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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. COMMENCEMENT OF THE SESSION. HOUSE OF LORDS.—1THUMDAT. Only one bishop and a little oTef a «core of peers at- tended the opening ceremony of the second session of the tenth Parliament, which took place shortly before two o'clock. The Lords Commissioners—the Lord Chan. cellor, Earl Sydney, Earl Spencer, the Earl of Cork, and Lord Monwo-having taken their seats on a bench in front of the Throne, the Commons were sent for, and the Speaker and other hon. members having arrived, the Lord Chancellor read the Queen's Speech, the text of which will be found elsewhere. The Speaker and the Commons returned to the Lower House, and their lordships adjourned till five o'olock. On the Houae reassembling, the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne was moved by Lord Carington and seconded by Lord Yorborougii.-Tord Beacons- field avowed that he had never known an occasion of the opening of Parliament when there was greater reason forad&p'sense of anxiety, or when oar foreign, oelonfal, and home affairs demanded snoh deep con- sideration. He charged her Majesty's Govern- toent with having greatly contributed to bring about that grave atate of things. f( 0 sooner were they In office than they commenced to bring about a complete reversal of everything that had been done by their predecessors. The Treaty of Berlin, whatever its shortcomings, had at least "oured the Eaee of Europe. After what had been done by her ajesty's Government, nobody oonld say that peaoe was now insured. On the contrary, ft might oe In peril within 24 hours. Then, as to the Afghan question, they had proclaimed on the house- tops and in every bazaar that they did not know what to do, and that after the brilliant achievements of our army In Afghanistan, they were going to souttle out ef the country. In the letter he wrote to the Lord. Lieutenant of Ireland on the eve of the general election he warned the country that If decisive measures were not taken something would happen as bad as famine and pestilencej but the present Goo vernment took an early opportunity of expressing a contrary opinion. The authority of the Queen waa now absolutely superseded in three of the ivrovinaes of Ireland, and the Executive had abdicated its func- tionsln that island. He would not recommend an amend- ment to the address, but he held that both houses should require of the Government to proceed de die in diem with the measures for the restoration of order in Ireland. --OOrd Granville protested against the assertion that her Majesty's present Ministers had done anything so reverse the policy of the Treaty of Berlin, and also against Lord Beacons field's assertions regarding Afghanistan. Aa to Ireland the late Government had themselves so minimised the Coercion Act introduced by Lord Harthigton that it would have been power- less to prevent the state of things which had arisen. He vindicated the action of the Government in delay- ing the application to Parliament for further powera on the ground that repressive measures unaccompanied by measures of relief and warranted by the certain support of the majority of the people had generally faaed. He quoted the language of Sir Robert Peel In 1833 In support of this opinion.—The debate was continued by Earl Spencer, the Duke of Abercorn, and other noble lords, and Wltllc108ed by the Earl of Kimberley, who declared that there was no Intention on the part of the Government to go on with mea- sures of relief and measures of coercion simulta- so-dY.-Tbe Address was agreed to without amend- Kent, and thel; lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-T==Ay. On the return of the Speaker from the House of Lords after hearing the Queen's Speech read, the Lower House was adjourned till four o'clock.-The Speaker having read the Speech from the Throne, the address b reply was moved by Mr. Stuart Rendel and seconded by Mr. Slagg.—Sir Stafford Northcote con- tended that the Government ought to have foreseen what would be the result of the Land League agitation, which he described as the establishment of the most mercilous and unscrupulous Government which ex- isted In the world. The real Government had broken down.—Mr. Gladstone complained of the vague. ness of Sir 8. Northcote's charge, and in- sisted that when he arraigned the Govern- ment for neglcct of duty, he ought to say what the Government ought to have done, and when It ebonld have done It. As to the failure to re- new the Peace Preservation Act, if there was any sonsure to be passed, it must be on the late Govern. ment, which by dissolving Parliament in March, made it impossible for any steps to be taken until May 14, though the Act expired In June. Mr. Gladstone, in conclusion, mentioned the points on which the Government had come to the conclusion that the Land Act of 1870 had been sbewn to be defective. These were the provisions for pre- venting the imposition of exorbitant rents and for securing the tenant's right for compensation for disturbance, and for preventing the augmenta- tion of rents beyond the real value of the holding. The Cesent law, the Government also thought, was de- >tive in regard to the assignment of the tenant's in- terest, and i. rlgbt Clauses of the Act of 1870 had proved inoperative.—The debate was continued by Mr. T. P. O'Connor, and Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and at 10 minutes put 12 was adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS.-F=DAY. The House of Lords sat for about 20 minutes, during whioh time the Lord Chancellor laid on the table ana obtained a first reading for two bills. One of them is to remove doubts arising from a clerical error in a provision of the Burials Act. The other will qualify for appointment as members of the Judicial Com- mittee Judges of Appeal who are Privy Councillors, even though they may not have been Judges of First Instance. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—FRIDAY. Mr. Forster stated, in answer to Mr. O'Kellv, that the local magistrates were lustified in prohibiting a Land League meeting In Brookboroagh, county Fer. managh, as a conflict with Orangemen was anticipated. —Mr. O'Kelly moved the adjournment of the House, In order that the subject might be discussed, and more than two hours were taken up in doing so.—The motion for adjournment was then rejected by 901 to 38.—The adjourned debate on the address was resumed by Mr. ParnelL Complaining first of the conspiracy of the London Press against the good name of Ireland, he passed on to explam the objects of the aotion of the Land League, and denied that that organisation had either excited to outrage or not sufficiently reprobated it where it occurred. As Ip the necessity of coercive measures, he quoted statistics to shew that at the present moment the state of crime there was below the average of the last 40 years. Coercion would- contribute to crime and outrage, by encouraging the landlords in the Sractice of eviction. The question was whether the [onse would have an open organisation or a secret conspiracy.—Mr. Forster admitted that coercion would not be a remedy for the evils and wrongs of Ireland, but protection of person and property was needed in Ireland, and must be given. As a matter of fact, outrages had followed the Land League meeting in exact proportion. Mr. Parnell must have known that the result of his action and speeches at those meetings would be certain out. rage.—Mr. O'Donnell rose to order, and pronounoed thi* statement a base calumny, an expression lot which he was promptly rebuked by the Speaker.— Several Irish members shouted "Withdraw."—Mr. Forster declined to do this, but eventually amended his language by "aying that Mr. Parnell ought to have known what the result of his teaching must be.—Mr. Gibson denounced the Land League agitation as unconstitutional and op- posed to the best interests of the Empire. Its real ob- ject was not the reform of the land laws, but the dis- solution of the Empire. It sought unscrupulous ends. by unscrupulous means. The Government knew all the facts Hint November, and if Parliament had been summoned then two precious months might have been gained from the agitation, and the Irish people spared from allowing themselves to be misled be expectations that would never be reallsed.-On the motion of Mr. Shaw the debate was again adjourned.-Subsequently the Attorney- General brought in his bill for the Prevention of Corrupt Practices, which was read a first time, as was also the Ballot Act Continuance Bill. HOUSE OF LORDS.-MoNDAY. Lord Lytton called attention to affairs in Afghani- stan. He said that the action of the Govern. ment in deciding to reverse the policy of their prede- cessors, and to abanion Candahar, would not be conducive to the respect of Orientals for the steadiness of our will. The possession of Candahar involved the only possible control that either Russia or England could have over Afghanistan, and to abandon the place meant a loss of legitimate influence.-The Duke of Argyll said that the late Ameer Shere Ali had not shewn him- self hostile to the ocuntry till anticipating the tactics of Mr. Parnell, the noble Earl had Boycotted that ruler and sent him threatening letters. As to the importance of retaining Candahar, there was nothing in the papers of the late Government to shew that they had finally decided on keeping that place neither was there any justifica- tion for its retention, unler- it could be shewn that It was an absolute duty.-ord Cranbrook urged the necessity of retaining Candahar as a look-out post on the Afghan frontier.—Lord Northbrook pointed out, as an objection to such a policy, that Candahar was 400 miles from the frontier of India, and that communication with it was attended by immense dif- ficulties.-I,ord Enfield stated that whilst the Govern- ment had decided against the permanent occupation of Candahar, they were endeavouring to provide a ruler who would have the confidence of the people of South Afghanistan.—The Burial and Registration Acta (Doubts Removal) Bill and the Judicial Com. mittee Bill were read a second time. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAT. The adjourned debate on the address was re- sumed by Mr. Shaw, who warned the Govern- ment that if their intentiona with regard to Irish and legislation wen oonfined to the programme sketched by the Prime Minister, It would not only completely disappoint the Irish tenants but would not satisfy their own party. He had not given up his belief in Mr. Gladstone, but it would be better not to touch the question at all than to touch and not settle it. As a practical contribution towards such settlement, he threw out the suggestion that there should be established a tribunal which should v fix the rent as betweon landlord and tenant. — Lord R. Churchill vindicated the late Government for withdrawing from the prosecution of certain persons for sedition, and ridiculed the State trials now going on in Dublin as a "costly sham."—Mr. 0. Russell supported the amendment, because he foresaw from the Queen's Speech that there was to be strong ooercion and weak remedial measures. The Land League was legal. though me iiy things had been done through its in- fluence which he entirely reprobated. An organisa- tion of the sort was not, therefore, to be put down by ooercion.-Several other members having spoken, Mr. Plunket described the addresses of Mr. Shaw and Mr. Russell as an attempt to Boycott the Whigs." Their remarks were addressed, not to the resolution before the house, but to an attempt to foree the hand of the Government on the land ques- tion. He would vote for the Coercion Bill, and would give the most candid consideration to the Land Bill. On the motion of Mr. Mitohell Henry, the debate was, at ten minutes past 12. adjourned.—Mr. Trevelyan brought in a bill for tne abolition of flogging In the UTI. BOUSE OF LORDS.—TOBSDAT. Lord Dunsany moved for returns relating to the Land League meetings and agrarian outrages In Ire- land sinoe the 1st of June last.—Lord Spencer de- clined compliance with the request on the ground that It would be impossible to obtain all ths Information required, and that muoh of what might be obtained would be of no practical use. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-TUMDAY. Mr. Mitohell Henry resumed the debate on the Address; He complained that the Irish Government had used the ordinary law in a weak, falter- ing spirit. The proper mode of meeting the difficulty—which notoriously arose out of the wretched condition of the Irish tenantry-would have been for the Government first to come forward with a distinct pledge to give fixity of tenure, and then to appeal to the Irish people to save them from the shame and humiliation of proposing coercive measures. That appeal would have been successful.— The Solicitor-General for Ireland justified the proposal for exceptional legislation. He de- Sibed in detail the salient features of the Land ague operations, the agrarian outrages, the mutila- tions of cattle, the intimidation of juries and wit- nesses, the summonses and sentences of the Land League courts, all of which he condemned In vigorous language. Mr. Chaplin argued that the manufacturing Industries of Ireland ought to be re-established and means found for lessening the frightful competition for land, which was the curse of Ireland, and the root of all the miseries of that unhappy country. Wastes might also be re* claimed with advantage. As to the paragraph in the speech, it was a confession of failure by a Ministry of impotence and error.—Lord Hartington pointed out the fallacy of the reasoning by which Mr. C. Russell and others arrived at the conclusion that the outrages had been exaggerated. The Government did not ac- cuse the people of Ireland either of oomplicity in or sympathy with the outrages. There was a state of terrorism which prevented the true opinions of the Irish nation from being made known. Adverting to the complaints by anticipation of the weakness of the coming Land Bill, he said that it was not of so much importance to consider whether the bill was to be strong and sweeping as whether it was to be founded on principles of justice and policy, and likely to afford a permanent and adetfuate remedy for acknowledged f.rievanom.After some observations from Mr. Healy, the debate was again adjourned.

THE QUEEN'S SPEEOH.

THE WAR tN THE TRANSVAAL.…

LONDON CLUBS AND SOCIETY.

[No title]

THE PENYGRMS EXPLOSION.

- DISTRICT INTELLIGENCE.

THE ASSESSMENT OF YTRADYfOIJWG.