TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE DUCHESS OF KENT AND THE CORONATION.
Tile absence of the Duchess of KENT from the Coronation, has been the subject of an accusation and a defence, of which it would be difficult to determine which was the most injurious. The accu- sation appeared in the Times of Wednesday, the defence in the Standard of Thursday. . The Times charged the Duchess with contempt of the King, in refusing to attend the ceremony of his crowning, and of indecent and offensive conduct towards the People, in preventing the attendance of the Heir Presumptive. The Times completed its charge by objecting to her Royal High- ness, that, previous to her connexion with the Royal Family, she had been afflicted with the two least endurable calamities with which Providence can visit a female—she was a widow, and she was poor. To this charge, the Standard replied by an insinuated libel on the understanding of the King, and on the courtesy of Earl GREY, for disrespect to the Duchess of KENT, which he could not have felt, and certainly never expressed. Having'stated that the cause of her Royal Highness's absence was, that no fitting place had been as- signed to the Princess VICTORIA in the procession, and thus hypo- thetically imputed to the Duchess as much pride of heart ae igno- rance of form, the Standard concluded by telling its readers, that while others were indulging in the pomps of this vain world, she was humbly employed in reading her Bible! In the Globe of last night, the authorized, and apparently the correct state of-the case, is given. The Duchess did noe'refuse to attend the ceremony, nor did she find fault with no place being set apart for the Princess Vierealia., who in her capacity of Heir Presumptive is not even recognized by the Constitution. Every preparation had, in fact, been made for the attendance of the Duchess. The real cause of her absence, was the delicate state of the young Princess's habit of body, and the risk to which a long and hasty journey might expose her health. This excuse was stated to the King, who, with his accustomed kindness, cheerfully and at once allowed it.
There is something exceedingly puerile and disingenuous in the spirit and the details of the manceuvre by which, under the pre- tence of defending the Duchess, an attempt has been made by the .Anti-Reformers to detract from the integrity of that affection and reverence with which the People regard the Monarch. It has most signally failed.
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