The Palatka Daily News

QUEEN VICTORIA'S FIRST SPEECH.

London in a State of Enthusiasm—Demeanor of the Girl-Queen.

Queen Victoria had not been long upon the throne before the path of duty led her to the house of lords. The parliamentary officials, in a fine old way of drawing with the earliest precedents that received the royal assent, betrayed in several instances by their mouthing of "Le roi le veult" and "her majesty" how much the ancient formulas had become part of their being. They soon, however, became accustomed to the young queen, since her accession to the throne was during a political crisis when William IV lay in state awaiting burial at Windsor the country was excited by preparations for a general election.

It so happened, therefore, that before the queen reigned a month she made her first visit to Parliament. The occasion was a prorogation, and the royal message laid on the table of both houses on the day succeeding the proclamation of the queen stated that it was expedient, in the judgment of her majesty, that no new measure beyond such as the public service rendered absolutely necessary should be introduced until the new parliament met. Her majesty was proclaimed at St. James' palace on the 21st of June, 1837; she went down to prorogue parliament on the 17th of July.

London that day was in a state of intense enthusiasm, and in the streets, as in parliament, all was joyful acclaim. The clear, sweet voice of the girl queen, under perfect control, as for the first time she delivered a royal speech in the house of lords, together with every incident of the ceremonial, has been deeply described by many historians. Most of us have read that the queen wore a white satin robe "decorated with jewels and gold, the Garter on her arm, and a mantle of crimson velvet on her shoulders," also a "diadem and necklace of costly diamonds." The house of lords was crowded with rank and fashion.

Twice the trumpets sounded a false alarm, and the peers, peeresses, and great ones of church and state whispered to each other that the queen's self-possession had given way in the robing-room.

At the third fanfare the royal procession entered, and it was then seen that though the queen's face was flushed, and she seemed struck with the gorgeous spectacle before her, there was no indication of nervous trepidation. After a few apparently reassuring words from Lord Melbourne, the ceremonial business began. The Times next day remarked that the queen's first speech to parliament was on the whole an "inoffensive, albeit an inane document;" but, like the other journals of that period, it was high in praise of the royal reader of the inanity. "Her majesty," it said, "read the speech in a clear and distinct tone: her enunciation was deliberate and correct, and, her voice being musical, she made herself heard without an apparent effort. Her demeanor was at once graceful and dignified, and confirmed that prepossession in her favor which every one seemed to conceive on her first entering the house."—Exchange.