Sixty Years a Queen Part 46

The carriage nearest the spectator contains the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of York, Prince Edward of York, and Prince Henry of Prussia.]

A State Performance at the Opera was, however, the princ.i.p.al feature in the Jubilee programme of June 23. With the exception of the Queen herself, almost every Royal personage who had taken part in the Jubilee Procession of the day before was present, and a special box on the right of the Royal Box was reserved for the Colonial Prime Ministers and their wives. The house was decorated from floor to ceiling with roses of every shade--some 60,000 blossoms being used for this purpose. Boxes on the grand tier, which had been sold by the management for 50 for the evening, were sold again at prices ranging up to 150, while the stalls realised 10 at least in every case. Famous as Covent Garden is for splendid "houses," the brilliant a.s.semblage on this evening quite eclipsed all previous gatherings.

It is not too much to say that the whole social world of the country was there. The handsome uniforms of the men, the beauty, diamonds, and dresses of the ladies, set in a frame of so much floral magnificence, made up a scene the splendour of which was never likely to fade from the memory of anyone who witnessed it. In all that gorgeous company none attracted as much admiration as the Princess of Wales. Simply dressed in white satin, with the red sash of some Order across her shoulders, and wearing a crown of diamonds, Her Royal Highness was, by universal consent, the queen of beauty in a house full of the most beautiful women in the three kingdoms.

It was only to have been expected, perhaps, that the most generally-approved Jubilee celebration should have been inaugurated by the same most charming Princess. This was nothing less than the entertaining at dinner of 300,000 of the London poor. The feast took place in different large buildings all over the poorer parts of the Metropolis. The Princess, accompanied by His Royal Highness and the Princesses Victoria of Wales and Charles of Denmark, drove round and was personally present at as many as possible of the dining halls. At the People's Palace, in the Mile End Road, where 1,600 crippled children feasted, Her Royal Highness went in and out among the children, bestowing here and there a smile, and here and there a few words of kindly encouragement.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph taken for this Work_} {_by T. C.

Hepworth._

THE PRINCESS OF WALES'S DINNERS: THE DINNER TO CRIPPLED CHILDREN AT THE PEOPLE'S PALACE.

The Princess of Wales stands in the centre of the platform with the Prince of Wales on her right. The photograph was taken during the "silence for Grace."]

[Sidenote: State Reception.]

A State Reception at Buckingham Palace, where Her Majesty was represented by the Prince and Princess of Wales, brought the festivities of June 24 to a close.

[Sidenote: Special Performance at the Lyceum.]

Friday, the 25th, was marked by an afternoon performance of "The Bells"

and "The Story of Waterloo" at the Lyceum Theatre, to which the men of the Colonial Contingent had been kindly invited by Sir Henry Irving. Sir Henry was uproariously cheered on his first appearance and at every interval during the afternoon, and after the splendid presentation of "The Bells" he was called again and again before the curtain, and finally compelled to make a speech. He said:--

"Ladies and Gentlemen--I will say my dear comrades--for your greeting to-day proves that we are comrades, one and all--I cannot tell you how great a delight and pleasure it has been to us to have the honour, the privilege, and the pride of making you welcome here to-day, and I hope--I can but hope--that centuries hence our children will hold very dear to them the spirit which gives us the opportunity of meeting you; that spirit of love for our Queen and our country--that great nation which you typify--which is the strength and glory and power of it; and of that sweet and gracious lady, that beloved Queen of ours, for whom your swords will flash and our hearts will pray. I thank you with all my heart and soul for your welcome, and I thank you on behalf of one and all behind this curtain, and we send our most cordial greeting to one and all in front."

[Sidenote: Torchlight Evolutions by Etonians.]

Eton College has always enjoyed the favour of royalty, and on the evening of Sat.u.r.day, June 26, the boys furnished one of the most picturesque celebrations of Jubilee time. In the morning the Queen had entertained, in the Home Park at Windsor, five or six thousand children.

After that a grand review of firemen from all parts of the country took place. At ten o'clock in the evening the Queen took up her place in a window in the east corridor, and the Eton boys filed into the Quadrangle (many of them in the uniform of their Volunteer Corps) each boy carrying a torch or a lantern. A beautiful effect was produced when the boys went through a variety of intricate evolutions.

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

THE STATE RECEPTION AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE: ENTRANCE OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES.]

[Sidenote: The Naval Review.]

All this time the Naval Review at Spithead had been a-preparing. Every nation that boasts a Navy had sent a ship, and the streets of Portsmouth were filled with our own bluejackets and those belonging to the foreign ships. All the World had come to see for herself what the British Fleet was like, and we were able to provide such a Naval spectacle as has never been witnessed before. Just as on June 22 we had furnished forth an Imperial pageant demonstrating the scope and strength of our dominion over the land surface of the globe, so now, on Sat.u.r.day, June 26, we showed that our sovereignty over the seas is as far reaching and even more absolute. Without taking one single vessel from the Mediterranean, from the Chinese Seas, from Australia, India, or North America, we displayed at Spithead such a congregation of ships of war as filled with amazement and despair those representatives of alien Powers who knew our sea-going prowess only by repute. In all about 165 ships of our Navy rode at ease, in four long lines and two short ones in the narrow Strait, and they were manned by 40,000 officers and men. The length of the lines of British ships aggregated nearly thirty miles! The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, G.C.B., V.C., flew his flag on the _Renown_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph taken for this Work_} {_by T. C.

Hepworth._

THE ROYAL VISIT TO THE PEOPLE'S PALACE.

The photograph shows the Princess of Wales with her two daughters, the Princess Victoria and Princess Charles of Denmark (Princess Maud), who have just entered the carriage after seeing the crippled children at dinner. The Princess's bouquet is being handed to her. The Prince is approaching the carriage. The Lord Mayor is seen standing by the pillar over the centre of the carriage.]

Painful, indeed, must have been the reflections of those strangely-const.i.tuted Britons--if any were present--whose interest in public affairs is limited to the squalid area of parochial politics, as their eyes ranged over the water in the direction of this mighty fleet.

With what vain regret must such as these have looked back on the days, some ten or a dozen years since, when British Naval supremacy was but a name--when we had few ships, and those out of date, and few men to man them. Alas! for the fond antic.i.p.ations of those who were looking forward to the time when Britain should throw away her Empire and sink to the prosperous unimportance of a Belgium, the cheerful mediocrity of a Holland. There, at Spithead, was overwhelming proof that such views are not shared by the great bulk of British people, whether Liberals, Radicals, or Conservatives; that power is still sweet to the ruling race; that that Empire which has been bought with the blood of the Anglo-Saxon will be maintained in its integrity at any cost. Here they lay in serried ranks on the moving waters, orderly as soldiers on a parade ground--the steel-clad champions of a nation's honour--as powerful to compel peace as to put the issue of war out of question if war must come.

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Fred T. Jane._

TORCHLIGHT EVOLUTIONS BY THE ETON BOYS IN THE QUADRANGLE OF WINDSOR CASTLE.]

Exactly at eight o'clock the combined fleet began to decorate itself with a million flags, taking time from the Commander-in-Chief's flagship. The unnumbered merchant and pleasure craft of all kinds that dotted the waters and lay still at moorings by the quays were already gay with streaming pennants, nor were the fourteen battleships of the foreign powers behindhand in embellishing themselves for the great review. Some time before two o'clock the business of clearing the lines for the procession commenced, and at two precisely a Royal salute of guns on sh.o.r.e announced that the Royal yacht was under way. Not long afterwards the _Victoria and Albert_, with the Prince of Wales on board, preceded by the Trinity House yacht _Irene_, approached the head of the lines. Royal salutes and the cheers of bluejackets marked the pa.s.sage of the Royal yacht along and through the lines. The _Victoria and Albert_ was followed by a train of vessels--the Peninsular and Oriental Company's liner, the _Carthage_, carrying those Royal guests for whom there was no accommodation on the _Victoria and Albert_; then another Royal yacht, the _Alberta_; then the _Enchantress_, with the Lords of the Admiralty and their friends; next the _Danube_, carrying the members of the House of Lords; after her the _Wildfire_, with the Colonial Prime Ministers and their suites and the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on board; then again the superb Cunard liner, the _Campania_, carrying the House of Commons; and lastly the _Eldorado_, with the foreign Amba.s.sadors. The procession occupied two hours in traversing the lines. Before the proceedings terminated the _Victoria and Albert_ anch.o.r.ed abreast of the flagship _Renown_ and the Prince of Wales received all flag officers, British and foreign, on board, After this ceremony the Royal yacht weighed anchor and returned to Portsmouth, receiving, as she departed, three cheers from every ship in the fleet. Simultaneously with the arrival of the Prince of Wales in Portsmouth Harbour the following signal was made to the fleet by Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon:--"I am commanded by the Prince of Wales, as representing the Queen, to express his entire satisfaction with the magnificent naval display at Spithead and the perfect manner in which all the arrangements were carried out, and at his request I order the main-brace to be spliced." Splicing the main-brace, it should be explained, involves the serving out of an extra allowance of grog, and is still a very popular order with our man-o'-war's men. Almost immediately after this a thunderstorm burst, accompanied by a deluge of rain, and for some hours the "city of ships" was lost in an impenetrable haze.

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

ADMIRAL SIR NOWELL SALMON, V.C.

In command of the Fleet during the Jubilee Review.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West, Southsea._

THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE ROYAL YACHT Pa.s.sING BETWEEN THE LINES OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHIPS.

The United States cruiser, _Brooklyn_, painted white, is a conspicuous object in the line of foreign men-of-war. The battleship in the foreground is H.M.S. _Victorious_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West, Southsea._

THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE ROYAL YACHT ANCh.o.r.eD ABREAST OF H.M.S. "RENOWN."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Charles Dixon._}

THE NAVAL REVIEW: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE FLEET AT ANCHOR IN SPITHEAD, June 26, 1897.

The line E consists of Merchant Vessels, anch.o.r.ed on the south or Isle of Wight side of Spithead. Line A consists of Foreign Men-of-war. The total number of British War Ships occupying stations in Spithead was 165. Of these lines B and C comprised fifty-nine Battleships and Cruisers in the following order, starting from the left or eastward end:--

Line B--1, _Magnificent_; 2, _Royal Sovereign_; 3, _Repulse_; 4, _Resolution_; 5, _Empress of India_; 6, _Majestic_; 7, _Prince George_; 8, _Mars_; 9, _Jupiter_; 10, _Victorious_; 11, _Renown_ (Commander-in-Chief); 12, _Powerful_; 13, _Blake_; 14, _Blenheim_; 15, _Royal Arthur_; 16, _Theseus_; 17, _Thetis_; 18, _Flora_; 19, _Naiad_; 20, _Tribune_; 21, _Terpsich.o.r.e_; 22, _Sirius_; 23 (station not occupied); 24, _Hermione_; 25, _Andromache_; 26, _Sappho_; 27, _Spartan_; 28, _Latona_; 29, _Brilliant_; 30, _Charybdis_.

Line C--1, _Sans Pareil_; 2, _Howe_; 3, _Benbow_; 4, _Collingwood_; 5, _Inflexible_; 6, _Alexandra_; 7, _Edinburgh_; 8, _Colossus_; 9, _Devastation_; 10, _Thunderer_; 11, _Warspite_; 12, _Terrible_; 13, _Australia_; 14, _Galatea_; 15, _Aurora_; 16, _Edgar_; 17, _Melampus_; 18, _Endymion_; 19, _Diana_; 20, _Isis_; 21, _Juno_; 22, _Doris_; 23, _Venus_; 24, _Minerva_; 25, _Dido_; 26, _Apollo_; 27, _aeolus_; 28, _Phaeton_; 29, _Leander_; 30, _Bonaventure_.

Line D (thirty-eight Third-cla.s.s Cruisers, Gun-vessels, and Torpedo Gunboats)--1, _Mersey_; 2, _Pelorus_; 3, _Magicienne_; 4, _Medea_; 5, _Medusa_; 6, _Barracouta_; 7, _Curlew_; 8, _Landrail_; 9, _Speedy_; 10, _Alarm_; 11, _Antelope_; 12, _Jaseur_; 13, _Circe_; 14, _Gossamer_; 15, _Jason_; 16, _Hazard_; 17, _Leda_; 18, _Niger_; 19, _Onyx_; 20, _Rattlesnake_; 21, _Renard_; 22, _Sharpshooter_; 23, _Skipjack_; 24, _Sheldrake_; 25, _Spanker_; 26, _Gleaner_; 27, _Raven_; 28, _c.o.c.kchafer_; 29, _Starling_; 30, _Active_; 31, _Volage_; 32, _Calypso_; 33, _Champion_; 34, _Cailiope_; 35, _Curacoa_; 36, _Northampton_; 37, _Agincourt_; 38, _Minotaur_.

Line F (forty-eight Destroyers and Gunboats)--1, _Halcyon_; 2, _Lightning_; 3, _Havock_; 4, _Daring_; 5, _Hornet_; 6, _Hardy_; 7, _Whiting_; 8, _Hasty_; 9, _Hunter_; 10, _Fame_; 11, _Foam_; 12, _Spitfire_; 13, _Ranger_; 14, _Research_; 15, _Triton_; 16, _Vivid_; 17, _Firequeen_; 18, _Albacore_; 19, ----; 20, _Jackal_; 21, ----; 22, _Decoy_; 23, _Quail_; 24, _Ferret_; 25, _Rocket_; 26, _Opossum_; 27, _Sparrowhawk_; 28, _Lynx_; 29, _Thrasher_; 30, _Skate_; 31, _Virago_; 32, _Sunfish_; 33, _Haughty_; 34, _Desperate_; 35, _Contest_; 36, _Ja.n.u.s_; 37, _Salmon_; 38, _Snapper_; 39, _Sturgeon_; 40, _Spider_; 41, ----; 42, _Wanderer_; 43, _Liberty_; 44, _Martin_; 45, _Nautilus_; 46, _Pilot_; 47, _Seaflower_; 48, _Sealark_.

Twenty Torpedo Boats were anch.o.r.ed further to the right, near the Spit Fort, and beyond them, in Stokes Bay, as well as on the opposite side, off Osborne, accommodation was found for a very large number of yachts and other vessels.]

It was not destined, however, that the hundreds of thousands of spectators who were afloat in the pleasure boats and who lined Southsea beach and the sh.o.r.es of the Isle of Wight overlooking Spithead, were to lose the most beautiful spectacle of all. As daylight faded so faded the storm, and at a quarter-past nine o'clock, when the signal for lighting up the ships was given by a single gun, the conditions for viewing the illuminations were as perfect as possible. To quote again a writer, Mr.

G. W. Steevens, to whom we are already much indebted:--"The thunderstorm was only an episode. Having done its business, it went dutifully away, and left the field clear for the illuminations. Out on the sea front you could see the lights of the fleet like glow-worms in the dark. Then suddenly there sounded a gun; and as I moved along Southsea Common there appeared in the line a ship of fire. A ship all made of fire--hull and funnels and military masts with fighting tops. And then another, and another, and another. The fleet revealed itself from behind the castle, ship after ship traced in fire against the blackness. From the head of Southsea they still came on--fresh wonders of grace and light and splendour, stretching away, still endlessly as in the daytime, till they became a confused glimmer six miles away. It was the fleet and yet not the fleet. You could recognise almost any ship by her lines and rig--just as if it had been in day, only trans.m.u.ted from steel and paint into living gold. The Admirals still flew their flags as in the day, only to-night the flags were no longer bunting, but pure colour. The heavy hard fleet vanished, and there came out in its stead a picture of it magically painted in pure light.

"For three hours this miracle of brightness shone wondrously at Spithead. At half-past eleven or so the Prince returned the second time as before, and the golden fleet sent a thunder of salute after him.

Then, as I stood on the high roof of the Central Hotel, the clock struck twelve, and before my eyes the golden fleet vanished--vanished clean away in a moment. You could just see it go.

"Here half a ship broken off, there masts and funnels hanging an instant in the air; it all vanished, and nothing at all was left except the rigging lights, trembling faintly once more on the dark sea."

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

THE j.a.pANESE BATTLESHIP "FUJI."

j.a.pan having so recently had experience of actual naval warfare, her representative at Spithead came in for a considerable amount of attention. Some of her officers had, indeed, taken part in the Battle of the Yalu.]