And here let honour be rendered to whom honour is due. From the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, emanated the action which gave the event its Imperial character--the invitation of the Colonial Premiers and the representative detachments of men from the various forces of Colonial and other troops serving under her throughout our world-wide Empire. A brilliant military pageant might have been effected by the employment only of the troops of our regular army; but we have other forces across the seas, small it may be in numbers, but magnificent in physique and all that constitutes martial efficiency, whose presence on such an occasion would add lustre and a peculiar significance to the great function. Meanwhile our grey old London set about adorning itself for the great event. To transform a working city like London into a temporary fairyland is a task of herculean proportions, but it was done! The Corporation voted £25,000 to a decoration fund, and the most moderate estimate fixes the cost of London's holiday garb at £250,000. Venetian masts appeared suddenly in all the streets along which the procession was to make its way; and as the fateful day drew near, festoons of flowers and loyal inscriptions were suspended from these. Cunningly concealed in the hanging bouquets of flowers were electric lamps destined to make the streets even more brilliant at night than they were in the daytime. [Sidenote: The Decorations.] The actual route literally blazed with colour. Flags were at a premium and so were coloured stuffs and flowers, for the Jubilee had asked more than the supply, and in many cases the North country mills were working day and night to make good the deficiency. When at last the great city had finished her toilet, not even her own children recognized her. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by York & Son._ THE DECORATIONS IN ST. JAMES'S STREET.] St. James's Street sat at the head of all, a perfect poem of decorative beauty. There were two massive Corinthian pillars at either end, their capitals of gold surmounted by large globes, their bases adorned with choice growing palms and flowers. Forty venetian masts capped with the Imperial crown stood on each side of the street, and from mast to mast were laced festoons of evergreens, from which hung baskets of rare flowers, birds in flight, and globes of red, white, and blue glass, which sparkled in the sunlight and turned the roadway into a pathway of quivering light.