Opening of Parliament in 1846--The Queen’s Speech--The Debate on the Address--Sir Robert Peel’s Statement--Mr. Disraeli’s Philippics--Bishop Wilberforce on Peel’s Reception by the House of Commons--Peel’s Mistake--Lord George Bentinck’s Attack on the Prince Consort--The Queen’s Explanations--The Court and the Peelites--The Corn Bill in the House of Lords--Lord Stanley’s Political Dinner-Party--The Duke of Wellington and the Peers--Triumph in the Lords and Defeat in the Commons--Peel’s Coercion Bill for Ireland--A Factious Opposition--Fall of the Government--Lord Aberdeen’s adroit Diplomacy--The Oregon Controversy and its Settlement--The Government’s Policy in India--War in the Punjab--Victories over the Sikhs--Resignation of the Ministry--The Queen’s Farewell to Peel--Her Suggestion of a Coalition--Wellington and Cobden advise Peel to dissolve--Reasons for his Refusal--The Queen and the Duke of Wellington--The Duke’s Letter to Lord John Russell--Lyndhurst and Reconstruction--Disintegration of the Tory Party--The Peelites in Opposition--A Hint from Aristophanes--Tory Persecution of Peel. It was on the 19th of January, 1846,[36] that the Queen opened in person the Parliament which revolutionised the commercial policy of England, and transferred the political centre of gravity from the territorial to the commercial aristocracy of the country. The Royal procession was formed at Buckingham Palace in the usual order. Her Majesty and Prince Albert descended the grand staircase shortly before two o’clock, the Queen wearing a lustrous diamond circlet on her fair white brow. The Prince was habited in a Field-Marshal’s uniform, and the orders of the Garter and Golden Fleece shone on his breast. The State coach with its eight cream-coloured horses then drove with the Royal party to the Palace of the Legislature, and as her Majesty passed through the densely crowded Royal Gallery it was seen that she was labouring under deep but suppressed emotion. From the Throne she read, in clear but thrilling tones, the following speech:-- “_My Lords and Gentlemen_,-- “It gives me great satisfaction again to meet you in Parliament, and to have the opportunity of recurring to your assistance and advice. “I continue to receive from my allies, and from other foreign Powers, the strongest assurances of the desire to cultivate the most friendly relations with this country. “I rejoice that, in concert with the Emperor of Russia, and through the success of our joint mediation, I have been enabled to adjust the differences which have long prevailed between the Ottoman Porte and the King of Persia, and had seriously endangered the tranquillity of the East.