The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-24
LONGEST REIGN TN HISTORY.

After to-day queen victoria Will nave
reigned longer than any English sovereign,
and. in actual exercise of authority, prob
ably longer than any ruler of whom we
have authentic history. The nominal reign
of Louis XIV of France was longer, ex-
tending from 1913 to 1715 a period of sew
enty-two years, but he was but five years
old when his reign began. mothers
regency lasted until her death in 1856, and
the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1861 is
considered the real date of his assumption
of regal authority. Either date makes the
ACTUAL rule OF the grand monarch shorter
than that of the British Queen, for, though
but eighteen at the time of her accession,
Victoria has been Queen regent from the
first ntey
OF all the royalties who have ruled or
misruled the English people for more than
a thousand years, Anglo-Saxon, Danish,
Saxon, Norman and their successors, only
victoria's grandfather. George III, had so
long a reign she. George III succeeded
his grandfather, George III, Oct. %, 1850.
He died Jan. 20. 1920, ending a reign of fif-
ty-nine years and ninety-six days Vic
toria succeeded her uncle, William ", June
20, 1887, and will therefore have reigned
fifty-nne years ard ninety-six days to-day,
Sept. "a. 1t happens, however, that there
were but thirteen leap years in King
Georges f1fty-nine years, while there are
fifteen in the Queens fifty-nine, as any
body can discover by a little figuring, re-
Numbering that 1900 was not leap year;
so if come to question of days. Vic
torias reign was as long as her grandfath-
ers on Sept. %. The reigns of Henry III
and Edward Ill come next in length. The
former came to the throne in 1915 at the
age of ten and reigned fifty-six years. dying
in 1872; the latter reigned from 1927 to 1877,
a little more than fifty years.
AS was the case with Louis XIV, neither
of Victoria's long-lived progenitors gov
erned as long as she has by ten years.
George III was more than once declared in
sane by act of Parliament, and his son,
afterwards George ~, appointed regent
The last appointment was in 1910, and from
that time to his death George III was nc
more king in fact than if he had slept with
his fathers in St. Georges chapel, Windsor.
He was kept in strict seclusion, and while
Napoleon marching through Europe
waging the greatest wars the continent had
ever known, the ruler of the nation he most
feared was alike unmindful of victory or
defeat.
Henry IT'S reign began with a regency
and would have ended much sooner than it
did but for the valor and energy of his son.
Edward l, who rescued the weak King
from MS DaronS, led by Simon DE Mont
fort, who was for many years more of "a
king than Henry. Edward II but fiji
teen when by the deposition and subseo uent
secret murder of his father he gained the
throne. He had the energy of Planta-
genet, married at sixteen, emancipated him
self from the regency of his mother and
her paramour, Roger De Mortimer, at
eighteen, putting the latter to death and
shutting up the former for the rest of her
life. He was every inch a king for the rest
of his forty-seven years, fighting Scotch
men and Frenchmen, winning the battle of
Crecy and finally wearing himself out
with wars and intrigues after the fashion
of his house.
The women suffragists may perhaps take
comfort in the fact that the two most
successful and prosperous
reigns in this thousand years OF history
were the reigns of queens. Since the Brit
ish monarchy began business in ST. with
King Alfred there have been forty-five
kings and only four queens regnant ex-
Guiding the wife of William ILL., who was
such only in name, yet OF a the forty
five not one has left such a record in his
tory as Elizabeth and Victoria Good Queen
Bess had her failings, but the forty-five
years CT her rule for progress in science,
literature, discovery, all the arts of war
and peace, can only be compared with one
other reign, not yet ended True. the su-