The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-23
REIGN LONGEST
IN HISTORY
Victoria is Also Oldest Of
England's MOnarchs.
GREAT STRIDES
WHILE SHE Is QUEEN
Story of the Late Queens
Life.


the morning Of June 30, 1887, the arch
bishop of Canterbury and two other
men pounded on the door OF the por-
ter's lodge at Kensington palace. After
long labor they succeeded in rousing
one attendant after another On the
strength of the important message they
bore. and convinced the personal at
tendant of the young Princess Vic"
that their business was 50 urgent that
she must be walked from her peaceful
slumber.
AS they sat waiting a slender girl Of
IS entered the room, still clad in a loose
white nightgown, a shawl thrown about
her shoulders. her hair disheVeled and
hanging loose and tears in her eyes.
She listened quietly as they told her
that her uncle, King William ~ was
6ead, and that she was Therefore the
queen of Great Britain and ireland.
When they had finished their message,
she sat a moment in silence, and then
announced gTaveiy:
I will be good
Never has a monarch carried out a
promise more Teligiously- During al
her reign of nearly siXty-four years,
in the fierce Hmelight Of publicity, her
name has been marvelously free from
the faint of scandal. and the whole
world has come to recognize the high
character of her motives.
Longest Reign and Oldest Monarch.
Alexandrina Victoria, queen of Great
Britain and Ireland. and first empress
Of India. has the distinction OF living
longest and Teigning longest IF all the
mOnarchs of England. Her grand
father, George III died when only two
DAYS Younger than was Victoria at her
Fa haara no harr1feazrf
and most prosperous for England as
well as the longest, and none viii gain
say that never a ruler was more loved
than the placid, kind, broad and Just
Queen Victoria.
The Victorian era is the era OF Eng
lands greatness. It is the era of hu-
man progress. Except for the Ameri-
can revolution and the consequent
events, no period in history has been
marked by such great steps in the ad-
Vancement of political and religious
liberty and in the upbuilding of civil
ization as were taken under the rule Of
Victoria.
Descends from Alfred the Great.
The late queen. who is a lineal de-
scendant of Alfred the Great, was born
at KensingtOn palace, London, May a.
1919. She was the only child of Edward,
Duke of Kent fourth son Of Georse ii,
and his wife Victoria Mary Louisa
daughter of the Duke of Saxe-COburg-
Saalfeld, and sister Of Leopold, king Of
Belgium.
Her parents, who had been residing
abroad for some time, FASTENED to Eng
land so that their child might be born a
Briton.
The young princess father died Jan.
%, 1920. and her mother was left to su-
perintend her education. Realizing that
her daughter might some day be the
ruler of a great nation, the, mother
aided by the Duchess of Northumber-
land. trained the child with the utmost
care.
Kept in Deep seclusion.
The court of her aged grandfather,
George III, under the prince regent
afterward George ", was one OF the
most dissolute, and the Duchess OF
Kent resolved that her royal daughter
should not breathe the Vitiated atnOs-
phere of the court. As a consequence
the young princess was kept in As strict
seClusiCn as if she were locked within
convent walls, and knew absolutely
nothing of the gay life of the court or
of the world.
William ", who assembled the throne
in 1880, was as Iicentious as his brother,
and Victoria. then heiress- presumptive
to the throne, was still kept secluded
When she finally became queen. one of
her first acts was to clean out of Wind
sor castle the entire horde of mistresses
supported there by her lately deceased
uncle.
The throne of Hanover would have
been hers had she been born a boy, but
the laws exclude females from that
throne. and it fell 20 her uncle, the
Duke of Cumberland.
Amid great pOmp. rather contrary 10
Der simple tastes, she was crowned
queen of Great Britain in Westminster
Abbey, June 2S 1888.
Queen the Actual Ruler.
England received the new queen du-
D5OuSly- Her SeclusiOn had made her
an unknown quantity, and they feared
the results of her accession in a critical
period of England's history. Moreover,
her premier and adviser, Lord Mel
bourne, was unpopular His apparent
hippancy kept him from having pub
lie confidence, but the queen was great
~ attached to him personally The ma
ton in time found her TO be broad. sin
cere and liberal although never dem
ocratic. Bred with the idea that she
was superior to the ordinary people
that as Englands queen she had no
equal in personality or station, she was
ever an imperiOus monarch, and re-
sented any apparent lack of difference
to her position. Nor was she the figure
head many have imagined. She made
affairs of state a study and did much
to mold and modify the policies Of her
ministers.
The breadth of view of the queen in
religious matters was shown almost
Immediately after her accession to the
throne Moses Montefiore was elected
sheriff of London about the time her
reign began, the first Jew to attain that
high office. one of the earliest official
acts of Queen Victoria was TO knight
him. It is interesting to note that
years afterwaTd it was a jew Lord
BeacOnsfield, who gave her the title of
Empress of India"
Early Part Of Reign Troublous.
There were troublous times at the be
ginning Of the new reign. principally at
home. The common people felt that
they were oppressed by the political
conditions, and the Chartist agitations
had the semblance of a brewing revolu-
ton. Almost at the same time there
was a rebellion in Canada. the opium
ligious agitation in Scotland and
blOOdshed in Jamaica. But partially
through the influence of the queen and
partially as a natural result of the
political conditions. the English people
were given large part of their politi-
cal demands, Lord Durham's recon-
mendation for the practical freedom of
Canada were gradually put into effect
and British North America pacitied, the
Chinese and Egyptian troubles We're
settled to the advantage of England
and STEPS were taken toward the great
err separation of church and state.
MARRIAGE is HaDpv