Parliament was prorogued on the 21st inst., the Queen's Speech
being read, and very badly read, by the Lord Chancellor. The document is lengthy, and by no means unusually cheerful. Her Majesty congratulates the country on the Washington Treaty, the Canadian clauses of which, however, are still to receive " an in- dependent and final judgment from the Parliament of the Dominion ; " alludes regretfully to the probable termination of the Commercial Treaty with France, and promises to confine her international action " to the maintenance of general concord and public right." She returns thanks for " liberal supplies which, under the circumstances, had been asked for ; " observes "with concern " that " Parliament has not been able to bring to a definitive issue some subjects mentioned in the speech from the Throne ; " but adds that several important laws have been added to the Statute Book, particularly the Army Bill, which abolishes Purchase, and " lays the foundation of measures calculated to effect a closer union among the various land forces of the kingdom ;" states that the Coercion Bill for Westmeath has answered its purposes ; and believes that by the University Tests' Act, by the repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles' Act, and by the Trades' Union Act, " long-con- tinued and serious controversies have been brought to a conclusion." " But there is every likelihood that, for a long time to come, the great and varied interests of the United Kingdom and of the Empire at large, together with the extending demands of modern society, may prevent any lightening of the honourable but arduous burdens of legislation." The revenue is prosperous and the harvest a subject for congratulation, but those who wrote the Queen's Speech are evidently not quite happy in their minds.
