presented a Petition from the Corporation of Cutlers Hallamshire complaining that property had been first sequestrated and afterwards confiscated by the Danish Government, at the time of the seizure of Copenhagen, in the year 1807. The property they had lost in this manner amounted to at least 100,000l. The Droits of the Crown of England on the same occasion were at least one million sterling. If these Droits had not been already applied to the relief of other sufferers, they could not be more worthily employed than in affording some compensation to those who, relying on the faith of the Government, had lost this very large sum, being in many cases all that individuals possessed, and who had till this hour, remained without the slightest redress. He thought the cases of these individuals, and the proper application of the Droits of the Crown, a subject well worth consideration, at a time when they would so soon be called on to make some disposition of such properties, and when the power was in some measure placed in their own hands. The right hon. Gentleman (Sir J. Mackintosh) had however, a Motion standing on the question of these claims for the 1st of July, and he should, therefore, not at that moment trespass further on the attention of the House, but reserve what he had further to advance, for a better opportunity.

, in presenting a Petition from the Parish of St. Peter's, in Dublin, complaining of Distress, took occasion to advert to the situation of the people in Limerick, who had broken open the stores of provisions, and carried off or destroyed property, according to some reports, to the extent of 10,000l. The consequence of this act of violence was, that at least five persons had been killed, and the whole district was in a state of disturbance, and all the respectable people were filled with apprehension. He thought that some measure should be adopted to compel persons who lived in this country, and drew 10,000l. or 20,000l. a year from Ireland, to pay their proportion of the burthen of sustaining a famishing population; and he was satisfied that the people of Ireland would not enjoy peace and prosperity, until a tax on absentees was imposed.

Petition to be printed.

then rose to move an Address in answer to this Message, and spoke nearly as follows:—Sir, I propose to defer until to-morrow the consideration of any part of this Message, the answer to which can by possibility provoke any difference of opinion in this House. But I am sure, Sir, I should not be acting in consonance with the prevailing—and, I trust I may say, the unanimous—feeling of this House, if I postponed even for the shortest period, the moving an Address to his Majesty, condoling with his Majesty on account of the severe loss which he, in common with the country, has sustained by the demise of our late much-lamented Sovereign; and offering, at the same time, to his Majesty, the assurances of our earnest hope and prayer, that his reign may be a reign of honour and of happiness to his Majesty and to his people. That principle of the Constitution which forbids the possibility of there being any suspension or interruption of the exercise of the regal power makes it necessary that we should unite the discordant and strongly-contrasted topics of condolence on the death of the late Sovereign, his Majesty's brother, and of congratulation on his Majesty's accession to the Throne of his ancestors; but yet, I am confident that no expression of congratulation, however strong—no prayer for his Majesty's health, happiness, or prosperity, could be more gratifying or more consolatory to his Majesty, than the assurance that this House deeply sympathises with him in his affliction for the loss he has sustained in the death of a beloved brother; and that it is also deeply sensible of the loss to him and to his people in being deprived of that Sovereign whom they now unfeignedly deplore. The House will bear in mind that his late Majesty administered the affairs of this country for a period of twenty years, a great portion of which time the nation was involved in a war, during which the reign of the Sovereign was signalised by some of the most brilliant achievements recorded in history, and the military reputation and renown of this country exalted to the highest pinnacle of glory. But in the course of a considerable portion of that time, during which his late Majesty reigned over this country, we enjoyed the highest blessings which could be conferred by peace; and I believe that much of the benefits we have derived from the mild and temperate administration of the laws during that period were owing to the mild and generous character of his Majesty himself. Sir, we live too near the period of those occurrences to be able to estimate in their full force all the benefits we have derived from the mild and beneficent Government of the late King; but I cannot help thinking that a more remote posterity will pronounce that reign to have been one of the brightest, and I may add, one of the most honourable as well as most beneficial, in the annals of this country. It will regard the late King as a Sovereign who, in war maintained, in its highest state, the honour, and character, and glory of England; and who, whether in peace or in war, during the whole course of his delegated power, whether as Regent or as King, never exercised, or expressed any wish to exercise, the prerogatives of the Crown, except for the safety and the advantage of his people. I am sure I shall not be considered as overstepping the language of truth when I say that the King was a liberal patron of the arts and of artists; and I may add, from much personal experience, that no appeal to his Majesty for the affliction or distresses of his subjects ever remained unnoticed, and that his generosity was widely and frequently extended to those whose situation demanded relief. Sir, this Address while it condoles with his Majesty on the loss of his brother, congratulates him on his Accession to the Throne of his ancestors; and I am sure I shall best consult the feelings and wishes of his Majesty, by refraining on the present occasion from any of that laboured or overstrained language of panegyric which the occasion might seem to demand. The life of the Princes of the Royal Family of this country is familiar to almost the whole of its people. I think it right to assure the House that his present Majesty has openly declared that the greatest relief he feels under his present difficulties, is the satisfaction that he has had opportunities of witnessing the conduct of his late revered father and lamented brother, and that he shall ever have his recollection of that conduct before him as his guide in the discharge of his important duties. The House will, however, bear in mind that his Majesty has, from his earliest infancy, been engaged in the active service of his country. His habits and principles in the discharge of the duties of the various stations he has occupied are well known. His conduct, whether as a Peer of Parliament, or as a private subject, is before the world, and has been displayed to so much advantage on so many occasions, that I think I may be spared the necessity of dilating on the sub- ject at this moment; but I trust the House will cordially and unanimously join with me in voting an answer to this Address—declaring our anxious wishes that his Majesty may enjoy all health and honour and glory in the administration of the Government, and expressing our confident expectation that his Majesty's reign will be distinguished by an ardent desire to maintain inviolate our religion, our liberty, and our laws, and that he will labour to promote the true and permanent interests of all classes of the people. The right hon. Gentleman then moved, that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, "To assure his Majesty that this House most cordially sympathises in the deep affliction in which his Majesty has been involved by the death of his lamented brother, the late King, and humbly to condole with his Majesty on the loss of a Sovereign so justly dear to his Majesty and his people; to express to his Majesty the deep sense we entertain of the blessings this nation has enjoyed under the reign of his late Majesty, from the long continuance of peace—the anxious efforts of his late Majesty to encourage the arts, to extend the commerce, and to advance the general welfare, of the country—to beseech his Majesty to accept of our cordial congratulations on his accession to the Throne—to assure his Majesty of our ardent attachment to his person—and to assure his Majesty further of our deep conviction that his reign will be distinguished, under the blessing of Divine Providence, by an anxious desire for the maintenance of our religion and the laws of his kingdom, and for the promotion of the happiness and liberty of all conditions of his people."

rose to second this Address, and began by expressing the great pleasure he had in finding that the right hon. Gentleman confined himself to such an answer to the Message as enabled him, without any abandonment of principle or sacrifice of feelings, to give it his most cordial and sincere concurrence. The right hon. Gentleman had justly said, that the twenty years of the reign of his late Majesty had been one of uncommon brilliancy; and he begged leave to say, in his humble opinion, that, according to his sense of that reign, as regarded the prosperity of the country, and the long maintenance of peace, that his Majesty had presided with a firm, and well-regulated, and salutary mind over the important duties he had to discharge in relation to the internal policy and condition of the country; and that many of the greatest improvements in the condition of the people, particularly that which had laid the foundation of domestic concord, were insured in his auspicious reign. He wished sincerely to condole with his Majesty in the loss he had sustained; and he heartily joined in that Address of Congratulation, which was of necessity, coupled with the condolence, and one of which was, in his opinion, in no degree inconsistent with the other; he joined in the cordial expression of a wish that his Majesty's reign might be long, and that, like that of his illustrious predecessor, it might be auspicious abroad, and fortunate, and happy, and glorious at home—glorious in the only way—unless by a uselessly vain figure of speech—it could be called—namely, in a rigid determination to lessen as much as possible the burthens of his people. By thus improving their lot—by adopting a course of Government decidedly useful to the people, his reign would be rendered truly glorious; and when that time came, when Providence should be pleased to remove him from his kingdom, he would be thereby enabled to lay claim to the lasting and imperishable gratitude of his country. This wish he cherished, not only in common with the right hon. Gentleman opposite, but, he would venture to add, in unison with the feelings of the whole House. He was not disposed to add one word which might in the slightest degree break in upon the unanimous feeling that prevailed on this occasion. He therefore purposely abstained from comments on the past, or what he considered might give rise to any difference of opinion. Guarding himself, therefore, from going beyond that feeling of condolence and congratulation expressed in the Address, he had great satisfaction in seconding the Motion of the right hon. Gentleman, because he felt that he could do so with safety, and without violating his public duty, or sacrificing any constitutional principle.

Sir Robert Peel then moved that the Address should be presented to his Majesty by such Members of the House as were of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.

proposed, as it was a subject in which the feelings of the whole House were so immediately con- cerned, and as it would be more respectful to his Majesty, and agreeable to the whole House, that the Address be presented by the House in a body.

said, that if it had not been for the approaching funeral of his late Majesty, it would have been more agreeable and right that the House should in a body present the Address to his Majesty, but as it was, it certainly would be better that the Address should be presented as he had proposed.

hoped to be excused for pressing his own view upon the House again; but he really believed it would be more agreeable—certainly to his own feelings—and likewise to the whole House, that the House should go in a body, and present the Address.

said, that on the occasion of the death of George the 3rd, which also happened on a Saturday, the House met on Sunday; but that, owing to some delay on the part of the Lord Chamberlain, in attending to administer the oaths, the House adjourned till Monday; and again adjourned over till Tuesday or Wednesday, and then adjourned, so as to allow the day of the funeral of his Majesty to pass over; then, indeed, the House could not do otherwise than go up in a body.

observed, that, as his Majesty had retired into privacy as much as it was possible for him to do without detriment to any of the important public duties that devolved upon him, he believed it would be more agreeable to his Majesty to receive at the hands of the members of his Privy Council that Address which his Majesty could not but regard as the most unanimous and affectionate feeling of the House

It was carried unanimously, that the address be presented by such Members of the House as were of the Privy Council.