NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PARLIAMENT was opened on Thursday with a Royal Message, of which the important sentences are confined to foreign affairs, Ireland, and the government of counties. The Queen, in the first place, deplores the events which compelled "Prince Alexander of Bulgaria" to retire from his government, but does not judge it expedient to interfere in the election of his successor until affairs reach the stage at which her assent is required by the Treaty of Berlin. The condition of Ireland still requires grave attention, " the relations between the owners and occupiers of land having been seriously disturbed by organised attempts to incite the latter class to combine against the fulfilment of their legal obligations." The efforts of the Government to cope with this evil are seriously impeded by the state of the law, and proposals will therefore be made to secure its prompt and efficient adminis- tration. The Queen then, after mentioning that the Report of the Commission on Irish Land-purchase will shortly be ready, promises measures for the improvement of local government in England and Scotland, and, if possible, subsequently in Ireland ; for facilitating the cheap transfer of land and the provision of allotments for small householders; for altering the mode of levying tithes ; for regulating railway rates; and for some other objects of minor or only local importance. Procedure is, of course, not mentioned ; and, as every one knows, none of the minor measures will be so much as approached until the condition of Ireland has been discussed for weeks, and the Government have passed their Bill for improving the criminal law. The Session, in fact, will be filled with talk about " Closure and Coercion," and with divisions intended only to separate the Unionists from the Government.
