Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1933 WHEN VICTORIA REIGNED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 11 February 1933, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1933 WHEN VICTORIA REIGNED

EARLY in the week wo published a cablegram from London, which said that the new fashions for ladies’ dresses this year will be shaped on those which wore the vogue in the year 1900, when Queen Victoria’s reign was drawing to a close. It would be a good thing if we could bring back something more important than the fashions of that happy time, when Great Britain led the nations of the world, and she herself was so wisely ied by the venerable queen who had ’presided over the Empire’s destinies for upwards of sixty years. For though Queen Victoria’s reign was glorious from start to finish, there were at its close features which were truly remarkable because they plainly displayed in a manner which could not be misunderstood the Empire’s loyalty and unity. When the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s coronation was celebrated throughout the Empire, the event was signalised in London by splendid ceremonies which have not been equalled in modern times, so great was their grandeur and so spontaneous their enthusiasm. The fertile brain of Joseph Chamberlain, who was Britain’s Colonial Secretary, conceived the idea of a great Imperial pageant, when the Queen should go to St. Paul’s Cathedral to return thanks on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. From all quarters of the Empire, and from the Continent of Europe, there thronged kings and rulers and governors to accompany the Queen on her progress from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul’s, and thence through the City, across London Bridge, through Southwark, via Westminster Bridge, back to the Palace—a route of some nine miles—and in the procession were the Prime Ministers of all the self-governing Colonies, attended by bodyguards of troops of their own countries. The result was a spectacle whose gorgeousness was then described by one who saw it: The eye was filled with splendour, hut fresh splendour came crowding in on it. The advancing pageant shifted and loosened, and came up more in open order. But as the mass of, colour became less massive, it became more wonderfully coloui'ed. Here, riding three and three, came a kaleidoscope of dazzling horsemen—equerries, and aides-de-camp and attaches, ambassadors and princes and all the pomp of all the nations of the earth. Scarlet and gold, azure and gold, purple and gold, emerald and gold, white and gold—always a changing tumult of colours that seemed to glist and gleam with a light of their own, and always blinding gold. No eye could bear more gorgeousness, no more gorgeousness could he, unless princes are to clothe themselves m rainbows and the very sun. The spectacle brought home to Londoners in the most dramatic fashion the greatness of the Empire, of which then City is the centre. It impressed the British Government with the. immense latent power of the Empire. It was an epoch-making occasion, for it silenced for ever the “little Englanders” who had disparaged the imperial ideals which had made their nation and country so great. But the occasion was completely lost on disturbing statesmen in South Africa, who, ignorant of the Empire’s greatness had determined to challenge it in a manner which, in these days, seems to have been nothing short of madness. A little more than two years after the Empire had exhibited in so remarkable a degree its unity and loyalty, on the occasion of the Queen’s Jubilee, the Presidents of the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State declared war on Great Britain hv marching their troops into Natal and Cape Colony. The result was the Boer War, the conclusion of which, though prolonged, ivas never really in doubt, and it Avas remarkable not so much as a triumph of British arms as for the practical loyalty displayed by the selfgoverning Colonies and the Dominion of Canada, all of Avhicli sent .important contingents to assifet in preserving South Africa for the Crown. Tims Avas created in the Victorian era that solidity in the Empire Avhicli Avas to he exhibited in a ton-fold degree when the great trial of 1914 suddenly arose. Although Victoria’s reign ended in strife, the great Queen realised, ere she died, the soundness of the policies Avhicli she had consistently upheld, whereby Great Britain’s trade-route should he adequately protected. The reverses, which British arms lmd suffered early in the Boer War, occasioned an outburst of enmity against Britain almost unparalleled in her history. In France, in Germany, in other European countries, in America, there Avere expressions of hatred against Britain Avhicli indicated clearly the animosity and jealousy Avith Avhicli she was regarded almost universally. Among all the great nations she hardly had a friend. But none dared to attack her, because the strength of her Navy Avas so great that it could not be challenged. But doubtless Queen Victoria felt compensated by tlie loyalty of her Empire, which in all its parts lived up to the expressions made on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee; and though her reign ended before peace had been restored in South Africa, nevertheless the aged sovereign must have been consoled by the knowledge of her Empire’s solidarity.

The dressmakers may be able to bring back the fashions of those days: would that they could bring back their buoyancy and brightness. . In those days, as we have shown, the Empire stood on its own feet, four-square to the world. Tt had no alliances or ententes with warlike or quarrelsome European nations. It was bound by no League of Nations’ Covenant “to eat the leek” at the behest of any high or low potentate who chose to arraign “the mistress of the seas” for

any real or imaginary grievance. The tradition of Victoria’s reign was that British justice was the highest in the world—as it was, and as it is to-day — and that nothing Avould be gained by admitting foreigners, however enlightened they might be, to sit in judgment on Great Britain's agreements with countries, however important or unimportant those countries might he. In those days there Avas a dignity surrounding Great Britain Avhicli. Avas in keeping Avith her greatness: to-day she goes to Geneva, craving the adjustment of a dispute between her and a third rate potentate Avho has broken faith. We shall not attempt at this stage to trace tlie causes of this seeming declension. In part Britain’s statesmen seem to have failed her in these latter years, in part the times are against her. The Great War saw three great Empires collapse. The British Empire survives, indeed it is larger than ever. But America, having cornered most of the gold in the world, and having chained Britain heavily with debt, seeks to direct the affairs of the world; and what America leaves undone is undertaken by the League of Nations, and so Britain’s role on the world’s stage is modified, her chief attention is given to her Empire, and avlio will say that the part she plays is not as important as ever it was ? But the glamour of the Victorian era is gone. The fashions of 1900 may be restored, but avlio Avill restore the buoyant spirit and the happy outlook of those late' Victorians, Avho triumphantly upheld Britain’s prestige in a great emergency Avhicli could not be avoided and was full of danger ?