The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-15 00:00:00

t4e;s'tottrbrittge Obentr.

SA.TURDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1879.

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE.

The celebration of the birthday of the
Prince of Wales last Monday is another
inevitable reminder of the flight of time,
,vhich an old Latin proverb tells us is the
devourer of all things. The Prince has now
entered his thirty-ninth year; and, as her
Majesty continues to enjoy excellent health
there seems in all human probability, every
prospect of his Royal Highness remaining
frince of Wales for some years to come. '
People are already speculating upon the
eelebration of the Queen's Jubilee ; and
upon the face of it there seems no reason
why we should not look forward to it. Less
tian eight years will bring us up to a date
which would be memorable in the annals of
the Royal house. When it is considered
tl,at just eight years ago the Prince of I
Wales was seized with that serious illness,
every incident of which was followed with
so much interest and anxiety by the nation
it will bc seen how really short a space of
time separates us from Queen Victoria's
nbilee. Her Majesty would then be 66 ;
and it will be remembered that the sover-
eigns of the House of Hanover have all been
long-lived. George 1., the youngest of them
was 67 when he died ; George 11. was 77;
George III; was 82; George IV. was 66 ;
and William IV. was 72. Consequently the
direct heirs to the Crown have never come
to the Throne in early life. The eldest son
of George 11, was 45 when he was struck
down by pleurisy whilst walking in his
gardens at Kew ;so that he never became
King at all; and the eldest son of George
111. had reached the mature age of 58 before
he put off the functions of the Regency und
assumed the Royal sceptre. And here is our
own Prince of Wales upon the threshhold of
forty, with many years of valued life still
apparently before the Queen.
Ihe generation which witnessed Her
Majesty's accession to the .throne has well-
nigh passed away, bat the loyalty and affec-
tion which greeted the young Queen forty-
two years ago exist with undiminished force
nor are these sentiments confined to the in-
habitants of these islands but they prevail
throughout the vast realms which own the
sway of her sceptre. Her subjects are fam-
iliar with the domestic virtues of their
Sovereign, not less than with her public life
as a constitutional monarch ; and while they
have rejoiced with her in her domestic joys,
they have not withheld their sympathy
when she has been called upon to sutler those
afflictions which are common alike to the
occupant of a palace and the dweller in a
cottage. Thus between the Queen and her
people there has sprung up a bond of no
ordinary character. Nor is popular esteem
wanting towards the younger members of the
Royal Family, who by the exemplary man-
ner in which they fulfil the varied duties of
their high position, have won for themselves
a place in the nation's affection, and have
done mach to preserve and strengthen the
ties which bind together the Crown and the
commonwealth.

"The Victorian era," as Her Majesty;s
reign has been appropriately designated, is
marked as a period of progress probably un-
equalled in our natioual history. Science
has advanced with giant strides; education
has been promoted as an object of the high-
est national importance; the resources of the
empire have been developed; and the masses
have been:admitted to a share in those poli-
tical privileges which were formerly deemed
the exclusive right of the few ; while all
classes enjoy an increased degree of social
comfort.

Nor has it been found necessary to adopt
the old unchanging motto "Whatever is, is
right," for it must be obvious to all unpre-
judiced observers that change mnatlinevitably