THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4263, 24 January 1901, Page 4

THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN

"She wrought her people lasting good; Her Court was pure; her life serene; God gave her peace; her land reposed; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother, Wife and Queen. —Tennyson. The first year- of the new century is but in its infancy when the British nation

is plunged into grief most poignant and well nigh inexpressible in mere words by the death of its official head, its good and gracious Sovereign, wisest of monaschs, noblest minded of rulers, best of true womanly women. Queen Victoria. The blow, though always imminent when over ten years in excess of the allotted three score and ten have been recorded, has none the less fallen upon victim and mourners with awful suddenness. Some slight rumours there had been, seme whisper's. reaching back as far as four months ago, of weakened nerve and bodily decrepitude in one whose wih was ever strong, and whose constitution had withstood more than one severe trial; but the grim Reaper whoso stern fiat neither proudest monarch nor humblest peasant can defy swung his dread scythe at the last with scantiest warning. Within, comparatively speaking, a few short hours, the nation has learnt of its Ruler’s illness and death. Tho shock has been severe —exactly how severe it is impossible ac this moment to say; but as to the universal, the awe-inspiring national grief—-the grief Which to-day "is welding Britons the wide v-orld over in one great outpouring of lamentation most poignant and profound as to that I there can be no question. • .

The heavfc, of the Eriipire is to-day permeated by an .all-dominating sorrW and the deepest of sympathy for those near and specially dear to the dead Queen. • • \Vhen 'time allows reflection as to tho probable results . upon the future .of, the , sad.-eyent which every Briton is to-day deploring, there may arise some feeling of. anxiety for the Empire’s welfare, 1 but momentarily at least grief is uppermost. ' Her Majesty was to th^,.British nation much more| than merely an official head, a ruler, a monarch. She stood to all Britons as the embodiment of national motherhood. She was tho object of a personal devotion on the part of her subjects, whether in the home of the nation, or in India, Africa, Canada or. Australasia, the like of which lias been recorded of no other monarch the civilised world j has yet known. For this peculiarly ten-j der and touching sentiment of personal .attachment, a devotion which- was love itself, there existed reasons the full setting forth of which would ,be a lengthy and superfluous task. Suffice it to-day to say that the Queen’s long and irreproachable private life, the loving care land tenderesf affection she lavished as a mother upon her family, the loss at a comparatively early age of her amiable and accomplished Consort, fitting mate for one whose first and foremost thought was for the welfare of her: people, her undying interest in all charitable and philanthropic enterprises, her earnest personal efforts to bring about bonds of peace and amity between the British, and other nations, her private family afflictions, and tho sympathy she ever displayed with even the humblest of her subjects when encompassed by trouble and sorrow—all these have surely been potent factors in the creation of that great personal affection and devotion which the nation has ever exhibited towards the good and noble woman who has passed away. Her Majesty had known many sorrows in her life, but Christian fortitude enabled her to. meet misfortune with quiet resignation. » Sorrows though she had, her happiness as a wife and as a mother was a compensation for which, as a truly religious w'oman, she was doubtless grateful. One of ner daughters and two of her ■sons followed their father into the mysterious haven of Eternity, but Her Majesty lived to see her children’s children apd her children’s grandchildren clustering round her august figure in all those joys which happy domesticity brings to rich and poor alike. She lived to see the Empire' over which, when a mere maiden, she had been called to > rule, become the greatest, mast widespread, most powerful; most generally peaceful and prosperous that the world Has yet witnessed. She enjoyed the wise counsel of representatives of the people who ever placed patriotism before party, and devoted lives of arduous, unremitting toil to improving the social, condition of her people. Other rewards she had for her own self-sacrificing, patient care of those over whom she ruled. J But we have said enough to show that: Her Majesty had her joys as well as| her sorrows. To-day she is no more, and another rules in her stead. That I his Kingly life-may result in as muebj good to his subjects as did : the long and beneficent sway of his august] mother is what every Briton must trust i and pray. He has had a noble ex-| ample; may he follow it with unfailing remembrance of her who has gone to "dusty death,” but whose memory shall be sweet through all time, because of the wisdom, love and gracionsness with which she filled a position of the greatest opportunities for good or evil. 4.,