2-914-055 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meeting of Parliament, 1854. State opening of the British parliament during the Crimean War. '...Her Majesty [Queen [Victoria] opened Parliament in person, and has inaugurated the Session under circumstances more critical and more momentous than any that have occurred since 1815'. In her speech, she said: 'It is with satisfaction I inform you that, together with the Emperor of the French, I have concluded a Treaty of Alliance with the Emperor of Austria, from which I anticipate important advantages to the common cause. I have also concluded a Treaty with the United States of America, by which subjects of long and difficult discussion have been equitably adjusted...Although the...war will naturally engage your chief attention, I trust that other matters of great...importance to the general welfare will not be neglected. I rejoice to observe that, the...prosperity of my subjects remains uninterrupted'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.