Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-10-17
The Queens Speech.


s The "Queen's Speech" at the lat
l propagation of the British Parliamen
touches on all the important State in
: terests--as it was necessary that j
: should-and evinces great amount o
= adroitness in its composition. The
: topics mentioned are all presented il
: the most favorable light possible, with
out at the same time making the as
sumed situation of affairs too glaringly
inconsistent with the known facts. It
proceeds in very much the same strair
, as Lord Beaconsfield's late address, and
/ reveals very plainly the work of the
! upon which it offers congratulations tc
Parliament, without much apparent
reason, occurs the statement that I" the
! territorial arrangements stipulated in
the Treaty of Berlin have been faith
fully executed, and the delimitation OF
new frontlerf is nearly completed" In
two very important instances, however,
we find that these stipulated territorial
arrangements have by no means been
executed as yet, but instead their set
Element presents two of the most i'm
portant and critical questions in Euro.
pean politics to-day. We refer to the
Greek Frontier question, and to the
question of the final disposition to be
made of the province of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
One of the protocols of the Treaty of
Berlin contains an agreement made be-
tween Turkey and Greece concerning
the adjustment of the frontier, which
the Powers forming the Treaty prom
ised to see carried out. The adjust
ment, it is unnecessary to add, has
never been made, and the promise of
the Powers to enforce it has never been
kept. The two territories over which
the dispute is waged are Thessaly and
Epirus. They clearly belong by all ties
to Greece. They are the same in race
and religion and their sympathies are all
with that country. 1t will be remem-
bered that during the Turko-Russian
war, Thessaly threw off her allegiance to
the Porte and proclaimed an alliance
with Greece. She was aided in the at
tempt by Greece, who sent an army to
her support. The revolt, however, was
soon quelled, more by the promise of
the Powers to secure their rights to the
insurgents than by any fear of Turkish
power. Since then they have been
anxiously waiting for these promises to
be fulfilled. About year ago letter
was addressed to the Powers, asking
them to exert their promised influence
in the settlement of the question. As
this had but little effect, through the
influence OF the Porte, a second request
was made by the Greeks, that q Com
mission be appointed to attend to the
matter, and threat was added that if
this were not done, Greece would be
compelled again to resort to arms. This
request resulted in the meeting of the
Ambassadors appointed by the Powers,
and request from them to the Porte
to accept of mediation, and to appoint
representatives and time for the set
Element of the question. Since that
time, which was in June, the matter has
remained as it then was. Turkey,
countenanced in her action by England,
has always persistently evaded the set
Element of the question, and is now re-
ported to be occupying the disputed
territory with large FORCES of armed
troops. Assurances are still given by
her of her desire to settle the matter
peaceably, and in satisfactory way,
but Greece has little reason for faith in
the declaration, either in view of her
present or past conduct. What ground
for congratulation there may be on the
way in which this stipulation OF the
Treaty is carried out is difficult to see.
In regard to the final disposition of
the provinces of Bosnia and Kerzego-
vina nothing very definite can now be
known. BY the terms Of the Treaty
they were awarded to Austria, but she
has never been able, from the opposi-
ton encountered inside her own gov
eminent as we'll as outside, to take
them fully under her control. 1t
was upon this question, more than any
other, that the fall of Andrassy was
brought about. At present the eyes of
both Russia and Germany are turned
longingly toward them, and deep
feeling Of ill-will is springiug up be-
tween the two nations on account of
them. While Russia wishes to obtain
them for herself, Germany prefers to
| secure them to Austria in compensation
for important benefits which she expects
to receive from that nation. What will
| be the end of the matter remains for
time to disclose, but in the mean time
there seems but little room for con-
graduation upon the present state of
the question.
The speech also alludes to the sue
cess of the war in South Africa, and to
the vindicatlon of the British honor by
the troops employed there, which
seems no less unhappy subject upon
which to offer congratulations. The
writer of the speech had yery difficult
ground to go over on the occasion, and
Notwithstanding all the skill and adroit-
ness used, the production will not
stand very close inspection.-N. Y. En-.
dn,iner and Chronicle.
MEXICAN EXECUTIONS. - Executions
in Mexico are conducted with an eye to
dramatic effect. Before a prisoner is
executed, he is put in the "Capilla ;"
that is, he is cloistered for about