The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-10 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE SESSION.-THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

The Times considers that had it not been for the un-
toward accident that a war between France and Germany
has occupied the whole of the Recess, the debates on the
Address last night in answer to the Royal Speech
would have been of unusual excellence. As it
was, the speeches delivered were remarkable for
the dexterity with which the subject that was
uppermost in all men's thoughts was generally avoided.
An order had been apparently issued that as little as
possible should be said about the war. The consequences
that followed were in some degree inevitable. The human
mind is not qualified to play double parts at the same
moment. To speak of one thing and to think of another is
the sure way to be ineffective in speech and irresolute in
thought. Lord Westminster was learned last night in
the -statistics of -free trade in beer, and if Mr. Bruce gets
an opportunity of bringing on his Licensing Bill such
statistics ought to be remembered. Mr. Samuel Morley
achieved a distinction that can only be properly charac-
terized as miraculous by his dexterity in avoiding the
subject of the day. Ho had his pet statistics also—
a comparison of the trade of 1870 with that of 1869
and of 1868, and he boldly prophesied that with Univer-
sity Tests once abolished, and a fair Burials Bill passed,
we should be on the eve of the millennium. His greatest
exploit was, however, the expression of an opinion that
the Combination Laws—abolished nearly half a cen-
tury since—had worked unspeakable mischief. Who
would not assent to this historical criticism ? Who does
not see in it a easy way of sliding over every difficulty?
The world is agitated and anxious while revolving
the problems of the hour. Men are discontented with
things as they are, and yet, perhaps, do not see
their way to improving them. • While they are thus
perplexed, a comforter comes and assures them that
an evil system which passed out of existence in a
former generation produced much mischief as long as it
lasted. One of two consequences at once follows. A
feeling of relief is experienced, or, if not that, then a feel-
ing of irritation. The choice is offered of accepting a
stupefying draught, 01 of rejecting with contumely the
delusions of a self-contented philanthropy.

In the opinion of the Standard, the Speech which has
on this occasion been put into the mouth of the Queen is
at once the longest and the clumsiest composition of the
sort which we can remember. So curiously bad in taste
and in style is this remarkable document, that we must
conclude that it is no longer Mr. Ayrton who writes the
Queen's Speeches for the Government. There can be but
one hand capable of turning out these bald, jejune, and vapid
periods—these phrases full of ill-fitting words which mean
nothing—these 'sentiments at once barren and unctuous.
The principal subject of the Speech is, of course, the war ;
but those who looked for. any defence of the conduct of
the Government during the last seven months, or even
for any intelligible statement of the grounds of the policy
which they pursused, will be greatly disappointed. Ou
that other scarcely less important foreign subject, the
audacious violation of the Treaty of 1850 by Russia, we
have an utterance as crude in sentiment as it is bare of
meaning, Coming to the domestic portion of the Speech,
we find a vague and equivocal allusion to the subject of
military reform. We are promised certain changes
" from a less to a more effective and elastic system of de-
fensive military preparations," which will be embodied
in a bill shortly to be submitted to Parliament. Of the
other more important measures, special reference is
made to bills relating. to religious tests in the
Universities, ecclesiastical titles, to trade unions,
to the courts of justice and appeal, to the
adjustment of local burdens, and to what Mr. Jacob
Bright believes to be the paramount subject of the day,
the regulation of the traffic in intoxicating liquors.
A particular paragraph is devoted to a renewed
pledge that secret voting will be established. A
vague expectation is expressed that something may be
done for primary education in Scotland. The condition
of Ireland is declared to be satisfactory as compared
with last year ; though it is scarcely a proof
of this fact that no mention is made of the
working of the two great remedial acts ; nor is there any
hope expressed of the repeal of the strong coercive
measure of last session, nor, which will be in the eyes of
Irish members the most significant of all the omissions in
the Speech, any allusion whatever to Irish education, or
to those concessions on which Cardinal Cullen, only a day
or two no, so confidently reckoned. The Speech, which
ends with a peroration more solemnly and portentously
unmeaning than usual, may be described generally as the
emptiest, and yet the most ponderous, of all recent pro-
ductions in this kind.

The Daily News says Disraeli truly described the
Speeeh with which the Queen opened Parliament yester-
day as one of the longest ever delivered from the Throne.
The speech was read by the Lord Chancellor, and once
more Royalty allowed itself to be present rather as the
chief ornament than the chief actor of the scene.
The Speech reflects of course, the aspects of
the time. Two-thirds of it are on foreign ques-
tions, and nearly a third of it is upon the war.
The foreign policy of the Government is its strong point.
Mr. Gladstone found no difficulty in vindicating the Go-
vernment policy, both as to our neutrality as between
France and Prussia, and our conciliatory attitude to Rus-
sia. It is quite true that the session begins amid cir-
cumstances of good augury for our domestic peace.
Pauperism is diminishing, and we have Mr. Morley's
assurance from a practical point of view that
all departments of commerce are flourishing The
most interesting and important part of the Queen's Speech
is, of course, that which deals with questions of domestic
legislation ; and our anticipations of yesterday as to the
Government programme are more than realised.
The Government has taken up the dropped
threads of last year's discussions, and given guaran-
tee, by early introduction of promised measures,
that they shall this year be woven into the year's
accomplished work. The session has thus opened not only
with a Speech of unusual length, but with considerable
promise. If the hopes of peace are realised abroad, and
the Government is resolved to consolidate its majority at
home, we may have a prosperous and successful session.
Parliament has a large programme before it; its leaders
ask it at once to plunge into work ; and we may hope that
several important measures of ecclesiastical and political
reform, which have long waited for realisation, will at
length find their way into the statute-book.
The Telegraph observes :—We may infer from the
Queen's Speech that the session is to be eminently non-
political. Not one of the topics recommended by her
Majesty to the consideration of Parliament is a party
question. There will be, of course, many de-
bates on foreign affairs ; but the great war has
severed Englishmen into sections entirely un-

connected with old political lines. High Conser-
vatives, moderate Liberals, and extreme Radicals
find themselves united in sympathy with France, while
Germany can also count Tories, Whigs, and advanced
_ _

politicians among its friends. The reform of the army is
unpolitical; there are Liberals who are as anxious for
a large and popular armed force as any Con.
servative in England, and there are Tories who

are staunch in their zeal for thorough military
reform. The Ballot used to be a party question ;
it can hardly be called so now. The University Tests
Bill will awaken parsonic and sectarian rather
than political fire. Then the measures relating
to Trade-Unions, to Courts of Appeal, to local rates, to
public-house licenses, and to Scotch education, are any-
thing but calculated to provoke party strife. Of course
we are well aware that, if politicians desire it, they can
make anything a party question. The Tory party, to its
credit, has ever had a vivid sense of national interests.
and displayed a constant readiness to see our fight-
ing power improved ; and it is not at all likely
that the Conservatives will offer any factious opposition
to the military measures of the Cabinet. The renewed
prospect of the amicable settlement of the Alabama
claims and other Anglo-American controversies is also
likely to have a tranquilising effect. Here then we have
at last a " no-party" session—a session with a
large number of great questions on which ,members

may vote almost without reference to Whips on either

side. We can, at all events, congratulate our elve on the
change that, notwithstanding Mr. Disraeli's random
utterances last night, promises us " no party politics," in
. _

the old-fashioned sense of the word, but rather indicates a
long series of business-like discussions on reforms of prac

tical importance.

The Manchester Courier observes that the whole speech
a in truth a somewhat blabby document, and though its
sentences are not so bunglingly constructed as that to
which we have referred, it is watery enough to create a
strong desire that before such a thing as the Qneen's
Speech is again prepared by a Liberal Cabinet, those who
are concerned in its production should take a text lesson
in English composition. There aro plenty of Civil Ser-
vice " examiners " who would undertake the work upon
terms which even Mr. Lowe could hardly refuse to pay.
The Government is, however, compelled to admit " that
there have been painful, though partial, exceptions." It

•11•,•..., .... •
does not add that the peaceful state of Ireland is due
to the harsh coercion bill of last year much more than to

he messages of peace which were to procure such miracu-

lous effects.

The

paragraphs

of the

Speech

which fellow may be clismissed with little

more than a word. In the penultimate the Government
declares that calm is necessary to secure the best results
of the last two sessions, wherefore, it is added, no political
subject likely to become the subject of very'serious con-
troversy has been suggested. We should imagine, how-
ever, that the long list of sweeping changes mentioned above
will afford quite sufficient grounds for discussion, and
that whilst they are agitated there will be plenty of con-
troversy. The last paragraph is worthy of attention only
on account of one clause, that which assures 114 that the
people are earnestly attached to the laws and institutions
of the country, and desire their continuance. In the
face of that growing mass of sedition and republicanism
which we have so often lamented, such a sentence as this
can only inspire admiration for the happy audacity of the
Minister who invented it, just as the general verbosity of
the whole document inspires wonder for his flood of words
and remarbable feebleness of thought.
The Birmingham Morning News thinks the Queen had
no confidence and little hope to express, and indulged in
no dream so sweet and so false as that of last year, in
reference to the continued maintenance of general tran-
quillity. It is satisfied that the policy of the Government
in regard to the war will receive the approval of the nation,
and heartily approves of what is said of the
objects, designs, and probable results of the
Conference, and joins in regret that France
is unrepresented. With regard to the differences with the
United States, the Speech is hopeful, and that hopefulness
seems well based. Approval of the remarks concerning
Spain and her people; it is glad the topic of Italy and the
Pope was not introduced; and that the epistle of the too
ready-writer, Gladstone, finds no echo in the Queen's
Speech. With regard to foreign affairs, we say bravo tothe
Speech ; approve of the remarks concerning the Princess's
dowry, the defensive military preparation, the ballot, the
attack on religions, and the tests at universities. There
are some things omitted that we should be glad to have
seen inserted. But looking at what is possible, and not
at what is theoretically desirable, we like the speech—its
prayers, its praises, and its promises.
The Yorkshire Post's opinion of the Royal Speech is that
it is heavy laboured and ill-composed. It tells us very little
that might not have been easily anticipated, mid upon the
most serious subjects to which it refers—namely,
those relating to Continental affairs-- it is as
hesitating and feeble as the policy of which it is the re-
flection. After reviewing the various points in the Speech,
the Post says : " Foreign affairs will probably absorb
attention at a very early period, and the difficulties of the
Government in this respect will be complicated by
the task which, unless we are much mistaken,
they will find by no means easy of persuading
the House that they are con ipetent to deal with the
question of army reform in a statesmanlike and sufficient
manner. War abroad and preparation for war at home
will give rise to much fighting in Parliament, mid the
Government will have cause to consider themselves sin-
gularly fortunate if, after the great conflicts on these
questions, they find themselves in a position to deal with
matters of a more pacific character."
The Nottingham Journal says:— The Speech spews that
the Government is consistent in their policy of noe-inter-
vention. The fact that they have endeavoured to uphold
the sanctity of treaties, and hope at the Conference to do
so successfully, gives proof that they do not
mean to sacrifice the dignity of the country.
The allusions to our relations with America will command
general approval. It was dignified not to say more, and
less could not well have been said, as to the marriage of
the Princess Louise. The allusions to Army
Reform are somewhat indefinite, but we are pro-
mised on an early day a measure that
shall be at once "decisive" and judicious.
Mr. Gladstone is right in his determination to lose no
time in finally settling the vexed question of the Univer-
sity Tests. The promised Ballot Bill should serve to
pacify the Radicals, and so many Conservatives
have expressed their approval of secret voting,
that there should be no great difficulty in carrying
the measure. On the whole the speech will be
generally accepted as a dignified expression of the
sacred principles cherished by Her Majesty's Government
and a business-like summary of the measures to which they
propose to apply those principles.
The Sheffield Telegraph says :—The inference that the
fighting will begin again, unless both parties refrain from
fighting, is a sage inference, and one worthy of all admira-
tion—for its soundness. In the third paragraph the Queen
is made to say—" In the first of these declarations, I have
maintained the rights and strictly dischargel the duties
of neutrality." We look back for the declaration, and
cannot find it. What we do find is a " promise "of con-
stant attention to the subject of "neutral obligations."
How her Majesty could have maintained her " rights "
by promising " constant " attention to her " obligations "
is one of those profound problems which Mr. Gladstone
could alone explain. The fact assexted—the maintenance
of neutral rights—is not over clear. The novel thing in
British history is, as it seems to us, the " right " of
British merchantmen to be sent to the bottom. The
fourth paragraph takes credit for the "cordiality " of
England's relations " with each belligerent." There is a
winning amiability in this way of putting things.
None but the man who extracted sunbeams from
cucumbers could have found "cordiality" in kicks. The
paragraph about the non-recognition of the French Go-
vernment is an explanation which needs explaining. A
Government, honoured with the adhesion of an Arago and
a Thiers, is one which ours is " unable" to recognise ;
whereas to King William we have " offered" our " con-
gratulations." This difference of treatment, as we are
assured, made no difference whatever, an assurance imme-
diately followed by " regret " that France has sent no re-
presentative to the London Conference. The great cod-
fish question gives a fishy aroma to the twelfth para-
graph. The right of the United States to take other
people's fish, has been made the subject of " amicable
communications," with a view to the discovery of the
most convenient mode of treatment. Cod's heads should
go with oyster sauce, and if Butler sees "manifest
destiny " in Canaddian codfish, why should not the Blue
Noses, in exchange of favours, dredge in liberty,
equality, and fraternity the United States oyster banks ?
After remarking upon the omission of all mention of
Rome, the Sheffield Indopendent concludes : The speech as a
whole is the longest and one of the best we remember. It
is fresher and more vivacious in style than such docu-
ments usually are. It faithfully describes the foreign
conduct of the Government, and furnishes the welcome
intelligence of the coming settlement of the questions at
issue with the United States. In domestic affairs it fore-

shadows a course of legislature that will commend itself
to the Liberal party, while the proposals of army reform,
though very generally treated, indicate a measure at once
bold and comprehensive. With success, a past to refer to,
and such promises for the future, the Ministry deserves
treatment more generous than eondemnation unheard.
The Scotsman thinks the Speech rather confirms than
dispels the expectation that this is to be a military
session. One of the most important, and not most satis-
factory, paragraphs is that relating to the United States,
it is not easy to understand still less easy to
applaud. The joint commission on the fishery question
must necessarily be sanctioned and shared by Canada
and it is somewhat anomalous that it should be authorised
to take up as a subordinate mltter a question of greater
magnitude Clad that which 11 .ts originally appointed to
deal with. It is also assumed Irvin the inference that the
question is only made up of matters of amount and detail.
Hitherto it was believed the Government denied culpability
and responsibility. The success of the ballot bills this
year is, beyond doubt. Such a phrase as a national scale
and basis justifies the expectation that Scotch education
will be something differing considerably for the better, as
it could scarcely differ for the worse, from the English.
In the case of Irish education, where nothing good
was expected at present, it is pleasant to find that there is
to be nothing done at all, seeing how much the Catholics
demand.

The Edinburgh Courant thinks that the whole Speech
exhibits a rehearsal of the principles which have hitherto
guided the Gladstone policy. Instead of parochial
politics being held up. as the great end and
aim of Government, it is now confessed that
we must look to our position' among the
nations. Nothing more than. the present crisis
on the Continent is required
.to shew how
miserably injurious the so-called economical policy of the
Gladstone Government has
.prove.d its effects. The
list of measures of domestic legislation too is not long,
and compares unfavourably with. that of last session. The
great measure of. the session, it is evident, will be the bill
for the reorganisation of the army, and perhaps we are
again about to have evidence afforded us that Parliament
is able to
.deal with. only one great scheme in the course
of the session. It is worthy of note that nothing is said iu
the Royal Speech about the Navy. Is it because that
branch of the service is so perfect under the control of the
First Lord, who is unable to work, and who in the
perilous times is on the sick list ?

The Irisknuart says :—The speech delivered by Queen
Victoria has no interest for us except that its reference to
Ireland is significant enough. It makes a short allusion
to what is called " agrarian crime," in which respect our
island, we are told, presents a gratifying aspect ; and next
it contains a refusal of further reforms. A period of
calm is to be desired," so it says. It simply means that
all the labours of the National Association and of the
Catholic Committee, with reference to the education
question, are contemptously spurned. The majority of
the nation is bidden to rest and be thankful whilst the
minority eat all the plums. The Gladstone Ministry has
played false to Cardinal Cullen and all his men. Having
used them so far as they could in discountenancing
Fenianism, they now believe they can dispense with
them altogether. Ireland is to have no reform of any
kind ; no ballot, no federative plans—nothing but (per-
haps) an improved coercion clause ! And Ireland will
accept this refusal of her popular and national rights as a
message of peace ! How little her rulers understand her.
There can be no peace whilst injustice exists.