NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Queen opened Parliament in person on Thursday. Her Majesty was fairly received during the drive from the Palace to Westminster, but not enthusiastically, and did not herself read the Speech. That document, unusually lengthy and vigorous in ex- pression, was devoted almost entirely to foreign affairs. We have analyzed it at length elsewhere, but must mention here that its general tone was one of neutrality in the war, modified by a desire that France should remain " a principal and indispensable member of the great commonwealth of Europe," and to see an end to the " constant accumulation on both sides of human suffering." As to the Conference, it is to end in an arrangement " upholding public right," but revising the Treaty of Paris ; that is, we imagine, conceding the principal Russian demand. Her Majesty touched on four points omitted in our analysis,—our relations with China, where the alarm caused by the massacre of Tientsin has been removed ; the failure of the Government of Greece to make the inquiry into the massacre at Marathon satisfactory ; the election of icing Amadeus, which may produce a stable government for a country which has passed through its interregnum " with so much prudence and self-control ;" and the betrothal of the Princess, which was simply announced, without allusion to the dowry.
