| Show THE GREAT JUBILEE Os 01 taht day fifty years ago victoria I 1 ati mu formally fon nally proclaimed queen of heat britain and ireland having ascended the throne the day previously 44 year and one week later she WM VA crowned at westminster being eighteen years of 0 age on the f former ormer oc alon and nineteen years on the lat ur 1 tn the interim viscount mel lonine am lon rne was at the head of the government and with his assent as premier that tilot of her subjects she was anted aled in marriage to albert prince ot of saxe coburg gotha on an the ata day of el february 1840 by this P four sons and five daughters were ere born v Victoria le torla on november 21 MO albert edward november 9 a alice april 26 25 1843 ites A august ath 1844 helena may hleb 15 louise H barcli arch 1848 aay may y ast 1st t 1 1850 leopold april jtb ib 1868 10 beatrice april 1857 1867 this ima is a family tree unparalleled in royal life and when we uka se I 1 Con consideration considerate 0 n its connections aa of offspring feiring we have before us the J ol of a 9 veritable community em ein or remotely the blood SL of ever y cly waed and enlightened second class power on the 1910 alone excepted reign SD has not been a t one xer has it been M crises cris es and shocks which JF care and pru dence would have proved calamitous to a perhaps irretrievable degree these are loo numerous to be even epitomized containing such important measures as the manifold and ever prevail ing issues arising out of english in ireland the disestablishment jentof of the the lish ment of shefree the free church of scotland the australian allan gold discovery the rebellion the numerous faraway expeditions notably that against theodorus of had proposed marriage to her majesty and imari imprisoned british subjects because she vouchsafed no reply to his offer the great american rebellion and so on in all these and all other trying and momentous situations victorias throne was wa 9 unshaken and comparatively although at times it seemed as if the clouds were gathering darkly and a storm astoria might burst furiously forth she has been personally assailed several times most of them with deadly intent but all were so abortive as not to produce even temporary injury except the nervous shock naturally following such events the first attempt was made by john francis in 1841 who fired a pistol at her he was convicted and sentenced to death but she commuted the sentence to transportation far life the second attempt occurred in the same year aad the public are more or less familiar with the others as they have occurred within tho the past few years macaulay says of queen victoria that in her her subjects have found a wiser gentler happier elizabeth and it is claimed for her that in the statecraft of the day she was the virgin queens Q afons superior A thorough study of the english constitution was incorporated in ia her education and she knew much of the operation of the laws and the requirements of the people before the symbol of regal authority was placed within her grasp she comprehended the great truth I 1 says a biographer that the powers of the crown are held in trust for the ithe people and are the means not the end of government by means of said comprehensiveness scope ot thought and firmness of purpose victoria has been in fact the only constitutional ruler great britain ever had others have treated magna charta as an incident in the procedure aure of the nation an instrument of elasticity and adaptability tabi lity rather than the foundation and limitation of the scope of political power this alone would have made her every inch inan a queen 13 even if the splendid example of virtue virtue as a wife fidelity as a mother and faithfulness as a christian had not placed a more precious coronet upon her brow than the one bestowed in the days of artless maidenhood amid the pomp and ceremony land splendor at westminster abbey forty nine years ago who can grasp by a simple effort eff 0 A of the mind a realization ot what changes have been wrought in the affairs and methods of mankind what obliterations and remo removals vais of state lines and how bow the governing power of rulers has been reformed and relaxed within the half century in which victoria has held s way over the destinies of the british empire it is a theme for volumes not present discussion and the story fully told would absorb more thin than one lite life in the tellin telling from the days when boadicea led the half barbarous skin clad britons against the invader in her rude chariot inspiring p i r i g them to deeds of daring and b battles a t t 1 e of victory down to the perfect civilization and almost universal intelligence telli gence of the english speaking races W when hep victoria first prattled it is a great petion of time in which the extremes we have herein indicated prevailed that was a wondrous transformation one brou wrought ht in the tedious march of centuries but wita with its mighty span and its slow but steady and irreversible advancement it was of no more consequence when we weigh well the affairs of the chief anglo saxon race and its shoots offshoots off than what has been accomplished since the queens advent in earthly affairs began the locomotive through whose beneficent aid frontiers have disappeared and the rudeness vt of nature has taken flight has permeated every nook and corner the electric telegraph has annihilated time and space the printing press formerly a crude and imperfect evangel of civilization has been perfected and its usefulness eDl enlarged arged until it is the great and unopposed educator the mother country and out our american shores are brought within a weeks travel of each other and many other things either of which were unknown and of when she beheld the light of day are BOW but seldom mentioned because we have them with us every day and are so familiar with their preservative and comforting power that we regard them as a mere matter of course that her majesty has fostered and promoted all such measures and all measures lo 10 looking ok to the increased convenience t happiness and progress of mankind is but one of the many queenly attributes whose praises will be sounded in paeans ot of joy throughout her realms today nor no r has the queen been slow to recognize and ana reward per bonal merit in the accomplishment of a conspicuous instance in point she not only noted but signified in proper manner laer her gratification and also in the same act accomplished dished a measure of worthy her people her time and herself the jews were a proscribed class within a certain sphere but the sterling qualities of 0 statesmanship and the poli knowledge of disraeli were not to be held in environment by such a feudal cruel arule and not only was he admitted to parliament but bat he was promoted from point to point until th the limit of pr kotlou was reached in the earl of and the worthy manner in ia which he deported himself in each case and under all circumstances illustrated the correctness of her judgment and the justice of her action he fie became powerful enough to create the opportunity to partly repay her lor for her generosity and improved it by making her empress of india that she was and is not on good terms personally with gladstone is a great misfortune nevertheless when the voice of her people has been heard in his support and it a place demanded fw for him at the head of the government she has invariably acceded to the popular will and summoned him to her side as her chief adviser the last but not the least by any means of the crowning glories of victorias reign we have to present is the fact that thai the messengers of the gospel from zion bearing tidings of peace and good will and disseminating tile the plan of salvation have bave found equal protection within her dominions that other people have found there and they have never asked aught else from any earthly source no hostile legislation has ever been recorded upon the statute books of england nor has the sovereign ever expressed a desire that such should be or that auy any other treatment be meted out to our people than any other received this would not be so conspicuous an instance if it were not so nearly solitary in its evenhanded even handed disposition toward mankind and lor for this and for her other graces and virtues as a woman and a ruler we sympathetically join in the rejoicing so demonstratively proceeding within her hearing and wish her a prolonged life an undisturbed reign to the close and a peaceful f ua departure from the ills of life when the time comes coines for her to lay her burden down |
