The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-06-25
DIAMOND DAY JUBILEE.
THE DAY THAT BRITONS CELE.
BRATE THE WORLD OVER.


teee--At the Start the Queen Flashes .
Message Of Greeting to All Parts Of Her
Empire-The Beacon Fires Simultan-
eousIy Lighted Over the United Kingdom
buckingham Palace, London, June
22-The queen breakfasted at 9 o'clock
and informed her physician that she
was not fatigued by yesterdays cere-
monies.
Already at this hour, in the great
quadrangle of the palace, there were
many signs of the coming ceremonial.
Gorgeously attired servants gathered
near the scarlet carpeted stair case,
which was lined by rare flowers, while
the strains of the national anthem, as
a band passed the palace, announced
that the colonial procession had start
ed. AT the same time the special en-
voys who were to take part in the pro
cession began arriving in the great
quadrangle.
The United States special envoy, the
Hon. Whitelaw Read, was the first to
appear. He drove in, accompanied by
one of the royal eGuerries, the latter
being all gold, scarlet and feathers,
while Mr.. Reid was quietly attired,
wearing an Inverness coat, and opera
hat and a white tie. He drove UP to
the great door of the palace, where he
was saluted in passing by dozen men
in gold and was escorted to the waiting
room by the master of ceremonies,
colonel, the Hon. Sir William James
Colville. A minute or so later General
Nelson A. Miles, representing the
United tateS army, rode up on Splen-
did horse and in full uniform. He lin
gered for a moment there without any
one attending to him and then rode out.
After leaving the quadrangle, General
Miles took his place in the procession
with the naval and military attaches,
in alphabetical order, beginning with
Austria and ending with the United
States. General Miles, representing
the United States army, rode with
General Lagron, representing the pres
ident of France, NJ. Faure, these two
officers bringing up the rear of the
portion of the procession formed by
the military attaches.
By 1920 o'clock the envoys' carriages
were loaded and took up their posi-
ton in the centre of the quadrangle.
Shortly afterwards the queens superb
coach arrived and it had hardly come
to a standstill when the landaus with
the ladies and lords in waiting and
the princesses were in their allotted po-
sitons. All the ladies wore light
toilettes of blue, green, lilac and pink,
the latest Partisan dainties.
The ENJOYS landaus started. The
princes next mounted their horses and
ranged themselves in groups of threes.
At lilo o'clock hustle on the main
staircase announced the coming of her
majesty, Queen Victoria, slowly de-
scending the stairs, assisted by a scar
let clad and white turbaned Indian
attendant She was dressed in black,
wore a black bonnet trimmed with
white, and carried a white sun shade.
At the foot Of the stairway her majes
'ty paused for a minute and touched an
electric button connected with all the
telegraphic systems throughout the
British empire, and it flashed around
the world the message:
From my heart, I thank my beloved
people. May God bless Them
Her majesty then slowly seated her
self in her carriage, royal trumpeters
sounded a fan fare, the princess of
Wales Joined the queen and then the
Princess Christian. Of Schleswig- Hol-
stein, joined the party.
The procession was the most bril-
liant affair of its kind ever witnessed
in London and represented all the ma
tiOns over which her majesty rules.
Everywhere the queen was received
with the widest enthusiasm.
At Temple Bar, the lord mayor and
city officials received her majesty.
Approaching her carriage, his lordship,
with all due obeisance, presented the
hilt Of the city's pearl sword which
was undrawn. This was the ancient
ceremony of dutfful submission. The
queen lightly touched 1T, thus return
ing it to the lord mayor in token that
his submission was gracious1y accept
ed by his sovereign. Her majesty
then commanded the lord mayor and
sheriffs to proceed. The sheriffs took
their places with the aldermen and
commoners, Immediately after the field
marsha1s; the lord mayor rode bare
headed Immediately before the first
part of the sovereign's escort Of Life
Guards and the procession moved to-
wards St Paul's amid roars Of cheers
that seemed in the narrow streets to
be echoed and re-echoed.
After the services at St. Pauls in
which the archbishop Of Canterbury
and other leading clerDy participated,
the queen returned to the palace. She
was very much pleased and smiling
and not oyerfatigued. The whole af-
fair passed off without a hitch.
Tonight London was Illuminated on
a grand scale. With illuminatfons,
which are universal in every city, town
and hamlet OF England Wales and
Scotland. and in some parts OF Ireland.
there yet remains TO me mentioned the
final touch-the lighting OF the empires
torch-the ancient form of giving
warning or sending joy-the beacon
fires. AS 10 o'clock struck at the
Greenwich observatory a tongue Of
flame shot upward from great NAL
ve,c, "the backbone of the midlands.
1t was the Jubilee beacon fire. Hard
ly had the spectator time to look on it
before another flared in the distance
on the right, then again on the left, on
the north, south, east and west. Peak
answered to peak until from Berwick
on-Tweed to Rough Tor and Brown
Willie in Cornwall; from the cathedral
towers OF Lichfield, Worcester, Ripon,
Lincoln and Durham; from Skiddaw to
St. Heliers: from Hastings to Cedar
Iris and across the water to Donegal
and Dublin, LOCO beacon fires blazed
up their message OF loyalty to the SOW
ereign. Half an hour later the low
f., z,nds, the highlands, the Wild Hebrides,