The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-23
Circulation sta,ement.
The Victorian Err.

unprecedented length and eyentfulness,
offers to the historian a field unusually
fascinating. Never before in the history
of the world has there been so marvellous
a period as that known as the Victorian
Era. within the lifetime of one sovereign;
and it may never again happen in all the
centuries to come. The changes which
have taken place in Great Britain and in
the world during this reign of more than
sixty years have been largely due to the
transition stage in which civilization WIS
at Victoria's accession to the throne but
II is net too much to say that had a king
instead of queen been on the throne of
England during the mid-years of the nine
teenth century, or had the Queen been
unworthy of her high position, the MIS-
tory Of that century would have been ma
terially changed What changes there
might have been. affecting not only the
development OF England but the future
of other countries, ii is impossible 20 say;
but it is certain that they would have been
important. and likely that they would not
have tended to advance the general cause
of civilization
land was in somewhat chaotic and dis
orderly state. The people were just re-
covering from the effects of storm-and-
stress period, which had affected all Civ
iiized countries; first. through the French
revolution. with its amazing theories ard
events. and second through the no less
astonishing and disturbing asoendency of
Napoleon. The fact that the heir to the
English thrcne was a Young girl was
viewed. therefore. with more or less dis
quiet by the statesmen CT England. and
when the Archbishop of Canterbury ard
the Marquis of Ccnyngham, Lord Cham
berlain. started. in the dead hush of a
summer night. to convey to Victoria the
sws that she was Queen of England, the
primer was in all probability earnestly
raging, and the latter as ardently wish
ng, that England might come safely
through her reign whether il CHANGED TO
long shor' NJ fiey II Oh
-t9 account one iu.p0rtals lae-cr -aF
fstez.i1a eud lsat was H- nature
l1e -.-la Turbulent
h. ora o. H1man- ism a5t
nj 81 s1l Queel 4s5 fra7 1e Csc.
,tngaiar hold upon Il le1
Historical iuci5cnt 5 sira15
Ike thl faneies 5L @ poet. ans H. --ear
II Kenslng 90 10 ...oIn.ng of June co.
S37. is one of them The grave messen-
gers arrived at 5 O'Clock, and the young
creature whom they met standing swed
and tremulous in the morning light, might
have seemed to them type of that new
which she was the inexperienced and
childlike ruler The people, at any rate,
were quick to seize upon the analogy.
The early events of Victoria's reign are
also significant, in the light of subsequent
events. and. of the great movements of
which they were but the foreshadowing
The first of any Importance was the pass
ing Of the Kingdom of Hanover to the
Queens uncle, the Duke of Cumberland.
Hanover being under the salic law,
<oman could not inherit; and the Jacob
ties were robbed of one argument which
they had cherished-that the Hanoyerian
dynasty were not true English kings, since
they still retained German possessions
from which they had come Anyone who
reads the Scotch Jacobite songs. with
their scathing references TO the wee,
wee German lairdie,'' will see how re-
pugnant this German origin was to the
lovers Of the Stuarts. But Victoria not
only owned Stuarts as her ancestors: she
had not even a birthright in the detested
Hanover
Before the end of the first fortnight of
the young Queens reign various remis-
al af fo1 Ii.
and the use OF the pillory abolished. Co.
Incidence though it may have been. it is
odd that almost the first official act of
Victoria should have been to give her
royal assent to-he abolition of cruel and
unnecessary punishment A month after
her accession to the throne. the first cleo
trio telegraph was laid. Ethical and ma
terial progress were together advanced in
the first days of the reign of Victoria.
From, the first the young Queen and her
chosen husband. Prince Albert of Sake
coburg were identified with humanitarian
and progressive movements. Among the
first public acts of the latter was 10 pre-
side over a meeting at Exeter Hall TO pro-
mote the abolition of the slave trade The
international Copyright Bill was one of
the innovations which came in with the
new sovereign. The laws allowing i'm
prisonment for debt were early abolished,
and the Fleet and Marshalsea. those his
toric abodes of misery and infamy were
closed I'VE years after the Queens access
sion to the throne. Not long after two
movements toward liberty of thought in
religious matters were successfully car
ried through: one was the secession OF
the Free Kirk of Scotland from the Estab-
iished Church; The other, the passing of
the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, for confirm
ing the possession of religious endow-
ments in the hands OF Dissenters. 1t was
during these years. too, that the great
religious agitation at oxford took place,
ending in 1S45. with DR.. Newman's join
Ing the Catholic Church. During these
years too. the movement for free trade
assumed definite and great proportions.
and the Corn Law agitation, which was
going on all through the early period of
strongest manifestations.
Less directly connected with Victoria,
but part OF the general stlr and growth
of things. WAS the gradual and steady
expansion of the British Empire. That
Empire has now grown 10 proportions so
vail Ia its numerous colonies have such