James' Cathedral, the Rev. Principal Caven, the Rev. Dr. Carman, Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Canada, the Rev. Dr. G. M. Milligan, and the Rev. Dr. O. C. S. Wallace.

In Montreal some of the Judges, part of the City Council and a number of prominent citizens attended a service at Christ Church Cathedral and were addressed by the Ven. Archdeacon Norton. The Very Rev. Dean Carmichael preached at St. George's Church and a union Memorial service of the Methodists was held elsewhere together with similar gatherings of the Congregationalists, the Baptists and the Hebrews. At the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec, Bishop Hunter Dunn preached to a gathering which included the Hon. H. T. Duffy, representing the Provincial Government; the Hon. S. N. Parent as Mayor, with part of the City Council; Sir C. A. P. Pelletier, Speaker of the Senate; Chief Justice Sir L. E. N. Casault and many of the Judges and Militia Officers. Elsewhere the Rev. F. G. Scott and the Rev. Dr. T. Griffith spoke sentiments of loyalty and affection.

In Winnipeg, the Rev. F. B. Smith, M.A., and at Victoria, Bishop Perrin, of Columbia, held services which were attended respectively by the Lieutenant-Governors, Judges and Cabinets of Manitoba and British Columbia. At Halifax, the Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia, Dr. Courtney, and the Rev. Dr. John Lathern preached to large gatherings of people. The former declared of the Queen that "no one but those immediately about her will ever know how completely she gave herself to the one purpose of her life—the entire devotion of every power and faculty to the doing of her duty so as to be of the greatest use to the people over whom she ruled." Everywhere, throughout Canada these services were held and in city, town and village alike the utterances of the pulpit vied with the draperies of the streets, the public buildings and the churches themselves in exhibiting public affection for the dead Sovereign. Some of the addresses delivered were specially notable. Those of Bishop Du Moulin at Hamilton, Bishop Baldwin at London, Senator Carmichael at New Glasgow, the Rev. Dr. Donald Macrae at St. John, the Rev. R. G. McBeth and the Rev. E. D. McLaren at Vancouver, and the Very Rev. Principal Grant at Kingston must be mentioned. The latter declared that "the religion of the Queen made her the greatest force for peace in the world. But while she always stood for peace she knew there were things than war and that to secure peace the nation must always be ready for war. And so we have the explanation of the high honour in which she held her army and navy-she looked upon them as the foreign police whose duty it was to see that nations were kept in peace."

Legislative

worse

Following upon the Queen's funeral came the meetand General ing of Legislative and public bodies and the sending of Tributes a multitude of addresses to His Majesty the King, which partook of both condolence and congratulation. The St. Jean Baptiste Society of Montreal-the chief of French-Canadian national organizations-early passed Resolutions of regret and sympathy.

The Montreal Chambre de Commerce spoke in formal resolution of "the irreparable event which deprives the Empire of the most illustrious of Queens, British subjects of the best of Sovereigns, justice and civilization of their best interpreter." The Protestant Ministerial Association of Montreal, on January 31st, declared that "by the supreme power of a noble character she had welded together in the best way the various elements of the greatest Empire that has been." The Council of the City of Quebec passed a lengthy Resolution on February 1st which concluded with the statement that "nowhere shall her name be more reverently remembered than in FrenchCanadian homes because it will remain indissolubly linked with the full recognition of our political rights and the conquest of our liberties which have made us a united, happy and contented people."

As the various Legislatures of the Canadian Provinces were opened during succeeding months strong references of sorrow and sympathy found a place in each official Speech from the Throne and in ensuing Resolutions. The House of Commons at Ottawa-which shared its drapings of black and purple with those of public buildings in every part of Canada under special orders from the Hon. J. Israel Tarte, Minister of Public Works, and at the public expense-was the scene of a remarkable occurrence on February 8th when Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Minister, moved the following Address to the King. It was seconded by Mr. R. L. Borden, the Opposition Leader and carried unanimously:

Most Gracious Sovereign,-We, Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Senate and House of Commons of Canada in Parliament assembled, humbly beg leave to approach Your Majesty with the expression of our deep and heartfelt sorrow at the demise of our late Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria. In common with our fellow-subjects in all parts of the Empire, we deplore the loss of a great ruler, whose manifold and exalted virtues have for three generations commanded the respect and admiration of the world. As representatives of the Canadian people, we mourn for the beloved Sovereign under whom our Dominion first rose into being, and to whose wise and beneficent sway are due in no small measure its growth and prosperity.

May we venture to add that above and beyond these sentiments, which the sad occasion naturally calls forth, there has come to each one of us a sense of personal bereavement, which, we say it with all possible respect and duty, makes Your Majesty's sorrow our own. We pray that the God of Consolation may comfort Your Majesty and the members of the Royal family in their affliction.

It is with feelings not less deep and sincere than those to which we have just given utterance, that we hail Your Majesty's accession to the throne of your ancestors. We beg to assure Your Majesty of our devoted attachment to Your Majesty's person and Government, and to express our unclouded confidence that the glory and the greatness of the British Empire abroad, and the happiness and well-being of Your Majesty's people at home, will suffer no diminution under Your Majesty's gracious rule.

The Premier's speech was one of the most eloquent and effective which he has ever delivered. In it he pictured the sorrow of the people throughout the Empire and even in foreign and most distant countries; the growth of great interests and high public principles during the Queen's reign; the steady development of Imperial power;

the nobility and naturalness of the Queen's personality. Mr. Borden's address was necessarily brief, but it was happy in manner and matter. Both speakers dwelt strongly upon the good judgment, useful career, and excellent qualities of the new Sovereign.

During the Senate debate upon the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, on February 11th, an eloquent reference to this event was made by Senator Ellis. He traced with sympathetic touch and tone the character, the life, the work and the influence of the late Sovereign. "The Queen, during her reign, has endeared herself to her people, not only by her constitutional rule, not only by the fact that she recognized the men whom she selected as her advisers, but also because she entered into all the joys and into the spirit of her people in all the great matters which have so developed in the United Kingdom in the last sixty odd years. She was not only a sagacious and far-seeing monarch, but her judgments were strengthened by unparalleled experience. She was constantly strengthened by a strict sense of duty. Her words of consolation, her messages of pity and tenderness, her expressions of kindly feeling for suffering people everywhere, bound her to countless hearts. Her sense of duty was so high, her rule so beneficial to the world, her good sense so potential, that she will stand out always as a great ruler and her influence be felt for ages."

On the succeeding day, the Message from the House of Commons, asking concurrence in its Address of condolence to the King was considered. The Hon. David Mills spoke at some length upon the life and reign of the late Sovereign and dwelt largely upon its important constitutional features. He eulogized the Prince Consort, spoke of the Queen's love for peace, and the good sense, patience and great influence which she brought to bear upon the preservation of peaceful foreign relations so far as was consistent with the just rights and the honour of the Empire. The administration of India and the growth of the Colonies and Imperial unity were referred to. To the speaker, however, the most remarkable point in the late reign was the growth of Royal influence. Its social and administrative influence had developed greatly. "The Sovereign is, under the modern constitution, never personally identified with a party. She represents the embodiment of the whole state. She has constitutional duties to perform, which are discharged in conformity with settled principles and usages, and is capable, without in the slightest degree encroaching upon the constitutional rights of Ministers, of exercising great and beneficial influence. She may discourage vice and encourage virtue. She may throw her influence in the scale in favour of truth and goodness. The Sovereign is the power and personification of the glory of the State, and stands apart from and above all the members of the community, of which she is the head." Sir Mackenzie Bowell, in seconding the motion, spoke briefly, and it was then carried unanimously. He expressed the belief that the Queen possessed not only the qualities of a good woman, an affectionate wife and a loving mother, but the astuteness and firmness of a wise ruler.

"She succeeded in harmonizing government under a limited monarchy with that of democracy until any serious conflict between King and people has been rendered almost impossible. In a word Queen Victoria was an ideal constitutional ruler."

In the Ontario Legislature an Address of condolence to the King was passed, on February 11th, upon motion of the Hon. G. W. Ross and Mr. J. P. Whitney. In the Quebec Assembly, a similar Address was moved, on February 15th, by the Hon. S. N. Parent and the Hon. E. J. Flynn, and duly passed. The British Columbian Legislature took action, on February 25th, upon motion of the Hon. James Dunsmuir, seconded by Mr. J. C. Brown. At Halifax, the Hon. G. H. Murray presented an Address, on February 28th, which had been adopted by a Joint Committee of both the Nova Scotian Houses. was supported by Mr. C. S. Wilcox, and at once passed. In Manitoba an Address to the King was passed on February 25th and at Fredericton, New Brunswick, on April 3rd. On June 12th, an Address was passed by the Territorial Legislature at Regina.

Accession

The stability of British institutions was never more of the King strikingly exhibited than in the perfection of procedure and calm certainty of conditions which surrounded the accession of the new Sovereign. In all parts of the Empire the necessary constitutional changes occurred without the slightest friction or controversy, and this despite the seemingly permanent place which the late Queen had come to assume in the machinery of British Governments everywhere. There was general satisfaction over the choice of a name and the Prince of Wales as King Edward VII. soon found that he possessed the loyalty of his people in a measure which would have astonished pessimists of a few decades before, and which did surprise many publicists abroad. The Canadian proclamation of the accession to the Throne was issued on January 24th by His Excellency the Governor-General, through the Hon. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State, and was dated at Ottawa, January 23rd. It read as follows:

Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and all other Her late Majesty's Dominions, is solely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Prince, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, I, the said Sir Gilbert John Elliott, Earl of Minto, Governor-General of Canada as aforesaid, assisted by His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, and with their hearty and zealous concurrence, do therefore hereby publish and proclaim that the High and Mighty Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, is now by the death of Our late Sovereign of happy and glorious memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord by the style and title of Edward the Seventh by the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, to whom are due all faith and constant obedience with all hearty and humble affection, and I do hereby require and command all persons whomsoever to yield obedience and govern themselves accordingly -Beseeching God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless the Royal Prince, Edward the Seventh, with long and happy years to reign over us.

During the next few days the various Governments of the country, the Judges, the members of any Legislature which was in session, and

prominent officials in Dominion and Provincial jurisdictions, took the oath of allegiance to the new Sovereign and, on January 24th, Lord Minto received a despatch from Mr. Chamberlain stating that: "I have received His Majesty's command to express through you and your Ministers his grateful thanks for the loving sympathy extended to him and the Royal family by the people of Canada in their great sorrow. The King is deeply moved by the many kind messages which have reached him from all parts of the Dominion." Every event which followed served to increase popular respect in Canada, as well as in other parts of the Empire, for the King. His evident and deep feeling for his late mother, the eloquent and tactful nature of his address to the Privy Council, his just mingling of splendour with the draperies of sorrow at the Queen's funeral ceremonies, his opening of Parliament in solemn state, and his sympathetic treatment of the Queen Consort, all combined to produce a more than favourable public opinion. And this was greatly enhanced by the Royal address" To my people beyond the Seas"-which was issued on February 4th, and read as follows::

The countless messages of loyal sympathy that I have received from every part of my Dominions over Sea, testify to the universal grief in which the whole Empire now mourns the loss of my beloved Mother.

In the welfare and prosperity of her subjects throughout Greater Britain, the Queen ever evinced a heartfelt interest. She saw, with thankfulness, the steady progress which, under the wide extension of self-government, they had made during her reign. She warmly appreciated their unfailing loyalty to her throne and person, and was proud to think of those who had so nobly fought and died for the Empire's cause in South Africa.

I have already declared that it will be my constant endeavour to follow the great example which has been bequeathed to me. In these endeavours I shall have confident trust in the devotion and sympathy of the people, and of their several representative Assemblies throughout my vast Colonial Dominions. With such loyal support, I will, with the blessing of God, solemnly work for the promotion of the common welfare and security of our great Empire, over which I have now been called to reign.

Public Opinion and the King

The press of Canada dealt at length and very favourably with the qualities and career of the new Sovereign. The Toronto Globe declared that "there can be no question about his popularity and acceptibility to his subjects throughout the whole Empire," and that the impression which the people had formed was that he possessed "more than ordinary capabilities," and would prove "a wise, tactful, instructed, constitutional monarch." The Ottawa Journal referred as follows to the King's qualifications: "Probably no Prince had ever a better training, or a more liberal education, or better opportunities for observation, or longer or more varied experience in the matters arising under constitutional government." The Winnipeg Telegram took the ground that under the new Sovereign British diplomacy would be stronger and firmer: "There is no doubt that the present monarch desires to perpetuate peace; at the same time he is a military man and his Ministers will not have to reckon with that feminine sensibility which they so properly respected in Her late Majesty."