Gladstone, but the majority of voters failed to make this
distinction, and hence came defeat. The decision of the people was not
regarded as final.
In 1887 the Jubilee of the Queen was celebrated. Fifty years before
Queen Victoria had ascended the throne of England. Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone celebrated the Queen's Jubilee by giving a treat to all the
inhabitants of the estates of Hawarden, who were of the Queen's age,
which was sixty-eight and upwards. The treat took the shape of a dinner
and tea, served in a large tent erected in front of the castle, and the
guests numbered upwards of two hundred and fifty. The principal toast,
proposed by Mr. Gladstone, was the Queen. He contrasted the jubilee then
being celebrated all over the English-speaking world, with that of
George the Third, which was "a jubilee of the great folks, a jubilee of
corporations and of authorities, a jubilee of the upper classes." On the
other hand, he continued, the Victorian Jubilee was one when "the
population are better fed, better clothed, and better housed--and by a
great deal--than they were fifty years ago, and the great mass of these
happy and blessed changes is associated with the name and action of
the Queen."
In the year of the Queen's Jubilee, 1887, Mr.
Pages:
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450