Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1901 — VICTORIA IS DEAD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VICTORIA IS DEAD.

Britain's Beloved Queen Passes Peacefully Away. UMPIRE IN MOURNING Mace es Wales Now Ascends the Throne as Edward VII. Member* of the Royal Family Were the Bedside When the Final Sammons Came—Career of the Noble Woman Who Governed the Destinies of More than Three Hundred Milldoa Subjects —Her Reign Was the in the History of the English People. "Queen Victoria is dead. She passed <away Tuesday, surrounded by her physicians and the members of her family. Ths ■Prince of Walds is now King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of In•dia. The Queen’s death places him or the throne as her legal successor. He wil’ reign as Edward VII. , ' The long and beneficent reign 1 of Queer Victoria is at an end. After occupying the throne of England for more thai •sixty-three years the venerable woman whose name is so closely identified witl England’s greatest era is no more, anc .'her subjects have awakened with pro found sorrow to the consciousness that her rule is over. Not only in Great Brit ain and its dependencies, but throughout the civilized world, the news has been received with a keen sense of the greatness with which she has played her pari both as woman and as queen. It hai been the especial merit of the Queen so t« fill the functions of rulership as' to exen

■else a positive influence. By precept and example, by her eminent qualities of good sense and kindliness, by her strength of character and her love of peace, she has done much to make the nation great and to secure the advancement of the world at large. It is a noteworthy fact that while the - changing conditions since she was crown--■ed in 1837 have tended to reduce greatly the specific powers of sovereignty she thas accepted the natural trend of events with equanimity, steadily gaining in esteem and affection as the years passed. Never has she been more sincerely revered and loved than during the decade •just dosed; never has the quiet force of ihec influence been more generally recognized. The whole period embraced in the Victorian era has been the period of •Great Britain’s greatest imperial development. The statesmen who were her advisers when she came to the throne, a .girl of 18, seem now to have belonged to an entirely different epoch, so great has ‘been the change in the political world «nd in the currents and tendencies of intellectual life. In all this process of growth Victoria has exercised a wholesome, if passive, influence. She has met new burdens and honors with dignity; ohe has kept before the British public Ibigh ideals of principle and conduct; and If the political growth and material prosperity of England are not directly traceable to her, her essential goodness and her well-poised character have it least done much to maintain the’ sentiments of confidence and patriotism which tend most to make for a nation’s happiness. The change of rulers necessitated by the death of the Queen comes at a time when the empire is beset with dangers and difficulties. After an era which is destined to be as distinctive in British history as the era of Elizabeth, it was Victoria's fate to see the British empire embarrassed by war and apparently losing its primacy among the nations of the -earth. Whether it has not actually passed the climax of its greatness and is sow on the point of a retrograde movement is a question yet to be determined. The circumstances under which Albert Edward assumes the sovereign power as tag Edward VII. are therefore peculiarly trying, but thoughtful observers will be alow to conclude that as king he will fail to satisfy the needs and expectations of the British people. However Sagland may have looked upon its heir mpparent twenty years ago, in the recent years during which he has been • called •apon to perform most of the public and •ceremonial functions of the monarch, acting as Victoria’s representative, he has <ahown dignity and discretion. His reign th all probability will be comparatively f te*ief, but there is good reason to believe thgt he* will be guided by safe and sober -conservatism and will be a popular monK Nobody will ever speak of “Victoria the ■Great," but her virtues have given her c right to a better title —“Victoria the Well-Beloved.” And in earning that saame aba has rendered the best possible ■Service to the English monarchy. In a grasp the frail scepter might have snapped—her soft hand held It safe. Victoria saw England become in all es.Sgnntials a republic. It was because the 'monarch, had ceased to govern that she to reign, and that her people 'wtrftad at her deathbed with a sorrow SUB kaoM aS If • personal bereavement ■ jsjw^ r |w>flpn4lp< over every family.

VICTORIA AT HER CORONATION.