Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-23

Presidents bier, and no American wished
to challenge that right. The British
ton recognized in the dead President a rep
resentative of what was highest and no
blest in the English-spedkng kin, and ever
since his memory has been well nigh as
much revered here as in the United States.
1t is the same with Washington. No En-
glishman ever dreams of thinking of Wash
ington in the way he thinks of foreign ma
tional heroes. He may admire and respect
the foreigner, but for the American there
is always in addition that thrill of emotion
which is added by the freemasonry of race,
language and the tradition of kindred moral
ideals No doubt 1t is only very rarely that
any man or woman in either nation can rise
to the height of becoming common herit-
age. Scott may be said to have achieved 1t
in literature in a former generation, and
possibly Tennyson in this, for we doubt If
any American regards Tennyson as merely
"Britisher." But be that as it may, the
queen certainly achieved this glory, and as
the representative of what is noblest in
public and private life has taken her place
in the hearts of both branches of the race.
1t is no mere rhetorical flourish for Ameri-
cans to say that they felt for her as 'our
oueen.' That this desire of both peoples
to share in what is best in either may long
continue is our earnest wish. 1t Is our be-
lief that it will and must continue as long
as we speak the same language and read
the same Bible. and as long as Mr.. Lincoln
and the queen remain as examples OF public
duty. AS long as we strive to obey the
same standards of conduct we must admire
the same human qualities: must feel the
same reverence for those who possess them:
must experience the same sense or grlef at
their loss, and must show the same prlde III
the memory of the great dead 1t was, IN
truth, inevitable, the queen being, what she
was and the Americans being conscious of
her high qualities, that they should De al
most as deeply touched by her death as we
were and should feel our loss almost as IL
il were their own. Though not IN poHt-
tool in q moral sense there Is q Dld0k
in their lives as in ours. living reminder
of what is the true standard OF puDiic ana
private duty has passed away from them as
from5u
We haze dwelt above on the general feel
ing of the American people for the queen
and the Influences and conditions undefiy-
ing TIT will, however, be not happIopii
ate to remark also on the very speclaI ana
auasi-personal relations that existed be-
tween the queen and the various Presidents
of the United States. We do not belleVe we
are exaggerating when we say that Amos.
every member of the long succession 81
American Presidents who held that high OF
fee during the queens reign at some time
Of his tenure Of office felt instinctively that
he was in a special relation with the presld-
ing sovereign and representative of the
other half of the English-speaking race,
and that this feeling was reciprocated by
the queen. The greatness OF the charsc
placed on either, and the instructive sense
Of copartnership in the joint task of pre-
siding over the Anglo-Saxon kin, created
feeling of sympathy which. even when un-
conscious must have had great results one
sees an indication of the personal ties thus
created in the letters written by the queen
to the widows of the two Presidents VINO
died at the White House during her reign
Presidents Lincoln and CARRIED Wnether
any OF the other kings or queens OF Europe
wrote letters on those occasions we do no.
know, but we may be sure that IL they dia
thew were of perfectly different Kind.
These letters to Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Gar
field were IL we remember rightly. made
public; but did the queen ever write or re-
ceiye private or quasi-private letters from
the Presidents of the United States? Posi-
bly, It would have been considered constitu-
tionally undesirable at Washington and In
London to enter into such direct communal
cations, but II any correspondence of this
kind exists it should prove extremely inter-
esting. In any case. 1t Is abundantiy clear
that the queen always took the most keen
and personal interest in the fortunes Of the
denizens of the White House. and with her
perfect tact never expressed her feelings IN