CHAPTER VII. Conclusion.

Otago Witness, 21 June 1887, Page 10

CHAPTER VII. Conclusion.

THE personal history of the Queen may almost be said to have ended with the death of the Prince Consoit. The heart seering that she has gone through caused her to withdraw almost wholly from public life, and the records of the past quarter of a century of her life arc but meagre. In October, 1863, an accident happened, which might have had a very disastrous termination. "The carriage, in a very dangerous place," writes the Queen, " began to turn up on one side. We called out,. ,' What's the matter ? ' There was an awful pause, during which Alice said, 'We are upsetting ? ' In another moment during which I had time to reflect, and thought there were still things we had not settled and wanted to do — the carriage turned over on its side, and we were all precipitated to the ground ! I came down very hard, with my face upon the ground, near the carriage ; the horses both on the ground, and Brown calling out in despair, ' The Lord have mercy on us ! I thought you were all, killed ! ' them that we were not hurt, and urged them that we should make the best of it."

Towards the close of 1872, the Queen and her people were closely united in a common anxiety on account of the alarming illness of the Prince of Wales. For many days the Prince was hovering between life and death, devotedly nursed by his wife, the Princess of Wales, Princess Alice, and the Duke of Edinburgh. The feeling of the nation was intense as the daily bulletins were issued.' , Prayers were everywhere offered in churches and chapels on behalf of the illustrious patient and his distressed wife and mother. At length, on the 14th of December — a date which some dreaded as the . anniversary of Prince Albert's death — the longed-for improvement began. A few we.eks afterwards the .pale, convalescent Prince sat by his rejoicing mother's side in the carriage that conveyed them through the densely-crowded and gailydecorated streets of London to the great Cathedral of St. Paul's. There, 13,000 persons, representing all that was eminent or distinguished in the State, joined in the solemn service of thanksgiving to f the Almighty for the Prince's recovery. In a. letter to her people two days afterwards, the Queen says : " Words are too weak for the Queen to say how very deeply touched and gratified she has been by the immense enthusiasm and affection exhibited towards, her dear son and herself, from the highest down to the lowest, on the long progress through the streets of the capital. The remembrance of this- day will for ever be affectionately treasured by the Queen and her family." On New Year's Day, 1877, Queen Victoria was, at Delhi and other Indian cities, proclaimed Empress of India, with great pomp and ceremony. Just before the close of the year she visited Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden, and the little town of High Wycombe smothered itself with flags and festoons and triumphal arches in honour of the occasion. A triumphal arch

of chairs, the clii rf manufacture of the locality, was very curious, and attracted the admiring notice of the Queen and Princess Beatrice. To the Duke of Connaught's wedding with Marguerite, daughter of the " Red Prince," to Prince Leopold's marriage and untimely death, and the recent marriage of Princess Beatrice, we only allude. The nation rejoiced to see the Queen once more come forth to open Parliament early last year, and crowds hailed her with acclamations as she passed on to her throne in the House of Peers. The Queen has but to appear amongst her people to prove the depth and force of English loyalty.