The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-04-02
WILL QUEEN VICTORIA ABDIoArEq

The story that Queen Victoria is about to
abdcate has been revived by the rumors of
her bodily ailments These are naturally
increasing with age, and as the Queen will
be II on her next birthday, in May, there is
nothing surprising in their becoming more
noticeable. But she comes of long-lived
family and there is no present reason for
expecting that she is in any danger from
old age OF the fifteen children of George
III, who himself lived to be 50, two, the
bad Duke of Cumberland and Mary, Duchess
of Gloucester. outIived their eightieth year.
Six survived their SEVENTEEN, and two were
well on toward the seventies when.death
overlook them. The Queens father; the
Duke of Kent, died at the comparatively
easily age of 3d. Considering the care
which she has always taken of herself, the
peaeefulness of her reign, and tile immu..
nifty from sorrow which she has enjoyed,
she may we'll look forward to another dec
ade of power. &c
That she VIII abdicate in favor of her son
Is hardly to be expected. II does not ruin
in that family to abdicate power. 1t was
with the greatest difficulty that George Ill,
when he was blind and mad as halter,
was induced to consent to a regency.
sGeorgeIV nearly provoked a revolution by
his obstinate refusal to abdicate. In Queen
q Victoria lease there is no likelihood Of any
pressure. being exerted to induce her to
resign the throne. Her fifty years expert
en5e have educated her in the art of reign
ing without governing; popular govern
ment works smoothly, without the least
friction. She accepts as her chief minister
whatsoever Parliament chooses to select;
and though. at critical times, she has in
an bod
foreign politics, and has gone SO far-as in
the Trent affair-as TO modify a dispatch
from the Foreign Office, yet still She has
never actually joined issue with any minis
ter, nor set her will in direct opposition to
the viii of Parliament. In the Don Pacifeo
case, Lord Palmerston pursued course
which tie Queen openly condemned and
-rtpF0bated; but the minister insisted and
the Queen yielded?
In her, own sphere Queen Victoria is des-
potic, and her DEGREES, are not open to
debate. That sphere is high, social life
Size rules the aristocTatic society OF England
with rod Of iron, and even her children
are timid in her presence. Not even the
friendship of the Prince of Wales could
@ save Colonel Valentine Baker from her
Indignant wrath; and a life spent in noble
works could not atone, in her Majesty'S
eyes, for the'breaeh Of good taste committed
by Miss Burdett Coatts in marrying young
Ashmead. HeTown life has been spotIess.
aggressively pGTe, so to speak; she insists
On an equally immaculate record among
those who surround her. In matters of eti-
quette, usage, heraldry, and even dress, she
is well informed, and her word is law. Her
mind has run to these topics instead of let
tiers, or art or science. When Prince Albert
lived his powerful and many-sided mind
exerted sucl'a stress on her that she had
opinions On books, music, modern science,
and even high politics; at his death she fell
back into more eongenial channels. She
can tell, from memory, how many quarter
rngs aeGernlau noble family can boast; but
II IS very doubtful whether she has any
clear idea OF the line of demareation be-
tween State aid Federal sovereignty in the
Uaited States, or whether she understands
the philosophy embodied in the "Origin Of
Speeies."o
II she is not in harmony with the strain
q modern thought the misfortune is rather
due to herage than to her mental bent She
was a woman grown when the great reforms
which made England what it swere begun.
She has probably never doubted that she is
Queen Of England by the grace Of God. She
has Shown more than once that her idea. of
dealing with the working class is not to give
them rights and votes and let them care for
themselves, but to furnish the old men with
soup and the ola women with flannel petit
coats, andpet them botE as inferior creatures