NEWS OF THE WEEK
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THE secret of the Queen's Speech, which was delivered on Thursday, was much better kept than usual, the tone of its dominant sentences remaining unknown to the public until the speech was delivered. Some hint of it appeared in the Times and Standard, but in no other paper that we saw. The Queen begins with a reference to the dispute with Russia, which has been " satisfactorily adjusted," the frontier having been demarcated " with the full concurrence of my ally, the Ameer of Afghanistan ;" continues with a statement that she has negotiated in the Balkans with a view to bring the people of East Ronmelia, " according to their wish, under the rule of the Prince of Bulgaria ;" and proceeds with a declaration that, having unwillingly been com- pelled, by consistent acts of hostility, to dethrone the "King of Ava," she has decided that the most certain method of re- storing peace and order in those regions is to "permanently incorporate the Kingdom of Ava with my dominions." A mere allusion is made to the Convention with Turkey about Egyptian affairs ; and the remaining important reference to foreign policy is a statement that the long dispute with France as to her rights, under the Treaty of Utrecht, on the coasts of Newfoundland has been brought to " a satisfactory conclusion."
