"I have been deeply touched by the numerous expressions of sympathy and goodwill addressed to me on the occasion of the providential escape of the Princess of Wales and myself from the danger we have lately passed through. From every quarter of the globe, from the Queen's subjects throughout the world, as well as from the representatives and inhabitants of foreign countries, have these manifestations of sympathy proceeded, and on my return to this country I received a welcome so spontaneous and hearty that I felt I was the recipient of a most gratifying tribute of genuine good-will. Such proofs of kind and generous feeling are naturally most highly prized by me, and will forever be cherished in my memory." CHAPTER XVII. Accession to the Throne The death of Queen Victoria and the accession of King Edward were the first and perhaps the greatest events in the opening year of the new century. Before the formal announcement on January 18th, 1901, which stated that the Queen was not in her usual health and that "the great strain upon her powers" during the past year had told upon Her Majesty's nervous system, the people in Great Britain, in Canada, in Australia, in all the Isles of the Sea and on the shores of a vast and scattered Empire, had become so accustomed to her presence at the head of the State and to her personality in their hearts and lives that the possibility of her death was regarded with a feeling of shocked surprise. During the days which immediately followed and while the shadow of death lay over the towers of Windsor, its influence was everywhere perceptible throughout the press, the pulpit and amongst the peoples of the Empire--in Montreal as in Winnipeg, in busy Melbourne and in trouble-tossed Cape Town, in Calcutta and in Singapore. When the Prince of Wales, on Thursday evening, the 22nd of January, telegraphed the Lord Mayor of London that "My beloved mother, the Queen, has just passed away," the announcement awakened a feeling of sorrow, of sympathy and of Imperial sentiment such as the world had never seen before in such wide-spread character and spontaneous expression. Yet there was no expression of uneasiness as to the future; no question or doubt as to the new influence and power that must come into existence with the change of rulers; no fear that the Prince of Wales, as King and Emperor, would not be fully equal to the immense responsibilities of his new and great position. Perhaps no Prince, or statesman, or even world-conqueror, has ever received so marked a compliment; so universal a token of respect and regard as was exhibited in this expression of confidence throughout the British Empire. THE EMPIRE'S CONFIDENCE IN THE NEW KING