The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-06-22
CIVILIZATION HAS ADVANCED
Beneficial Effect of Her In
f1uence Upon England.
Progress a Distinguishing Fea-
ture - Development of
the Nation.

For go years Queen Victoria has
reigned over the British Empire. At 20
minutes after o'clock on the morning
of June 20, 1897, William ". died at
Windsor Castle. At IL O'Clock the same
morning the young Queen met the
members of the Privy Council at Ken
sington Palace, and, after subscribing
TO the customary oaths, received from
them their oaths of allegiance. The
death of the King was not wholly un-
expected. His short illness developed
dangerous phases, and it was soon
thought that he could not survive, yet
it was almost without warning that
the Princess Alexandrina Victoria,
from being an inexperienced girl,
whose Is years of life had been passed
in almost obscurity, came to occupy the
throne of England, and to assume at
once the responsibilities of the head of
a nation, with simplicity and dignity.
The manner in which she received
the news of the death of her uncle,
William ", and in which, a few hours
later, she conducted the first meeting
of her Council won for her instant re-
spect and admiration. She was almost
unknown personally to the members
of the Cabinet and Privy Council. She
had rarely been seen by the populace.
The unsettled condition of the society
of the court had, perhaps, justified her
mother the Duchess of Kent, in allow
ing her to pass her life hitherto in Sc
clusion. Certainly, England has never
had occasion to regret that her life had
been so passed.
The coronation of the Queen took
place a year later. 1t is graphically de-
scribed in a published life of Dean
Stanley as follows:
"'At 1920 o'clock a gun announced
that she was at the abbey door, and in
about a quarter of an hour the process
sion appeared from under the organ,
advancing Up the purple approach to
the chanceI-every one leaning over
and in they came. First, the great
Dukes. struggling with their enormous
trains: then - etc, and the
Queen. with her vast crimson train,
outspread by eight ladies. all in white,
followed by the great ladies OF the
court in enormous crimson trains, and
the smaller ladies with delicate sky
blue trains trailing along the dark
floor. When she came within the full
view of the gorgeous abbey she paused,
as if for breath. and clasped her hands.
The orchestra broke out into the most
tremendous crash of music l ever
heard. L was glad when they said
unto me: Let us go into the house OF
the Lord"
Every one literally gasped for
breath from the intense interest ana
the rails of the gallery visibly trem-
bled in ones hand from the trembling
II
thing like il. Tears would have been
a relief. One felt that the Queen must
sink into the earth under the trem-
Hing awe But at last she moved on 10
her pIace by the altar, and CaS l hearu
from nv cousins. who had a place close
bv) threw herself on her knees, Dur1eu
her face in her hands and evidently
Draved fervently. For the hrst part the
SILENCE was so great that at my eX-
trerne noint I could hear quite distinct
" the tremulous but articulate voice
Of tbeArchbishop: afterward 1t was
ouite iuaudible The great draw backs
Irere the feeble responses to the serV-
ioa opd the feebIeness of the acclama-
tions-hardIy any at all at the recoS-
nition and only tolerable at the coIo-
nation. That was the Crisis OF tue
ceremony and the most STRIKING par;
The very moment the crown IOucneu
her head the guns went OF, the trum-
nets began and the shouts. She was
perfectly immovable-l1ke statue.
The Duchess of Kent burst into tears
and her lady had to put on her coroHet
for her. The amounting was very beau
tiful from the cloth of gold: the nom
age. also. from the magnificent cluster
in the very center"
Already she had endeared herseif IN
tbe hearts of her subjects. Constltu-
tional England was not slow TO per
ceive that their ruler was not Whlih-
sical Queen, that she sought only lhe