ΤΟ ERASTUS WIMAN, ESQ., A DISTINGUISHED BRITISH SUBJECT WHO IS A PROMINENT FACTOR IN AMERICAN COMMERCE, POTENT IN MAINTAINING FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, AND A LEADING SPIRIT IN PROMOTING THE QUEEN'S JUBILEE ON THIS SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. In this work, pertinent to the time, the intent of the author has been to give, from an American standpoint, a brief and unbiassed resumé of the events of Queen Victoria's time, and of her reign of half a century. Contemporaneously with the fifty years of her sovereignty, the marked progress made in Great Britain has been equalled, if not exceeded, by that made in the United States. Both nations have made enormous material growth within that period; and in the friction of events between the mother country and our own, the sentiment of good neighborship manifested towards us by the Queen of England invites the recognition of the American people, since, in addition to its pleasing aspect, it has been a factor in the harmony preserved between the United States and England through her reign. In our day of need, when the exigencies of civil war were taxing to its utmost our country, it should be remembered to the honor of Victoria that she steadfastly refused the earnest entreaty of Napoleon III. that England should unite with France in the establishment of an empire in Mexico, and that she also declined his appeal that Great Britain should join France in the recognition of the Confederate Government as a belligerent power. She refused to take advantage of our critical situation, and to imperil our grand union at that time. When America lost its great men, Lincoln, Garfield, and Grant, her sympathy was as promptly and tenderly expressed as it has been in other national calamities. She has also been a power in the moralities of the age. All these are reasons in favor of a general celebration of her jubilee on this side of the water, as well as in Britain. |