Year: 1871




the capital, as the French and English
marched to Pekin, and with their temples
and perhaps also their prince In our hands, to
dictate to these barbarians the opening up of
their country TO civilized commerce. Az 1t
is we have destroyed few worthless forts.
killed few men, taken and released few
prisoners, and then, after being badly snnbbed,
have retired ''until further orders are received
from Washington.


What will those orders be ? The guarded
remarks of the President to our Long Branch
correspondent afford doubtful inkling of
them but u special despatch from Washing
ton says mi-officially. that the matter is go
ing to be permitted to rest where it stands.
Hints, however, are thrown out that England
and Germany may begin some further opera
tions against the Coreans either with or without
our aid. Nothing but this was wanted as
elimination of the proven incompetency of the
authorities. They have made us ridiculous
in the eyes of the world by great fizzle,
which even the gallant victory of our sailors
cannot wholly redeem from the abs'lrdity Of
its utter purposelessness. And now, having
undertaken great task, and having SO far
failed we are to wait until some one else helps
us to accomplish it. A conclusion so IN
palatable-we may even say so revolting-to
American pride will certainly seriously
damage the administration. We blame Mr..
Fish and Mr. Low and Admiral Rodgers for
blundering between them into a war which
might have been avoided; but now we have
been, tacitly if not expressly, committed to
the work of opening up the Corea, we cannot
afford to withdraw from the undertaking.


The Queen's Spceca at the ProroGntiom Of


the British Parliament.


So Parliament has been prorogued, and the
Queen has spoken (by proxy, and the world
is none the wiser for it. The gentleman who
penned what is supposed to be Her Majesty $
oraiion might just as well have cut it short
and said 'Gentlemen, have nothing to say
except what you all know; so you may go
and be happy" But he preferred to Illus
trate the art of saying nothing with good
many words There was lamentable lack Of
interest in the closing ceremony. Only six
peers were present in the House of Lords,
whittier the Commons were summoned to hear
the royal speech. This listlessness is nos to be
wondered at considering the fact that the
matter. The Queens speech opens with
grateful allusion to the generosity of Parlia-
ment in providing for the Princess Louise and
Prince Arthur. The little unpleasantness
caused by Mr.. Odgers and his friends
in Trafalgar square is, of course, not
worth mentioning. The Queen then goes
on to say that she will take part in
any conference or negotiation that may come
up from time to time, but always pursue the
even tenor OF discretion. AS if pointing out
the practice of this policy, she adverts to the
London Conference, and hopes that the con-
cessions accorded to Russia will insure the
tranquility Of the East. This hope may
turn out to be q snare. While Bismarck is
scheming and Beust is scheming and Gort-
ohakotf is scheming. in fact every great
Power in Europe, with the exception of
England, scheming, on its sole account
or in partnership with another, there
can be no lasting peace in Europe.
The Queen refers with especial sat
isfaction" to the Treaty of Washington. And
well she might; for it is the most satisfactory
work accomplished by her government during
the last twelve months Satisfactory for both
sides. in providing proper safeguards for
nd in hnr MT {bo
gust claims of nation that would much
rather be Engands friend than foe.
The Queen also promises to counsel the Par
Lament of Canada to accept the provisions
which require its consent, and hopes that
the maritime rules laid down in the treaty will
obtain general recognition and become inter-
national law. This is laudable wish. and we
hope that it may turn out to be so.


Her Majesty then refers to the commercial
treaty with France. She says she would be
Power and consent to some notifications but
she would see with concern any change of
nature to restrict the commercial intercourse
between the two countries" No one need be
astonshed at that. The treaty Of 1860 Is more



in favor Of England than France, and the
Queen would naturally be 10th to see the
profits derived by England curtailed or
abolished. CurtaiIed those profits will be
beyond doubt, for France must have
money for her present need, and cannot stop
to consider whether policy OF protection will
pay in the end or not. The Queen also thanks
the Commons for the liberal supplies
voted in order to meet the compensation
required for the abolition of the purchase
system but she reproachfuly reminds both
the Lords and the Commons that they have
been at fault in the treatment Of subjects re-
commended to them at the opening of the ses-
sion. The Queen further says that ''the
extraordinary powers granted to the viceroy
of ireland for the repression of the agrarian
boy "a,