On Wednesday the Queen had reigned longer than any previous
English Sovereign by two days. George III. reigned for fifty-nine years and ninety-six days, but when the leap-year days of the two reigns are counted the Queen will be seen to have beaten her grandfather last Monday. The Queen has not only outreigned all the Sovereigns of Europe who were on the throne when she succeeded, but she has seen the end of sixteen reigns which began after hers. She has been contemporary with five Sovereigns in Prussia, four in Russia, and two in Austria. In the case of France, she has seen the reign of Louis Philippe, the Republic of 1848, the Empire, and the Republic of 1870. In the internal affairs of England she has witnessed little less than a revolution. When she came to the throne there were virtually no railways. Now there is hardly a village without a station within three or four miles of it. But perhaps the greatest change of all is in the condition of the people. Sixty years ago the man with 21 a week was exceptionally fortunate. Now El a week is getting to be regarded as the normal rate of wages. And yet sixty years ago the purchasing power of 21 for a man who drank tea and smoked was about half what it is now. We have dwelt elsewhere upon the Queen's position in her own dominions, and will only say here that without question she is the most striking figure in the whole English-speaking world. No Queen in history has ever won so great an amount of love and respect.
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