VICTORIA THE GOOD.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue V, 2 February 1901, Page 202

VICTORIA THE GOOD.

The profound grief in which the whole Empire has been plunged by the sudden death of Her Majesty the Queen has affected the people of the remotest colonies not less than the inhabitants of the British Isles. Since the first intimation of her serious illness was received here no other topic of conversation has been so frequently on our lips as the loss which it seemed almost certain the nation would be called on to bear. And how could it be otherwise? Beyond the circle of our immediate relations, no oue has held such an honoured and revered place in our hearts as Her Majesty. She has commanded the deep affection of her subjects as no other monarch in the history of the nation has done. Her high and loveable qualities as a woman, and her consummate tact and consideration as a ruler, combined with the prestige she has enjoyed, and has herself increased, as the head of a mighty Empire, have made her a unique figure in the last sixty years. Her long reign has extended over a period of unexampled national prosperity and glory, and she has most worthily adorned that period. So intimately is she associated with what is befct, and, we would believe, indestructible in the nation, that we had almost forgotten that she too must die. It is this feeling which makes it difficult for us to appreciate the full weight of the blow which has fallen upon us, and we shall not immediately realise the depth of our attachment to that h’gh impersonation of queenly and womanly virtues till we have had some littie time to reflect on the story of her life. But even in the deepest depth of our sorrow, we shall always have much to be thankful for in that the Queen was spared to us for so many years beyond the ordinary span of mortal life, thereby bequeathing to her people and empire a larger heritage of noble influence and lofty example. That influence and that example still remain with us when she has passed away, and must continue to comfort and stimulate her subjects, mourning an irreparable loss.

The engraving of Her Majesty which appears on page 201 is from a photo, by Gunn and Stuart, of Sloanestreet, London, and is regarded as one bf the best of the latest taken likenesses.