The Prorogation Speech is unusually empty. Of the great subject
belonging to the day, the extraordinary issue of the State trial and the course to be pursued towards Ireland, it says no- thing—not a syllable. The very name of Ireland is omitted. Per- haps that was inevitable. Ministers have to .go down to Windsor to tell the Queen what she is to tell them to say she says, in the speech read by the Lords Commissioners ; and as the result of the appeal was not known till Wednesday, after the Privy Council at which the Speech was " settled," there was no time. The only measure of legislation specifically mentioned is the Bank Charter Bill : this was all that Sir ROBERT PEEL ventured to make promi- nent in the Speech, for all his vaunts of the singularly fruitful session The most notable announcement is the one that the danger which threatened the good understanding between France and this country has been averted, by the spirit of justice and moderation that has animated both Governments. Tahiti and Morocco are the chief subjects in question, and some further light is thrown on this statement by the Premier and the Times. Sir ROBERT PEEL reports, substantially, assurances given by France that she will not annex Morocco to her territory. The terms of the Tahiti settlement are said to be, that M. D'AUBIGNY is to be re- called, and Mr. PRITCHARD is to receive some compensation for the needless violence used towards him personally. We hope this is true ; not so much with a view to Mr. PatTensen's profit, as to the cessation of tedious bickering. Otherwise, as there is to be no war about Morocco, an empire in o..ir neighbourhood, of course there can be none about the distant little island in Polynesia : therefore, if France will not give satisfaction to England and Mr. PRITCHARD, the most approved method of taking satisfaction would be, to seize on some French Consul, to hustle and shake him in a direct ratio to the force put upon Mr. Parrensan, to lock him up and put his meals from home or from the cook-shop under st.rveillance, and to ship him off to France without bidding good-bye to his family. That might not only restore the injured majesty of England, but make the proud French know what it is for a great nation to feel that its Consul has been knocked about.
Previous page
