerable branch of trade is fixed on a just and satisfactory footing. It is with pleasure that I also acquaint you that the marriage between my good brother the King of Denmark and my sister the Princess Caroline Matilda has been solemnized, and the natural alliance between the two Crowns. happily strengthened by an additional tie of so agreeable a nature. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I have ordered the proper estimates for the current service of the year to be laid before you. Such suplies as you may grant shall be duly applied with the utmost fidelity and strictest such branches of the public service as may require their immediate attention without the necessity of continuing the Session beyond the time most suitable to my people for the election of a new Parliament; and I doubt not but you will be careful, from the same considerations, to avoid, in your proceedings, all unnecessary delay. Nothing in the present situation of affairs abroad gives me reason to apprehend that you will be prevented, by any interruption of the public tranquillity, from fixing your whole attention upon such points as concern the internal welfare and prosperity of my people. Among these objects of a domestic nature, none can demand a more speedy or more serious attention than what regards the high price of corn, which neither the salutary laws passed in the last session of parliament, nor the produce of the late harvest, have yet been able so far to reduce, as to give sufficient relief to the distresses of the poorer sort of my people. Your late residence in your several counties must have enabled you to judge whether any further provisions can be made conducive to the attainment of so desirable an end. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, As the time limited by law for the expiration of this Parliament now draws near, I have resolved forthwith to issue my proclamation for dissolving it, and for calling a new Parliament. But I cannot do this without having first returned you my thanks for the many signal proofs you have given of the most affectionate attachment to my person, family, and government, the most faithful attention to the public service, and the most earnest zeal for the preservation of our excellent constitution. When, by the vigorous support which you gave me during the war, I had been enabled, under the Divine Providence, to restore to my people the blessings of peace, you continued to exert yourselves, with equal alacrity and steadiness, in pursuing every measure that could contribute to the maintenance of the public safety and tranquillity; which you well understood could no otherwise be preserved, than by establishing on a respectable foundation, the strength, the credit, and the commerce of the nation. The large supplies you have from time to time granted, and the wise regulations you have made for these important purposes, will, I am persuaded, be found to have been productive of the most beneficial consequences. regard to the objects for which they are granted. be found necessary for the security, interest, and receive as the most acceptable mark of their GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, JULY 2, 1767.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The advanced season of the year, joined to the consideration of the inconvenience you must all have felt from so long an absence from your several counties, calls upon me to put an end to the present Session of Parliament; which I cannot do without returning you my thanks for your diligent application to the public business, and the proofs you have given of your affection for me and my family, and for my Government; and, although, from the nature and extensiveness of the several objects under your consideration, it could not be expected that all the great commercial interests should be completely adjusted and regulated in the course of this Session, yet I am persuaded that, by the progress you have made, a solid foundation is laid for securing the most considerable and essential benefits to this nation. As no material alteration has happened in the state of foreign affairs since your first meeting, I have nothing to communicate to you on that subject. The fixed objects of all my measures are to preserve the peace, and at the same time to assert and maintain the honour of my Crown, and the just rights of my subjects. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I thank you for the necessary supplies which you have so cheerfully granted for the public service; and my particular acknowledgments are due to you for the provision you have enabled me to make for the more honourable support and maintenance of my family. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The great attention which you have shown to the particular purpose for which I called you so early together, and the very wholesome laws passed for relieving my subjects from the immediate distress which the great scarcity of corn threatened to bring upon them, give me the most sensible pleasure. I rely upon you for the exertion of your utmost endeavours to convince my people that no care has been wanting to procure for them every relief which has been possible; and that their grateful sense of provisions, so wisely made for their present happiness and lasting prosperity, cannot be so fully expressed as by a strict observance of that order and regularity which are equally necessary to the security of all good government, as well as to their real welfare. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, Nov. 24, 1767.] MY LORDS AND Gentlemen, I have chosen to call you together at this season of the year that my Parliament might have full time for their deliberations upon all GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The necessity of improving the present general tranquillity to the great purpose of maintaining the strength, the reputation, and the prosperity of this country, ought to be ever before your eyes. To render your deliberations for that purpose successful, endeavour to cultivate a spirit of harmony among yourselves. My concurrence in whatever will promote the happiness of my people you may always depend upon; and in that light I shall ever be desirous of encouraging union among all those who wish well to their country. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAR. 10, 1768.] I have nothing new to communicate to you purpose. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, Your cheerfulness in granting the necessary supplies, and your attention to the ease of my good subjects in the manner of raising them, equally demand my acknowledgments. I see, with pleasure, that you have been able to prosecute your plan for the diminution of the National Debt, without laying any additional burthen upon my people. In the approaching election of representatives, I doubt not but my people will give me fresh proofs of their attachment to the true interest of their country, which I shall ever affection to me. The welfare of all my subjects is my first object. Nothing, therefore, has ever given me more real concern than to see any of them, in any part of my dominions, attempting to loosen those bonds of constitutional subordination so essential to the welfare of the whole. But it is with much satisfaction that I now see them returning to a more just sense of what their own interest, no less than their duty, indispensably requires of them; and thereby giving me the prospect of continuing to reign over a happy, because an united people. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, Nov. 8, 1768.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, tion gives me of knowing, from their repreThe opportunity which the late general elecsentatives in Parliament, the more immediate meeting you as early as could be, consistent sense of my people, has made me desirous of with your own convenience. The shortness of the last Session of the late Parliament prevented their prosecuting the consideration of those great commercial interests which had been entered upon in the preceding Session. You will, I am persuaded, agree with me in opinion, that your deliberations on those very important objects ought to be resumed without loss of time; and I trust that they will terminate in such measures as may be productive of the most considerable and essential benefits to this nation. have been able to acquaint you that all the It would have given me great satisfaction to other Powers of Europe had been as careful, as might endanger the general tranquillity. I have I have ever been, to avoid taking any step that constantly received, and do still receive from them, the strongest assurances of their pacific dispositions towards this country. No assurances, however, shall divert my constant resolution, steadfastly to attend to the general interests of Europe; nor shall any consideration prevail upon me to suffer any attempt that may be made, derogatory to the honour and dignity of my Crown, or injurious to the rights of my people. At the close of the last Parliament, I expressed my satisfaction at the appearances which then induced me to believe that such of my subjects, as had been misled in some part of my dominions, were returning to a just sense of their duty. But it is with equal concern that I have since seen that spirit of faction, which I had hoped was well nigh extinguished, breaking out afresh in some of my colonies in North America; and, in one of them, proceeding even to acts of violence, and of resistance to the execution of the law; the capital town of which colony appears, by late advices, to be in a state of disobedience to all law and government; and has proceeded to measures subversive of the tonstitution, and attended with circumstances that manifest a disposition to throw off their dependence on Great Britain. On my part, I have pursued every measure that appeared to be necessary for supporting the constitution, and inducing a due obedience to the authority of the Legislature. You may rely upon my steady perseverance in these purposes; and I doubt not but that, with your concurrence and support, I shall be able to defeat the mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons who, under false pretences, have but too successfully deluded numbers of my subjects in America; and whose practices, if suffered to prevail, cannot fail to produce the most fatal consequences to my colonies immediately, and, in the end, to all the dominions of my Crown. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, The proper estimates for the service of the ensuing year I have ordered to be laid before you; fully relying on your readiness to grant me the necessary supplies. Indeed, I cannot have a doubt of finding, in this House of Commons, the same affectionate attachment to my person and government as I have always hitherto experienced from my faithful Commons. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, It is with great satisfaction that I now find myself enabled to rejoice with you upon the relief which the poorer sort of my people are now enjoying, from the distress which they had so long laboured under from the high price of corn. At the same time that we are bound devoutly to acknowledge, in this instance, the gracious interposition of Providence, it will become us to apply the best precautions that human wisdom can suggest for guarding against the return of the late calamity. In the choice, however, of proper means for that purpose, you cannot proceed with too great circumspection. I have nothing further to recommend to you, than that in all your deliberations you keep up a spirit of harmony among yourselves. Whatever differences of opinion may prevail in other points, let it appear that, wherever the interest of your country is immediately concerned, you are all ready to unite. Such an example from you cannot fail of having the best effects upon the temper of my people in every part of my dominions; and can alone produce that general union among ourselves which will render us properly respected abroad, and happy at home. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAY 9, 1769.] Having thought it necessary to give so early a commencement to the present Session of Parliament, I am glad to find that, by your zeal and assiduity in the dispatch of the public business, I am now enabled to relieve you from your attendance before the season of the year is too far advanced. received your approbation; and you have assured me of your firm support in the prosecution of them. Nothing, in my opinion, could be more likely to enable the well-disposed among my subjects, in that part of the world, effectually to discourage and defeat the designs of the factious and seditious, than the hearty concurrence of every branch of the Legislature in the resolution of maintaining the execution of the laws in every part of my dominions. And there is nothing I more ardently wish for than to see it produce that good effect. With respect to foreign affairs, my own determination, as well as the assurances given me by the other Powers of Europe, continue the same as I communicated to you at the beginning of this Session; and, however unsuccessful my attempts have proved for preventing the unfortunate rupture which has happened between Russia and the Porte, I shall not fail to use my good offices towards restoring peace between those Powers; and I trust, that the calamities of war will not extend to any other part of Europe. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, My particular thanks are due to you, as well for the supplies which you have granted me for the service of the current year, as for the provision which you have made for enabling me to discharge the debt incurred upon account of my civil government. Your readiness in relieving me from the difficulties increasing upon me from the continuance of that debt, I shall ever consider as an additional motive for me to endeavour to confine the expenses of my civil government within such bounds as the honour of my crown can possibly admit. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, It gives me great concern to be obliged to recommend to you, with more than ordinary earnestness, that you would all, in your several counties, exert your utmost efforts for the maintenance of public peace and of good order among my people. You must be sensible that whatever obstructs, in any degree, the regular execution of the laws, or weakens the authority of the magistrate, must lessen the only security which my people can have for the undisturbed enjoyment of their rights and liberties. From your endeavours in this common cause I promise myself the most salutary effects. On my part, no countenance or support shall be wanting; for as I have ever made, and ever shall make, our excellent constitution the rule of my own conduct, so shall I always consider it as equally my duty to exert every power, with which that constitution has entrusted me, for preserving it safe from violation of every kind; being fully convinced that in so doing I shall most effectually provide for the true interest and happiness of my people. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, JAN. 9, 1770.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, It is with much concern that I find myself I cannot put an end to the Session without obliged to open this Session of Parliament with expressing my entire approbation of your con- acquainting you that the distemper among the duct, and thanking you for that clear demonstra-horned cattle has lately broke out in this tion which your proceedings, through the whole course of the Session, have afforded to all the world, of the affectionate attachment of my parliament to my person and government, as well as of their steady adherence to the true interest of their country. It was with much satisfaction that I observed your particular attention to those great objects which, at the opening of the Session, I recommended to your immediate consideration. The result of your deliberations respecting the late acquisitions in the East Indies, has shown that you were not more attentive to the immediate benefit arising therefrom in point of revenue than to the securing, at all events, the permanent commercial interests of this country, and guarding against every possible discouragement to our own manufactures and to the industry of my subjects. What more remains to be done for securing these valuable acquisitions, you will, I doubt not, proceed to provide with all convenient dispatch at your next meeting. The measures which I had taken regarding the late unhappy disturbances in North America have been already laid before you. They have kingdom, notwithstanding every precaution that I have given my Parliament repeated assur- subjects have borne so cheerfully, in order to bring the late war to a happy conclusion, must be an additional motive to make me vigilant to prevent the present disturbances in Europe from extending to any part where the security, honour. or interest of this nation may make it necessary for my Crown to become a party. The assurances which I receive from the other Great Powers afford me reason to believe that my endeavours will continue to be successful. I shall still make the general interest of Europe the object of my attention: and while I steadily support my own rights, I shall be equally carefull not to acknowledge the claims of any other Powers, contrary to the limitations of the late treaties of peace. It is needless for me to recommend to the serious attenton of my Parliament the state of my government in America. I have endeavoured, on my part, by every means, to bring back my subjects there to their duty, and to a due sense of lawful authority. It gives me much concern to inform you, that the success of my endeavours has not answered my expectations; and that, in some of my colonies, many persons have embarked in measures highly unwarrantable, and calculated to destroy the commercial connection between them and the mother country. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I have ordered the proper estimates for the service of the current year to be laid before you. I am persuaded that your affection for my person and government, and your zeal for the public good, will induce you to grant such supplies as are necessary; and you may be assured that, on my part, they shall be managed with the strictest economy. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, As the welfare and prosperity of my people have always been the object of my wishes, and from my experience of your conduct that you the rule of my actions, so I am persuaded will be governed in your proceedings by the support, in every measure that may serve to same principles. My ready concurrence and promote those ends, you may always depend incumbent, most carefully to avoid all heats upon. On you it will be now, more than ever, and animosities amongst yourselves, and to cultivate that spirit of harmony which becomes those who have but one common object in their view; and which may be most likely to give authority and efficacy to the result of your deliberations. Such a conduct on your part will, above all things, contribute to maintain, in their proper lustre, the strength, the reputation, and the prosperity of this country; to strengthen the attachment of my subjects to that excellent constitution of government from which they derive such distinguished advantages; and to cause the firm reliance and confidence which I have in the wisdom of my Parliament, as well as in their zeal for the true interest of my people, to be justified and approved both athome and abroad. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAY 19, 1770.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The season of the year, and the dispatch you have given to the public business, make it proper for me to put an end to this Session of Parlia ment. The temper with which you have conducted all your proceedings has given me great satisfaction, and I promise myself the happiest effects from the firmness, as well as the moderation, which you have manifested in the very critical circumstances which have attended your late deliberations. With respect to foreign affairs, I have nothing material to communicate to you. I will continue my endeavours to appease, if possible, the troubles which still prevail in some parts of Europe, or at least to prevent them from spreading farther. In all events it shall be my first and constant care to watch over the interests and to preserve undiminished the rights of my people. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I return you my thanks for the supplies you have so cheerfully granted for the service of the current year, as well as for your attention to make use of every opportunity of reducing the National Debt. The provision you have been able to make in this Session for discharging so considerable a sum, without laying any further burthen on my subjects, cannot but be highly advantageous to public credit. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I most earnestly recommend to you to exert, in your respective counties, the same zeal and prudence that you have shown in Parliament for promoting the peace and welfare of the kingdom: nothing can be so favourable to the wishes of those who look with jealousy on the strength and prosperity of this country as the prevalence of animosities and dissensions amongst ourselves; let it therefore be your care to discountenance every attempt to infuse groundless suspicions and discontent into the minds of your fellowsubjects; make them sensible of my constant attention to promote their happiness; and convince them that nothing can so effectually secure their liberties as the maintenance of every part of cur excellent constitution in its due force and authority. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, Nov. 13, 1770.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, When I last met you in Parliament, I renewed to you the assurances which I had before given you, that it was my fixed purpose to preserve the general tranquillity; maintaining, at the same time, the honour of my Crown, together with the just rights and interests of my people; and it was with much satisfaction that I indulged the hope of being still able to continue to my subjects the enjoyment of peace with honour and security. Since that time, those very considerations, which I then promised you that I would never sacrifice even to the desires of peace, have laid me under an indispensable necessity of preparing for a different situation. By an act of the Governor of Buenos Ayres, in seizing by force one of my possessions, the honour of my Crown, and the security of my people's rights, were become deeply affected. Under these circumstances, I did not fail to make an immediate demand from the Court of Spain of such satisfaction as I had a right to expect for the injury I had received. I directed also the necessary preparations to be made, without loss of time, for enabling me to do myselt justice, in case my requisition to the Court of Spain should fail of procuring it for me. And these preparations, you may be assured, I shall not think it expedient to discontinue, until I shall have received proper reparation for the injury, as well as satisfactory proof that other Powers are equally sincere with myself in the resolution to preserve the general tranquillity of Europe. In the meantime, I have called you together thus early, in order that I may be able to receive from you such advice and assistance as, in the farther progress of this very important business, may happen to become requisite. With respect to the state of my colonies in North America, although I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that the people in most of them have begun to depart from those combinations which were calculated to distress the commerce of this kingdom; yet, in some parts of the colony of the Massachusett's Bay, very unwarrantable practices are still carried on, and my good subjects oppressed by the same lawless violence which has too long prevailed in that province. I hope and trust that the precautions which have already been used for securing this country against the visitation of that fatal calamity which has of late appeared in some of the distant parts of Europe will, with the blessing of God, prove successful. But if, from any alteration of circumstances, it should at any time be found that farther provisions will be wanted, I cannot doubt of your ready concurrence for so salutary a purpose. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I will order the proper estimates for the service of the ensuing year to be laid before you. They must unavoidably, in our present situation, exceed the usual amount. Every unnecessary expense my concern for the ease of my good subjects will ever make me care- MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I am sensible how little I need say to you, at this time, to prevail upon you to unite in whatever may best promote the true interest of your country. In all your deliberations upon points of a domestic nature, let the extension of our commerce, the improvement of the revenue, and the maintenance of order and good government be always in your view. With respect to foreign measures, there will, I am persuaded, be no other contest among you than who shall appear most forward in the support of the common cause, in upholding the reputation and promoting the prosperity of the kingdom. For the attainment of these ends, you shall ever find me ready to exert myself to the uttermost. I have no interest, I can have none, distinct from that of my people. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAY 8, 1771.] As the state of public business no longer Session of Parliament. tendance earlier than might have been consistent with your private convenience; and that, now you are met together, you will find yourselves at liberty to give your whole attention to the establishment of wise and useful regulations of law and to the extension of our commercial advantages. The performance of the engagement of the King of Spain, in the restitution of Port Egmont and Falklands Island, and the repeated assurances I have received of the pacific disposition of that Court, as well as of other Powers, promise to my subjects the continuance of peace and we may, with the greater confidence, hope that we shall not be disturbed in the enjoyment of this blessing; as there is no reason to apprehend that we shall become involved in the troubles which still unhappily prevail in one part of Europe. The danger of the farther spreading of the infectious sickness in Europe is, I trust, very much abated; but I must recommend it to you not to suffer our happiness, in having been hitherto preserved from so dreadful a calamity, to lessen your vigilance in the use of every reasonable precaution for our safety. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I have ordered the estimates for the service of the current year to be laid before you. I make no doubt but you will see the propriety of maintaining a respectable establishment of my that I shall be under no necessity of asking of naval forces. I am pleased, however, to find you at this time any extraordinary aid. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The concerns of this country are so various and extensive as to require the most vigilant and active attention; and some of them, as well from remoteness of place as from other circumstances, are so peculiarly liable to abuses, and The satisfaction I have obtained from his Catholic Majesty for the injury I had received, together with the proofs which the Courts of France and Spain have given me, by laying aside their armaments, of their sincere disposition to preserve the general tranquillity of Europe, have enabled me to reduce my forces by sea and land. The zeal with which you have exerted your-exposed to danger, that the interposition of selves upon the apprehension of a rupture with Spain, must convince the world of your affectionate attachment to me, and of your constant regard for the true interests of your country. On that support I shall always rely for the defence of my honour, and for the security of the rights of my people. With regard to the troubles which still agitate some parts of the Continent, my endeavours have never been wanting to bring them to an end; and in those endeavours, you may be assured, I shall persevere. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, It was with real concern that 1 found myself called upon, by the situation of public affairs, to ask of my faithful Commons more than ordinary supplies for the service of the current year; and I cannot sufficiently thank you for the unanimity, cheerfulness, and public spirit, with which they have been granted. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, the Legislature, for their protection, may become necessary. If in any such instances, either for supplying defects, or remedying abuses, you shall find it requisite to provide any new laws, you may depend upon my ready concurrence in whatever may best contribute to the attainment of those salutary ends. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, JUNE 9, 1772.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I cannot put an end to this Session of Parliament without expressing the satisfaction I have felt in observing the temper and the prudence which have governed all your deliberations during the course of it; and without returning you my particular thanks for the fresh proof you have given of your affectionate attachment to me, in the additional security you have provided for the welfare and honour of my family. I can, with great pleasure, acquaint you, that the dispositions of the Powers of Europe give me the strongest reason to believe that this nation will not be disturbed in the enjoyment of the blessings of peace. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, While we acknowledge the goodness of Divine Providence, in preserving us from those calamities with which some parts of Europe have been afflicted, let me exhort you to employ your best endeavours in your several stations and counties to render the national happiness complete by discouraging and suppressing all groundless suspicions and domestic disturbances. I have no other object, and I can have no other I thank you heartily for the supplies which interest, than to reign in the hearts of a free and you have granted with so much cheerfulness and happy people and it is my earnest wish that my subjects may not be prevented, by any mis-dispatch; and for the ample provision you have made for every branch of the public service; and takes, or animosities amongst themselves, from I see, with pleasure and approbation, that you enjoying, in the fullest extent, the blessings of have, at the same time, been able, by a proper a mild and legal Government. The support of disposition of the public money, to make a further our excellent constitution is our common duty progress in reducing the National Debt. and interest: by that standard I would wish fessions, and to look upon those as their most my people to try all public principles and prowhatsoever, would persuade them to violate dangerous enemies who, under any pretence those laws, and indermine that authority, which of preserving the general liberty and happiness. the constitution has provided, for the purpose GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, JAN. 21, 1772.] It gives me much satisfaction that nothing in MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I make no doubt but that you will carry into your respective counties the same principles, and the same zeal for the public good, which I have experienced from you in Parliament, and that you will continue to exert your best endeavours to cultivate and improve a spirit of harmony and confidence amongst all ranks of my faithful subjects. Let it be your constant care to convince them that, without a due reverence for the laws, and a cheerful obedience to just authority, neither their civil nor religious rights, and liberties, can be enjoyed in comfort or security; and to assure them that I consider their interests as inseparably connected with my own; and that I am, and have ever been, persuaded that the prosperity and glory of my reign must depend on my possessing the affection and maintaining the happiness of my people. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, Nov. 26, 1772.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I should most willingly have consulted your private convenience, by allowing you a longer recess from business, if I had not thought that some very important parts of the public service required the immediate attention of Parliament. It is impossible that I can look with indifference upon whatever concerns either the commerce and revenue of the kingdom at large, or the private rights and interests of considerable numbers among my people. Neither can I be insensible how materially every one of these great objects must be interested in the maintenance of the credit and prosperity of the East India Company. When, therefore, I received information of the difficulties in which that Company appear to be involved, I determined to give you an early opportunity of informing yourselves fully of the true state of their affairs, and of making such provisions, for the common benefit and security of all the various interests concerned as you shall find best adapted to the exigencies of the case. I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that there is reason to hope that the war, which has so long unhappily prevailed in one part of Europe, is now drawing to a conclusion. And although there was no probability of our being involved therein, yet the discontinuance of those troubles will afford a fairer prospect of the duration of peace, which, I trust, the alterations that have happened in Europe will not, in their consequences, affect. tend no further. I shall persevere in my earnest GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The experience I have had of your attention to the public good, and of your attachment to me, convinces me, that you will, in your several stations, use your utmost endeavours to assist me in promoting the happiness of my people. I have no other object but their welfare; and no other view but to employ the powers with which I am entrusted in maintaining the credit, reputa tion, and prosperity of my kingdoms. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, JAN. 13, 1774.] The unusual length of the last Session of Par- I continue to receive from foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their pacific disposi-regretting that the peace, so long expected and tions towards this country: and it shall be my constant endeavour to preserve the general tranquillity, as far as is consistent with the bonour of my Crown and the interests of my people. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, It gives me much satisfaction that the continuance of peace has enabled me to proceed in the reduction of the establishment of my naval forces; but you will, I am confident, agree with me that a considerable strength at sea must be over necessary for preserving the reputation and power of my kingdoms. The proper estimates for the ensuing year shall be laid before you; and whatever supplies you may grant shall, on my part, be managed with the strictest economy, and applied with the utmost fidelity. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I cannot but feel the most real concern that the produce of the late harvest has not given us the relief which we had hoped for, in respect to the dearness of corn. As far as human wisdom can provide for alleviating the distress of the poor, I am persuaded your attention will not be wanting; and you cannot gratify me more than by calling upon me for my concurrence in whatever may contribute to the true welfare and happiness of all my people. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, JULY 1, 1773.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I cannot close this Session without assuring you that I have observed, with much satisfation, the zeal, assiduity, and perseverance, with which you have applied yourselves to the very important business, which, at the meeting of Parliament, I recommended to your particular attention; and I hope and trust that the laws which have been the result of your deliberations will be found to answer the salutary purposes for which they were intended. The continuance of the war between Russia and the Porte, with both of whom I am closely connected in friendship, although under no engagement to either, gives me great concern. But, from the pacific dispositions of other Powers, I have reason to hope that those troubles will ex the honour of my Crown and the interests of my any parts of the public service to escape your GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, JUNE 22, 1774.] MY LORDS AND Gentlemen, I have observed, with the utmost satisfaction, the many eminent proofs you have given of your zealous and prudent attention to the public service during the course of this very interes▷ing Session of Parliament. remedy for the great and manifold mischiefs, both The necessity of providing some effectual public and private, arising from the impaired ing of the Session, to recommend that imstate of the gold coin, induced me, at the openportant object to your consideration; in the several measures you have taken for the redress of those evils you have sufficiently manifested, as well your regard to the general credit and commercial interests of the kingdom, as to the immediate ease and accommodation of my people. The very peculiar circumstances of embarrassment in which the province of Quebec was involved, had rendered the proper adjustment and regulation of the government thereof a matter of no small difficulty. The bill which you prepared for that purpose, and to which I have now given my assent, is founded on the clearest principles of justice and humanity; and will, I doubt not, have the best effects in quieting the minds and promoting the happiness of my Canadian subjects. I have long seen, with concern, a dangerous You will, I am persuaded, agree with me in spirit of resistance to my government, and to the execution of the laws, prevailing in the so very desirable, is not yet effected between province of Massachusett's Bay, in New England. Russia and the Porte; but it is with real satisIt proceeded, at length, to such an extremity faction I can repeat that other foreign Powers as to render your immediate interposition incontinue still to have the same pacific disposi- dispensably necessary; and you have, accordtions with myself. I can have no other wishingly, made provision as well for the suppresthan to see the general tranquillity restored; for sion of the present disorders as for the the establishment and subsequent preservation prevention of the like in future. The temper of which no endeavours of mine, consistent with yourselves in this important business, and the and firmness with which you have conducted general concurrence with which the resolution In this state of foreign affairs, you will have of maintaining the authority of the laws, in every full leisure to attend to the improvement of our internal and domestic situation; and to the supported, cannot fail of giving the greatest part of my dominions, hath been adopted and prosecution of measures more immediately respecting the preservation and advancement of result of your deliberations. Nothing that weight to the measures which have been the Among the objects which, in this view, will come the revenue and commerce of the kingdom. depends on me shall be wanting to render them effectual. It is my most anxious desire to see under your consideration, none can better deserve my deluded subjects, in that part of the world, your attention than the state of the gold coin, returning to a sense of their duty, acquieswhich I must recommend to you in a more partic-cing in that just subordination to the authority, ular manner, as well on account of its very high importance, as of the peculiar advantages which the present time affords for executing with success such measures as you may find it expedient to adopt with respect to this great national concern. The degree of diminution which that coin had actually suffered, and the very rapid progress which the mischief was daily making, were truly alarming. It is with much satisfaction that I have seen the evil, in a great measure, checked by the regulations made in the last Session of Parliament. I trust, however, that you will not stop here, nor think that you have discharged your duty, either to your country or your fellowGENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, subjects, without using your best endeavours for putting the gold coin upon such a footing as may I thank you for the supplies which you have so not only completely remove the present grievance, cheerfully given; and I see, with great satisbut render the credit and commerce of the king-faction, that, notwithstanding the ample grants dom sufficiently secure from being again exposed to the like danger. and maintaining that due regard to the commercial interests of this country which must ever be inseparably connected with their own real prosperity and advantage. Nothing material has happened, since your meeting, with respect to the war between Russia and the Porte; and it is with pleasure I can inform you that the very friendly assurances which I continue to receive from the neighbouring Powers give me the strongest reason to believe that they have the same good dispositions as myself, to preserve the tranquillity of the rest of Europe. you have made for the several establishments, and the compensation which has been so properly provided for the holders of the deficient gold coin, you have been able to make a further progress in the reduction of the National Debt. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I have nothing to recommend to you, but that you would carry into your respective counties the same affectionate attachment to my person and government, and the same zeal for the maintenance of the public welfare which have distinguished all your proceedings in this Session of Parliament. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, Nov. 30, 1774.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, It gives me much concern that I am obliged, at the opening of this Parliament, to inform you that a most daring spirit of resistance and disobedience to the law still unhappily prevails in the province of the Massachusett's Bay, and has in divers parts of it broke forth in fresh violences of a very criminal nature. These proceedings have been countenanced and encouraged in other of my colonies, and unwarrantable attempts have been made to obstruct the commerce of this kingdom by unlawful combinations. I have taken such measures, and given such orders, as I judged most proper and effectual for carrying into execution the laws which were passed in the last Session of the late Parliament for the protection and security of the commerce of my subjects, and for the restoring and preserving peace, order, and good government, in the province of the Massachusett's Bay; and you may depend upon my firm and steadfast resolution to withstand every attempt to weaken or impair the supreme authority of this Legislature over all the dominions of my Crown; the maintenance of which I consider as essential to the dignity, the safety, and the welfare of the British Empire, assuring myself that, while I act upon these principles, I shall never fail to receive your assistance and support. I have the greatest satisfaction in being able to inform you that a treaty of peace is concluded between Russia and the Porte. By this happy event, the troubles which have so long prevailed in one part of Europe are composed, and the general tranquillity rendered complete. It shall be my constant aim and endeavour to prevent the breaking out of fresh disturbances; and I cannot but flatter myself I shall succeed, as I continue to receive the strongest assurances from other Powers of their being equally disposed to preserve the peace. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I have ordered the proper estimates for the service of the ensuing year to be laid before you; and I doubt not but that, in this House of Commons, I shall meet with the same affectionate confidence, and the same proofs of zeal and attachment to my person and government, which I have always, during the course of my reign, received from my faithful Commons. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, Let me particularly recommend to you, at this time, to proceed with temper in your deliberations, and with unanimity in your resolutions. Let my people, in every part of my dominions, be taught, by your example, to have a due reverence for the laws, and a just sense of the blessings of our excellent constitution. They may be assured that, on my part, I have nothing so much at heart as the real prosperity and lasting happiness of all my subjects. GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAY 26, 1775.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I cannot, in justice to you, forbear to express my entire satisfaction in your conduct, during the course of this important Session. You have maintained, with a firm and steady resolution, the rights of my Crown, and the authority of Parliament, which I shall ever consider as inseparable: you have protected and promoted the commercial interests of my kingdoms, and you have, at the same time, given convincing proofs of your readiness (as far as the constitution will allow you) to gratify the wishes, and remove the apprehensions, of my subjects in America; and I am persuaded that the most salutary effects must, in the end, result from measures formed and conducted on such principles. The late mark of your affectionate attachment to me, and to the Queen, and the zeal and unanimity which accompanied it, demand my particular thanks. consistent with the maintenance of the honour and interest of my kingdoms, shall be wanting to secure the public tranquillity. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, It gives me much concern that the unhappy disturbances in some of my colonies have obliged me to propose to you an augmentation of my army, and have prevented me from completing the intended reduction of the establishment of my naval forces. I cannot sufficiently thank you for the cheerfulness and public spirit with which you have granted the supplies for the several services of the current year. MY LORDS AND Gentlemen, I have nothing to desire of you but to use your best endeavours to preserve and to cultivate, in your several counties, the same regard for public order, and the same discernment of their true interests, which have in these times distinguished the character of my faithful and beloved people; and the continuance of which cannot fail to render them happy at home and respected abroad. GEORGE III. [OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, OCT. 20, 1775.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, stant desire to have your advice, concurrence, The present situation of America, and my conand assistance on every important occasion, have determined me to call you thus early together. to inflame my people in America by gross misThose who have long too successfully laboured representations, and to infuse into their minds a system of opinions repugnant to the true constitution of the colonies, and to their subordinate revolt, hostility, and rebellion. They have raised relation to Great Britain, now openly avow their troops, and are collecting a naval force; they have seized the public revenue, and assumed to themselves legislative, executive, and judicial powers, which they already exercise, in the most arbitrary manner, over the persons and properties of their fellow-subjects; and although many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it, yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel their acquiescence till a sufficient force shall appear to support them. The authors and promoters of this desperate conspiracy have, in the conduct of it, derived great advantage from the difference of our intentions and theirs. They meant only to amuse, by vague expressions of attachment to the parent-state, and the strongest protestations of loyalty to me, whilst they were preparing for declared in your last Session that a rebellion a general revolt. On our part, though it was existed within the province of the Massachusett's Bay, yet even that province we wished rather to reclaim than to subdue. The resolutions of Parliament breathed a spirit of moderation and forbearance; conciliatory propositions accompanied the measures taken to enforce authority; and the Coercive Acts were adapted to cases of criminal combinations amongst subjects not then in arms. I have acted with the same temper; anxious to prevent, if it had been possible, the effusion of the blood of my subjects and the calamities which are inseparable from a state of war; still hoping that my poople in America would have discerned the traitorous views of their leaders, and have been convinced that to be a subject of Great Britain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest member of any civil society in the known world. The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan. The object is too inportant, the spirit of the British nation too high, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous, to give up so many colonies which she has planted with great industry, nursed with great tenderness, encouraged with many commercial advantages, and protected and defended at much expense of blood and treasure. It is now become the part of wisdom and the continuance of peace; nothing on my part, (in its effects) of clemency to put a speedy end I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that, as well from the general dispositions of other Powers, as from the solemn assurances which I have received, I have great reason to expect to these disorders by the most decisive exertions. For this purpose, I have increased my naval establishment, and greatly augmented my land forces; but in such a manner as may be the lest burthensome to my kingdoms, I have also the satisfaction to inform you that I have received the most friendly offers of foreign assistance, and if I shall make any treaties in consequence thereof, they shall be laid before you. And I have in testimony of my affection for my people, who can have no cause in which I am not equally interested, sent to the garrisons of Gibraltar and Port Mahon a part of my electoral troops, in order that a larger number of the established forces of this kingdom may be applied to the maintenance of its authority; and the national militia, planned and regulated with equal regard to the rights, safety, and protection of my Crown and people, may give a farther extent and activity to our military operations. When the unhappy and deluded multitude, against whom this force will be directed, shall become sensible of their error, I shall be ready to receive the misled with tenderness and mercy; and, in order to prevent the inconveniences which may arise from the great distance of their situation, and to remove, as soon as possible, the calamities which they suffer, I shall give authority to certain persons upon the spot to grant general or particular pardons and indemnities, in such fit, and to receive the submission of any province manner, and to such persons, as they shall think or colony which shall be disposed to return to its allegiance. It may be also proper to authorize province or colony, so returning to its allegiance, the persons so commissioned to restore such to the free exercise of its trade and commerce, and to the same protection and security as if such province or colony had never revolted. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I have ordered the proper estimates for the ensuing year to be laid before you; and I rely on your affection to me, and your resolution to maintain the just rights of this country, for such supplies as the present circumstances of our affairs require. Among the many unavoidable ill consequences of this rebellion, none affects me more sensibly than the extraordinary burthen which it must create to my faithful subjects. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I have fully opened to you my views and intentions. The constant employment of my thoughts, and the most earnest wishes of my heart, tend wholly to the safety and happiness of all my people, and to the re-establishment of order and tranquillity through the several parts of my dominions, in a close connection and constitutional dependence. You see the tendency of the present disorders, and I have stated to you the measures which I mean to And I am pursue for suppressing them. Whatever remains GEORGE III. [CLOSING OF PARLIAMENT, MAY 23, 1776.] MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The conclusion of the public business, and the advanced season of the year, make it proper for me to give you some recess; but I cannot put an end to this Session without assuring you that the fresh instances of your affectionate attachment to me, and of your steady attention and adherence to the true interests of your country, which you have shown through the whole course of your important deliberations, afford me the highest satisfaction. foreign affairs since your meeting; and it is No alteration has happened in the state of with pleasure I inform you that the assurances which I have received of the disposition of the several Powers in Europe promise a continuance of the general tranquillity. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, It is with real regret and concern that I find myself under the necessity of asking of my |