4. It would take too long to mention one tithe of the queen's kind acts and words of comfort to the mourners and sufferers as the war went on. Her many kind messages to the besieged as well as the sick and wounded, her hearty congratulations to generals and soldiers on their gaining some victory or important success, her farewells to those going out to hazard their lives, her reception of troops returning from the war, and her visits to the military hospitals with her words of sympathy to those maimed or wounded in their country's service--all these things are written indelibly on the hearts and memories of the British people. 5. Nor will they ever forget the example of calm fortitude the queen set the nation in the days darkened by sad news from the seat of war, nor her self-sacrifice in visiting London and Dublin, after the turn of the tide, to show her admiration and gratitude for the devotion and bravery of her troops, and the patriotic spirit of her people. The task was only achieved at the cost of great fatigue and exhausting excitement, for Her Majesty's years numbered more than fourscore. As in this Boer war, so throughout her long reign, Queen Victoria was ever the centre of our national life, and the vital link between all parts of her world-wide empire. 6. The great Queen is dead, but we have every reason to believe that her son and successor, King Edward VII., will prove equally worthy of his exalted position. As Prince of Wales we all know he did his utmost to promote the well-being of the whole nation. His name is associated with numberless institutions set on foot for benevolent purposes. The affectionate relation existing between King Edward, when Prince of Wales, and the British people have been especially shown on two turning points in his life--his happy marriage and his dangerous illness. 7. Nothing could have exceeded the warm welcome given to the Princess Alexandra when she entered London to become his bride, or the great rejoicing throughout the land when she became the Princess of Wales (1863). But the joy of the nation on this happy event was of small significance compared with the wondrous sympathy manifested when the Prince seemed on the bed of death, and the Princess on the point of becoming a widow. All the nation seemed to stand around that bed, and to watch with increased hope or fear, every change in the progress of the disease. It was then perceived that as a nation we had a heart that could throb as with one pulse. 8. When the Prince was raised from the bed of sickness, a day of National Thanksgiving was solemnly observed. The Queen, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales, appeared in St. Paul's Cathedral, with ten thousand of her subjects, to, acknowledge the hand of God in restoring health to the Prince, and the Prince to the nation (1872). Since then both prince and people have felt that they belong to each other.