King of Great Britain

“ The British constitution of government, as now established in his majesty's person and family, is the wisest and best in the world. 7. The king of Great Britain is the best, as well as the most glorious monarch upon the globe, and his subjects the happiest in the universe. 8. It is most humbly presumed, the king would have all his plantation governors follow his royal example, in a wise and strict adherence to the principles of the British constitution, by which in conjunction with his other royal virtues, he is enabled to reign in the hearts of a brave and generous, a free and loyal people. ”

“ But the king of Great Britain obeys no other person; all other persons are individually, and collectively too, under him, and owe to him a legal obedience. The law, which knows neither to flatter nor to insult, calls this high-magistrate, not our servant, as this humble divine calls him, but "our sovereign lord the king" ”

“ One good natured construction at least seems to be implied in the assertion, and that pretty strongly, viz: that in the present situation of Great Britain and France, it is of vast importance to be a Britain rather than a Frenchman, as the French king is an arbitrary, despotic prince, but the king of Great Britain is not so de jure, de facto, nor by inclination; a greater difference on this side the grave cannot be found, than that which subsists between British subjects and the slaves of tyranny. ”

“ I note with satisfaction the assurance I derive from your address, that under British rule men of varied creeds and nations live in harmony among themselves, and develop to the utmost those energies which they inherit from widely separate families of mankind, whilst all join in loyal attachment to the British Crown, and take their part, as in my native country, in the management of their own local affairs. ”

“ How ruinous the results can be if that resolve be the outcome of a narrow, proud, and self-complacent understanding, the fortunes of the British Empire in the years 1774–83 may testify. Those who love to dwell on the “might-have-beens” of history, may imagine what would have happened if the mild and wavering King of France had ruled Great Britain, and if our pertinacious sovereign had99 been in the place of the hapless Bourbon whose vacillations marred everything in the memorable spring of 1789. ”

“ However, the strongest proof, the excellence of all his opinions, is the universal praise that is bestowed on his memory by all foreign historians. His name was as dear to France as it was to Great-Britain. Fortunate nations to possess a king formed by nature to make the world he governed happy! ”

“ Yet Britain set the world ablaze In good King George's glorious days! CHORUS. Yes, Britain set, etc. And while the House of Peers withholds Its legislative hand, And noble statesmen do not itch To interfere with matters which They do not understand, As bright will shine Great Britain's rays As in King George's glorious days! CHORUS. As bright will shine, etc. LEILA. (who has been much attracted by the Peers during this song) . Charming persons, are they not? CELIA. Distinctly. For self-contained dignity, combined with airy condescension, give me a British Representative Peer! ”

“ It has been the special privilege of your Royal Highness to an unusual extent to visit and personally to become acquainted with other Courts and countries, and with distant portions of Her Majesty's dominions, and we rejoice to believe that the valuable experience thereby acquired gives to all classes of Her Majesty's subjects an assurance that your Royal Highness will ever be foremost in all efforts to extend true liberty and civilization, and to develope those free institutions which are the pride and glory of our country. ”

“ We would venture to believe that nothing could so deepen the personal devotion of the Empire to the memory of that great Queen who ruled it so wisely and so long, and its deeply-rooted attachment to the principle of constitutional monarchy, as the gracious act of His Majesty the King in allowing the inner side of that noble life and career to be more clearly revealed to a nation whose devotion to their ancient liberties is inseparably connected with their loyalty to the Throne. ”

“ Of all Sovereigns who have ever reigned in England, none so completely represented the average man among his subjects. The King’s blameless morals, his regular habits, his conservative instincts and narrow obstinacy, were characteristics which he shared with the people he ruled. ”

“ The guests invited to attend the great function might be divided into two classes—those who came to a common centre for the celebration of their Sovereign's crowning, for the presentation of a picture of Imperial unity, and for the discussion of questions incident to the wide-spread dominions of the King; and those who came from foreign nations as a tribute to the position of Great Britain in the world and as a token of their friendship for its people as well as their respect for its ruler. ”

“ Every constitutional process having for its object the linking together of the different component parts of this great Empire is sure to be sympathetically regarded by our Sovereign and I know his hope is that his people who live outside the narrow seas of Great Britain may believe that His Majesty regards them primarily, not as inhabitants of colonies or dependencies of the Mother-country, but as equally valued component parts of one mighty nation. ”

“ Andrew Street, Seven Dials.
KING WILLIAM IV.
AND HIS MINISTERS FOR EVER!
Tune.—“All Nodding, nid, nid, Nodding.”
You heroes of England draw near awhile,
The Isle of Great Britain will ne’er fail to smile,
For William and his Ministers will never look with scorn,
They are every one determin’d to struggle for Reform.
And they are all conversing about Parliament Reform.
Pray what do you think of William and his Queen?
A better in Great Britain there never can be seen,
Conquered by the Tories, they’ll never be, we’re told,
For the rights of the people they’ll fight like heroes bold. ”

“ We, however, call ourselves King "by the Grace of God," because it is true. Well, then, most gracious Queen, let us now show to men, to the peoples threatened with disruption and nameless misery, both that we understand our [page 151] sacred office and how we understand it. God has placed in your Majesty's hands, in the hands of the two Emperors, in those of the German Federation, and in mine, a power, which, if it now acts in union and harmony, with reliance on Heaven, is able humanly speaking, to enforce, with certainty, the maintenance of the peace of the world. ”

“ In a political point of view the King's journey will prove useful, as it takes him still more out of the clutches of Russia and gives him more correct views of what is going on in the West of Europe.
I wish the King may also talk to his helter-skelter cousin in Holland; if the man goes on in his wild intrigues, though he will get most probably nothing by it himself, he may do a great deal of harm, and may force us to incline more towards France for fear of his intrigues with France. ”

“ I might as well acquaint King George the Third, that he is sovereign of Great Britain, or gravely disclose to my servant, that his name is William. It is superfluous to inform people of what it is impossible they should not know. ”

“ Your Royal Highness may remember the language so beautifully expressed by George Peabody, in the letter that accompanied his last noble gift, when, speaking of America he said, 'I will pray that Almighty God will give to it a future as happy and noble in the intelligence and virtue of its citizens as it will be glorious in unexampled power and prosperity.' Your Royal Highness, these are the sentiments uttered by a man of ripe age, and alike applicable to the land of his birth and to the country of his adoption. ”

“ I cannot think of Britain without realising how the source of all her strength is founded upon obedience. You detest tyranny. You love liberty. You bow to authority."
10. Much of what is here said about us resolves itself into one great characteristic, which stamps us all as one people, in whatever part of the empire we may chance to live, and that is the passionate love of justice or fair-play. What men of our race ask for is a fair field and no favour. ”

“ It must be a gratifying circumstance to all Her Majesty's loyal subjects that the Royal Princes, her sons, are not too delicately reared, as Princes were of old, but are all manly English gentlemen and great travellers, who seek to elevate and enlarge their minds by studying the customs and policy of foreign nations, and to strengthen the cords of sympathy and loyalty which bind our colonies to the mother country. I read with pleasure of His Royal Highness recently presiding at a meeting of the Society of Arts, and the able sentiments he then expressed on the subject of education. ”

“ It is a great pleasure to me to begin my travels in India at a place so long associated with the Royal Family of England, and to find that during so many generations of British rule this great port has steadily prospered. Your natural advantages would have insured a large amount of commerce under any strong Government, but in your various and industrious population I gladly recognize the traces of a rule which gives shelter to all who obey the laws; which recognizes no invidious distinctions of race ”

“ A large sum of money is required for our enterprise. England is rich, and ready at all times to forward a worthy national undertaking. Why should I say England only, when we are assured of the generous support of our Colonial brethren, and when we trust that our American cousins will not be behind in furthering the foundation of an establishment which may act as a home to their musical students on this side of the Atlantic? The representatives of many foreign countries are here also. ”

“ I am not insensible to the engrossing nature of the pursuits of Colonial life, nor to the claims which material interests have on young communities. We must all recognise with pride and admiration how much the enlightened enterprise and perseverance of our Colonial fellow-subjects have already contributed to the greatness and wealth of the Empire ”

“ At the best such processes are difficult and often prove bitter tests of national endurance; and it was well for Great Britain that the two centuries under review produced a class of able and cultured men who—though naturally aristocratic at heart—were upon the whole honestly bent upon furthering the best interests of the masses. ”

“ On Wednesday he was introducing a foreign Sovereign to the Corporation of London. Straight from that ceremonial he had to take flight across the island to open formally the new harbour at Holyhead. In these scenes and a hundred like them a Prince's functions cannot be discharged satisfactorily unless he be at once an impersonation of Royal State and, what is harder still, his own [Pg 205] individual self. He must act his public character as if he enjoyed the festival as much as any of the spectators. ”

“ He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and, liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. ”

“ During the first twenty years of the nineteenth century Great Britain, though possessing the most liberal constitution of any of the powers, was the consistent ally of the absolute monarchies of Europe. ”

“ The working out of the idea of democracy in a country like England which still retained its monarchical form and much of its aristocratic flavor, was a theme on which he dwelt with particular pleasure. Back somewhere in the line of descent his paternal ancestors had been of English blood, and he was proud of the heroism, the spirit and the energy which had made Great Britain one of the mighty nations of the earth. ”

“ But for one fatal stain upon our institutions,—a stain of which we were constantly reminded, as the one thing that shamed all our pretensions,—it seemed as if the peaceful and prosperous development of the great nation sprung from the loins of England were accepted as a gain to universal civilization. In the fulness of time the heir of Great Britain's world-shadowing empire came among us to receive the wide and cordial welcome which we could afford to give without compromising our republicanism, and he to receive without lessening his dignity. ”

“ Hundreds of years ago, in the ancient boroughs of England, a genius for self-government began to display itself, and it is that to which the greatness of our empire is mainly to be attributed. We not only got the noblest of all Imperial gifts—self-government—but we got more than that. Great Britain gave us another noble Imperial gift—the magnificent continent we possess, with all its resources and all its wealth. ”

“ Several gentlemen have thrown out the idea that we hold the bond of Great Britain to keep the peace, with ample guarantees and sureties, not only for the present time, but for an indefinite time; and as long as Great Britain stands as an independent monarchy. ”

“ Oh, wonderful rights! that have lost to Great Britain her empire on the ocean,—her boasted, grand, and substantial superiority,—which made the world bend before her! Oh, inestimable rights! that have taken from us our rank among nations—our importance abroad, and our happiness at home; that have taken from us our trade, our manufactures, and our commerce; that have reduced us from the most flourishing empire in the world, to be one of the most compact and unenviable powers on the globe! ”

“ Consider in contrast with these empires the question—What is the distinction in this phase of human life of the Empire of Britain, of its history? Steadily growing from its first beginnings—shall I say, from that great battle of the Winwaed, where three Kings are in conflict and the slayer of two lies dead—steadily growing, on to the present hour, as in politics so in religion, the effort sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, but persistent, continuous, towards an ever purer, higher, nobler conception of man's relations to the Divine. ”