TOE VIRTUES OF AN AGE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 10

TOE VIRTUES OF AN AGE

Interesting and entertaining glimpses of the life of Queen Victoria through the medium of both the legitimate stage and the cinema in Wellington this week have no doubt prompted many of the older generation to hark back to the memories of what was a spacious age in British history. When the Queen was born the nineteenth century was only in its second decade. She lived to see it out. Looked at from present-day standards of values, the Victorian Age seems narrow, rathqr petty, and intolerant. It was a period, however, in which the social and domestic virtues were fostered and strengthened under the influence and protection of a family ideal and. moral austerity radiated from the throne itself, and which developed in the character of British citizenship a regard for principle in private and business life, in politics, and in the affairs of State that exalted the nation in the eyes of the world. . . \ • • / It was a period of .regeneration timely in its' advent, and invigorating in its effects. The nation was just settling down after its perilous and exhausting experiences of the Napoleonic Wars. Though the navy and army had added to its prestige abroad, the country was disorganised and unsettled within, and a period of unbroken peace was neededxto enable it to rehabilitate its resources and organise its economic recovery. As was the case after the Great War, social and economic problems demanded attention. There was grave unrest. Public regard for the monarchy was at a low ebb. The preponderance of Hanoverian influence at the Court was causing increasing resentment, and the Queen’s marriage with a German prince attracted little enthusiasm and not a little suspicion. Several factors appeared to assist in stabilising the situation. An era of active and vigorous colonising set in, inaugurating a great flow of emigration to all parts of the world. This relieved the position at Home. Then there was the industrial revolution, which effected a marked change in.the social and economic balance of the nation. International conditions were favourable for the development of free trade. The steady development of railway communications internally, and the expansion of commercial activity externally, promoted a great trade revival, and the foundations of many great business -enterprises were securely laid. It was an era of building up. Success in life meant habits, of thrift, self-sacrifice and self-discipline in the early stages of the individual citizen’s career. There was no such thing as easy credit, and very little borrowing, either public or private. The result was that if progress relatively was slow by comparison with modern ways of doing things, it was sure and solid. Men did not measure their fortunes as so much "on paper.” Wealth meant such things as land, buildings, and cash in the bank. This period of enterprise effected a marked change on the British character. Out of it grew the great strength and civic influence of the middle classes, which reflected in their family life and their conscientious attention to duty in business and private life, and the management of public affairs, the same qualities as were exhibited by the Queen, and, during his comparatively brief career, the Prince Consort. Both the throne and the nation grew in stature as a result. Queen Victoria was a woman of great strength of character, with a high sense of duty, fixed ideas on many things, unyielding by inclination, but with an instinctive grasp of her constitutional limitations as a sovereign. Not for many a reign had a monarch evinced such an active and conscientious interest in the affairs of State, both foreign and domestic. She had at her service men outstanding in their generation. She and they did not always see eye to eye, and the position became more difficult after the death of the Prince Consort, who possessed statesmanship of a high order. In this conflict of wills the British genius for compromise was well tested, with the result t.iat both preserved their equilibrium, with advantage to each. Both. the throne and British democracy added to their prestige, and acquiiea qualities of strength and resiliency that enabled each to withstand the stresses of subsequent crises familiar to the present generation. Victorianism is to be judged by its results. If the Victorian Age to modern ideas has a somewhat narrow and concentrated outlook on life, it should be remembeied that our present-day heritage as a democratic commonwealth was founded largely on the products of its sterner virtues. The danger is that, it may be squandered by its heirs. We are, all of us, familiar witn the oft-told experience of family wealth and position, created by the thrift, industry, and prudence of the founder, and dissipated by the carelessness and improvidence of its heirs. The experience of the individual and of the family may be reproduced on a larger scale by the State as a whole. The results of the providence and accumen of one Government may be frittered away by the extravagance and foolishness of its successors. The Victorian Age may be likened to the founders of a prosperous family or business. Its heirs, and. the custodians of its achievements, are the citizens of the present British generation. Upon them rests the responsibility of safeguarding the noble estate which the Victorian Age, through its splendid virtues, has bequeathed,.