"The wonderful order preserved on this occasion, and the good
behaviour of the enormous multitudes assembled, merits my highest
admiration. That God may protect and abundantly bless my country is
my fervent prayer."
And in laying the foundation-stone of the Imperial Institute, she
said:
"I concur with you in thinking that the counsel and exertions of my
beloved husband initiated a movement which gave increased vigour to
commercial activity, and produced marked and lasting improvements
in industrial efforts. One indirect result of that movement has been
to bring more before the minds of men the vast and varied resources
of the Empire over which Providence has willed that I should reign
during fifty prosperous years.
"I believe and hope that the Imperial Institute will play a useful
part in combining those resources for the common advantage of all
my subjects, conducing towards the welding of the colonies, India,
and the mother-country, into one harmonious and united
community. . . ."
When war was declared in South Africa and the Boer forces invaded
Cape Colony and Natal, contingents from Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Cape Colony, and Natal joined the British force and fought
side by side throughout that long and trying campaign.
In 1897 was celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Queen's reign,
and every colony sent a detachment of troops to represent it. At the
steps of St Paul's Cathedral the Queen remained to return thanks to
God for all the blessings of her reign, and after the magnificent
procession had returned she once again sent a message to her people:
"In weal and woe I have ever had the true sympathy of all my people,
which has been warmly reciprocated by myself.
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