FHE LAM DUKE OF CLARENCE,

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7182, 18 January 1892, Page 4

FHE LAM DUKE OF CLARENCE,

Touching Scenes.

Preparations for the ' Funeral. [Special to PfeK3B Association.] LONDON, Jan. 17. The remains of the Duke of Clarence and Avondulo will arrive at Windsor on Tuesday, and the funeral will take place on Wednesday with full nv.litary honours. Tbe precedent of the death of the Duke of Albany (fourth sou of the Queen) in ISB4< is being followed. The order of the procession ia London has not yet been decided upon. Masonic emblems have been placed on the coffin Demonstrations of sympathy and mourning are universal throughout the Empire. The comments of the French Press note the natioual loyalty displayed. "The Priucess Victoria, the doceased's sister, has decorated his room with white flowers. Princess Mary, who was to have married the Duke of Clarence, clings to the body, wringing her bands and calling, " Oh, Eddie, Eddie, speak to me !" Her condition ia causing some anxiety, and all the efforts of the family to calm her have ho far proved unavailing. The Princess of Wales is very ill, requiring the services of a physician. His Holiness the Pope sent a message of condolence. The Minera' Federation rejected a motion that a message of condolence should be sent to Her Majesty. Colonel Cornwall's West suggests that the money intended to be spent on the purchase of wedding presents should be devoted as a national dower to the deceased's betrothed. Two thousand people called at Marlborough House on Thursday, expressing sympathy with the Prince and Princess of Wales. A number of foreign Princes, including Prince Henry of Prussia, with a detachment of the Blucher Hussars, and the Grand Duke George (second sou of the Czar) will attend tho funeral. A memorial service will be held in St Paul's Cathedral simultaneously with the funeral. The special prayera of the congregations in churches and chapels will be asked on Sunday for the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Priaceas Mary of Teck. The Agents-General of Canada, Australasia, and Africa have forwarded to the Prince and Priucess of Wales a message expressing sympathy ; also a wreath, suitably inscribed, to be placed on the coffin. The Court will go into full mourniDg ! until Feb. 5, and into half mourning from then until Feb. 26. Public mourning will be for three weeks, the army and navy for six 7t f ecks, and foreign Courts for a fortnight. The Queen warmly acknowledged tbe syinpathetiu messages from the President of France and the foreign Courts. Her Majesty proceeds to Windsor on Tuesday. Mr Gladstone, who is absent at the Riviera, sent to the Prince and Princess of Wales a long telegram expressing sympathy. The shops are full of articles of mourning for the public. Eugage* ments of all kinds have been cancelled, and the Prince and Princess of Wales have cancelled theirs for six months. The theatres and public buildings will be closed ou the day of the funeral, which day will be one of national mourning. The Princess Mary announces that she is deeply touched at the tender sympathy expressed. The Tenth Hussars, of which the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was major, will escort the body on its removal from Sandringham to Windsor. Her Majesty the Queen will attend the funeral if permitted by her medical advisers.

SYDNEY, Jan. 17. Throughout the whole of tho colonies special services have been held in the churches as a mark of respect for the Dukg of Clarenco and Avondale, and the majority of the buildings are draped in black.

[Pra Pbesb Association.] DUNE DIN, Jan. 17. Replying to an address presented by the Borough Council of Queenstown, Lord Onslow said that the sympathy which all felt for those suffering from bereavement was especially painful when the blow fell on an aged Sovereign lady who was in the full hope of contemplating in a few weeks the happy marriage of her heir to one of the most amiable and gifted of English princesses. Though Her Majesty was blessed with a large family, the loss of a dearly-loved grandchild in the full promise of early manhood and on the threshold of married happiness, would bring a thrill of sympathetic sorrow to every maternal breast.

Ab the Cathedral yesterday, at the matins service, reference was made to the untimely death of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The pulpit and lectern were draped in black. A sermon was preached by the Eev E. P. Garbett, in which he termed the death of the young Prince a national calamity. In the prime of youth and health, amiable and beloved by all who knew him, within a few weeks of a marriage which was in perfect accordance with the wishes of his parents, he had, after undergoing an ordeal of training to fit him for the position to which he was heir, succumbed in the saddest manner. The preacher had no doubt that the heart of the nation would go out in warmest sympathy to the Prince's family. He also referred to the death of Cardinal Manning, and gave a comprehensive account of that prelate's career. At the evening service the "Dead March" was impressively played on the organ, many persons outside of the largo congregation assembling in the Cathedral to bear it. At Sb Michael's Church the Eev C. S. Bowden, while preaching, made appropriate reference to the death of the eldest eon oE the Prince of Wales. ! The " Dead March " was played before the morning Bervice of St Luke's Church, yesterday, by Mr Normington, the organist, on account of the death of the Duke of Clarenceand Avondale. The Eev M'Kenzie Gibson, acting incumbent, made a touching reference iv his sermon to the sad event. Yesterday, at St John'p, reference was made to the death of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the Eev H. C. M. "Watson taking for his text I. Cor. xv., 10. "If in this life only we havo hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable." Mr Watkinß, the organist, played the " Dead March, in Saul." The services at many churches of the different denominations, yesterday, bore reference in various wayß to the death of His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The sad event was alluded to iv the sermons. Special prayers were offered for the Eoyal Family in their affliction, and the portions of the musical part of the services were of a character suited to the occasion. . / ,, ' At the Sydenham Presbyterian Church, the pastor, the Eev Mr Simpson, spoke.

daring his sermon in the evening, of the loss sustained by the country through the death of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. Prayer for the Royal Family waa offered in this church. ! , At St Mary's, Merivale, the lectern and reading desk were draped in blaok. The services were, very impressive, especially that of the morning, when a sermon was preached by the incumbent, the Rev C. J. Merton, from I. Chronicles, xxix, 15, " Our days on the earth are as a shadow." Besides alluding at length in toiiching terms to the untimely death of the Duke of Clarence, with all its sad surroundings, the preacher referred to the death of Cardinal Manning, and apoko of a leason to be learnt from the lives of the two men — one taken in his youthful prime ; the other in extienie old ftgt», bat both eetting an example during their lives of thorough earnestness and a desire to do all they did well. At both services hymn 289 wa3 sung, and at the conclusion the " Dead March in Saul " was played by the honorary organist, Mr Clarence Turner.