Sixty Years a Queen Part 41

[Sidenote: Influx of Visitors.]

Long before these preparations were completed, the invasion of London by visitors from the country, from America, and from the Continent had commenced. The streets, always pretty-well congested with the great press of traffic, were now almost impa.s.sable. Vast good-humoured crowds surged up and down the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares, and travelling from one part of the town to another became a matter of increasing difficulty.

Where all the people were accommodated it would be difficult to say.

Certain it is, that all the rooms in the better-known hotels were taken weeks beforehand, and the landladies of Bloomsbury reaped a rich harvest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photographed at the Crown Studios, Sydney._

THE RT. HON. G. H. REID, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

Was born at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in 1845, and is the son of a Presbyterian Minister. He began life in Sydney in the Civil Service, but studied law and entered the New South Wales Legislature in 1880. He became Minister of Education, 1883; Leader of the Opposition, 1891; Premier, 1894. He is a strong advocate of Australian Federation.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._

THE RT. HON. SIR G. TURNER, PREMIER OF VICTORIA.

Born in Melbourne; he is by profession a solicitor. Entered the Victorian Parliament in 1889, and became Prime Minister and Treasurer in 1894. He is between forty and fifty years of age.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph by Talma, Melbourne._

THE RT. HON. R. J. SEDDON, PREMIER OF NEW ZEALAND.

Born at St. Helens, Lancashire, in 1844; went to Victoria in 1863. He has been for twenty-five years in the New Zealand Parliament, and has been Premier since 1893. He is also Colonial Treasurer, Commissioner of Customs, Postmaster-General, Minister of Labour, and Minister of Native Affairs.]

[Sidenote: Grand Stands.]

In addition to the vast amount of accommodation afforded by the houses lying along the route, every available coign of vantage was seized upon for the erection of a stand. Churches were lost to view beneath vast tiers of red upholstered seats reaching half way up their towers, and what had been known as Charing Cross Station was buried from sight under a mammoth thousand-seated stand. "Can our City Princes not have noticed," asks a writer in the _Daily Mail_ with quaint humour, "that somebody has stuck a lot of carpentry on the very pediment of the Royal Exchange? Somebody else has boarded up the Law Courts, and barristers and solicitors stoop and dive in as if they were going to clean out their chicken houses. The Houses of Parliament are all scaffolding too, and at first, seeing no reports in the papers, I thought they had been abolished while I was away.... Even to take a penny boat at Westminster you have to go under a sort of triumphal arch of joinery.... They are actually changing all London from building into furniture."

One of the largest stands was in Whitehall opposite the Horse Guards.[I]

A large number of carpenters were employed for more than six weeks in its erection; 7,000 was paid to the Woods and Forests Department for the rent of the site, and its construction cost another 6,000. It contained some 4,000 seats, which were advertised at from four to twenty guineas. It was built into foundations of solid concrete from three feet to six feet thick, and contained 150 tons of timber and fifteen tons of forty-five feet steel girders; 5,000 chairs were specially purchased for its equipment and, besides the seats, it contained promenades, reception rooms, a luncheon room for the accommodation of 400 people, ladies'

rooms, telephones, and a smoking gallery.

Another huge stand was that erected in the churchyard of St. Martin's Church, Charing Cross. This also contained 4,000 seats, ranging in price from one to fifteen guineas. Its erection engaged the labour of 120 men for some five weeks. It contained 175,000 cubic feet of timber and twenty tons of ironwork. The rent of the site was 4,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by J. de Souza._

THE PROCESSION OF IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL TROOPS, June 19.

What was in effect a dress rehearsal of the Jubilee procession took place on the Sat.u.r.day preceding that event, when the Life Guards, the Dragoon Guards, Horse and Field Artillery, and Colonial Mounted Troops a.s.sembled at Victoria Park, and marched by Grove Road, Mile End Road, and Whitechapel, to the Mansion House. The picture represents the South Australian Lancers leaving the Park. The troops, and particularly the Colonials, were received with the greatest enthusiasm by the immense crowds which lined the route. It was a happy idea to give the East End this opportunity of welcoming the Colonists.]

There were many other stands of colossal size, but that which represented the most enterprising speculation of the celebration was undoubtedly the colossal stand on the north side of St. Paul's Churchyard.[J] For the purpose of its erection one of the most valuable city properties was purchased and pulled down. The seats in these various stands were offered at fabulous prices, but the public refused to purchase, and the venture resulted in a heavy loss to its promoters, as indeed did most of the speculations in seats. However, very large sums indeed were paid to witness the procession, 2,000 being offered and accepted for the use of a building in St. Paul's Churchyard for the day. In some cases the vendors offered prizes ranging from 50 downwards to purchasers of their seats.

On June 11 the official programme was published, and henceforth the sole topic in men's minds was Jubilee Day and its doings. Previous to this, however, the most elaborate precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of the mult.i.tude of sightseers, and to guard against any hitch occurring in the actual procession.

Meanwhile the guests of the Nation began to arrive from every part of the World. The Prime Ministers of our great dependencies in Australasia, in South Africa, and Canada, were lodged in the palatial Hotel Cecil; the foreign princes and their suites were accommodated in the Royal Palaces and in private mansions rented or lent for the occasion, while the detachments of troops from the various self-governing and Crown Colonies were billeted at Chelsea Hospital, at Hounslow, and at Woolwich. The Indian officers composing the deputation from the Imperial Service Troops, and the British officers in charge, were lodged at the "Star and Garter" Hotel at Richmond. It is impossible to convey any impression of the hospitality that was now lavished on our honoured guests. While the troopers of the Colonial forces were being feted by Tommy Atkins and the Volunteers of London, the Colonial Premiers were the lions of the great houses of the Metropolis. "He died from the effects of British hospitality" is the humorous epitaph composed for himself, in the event of that casualty, by the Right Honourable G. H.

Reid, Premier of New South Wales. Royal carriages and Royal servants were placed at the disposal of visitors of high rank; but it is certain that the genuine enthusiasm of their reception among the millions of London was even more highly valued by our distinguished visitors than these marks of Royal favour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROYAL TRAIN ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY, SPECIALLY FITTED UP FOR THE JUBILEE OCCASION.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF THE ROYAL TRAIN.

The smaller picture shows the break-van and kitchen, with the gas stove at which refreshments are prepared for Her Majesty's use while travelling. The larger ill.u.s.tration represents the interior of the Queen's saloon; in the picture at the top of this page it is the third carriage from the engine. This saloon is lined, and its furniture covered, with blue silk; it communicates by an enclosed gangway with that of Her Majesty's personal attendants.]

[Sidenote: Precautions against Accidents.]

While the good citizens of London were entertaining the guests of the Nation and getting their houses in order for the culminating function of June 22, there was ever present in their minds a fear lest the great festival would be marred by a catastrophe such as that which threw a black shadow over the Coronation of the Czar. It was vaguely felt that the vast mult.i.tudes that would throng the streets on that day might become unmanageable--that some of the temporary stands would collapse, or that the great pressure of the ma.s.sed crowds at certain points would result in disaster. It is due entirely to the sagacity and foresight of the authorities that the streets were never more safe than they were on June 22, and that not a single life was lost in consequence of the Jubilee arrangements. Temporary stands were examined--and where faulty condemned--again and again by the officials of the London County Council and of the Corporation, and the most scrupulous care was taken that there should not be gathered at any one point a larger number of persons than could be easily controlled.

At an early stage in the proceedings the police decided to close the great bridges connecting the north of London with the south. London Bridge was closed at midnight on Jubilee Eve, the other bridges were closed a few hours later, the idea being to prevent a possible great and dangerous rush from north to south of the Thames to view the procession both on the Middles.e.x and Surrey sides.

To make a.s.surance doubly sure several rehearsals of the great Service at St. Paul's, and the business of taking up and setting down at Buckingham Palace were held; and so complete were these rehearsals, that every item of the procession was fully represented, mounted grooms taking the places of the princes and equerries who were to ride on horseback in the procession. In the final rehearsals many of those who were destined to high places in the procession were present, and there was a large demand for seats to view in St. Paul's Churchyard.

So that the day might be one of universal rejoicing all over the country, it had been declared, on March 18, a public holiday by Her Majesty in the following proclamation:--"Victoria, R.--We, considering that it is desirable that Tuesday, the twenty-second day of June next, should be observed as a Bank Holiday throughout the United Kingdom, do hereby, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, and in pursuance of the provisions of 'The Bank Holidays Act, 1871,' appoint Tuesday, the twenty-second day of June next, as a special day to be observed as a Bank Holiday throughout the United Kingdom, and every part thereof, and we do by this Our Royal Proclamation command the said day to be so observed, and all Our loving subjects to order themselves accordingly."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Lucien Davis, R.I._}

THE SPECIAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY, June 20.

PROCESSION OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR AND PEERS.]

[Sidenote: Thanksgiving Services.]

The actual celebrations may be said to have commenced on Sunday, June 20. This, being Accession Day, was marked by a universal service of thanksgiving throughout the Empire, in addition to the four Special Services, which must ever be memorable in British history: the Royal Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, the great National Service at St. Paul's, and the Services at Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's, Westminster, at which the Peers and Commons were present.

The Service at Windsor was of the simplest description. The Queen drove from the Victoria Tower at 11 o'clock to the entrance to the Dean's Cloister. Thence she was taken in a wheel-chair to the north-east door of the Chapel. She entered the north door of the Choir leaning on the arm of an Indian attendant. The Queen's chair was placed on the broad step at the foot of the beautiful altar, which she faced throughout the impressive Service. Besides members of the Royal family and suites, there were but few privileged visitors. The Service was arranged and conducted by Dean Eliot, and it began with the hymn, "Now thank we all our G.o.d." The Te Deum was sung according to a very striking setting composed by the late Prince Consort, one which is not often used, but which was given on this occasion by special command of Her Majesty. The Service concluded with "G.o.d Save the Queen," sung by the choir and congregation. The very simplicity of the scene was its impressiveness.

It required a great effort of the imagination to fully comprehend it all--that the little old lady sitting there in quiet black before the altar was she who, sixty years ago, was awakened from her sleep in Kensington Palace to wear the crown of a world-wide Empire.

[Sidenote: The Queen arrives.]

On Monday, June 21, the Queen travelled up to London from Windsor. At half-past twelve the Royal train glided gently into Paddington Station with the Royal Standard proudly waving at the front of the engine, and the Royal coat of arms on either side.

Extraordinary arrangements had been made to secure Her Majesty's comfort and safety, and had there been an accident it would not have been due to the absence of competent officers, for besides the Royal party the train contained the head and front of the Great Western Railway, from the Chairman, Viscount Emlyn, and the Directors downward.

The Queen was dressed in black except for the white egret plumes in her bonnet, and it was noticeable that, notwithstanding her great age, she seemed in the best of health and spirits, and fully equal to the strain of the morrow.

A halt was made while Marylebone's loyal address was presented, and then the Queen moved on to Buckingham Palace amid the delighted shouts of her subjects who lined the whole route. It was a brilliant morning and a brilliant reception--a foretaste of the morrow. While the crowds of sightseers spent the rest of the day in wandering through the gaily-bedecked streets, Buckingham Palace was the scene of receptions, banqueting, and rejoicing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by_} {_W. J. Brunell._

TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT PADDINGTON (between Oxford and Cambridge Terraces),

Through which Her Majesty pa.s.sed immediately after quitting Paddington Station. It may be mentioned that it was by Her Majesty's express desire that no arches were built on the route of the Jubilee procession.]

During the day the Queen graciously accepted a sunshade which was presented to her by Mr. Villiers, the doyen of the House of Commons. It was entirely covered with costly flounces of the finest black Chantilly lace; it was mounted upon an ebony stick, with gold top, and a k.n.o.b handle of gun-metal set with Her Majesty's cypher and V.R.I, in diamonds, and had a suitable inscription in gold letters inlaid round the handle, thus:--"Presented to Her Majesty on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee, by her oldest Parliamentary member, C. Villiers."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Underwood & Underwood._

HER MAJESTY Pa.s.sING THROUGH THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN EDGWARE ROAD ON HER ARRIVAL FROM WINDSOR.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by_} {_J. S. Lee._

HOW THE QUEEN LOOKED: A SNAP-SHOT OF HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCESS CHRISTIAN, TAKEN IN EDGWARE ROAD, June 21.]