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After she was in her seat, and the rest of us had followed her example, the religious services were begun, and most impressive they seemed.

The Archbishop of Canterbury opened the ceremony with prayer. Then followed the Te Deum; and the music must have had an especial charm of tender regret for the queen, for it was the composition of the Prince Consort, her deceased husband. Thus the grand pageant of religious worship proceeded; and while uprose the prayers of the vast assembly, invoking the blessing of the Almighty upon the head of the great British Empire, a gleam of God's sunshine penetrated through one of the windows, and finding its way from the casement across the grand temple, illuminated with its radiance the bowed head of the royal worshipper. It was a beautiful emblem of divine favor, and reminded me of the coincidence of which mention has been made that occurred at the moment of the coronation of my brother in Hawaii.

The inspiring anthems, as they were so grandly and harmoniously rendered by the great choir, lifted all hearts up to the Ruler of the Universe, and the solemn tones of the great organ hushed every thought inconsistent with the devout worship of the occasion. When this part of the ceremony came to a close, Her Gracious Majesty received the homage of her daughters and granddaughters, tenderly kissing each one in turn. They responded by a respectful kiss on the royal hand. The sons and grandsons next went through a similar manifestation of affection and respect, after which the procession began to form for leaving the Abbey. Its order

in departing was exactly the reverse of that at the entrance, those preceding who had been last to arrive; finally, the last of the lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, princes and princesses, kings and queens, were out of doors and on the way back to Buckingham Palace. The crowds had never left the streets and sidewalks, but had remained in position so as to get another view as we passed along. The sea of heads on both sides of the royal party had not diminished perceptibly by so much as one individual, the gay decorations were all in place, and flags and streamers floated from every point. Never could there have been a day when London was more lavish of its holiday attire.

When we arrived at Buckingham Palace, I was waited on by the Duke of Edinburgh, whilst Queen Kapiolani was under the escort of the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales. In the banquet hall was a long table through the centre, which took up the entire length of the room; this was assigned exclusively to the visiting kings and queens from every part of the world, many of whom had travelled long distances to be present at this Jubilee. Two smaller tables were attached at each end of the long one, and these were set apart for the princes and princesses who were also the guests of the nation. To one of these tables, and towards its centre, my escort, H. R. H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and now of Saxe-Coburg, conducted me, and gave me a seat; on my right was the present Emperor of Germany, who proved to be a most sociable neighbor, and an agreeable conversationalist, so that we kept up quite an animated flow of words. Truthfully

speaking, I think the Duke of Edinburgh was not quite easy in his mind. He was the Lord High Admiral, and was naturally thinking of the long line of officers and men which had been drawn up to do honor to the royal visitors, and who could only be relieved from guard duty by his order. He excused himself to us a few minutes, probably to give some preliminary command to this effect, but soon returned, and still appeared as though he were anxious that the lunch and its ceremonies should be over. I suppose it was the natural uneasiness of the sailor, and a sense of the responsibility he felt for the comfort, and release from duty, of those under his authority.

During the course of the lunch, Prince William of Prussia asked me if I recognized a gentleman sitting opposite to us. I responded that I thought I did, and went on to say, that, to my remembrance it was Prince. Henry of Prussia. He said that I was correct, and complimented me warmly on my strength of memory. This was the same prince who had once visited our Islands many years before this date, and whose delightful visit was unexpectedly shortened by the death of his brother Waldemar.

The naval forces were drawn up in a line a short distance from the palace, and as soon as possible after the repast they received the thanks of their royal commander; the officers and the men were assured of the queen's appreciation of their loyalty and devotion, and then all were permitted to retire, each body to its own vessel. I am confident that not a man there was more relieved at the change than the sailor-prince himself,

who then became more animated, and more like the duke of whom I had such delightful reminiscences when he visited me in Hawaii, —as I have said in a previous chapter of these memoirs.

From the banquet hall Her Majesty, followed by her royal guests, adjourned to a larger room in the palace, commanding a fine view of the streets and squares about us. Here from the windows we watched the marines and the naval forces as they filed past on their way back to the ships from whence they had come. They were a superb body of men, of whom their royal commander, and indeed all England, might well be proud.

After they had marched away, we were shown into a side room where were displayed the presents which had been sent to the queen in recognition of this her jubilee year. They were too many and too varied for me to attempt anything like an enumeration; yet there were one or two pieces which I will mention. Hawaii had sent a unique frame placed on an easel, in the centre of which was an embroidered piece, with the letters "V. R." worked in the rare royal feathers, while the frame itself was studded with diamonds. Then there was a very perfect representation of St. George and the Dragon in the traditional form, but wrought of gold. This had been presented by the Crown Prince of Prussia, husband of the Princess Royal of England, the daughter of Queen Victoria, who was soon after this epoch left a widow by her husband's untimely death. At present she is the Dowager Empress of Germany. I now learn that her afflictions have been increased by a loss sus

tained in the recent conflagration at the Paris charitable bazaar, a calamity which put more than one household in Europe of royal connections into deepest mourning. After spending some time with us in the examination of her presents, Her Majesty Victoria retired. This was the signal for us to do likewise, so one by one we withdrew to our respective hotels.

As we drove homeward, and passed over the route by which we had come, scarcely a man or woman of all that vast crowd which had congregated there so recently was to be seen; the avenues of travel seemed to have been deserted. Yet the throng had dispersed in so orderly a manner that there had been no confusion, and no accidents were ever reported to mar the joy of the Jubilee.

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