The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-06-26
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.


was picture in the Royal Academy
in London which attracted much at
tenticn and was very popular among
the visitors. 1t was that of a young
girl, small, slight and slender, but full
of dignity, blue eyed and with clear
cut features, standing with loose hair
and slippered feet, clothed in shawl
and wrapper, to receive the homage
of three elderly men regarding her
with a mixture of reverence and ten
derness. Miss Yonge informs us that
it represented Queen Victoria when
Gale up at five o'clock on the morn
ing of the Goth of June, 1887, to hear
that she was the Sovereign of the
British dominions, when only five
weeks past her eighteenth birthday.
The scene of the picture was in a
room of the old palace in Kensing-
ton, a sombre brick building which
stands to this day in that part of
London known as Kensington Gar
dens. These elderly gentlemen"
were the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Lord Chancellor, and a thir1
high parsonage, who had fastened at
once to Kensington from Windsor, to
announce to the Princess Victoria that
William the Fourth, had deceased at
two o'clock on that morning, and that
the young girl was Queen of Eng
land. 1t was the official notification
to the young Princess that the King
was dead and that the Queen reigned.
Sixty years have elapsed since that
morning in June, 1887, in old Ken
sington. During the present week
the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen
is celebrated by her loyal subjects
throughout her wide dominions, and
especially in London, with imperial
splendors. The procession of Tues
day was magnificent spectacle. 1t
was headed by the troops and Pre-
miers from the colonies. Mounted
rifemen were there from New South
Wales, Victoria and Queensland; ar
tillerymen and Maoris from New
Zealand, large contingent from
Canada, Zaptiehs from Cyprus, and
representatives from a dozen other
colonies; mounted men from the
Cape, West Indian black troops, and
officers and files of the Indian regi-
ments; Indian princes, special am
bassadors and representatives of
Foreign Powers, princes of the royal
blood on horseback, and princesses
in carriages-the whole forming a
wonderfully impressive spectacle.
The central figure of this pageant
was the Queen of these sixty memora-
BILE years, now a venerable woman of
seventy eight, making the circuit tf
her capital amid scenes of popular
enthusiasm and such crowds of
p sople as London has never seen
before. 1t is estimated that nine
millions of people were crowded into
London this week.
Victoria has now reigned longer
than any other monarch of England,
The Jubilee of the present week cele-
brates the longest reign in the his
tory of England, and probably, with
two or three exceptions, the longest
in the history of the world. 1t is a
Jubilee in which the English speak
ing nations can rejoice as heartily as
the immediate subjects of Victoria.
1t is in honor not only of the
Queen who has reigned longer than
other English monarch, but of SOW
ereign who is truly royal in charac-
ter, and whose private virtues have
gained for her the respect and love,
not only of her own people, but of
all who honor womanly virtue and
domestic worth. Among the sover-
eigns of Europe, Queen Victoria
reigns the most completely over the
hearts of her people. America has
reason to remember gratefully her