The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-29
VICTORIA'S REIGN.
From the Chicago Record.

On May "a Victoria Alexandria. queen
of Great Britain and Ireland and en-
press of India, passed the seventy-eighth
anniversary of her birth, and on June
% will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary
of her coronation making the longest
reign in English history for more than
thousand years, or from the time of Eg-
bert, A. ID. S2S This historic record was
made Sept. % last, when Queen Nictoria's
reign passed that of King George Ill,
who did not complete the sixtieth year
of his reign by eight months, and this
unique fact in English history would
have been celebrated last autumn but for
the queens expressed wish that the cele-
bration for which all London is now pre-
pairing might be delayed until the coming
June, the anniversary of her coronation.
The fiftieth anniversary was celebrated
ten years ago as a jubilee, and hence the
celebration of next month will be called
the diamond jubilee, and will probably
exceed in enthusiastic and impressive
celebration any similar event in European
history.
Not only has Queen Victoria achieved
the singular felicity of an unprecedent-
edly long reign in English history but
her reign has been an especially glor-
ious one, marked by unexampled pro-
gress in almost every direction for the
people over whom she has held a bene-
ficent sway. Mere statistics are confus-
ing and often misleading. but when it is
remembered that the population of the
united kingdom has nearly doubled dur
ing Victoria's reign, and that now as
queen and empress she rules over more
| than 100000 square miles of territory
| comprising an empire on which the sun
never sets, and that $50 900, 900 people ac-
| knowledge her rule. some idea of the en-
ormous physical advance made under her
reign is set forth. 1t is also estimated
| that whereas the extent of the present
| empire is five times as great as it was
when the young queen, a girl of IS, as
| cended the throne, the aggregate prop
| erty of her subjects has trebled during
the same period and the advance in for
eign trade for the same time has been
more than 45O per cent.
Even to indicate advance In other lines
during the queens reign is not a slight
| task, considering the varied peoples and
climes over which the authority of Eng
| land has been extended during the last
| sixty years and the multitudinous direc-
tions of modern activity. genius and re-
search. The greatest soldier England has
| known-Arthur, duke of Wellington car
ried the sword of state before the young
| queen at her coronation. and England at
that time held a very high place, in
| deed, among the nations. But today, in
| times of peace, the forces available for
| imperial defense amount to more than a
| million soldiers, scattered in different
| quarters of the globe, and a grand total
of sos warships of all kinds, with $4,000
officers, seamen, and marines, making a
fleet nearly as large as that of France
and Russia combined.
Perhaps to the queen herself the most
noticeable change that has occurred in
h.P Atfr.a t. t.
| capital In which, at Kensington palace,
on the morning on June 20. 1897, the Prin-
cess Alexandria Victoria heard at the
same time the news that William " was
| lying dead in Windsor castle and that
| she was summoned to the throne. At
| that time London was a city of a little
over 900 inhabitants, and during the
Sixty years OF the queens reign it has
quadrupled dts population. while in 9TH
er respects the change has been equally
| great. There Is almost as much differ
ence between the London of today and
the London of that date as between
London then and the London of 300
years ago. London in Queen Eliz-
abeth's time had a population of per-
haps 100000, contained from 10. 900 to 12,
900 streets, alleys and lanes and 1861 ,OOC
houses. Even in the first quarter of the
present century, when Queen Victoria
was but little girl the great city had
but 10000 buildings. These had increased
In 1873 to 52S,794 inhabited houses, and al
present the worlds metropolis is in.
creasing its population at the rate OF
$1,000 a year, and adds yearly 1000 streets
and 10000 houses. Marshy fields and greer
commons over which the Princess Vic.
toria watched plover and mallard fly are
now covered by stately mansions squares
and palaces, and still London continue.
its Irresistible advance.
o
These changes, however, speak OF
growth and advancement and do moi
have the pathos that attaches to change.
In friends and the increasing lonelines!
which is the dover of the years. OF the
twelve bridesmaids who attended Queer
Victoria ON her marriage, Feb. 10, 1910
TO Prince Albert, of SaXe-CobuTg onl,
three now survive, while of the peers anC
personages who attended her coronation
only four remain to attend the exercise!
of the diamond Jubllee-Earl Nelson, a
that time a 13-ysar-old peer; the earl o
! Leicester. who acted as page of homo
to the duke of Sussex: Mr. Gladstone
now SS. and Mr. Villiers, "the father o
the house." who at the age OF 95 still
takes part In the deliberations of parlia
ment. Ministers Of state, the archbishop
who crowned her, the iron duke" and al
the twelve ladies of high degree win
bore the young princess train on tina
occasion, have passed away, while Vic
torla remains, and may yet by reigninI
five years longer rival the reign Of Leo
pold l OF Hapsburg, or twelve year
hence may even surpass the record O
Louis XIV and achieve the distinction
Of reigning longer than any monarch o
| EnrOna