ANNUAL REGISTER,

FOR THE YEAR

1872.

PART I.

ENGLISH HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

THE "Weather-year"-The Prince's Convalescence-The Thanksgiving-Letter from the Queen-Prospects of Trade-Unpopularity of the Government-State of Ireland-Galway and Kerry Elections-Speeches of Mr. Roebuck, &c.-The Collier Appointment-The Retiring and the New Speaker-The Opening of Parliament-The Queen's Speech-Debates on the Address.

THE year, whose history we are now to write, will chiefly be remembered in England, in spite of such grave matters as the " Alabama Award and the Ballot Act, as so far the most remarkable "weatheryear" of the century. The very first week of the new year brought with it shocks of earthquake, fearful thunderstorms, and a hurricane with snow and hail; and the precedent thus strangely set was faithfully followed to the last. Steady rains and cold were prolonged far into the summer, to be succeeded by an amount of electrical disturbance unparalleled in living memory. For weeks and months the newspapers were filled with accounts of fresh thunderstorms each more severe than the last; and even when the heavy and vaporous heats which for some time accompanied them had given place to cold and rain again, the constant thunder and lightning survived the change of the thermometer. The gales of the year were equally abnormal in their violence and frequency, and the disastrous record of wrecks and casualties at sea had never told so sad a tale. During the closing months of the year they were so active, with the rains that accompanied them, that in London they entirely superseded the usual characteristics of that period of the year, and November passed over the capital without bringing with it a single specimen of the well-known "yellow fog." The leading topic of English conversation has seldom if ever held its

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position with such justifiable firmness as during the weird year, 1872.

Auspiciously enough, perhaps, did the year open at once for the Queen and her people. It was impossible not to see what would be the effect of the happily-conceived and cordially-expressed note from Windsor Castle with which we closed our record of last year. The Queen spoke from her heart to the people, and very warm was the answer. It was not necessary that she should write to acknowledge the deep sympathy of the nation during the painful, terrible days of the Prince of Wales' illness, but it was quite natural that she should. The whole experience had been one of singular importance and interest, and the unanimous and even surprising tokens of loyalty which it called forth, and which made a deep and lasting impression on the Queen's heart, which could never be effaced, had made an impression upon the people also. Meanwhile the progress of the Prince towards convalescence continued to be most satisfactorily rapid. The local pain and feverishness in the hip, which had been the most disquieting of recent symptoms, were reported to have subsided, and the strength to be daily improving. This fortunate state of things continued, and the complete recovery of the Prince was commemorated in the month of February, by a celebration which, at first intended as little more than a private thanksgiving-service on the part of the Queen and her household, assumed by the appointed day all the proportions of a national festival, the most general and the most successful, probably, to be found in the annals of the country. The magnitude of the celebration grew as the day approached, and many of the streets on the route which the procession was to follow, were impassable for some days before the event, from the gathering throng of people who came to examine the scene and the preparations beforehand. It is, in sooth, as was observed at the time, that the decent conventional formality prescribed by the custom of all Christians has been made an occasion for the grandest outburst of unanimous popular emotion witnessed here since the age of the Tudors; and the form of the celebration must surely be accepted as indicating that the nation is not more inclined to give up its Christianity than its Monarchy.

The procession' started from Buckingham Palace at five minutes past twelve o'clock. It was led by the carriages of the Speaker, the Lord Chancellor, and the Commander-in-Chief, and was composed of nine royal carriages, the eighth drawn by four and the ninth by six horses. The last two were open carriages.

The streets along the whole route were lined with a dense throng of people, standing behind the barriers on each side-pavement; every shop, every window, upper and lower, every doorstep, portico, and balcony, and the roofs of many houses were occupied by eager spectators. Lofty and spacious stands, or covered galleries, in which several tiers of seats rose one above another, were erected at convenient places. The procession, as it went along the Strand and 1 Another and briefer account is given in our "Chronicle."

Fleet-street, passed under a canopy of standards, banners, streamers, and strings of flowers stretched across from house to house. In regular order along the street stood light Venetian masts, from whose summits countless pennons floated in the breeze, which bore in their centres either trophies of colours or miniature shields. On every side floral decorations, mottoes, and expressions of loyalty were in abundance.

The streets were kept by a strong force of police and military, the traffic of carriages being stopped, and the roadway being cleared also of foot-passengers not furnished with tickets of permission. Bands of school-children sang hymns as the procession went by. The people every where hailed the approach of the royal party with hearty and enthusiastic cheering. All eyes were bent on the last carriage to see the Queen, the Prince, and the Princess of Wales. Her Majesty looked in good health, and she looked happy. So did the Princess. As for the Prince, he looked pale, but not thin, after his illness; he seemed, however, to be in good spirits, and kept taking off his hat to bow to the people who cheered him.

At Temple Bar the Queen was met by the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and a deputation from the Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London, all in their robes, mounted on horseback. They all alighted, and the Lord Mayor delivered to and received back from her Majesty the City sword, according to the usual custom. But, contrary to general expectation, the gates of Temple Bar were not closed against the Queen, so that it was unnecessary to present her with the keys, and the heralds omitted to sound a flourish. The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and deputation again mounted their white horses, and preceded her Majesty on horseback to St. Paul's, and on arriving there proceeded to take the several places reserved for them in the cathedral. The Lord Chancellor and the Speaker likewise, on arriving at the west entrance, proceeded to their seats. It was precisely at one o'clock that her Majesty, having passed up Ludgate-hill, arrived at the great west entrance of St. Paul's, and entered the cathedral through the pavilion, designed for use as a vestibule, erected upon the steps. The approach was by a covered way, the exterior being of crimson cloth, ornamented with such devices as the royal arms and those of the Prince of Wales. Above was the inscription, "I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord." At the top of the steps, which were covered with crimson carpet that contrasted very well with the internal drapery of the vestibule-magenta, relieved with vertical bands of white-the porch of the cathedral had been turned into retiring-rooms for the use of her Majesty and the Prince and Princess of Wales. That set apart for the Queen, on the right or south side, was lined with pink, over which fine muslin was disposed in a variety of patterns. The companion apartment was adorned with a rich blue wall decoration; and in both rooms were beautiful gilt furniture covered with crimson damask. Skylights in the roof of the retiring-rooms beyond the line of the porch threw a flood of

light upon these charming apartments. Other rooms had been provided for the great officers of state, the Bishops, and the cathedral and civic authorities. The Queen was received at the cathedral by the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, and by the officers of her Majesty's household, who were in waiting at St. Paul's, having come before her in the procession.

The vast interior of the grand cathedral church had been arranged to accommodate a congregation of 13,000 persons. The central space under the dome was allotted to those of highest rank, the Queen, with the royal family, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, the Corps Diplomatique and distinguished foreigners, the Judges and dignitaries of the law, the Lords Lieutenant and Sheriffs of counties, and the representatives of the Universities and other learned bodies. The choir was reserved for the clergy, the screen between the choir and the dome being taken away, so that the congregation under the dome and in the nave could see as well as hear all the service in the choir. The place assigned to her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses was a sort of pew, covered with crimson and inclosed with a brass railing. It was raised two or three steps above a low platform which stood directly across the end of the nave opening into the central space under the dome, immediately fronting the choir. There was a passage left to the right and left of the royal pew, from the nave to the dome. In one corner of the central space, to the Queen's right hand, towards the south transept, were the seats of the Indian and foreign Princes, the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh and the Maharanee, the Japanese and the Egyptian Prince. In the corresponding angle, to the Queen's left, towards the north transept, were the foreign Ambassadors. The main floor of the dome space, reserving a broad open passage in front of the Queen to the choir, was divided between the two Houses of Parliament, the Lords to the right, the Commons to the left. The Lord Chancellor and the Speaker, in their robes, sat with the two Houses. Of the two farther corners, the one, or that towards the south transept, was occupied by the Judges, the other by the Lords Lieutenant and Sheriffs. The Lord Mayor and Corporation of London and the Metropolitan Board of Works had the north transept for themselves and their friends. The south transept was partitioned between the Universities and scientific. bodies, the persons belonging to India and the colonies, and Nonconformist ministers. In the nave, behind the Queen's pew, were the officers of the army, on the right-hand side of the long middle passage, and officers of the navy on the left hand, with two compartments for the mayors of provincial towns, near the west door. But against the walls, and between the pillars along the nave, and overhead, for a large space within the west door, rose tier above tier of wooden galleries, to which the general public were admitted by tickets. The seats and the fronts of the galleries were covered with crimson serge. The seats in the nave and under the dome were plain rush-bottomed chairs; but those for persons of superior dis

tinction were gilt chairs, or cushioned with fine cloth or satin People had begun to assemble there between eight and nine o'clock in the morning. The brilliant show of military and official uniforms, quaint Beefeaters' attire, rich and grave robes of state, gorgeous Eastern costumes, and ladies' dresses, with the black gowns or white surplices and academical scarfs of the clergy, who moved freely to and fro in the choir or under the dome, made a beautiful spectacle, the effect of which was enhanced by frequent gleams of bright sunshine through the southern windows, lighting up the whole medley of fine colours with admirable effect.

The Queen, with the Prince of Wales on her right and the Princess of Wales on her left hand, but taking the Prince's arm, walked up the nave, from the reception-rooms at the west door to the royal pew, in a procession marshalled by the Lancaster and Somerset heralds, who led the way. It comprised the officers of the Lord Chamberlain's department, the equerries in attendance, the great officers of the royal household, and those of the Prince's household, the Captains of the Royal Guard and Gentlemen-atArms, Garter King-at-Arms, and the other heralds, the Gold Stick and Silver Stick, the Master of the Horse, Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, and Vice-Chamberlain, who walked before the Queen. Behind her Majesty came the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Beatrice, with the two boys, Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales. Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold followed; then the Duke of Cambridge. The Mistress of the Robes, the Duchess of Sutherland, the Ladies of the Bedchamber, and the Chamberlain of her Royal Highness, brought up the rear of the procession.

The service began with the "Te Deum," composed expressly for the occasion by Mr. Goss, and sung by a choir of 250 voices, selected from the best cathedral and chapel choirs in England. The special form of thanksgiving was read as follows:

"O Father of Mercies and God of all comfort, we thank Thee that Thou hast heard the prayers of this nation in the day of our trial: We praise and magnify Thy glorious name for that Thou hast raised Thy servant Albert Edward Prince of Wales from the bed of sickness: Thou castest down and Thou liftest up, and health and strength are Thy gifts: We pray Thee to perfect the recovery of Thy servant, and to crown him day by day with more abundant blessings both for body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, having ascended the pulpit at the south-east angle of the central space under the dome, at the entrance to the choir, pronounced a benediction; and, after an anthem had been sung, delivered his sermon. The text was from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, " Members one of another." The congregation was dismissed a few minutes before two o'clock.

The procession of Court officials was again formed, to conduct her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses down the nave to the door by which they had entered. Having rested a few minutes in the