The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-06-25 00:00:00

NATIONA L JUBILATION.

JUBIIATIO\' i the best word to describe the
exuberint enthusiam which prevails in this
crowning month of the Royal Jubilee. The
two N;erils jubilee and jubilation both spring
tofni oil world Hebrew root. It ,a
apprapriate that the name of
ihe original inventor of musicalinstra-
%rents, which stir the airsand heart with in
spiriting sounds should be so closely associated
withiseasons of special rejoicing and general
gladness. Ample justification is afforded by
the national progress achieved and the
material prosperity attained daring the last
fifty years for the jubilant displays of loyal
feeling which are taking place throughout
the length and breadth of the land among
our kith and kin beyond the western, eastern,
and southern seas. If the Germans had good
cause to, exhibit patriotic ardour on the
occasion of the late ninetieth anniversary of
the veteran Emperor William's birthday, the
Britiqh people have still greater reason for
giving vent, in all the various ways that in-
genuity can devise, to their loyal enthusiasm
on this (mints mirabilis of Queen Victoria's
leigu. As Mr. Walter Besant has remarked
in his admirable contribution to the Jubilee
literature of the period, loyalty had lain
dormant among the great body of the people
ror 150 years prior to the Queen's succession
to the throne, and its revival, in more than
ite olden fervour, is due to the many causes
that have combined in making the present
reign glorious and memorable. Among the
attractive spectacular displays which form a
large snd conspicuous part of the present
celebrations, the foremost place must neces-
sarily be assigned to the splendid Royal page-
ant which, in three well-ordered, brilliant,
and stately processions, passed through
some of the chief streets of the metroplis
from Buckingham Palace to Westminster
Abbey. Never in the previous annals of
London, which, in the course of centuries,
had been the scene of so many striking
historic events, did such a.large number of
Royal and Imperial personages ride 'through
the thoroughfares, or take part, under tlleroof
of:the ancient Abbey, in an imposing Thanks-
giving ceremony of the kind witnessed on
Tuesday last. From all parts of Europe,
from India, from Persia, and even from
Hawaii in the South Pacific, Kings and
Queens and Princes, Princesses of imperial
and Royal blood had come to do honour to
the illustrious occupant of the British throne,
and to join eordially in the Jubilee cele-
brations. The gay and profuse- decorations
of the streets through which the triple page-
ant passed with its brilliant military escort,
and the ringing cheers from the vast crowds
of spectators which greeted her Majesty as
she rode along in her carriage, drawn by
eight cream-coloured horses, all testified
to the depth and sincerity of the loyal
enthusiasm exhibited on every side. "Wave,
Munich, all thy banners wave," were words
of counsel and cheer addressed by a post,
endowed with the martial spiritof Tyrtaeus,
to the Bavarian capital when she needed to
combine patriotic ardour with warlike energy
in order to repel the invading, foe who
threatened her liberties and independence.
Bat London required no word of counsel or
command to unfurl her flags and put on her
brightest array:of adornments on the great day
chosen to celebrate the completion of a half-
century's happy and prosperous reign. The
Poet Laureate, in the Ode of Welcome to the
Princess Alexandra, when she arrived in
England to become the bride of the Prince
of Wales, made reference to all the signs of
rejoicing which distinguished the occasion,
from the thunders of fort and fleet and the
rapturous cheering of crowds, to the flutter-
ing of flags on turret and tower, the clashing
of joy--bells from steeples, the flaring of
flames on windy headlands, and the bursting
of rockets in mid-air followed by showers of
spangled stare. Similar signs of national
rejoicing on a still larger scale are characteris
lug the Royal Jubilee. The "festal city's
blaze" was nevur exhibited in greater
splendour and magnitude than in the
metropolis on Tuesday night. The
illuminations, especially in connection with
public buildings and the larger class of hotels,
displayed marvellous variety and beauty in
their artistic designs. Even many of the
villas in the far-off suburbs looked like fairy
palaces, in the midst of gardens and groves,
with their adornments of many-co oured
pendant lights. The brilliance of the
illuminations was supplemented by displays
of fireworks showincr the perfection to which
the pyrotechnic art has now attained. So
very long ago as the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle
fireworks were called into play to celebrate
the event, business in comparison with the
magnificent effects which Mr. Brock is in the
habit of producing on the grounds of the
Cryatal Palace, and which he exhibited in
unsurpassed style in celebration of the
Jubilee. It is satisfactory to find that
among the celebrations in the metropolis and
towns, care is taken that the memory of this
great year will be indelibly impressed upon
the-minds of children. The thousands .of
children selected from seminaries belonging
to the London School Board, who were feted
in Hyde-park and visited by the Queen, are
not liisely to forget their-experiences on that
eventful day throughout the wttole length of
their lives.