The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-21

pit-women, the costermongers and the
ragged children.
Liberty, that was thought dangerous,
has been proved to be a pillar of safety.
The one constitutional country I'm Eu-
rope has stood erect while others were
rocked with revolution. Thes nation
across the channel has undergone two, or
perhaps we should say three, revolu-
tions during the reign of the queen, and
twice its eXiled rulers have sought ret
uge in the island empire, which has pa
triots and liberals of France and Italy
and Austria and Germany and Russia,
and, unless reports be very misleading
the occupants of thrones have wisely an
ticipated a stormy day by investing their
wealth In London and by making the
Bank of England the guardian of their
treasures. Well might Macaulay write
in 1slS, while Europe was rocked by rev.
olution. Because we had liberty when
these nations had despotism, therefore
we have quiet while they have disorder"
And the queens reign has been char
acterized by the growth not only of JUS
| tiCe bnt of mercy. Philanthropy has
grown perpetually more tender of heart,
| larer and more far-reaching In its aims.
| The world has not become perfect, but
| the crimes that were committed without
| n protest now call out an indignant de-
| form. Missions to the ignorant and suf-
fering at home, to the people of White
| chapel and the slums, have kept pace
| with missions in India, Africa and in the
Islands of the sea; two bishops of the ma
| tional church have received the crown of
! martyrdom at the hands of those whom
| they sought to benefit.
| OF course, much of this progress has
| been independent of the ruler, WHILE
| however, ii cannot be forgotten that it
| was the personal character of the queen s
| grandfather, his pig-headed obstinacy,
which was greatly the agent in depriving
Great Britain of her most hourishing col
| onies, which have now become a nation
| of 75,000,000. But not little OF what has
| been achieved has been the result OF the
| queens personality. Her sex and her
youth created n sentiment of loyal chiv-
| airy, to which, no doubt, the throne
| owes something Of its stability. That she
a woman, proved herself one of the best
| sovereigns that England has ever had,
| gave a great impulse to the elevation of
| women all the world over. When it was
| urged by frugally endowed conservatives
that women could not be trusted with re-
| sponsibility, that they were the votaries
of fashion, satisfied with a doll and a
ribbon. the one sufficient reply was-Nic-
toria-a woman who toiled daily over
the mighty tasks laid upon her with con-
scientious fidelity, and whose head was
clear and whose heart was right, even
when veteran statesmen blundered.
o
Both America and England have oc-
casion to mertion her name with graft
ture because of the influence which she
and her husband, the good prince, exerted
at most critical noment IN aVerting war
between the two great English-speakine
nations, a war wiGch would have been
the calamity of the centuries and which
would have turned back the shadows
upon the dial plate of human progress
no one can say how many degrees.
The empire has passed through many
crises, affecting foreign relations and in
ternal policy. The repeal of the corn laws
was of the nature of a peaceful revolu
tion the Indian mutiny threatened Grea'
Britain with the loss of the larger hall
of her empire; the civil war in America
with the cotton famine, brought great
suffering to millions in England but the
empire has been unshaken, largely be
cause the queen had the wisdom to choos,
good advisers, and especially the mar
who SO loyalty and affectionately stood
by her side, husband and counselor, 70
twenty-one years. The domestic life o.
| Great Britain and of all the Enlish
speaking people owes a great deal to th'
queen, the mother of nine children. I'm
, morality has ever felt itself under thu
, frown of the pure matron monarch. IL
elevation of character, in weight OF judg
ment, in personal influence as in eX
; tended experience, she must be regard
ed as the premier among the rulers o
, Europe. History will not fail to reckon
the years of her reign as the golden ag
of Great Britain.