Sixty Years a Queen Part 45

[Sidenote: Illuminations in London.]

On the evening of June 22, and for two or three days following, London was ablaze with illuminations. In the city especially these were on a scale of unparalleled magnificence. The Bank of England was fringed and festooned with myriads of many-coloured lamps, while from the parapet of the corner which looks towards Cheapside there glowed and scintillated a dazzling fan-shaped device of huge size. Over the chief entrance appeared the following inscription in letters of living fire: "She Wrought Her People Lasting Good." The pillars of the Mansion House and the Royal Exchange were entwined with bands of light, and every detail of their architecture was accentuated by rows of tiny lamps. In this, the very heart of London, it was as light as day. It may be mentioned that 35,000 gas jets were used in decorating the Mansion House alone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. PAUL'S ILLUMINATED.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _E. H. Fitchew._}

THE MONUMENT ILLUMINATED.]

Moving westward with the vast throng of well-behaved sightseers, the next point of great interest was the dome of St. Paul's. It had been suggested that the Cathedral should be illuminated, as were the other important buildings in the city, but the possibility of danger from fire acted as a deterrent. Instead of this, powerful electric search-lights were focussed on the dome and west front with wonderful effect. The dome stood up clear against the dark sky, and the stonework supporting and crowning it glowed like whitest marble. It is said that the expense of this installation was at the rate of 1,400 a night.

On every side of the route down Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, and the Strand, and more westward still, through Pall Mall, St. James's, and Mayfair, iridescent stars and crowned monograms glowed like t.i.tanic jewels from a thousand buildings. Fleet Street and the Strand were garlanded across with festoons of many-coloured globes, and the streets of this part of the town resembled nothing so much as an unending triumphal arch of rainbow-hued fire. Observed from Waterloo Place, Pall Mall seemed literally ablaze with general conflagration, so lavishly were the Clubs illuminated. The beautiful floral arches which crossed St. James's Street at every few feet were beaded with numberless electric glow-lamps, and these were to have been set alight by the Princess of Wales touching a b.u.t.ton in Marlborough House. But on the previous day some unexplained defect in the electric circuit had resulted in the ignition of a portion of the illuminations, and it was considered unsafe to try the experiment again. Marlborough House had over the entrance gates a branch of laurel of various natural tints, interspersed with red berries, forming one main arch over the gateway, and two side arches over the doors. The main laurel arch supported an oval medallion, surmounted by a crown, and bore the monogram "V.R.I."

surrounded by a garter. The side arches carried a Prince of Wales's plume and badge. The whole of this was in cut crystal. The residence of the Duke of York had a pretty wreath of white rose and pink may (the former the emblem of the Royal House of York, the latter prettily suggestive of the d.u.c.h.ess's name), with the monogram, "V.R.I." in the centre. This device was carried out in gas jets. Piccadilly, Regent Street, and Oxford Street were not so generally illuminated as those thoroughfares we have already mentioned, but individual establishments approached very closely to the high level attained elsewhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

A. Shot Tower.

B. Whitehall Court.

C. Hotel Metropole.

D. Hotel Cecil.

E. Savoy Hotel.

F. Embankment.

LONDON ILLUMINATED: THE VIEW WESTWARD FROM BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Holland Tringham, R.B.A._}

THE MANSION HOUSE ILLUMINATED.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Holland Tringham, R.B.A._}

THE BANK OF ENGLAND ILLUMINATED.]

And everywhere through the most richly-decorated streets there moved an enormous throng of admirably-behaved people. Well into the small hours of the night the millions of London strolled leisurely along the princ.i.p.al highways of their great city. Disorder and riot were conspicuous by their absence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. Temple._

JUBILEE DAY AT SANDRINGHAM: THE CHILDREN'S TEA.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. Temple._

OUTDOOR SERVICE AT SANDRINGHAM ON JUBILEE DAY.]

[Sidenote: Provincial and Colonial Celebrations.]

It is safe to say that every town and village in England and Scotland had its own miniature celebration, its own procession, its own feast for the poor, its sports, or its firework display. At Sandringham a service was held on the hill outside the church. About 2,000 children from the various parts of the Prince of Wales' estate had tea in tents in the cricket ground. In Liverpool the princ.i.p.al streets were lavishly decorated, and about midday there was a procession of trades and friendly societies, in which about 8,000 persons took part. On the river there was a grand display of mercantile vessels dressed from stem to stern in flags. The Corporation of Manchester had generously voted 10,000 towards the Jubilee festivities. The streets were gaily decorated, and in the morning 100,000 children were entertained at breakfast and presented with Jubilee medals. In Birmingham there was a great historical procession, and in the evening displays of fireworks in three of the public parks. Many places commemorated the event by building new hospitals or by placing those already existing on a sound financial basis. The generosity of the citizens of Newcastle-on-Tyne was such that a fund of 100,000 was raised for the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng a new infirmary. In the city of York the round of gaieties commenced at the Mansion House, where the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress entertained to breakfast the members of the Corporation and the Jubilee Committee. At noon a thanksgiving service was held in the Minster. To the young people of the city the occasion was made an eventful one, for 14,000 of them, along with 1,300 teachers, a.s.sembled at 1.15 p.m. at their respective schools, where each was presented with a medal commemorative of the occasion. At night various points of the city were illuminated; a powerful search-light lit up the country for miles around, this being fixed on the central tower of the Cathedral, the west front of which was also illuminated with coloured fires. All over the country the occasion was made one of real rejoicing for the poor and needy, public and private enterprise co-operating to entertain them in the most hospitable manner.

There was a great bonfire display in Scotland. For a fortnight ten Highland ponies had been carrying materials up Ben Nevis. The brush-wood came chiefly from the neighbouring deer forest in Glen Nevis, and many loads of peat from the Distillery mosses. A shower of "May" rockets gave the signal to the bonfires on the neighbouring hills to make ready, and a few seconds before 10.30 Mrs. Cameron Campbell of Monzie touched the wire at the foot of the hill, and on the stroke of time the huge beacon burst into a brilliant sheet of flame, and was answered from hill after hill throughout Scotland. At the same time the following telegrams were despatched:--

"To Big Ben, Westminster:--'Our Highland hills in blazing bonfires join with London's illuminations in honour of our Queen.'" "To the Lord Mayor, London:--'O'er loch and glen our bonfires s.h.i.+ne to greet with you our Queen.'"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._

THE RIGHT HON. CHAS. C. KINGSTON,

PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Son of the late Sir George S. Kingston, Speaker of the South Australian House of a.s.sembly. Born at Adelaide in 1850; studied Law, and is a Q.C.

and Attorney-General for the Colony. Entered the Colonial Parliament in 1881, and has represented the same const.i.tuency (West Adelaide) ever since. He became Prime Minister in 1893, and is President of the Federal Convention.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._

THE RIGHT HON. SIR WILLIAM V. WHITEWAY, Q.C.,

PREMIER OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

Younger son of the late Thomas Whiteway, of Buckyett, Devon; born 1828.

He went as a boy to Newfoundland, and, studying law, became a barrister at St. John's in 1852, and Q.C. in 1862. Appointed Speaker of the House of a.s.sembly in 1864-69; he has since held every ministerial office in the gift of the Newfoundland Government, which he has also represented on numerous delegations and commissions. Attorney General and Premier of the Colony, 1878-84, 1889-94, and since 1895.]

In all two thousand five hundred bonfires that had been erected on as many eminences throughout the United Kingdom were set alight at about half-past ten o'clock at night, and as the fires of these great beacons died down there faded away into history the greatest day of rejoicing the Anglo-Saxon has known since the glad news arrived that the conqueror of Europe had been overthrown at Waterloo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JUBILEE IN HIGH LAt.i.tUDES: ELMWOOD, FRANZ JOSEF LAND.

It is characteristic of our nation and our times that at this, the most northerly outpost of civilized man--the head-quarters of the Jackson-Harmsworth Polar Expedition--the Jubilee was celebrated "with all the ardour of Big Englanders."]

The Colonies were as enthusiastic as the Old Country in their celebrations of the Jubilee. In Ottawa there was a gathering of 7,000 school children on Parliament Hill. Each of the children carried a Union Jack, and when these were waved together, while the National Anthem was being sung, the effect is described as having been very remarkable. At night the Parliament House was ablaze with 10,000 incandescent lamps, an inscription on the right or Senate wing reading "G.o.d save the Queen,"

while on the left or Commons wing the device read "Dieu sauve la Reine." Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg had each its own well-arranged festivities. In Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, and in the cities of New Zealand, the day was kept as a general holiday, the decorations and illuminations being splendid in every case. In Cape Town there was a review of troops and a huge procession headed by the Naval Brigade. In Egypt, at Lagos, Sierra Leone, and at Mauritius, in the far east at Singapore, at Hong Kong, and at Shanghai, in the East Indies and the West Indies, in British Honduras and British Guiana--everywhere where the Union Jack flies Her Majesty's subjects gathered together to do her honour. Save only in her Empire of India, where the hearts of men were hardly in tune with the festive spirit of the day. Yet, in spite of the recent earthquake, which had shaken Calcutta to its foundations; in spite of the plague, now happily only lingering in Bombay, and the devastations of the recent famine, India was not without her joyful celebrations, these appropriately taking the form, for the most part, of acts of charity and mercy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._

THE SPEAKER IN HIS STATE COACH BEARING THE COMMONS' ADDRESS TO HER MAJESTY.]

[Sidenote: Addresses from Lords and Commons.]

On Wednesday, June 23, the Lord Chancellor (Lord Halsbury) carried the address of congratulation of the Upper House to Buckingham Palace, and presented it to the Queen. This address had been moved in the House of Lords by the Marquis of Salisbury on Monday, June 21, in the following terms:--

"That a humble address be presented to Her Majesty on the auspicious completion of the sixtieth year of her happy reign, and to a.s.sure Her Majesty that this House proudly shares the great joy with which her people celebrate the longest, the most prosperous, and the most ill.u.s.trious reign in their history, joining with them in praying earnestly for the continuance during many years of Her Majesty's life and health."

Mr. Speaker Gully, arrayed in his handsome Robes of State, went in his great old gilded State coach to the Palace with a similar message from the Commons.

[Sidenote: Gathering of School Children.]

The same day the Queen left town for Windsor. A touching ceremony marked the occasion. At Her Majesty's special request, the stands on Const.i.tution Hill were filled with 10,000 children from the Board Schools and Voluntary Schools of all denominations. By four o'clock in the afternoon the children were in their places, and were regaled with buns, milk, and sweets. At about a quarter to five Her Majesty--with whom were the Empress Frederick, Princess Henry of Battenberg, and the Duke of Connaught--drove up from Buckingham Palace. The children rose in their places and cheered their Queen to the echo, and immediately afterwards they sang the National Anthem, the band of the Grenadier Guards leading. "While the voices filled the air with the grand old melody, Her Majesty turned upon the singers a face radiant with love and happiness. Those who think of Her Majesty as 'the Queen-mother' should have looked upon her then to have found a realisation of the ideal."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._

HER MAJESTY AND THE SCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ROYAL PROCESSION Pa.s.sING UP CONSt.i.tUTION HILL.