a neutrality ā a lout prix ā whatever circumstances may arise which
would do harm abroad, and be inconvenient at home. \Vliat the
Queen may express is her wish to remain neutral, and her hope that
circumstances may allow her to do so. The paragraph about the
Navy, as it stands, makes our position still more humble, as it con-
tains a public apology for arming, and yet betrays fear of our being
attacked by France.
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 205
The Queen then suggested two amended forms for these
passages, in which she said she had taken pains to preserve
Lord Derby's words, as far as was possible, with an avoidance
of the objections before stated :
I continue to receive, at the same time, assurances of friendship
from both contending parties. It being my anxious desire to preserve
to my people the blessing of uninterrupted peace, I trust in God's
assistance to enable me to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality.
Considering, however, the present state of Europe, and the com-
plications which a war, carried on by some of the Great Powers, may
produce, I have deemed it necessary, for the security of my dominions
and the honour of my Crown, to increase my Naval Forces to an
amount exceeding that which has been sanctioned by Parliament.
Lord Derby, in his reply, contended that the country
was unanimous in favour of a strictly neutral policy. Its
sympathies were neither with France nor with Austria,
but, were it not for the intervention of France, it would
generally be in favour of Italy. He went on to say that
the Opposition Press were insinuating that the neutrality
of the Government covered wishes and designs in favour
of Austria ; and any words in the Speech from the Throne
which should imply a doubt of strict impartiality would
certainly provoke a hostile amendment in the interest of
Sardinia, which might possibly be carried, and in such
circumstances her Majesty would be placed in the painful
position of having to select an Administration pledged against
the interests of Austria and of Germany. He thought the
Queen's suggested words in regard to the Navy ā "complica-
tions which a war carried on by some of the Great Powers
may produce " ā would inevitably lead to a demand for an
explanation of the " complications " which the Government
foresaw as likely to lead to war. The Prime Minister went
on to say :
In humbly tendering to your Majesty his most earnest advice that
your Majesty will not insist on the proposed Amendments in his draft
Speech he believes that he may assure your Majesty that he is express-
ing the unanimous opinion of his colleagues. Of their sentiments
your Majesty may judge by the fact that in the original draft he had
spoken of your Majesty's " intention " to preserve peace " so long as
206 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT
it might be possible" ; but by tmiversal concurrence these latter words
were struck out ; and the " hope " was, instead of them, substituted
for the " intention."
In answer to this letter, Queen Victoria wrote that there
was, in fact, no difference between her and Lord Derby.
She had suggested the verbal amendments merely with a
view to indicate the nature of the difficulty as it presented
itself to her. Whatever decision Lord Derby might on
further reflection come to, she was prepared to accept.
In the Speech read by the Queen from the Throne the two
paragraphs were somewhat modified in the sense her Majesty
desired.
Five years later, in 1864, another difference arose between
Queen Victoria and her advisers in regard to statements
in the Speech. Denmark and Germany were at war over
the right to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein ā obtained
finally by Germany ā and the draft of the Speech submitted
to Queen Victoria contained a paragraph plainl}^ if not
menacingly, expressing the sympathy of England with
Denmark. To this the Queen objected. In her opinion
the best policy for this country was to stand neutral, and
though the stubborn Palmerston, who was then Prime
Minister, was, as usual, disposed to show fight, she finally
had her way. The Speech as read in the House of Lords
declared that ā
Her Majesty has been unremitting in her endeavours to bring
about a peaceful settlement of the differences which on this matter
have arisen between Germany and Denmark, and to ward off the
dangers which might follow from a beginning of warfare in the North
of Europe, and her Majesty will continue her efforts in the interest
of peace.
It is not sufficient for the King formally to express
approval of the draft of the Speech submitted to him by his
advisers. He must sign the Speech in the presence of the
Ministers, thus giving them a guarantee of assurance that
he will deliver that particular Speech, and no other, to the
two Houses of Parliament. Consequently, at a meeting of
the " King in Council," or, in other words, the Privy Council,
at which, however, only Cabinet Ministers are present,
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 207
the King endorses the Speech with his signature. When
next his Majesty sees the Speech, a printed copy of it is pre-
sented to him on the Throne of the House of lyords by the
kneeling Lord Chancellor in the presence of the Commons.
The Speech is written in a prescribed form. Each one
bears the closest resemblance outwardly to its predecessors.
It is divided into three sections. The first section, addressed
generally to Members of both Houses, " My Lords and
Gentlemen," deals exclusively with foreign affairs ; then
there is a brief paragraph referring to the Estimates, which
specially concerns " Gentlemen of the House of Commons,"
as the sole custodians and guardians of the public purse (or
" Members of the House of Commons " as the phrase became
when the first female Member, Lady Astor, was elected in
1919) ; and the third section, which opens again with " My
Lords and Gentlemen," contains some general remarks
on home affairs, and sets out the legislative programme of
the Session. " I pray," the Speech usually concludes, " that
Almighty God may continue to guide you in the conduct
of your deliberations, and bless them with success."
These Speeches possess a double interest, as the literary
compositions and the political manifestoes of the most
eminent statesmen of the Nation. To me it has been a
pleasant occupation dipping into them, here and there, in
the volumes of Hansard and extracting a few notes per-
sonal to the Sovereign, or references to some of the
great political issues of the latter half of the nineteenth
century and the opening decades of the twentieth. There
is a popular supposition that " the King's Speeches " are^
the worst possible models of "the King's English.", The
condemnation is too sweeping. Unquestionably there are
Speeches with sentences doubtful in grammar, as well as
feeble and pointless. The writing of most of them, how-
ever, is pure and concise. It is possible to trace in them the
characteristic styles and different moods of mind of the
Prime Ministers by whom they were written. Disraeli's
Speeches stand out as the most ornate. He used more
208 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT
rhetoric than other Premiers deemed to be necessary or
desirable. In one there is a picture of " the elephants of
Asia carrying the artillery of Europe over the mountains
of Rasselas " ; in another the founding of British Columbia
calls up a vision of her Majesty's dominions in North America
" peopled by an unbroken chain, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, of a loyal and industrious population of subjects
of the British Crown." Nothing could be more effective
from an elocutionary point of view. The " Speeches "
of Lord Melbourne trembled at times on the verge of
puerility. Palmerston's waved the Union Jack in relation
to foreign affairs, and his off-hand " Ha, ha ! " was heard
in references to things domestic. Gladstone and Salisbury
drafted " Speeches " equally noted for freshness and strength
of expression. Lloyd George composed the longest and most
comprehensive and possibly the most historic " Speeches "
ā those that immediately followed the conclusion of the
World War. They were obviously addressed not so much
to Lords and Commons as to the people at large.
The early age at which I am called to the sovereignty of this King-
dom renders it a more imperative duty that under Divine Providence
I should place my reliance upon your cordial co-operation, and upon
the loyal affection of all my people. I ascend the Throne with a deep
sense of the responsibility which is imposed upon me ; but I am
supported by the consciousness of my own right intentions, and by
my dependence upon the protection of Almighty God.
These are the concluding words of the Speech from the
Throne read by Victoria, the girl-Queen, to her first Parlia-
ment, on November 20, 1837. " Never," wrote Mrs. Kemble,
" have I heard any spoken words more musical in their
gentle distinctness than the ' My Lords and Gentlemen '
which broke the breathless stillness of the illustrious assembly,
whose gaze was riveted on that fair flower of Royalty."
It was a new Parliament, fresh from the country, after the
General Election which, as the law then required, followed
the demise of the Crown owing to the death of William IV.
The scene on that historic occasion in the old House of
Lords was most brilliant. To the right of the young Queen
stood her mother, the Duchess of Kent, On her left was
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 209
Viscount Melbourne, the Prime Minister. At the foot of
the Throne were grouped other great officers of State. The
benches were crowded with peers in their robes ā amongst
whom WelHngton, Brougham, Lyndhurst, were distinguished
figures ā and with peeresses in Court plumes and diamonds.
At the Bar were assembled the Commons, Mr. Speaker Aber-
cromby at their head, and in the throng might be seen such
eminent statesmen and notabilities as Lord John Russell,
Sir Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, Daniel O'Connell, Stanley
(afterwards Lord Derby), and two young Members, Glad-
stone, who already had four years' experience of Parliament,
and Disraeli, just returned at the General Election for Maid-
stone, who were destined to become the two greatest political
protagonists of the nineteenth century. Writing to his
sister on November 21, 1837, Disraeli thus comically de-
scribes how the Commons went to the House of Lords, and
what they saw there:
The rush was terrific ; Abercromby himself nearly thrown down
and trampled upon, and his maeebearer banging the Members' heads
with his gorgeous weapon and cracking skulls with impunity. I
was fortunate enough to escape, however, and also to ensure an entry.
It was a magnificent spectacle. The Queen looked admirable ; no
feathers, but a diamond tiara. The peers in robes, the peeresses and
the sumptuous groups of courtiers rendered the affair most glittering
and imposing.
What a contrast between this splendid and joyful cere-
mony and the pathetic scene that was witnessed in the
same Chamber, just a year earlier, when Parliament was
opened by William IV for the last time ! The aged King,
wrapped in his ample purple robes, and his grey locks sur-
mounted by the Imperial Crown, stood on the Throne
struggling with dim eyes in the twilight of the Chamber
to read the Speech prepared for him by Lord Melbourne.
He stammered slowly, and almost inaudibly, through the
first few sentences, pausing now and then over a difficult
word, and querulously appealing to the Prime Minister
" What is it, Melbourne ? " loudly enough to be heard by
the Assembly. At last, losing all patience, he angrily
exclaimed, in the full-blooded language of the period, " Damn
it, I can't see ! " Candles were instantly brought in and
VOL. I. 14
210 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT
placed beside the King. " My Lords and Gentlemen,"
said he, " I have hitherto not been able, for want of light,
to read this Speech in a way its importance deserves ; but
as lights are now brought me, I will read it again from the
commencement, and in a way which, I trust, will command
your attention." Then in a pitiful effort to prove to Peers
and Commons that his mental and physical powers were
by no means failing, he commenced the Speech again and
read it through in a fairly clear voice and with some emphasis.
It was at the opening of the third session of the first
Parliament of Queen Victoria, on January 16, 1840, Lord
Melbourne being still Premier, that her Majesty read from
her Speech the announcement of her approaching marriage
to Prince Albert. Writing to the Prince a few days previously,
she said the reading of the Speech was always a nervous
proceeding, and it would be made an " awful affair " by
the announcement of her engagement. " I have never
failed yet," she added, " and this is the sixth time that
I have done it, and yet I am just as frightened as if I had
never done it before. They say that feeling of nervousness
is never got over, and that William Pitt himself never got
up to make a speech without thinking he should fail. But
then I only read my speech." The passage in the Speech
from the Throne in reference to her marriage is as follows :
My Lords and Gentlemen, ā Since you were last assembled I have
declared my intention of allying myself in marriage with Prince Albert
of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. I humbly implore that the Divine blessing
may prosper this union, and render it conducive to the interests of
my people, as well as to my own domestic happiness ; and it will be
to me a source of the most lively satisfaction to find the resolution
I have taken approved by my Parliament. The constant proofs
which I have received of your attachment to ray person and family
persuade me that you will enable mc to provide for such an estab-
lishment as may appear suitable to the rank of the Prince and the
dignity of the Crown.
Mrs. Simpson, in her Many Memories of Many People^
writes that her first recollection of the opening of Parliament
was on this auspicious occasion. " I sat up in a little gallery
over the Woolsack between the beautiful Lady Dufferin
and Miss Pitt," she says. " I remember well the Queen's
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 211
sweet voice and that the paper shook in her hand. By
her side stood Lord Melbourne, repeating inaudibly ā we
could see his lips move ā every word she uttered."
On the next occasion her Majesty opened Parliament,
February 3, 1842, Sir Robert Peel being Prime Minister,
she announced in the Speech another joyful event in her
domestic life, the birth of the Prince of Wales, which took
place on November 9, 1841. The Speech said :
My Lords and Gentlemen, ā I cannot meet you in Parliament
assembled without making a public acknowledgment of my gratitude
to Almighty God on account of the birth of the Prince, my son ā
an event which has completed the measure of my domestic happiness,
and has been hailed with every demonstration of affectionate attach-
ment to my person and government by my faithful and loyal people.
The Prince Consort died on December 14, 1861, at the
early age of forty-tAvo years. At the opening by Commission
of the next session of Parliament, Lord Palmerston being
Prime Minister, the domestic affliction of the Sovereign was
thus announced in " the Queen's Speech " :
My Lords and Gentlemen, ā We are commanded by her Majesty
to assure you that her Majesty is persuaded that you will deeply
participate in the affliction by which her Majesty has been overwhelmed
by the calamitous, untimely and irreparable loss of her beloved Con-
sort, who has been her comfort and support. It has been, however,
soothing to her Majesty, while suffering most acutely under this
awful dispensation of Providence, to receive from all classes of her
subjects the most cordial assurances of their sympathy with her
sorrow, as well as their appreciation of the noble character of him,
the greatness of whose loss to her Majesty and to the nation is so
justly and so universally felt and lamented.
4
Six years elapsed before Queen Victoria was seen again
at Westminster. She opened the Conservative Parliament
which assembled on February 10, 1866. The ceremony,
by her command, was plain and simple. She declined to
wear the purple robe of State, and had it placed over the
Chair of the Throne. Her attire consisted of a black dress
and a widow's white cap, the only touch of bright colour
being the blue sash of the Garter across her breast. For
212 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT
the first time also she did not read the Speech from the
Throne. She reverted to an ancient practice by deputing
the Lord Chancellor, Cranworth, to read it. The Speech
announced the termination of the long and bloody Civil
War in America. " The abolition of slavery," it added,
" is an event calling forth the cordial sympathies and con-
gratulations of this country, which has always been foremost
in showing its abhorrence for an institution repugnant to
every feeling of justice and humanity."
Queen Victoria next opened the first session of the
Liberal Parliament on February 11, 1869, in which Gladstone
for the first time was Prime Minister. The great measure
of that session was the Bill for the disestablishment and
disendowment of the Church in Ireland. " The ecclesiastical
arrangements of Ireland," said the Queen's Speech, " will
be brought under your consideration at a very early date."
It went on to say :
I am persuaded that in the prosecution of the work you will bear
careful regard to every legitimate interest which it may involve,
and that you will be governed by the constant aim to promote the
welfare of religion through the principles of equal justice, to secure
the action of the individual feeling and opinion of Ireland on the
side of loyalty and law, to efface the memory of former contentions
and to cherish the sympathies of an affectionate people.
As the time approached for the meeting of Parliament
in the following year, 1870, Gladstone was most anxious
that it should be opened by the Queen. The chief business
was to be a Bill dealing with the Irish land question. Glad-
stone said to Lord Granville : " It would be almost a crime
in a Minister to omit anything that might serve to mark
and bring home to the minds of men the gravity of the
occasion." " Moreover," he added, " I am persuaded that
the Queen's own sympathies would be ā not as last year ā
in the same current as ours." This shows how important
it was for the success of the Government's legislative pro-
gramme that Parliament should, in the opinion of Gladstone,
be opened with the impressiveness that attends the cere-
mony when it is performed by the Sovereign in person. But
her Majesty was unable, or disinclined, to comply with his
request. The opening passage of the Speech from the Throne
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 213
is significant, in the light of what happened ā as we now
know ā behind the scenes. It runs : " We have it in com-
mand from her Majesty again to invite you to resume your
arduous duties, and to express the regret of her Majesty
that recent indisposition has prevented her from meeting
you in person, as had been her intention, at a period of
remarkable public interest."
The last time that Queen Victoria appeared at Westminster
was on January 21, 1886, at the assembling of a new Parlia-
ment, with the Conservatives in office but not in power.
" The Queen's Speech " which was read on that occasion
was perhaps ā having regard to what occurred subsequently
in Parliament ā the most remarkable of Victoria's long reign.
The session of 1886, which was destined to be made historic
by Gladstone's first attempt to carry Home Rule, was opened
with a Speech from the Throne strongly reprobating any
disturbance of the Legislative Union.
The events which led up to this extraordinary constitu-
tional situation may be briefly related. In June 1885
the Gladstone Administration, defeated on an amendment
to their Budget condemning the increases proposed in the
beer and spirit duties, resigned, and they were succeeded
by a Conservative Government, with Lord Salisbury as
Prime Minister for the first time. There was a General
Election in November, and the Liberals came back from the
polls in triumph. The Government, although in a minority,
did not resign. They decided to meet Parliament, not to
put their fortune to the test, for they knew that was hopeless,
but in order to have a Speech from the Throne in which there
should be an emphatic declaration against any attempt to
disturb the legislative relations between Great Britain and
Ireland, and the session was opened in person by Queen
Victoria to show her sympathy with the maintenance of the
Union. The Speech from the Throne, as in every instance
of the opening of Parliament by the Queen since the death
of the Prince Consort, was read by the Lord Chancellor.
The principal passage, relating to the Irish situation, was
as follows :
I have seen with deep sorrow the renewal, since I last addressed
you, of the attempt to excite the people of Ireland to hostility against
214 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT
the Legislative Union between that country and Great Britain. I
am resolutely opposed to any disturbance of that fundamental law,
and in resisting it I am convinced that I shall be supported by my
Parliament and my people.
That Gladstone was committed to Home Rule was well
known at the time, and it was hoped by the Conservatives that
this declaration would prove embarrassing to him. Five
days later the Government were defeated on an amend-
ment to the Address in reply to the Speech in favour of small
allotments for agricultural labourers. Gladstone once again
returned to office. The new Liberal Government accepted
the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, drawn
up by their Conservative predecessors, only adding to it
the amendment expressing regret that there was no promise
in the Speech of legislation to enable agricultural labourers
to obtain allotments and small holdings. At that time the
Address was an echo of the Speech itself. The Sovereign
was thanked, separately and specifically, for every expression
of promise, hope or regret contained in the Speech. Here
is one sentence from the Address, agreed to by the Liberal
Government, which, in view of the introduction of the Home
Rule Bill by Gladstone as Prime Minister a few months
later, is one of the curiosities of constitutional history :
We humbly thank your Majesty for informing us that your Majesty
has seen with deep sorrow the renewal, since your Majesty last
addressed us, of the attempt to excite the people of Ireland to hostility
against the Legislative Union between that country and Great Britain ;
that your Majesty is resolutely opposed to any disturbance of that
fundamental law ; and that in resisting it your Majesty is convinced
that your Majesty will be heartily supported by your Parliament
and your People.
Sure enough, the Home Rule Bill brought in by the Prime
Minister in June was rejected by a majority of thirty.
King Edward VII opened his first Parliament on February
14, 1901, the Unionists being in office and Lord Salisbury
Prime Minister. His Majesty said :
I address you for the first time at a moment of national sorrow,
when the whole country is mourning the irreparable loss which we
have so recently sustained, and which has fallen with peculiar severity
THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 215
upon myself. My beloved Mother, during her long and glorious reign,
has set an example before the world of what a monarch should be.
It is my earnest desire to walk in her footsteps.
Of the Speeches of King George V, one of the most
interesting was that which he read at the opening of ParHa-
ment in 1914 ā six months before the outbreak of the Great
War ā when the country was in turmoil over the question
of Home Rule and seemed to be drifting into Civil War. One
of its passages was said at the time to have been personally
written by the King, with a view to mitigating the excesses
of Party spirit. It runs :
I regret that the efforts which have been made to arrive at a solu-
tion by agreement of the problems connected with the Government
of Ireland have, so far, not succeeded. In a matter in which the
hopes and the fears of so many of my subjects are keenly concerned,
and which, unless handled now with foresight, judgment, and in the
spirit of mutual concession, threatens grave future difficulties, it is
My most earnest wish that the good will and co-operation of men
of all Parties and creeds may heal dissension and lay the foundations
of a lasting settlement.
It was the good fortune of George V to be able to announce