Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1903 — EDWARD IS CROWNED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EDWARD IS CROWNED

THE KING IS GIVEN THE SYMBOL OF MAJESTY. Historic Service Loses Nothing of Ornateness by Its Diminution—Detail* of the Ceremony Show It to Be Harmonious at All Point*. -— : — The coronation of King Edward and the Queen Consort Alexandra has at last taken its place in history. In famous Westminster Abbey—alike the national church and the national mausoleum of Great Britain—where a long line of British sovereigns have been crowned and where repose the ashes of potentate and subject, of statesmen and warriors and scientists and men of letters the crown of Kingly jurisdiction has been placed

upon the head of England’s seventh Edward. Toned and subdued was the ceremony Saturday as compared with the gorgeous spectacle which was planned for June 2G last and which had to be deferred owing to the critical sickness of the King. To meet the changed situation, the ceremonies within the abbey were curtailed and much of the pomp and splendor was omitted. The coronation was simpler in tone and was as much a thanksgiving service

for the restoration of the King’s health as a display of ostentatious power and pride. Salutes from the Tower of London and the guns at Hyde Park at 4:30 a. m. boomed out a welcome to coronation day. The sunrise guns found many people on the streets, some of whom had not lain down all night, and many others who had

been lying on the grass in the parks all night close to the route where the procession is to pass. The weather was cloudy and kzWc-riug. The superstitious dread of some further disaster to cause another postponement of the ceremonies would not down and served to mar the spirit of the day. The King himself was as nervous in this regard as the most superstitious of his people. Despite his recovered health the a ßtrain of waiting had been heavy upon him, and it is said that he slept little during Friday night and rose before 4* o’clock. Little of the elaborate street preparations made upon the previous occasion were to be seen, and In place of the miles of streets hung with gorgeous decorations and flanked by a bulwark of stands there was but the small distance between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey in which any sign of a great coming event could be discerned. The sightseeing public looked in vain for the blase of barbaric splendor which was so Impressive during the few days before the date previously set for the for the foreign embassies had gone to their homes, Has Mekonnen, the special ambassador of King Menelek, king of Abyssinia. Itelng the only exception to this rule. The main thoroughfares, miles of which were gay with flags and bunting in June, were, stripped except for tbe Illumination fixtures Which were allowed to remain in place. Obeapside, Fleet street and the Strand all told contained scarcely Six decorated buildings.

In historic Abbey were gathered representatives from every corner of a worldwide empire, to lend grace and impressiveness and majesty to the scene. There were the immediate members of the royal house of England. There were colonial premiers and envoys from states which were independent of the British government when Victoria was crowned sixty-fdur ago. There were the lords temporal and the lords spiritual of the United Kingdom, resplendent lit their robes of state and ing the power and the influence which have made England great and respected among the nations of the world. There were peeresses in their jewels and coronets and crimson robes and other lovely women reflecting the graces and the beauty of foreign lands. _ There was united almost all grades of civilization and almost al| of the religious beliefs common among men. There the representatives of republican simplicity touched elbows with the representatives of constitutional royalty and with those who still adhere to the rule of autocracy and despotism. The east met the west within the historic walls and Indian princes with pedigrees and family traditions dating back for thousands of years gazed upon the same scenes with representatives from that land of yesterday—Australia. Lacking in Display. Amid such a scene as this King Edward and Queen Alexandra were crowned. They drove from Buckingham Palace to the abbey in the royal state coach drawn by eight cream-colored Flemish horses—the same used by the Fate Queen Victoria in the year of her jubilee. The route to the abbey was ablaze with decorations and was lined by vast numbers of people. There were vacant places on many of the stands, however, for a large share of the sightseers gathered for the coronation last June have sincp scattered over the continent, while some returned to their homes in America and in the provinces,. : _ The intensity of the enthusiasm aroused over the coronation date in June had died out to a large extent and the scenes in the streets {is well as in the abbey were tame compared with what they. would have been had the coronation taken place in June. lu the abbey there was not the picturesque and imposing audience that would have witnessed the coronation in June. There were no foreign princes in attendance and the special envoys whb came to London for the coronation in June had returned to their homes. The gathering was thus more of a domestic or rather of an imperialistic nature. The colonies through their premiers were well

represented and the picturesque touch was added to the gathering by the Indian princes. Ceremony of Coronation. The ritual of the coronation was curtailed greatly and no unnecessary strain was laid upon the King. The ceremony did not last longer than an hour and physicians were on hand in case there should be any demand for their services. All superfluous prayers and functions were omitted. The coronation of the King was carried out by Archbishop Temple and the anointing and crowning of Queen Alexandra by the Archbishop of York. While the postponement of the coronation in June was a great disappointment to the people, there is no disguising the fact that the King’s sickness, by arousing public sympathy, has greatly popularized him. And the note that ran through the coronation ceremonies of Saturday was one of satisfaction and rejoicing that the King has been restored to his people.

REPRESENTED ARMY AND-NAVY. Rear Admiral Watson and Major General Wilaon. Rear Admiral Watson, the American navy’s coronation representative, has spent forty-six years in Uncle Sam’s sea service. He saw the hottest kind of fighting during the Civil War and blockaded the north Coast of Cuba during the Spanish war. Maj. Gen. H. Wilson, a gallant veteran of the Civil, Spanish-American

and Chinese wars, represented the army at the coronation ceremonies. He was a eoriw commander under Sheridan and is the author of several books.

KING EDWARD VII.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

QUEEN ALEXANDRA.

ADMIRAL WATSON.

GEN. WILSON.