able to enjoy any of the festivities prepared in her honor.

This was promptly contradicted, but was soon revived with the addition
that the story was "strictly true," but that London was hushing it up
until the Jubilee was over.

Following closely on the heels of this came a new story, that Queen
Victoria was about to abdicate. This story stated that the Prince of
Wales would not be crowned King while his mother lived, but would occupy
the throne.

Abdication is the act of giving up or relinquishing the right to hold an
office. It is the same as resigning, but the word is almost without
exception used in the case of a sovereign or ruler of a country.

Abdication should be an act of free will on the part of the person who
resigns.

Queen Liliuokalani claims that she is still the rightful Queen of
Hawaii, because, though she signed an act of abdication, she says, she
did not do it of her own free will, but was forced to sign by the
present government of the islands.

As to the story of Queen Victoria's abdicating: she is now seventy-eight
years old, and she may well be wearied with the cares of government, but
she cannot abdicate unless Parliament is willing that she shall do so.

England has, in the past, had many troubles brought upon her by unwise,
weak, or wicked kings, and when James II. fled to France the English
people felt they had had enough ill treatment at the hands of kings, and
determined to take away absolute power from future kings.

The people had some cause to be afraid of too much power in the hands of
the king at that time, for James II. was the son of Charles I., who had
so mismanaged the country that the people finally had him beheaded. He
was also the brother of Charles II., who had been called to the throne
after the death of Cromwell, and who had spent the years of his reign in
every kind of folly and wickedness. The English people made up their
minds to stand no nonsense from James; so, when he showed himself
utterly incapable of ruling the country, the nobles invited William of
Orange, the husband of James' daughter Mary, to occupy the throne.

When his last hope was gone, and he saw that he would be obliged to fly
the country, James showed the people how wise they had been to get rid
of him.

He had dissolved Parliament and disbanded the army, so that there was no
form of government in the country, no army to preserve order, and, as he
thought, no possibility of calling a governmen