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GREAT BRITAIN.

SPEECH OF THE KING TO PARLIAMENT, Nov. 21, 1826.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

I have called you together at this time for the special purpose of communicating to you the measures, which I judged it necessary to take in the month of September, for the admission into the ports of the United Kingdom of certain sorts of foreign grain, not then admissible by law.

I have directed a copy of the Order in Council issued on that occasion to be laid before you, and I confidently trust that you will see sufficient reason for giving your sanction to the provisions of that order, and for carrying them into effectual execution.

I have great satisfaction in being able to inform you that the hopes entertained at the close of the last session of Parliament, respecting the termination of the war in the Burmese territories, have been fulfilled, and that a peace has been concluded in that quarter, highly honourable to the British arms, and to the councils of the British Government in India.

I continue to receive from all Foreign Powers, assurances of their earnest desire to cultivate the relations of peace and friendly understanding.

I am exerting myself with unremitting anxiety, whether singly or in conjunction with my allies, as well to arrest the progress of

existing hostilities, as to prevent the interruption of peace in the different parts of the world. Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

I have directed the estimates for the ensuing year to be prepared, and they will, in due time, be laid before you.

I will take care that they shall be formed with as much attention to economy, as the exigencies of the public service will permit.

The distress which has pervaded the commercial and manufacturing classes of my subjects, during the last twelve months, has affected some important branches But I have the of the revenue: that satisfaction of informing you, there has been no such diminution in the internal consumption of the country as to excite any apprehensions that the great sources of our wealth and prosperity have been impaired.. My Lords and Gentlemen,

I have deeply sympathized with the sufferings which have been for some time past so severely felt in the manufacturing districts of the country.

I have contemplated, with great satisfaction, the exemplary patience with which those sufferings have been borne.

The depression under which the trade and manufactures of the country have been labouring has abated more slowly than I had

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thought myself warranted in anticipating. But I retain a firm expectation that this abatement will be progressive, and that the time is not distant when, under the

blessing of Divine Providence, the commerce and industry of the United Kingdom will have resumed their wonted activity.

NETHERLANDS.

ADDRESS OF THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR TO THE STATES GENERALL, MAY 9, 1827.

Noble and mighty Lords,

I come by order of the King, to close the Session of the StatesGeneral, and to thank your Lordships in the name of His Majesty, for the activity and loyalty of your co-operation, in the different Legislative measures that have been successively adopted. Among the labours which have occupied this Session, the laws relative to the Garde communale, and the organization of the judicial powers present themselves in the first place. Long and profound discussions, upon these important matters, have testified to the nation the conscientious pains you have bestowed upon their examination. In regulating, definitively, the institutions prescribed by the fundamental law, you have, in the one case established at length, upon their true basis, the independence

and security of the country; and the other, you have especially assured to it the benefit of a form of judicature suited to the requirements of public justice. Your Lordships have, moreover, this Session, fixed the income and expenditure of the State; and have favoured, by modifications in the tarff of customs, the developement of national industry. These important labours have not, by your aid, your powers, and your zeal, fallen short of the expectations of the nation. This reflection will accompany you to your homes, and your fellow-citizens will surround you with the gratitude and felicitations of which I am at present the bearer on the part of the King. In the name of His Majesty, I declare the present Session of the States-General to be closed and terminated.

FRANCE.

KING'S SPEECH.

On the 12th Dec. 1826, the King opened the session of chambers at the Louvre, by the following speech.

Gentlemen,

prepared for this session. Being well assured of your zeal, I have not hesitated to assemble you earlier than usual.

Two codes will be submitted to Important labours have been your examination. They are in

tended to improve the laws respecting forests, and to settle the regulations of military jnrisdiction. I have admitted little innovation into these works. The bases have been taken from the actual regulations of the army, and from the ordonnance of my august predecessor respecting forests.

I wish that it had been possible to avoid all interference with the press; but in proportion as the power of publishing writings has been developed, it produced fresh instances of abuse, which require to be restrained by more extensive and efficient means. It was time to put a stop to these afflicting scandals, and to preserve the liberty of the press from the danger with which it is threatened by its own excesses.

A project of law will be submitted to you for the attainment of this end.

Certain imperfections had been discovered in the organization of juries. I shall order a project of law to be proposed to you for their improvement, and for regulating the same conformably to the nature of this institution.

The penalties enacted against the slave trade proved deficient in efficacy, and their infliction was liable to be eluded. A more complete legislation became requisite. I have ordered a project, gentlemen, to be proposed to you on this subject.

I continue to receive from all foreign governments the assurance of their most friendly dispositions, which are in perfect accordance with my own wish for the maintenance of peace

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Disturbances have lately broken out in some parts of the peninsula. I shall unite my efforts to those of my allies, to put an end to the same, and to obviate their consequences.

The progressive increase of the produce of indirect taxation will permit us to augment this year the funds available for the public service, by a sum equal to that of which the contributors have been exempted by the last financial enactments.

This increase will prove a real relief to my people. It will free the communes from the supplementary sums which they pay; and the indigent classes will find abundant resources in the fresh activity and impetus given in the construction of our highways, fortresses and naval arsenals.

I have reason to hope, that the allotments which are to be made for the public service, will, for several years, suffice for all their wants, and that I may in future apply the surplus of produce to the reduction of the most burthen

some taxes.

Let us return thanks to Divine Providence, gentlemen, for having placed us in circumstances so highly favourable, and let us join our efforts to augment and corroborate the same, that my people may, for a long time, reap the fruits thereof.-France will acquire a new species of greatness, by industry and tranquillity, and success in peace will prove as productive of glory, as her warlike and military virtues, should honour oblige her to display them.

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CEN

SORSHIP.

Seeing our ordinances of this day concerning the enforcing of the laws of the 31st March, 1820, and 26th July 1821, relative to the publication of Journals and Periodical writings,

We have ordained—

Art. 1. There shall be at Paris, in the office of our Minister of the Interior, a bureau, charged with the previous examination of all journals and periodical writings.

2. This bureau shall be composed of six Censors named by us, on the recommendation of our Minister of the Interior.

3. Every number of a journal or periodical writing must, before it is printed, be furnished with the Visa of this bureau, which shall authorixe the publication of it, according to Art. 5, of the law of the 31st March, 1820.

4. The operations of this bureau shall be directed by the Sieur Lourdoueix, Chief of the Division of Sciences, Fine Arts, and Belles Letters, in the department of the interior.

5. The Visa of the bureau shall be given by the Sieur Deliege, whom we appoint for this purpose, Secretary of the Bureau of Censorship.

6. The departments of the Prefects shall nominate, according as may be necessary, one or more censors, charged with the previous examination of the journals, which shall be published in them.

7. A council of nine members,

appointed by us on the recommendation of our keeper of the Seals, Minister and Secretary of State for the department of justice, shall be charged with the superintendence of the Censorship.

8. The Bureau of Censorship, at Paris, shall address once a week a report of its operations to the council of superintendence. The Censors in the departments shall send it an account once a month.

9. When there shall be reason, on execution of the law of the 31st of March, 1820, for the provisional suppression of a journal, or periodical writing it shall be pronounced by us, on the report of our Keeper of the Seals, after he shall have taken the opinion of the Council of Superintendence. The same shall be done when there shall be reason, according to Art. 7, of the said law, to pronounce the suspension or the suppression of a journal or periodical writing after judgment.

10. Our Minister the Secretary of State for the Department of the Interior, and our Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, are charged each in what concerns him with the execution of the present ordinance.

Given at St. Cloud, the 24th of June, 1827, the third year of our reign.

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SPAIN.

CIRCULAR OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE POLICE,
NOV. 10, 1826.

All the Intendants of Police will send to the general direction, within the precise term of a month, a list of all the persons, whatever be their age or sex, who come within the classes hereafter mentioned, namely as being attached to the Constitutional system; as having been a national volunteer in infantry or cavalry; a member of sacred companies or battalions, reputed a free-mason; known for a communero; held for a liberal, either violent or moderate; or a purchaser of national or securalized property.

Moreover, it shall be added whether the individual was a member of the Madrid Supreme Junta of Government, a Minister, a member of any tribunal or court of Justice, a Deputy of the Cortes, of province, or secretary political chief or clerk in any other branch, member or curator of any political society, political writer, or any thing else that might give an exact idea of the real opinion that he manifested during the reign of the Constitution. There shall be set forth, moreover, the conduct that he may have observed since the fall of that system up to the present time, and the influence that he has had and may have in the Government by his fortune.

As soon as any individual of those comprehended in this list, either himself, his children, his servants, or any other persons attached to him, shall demand a passport to go out of his parish,

the authority who delivers it to him shall give notice thereof immediately to the Director General, setting forth the suspicions to which his journey may give rise, on account of the situation in which he may find himself, and of his relations with regard to the Government.

No passports shall be granted to any one whatever of those who are noted for being attached to the Constitutional System, unless the Clerk of Police ascertains that the person requiring the passport has good grounds for travelling. In this case he shall require a certain security, and the passport of the individual noted for being attached to the Constitution, shall set forth the parishes by which he is to pass and stop, both going and coming, and this note shall serve as a hint to the authorities to watch his conduct.'

The Clerk of Police who shall fail to observe what has just been prescribed, or who, in the least thing or by favour, may depart therefrom, shall be dismissed and brought to trial, and if he does not belong to the Police, I will render an account thereof to His Majesty, in order that he may receive exemplary purishment.

The Clerk of Police who shall announce an assembly of the persons above mentioned, who may occupy themselves with the affairs of the government, censure it or contemn its operations, shall receive a reward of one thousand reals, if the fact be proved. If

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