The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
THE QUEENS SECOND JUBILEE.
Protest from "a Home Paper in Regard
to Its Mercenary Features.
London Spectator

AOtluOlL 0pCkloAObs
We feel compelled to demonstrate ser1-
ously against at least one incident of the
preparations for the Queens second gupllee.
There is grave danger lest the loeans1
which should mark the whole affair should
be lost sight of in the most sordtd money
grabbing. With the commemoration itself
as an imperial festival, intended 10 pc a
most cordial sympathy. The British people,
not only in these islands, but throughout
the empire, owe more even than they rec
ognize to the Queen, who throughout her
long reign has reconciled the theory OF
monarchy with the fact of republicanism,
without diminishing either the dignity OF
the throne or the s~elf-governing habit OF
the people,; who has enabled the Constltu-
ton to pass in quiet and safety over the
deep raVine which divides the England OF
the past from the England Of to-day, and
who has throughout the most varying CIR
cumstances, some of them most dlflcult
circumstances, proved herself at once so
disinterested and so full of tact that in
England alone among the Kingdoms of Eu-
rope there is no party OF monarcniSts, as
there is none which makes of hostility 10
monarchy a distinctive creed. Inc extent
of the political and social service mus per
formed by her Majesty VIII De DetIer real
selves, and they will, we believe, realize
also that while Queen Victoria made no
pretensions to genius ana never ieIesdI ~
ed advice, she has been more conscious
than the world supposes that this Is hef
function, and has kept 1t III view with d
persistence which has given to ner reign
much of it's singular continuity of success.
Had William ". not to mention any other
of the Hanoverian Kings, welded the scep-
ter during that period, 1t might nave been
marked by incessant collisions between
throne and people, ending, we can hardly
doubt. in a republic, for which the country
was not ready, and which would have
stunted the growth of empire. That her
whole people should TINS, ana
their delight in her. and her delight in
them. by an unusual and joyous festival,
attended with every circumstance of mag
nifcence, is not only natural, but right:
The grand procession through the capltal
the unprecedented religious service in front
of st. Paul's, the rush of representatives
from India and all the colonies, the gather
ing of many-colored soldiers-do not leave
out the negro regiments, o Master of the
Ceremonies. for of all sovereignS the queen
has the largest number of negro subjects
the collection of kindred princes, the mill
lions of shouting citizens, the effort, IN
short, to show what a varied world 1t Is
that Queen Victoria reigns over, is all nat
ural and good, and so is the selection OF
the special day. There are superstitlous
people, we believe, who are afraid OF a
celebration fixed so far ahead, and say that
it is a tempting of Providence or the desti-
MES; but there is no true reverence in that
uneaSineSS, which, in fact, attributes to the
Almighty a spiteful habit of lying in wait
to wreck innocent human hopes, and from
any other point of view the day is the right
one to choose. 1t is a thing to be thankful
for that the Queens reign has been so
long: it is one of her merits, though an ac-
cidental one, that she has been at the helm
of affairs long enough TO solidify a system
the leWlesS ana experimental tUdIdClGL VI
which was pointed out by the prince con-
sort in 1855 in a celebrated sentence; and
it is one OF the human instincts to Sc. in
length of days a proof of the favor of the
higher powers. That the Queen has reigned
longer than any monarch of the house of
England. which began to reign more than
q. thousand years ago from Egbert, in A.
d. S2S). is but a curious historic incident,
but the length of her reign, its continuance
during two full generations, is part of her
value for her people. and is a fitting mat
ter for the heartiest congratulation. 1t is
therefore with the fullest sympathy that
we write of the second jubilee, and record
our hope that the day may SO pass over
that the world may say: This was well
DONE and that children may remember it
through their lives as a day of national
gladness, unbroken by any failure, even in
Weather and unspoiled even by the rumor
of any great misfortune.
But we confess frankly to disgust at the
way in which commemoration day is being
misused alike for making money and for
the ostentation of wealth. Every human
being who owns windows on the route of
the procession seems to regard the occa-
sion as one on which he can grasp a hand
full of unearned gold. The prices asked for
seats where the spectators will be out of
the crush are fabulous, and will involve to
those who buy windows a deduction from