The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1901-02-15

of the country than the accession of a
queen whose personal qualities were
so admirable, and who, from the very
first, accepted the heavy duties and
great responsibilities of her position,
with such surprising dignity and re-
markable discretion.
The youth, the sex, the inexperience
of Her late Majesty, aroused an en-
thusiastic loyalty to the crown, which
turned aside any vague inclinations
towards constitutional innovations.
Then other feelings, deeper and more
enduring, came in to strengthen and
perpetuate the impression already
produced among her ministers and her
household. The unaffected simplicity,
the thoughtful kindness, the quick
sympathy Of theryoung queen, united,
as they always were, with the dignity,
discretion, tact, and reserve, which be-
fitted her station in life, won the
hearts, and commanded the respect of
all who came within the range of her
personal charm. Outside that circle,
and among the general public, hel
prudence, elaboration, and self
restraint; her marked determination
to listen only to the counsel of her re-
SpOnsible advisers, all combined to in
spire trust.
Almost, then, from the commence
ment of her reign, the nation came
instinctively to the conviction that
the conduct of their youthful sover-
eign was regulated by the purest mo
tives; that the ideal of rule, which
she had placed before herself, was the
prosperity of her people; and, that il
her hands, the true dignity of the
crown would be raised, and it's legiti
mate influence extended. 1t was Thu
conviction which first gained for the
late queen, when little more than a
girl, not only the affections, but the
trust of her subjects. 1t was this
same conviction, perpetuated and ex-
tended by the experience of nearly 81
years, which won for the late Queer
Victoria, throughout the civilized
world, the popularity which rarely
fails to do justice to the pursuit OF
NOBLE AIMS BY NOBLE MEANS!
The knowledge which we, of the
present generation, have of her, is OF
one who was the most experienced and
gracious sovereign in all Europe. 1t
is, therefore, difficult for us, at this
distance of time, to realize the mex
perience, and almost helplessness OF
the late queen during the first year O
her reign. The period from her acces-
sion to the throne on the Goth day OF
June, 1887, ION the death of her uncle,
King William w, to her marriage or
the 10th of February, 1910, to his lat.
Royal Highness, Francis Albert Au-
gustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince
Consort, Duke Of Saxony, Prince OF
Coburg and Gotha, was a trying and
perilOuS ordeal. | have read that her
Majesty herself felt that "a worse
school for young girl, or one more
detrimental to all natural feelings and
cannot well be imagined,
than the position of a queen at IS,
experience, and without a
husband to support her, But it was
fortunate for the nations that so chiv-
alrous a gentleman, and high-minded
4 politician as Lord Melbourne. was
her guide and counselor at this trying
period.
1t was more than fortunate, it was
that her majesty had, at
that time, the opportunity of selecting
as her future husband one whose neu-
trail capacities and moral qualities
pointed him out as eminently well
fitted to be the consort Of the beloved
queen; of one who, as Alfred Austin,
the English poet laureate says, was
"A princely help-mate, scorner of
wrong, and lover of the right
Indeed, Sir Robert Peel said in lS4l
that Prince Albert impressed him as
Nelng the most extraordinary young
man he had ever met. His mental
gifts were of the highest order: great
student Of the sciences: and all his
powers were devoted to filling worthily
1 position of extreme difficulty. But,
he seems to have no