The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
VICTORIA IN PRIVATE LIFE
The First Authentic Revelation of
Her Personal Opinions.
A Firm believer in S"Vcreignty by
Givine Right - Opposed to Rciig
ious DoGma-Strict I'm Her House
hold RuIes-A Rich Sense % HumOr
Especial cableerum-copyrightcd.)

Especial Cablegram-Copyrightcd
LONDON. April 2O.-It is one Of the
marvels of English court life how lit
tie was really known of the personal
opinions and characteristics Of Queen
Victoria. It was inevitable, however,
that the veil should be drawn aside
after her death, and the first au-
thentic revelations are contained in an
anonymous article by one of her init
mates. which is published today in the
Quarterly Review"
We are told at the outset that the
Queens originality lay in her very lack
of originality and in the absence of
salient eccentricity. Her three cardi-
nal characteristics are declared to have
been shrewdness. simplicity, and SYM
pathy, but it is indicated that obsti-
macy might have been her fourth. As
it was. she early recognized that indul-
gence in it might lead her astray into
obstinate prejudice, and she was al
ways on guard against its vagaries.
Nevertheless, she had prejudices, and
one of them was at the expense of MIR.
Gladstone. The reason alleged for this
was a curious one. He overwOrked her
and she resented it. The writer goes on
TO say:
IF she thought one of her Ministers
was not thoughtful in sparing her un-
necessary work. she would with diff
Guilty be induced to believe that his
demands were ever essential. and she
would always suspect him of trying to
I ,e~N
Mr. Gladstone, about which so many
fables have been related and so many
theories formed, really started in her
consciousness that he would never ac-
knowledge she was, as she put it, dead
beat
Mr.. Gladstone tried to press her to
do what she knew with her greater
experience was not her work so much
as his, and she resented the effort.
He did il again, and she formed one of
her pertinacious prejudices. Her mind
had received an impression unfavorable
to the approach of this particular Min
lister. and nothing could ever make her
really pleased to welcome him"
1t will surprise the world, perhaps. to
learn that Queen Victoria shared the
theory of her imperial grandson. En-
peror William. that she was a sovereign
by divine right She construed the
word loyal in the medieval sense, as
implying duty and obedience to her
as a sovereign, irrespective of her per-
sonal character. Thus, she cultivated
deep almost superstitious, reverence
fer Charles /. who was never anything
else but royal martyr in her eyes. No
disparasing remarks were admitted in
her presence. even of James IL
AS the head of the State. the Queen
considered her political relation to the
national religions as she treated her
headships of the army and navy. She
was an Anglican at Carlisle, a Pres
byterian at Lockerby, and would have
been a Mohammedan or Buddhist in
India but her personal religion was on
the plainest Christian lines. without
theological finesse and without either
vacillation or misgivings.
She had the eighteenth century
shrinking from what she called en-
thusiasm. and it may be haZarded that
the forms of service in which she found
the most satisfaction were those of the
Presbyterian Church. She was a broad
churchwoman in the true sense, and
her attitude toward dogmatic religion
WAS a latitudinarian one. though per-
haps she would not have liked to have
it defined in that way.
When Lady Canning tried TO convert
her to High Church views, the Queen
was very angry, and it rather set a
mark in her mind against person that
he or she was ritualist. 1t entered
into her feelings about Mr.. Gladstone
that he, too, was a High Churchman
II am afraid he has the mind Of a
Jesuit" she used to say. She liked the
Roman Catholics better than the An
glican Ritualists. partly because she
had respect for their antiquity and
partly because she was not the head
OF their Church and so felt no re-
sponsibility about their opinions.
The writer says frankly that the
Queen had no book learning and no
cultivated taste in art or letters Her
favorite musician was Mendelssohn.