Had he
lived to fulfil it there would have been no celebration, for he had
become a broken wreck, blind and hopelessly insane, a man who lived
despised and died unmourned.
But Victoria, though nearly eighty years of age, had still several years
to live and was fully capable of performing the duties of her position.
No monarch of England had reigned so long, none had enjoyed to so great
an extent the love and respect of the people, in no previous reign had
there been an equal progress in all that conduces to happiness and
prosperity, in none had the dominion of the throne of Great Britain so
widely extended, and it was felt for many reasons desirable to make the
Diamond Jubilee, as it was termed, the occasion for the most magnificent
demonstration that either England or the world had ever yet seen.
In all its features the observance lasted a month. It was not confined
to the British Isles, but extended to the dominions of the queen
throughout the world, in all of which some form of festive celebration
took place. But the chief and great event of the occasion was the
unrivalled procession in London on the 22d of June, 1897, an affair in
which all the world took part, not only representatives of the
wide-sweeping possessions of the British crown, but dignitaries from
most of the other nations of the world being present to add grandeur
and completeness to the splendid display.
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