The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-03 00:00:00

IYTR GLADSTONE ON HER NASESTI'd

JUBILEE.

In commemoration of the Jubilee year of the
Queen's reign. all the inhabitants of the parish tif
Hawarden, of the age of her Majesty and upwards,
were invited to dinner by Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, in
a large marquee erected in the grounds of the castle.
There were about 300 men and women, ranging from
68 to 91 years of age, present. They were driven up
to the castle in all sorts of vehicles by their frieuds,
and wore very warmly welcomed by Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone and other members of the family. A volun-
teer band performed a selection of music in the
ground'. Unfortunately, some rain fell during the
efrernoon, but it was neither so heavy nor so con-
tinuous as to interfere with the general enjoyment.
Mr. Gladstone himself helped to carve the joints
on the table, and several ladies and gentlemen gave
their assistance in attending upon the old people.
After dinner Mr. Gladstone, rising amid loud cheers,
pointed out that this was not like King George I IL's
Jubilee—a jubilee merely of great folk—but a jubilee
of the nation. He alluded to the great extension of
political liberties and privileges during the last fifty
years, the mitigation of the penal code, and the vast
improvement in wages, houses, food, and clothing of
the poor. These blessed changes, he said, have been
largely associated with the name and actions of the
Queen. You will remember that it is the high
function of the Sovereign to give her consent to bills
presented to her by the Houses of Parliament, and
no bill can become law without her consent. It
might be very difficult in these days, when the
[louses of Parliament are in earnest, for the Sove-
reign absolutely to refuse, but then there is such a
thing as a grudging consent. There have been good
laws in this and other countries to which at times Sove-
reigns have consented, not because they liked good laws,
but because they could not help themselves. That
has not been the case with the Queen. The whole of
these beneficial changes upon which I have been
dwelling, and a multitude of other beneficial changes
with which I cannot now detain you, are laws in
which her Majesty, as is well known, and as I have
had more opportubity of knowing than many, perhaps,
who now hear me, has given not a forced, nor a
grudging, but a willing, hearty, active, and convinced
assent, and has thereby made herself a prime bene-
factor to the country. (Cheers.) After that it is little
to say of such a Sovereign, but it is an important
thing to say, that all the principles of the Constitution
have been observed by the Queen throughout the
long years of her reign in a manner more perfect ..han
has ever been known in the time of any former Sove-
reign. (Hear. hear.) In point of fact it is not too
much to affirm that the historian in future, when he
comes to write an account of this period in which we
live, will point to the reign of Queen Victoria as a
time in which the Sovereign of this country came
finally and fully to understend the constitutional
position of the great and noble traditions upon which
this free people can be governed, and not only to
understand them, but to accept them and to act upon
them, f -om the day when Lord Melbourne, her first
Prime Minister, earned the honour of his countrymen
for the fidelity with which he made known to her all
the lessons of the best Royal practices, down to the
very day on which we are now speaking. Nor, be
assured, is it a slight matter when—as almost all
persons speaking of this Jubilee have felt themselves
compelled to do--we mention the example of life and
of mariners that has been set by the Queen from first
to last. Alas, if we go back beyond a certain time,
and that not SO very distant, in the history of the
human race, or in the history of this great kingdom, we
find the period when, for a long series, monarchs,
the Court, and the immediate surroundings of the
throne, instead of being an example of Christian life
to the rest of the country, were an example of every-
thing that a Christian should not do, and everything
had, everything profligate, everything corrupt, every-
thing that would shock the decenthouseholder, father
or mother, to mention before his children. These
things have found in other days their home about
and upon the throne and in the precincts of the
Court. Not so with Queen Victoria. Under her no
form of evil has been permitted to be present within
the august precincts of Windsor Castle or of her other
palaces to present its—possibly to some seductive
yet really loathsome and abominable features, and the
people have been able to say that, in the various lines
and watks and works of duty, those who have a humble
lot and a contracted sphere had been able to borrow
encouragement and instruction from the example of
her whom it has pleased God to place at the head of
society. I beseech you, my friends, if you owe a debt
of gratitude to the Queen for that which I have de-
ncrieed, for her hearty eagerness in the work of public
progress and improvement, for the admirable example
which her life has uniformly set, for her thorough
comprehension of the true conditions of the great
covenant between the Throne and the people, and if
you owe her a debt of gratitude for this, may I say,
do try to acknowledge that debt by remembering her
in your prayers. Depend upon it, that when St. Paul
enjoined that prayer shoald be made for all men, and
gave the commandiug and leading place to prayer for
Kings and all that were in authority, St. Paul spoke
the language not only of religion but of the most pro-
found social justice and human common-sense. I will
only conclude by assuring you that it is to me, and not
to me alone, but to my wife and to our whole family,
a matter of the deepest and sincerest pleasure to meet
you upon this oceasion. We cordially wish to you
every comfort and consolation that can sustain you,
as I trust it will sustain my wife and myself in de-
clining years—we trust that your happiness may
brighten as the remainder of your days must shorten.
We offer to you our best and heartiest wishes, and we
entreat you to join with us in the few but cordial
words, words that never can lose their depth of mean-
ing, " May God save the Queen." (Cheers).
On the motion of one of the oldest guests, Mr.
White, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr, Gladstone
;or his hospitality and his eloquent speech.