Revered, beloved—O you that hold 'A nobler office upon earth Than arms, or power of brain or birth Could give the Warrior Kings of old, Victoria!
Ir ie. deep and pregnant thought that in every di jon of the world which the sun visits in his course, he is saluted this morning with the strains of " God save the Queen!"; and a deeper thought atill nat thi homage dyes not rise only possessions, and that it is ange. It is & matter d has been for centuries, to ings and happiness on the heads of Kin, but in the conse of Queen Victoria these invocations and wishes come from the heart. Good and well beloved Kings there have been before in the history of the world, but there has not been one to whom i Yennysou's epithets Revered, beloved" have ever been more justly applied than to the present ruler of Great Britain, This day Queen Victorin completes the 67th your of her life, and nearly complotes the 49uh yenr of her reign, length of years and of reign that few would have been found to prophecy for her in 1887. Five years before she ascended the throne Kuglind had boon silken to ils base by the Reform agitation; and go unsettled seemed the prospects of the monarchy that Croker, the tualignant Rigby of Disraeli, @ mun of acute intellect though of disagreeable temper, wrote to Lord Hertford in 1832 after " dinner at the Duchess of Kent's, "The little Princess ceases to be little.
She grows full, is very good looking but wot, L think, strong; yet she may live to be plain Mies Guelph." She has been fortunately spared to prove that Croker's fears riy to her strength were unfounded, and to become the greatest and best loved sovereign of her tim Left an orphan when only eight mout old, her future seemed by no means une clouded, but she well repaid the care In-wished on her by her mother, the Duche: of Kent, winning the hearts of all who came in contact with her by her grace and affability, and the attention abe devoted to nequninting lorself with the great duties which she would soon be called upon to undertake, Charles Greville has left a picture of her at her frst Council, sammoued at Ko: ton Palace a few hours after the of King William IV, which is worth recalling. '"Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was very extraordinary, and something far beyond whut was looked for.... She wont through i the whole ceremony, occasionally look ing at Melbourne for instruction when she had avy doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect calmness and self-possession, bat at the eae time with a geavefal modesty and propriety particularly interes! and ingratiating. In short, she appears, to act with every sort of good taste and good feeling, us well og good sense, and us far ax it has gone nothing can be more favourable than the impression she has made, and nothing oan promise better thin her mauner and conduct do." These'are the words of @ man of the world, somewhat of a 6; the con. fidence of his own journal, without fear or favour, as tnt journal was not to see the light until sume time after his own death; and they may be tak being the bure representation of facts. They have been thoroughly confirmed by the Queen's whole reign good taste and good feeling, n perfect manner and couduc!, have distin amlied Victorin's career from the she ascended the throne, The Suci ts, who themselves the com power declared ngninist the hereditary principle; but not one of the sovinlist spankers or journals ever wuggests the substitution of an elected resident for Qaeen Vietorin.
Macaulay who said, "In Queen yer subjects have found wiser, gentler, ier Elizabeth." torious of this century lnye succeeded in throwing sume doubt on the uptness of the epithet in the title " Good Queen Begs but we need feel no upprebe 8 of the next om following century will be able to give tensons for impuyuing the accuracy of the title "Viotorin the Goud." monarch before her has so thor. oughly comprehended and carded out the maxim Ubnt the Qaeen exixis for her people, not her people for the Queen: lus 40 completely realised that the powers of the Crown are held in tenet for the people, and are the and not the end of government. Vi tarin in the most constitutions! mongrel that England hus ever tad. ever her private opiniuus, and she wax brought up a Whig, she has always given way cheerfully and gracefully to the will of the people, us expressed through the House of Commons, and she Las the incalculable advantage of being herself the most experienced statesman in England. The politiont services of the present Prince Minister began earlier, but the Queen's services have been continuous. It is true that she reigns, but does not govern; bat has been reign continuously for forty-niue years, and made it a rule to acquaint herself with ing that has been done by her 3; and the knowledge of men and measures that she has acquired must be of the greatest value oven to euch an exporiouced etatestan as Mr, Gladstone. es with her people rows we all know.
Thegreat lose which she suffered in 1861 has thrown an almost impenetrable sha dow over her life, and wride her a little less randy to tuke part in the rejoicings of lier subject; but her sympathies are always extended to them their sorrows, Nor least among the Ulessings she conferred on ber Kingdom her homo life; her court hws been pattern to every family in her empire, and it is not too much to eny that the stability of the throne ie us much due to the respect elicited by her domently virtues, ne to the admiration excited by her political our It would need far more space than is at our disposal, her empire Ing made in extent and in materia! prosperity during her reign 5 nnd if a bad king is to be blamed for (the deondence of his country during his reign, so should a good queen be praised for (he ndvaucement mede under bor rule, OF all kinds of men," anys Frenel writer, " God is lerist beholden to kings; for he does the most for them, nnd they the lerist for him." Yo which Hornoe Smith adds; "And yet the patriot king, who confers nppiness Japan a whole natio more neceptnble than any other mortal can proffer." Am 1 patriot kings history will put Queen Victoria in one of the higher pinees; the words that the Inurente wrote 35 yenrs ago ure us true tom She wrought her people la Hor court was pure; hor life serene 5 God gave hier pence 5 her land reposed 5 A thousand claims to reverence closed her as Mother, Wife, and Queen 5
And statesmen at her ce Occasion by the hi The bounds of freed By shaping some august decree, Which kept her throne unabaken still, Broad based upon her people's will, And compassed by Ue inviulato aoa,"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.