QUEEN VICTORIAS LETTERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10957, 27 April 1907, Page 6 (Supplement)

QUEEN VICTORIAS LETTERS.

INTIMATE VIEW OF A GREAT

SOVEREIGN'S PERSONALITY.

THE KING'S INTEREST

LONDON, March 15. "The Letters of Queen Victoria," whicli Mr A. C. Benson and Viscount Esher liave been editing during the last four or five years, are to be published by authority of the King as early as possible next winter. Originally it was intended that they should have been published m October, but difficulties with regard to the American copyright have rendered a postponement necessary. • On no previous occasion has the correspondence of a British Sovereign been issued to the' world officially, and the' work will be nndoubtedly the most important published during tne present generation. The letters wHl"be m three volumes, each consisting of 600 pages of medium octavo size, bound m red cloth with gold lettering. It has, of course, been impossible for the editors, m the space at their disposal, to enter fully irito the minute history of many matters ofihigh political importance. The object has been not so much to present a compendium of political his-tory-as to illustrate by episodes the clrai'acteristic w and personal part tliat Queen Victoria played m "'the great questions of the day. . , : The late Queen is shown m the letters to have been a woman of strong individuality, bf decided preferences, and even prejudices. These, of course, played their part m the drama of the time. It is equally interesting, and even more instructive, however, to see through her correspondence how these preferences were gradually subordinated to a deep sense of personal responsibility . m defining arid maintaining the rights . of the nation. The editors have endeavored throughout to show the personality of Queen Victoria, her methods of approaching and deciding great State questions, her outlook,, her sympathies, her shrewdness, her perseverance, ?nd her diligence. In some cases episodes of less far-reach, ing importance have been.' selected m preference to more momentous issues, beea us,, the materials to _c selected from gave opportunities of more characteristic and personal illustration of temperament and method. A general knowledge of the history of the time has been taken for granted, but the ordinary reader will be reminded by short annua' summaries of the movement of events. Footnotes will explain the minuter current allusions, and a brief introduction will bring the life of Queen Victoria up to the point where the correspondence begins. . ' I EARLY YEARS. The period actually to be covered by the letters is ; from 1837 to 1861. The first volume covers the correspondence to the age of twenty-five. Here Victoria is seen as a young, Queen, called upon to select a husband of her own choice, with new Ministers to whom she was instinctively opposed, but her personaj antipathy to whom she soon overcame, and with a country seething with discontent against long hours of work and dear food. Thd second volume deals with the period of the. repeal of -the Corn Laws; foreign revolutions, of which the most sensational incident will be the story of* the flight of Louis Philippe to. Newhaveri : ; tlie disruption' or. th© old Whig party, and the fiasoo of Chartism. Queen Victoria's.. correspondence with,, her Ministers during this, period shows how closely iii touch she was with the varied interests of her subjects, and her letters to King Leopold indicates her deep interest' m European politics from the monarchial point of view. .'.--.-. The third of, tlie three volumes deals with the Eastern question, . the Crimean war, the Indian Mutiny, the China war, the Franco-Austrian war, and the struggle for a united Italy. The letters' terminate 1 with the Prince Consort's deatlii INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN. To sum up the teachings of the letters, it inav be said that they show how continuous, the influence of the Crown has been m shaping important measures of ever- kind, m reconciling > seemingly implacable opponents, and m giving the strongest. moral and social support to the statesmen who for the time being voiced the deliberate wishes of the nation. King Edward has read through all the proofs of- the three volumes. ' making .alteration^; and; corrections whicli he con-sid-red desirable. The .nterest of tlie letters; will be g-ea'tly 'enhanced by ; the addition of forty-one illustrations, wliich have been specially chosen by 'the King from the collections at Buckingham Palace, Windsor, and elsewhere. The price of the three volumes will be £3 3s net.