QUEEN'S SPEECH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 139, 26 April 1862, Page 3

QUEEN'S SPEECH.

Mr Lords as» Gbhtlembn,

•- We are commanded by her Majesty to assure you that her Majesty is persuaded that you will deeply participate in the affliction by which her Majesty lias been overwhelmed, by the calamitous, untimely, and irreparable loss of her beloved Consort, who has been her comfort and support. ~-.:. It has been, however, soothing to her Majesty, while suffering most acutely under this most awiul dispensation of Providence, to receive from all classes of her subjects the most cordial assurances of their, sympathy with her sorrow, as well as of thsir appreciation of the noble character of him the greatness of whose loss to her Majesty and to the nation ia so justly and so universally felt and lamented. , We are commanded by her Majesty to assure you that she recurs with confidence to'your assistance and advice. ■ " " ■ •■'.-■ '

Her Majesty's relations with all the European Powers continue to be friendly and satisfactory; and her Majesty trusts there is no reason to apprehend any disturbance of the peaceof Europe. A question of great importance, and which might have led to very serious consequences, arose between her Majesty and the Government of the United States of North America, owing to the seizure and forcible removal of four passengers from on board a British mail packet by the commander of a ship of war o the United States ; but that question has been satisfactorily settled by the restoration of the passengers to British protection, and by the disavowal of the United States Government df the act of violence committed bj[ their naval officer. The friendly relations between her Majesty and the President of the United States have therefore remained unimpared. ; • , Her Majesty warmly appreciates the loyalty and patriotic spirit wldch have been manifested on this occasion by her North American subjects. The wrongs committed by various paiiiies and successive governments in Mexico upon foreigners resident within the Mexican territory, and for which no satisfactory redress could be obtained, have led to the conclusion of a convention between her Majesty, the Emperor of the French, and the Queen of Spain, for the purpose of regulating a combined operation on the coast ot Mexico, with a view to obtain that redress which has hitherto been witheld. That convention, and papers relating to that subject, will be laidbefore you. . - ■.;'■.-■ The improvement which has taken place in the relations between her Majesty's Government and that of the Emperor of China, and the good faith with which the Chinese Government have continued to fulfil the engagements of the treaty of Tien-tsin, have enabled'her Majesty to withdraw her troops from the city of Canton, and to reduce the amount of her force on the coast and in the seas of China.

Her Majesty, always anxious to exert her influence for the preservation of peace, has concluded a convention with the Sultan of Morocco, by means of which the Sultan has been enabled- to raise the amount necessary for the fulfilment of certain treaty engagements which he had contracted towards Spain, and thus to avoid the risk of a renewal of hostilities with that Power. That Convention, and papers connected with it, will be laid before you.