The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-03-02 00:00:00

(1* gotottlrke (Nserter.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1872.

THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING.

Human life is a medley of joys and sorrows,
cares and rejoicings; it is " a woof of sorrow
and a warp of gladness." Who is there that has

not suffered

•4 Some natural sorrow. losa, or pain.
That bai been, and way be again?"
And it is " a poor heart that uever rejoices."
Our good Queen is no exception to the universal
rule. The Sovereign of a mighty empire is on
a level with the meanest of her subjects in re-
gard to those joys and sorrows that are inevit-
able accompaniments of family life. But a few
years ago she had known no domestic sorrow;
but Death, which " heeds not the beautiful nor
fears the brave," struck down her beloved hus-
band, and a nation mourned with her. From
that the Queen has ;found it impossible to
" pluck from the heart a rooted sorrow," and she
has not been able to mingle with her people as
was her wont ; but her sorrow has been res-
pected, and has even endeared` her more than
ever to the nation. Another heavy blow ere-
while threatened her when her eldest son WaS
stricken down with fever, and lay helplessly week
after week, causing the national heart to quail
with fear for the dreaded result. It is not too
much to say that the whole empire waited end
watched anxiously during the progress of this
fearful malady, and that the national heart
throbbed with hope and expectation, or sank
with misgiving, according to the tenor of tho
latest news. Among all denominations prayers
for the recovery for the heir to England's throne
were offered up, and when the Almighty Dis-
poser of events saw fit to grant that prayer, it
was but a fitting recognition of His mercy that
prayer should be mingled with thanksgiving.
The!salisnt features of last Tuesday's proceed-
ings entitle it to be called a day of National
Thanksgiving. In many towns and districts of
the kingdom the voice of praise and thanksgiv-
ing was raised in places of public worship, and
there were innumerable manifestations of pub-
lic rejoicing. But the metropolis is less a town
than a collection of of towns; it represents the
entire nation. Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and peo-
ple from every provincial district are among its
inhabitants, and on this oceasion the provinces
added their tens of thousands to the ordinary
population of the greatest city in the world.
To look upon the millions of people who it is
said thronged certain well-known thoroughfares
as meer sightseers, would be to do them injus-
tice, and to rob the Queen and the Royal Family
of the love and loyalty that this vast throng of
people displayed. The dense masses of the
Queen's subjects who filled the streets, who
crowded the windows and roofs of the houses
along the arrival and departure route, and who
made the several temporary structures look like
so many theatres, did not come out for mere
sight-seeiug, but also to welcome the Queen and
her family, and to shout their glad congrattfla-
Cons at the recovery of the Heir to the Throne.
The loyalty of the British people and their at-
tachment to the Crown had never been so dis-
played before as they were during the Prince's
illness ; and just the same feelings have now
been manifested in a very different way. It has
been sympathy in both cases. The nation has
mourned with the Queen when the life of the
Prince hung upon a thread; the nation rejoices
with her when she rejoices at her son's recovery.
Amid the hearty acclamations that " made the
welkin ring," amid the boisterour cheering of
hundreds of thousands of people who thronged
the route ~through which the Royal family
pissed. " the still small voice of gratitude"
could not be heard ; but gratitude for the re-
covery of the Prin.: t of Wils muC have existed
to a very large extent, if our common
Clint-
tistily have, as we kit,ww it has, a vast intluenel
00 our national life. Thoogh St. Paula WAS
never filled with a more illustrious crowd, the
assembly was necesi-iiirily a poor one numerically,
bat jl WAS It 1 L prCsentati v c assembly, sod the
vo:ce of praise and thauksgiving raised in thi
metropolit vu temple lit.s vdteeil, as it ale.
tiirou.:,Lont the land.
The reeepeiesi of Die Queen and the
Family goterally, tool the Prince of Wales Ca-
p....1'41y, most have heen deel,ly gratifying to
Diem. It at cites proved the high esteem in
W i-li tr 14.1 SOverde It and her children ere per-
fonill'y held, and the ileep teclinieet of De-
pt uple to monarchical institution 'the cheer-
ing, the aaVing of hats, handkerclitifa, 11t4s.
unit this from :dense masses of people on the
ground, at windows and balconies, on the roofs
of houses—everywhere from whence a glimpse
of the royal party could be had--constituted, as
it were, a vote of confidence, and a declaration
of affection and attachment.