The expressions of loyalty and devotion
from the representatives of the great over-seas dominions on the
occasion of the Queen's Jubilee in 1887 were proof enough that
England and the English were no longer an insular land and people,
but a mighty nation with one sovereign head.
In the address which was presented to the Queen it was stated that
during her reign her colonial subjects of European descent had
increased from two to nine millions, and in Asia and India there was
an increase of population from ninety-six to two hundred and
fifty-four millions.
After the great ceremony of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral the
Queen expressed her thanks to her people in the following message:
"I am anxious to express to my people my warm thanks for the kind,
and more than kind, reception I met with on going to and returning
from Westminster Abbey with all my children and grandchildren.
"The enthusiastic reception I met with then, as well as on those
eventful days in London, as well as in Windsor, on the occasion of
my Jubilee, has touched me most deeply, and has shown that the labours
and anxieties of fifty long years--twenty-two years of which I spent
in unclouded happiness, shared with and cheered by my beloved husband,
while an equal number were full of sorrows and trial borne without
his sheltering arm and wise help--have been appreciated by my people.
This feeling and the sense of duty towards my dear country and
subjects, who are so inseparably bound up with my life, will
encourage me in my task, often a very difficult and arduous one,
during the remainder of my life.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122