[Editorial], John Bull (1851)

The Queen has, as the authors doubted not she would, signified her pleasure that the inauguration of the Crystal Palace by Her Majesty should not be a private performance, as had been proposed by the Commissioners, with great want of taste, as well as of judgment. The same rule applies to every other occasion on which the Queen is called upon by virtue of her office to express political opinions; the language made use of by Her Majesty is not her own, but that which is suggested to Her by her responsible advisers. While on this subject, it may not be out of place to add a few words in reference to the suggestion which has been made for an inauguration of the Great Exhibition by a religious service. In the sense in which this proposal was made, namely that there should be a solemn national service on the occasion, the suggestion appeared to us, from the first, wholly inadmissible.