Page 19 Advertisements Column 3

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18009, 20 November 1926, Page 19

historq of the Empire* GAartes Gateway'''* NOVEMBER 17: THE ACCESSION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. Three hundred and sixty-eight years ago, ox NOVEMBER 17, 1558, Queen Elizabeth commenced her eventful and glorious reign of forty-five years. At the time of her accession Elizabeth was twenty-five years of age and was living in seclusion at Hatfield House, now the ancestral home of the Marquises of Salisbury, to which she had retired after l>eing released from her short imprisonment in the Tower of London four years before. At Hatfield she passed most of her time in study under the direction of her old tutor. Sir Roger Ascham. and when she came into possession of her great heritage she was not only the most intellectual and highly-educated woman of her day, but she excelled all her predecessors on the British throne in knowledge of statecraft and general affairs. There was but little grief at the death of Queen Mary, and the new Queen ascended the throne amid scenes of unprecedented national rejoicing and almost universal satisfaction. On arriving at the outer gate of the Tower of London to take up her residence in the walls of what had once been her prison, and what might easily have become her place of execution, she alighted from her horse and, falling on her knees, she offered up a thanksgiving for what she described as “an escape as miraculous as that of Daniel out of the mouths ‘ of the lions.’ ” Elizabeth must, and will, ever stand forth as a most remarkable woman and sovereign. She thoroughly understood the people she was called upon to govern, and she devoted herself energetically and ably to the task of civil administration. She loved her country passionately, and the speech which she delivered to her troops at Tilbury on the approach of the Spanish Armada was no idle boast. In the course of this speech, the noblest recorded of any British monarch, she said: “ I have always placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and, therefore, I have come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation and sport, but being resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and die amongst you all, to lav down for my God, for my kingdom and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know that I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and a king of England, too.” Few sovereigns have inspired their-subjects with greater affection and loyalty than Elizabeth, and even those most \*iolently opposed to her politically and religiously realised that the prosperity of the country depended upon the security of her person and the success of her administration. The action of the religious fanatic, who had been punished by having his right hand cut off at the wrist, and who promptly waved his hat with his left hand and shouted “ God Save Queen Bess,” is but one of the many similar instances of loyalty displayed by those who had suffered severely by order of the last of the Tudors. The great outstanding glory of the Elizabethan era arose from the daring voyages of the British seamen. The overseas Empire of Britain was not built up by any deliberate policy ol the Government of the Motherland, and the private adventurers who sailed the seas in the reign of Elizabeth had little thought beyond filling their ships with plunder and fighting the then hated Spaniards. The gallant Sir Walter Raleigh was the one man of his day to dream of an overseas dominion for his country, and he made the only serious attempt at colonisation m the New World, but the adventurous voyages of such men as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir John Hawkins were undoubtedly the first steps in Britain’s successful fight for the mastery of the seas and the subsequent foundation of her mighty and wide-flung Empire. [Copyrighted.]