1837.

June 20.-Accession of Queen Victoria. On Tuesday morning, shortly after 2 o'clock, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain (Marquis of Conyngham) left Windsor for Kensington Palace-where the Princess Victoria was residing with her mother-to inform her Royal Highness of the King's death. The details of the interview current in society at the time were thus set down by Miss Wynn : "They reached Kensington Palace at about 5: they knocked, they rang, they thumped for a considerable time before they could rouse the porter at the gate; they were again kept waiting in the courtyard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where they seemed forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell, and de

sired that the attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to inform her Royal Highness that they requested an audience on business of importance. After another delay, and another ringing to inquire the cause, the attendant was summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a sweet sleep she could not venture to disturb her. Then they said, 'We are come to the Queen on business of state, and even her sleep must give way to that!' It did; and to prove that she did not keep them waiting, in a few minutes she came into the room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off, and her hair falling upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified." Lord Melbourne was immediately sent for, and the Privy Council summoned to assemble at Kensington at II o'clock. At that hour the Queen, with the Duchess of Kent, entered the council chamber, attended by her officers of state, and took her seat on a throne erected for the occasion. The Lord Chancellor then administered to her the usual oaths, binding her to govern the kingdom according to its laws and customs. She thereafter received the homage of her uncles, the Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex, the Queen with admirable grace standing up and preventing the latter from kneeling. The Cabinet Ministers and other privy councillors present took the oath

of allegiance and supremacy, kneeling before the throne. The former surrendered their seals of office, which her Majesty returned, and Ministers kissed hands on re-appointment. A declaration was drawn up, and signed by all present, stating that, "Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy our late Sovereign Lord King William the Fourth, 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 Princess Alexandrina Victoria, saving the rights of any issue of his late Majesty King William the Fourth which may be born of his late Majesty's consort: we, therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this realm, being here assisted with those of his late Majesty's Privy Council, with numbers of others, principally gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens of London, do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim that the High and Mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria is now, by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege, Lady Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, saving as aforesaid. To whom, saving as aforesaid, we do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble affection; beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless the Royal Princess Victoria with long and happy years to reign over us." Her Majesty was pleased to make the following declaration:"The severe and afflicting loss which the nation has sustained by the death of his Majesty my beloved uncle, has devolved upon me the duty of administering the government of this empire. This awful responsibility is imposed upon me so suddenly, and at so early a period of my life, that I should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden were I not sustained by the hope that Divine Providence, which has called me to this work, will give me strength for the performance of it, and that I shall find in the purity of my intentions, and in my zeal for the public welfare, that

support and those resources which usually belong to a more mature age and to longer experience. I place my firm reliance upon the wisdom of Parliament, and upon the loyalty and affection of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage that I succeed to a sovereign whose constant regard for the rights and liberties of his subjects, and whose desire to promote the amelioration of the laws and institutions of the country, have rendered his name the object of general attachment and veneration. Educated in England, under the tender and enlightened care of a most affectionate mother, I have learned from my infancy to respect and love the constitution of my native country. It will be my unceasing study to maintain the Reformed religion as by law established, securing at the same time to all the full enjoyment of religious liberty; and I shall steadily protect the rights, and promote to the utmost of my power the happiness and welfare, of all classes of my subjects." Her Majesty was also pleased to take and subscribe the oath relating to the security of the Church of Scotland. The Queen styled herself simply "Victoria," and not, as had been anticipated, "Alexandrina Victoria," a variation which led next day to certain alterations in the written rolls of the House of Lords and the printed form of oath used by members of the House of Commons.

In

21.-Proclamation of the Queen. Her Majesty left Kensington between 9 and 10 A. M. for St. James's Palace, where she was received by members of the Royal family, Cabinet Ministers, and officers of the household. a short time she made her appearance at the window of an ante-room adjoining the audience chamber, and was received with deafening cheers. Her Majesty was observed to look fatigued and pale, but acknowledged the cheers which greeted her with ease and dignity. She was dressed in deep mourning, with white tippet, white cuffs, and a border of white lace under a small black bonnet, which was placed far back on her head, exhibiting her fair hair in front, parted over the forehead. Her Majesty was accompanied to the window by Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister, and Lord Lansdowne, President of the Council. In the courtyard beneath the window of the presence chamber was Garter King-at-arms, with heralds, pursuivants, and other officials in their robes of state. proclamation read was uniform in phraseology with the declaration signed at yesterday's Privy Council. When Garter King-at-arms had ceased reading, the band played the National Anthem, and the Park and Tower guns pealed out a jubilant chorus. The City dignitaries then formed themselves into order of procession, and marched off to proclaim the Queen at various points within their jurisdiction.

The

22.-A royal message laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament, stating that it was inexpedient, in the judgment of her Majesty, that any new measure should be recommended

for their adoption beyond such as might be requisite for carrying on the public service from the close of the present session to the meeting of the new Parliament. The debate which ensued was characterised by an entire unanimity as to the merits of the late King, though there was a wide difference of opinion regarding the policy of Ministers. When the Commons rose to-day, 521 members had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen.

23. At the close of a discussion to-night on the order of public business, Lord Lyndhurst took occasion to censure Ministers for their carelessness and incapacity. "During a session," he said, "which wanted only a few days of five months' duration, only two Acts of distinct and special legislation had been passed—the PostOffice Contracts and the Scottish Sedition Bills -while there was at the present date no fewer than seventy-five public bills depending in the other House. So far as the foreign policy of Ministers was concerned, it elicited the pity of their friends and excited the scorn and derision of their enemies."-Lord Melbourne endeavoured to defend his Ministry from what he described as "the bitter and vehement" attack of the learned ex-Chancellor.-In the Commons, Lord John Russell, when speaking of the Reform Act, said, "Her Majesty's Ministers, while they consider it a final measure (see July 3d, 1849), do not intend that it should remain a barren Act upon the Statute-book, but that it should be followed up in such a manner as would ennoble, invigorate, and enlarge the institutions of the country."

The

24.-Explosion at the Blaina Iron Works, Monmouthshire, resulting in the death of twelve workmen, about a third of the entire number employed in the workings. calamity was thought to have been occasioned by one of the labourers venturing into an unsafe passage with a lighted candle.

Mr. Montefiore (afterwards Sir Moses) chosen Sheriff of London; the first Jew elected to that office in England.

27.-Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, makes a decree on an information by the Attorney-General against the University and Corporation of Cambridge and others, relative to the mismanagement of Hobson's Workhouse and the misappropriation of the funds, especially of the sum bequeathed by John Bowtell for apprenticing poor boys. His lordship declared that the purposes for which the workhouse was used ought not to be continued, and that certain salaries which had been paid ought to cease. He referred it to the Master to take into account and settle a scheme for the future management of the charity.

against Ministers :-"It will be observed that the anticipations of certain Irish Roman Catholics respecting the success of their warfare against the Protestant Church and State, under the auspices of these not untried Ministers, into whose hands the all but infant and helpless Queen has been compelled by her unhappy condition to deliver up herself and her indignant people, are to be taken for nothing and as worth nothing but the chimeras of a band of visionary traitors. When they boast that her Majesty will in the end turn Papist, or that she will marry a Papist, or in any manner follow the footsteps of the Coburg family, whom these incendiaries describe as Papists, it is clear enough that the circulators of such insane slanders have carefully concealed from the dupes who listen to them that the legal consequence of such lapse into Popery would be an immediate forfeiture of the British Crown."

30.-Forty bills, public and private, received her Majesty's royal assent to-day, being the first passed in her reign. The ceremony led to some trifling mistakes in consequence of the officials of the House having been so long accustomed to say "his Majesty" and “le Roi le veut.' 32

The

The Budget introduced to the House of Commons by the Hon. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer. The gross income for the ensuing year he estimated at 47,240,000/. and the expenditure at 46,631,4157. Customs he considered likely to produce 21,100,000, and the Excise 13,800,000!. The amount of tea cleared for home consumption in 1836 was 49,844,000 lbs. and the duty 3,886,000/.

Considerable political excitement throughout the country during the past ten days consequent upon the preparations for a general election to the first Parliament of the young Queen. Lord John Russell writes to the electors of Stroud: "I have endeavoured to strengthen our institutions by reforming them; to obtain complete and full liberty for every religious opinion; to give to Ireland the franchises of Great Britain. But in so doing, I have been cautious not so to innovate as to admit any principle by which our ancient institutions might themselves be endangered; not so to define religious liberty as to weaken the Established Church; not so to provide for the wants and wishes of the people of Ireland as to break or disturb the unity of the Empire. In this spirit I must always oppose any proposition for the adoption of an elective House of Lords, or of the voluntary principle in religion." To the electors of Tamworth, Sir Robert Peel wrote: "In cordial concurrence with that powerful Conservative party with which I am proud to boast of my connexion, looking rather to the defence of great principles than to the mere temporary interests of party, I have given a zealous support to a weak and

inefficient Government, whenever it has offered an opposition, however lukewarm and hesitating, to projects of further change in the system of representation or in the balance of the constituted authorities of the State." Sir F. Burdett retired from Westminster at this time in favour of Sir George Murray, Tory, and mention is made that Maidstone was to be contested by Mr. Disraeli, the younger.

July 3.-A Bill for carrying on the government of the country in case of a demise of the Crown when the next heir was not in England, read a second time in the House of Lords. It provided that the great officers of state, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and an indefinite number of persons to be named by the heir-presumptive, should carry on the government in the event of the Queen's death.

4.-Grand Junction Railway, from Liverpool to Birmingham, opened.

5. The King of Hanover issues a proclamation calling in question the Constitution of 1833. The Constitution, he affirmed, was neither in form or substance binding on him, and he was not satisfied that it gave any guarantee for the permanent prosperity of his subjects. Writing to the Duke of Buckingham, he says: "I had a most difficult card to play, and until I could see my way plainly I could not act true to my principles... Radicalism has been here all the order of the day, and all the lower class appointed to office were more or less imbued with these laudable principles.. But I have cut the wings of this democracy."

8. The Earl of Durham having been consulted by the Reformers of his own county on the approaching elections, writes to Mr. Russell Bowlby: "I wish to rally as large a portion of the British people as possible around the existing institutions of the country-the Throne, Lords, Commons, and the Established Church. I do not wish to make new institutions, but to preserve and strengthen the old. . . . It has been my ruling principle throughout my political life to endeavour to bring all classesespecially the middle and lower-within the pale of the true, not the spurious, constitution. I have ever wished to give the latter an interest in the preservation of privileges which exclusion would render obnoxious to them; to make them feel that whilst the Crown enjoyed its prerogatives, and the upper classes their honours, they also were invested with privileges most valuable to them; and, moreover, that all, separately and collectively, rested on the common basis of national utility." A Durham Ministry was spoken of at this time, and several candidates for the new Parliament avowed themselves to be supporters of his lordship's policy.

The late King William IV. buried this evening with great solemnity in the Royal