Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-02
aTHIE QUEEN"
Response ON st. Andrews Day
BY Judge 4. w. Brown

The second toast proposed at the
st. Andrews Society banquet, given
in Memphis Wednesday evening, No
yember Both, was "The Queen"
Judge T. W. Brown responded. The
following is a synopsis of his i'm
uromptu remarks, as written by him
afterward at the request Of various
members of the society:
The very noble woman and worthy
ruler, to whom the compliment of the
toast is rendered, has achieved a
measure o findiyidual and official pop
ularity with her own subjects, with
Americans, and with the peoples oil
all civilized countries, never in the
history of the world acquired by any
other sovereign. The m~Ost-indeed
the only unexceptionally fortunate of
the s~oyereigns of the Hanoverian suc-
cession, she has, during a royal
administration of over a-quarter Of
a century, constantly grown in
the esteem Of her own people and Of
mankind. Though the years Of her
oIHoial life have been filed with the
grayest political problems for solu.
20 within the boundaries of the
British Empire, though the earliest
wears of her reign as well as Of her
womanhood, were fearfully troubled
nv the dangerous ~agitations among
her people that sprung from the OPP
preston of debt, created by the Ma
noleonic wars and Continental subsi-
dies. though her times have not es-
oaped domestic sedition," MOI the
dangers of turbulent faction, she
passed successfully through the Sc
yere ordeal and amid the %iercest
partizan strife, she retained the
affection Of her people and
their confidence in her patriotism was
never shaken. Under her rule British
progress has been marked, and steady,
morally, intellectually and mater
tally, and to day no American has
occasion to regret that be derives his
lineage from Great Britain, or to re-
proach the descendants of a common
ancestry across the waters with laggard
progress in free thought or civil lib
erty. It will not be claimed by the
most ardent admirer Of Victoria, that
she is possessed Ofthe brilliant talents
and ACCOMPLISHMENTS of llenry's great
daughter, Elizabeth yet there will be
found on examination the practice OF
the same wisdom and patriotic abne-
cation in the methods Of administra-
ton that assured to that gifted
woman the renown Of wise ruler and
a great sovereign. Elizabeth never
allowed her womanly capriees or court
intrigues to interfere with the respon-
.sible heads of internal administration.
She never allowed the wise, steady
going Burleigh to be superseded by
the brilliant and elegant Leicester,
however u~nattractive and at times Of
fensiye the former might DO to her, or
however infatuated for the moment
she might be with the latter. The
present sovereign Of Great Britain has
shown the same high sense Of duty.
She has never intrigued against a min
istry, the choice Of the people,
nor sought by court i~ntrigues, nor
BY court fayoritism to thwart measures
of policy approved at the polls by the
latter. Unlike hat other famous and
good female sovereign, Maria Theresa,
the British Queen has not been COM
PEELED to marshal embattled columns,
or to cross swords with great warrior
Fredericks. yet, like her, she has
strengthened the foundations of her
throne and elevated the moral stand
ards Of her people By the practice Of
the most eminent private virtues-by
the exercise Of conjugal and ma
ternal affection and fidelity. The
purity of English home life
is now as it never was per.
haps before. Such is bur
a feeble sketch of the merits Of
the Queen, whom you tonight honor.
1t will be seer that however auspi-
cious has been her career, she has by
her own conduct and virtues deserved
that good fortune, or at least has not
been unworthy of it, The predeces
sOrs in her particular line-of thu
House of BrunsWick-in occupation
Of the British throne, have all been
the subjects Of the shsrpest criticism
They long failed, though having blen.
ded in their veins the blood Of the an
cient Smart to put the British peopl,
in cordial sympathy with then
long failed to really identity them
selves with the empire to which fat
called them and there can be NJ
doubt that their failure in this regard
was due to obnoxious aud %tyranics
bearing 10 ZONE instances, and il
others to the individual dement's o
the reigning sovereign. | presume
that | am wholly right when | sa'
that Victoria is the first sovereign 0
that line truly aud thoroughly popula
With the British people.
To Americans drawing thei
, descent from the British Isle
it has been for years a pleasuru
and is certainly so now to ~reeogniz
the merit and pay due tribute to tn,
E virtues Of the Queen. Indeed, sine,
! on the day that, amid the Centennia
ceremonies celebrating the last am
fateful battle that gave to the worl,
, another nation Of English-speakin
and English loving people, America
guns saluted at Yorktown the British
flag, the citizen OF this Republic ex
periences a feeling OF self-cougratula
ton, when he can truthfully prais
or honor British men, Brit
ish women or British in
: stitutions; for he speaks Of hi
! own "kith and kin, and must feel thI
I, usual pride 10 ancestral worth. Tn,
progress Of the world on all the hiehe
planes rests now, as it has for NOR
than a century, on the two kindre,
nations, represented here by a consti
tutional Republic, in Great Britail