What, above all, struck everybody with overwhelming force was the contrast between Queen Victoria and her uncles.

The nasty old men, debauched and selfish, pig-headed and ridiculous, with their perpetual burden of debts, confusions, and disreputabilities--they had vanished like the snows of winter, and here at last, crowned and radiant, was the spring.

Lord John Russell, in an elaborate oration, gave voice to the general sentiment.

He hoped that Victoria might prove an Elizabeth without her tyranny, an Anne without her weakness.

He asked England to pray that the illustrious Princess who had just ascended the throne with the purest intentions and the justest desires might see slavery abolished, crime diminished, and education improved.