Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1901 — PROCLAMATION OF SUCCESSION. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PROCLAMATION OF SUCCESSION.

The proclamation of the death of Queen Victoria and the succession of King Edward was Issued immediately upon the Queen’s death by the premier, Lord Salisbury, and the Archbishop of Canterbury with the sanction of the privy council. It was then made public throughout the realm through the lord mayors, the lord lieutenants of counties, etc. The proclamation reads:

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call.to his mercy our late sovereign lady, Queen Victoria, of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the Imperial crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Prince Albert Edward. We therefore, the Lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being here with those of her late Majesty’s Privy Council, with numbers of other principal gentlerrten of quality, with the Lord Mayor; Aidermen and citizens of London, do now hereby with one voice and consent of-tongue and heart publish and proclaim that the high and mighty Prince Albert Edward is now by the death of our late sovereign of happy memory become one only lawful and rightful liege Lord Edward by grace of God King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender es the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble affection, beseeching Gpdj by whom Kings anji Queens do reign, to bless our royal King Edward with long and happy years to reign over us.

THRONE NEVER VACANT. Prince of Wales Becomes Kins of England Immediately. The theory of the English constitution is that the throne of Great Britain is never vacant. In other words, the sovereign never dies, the succession of an heir being instantaneous. Hence, as Debrett explains it, the ceremony of coronation is merely a solemn recognition and confirmation of royal descent and the consequent right of accession to the throne, and is unnecessary for the security of the title to the crown. It is customary on the death of the sovereign for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the prime minister to notify the heir apparent of his accession, though even this is technically superfluous. DESCENDANTS OF VICTORIA. Seventy - three Children, Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren. When Queen Victoria came to the throve in 1837 the royal family of England had dwindled to meager proportions, the direct line of succession being centered in one girl of 18, Victoria. To-day her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren living number seven-ty-three, and the Queen lived to see the third generation of her direct heirs to the British crown.

From the union of Victoria of England with Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1840 have sprung niue children, forty grandchildren and thirty-five great-grandchildren. Death has removed eleven of these —two sons and one daughter, one granddaughter and seven grandsons. Marriage brought her majesty nine daughters and sons-in-law. Three of the latter have died, while thirteen of the fourteen grandsons and granddaughters-in-law survive. Longest Relan in H'etory. The Queen is the oldest monarch who has occupied the English throne, and has reigned for a longer period than any of her predecessors. The longest reigns In English history have been: Victoria reigned sixty-three years, lived eighty-two years. George lIL reigned fifty-nine years, Ured eighty-two years. Henry lIL reigned fifty-six years, lived sixty-five yearn. -

VICTORIA’S LAST DAYS. The Queen’s Health Had Been Failing for Months. According to a London correspondent, Queen Victoria’s constitution manifested the first symptoms of serious decay during the stay of the court at Windsor in November and December, 1899, when the evil tidings from the South African war came in rapid succession. Gen. Buller, before leaving, had assured the Queen that the campaign would be “difficult, but not dangerous.” So the news of reverses came upon her with added severity. She never forgave Gen. Buller, and when his name was submitted for a command to visit Windsor after

his return from the war she stroked it through with her pen. At this time the Queen first had fits of crying, which in an aggravated form preceded her present critical illness. Her excitement over her Irish visit seemed to revive her, but before the visit ended a reaction set in. The public, however, were hoodwinked by accounts of her alleged replies to addresses and other evidence of mental activity, when in reality the Queen lived as in a dream. So alarming was her condition beginning in December that the royal family was precluded from going on the continent. The change to Osborne did not work the benefit anticipated, as the war news and the illness of Empress Frederick became an obsession with the Queen, who suffered with increasing frequency from depression and crying. She was constantly referring to the death of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and expressed a wish to see the duchess, who accordingly

was brought to Osborne, but the first interview with the duchess left the Queen prostrated with grief. The last drive she had was with the duchess as a companion. On' her return in the carriage the Queen was asleep, in which condition she was taken to bed, from which she did not afterward arise. For a fortnight before Sir Francis Laking, without the knowledge of the public, had been assisting Sir James Reid at Osborne, and later Sir Douglas Powell, the famous heart and lung specialist, was summoned owing to two attacks of heart failure. Then the Queen, had a strong stroke of paralysis, after which she remained in a comatose or semicomatose condition, occasionally asking: “Is the war over?" Princess Beatrice was the only member of the family, according to reports, whom the Queen seeatei to plainly know in her iMt hour*.

WINDSOR CASTLE, OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF THE QUEEN.