OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1863, 2 May 1863, Page 5

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH. My Lords and Gentlemen, Her Majesty commands ua to inform you th at since you were last assembled she has declared her consent to a marriage between his Royal Highness the Princ© of Wales and her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra, daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark ; and her Majesty has concluded thereupon a treaty with the King of Denmark, which will be laid before you. The constant proofs which her Majesty has received of your attachment to her person and family persuade her that you will participate in her sentiments on an event so interesting to her Majesty, and which, with the blessing of God, will, she trusts, prove so conducive to the happiness of her family, and to the welfare of her people. Her Majesty doubts not that you will enable her to make provision for such an establishment as you may think suitable to the rank and dignity of the Heir Apparent to the Crown of these realms. A revolution having taken place in Greece, by which the throne of that kingdom has become vacant, the Greek nation have expressed the strongest desire that her Majesty's second son, Prince Alfred, should accept the Greek Crown. This Unsolicited and spontaneous manifestations of good-will towards her Majesty and her family, aud of a due appreciation of the benefit confered by the principles and practice of the British constitution, could not fail to be highly gratifying, and has been deeply felt by her Majesty. But the diplomatic engagements of her Majesty's crown, together with other weighty considerations, have prevented her Majesty from yielding to this general wish of the Greek nation. Her Majesty trusts, however, that thesameprinciples of choice which led the Greek nation to direct their thoughts, in the first instance, towardsH.B.H. Prince Alfred, may guide them to the selection of a sovereign under \vhoße sway the Kingdom of Greece may enjoy the blessings of internal prosperity and of peaceful relations with other states ; and if, in such a btate of things, the republic of the Seven Islands should declare * deliberate wish to be united to the kingdom of Greece her Majesty would be prepared to take such steps as may be necessary for a revision of the treaty of November 1810, by which that republic was reconstituted, and was placed under the protection of the British crown.

i Her Majesty's relations with foreign powers continue to be friendly and satisfactory. ' Her Majesty has abstained from talcing any step with a view to induce a cessation of the conflict between the contending parties in the North American states, because it haa not yefc seemed to her Majesty that any such overtures could bo attended with a probability of success. Her Majesty has viewed with the deepest concern the desolating warfare which still rages in (hose regions, and she has witnessed with heartfelt grief the severe distress and suffering which that war has inflicted upon a large class of her Majesty's subjects, but which have been borne by them with fortitude and exemplary resignation. It is some consolation to her Majesty to be led to hope that this suffering and this distress are rather diminishing than increasing, and that some revival of employment is beginning to take place in the " manufacturing districts. . Ifc has beei} most gratifying to her Majesty to witness the abundant generosity with which all classes of her Majesty's subjects, in all parts of her empire, have contributed to relievo the wants of their fellow countryman ; and the liberality with which her Majesty's colonial subjects have on this occasion given their aid has proved that although their dwelling-places are far away their hearts are still warm with unabated attachment for the land of their fathers. The Belief Committees have superintended with, constant and laborions attention the distribution of the funds entrusted to their charge. Her Majesty commands us to inform you that she has concluded with the King of the Belgians a treaty of commerce and navigation, and a con- - vention respecting joint-stock companies. That treaty and that convention will be laid before you. Her Majesty has likewise given directions thafc • there shall be laid before you papers relating to the affairs of Italy, of Greece, and of Denmark, and that papers shall also, be laid before you relating to occurrences which have lately taken place in Japan. 1 Gentlemen op the Hodse op Commons, i Her Majesty lias directed that the estimates for the ensuing year shall be laid before you. They have been prepared with a due regard to economy, and will provide for Buch reductions of expenditure as have appeared to be consistant with the proper efficiency of the public semce. My Lords and Gentlemen, We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that, notwithstanding the continuance of the civil war in North Ameeica, the general commerce of the country during the past year has not sensibiy diminished. The treaty of commerce which her Majesty concluded with the Emperor of the French has already been productive of results highly advantageous to hoth nations to which it applies ; and the general state of the revenue, notwithstanding many unfavourable circumstances, has not been umatisfactory. Her Majesty trusts that these results may bo taken as proofs that the productive resources of the countiy are unimpared. It has been gratifying to her Majeity to observe the spirit of order which happily prevails throughI out her dominions, and which is so essential an elemenfcin the well being and prosperity ofnationa. Various measures of public usefulness and im. provement will be submitted for your consideration; and her Majasty feivently prays that in all your deliberations the blessings of Almighty. God may guide your counsels to the promotion of the welfare and happiness of her people. At the close of the proceedings the Commislioners withdrew, and the Speaker and members of the Commons returned to the Lower House. The sitting was suspended till five o'clock. The Lord Chancellor resumed his seat on the woolsack at five o'clock. The Prince of Wales took the oaths and his seat at about half-past four o'clock, amid loud cheera. He was accompanied into the House by Duke of Cambridge, the Duk« of Nswcastle, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Derby, Lord Granville, Lord St Germatjs, Lori Kingsdown, Lord Sydney, Lord Willoughby D'Eresby and several others. After taking the oaths he walked to his own chair beside the throne, instead of taking his seat on the the cross benches. He put on hii hat after having sat down, and remained for a short time talking to the peers near. He then left the Home. At about ten minutes past five bis royal highness returned to the House and took his seat with the Duke of Cambridge on the cross benches. The New Archbishops. — The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Tork took the oaths and their teats, and signed the parliamentary roll.

American Journalism. — We extract the followlowing specimen of American Jomnaliam from Dr Russell's lately published "Diary." Fortunately this style of writing is novel to the Colonial press, but the Yankee predictions which some of the low cWs Australian and New Zealand papers attempt to foster, appear to be paving the way for the adoption of this disgusting species of journalism. "It would be unfair to say that any marked superiority in dwelling, clothing, or comfort waa visible between the mean white of Cairo or the black chattel a few miles down the river. Brawling, rioting, and a good deal of drunkenness prevailed in the miserable sheds which lino the stream, although there was nothing to justify the libels on the garrison ; of the Columbus Crescent, edited by one Colonel L. GK Faxon, of the Tennessee Tigers, with whose writings I was made acquainted by General Prentiss, to whom they appeared to give more annoyanc» than ho was quite wise in showing. " This is a style of journalism which may have its merits, and which certainly is peculiar ; I give a few small pieces. " The Irish are for us, and they will knock Bologna sausages out of the Dutch and we will knock wooden nutmegs out of the Yankees." " The mosquitoes of Cairo have been sucking the lager-bier out of the dirty soldiers there bo long, they are bloated and swelled up as large as spring 'possums. An assortment of Columbus mosquitoes went up there the other day to suck some, but as they have not returned, the probability is they went off with delirnvnt, tremens ; in fact, the blood of these Hessians would poison the most degraded tumble bug in creation." " Our editor is particularly angry about the recent seizure of a Confederate flag at Columbus by Colonel Oglesby and a party of Federals from Cairo. Speaking of a flag intended for himself, he says, " Would that it's folds had contained 1000 asps to sting 1000 Dutchman to eternity unshriven." Our friend ib certainly a genius. His paper of June the 19th opens with an apology for the non-appearance of the journal for several weeks. " Before leaving," he says, "we engaged the services of a competent editor, and left a printer here to issue the paper regularly. We were detained several weeks beyond our time, the aforesaid printer promised faithfully to perform hii duties, but he left the same day we did, and consequently tliere was no one to get out the paper. We have the charity to suppose that fear and bud whisky had nothing to do with his evacuation of Columbus." Another elegant extract about the flag commences, " When the bow-legged, wooden shoed, sour craut stinking, Bologna sausage eating, hen roost robbing Dutch sons of ■ had accomplished the brilliant foat of taking down the Secession flag on the river tank, they were pointed to another flag of the same sort which their guns did not cover, flying gloriously and defiantly, and dared yea! double big black dog— dared, as we used to say at school, to take that flag down — the cowardly pups, the thieving sheep dogs, the sneaking skunks, dare not do so, because their twelve pieces of artillery were not bearing on it.*' As to the Federal commander at Cairo, Colonel Faxon'a sentiments are unambiguous. " The qualification of this man, Prentiss," he says, " for the command of such a squad of villains and cut-throats are, that he is a miserable hound, a dirty dog, a sociable fellow, a treacherous villain, a notorious thief, a lying blackguard, who has sewed his regular five years in the Penitentiary and keeps his hide continually full of Cincinnati whisky, which he buya by tho barrel in order to save his money — in him are embodied the leprous rascalities of the world, and in this living score, the gallows is cheated of its own. Prentiss wants our.acalp; we propose a plan by which he may get that valuable article. Let him select 150 of his best fighting men, or 250 of his lager-bier Dutchmen, and we will select 100, then let both parties meet where therpjrtir be no interruption at the scalping busing^SnU tlie longest pole will knock thepersimmS^^P^: does not accept this proposal, he is A<sSmSßP^

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