CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM S.H.Eui\nh''in Cornell Unlversily uorary arW9500 Victoria, Queen a"?,,,,|,iIi'J?,rf,S,m| 3 1924 031 444 411 olin,anx Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031444411 #& OSBORNE HOUSE, ISLE OF WIGHT 5^ Ba VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. Victoria Queen and Empress The Mother of Kings The Devoted Wife The Good Queen The Noble Woman THE STORY OF BRITAIN'S GOLDEN ERA By ROBERT C. V. MEYERS Author of " Victoria, Sixty Years a Queen, and Other World-Famous Women," "The Story of South Africa," etc., With Nearly Two Hundred Illustrations P. W. ZIEGLER & CO. PHILADELPHIA AND CHICAGO. PREFACE. The history of a queen is largely the history of the country over which she holds dominion. In nearly every instance the woman sinks into insignificance alongside the sovereign, and in all England's gal- lery of woman rulers, whether as consorts of kings or queens in their own right, two names alone stand out in wisdom of government and strength of womanhood — Elizabeth and Victoria. Elizabeth lived in the age that was gold when she entered upon its troublesome paths. Poetry and the arts made up the glitter and the shine. Shakespeare, Spencer, the great architects and more than one painter created a glory whose halo has ever rested about the brow of the "Virgin Queen," though she gave little admiration for these softer afifairs of life. She was of a man-like build of character, a warrior, a conquer- or; she was the last of the great Tudbrs, inheriting many of the traits of a house not always gentle, but always strong of will. She was a young woman when she ascended the throne not rightfully hers, and all through her life she was fearful of meeting a dreadful end. She knew craft and duphcity, she intrigued and manoeuvred to gain her ends which were not always of the noblest. She had a childhood passion for display and splendor, while 'her love of dress was phe- nomenal even in an age when dress was elevated to the heights of a religion. There was scandal ever ready to take her name and use it for nefarious ends. Elizabeth united her people, she crushed the power of Rome in her kingdom. She stretched her sceptre over the sea and made Spain a suppliant where it had been an arrogant rival. She established the Church of England and placed it on a firm founda- tion, and this at a time when dogma took the place of rehgion, and when theology turned Christianity to one side. She was a strong woman and a ruler with the interests of her subjects at heart, but ever her own vwll foremost with her, and herself her queen. In point of length of reign she was fairly the rival of that other queen — Victoria. If Elizabeth entered upon her queensbip at the beginning of the golden age, Victoria, less and more blessed by sordid surroundings, turned her reign from a time of trouble and stress into an era of gold. Less a queen, according to the old significance of a woman ruler, Vic- toria by wise reasoning, by womanly life, by a will, not less than Eliz- vi PREFACE. abeth's, if of a diflferent calibre, took up the reins of government when her country was torn by many factions, when statecraft was not the parHamentary pohteness it became under her sway, and when the old traditions of English kings stood for much that was mean and uncer- tain. By innate tact, by a motherly love for her people, by truth and honor year after year of her long reign she added to the welfare of her nation. Mechanics may to a large extent have taken the place of poetry, for no Shakespeare rose while she sat upon the throne — though a Tennyson sang — yet her subjects blessed her for the ameli- oration in their lives, and brocades and jewels for the nobles were less to her than warm clothing and a plentiful supply of food for tliose who previous to her coming were mere yokels or so many hu- man beasts whose misery must not come within the knowledge of the sovereign. The arts gained freedom and respect, the "people" made a democracy before which the aristocracy must stand trial for con- tumely or insult. And the territories thousands and thousands of miles each side of Britain gradually came under the rule of Victoria, sometimes by coercion, for there was pride in her rule, but oftener by suasion which turned rude denizens, denied the rights of civilza- tion, into citizens with the privileges of her native people. Under the reign of Victoria, Great Britain grew and prospered as never be- fore, until at the beginning of the first year of the twentieth century and the last year of the queen, its flag floated from sea to sea and its wealth surpassed the wealth of any other nation in the world. To trace the career of this queen, the career of the people she ruled, is the task of the present writer; the sorrows and the joys, the reverses and the victories of England from the day whep a girl she first wore the crown of a queen till the hour when as queen and empress she placed aside the proud ensignia of her rulership and folded her hands in the long sleep, this the author attempts to portray. Her Majesty has passed away, her wise and kindly deeds live on — the recounting of those deeds a testimonial to a wise empress, a just queen, a good woman. Philadelphia, January, 1901. CONTENTS. I. FIRST YEARS OF QUEENHOOD. The Duke and Duchess of Kent — Birth of the Princess Victoria — Her Stu- dies—Death of George IV and Accession of William — Death of William — Victoria Declared Queen — Her Coronation and First Coun- cil — Daily Life of the Young Queen — Trouble with Canada — President Van Buren — Measures of Government to Suppress Canadian Revolt — The Melbourne Administration — Decline of Queen's Popularity — Dan- iel O'Connel — Chartism — First Appearance of Disraeli and Gladstone in Politics 15 II. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. Principal Events of 1839 — Chinese War — Albert, Prince of Saxe Coburg — Marriage of the Queen — Character of the Prince — His Position at Court — Rowland Hill and the Postal System — Attempt on the Queen's Life — Birth of the Princess Royal — The Anti-Corn-Law League — Sir Robert Peel — The Oxford Movement — Newman — Birth of the Prince of Wales — Other Attempts on the Life of the Queen 45 III. EASTERN TROUBLES. Herat — ^Jellalabad — Cabul — Trip to Scotland — O'Connell and the Agitation for Repeal — O'Connell, His Characteristics and His Power — His Ar- rest, Trial and Release — Ashburton Treaty with the United States — Purchase of Osborne — Discoveries in Science — Income Tax — The Spanish Marriages — The Sikh War — Resignation of the Peel Ministry. 73 IV. RUSSELL ADMINISTRATION. Whigs in Office — Troubles in New Zealand — Submission of Maori Chiefs — Feeling Against Louis Philippe — Quiet Days at Osborne — First Submarine Cable — Famine and Free Trade — Cabinet and the Crisis — Epidemic of Speculation — The Ten Hours' Bill — Panic in the Money Market 99 V. THE COURT AND REVOLTS. The Defences of England — Prince Albert and Cambridge — Dr. Whewell and the Queen— Holiday in the Highlands — A Year of Revolt — Flight of Louis Philippe — The Meeting on Kensington Common — The Duke of Wellington's Arrangements — The "Young Ireland" Party — Col- lapse of the Irish Rebellion — Another Spanish Quarrel — Palmerston — Beginning of the Great Reform Movement 123 VI. RELAXATION AND WORK. "Condition of England" Question— At Balmoral — Relief of Irish Poverty — Irish Poor Law — Disaflection in Canada — National Reform — Inter- national Arbitration — The Sikh War — Napier — Royal Visit to Ireland — Death of the Queen Adelaide — Socialism in Paris — Queen's Irish Policy— Death of Sir Robert Peel— Attack on the Queen— Fall of the Whig Cabinet — Defeat of Lord John Russell 139 vlii CONTENTS VII. PLOTS AND PLEASURES. King Bomba's Dungeons — The Queen and Kossuth — The Exhibition — The Queen's Ball — Mademoiselle de Montijo, afterward Empress of the French — Palmerston's Dismissal — A Year of Excitement and Panic — The Second Burmese War — The Advance on Rangoon — Death of the Duke of Wellington — Character of the Iron Duke — The Funeral — Disraeli 169 VIII. THE LONG PEACE BROKEN. Whig and Peelite — South Kensington — Nearing the Second French Empire — Shall it be "Brother" or "Cousin?" — Napoleon Ill's Marriage with Eugenie — Australian Gold — Russia and "The Sick Man" — The Holy Places — Fleets in Turkish Waters — The Vienna Note — Birth of Prince Leopold — Another Visit to Ireland — The Czar's Letter 191 IX. WAR! "Treason" of Prince Albert — The two Emperors — War Declared — Cross and Crescent — Operations in the Black Sea — Crimea — Battle of the Alma — Inkerman — Napoleon III and Prince Albert — Death of the Czar — Lord Raglan — The Redan — Fall of Sebastopol — Peace Confer- ence — Review of Crimean Troops — Rupture with Persia — The Chinese War — Napaleon at Osborne 221 X. THE MUTINY. Causes of the Indian Mutiny — Nana Sahib — Relief of Lucknow — A Royal Romance — Betrothal of Princess Royal and Prince Frederick Wil- liam—Prince Albert's Title — the Queen and the Mutiny — Grant to the Princess Royal — Preparations for the Wedding — Distribution of the Victoria Cross — The Wedding between England and Germany 239 XI. LORD DERBY AND THE COUNTRY. Palmerston's Waning Popularity — The Orsini Plot — Resignation of Pal- merston's Cabinet — The Queen's Opposition to the Indian Bill — Can- ning — The Queen's Indian Proclamation — The Italian Revolution — The French Denounce the Queen — New Liberal Ministry — The Queen's Distrust of French Policy — Lord Clarendon — Commercial Treaty with France — Garibaldi — The Pope — The Prince of Wales' American Tour ... 255 XIL DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. Napoleon in the East — Newspaper Criticism of Prince Albert — Approach- ing Marriage of Princess Alice — Death of Cavour — Royal Tour of Ire- land — Coronation of King of Prussia — Illness of Prince Consort — Love and Faithfulness of the Queen — Death of the Prince Consort — Prince Albert's Public Services — Estimate of His Character 271 XIIL WAR AND WANT. Civil War in America — Fall of Sumpter — President Lincoln — Settlement of Trente Dispute — Mexico — Bismarck — Exhibition of 1862 — Marriage of Princess Alice— Mason and Slidell— Princess Alexandra — Marriage of Prince of Wales — Cotton Famine — Danish War and Queen's Policy of Peace — Garibaldi in London 293 CONTENTS ix XIV. THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE. Gladstone — Birth of the Heir Presumptive — Death of Palmerston — Death of Cobden — Assassination of President Lincoln — Gladstone Leader of the House — Death of King Leopold — The Queen's Depression — Mar- riage of the Princess Helena — The Tide of Democracy — Hyde Park Riots— Disraeli— Founding of Royal Albert Hall 307 XV. THE NEW ERA. Disraeli Prime Minister — Gladstone's First Government — The Queen's Book — A Hopeful Year — Indian Affairs — Bonapartism in its Last Throes — Orangemen and Fenians — Franco-Prussian War — "On to Berlin" — Siege of Paris — Betrothal of the Princess Louise — Death of Charles Dickens — The Queen and Dickens — His Place in Literature. 321 XVI. SORROW AND JOY IN THE PALACE. Dowry of the Princess Louise — Her Majesty's Seclusion — Disputes with the United States — Marriage of the Princess Louise — Opening of the Royal Albert Hall — Illness of the Queen — Illness of the Prince of Wales — Thanksgiving Day — Attack on the Queen — Geneva Convention The Queen's Private Estates — Death of the French Emperor — Mar- riage of the Duke of Edinburgh 335 XVII. CONSERVATISM. Ashanti War — Disraeli's Cabinet — Gladstone's Defeat — Leopold — The Queen and "Cruelty to Animals" — Martin's "Life of the Prince Con- sort" — Empress of India — Fugitive Slave Circular — Prince of Wales in India — Turkey and the Powers — Bulgarian Atrocities — The Servian War — ^Jingoism — Resignation of Lord Derby — Third Afghan War — Death of Princess Alice 349 XVIII. PEACE, AND NO PEACE. The Zulu War — Death of Prince Louis Napoleon — Fall of Lord Beacons- field — Bradlaugh and the Oath — Boer and Briton — Parnellites — Crisis in Ireland — "Boycotting" — Death of George Elliot — Assassination of the Czar — Assassination of President Garfield — Phoenix Park — Death of Beaconsfield, Darwin, Garibaldi and Gambetta — John Brown — People's Palace and First Thought of the Golden Jubilee 373 XIX. SOUDAN AND AFRICA. Gordon in Khartoum — ^The "Scramble"' for Africa — Death of the Duke of Albany — Fall of Khartoum — Gladstone's Home Rule — The Golden Ju- bilee — ^The Diamond Jubilee — The South African War — Cecil Rhoads — Kruger — Relief of Ladysmith — Kitchener — Roberts , — Trouble with China— The End of the War in Sight— "The War is Not Over," said Kruger — British Losses in Men — Costs in Money 395 XX. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. The South African War Continues — Death of the Duke of Clarence — List of Wars in the Queen's Reign — Illness of the Queen — "Tlie Queen is Dead!" — Scenes in London on the Evening of the Queen's Death — The Longest Reign in History — Progress during Her Reign — Acces- sion of the Prince of Wales — Estimates of the Character of the Queen — The Funeral Pageant — "Long Live Edward VII, King of England and Ireland and Emperor of India!" 431 List of Illustrations. PAGE Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India, Colored Plate. .Frontispiece King William IV 14 Tlie Duke of Kent 16 The Duchess of Kent 17 West Front of Kensington Palace 19 Kensington Palace, Room where the Queen was Born 20 Queen Victoria at the Time of her Accession 23 The Queen Receiving the Sacrament at her Coronation 26 The Queen in Coronation Robes 29 Portraits of the Queen from 1838 to 1869 30 Portraits of the Queen from 1871 to 1899 31 The Duke of Wellington Presenting a Gift to his Godson Prince Arthur 32 Death of the Duke of Kent, Presenting the Commons' Address of Condolence to the Duchess 34 A Favorite Dog 43 Marriage of Queen Victoria 44 Prince Albert at the Time of his Marriage 47 Buckingham Palace 48 Christening of the Princess Royal 56 Victoria (Age 26) 57 Victoria, the Prince Consort and their Children 58 Sir Robert Peel 64 Portrait of Victoria, St. George's Chapel . . .' 67 King Edward VII at the Age of 7 70 The Royal Barge 72 The Queen and Prince William of Prussia 75 Sarcophagus of Prince Consort, Frogmore Mausoleum 76 Daniel O'Connell g4 Osborne House • 87 Osborne, Isle of Wight 88 Royal Nursery at Osborne 89 Prince Metternich q3 Lord Gough pg The Queen Opening Parliament P7 A Favorite Greyhound gg Lord John Russell 100 Queen Victoria at Osborne , loi The Queen Visiting the Sick at Osborne 102 The Queen and Entire Royal Family at Windsor •. 103 Prince of Wales, Duke of Connaught and late Duke of Edinburgh 104 Gateway of St. James Palace log The Royal Pew [ m The Guard Room at Windsor , jj. Facsimile of Portion of Marriage Record of Victoria 122 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xi Etching made by the Queen 122 The Duke of Wellington at Windsor Castle 125 Dr. Whewell 127 Interior of Crathie Church 129 The Prince and Princess of Wales at the Charity Bazaar, Mansion House 130 Reception of Louis Phillippe at Windsor Castle 133 Study of a Child. (Etching by the Queen) 138 Christening of the Princess Louise 141 Balmoral Castle 143 The Queen and Reapers at Blair Castle 144 The Queen's Garden Party 147 The Queen in State Robes (1887) 148 The Victoria Tower, Westminster Palace 149 The Houses of Parliament ISS Pope Pius IX 161 The Children of the Duke of York and the Duke of Fife 173 Duchess of York 174 Duke of York 17S Baptism of the Youngest Child of the Duke of York 176 Lord Granville 178 Walmer Castle 180 The Duke of Wellington 183 Drawing-Room, Buckingham Palace 192 Napoleon III 197 The Queen and Family 201 The Queen in the Highlands 202 The Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey 218 The Queen's Drawing-Room 219 Princess Henry of Battenberg 220 Lord Palmerston 223 Lady Palmerston 224 Lord Raglan 226 Lord Campbell 227 Lord Campbell's Audience of the Queen 229 Florence Nightingale 231 The Wounded Soldier's Toast "The Queen" 232 Sir John Bowring 236 Plan of Windsor Castle 238 The Queen Receiving the Keys of the City of Dubhn 245 Reception at Buckingham Palace 246 Lord Chancellor Presenting Address of House of Lords 247 The Queen Driving by the Seashore 248 Scene at the First Relief of Lucknow 249 The Queen Distributing Crimean Medals 250 The Victoria Cross 251 The Princess Royal 253 Lord Derby 258 General Garibaldi 264 Windsor Castle from Thames Street 270 The Queen in Dress Worn in Jubilee, 1897 273 The Queen, Duchess of York, Princesses Fr. Joseph and Eva 274 The Princess Alice 276 xu LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Princess Alice Reading to her Father 280 Sir Charles Phipps 282 The Prince Consort 283 Funeral of the Prince Consort 284 The Queen at Osborne 287 The Queen keeping Hallowe'en at Balmoral 290 The Queen Distributing Christmas Gifts *. 291 Royal Procession, Diamond Jubilee 292 Prince Bismarck 297 Marriage of the Princess Alice 299 Marriage of the Prince of Wales 302 Windsor Castle from Berkshire- Shore 306 John Bright 309 The Queen Laying Foundation Stone of Royal Albert Hall 314 Queen's Morning Ride 316 Three Generations : 317 Queen Victoria 318 Queen Receiving War News from South Africa 319 The Queen Reviewing her Troops 320 The Princess Louise 329 The Marquis of Lome 330 Charles .Dickens 331 Afternoon Tea 334 Marriage of Princess Louise 336 Marlborough House 338 The Queen Visiting the Londoxi Hospital 347 Lord Beaconsfield in the House of Commons 350 Prince of Wales Inspecting the Imperial Yeomanry 3S3 Alexandra, Queen Consort 3S4 Edward VII, King of England 3SS Prince of Wales, as Admiral 356 Garden Party at Windsor Castle 361 Costume Ball, Buckingham Palace 372 The Green Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 376 Marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York 381 The Queen's Last Attendants 382 Charles Stewart Parnell , 384 Lord Beaconsfield's Last Appearance in the House of Commons "387 John Brown ". 391 Queen Victoria in the State Robes 394 The Duke of Albany 396 Prince Henry of Battenberg 398 Field Marshall Earl Roberts 399 Ex- President Kruger 399 "Thy Will be Done" 400 The Princess Beatrice 401 Marriage of the Princess Beatrice 403 Queen Victoria in 1887 4d9 Inverary Castle 430 The Duke of Connaught 440 The Prince of Wales 442 Holyrood Palace 444 The Queen's Private Sitting Room, Osborne 447 LIST OF ILLUSEATIONS xiii Proclamation of King Edward VII, St. James Palace 449 The Remains of the Queen in the Mortuary Chapel, Osborne 450 Princess Christian 458 Frogmore House 465 The Mausoleum, Frogmore 466 The Services in St. George's Chapel, Windsor 467 God Save the Queen . .' 468 King Edward VII's First Act of Government 485 The King of England and the German Emperor 486 British Sailors Drawing the Cofifin to Windsor 495 The Last Passage through the Fleets 496 The King and Royal Mourners Saluting the Casket 497 Victoria's Last Progress through London 498 King William IV. Victoria, Queen and Empress. I. FIRST YEARS OF QUEENHOOD. The Duke and Duchess of Kent— Birth of the Princess Victoria— Her Stu dies— Death of George IV and Accession of William — Death o', Williarn— Victoria Declared Queen— Her Coronation and First Coun cil — Daily Life of the Young Queen— Trouble with Canada— President Van Buren — -Measures of Government to Suppress Canadian Revolt — The Melbourne Administration — Decline of Queen's Popularity — Dan- iel O'Connel — Chartism — First Appearance of Disraeli and Gladstone in Politics. HERE must always be a comparison between Elita- beth and Victoria. Tliey are the two foremost women in English history, the two Queens who have reigned longest and whose reigns have been most illustrious. Both have been extraordinary women, wise rulers, and to both it was allotted that ♦.heir eras should witness vast additions to the history of their country. Elizabeth broke the power of Spain. Elizabeth tained the power of the Pope. She championed the Reformation. But she was not fair to her commanders, she starved her navy, she shirked and shifted responsibilities, she was irresolute and not always true. But her power was beyond question, her knowledge of men and affairs stupendous. During her reign, literature was at its height, and while she gave little or no encouragement to poets, she was called Gloriana by Spencer and "the fair vestal throned in the West" by Shakespeare, and it is even said that Shakespeare wrote "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in deference tO' her wish to see Falstaff in love. Elizabeth had a martial spirit, she rode among her troops in camp, inspiriting them by brave discourse. She was the last of her line, and throughout her life she held firmly in her hands the reins of the policy of State. She was twenty-five when she came to the throne which she knew by rights belonged to Mary, and she was fearful of her life all through her reign, masterly by reason of will, and yet at 15 16 VICTORIA. times timorous because of, the woman in her; unloved though flat- tered, forever in the windings of intrigue, and realizing her position to the fullest. She had a passion for display and splendor, for dress and ceremony, scandal fellowed her through life and even now has The Duke of Kent. not silenced its voice. Elizabeth united her people in defence of England, crushed the power of the Pope in her kingdom ; stretched her sway over the sea and made of Spain not the mistress it had been, but a servitor instead. She established and made solid the Church of England in an age of disputes in dogma, faith and theology. This QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 17 Queen is the rival of Victoria in point of length of reign, and in the making of history — of Victoria of the blameless life as sovereign, wife and mother, of Victoria beloved of her people, Victoria vi^ho in 1897 celebrated the sixtieth year of her reign amid acclamation and joy such as never before was accorded a ruler. The Duchess of Kent. The year 181 7 was memorable in English history. The pros- perity of the country was seriously menaced, the destinies of a consti- tutional monarchy seemed enveloped in impenetrable gloom. There was the prospect of the succession of the throne of the youngest son of George III. The king was worn out by mental and physical malady, and of his sons there were married, the Duke of York, who 18 VICTORIA. had no tegal children, and the Duke of Cumberland, whose first liv- ing child was not born till 1819. The third son was Edward, Duke of Kent, then fifty-one years of age, unmarried, and not on friendly terms with his brothers. He determined suddenly to marry. Victoria, daughter of Duke Franz of Saxe-Coburg had taken his fancy, and in July, 1818, this lady became the Duchess of Kent and the future mother of the future Queen of England. They were not blessed with great means and in the spring of 1819 the Duke and Duchess were installed in Kensington Palace, then, as now, a place of residence for the members and proteges of the royal family. Here was born, on the 24th of May, 1819, Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India — ''a pretty little princess, plump as a partridge." The Duke had been long estranged from his brother, the Prince Regent, but a reconcil- iation took place shortly after the birth of the Princess. The infant was christened on the 24th of June, at Kensington Palace. Chief among the sponsors were the Prince Regent and the Emperor of Russia. It was in compliment to the Czar that the Princess received Alexandrina as her foremost name. In subsequent years, however, this Russianized Greek name was abandoned, and the far nobler sounding "Victoria" used in its stead. It had been prophesied that two members of the family should die in 1820. The Duke of Kent applied this prophecy to his brothers, not to himself. In the winter of 1819 he went with his wife and child to the watering place of Sidmouth, in Devonshire, a warm sheltered spot. Here he took a cold that prostrated him. He sent for an attendant, General Weatherell, and rallied sufficiently to sign his will. The following day he died. The Duke and Duchess had lived abroad to curtail expenses, and journeyed to England in order that their child might be born on British soil. At the death of her consort "the poor widow," writes Baron Stockmar, "found herself, owing to the Duke's considerable debts, in a very uncomfortable position. Her brother, Leopold, enabled her to return to Kensington, where she henceforth devoted herself to the education of her child." Six days after the death of the Duke of Kent, the before men- tioned prophecy was fulfilled by the passing away of his father, the QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 19 enfeebled George III. This occurred on the morning of January 29th. On Monday, the 31st, the Prince Regent was proclaimed George IV. The death of George III following so closely upon that of the Princess Charlotte and the Duke of Kent, caused grave disquietude regarding the eventual succession to the monarchy. The health of West Front of Kensington Palace. George IV was notedly precarious, his age was advanced and he had jio legal heir. The Duke of Clarence, next in order, was also aging, and the two daughters born to him had died in infancy. The next in succession was the infant Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Kent. An additional grant of 6,000 pounds a year was made to the Duchess of Kent in 1825,, in order "that the Princess might be en- abled to live more in accord with her rank and prospects." 20 VICTORIA. George IV reigned just ten years, when on his death his brother, the Duke of Clarence, succeeded him as William IV. It was now thought wise to make provision for various contingencies of the future; therefore a Regency bill was introduced into Parliament which provided that in case the Queen (Adelaide) should have a posthumous child, she should be the guardian of that child during its minority, and also Regent of the Kingdom. If that event did not occur, the Duchess of Kent should be Regent during the minority of her daughter, the Princess Victoria. Kensington Palace-Room where the Queen was Born. Meanwhile the future husband and cousin of the Princess was growing up in Germany. This was Albert, the son of the Duke of Coburg. He was born at Rosenau in August of the same year as the Princess. "How pretty the little mayfliower will be," writes the grand- mother of both the children, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg to the Duchess of Kent, "when I see her in a year's time." The mayflower, of course, being the Princess Victoria. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 21 As her Royal Highness grew up, she was well grounded in lan- guages, music, and such branches of science as were in those days considered suitable to ladies. Her general education was entrusted to the Duchess of Northumberland, and the Princess developed many charming qualities. Living for the most part in retirement she was Httle known to the outer world, but her affability impressed all with whom she came in contact. Her character was to a certain extent influenced by the philanthropist, William Wilberforce, whom she saw frequently. Several pleasing anecdotes are related of her charity, and it is said that when she visited Ramsgate she was a fav- orite with the bathing women and other habitues of that resort. When, a little later, it became almost certain that she would succeed to the throne owing to the childlessness of her father's eldest broth- ers, the Princess emerged more into public view, and took her walks and rides in places where, she could be generally seen. It is said that for a long while George IV treated her mother with marked coldness, but the Duke and Duchess of Clarence showed much kindness to the Duchess of Kent and her daughter. The studies of the Princess were pursued with healthful dili- gence, but she would sometimes show that she had a will of her own, by refusing to be too closely bound down by rules. A rather clever story is to the effect that she once strenuously objected to the dull, mechanical practicing such as a young musician must undergo. She was told that this was necessary if she designed to become a mistress of her chosen instrument, the piano-forte. "What would you think of me if I became mistress of it at once?" she asked. She was told that that would be impossible, that there was no royal road to music. "Oh, there is no royal road to music, eh?" she said. "No royal road? And I am not mistress of my piano-forte?" whereupon she closed the instrument, locked it and took out the key. "There !" she said, "that's being mistress of my piano ; and the royal road to learning is never to take a lesson till you're in the humor for it." The readiness to admit a fault was amusingly shown during a visit to the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam. The royal party were walking in the grounds, when the Princess ran on ahead. One of the under-gardeners pointed out that owing to recent rains a certain walk was very slip- pery, or, as he expressed it, using a local term, "very slape." "Slape ! 22 VICTORIA. slape!" exclaimed the Princess in the quick utterance of imitative childhood; "and what is 'slape'?" The explanation was given, but my lady proceeded down the path in spite of her warning, and speed- ily came to grief in falling. Seeing what had happened. Earl Fitz- william called out, "Now your Royal Highness has an explanation of the term 'slape,' both theoretically and practically." "Yes, my Lord," she replied, "I think I have. And very likely I shall never forget the word." Another time she persisted in playing with a dog against which she had been cautioned. The animal snapped at her. "Oh, thank you," she said to her cautioner. "You were right, and I was wrong. I shall be careful in future." It was in 1830, shortly after the death of George IV that the Duchess of Northumberland was appointed to the office of governess df the Princess, at the suggestion of the new King, William. Under the direction of the Duchess of Northumberland, the instruction of the Princess was conducted by various gentlemen of high repute in their several attainments. She made considerable progress in Latin ; from Mr. Amos she received the elements of constitutional govern- ment as it exists in England ; Westall, the painter, taught her draw- ing. Music was now studied with assiduity, and the future Queen revealed at an early age that passion for a noble art which has since distinguished her. In July, 1834, the Princess Victoria was confirmed by Dr. How- ley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Chapel Royal, St. James'. The remainder of the year is not distinguished by any special inci- dent, if we omit that occurring at Tunbridge Wells which gives a pleasing idea of the benevolence of the young Princess. The husband of an actress died under circumstances which left his wife in great poverty and when she was in critical health. Dis- tressed at what she heard, the Princess obtained ten pounds from her mother, added a like sum, from her own resources, and carried the amount in person to the sufferer. In 1837, on the 24th of May, the Princess completed her eigh- teenth year and was legally declared of age according to the provis- ions of the Act of Parliament already mentioned. Orathe 2d of June the King was very critically ill. On the 11 th he declared himself better and sent a letter to the Princess Victoria QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 23 offering her 10,000 pounds a year. This letter was placed in charge of Lord Conyngham with instructions to give it directly into the hands of the Princess, for the King had never mastered his dislike for the Duchess of Kent. The Princess took the despatch, the offer was Queen Victoria at the time of her Accession. accepted. But it was never to be fulfilled. On the i8th of June the King was sinking fast. The Duke of Wellington asked Greville if Melbourne had had any communication with Princess Victoria. For "he ought," said the Duke. "I was in constant communication 24 VICTORIA. with the present King for a month before George IV died." Two days later it was all over. A pretty stoiy is told of how the young girl came down in the middle of the night, summoned to hear that she was now a queen, and how she stood in slippered feet and a white robe, her hair down her back, while the kneeling great men who had brought the news to her, hailed her as their sovereign. The King died at twenty minutes after two on the morning of June 20th. The young Queen met her Council at Kensington Pal- ace, at eleven o'clock on the morning of the same day. The accession of Queen Victoria took place at a fortunate time. England was at peace with all foreign powers, and with the exception of Canada the colonies were undisturbed. The coronation of Victoria took place a year after the accession. "We may date from the accession of Queen Victoria, not merely the revival of the sentiment of English loyalty, which the personal influ- ence and example of her two uncles had well-nigh extinguished, but the inauguration of the era of popular statesmanship." Before her time, poUtics had been enjoyed as the monopoly of the great houses and the throne. England had been ruled from the crown or by territorial aristocracy. George III, George IV, and William IV, were constantly quarrelling with their ministers, and waging war with the House of Commons. They had each and every one of them claimed the right to select or dismiss the ministers. The Reform bill of 1832 had introduced revolution in the government. England was for the first time self-governed, and the population was represented in the councils of kings. Had Victoria not been what she was, or had she adopted the aggressive traditions of her grand- father, the Third George, her accession might have been fatal to the freedom of her subjects. But she had good advisers and let it be known that she intended to reign only as a constitutional sovereign. Popular legislation had already begun — there was the Corporation Reform bill, a bill for the emancipation of slaves, a bill for shortening the hours of factory labor, the new poor law, the registration act, the reduction of the newspaper stamp, and a variety of proposals for church reform. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 25 The Coronation took place on the 28th of June, 1838. The first act was that which is called "the Recognition." Accompanied by some of the chief civil dignitaries, the Archbishop ol Canterbury ad- vanced and said, "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Victoria, the undoubted Queen of this realm; wherefore, all you who are come this day to do your homage, are you willing to do the same?" There were loud cries of "God save Queen Victoria !" The strictly religious part of the ceremony followed, and at the conclusion of a sermon by the Bishop of London, the oath was administered. Her Majesty after kneeling, seated herself in the historic chair of Edward I, and the Dukes of Buccleuch and Rutland, and the Marquises of Anglesey and Exeter held a cloth of gold over her head. The Dean of West- minster next annointed the head and hands of the Queen. A prayer of blessing was then uttered, and the investiture with the Royal Robe, the rendering of the Orb, and the delivery of the Ring and Sceptre were the next ceremonies. Then came the placing of the crown on the Queen's head. As the untried and innocent young girl knelt there surrounded by all the panoply and pomp of power, a ray of sun- light is said to have fallen across her face, and being reflected from the diamonds in the crown, invested her with a sort of halo. At the same moment, the peers assumed their coronets, the Bishops their caps, and the Kings-of-arms their crowns. Trumpets sounded, drums beat, guns were fired, and loud cheers rose from every part of Westminster Abbey where the ceremony took place. Then came the Benediction, the Enthroning, and the formal rendering of hom- age, and Victoria was Queen indeed. In some respects, the accession of Queen Victoria took place at a fortunate time. England was at peace with all foreign powers ; her colonies were undisturbed, with the exception of Canada, where some long-seated discontents were on the eve of breaking out into a rebel- lion which proved formidable. At home, several of the more difficult questions of politics and statecraft had been settled, either perma- nently or for a time, in the two preceding reigns ; so that large sec- tions of the people, formerly disloyal, or at least unfriendly to the existing order, were well disposed towards a form of government which no longer appeared in the light of an oppression. The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, in 1828, had conciliated the Dis- "V!S a o o u O U K 1^ en c u a 3 a H J§ QUEEN ANB EMPHESS. 27 senters; the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities, in 1829, had abolished one of the grievances of Ireland. By the Reform Bill of 1832 — the temporary defeat of which had very nearly plunged the country into revolution — the middle classes had obtained a consider- able accession of political power. The sanguinary rigour of the criminal laws had been partially mitigated; and, in September, 1835, an act was passed for reforming the government of municipal cor- porations, and nothing in the general state of the world betokened the advent of any serious troubles. Lord Melbourne, who held the office of Prime Minister at the time of the Queen's accession, was an easy-tempered man of the world, well versed in political afifairs, but possessed of little power as a speaker, and distinguished rather for tact than high statesmanship. In truth, he cared more for government than for legislation, and was therefore well disposed to join any set of politicians who seemed capa- ble of conducting the affairs of the country with firmness and sense. Still, his most natural and permanent inclinations were towards a moderate Whiggism, very different, however, from the quasi-Radi- callsm of Fox, which he had adopted in the days of his youth. It was from this versatile, well-informed, but not very profound statesman that her Majesty received her first practical instructions in the theory and working of the British Constitution. That Lord Melbourne discharged his office with ability, devotion and conscien- tiousness, is generally admitted; but it may be questioned whether he did not, however unintentionally, give something of a party bias to her Majesty's conceptions of policy, and whether his teachings did not too much depress the regal power in England. The Queen at once threw herself with business-like precision into the duties of her high office. She rose at eight, signed despatches until the breakfast hour, and then sent one of the servants to "invite" the Duchess of Kent to the Royal table. Such was the rather cold formality observed by the young monarch ; and in other respects the etiquette of a Court seems to have been followed with rigid exactness. The Duchess never approached the Queen unless specially summoned, and always refrained from conversing on affairs of State. These restraints were considered necessary, in order to 28 VICTORIA. prevent any suspicion of undue influence by the mothef over the daughter; but they were very distressing to the former. At twelve o'clock, the sovereign conferred with her Ministers, and the serious business of the day at once began. When a docu- ment was handed to her Majesty, she read it without comment until the end was reached, the Ministers in the meanwhile observing a pro- found silence. The interval between the termination of the Council and the dinner-hour was devoted to riding or walking, and the public had many opportunities of observing the admirable style in which the Queen sat her horse. At dinner, the first Lord-in-waiting took the head of the table, opposite to whom was the chief Equerry-in- waiting. The Queen sat half-way down on the right hand, and the guests were of course placed according to their respective ranks. At an early hour, her Majesty left the table for the drawing-room, where the time was passed in music and conversation. Tlie sovereign her- self was a proficient at the piano-forte, and often showed her abilities in this respect; and when the gentlemen returned from the dining- room (which was in about a quarter of an hour), a little singing would give variety to the evening. On the 9th of November — eleven days after the meeting of Par- liament — the Queen went in State to the City, and was present at the inaugural banquet of the new Lord Mayor, Alderman Cowan. The streets through which her Majesty passed were densely thronged by people of all orders, who kept up an almost continual volley of cheers as the Royal carriages, with their escort, proceeded eastward. The houses were hung with richly-colored cloths, green boughs, and such flowers as could be furnished by the mid-autumn season. Busts of Victoria were reared upon extemporary pedestals ; flags and her- aldic devices sretched across the streets; and London displayed as much festive adornment as was possible in those days. On the ar- rival of the Queen, the Lord Mayor dismounted, and, taking the City sword iij his hand, delivered the keys to her Majesty, who at once returned them. Then the Lqrd Mayor resumed his horse, and, bear- ing the sword aloft, rode before the Queen into the heart of the City, the Aldermen following in the rear of the Royal carriage. In the open space before St. Paul's Cathedral, stands had been erected, on which were stationed the Liverymen of the City Companies, and the THE QUEEN IN CORONATION ROBES. 1869 1899 QtrEBN AND laMPEESS. 33 Christ Hospital (or Blue-coat) boys. One of the latter presented an address to the Queen, in accordance with ancient custom, and the whole of the boys then sang the national anthem. The Guildhall was magnificently adorned for the occasion ; and here an address was read by the Recor^ler. A sumptuous banquet followed, and at night the metropolis was very generally illuminated. ■ On this occasion, the Queen was accompanied by the Duchesses of Kent, Gloucester and Cambridge, and by the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, to- gether with Prince George of Cambridge. The Ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers and nobility, followed in a train of two hundred carriages, which are said to have extended for a mile and a half. The title of Baronet was conferred on the Lord Mayor, and the two Sherififs were knighted. It was long since the city had so brilliant a day, and the memory of it survived for many years. The first great historical event in the reign of Queen Victoria was the insurrection in Canada. This proved to be of very serious import, and undoubtedly showed the existence of much disafifection on the part of the French-speaking colonists. It is probable that the latter had never outgrown the mortification of being snatched from their old association with the mother-country, and subjected to a Protestant kingdom. For several years* after the treaty of 1763, which made over Canada to Great Britain as a consequence of the brilliant victories gained by Wolfe and Amherst, the colony was des- potically ruled; but in 1791 a more representative form of govern- ment was established, by which the whole possession was divided into an Upper and a Lower Province. Each of the provinces was fur- nished with a constitution, comprising a Governor, an Executive Council nominated by the Crown, a Legislative Council appointed for life in the same way, and a Representative Assembly elected for four years. This constitution (which was sanctioned by an Act of the British Parliament) worked very badly, and in 1837 the Assem- blies of both provinces were at issue with their Governors, and with the Councils appointed by the monarch. But by far the most serious state of afifairs was that which prevailed in Lower (or Eastern) Can- ada, where the population was mainly of French origin, and where, consequently, the antagonism of race and of religion was chiefly to be expected. Towards the latter end of the reign of William IV, 34 VICTORIA. commissioners were nominated to inquire into the alleged grievances, and the report of these gentlemen was presented to Parliament early in the session of 1837. On the 6th of March, Lord John Russell (then Home Secretary) brought the subject before the attention of the House of Commons, and, after many prolonged debates, a series of resolutions was passed, affirming the necessity of certain reforms in the political state of Canada. These reforms, however, did not go Death of the Duike of Kent. Presenting the Commons Address of Condolence to the Duchess, nearly far enough to satisfy the requirements of the disaffected, and by the close of 1837 the Canadians were in full revolt. When the Queen opened her first Parliament, on the 20th of November, the state of Lowef? Canada was recommended, in the Royal Speech, to the "serious consideration" of the Legislature. Before any measures could be taken, intelHgence of the outbreak reached England, and, on the 22d of December, Lord John Russell QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 35 informed the House of Commons that the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada had been adjourned, on its refusal to entertain the supplies, or to proceed to business, in consequence of what were deemed the insufficient proposals of the Imperial Government. The colonists had undoubtedly some grievances of old standing, and their constitution required amendment in a popular sense. But a position had been assumed which the advisers of the Crown could not possibly tolerate, and the malcontents were now in arms against the just and legal authority of the sovereign. As early as March, Lord John Russell had said that, since the 31st of October, 1832, no provision had been made by the legislators of Lower Canada for defraying the charges of the administration of justice, or for the support of civil government in the province. The arrears amounted to a very large sum, which the House of Assembly refused to vote, while at the same time demanding an elected Legislative Council, and entire control over all branches of the Government. The insurgents of Canada had numerous sympathizers in the United States, where, under cover of a good deal of extravagant talk about liberty, many people began to hope that existing complica- tions would efifect the long-desired annexation of the two provinces to the Federal Republic. Those who were the most earnest in their views soon passed from sympathy into action. In the latter days of 1837, a party of Americans seized on Navy Island, a small piece of territory, situated in the river Niagara a little above the Falls, and belonging to Canada. Numbering as many as 700, and hav- ing with them twenty pieces of cannon, these volunteers seemed likely to prove formidable ; but their means of ofifence were soon di- minished by an energetic, though irregular, proceeding on the part of the Canadian authorities, acting, as was afterwards well known, under the orders of Sir Francis Head, the Governor of Upper Canada. A small steamboat owned by the Americans with which they kept up communications with their own side of the river, and which was laden with arms and ammunition for the insurgents, was cut adrift from her moorings on the night oyDecember 29th, set on fire, and left to sweep over the cataract. The afifair led to a great deal of diplomatic correspondence between the American and British Gov- ernments ; 1?ut the preceding violation of Canadian soil by a body of 36 VICTORIA. adventurers precluded the Cabinet of Washington from making any serious demands on that of London. Ultimately, in the course of 1838, the President (Mr. Van Buren) issued a proclamation calling on all persons engaged in schemes for invading Canada to desist from the same, on pain of such punishments as the law attached to the ofifence. This put an end to the difificulty so far as the two countries were concerned ; but the insurrection was not yet entirely suppressed. Although the worst disaffection was in Lower Canada, both provinces were disturbed by movements of a disloyal nature. Upper Canada was excited by the fiery appeals of a Scotsman named Wil- liam Lyon Mackenzie; Lower Canada by the incitements of Louis Joseph Papineau, one of the disaffected French provincials. The two divisions of the colony, however, were jealous of each other, and this hampered what might otherwise have been a more dangerous rising. The Radical party in England supported the cause of the malcontents, and insisted on the necessity of at once redressing all grievances. The Government of Lord Melbourne maintained that the rebellion must be first suppressed ; and undoubtedly that was the only course consistent with Imperial authority. In the autumn of 1837, a small party of English troops was beaten at St. Denis; but another detachment was successful against the rebels, and the gar- risons of the various cities, though extremely small, held their own against the rising tide of insui;rection. Aided by the Royalists, the Government force under Sir John Colborne inflicted some severe blows on the enemy; yet the movement continued throughout the greater part of 1838. On the i6th of January in that year, however, the Earl of Durham had been appointed Governor-General of the five British colonies of North America, and Lord High Commissioner for the adjustment of the affairs of Canada. The liberal policy thus in- augurated, and the victories obtained over the rebels by Sir John Col- borne, Sir Francis Head, and others, brought the revolt to an end before the close of the year, and the colony soon afterwards entered on a future of prosperity. The task of Lord Durham had, nevertheless, been surrounded by many difficulties, and, although he was sent by the British Gov- ernment to carry out measures of leniency and concession, which his personal inclinations were well inclined to second, he was speedily QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 37 called to account by the Imperial Cabinet for an ordinance touching the punishment of offenders, which, being regarded as in some re- spects illegal, was disallowed. Protesting that he had been aban- doned by the Government, Lord Durham resigned on the 9th of October, and the principal conduct of affairs was left in the hands of Sir John Colborne. The poHcy of the High Commissioner had been swayed by truly benevolent and broadly liberal motives ; but he had adopted a highly dictatorial manner, and the Opposition at home (especially in the Upper House, under the violent incentives of Lord Brougham) found several opportunities of effective attack. The Government, being weak and vacillating, said less in defence of their representative than they might have done ; Lord Durham, in his pas- sionate and imperious way, issued a farewell proclamation to the peo- ple of Canada, which, in effect, amounted to an appeal from the decis- ions of the Queen's advisers — an appeal, that is, to a community still in rebellion against the Crown ; Ministers replied by recalling their insubordinate servant ; and the career of Lord Durham was at an end. The recall of Lord Durham had been anticipated by his resigna- tion ; but the disgraced official, assisted by his two secretaries, Charles Buller and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, drew up a report containing the germs of that system of unity and self-government under which Canada has since become a loyal, contented, and progressive colony. It was not long before the Cabinet of Lord Melbourne carried out the suggestions of the discredited, but still successful, dictator. In 1839, Lord Glenelg, who had been Colonial Secretary during the dissension with Lord Durham, gave place to Lord Normanby, and he shortly afterwards to Lord John Russell, who in 1840 passed a measure for reuniting Upper and Lower Canada, and establishing a system of colonial freedom. In the same year, Lord Durham died at the early age of forty-eight; but the principles of his colonial policy rose tri- umphant above his tomb. Nothing could exceed the popularity of the Queen at the begin- ning of her reign. Her youth, her innocence, the novelty of her duties and the difficulty of her position, all appealed with a command- ing tenderness to every manly instinct and every womanly sympathy. But after a while a change occcurred in the national sentiment, which was not altogether inexcusable on the part of the public, though it 38 VICTOKIA. did some injustice to the sovereign. Many enthusiasts expected more than they had any right to expect, and were disappointed be- cause the Queen did not at once do wonders for the removal of griev- ances, and the cure of national distress. Beyond these vague im- pressions, however, there were some real causes of complaint, or at least of apprehension. It was seen very clearly that the young mon- arch had placed herself too unreservedly in the hands of one political connection. The offices about the Queen's person were filled by ladies belonging to the families of the chief Ministers. People said that Lord Melbourne was too much at the Palace ; that he sought to occupy the position of a Mentor in all things ; and that in the general election the Queen showed a partiality for certain candidates who belonged to the faction then in power. Under the influence of these feelings, some men were unmanly enough to attack the Queen in public with shameful imputations. The excitement, which began during the elections of 1837, had be- come almost frantic in 1839. The Orangemen of Ireland, and the ultra-Protestants of England, believed that the sovereign was being influenced to destroy the reformed religion, and re-establish Papacy throughout her dominions. The Melbourne Administration sup- ported religious liberty ; to some extent, its members leaned for sup- port upon the Irish vote; the Queen favored Lord Melbourne; there- fore, her Majesty was inclined to Rome. Such were the stages by which these hot-headed reasoners arrived at their conclusion. Some placed their hopes in the Tory party ; others openly declared that the Tories, could they only get possession of the sovereign, would poison her, and change the succession. It is a remarkable feature of the times that during all this com- motion the Liberals were the loyal and courtly party, while many of the Tories indulged in fierce invectives against the monarch. On the one side, the Irish agitator, Daniel O'Connell, declared in the course of 1839 that he could bring together five hundred thousand of his countrymen to defend the life and honor of "the beloved young lady" who filled the English throne ; on the other, a Mr. Bradshaw, member for Canterbury in, the Tory interest, alleged, without any circumlocution, that the countenance of Queen Victoria, the ruler of Protestant England, was given to "Irish Papists and Rapparees," QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 39 her Majesty, he added, being "Queen only of a faction, and as much of a partisan as the Lord Chancellor himself." At a meeting held at the Free Masons' Tavern, presided over by Lord Stanhope, a Chartist orator proposed to open a subscription for presenting the Queen with a skipping rope and a birch-rod. Other persons spoke with equal violence, and in some instances the authorities even found it necessary to warn military officers, and civil servants of the Crown, against such disloyal utterances. Yet, if people could have set aside their prejudices and passions, they would have found abundant evidence that the nature of the Queen was instinct with just and honorable feelings. She had been accustomed from childhood to live strictly within her income, and to deny herself any little gratification which could not be at once paid for in ready money. (The same habit of virtuous prudence continued after her accession to the throne ; and out of her savings she was en- abled, during her first year of regal power, to discharge the heavy debts of her father, contracted before she was born. J The year 1838 was signalized, among other things, by some events showing the rapid change which science was making in the habits of society. On the 23d of April, the Great Western steamer arrived at New York, after a voyage of fifteen clear days. This fam- ous ship, and the Sirius, whose voyage was simultaneous almost to a day, were the first vessels which had crossed the Atlantic by steam power alone, sails having been used in combination with steam on previous occasions. The Great Western was in those days the largest steamer ever known, her tonnage being equal to that of the largest merchant ships. She was built at Bristol, and sailed from that port on the 7th of April. When she entered the harbour of New York, she had still a surplus of one hundred and forty-eight tons of coal on board, and the problem was solved as to whether a steamer could be constructed large enough to carry sufficient fuel for so long a voyage. The size, tonnage, and speed of this historic vessel have been greatly surpassed in later times ; but the fact of a ship crossing the Atlantic in fifteen days was a very genuine astonishment to the people of 1838. Two years later (1840), the Cunard line of steamers was established at Liverpool, which soon entirely eclipsed Bristol as the great com- 40 VICTORIA. mercial port on the western side of England, and as the packet-sta- tion for the American service. The Parliamentary session of 1838 came to a close on the i6th of August. Having taken her seat on the throne, the Queen was ad- dressed by the Speaker of the House of Commons on the subject of the suspension of the constitution of Lower Canada (which had been set aside as a preliminary to the introduction of more liberal arrange- ments when the rebellion should be suppressed), and on some other matters of less general interst. Her Majesty gave the Royal assent to a number of bills, and then proceeded to read the speech, which presents nothing of importance. The Government were heartily glad to be free for some months from the criticism and the menaces of a Parliament not very cordially inclined towards Lord Melbourne and his colleagues. When the House of Commons re-assembled after the general election in 1837, Ministers found themselves with a majority of only twelve. Conservative support saved them from dis- comfiture on several occasions ; but this very fact was not unnaturally considered fatal to their reputation as Whigs. The breach between the Cabinet and the advanced section of the party became wider and more impassable during the session of 1838; the recess, therefore, came as an immense relief. In addition to their troubles in the Lower House, Ministers had to encounter, in the other branch of the Legislature, the invectives of Lord Brougham, who had quarrelled with his old friends in consequence of not being re-appointed to the Chancellorship in 1835. The affairs of Canada, moreover, had brought the Whigs into collision with Lord Durham, whose nature was almost as passionate and imperious ,as that of Brougham himself. Their demerits were probably not so great as their enemies tried to show ; but the conduct of affairs was weak, and Tories and Radicals were alike dissatisfied, though often for the most diverse reasons. A good deal of discontent was growing up in the country itself. The price of bread was high ; wages-were low ; trade was not prosper- ous ; and the operation of the new Poor Law was considered unneces- sarily harsh. In the autumn of 1838, meetings were held in various localities, at which some of the speakers addressed inflammatory lan- guage to the assembled people, who belonged to the artisan and la- boring classes. A body of men had arisen calling themselves Chart- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 41 ists. They demanded a Charter of popular rights, the six points of which were Manhood Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Annual ParHaments, Payment of Members, Abolition of the Property Qualification, and Equal Electoral Districts. Several of these objects have since been carried out, either wholly or nearly so ; but in the days of which we write, they seemed dangerous and visionary in the highest degree. The middle classes, who had carried the Reform Bill of 1832 with the assistance of the grades below them, considered that enough had been done when their own interests were satisfied. A reaction had set in, and the prosperous were afraid of advancing on to the paths of revolution. Even Lord John Russell declared against further or- ganic hanges, and, in the absence of any leaders of distinguished social status, the humbler orders took the agitation into their own hands. A sentiment of vague discontent arose very speedily after the passing of the great measure which changed the representation. Bad harvests and general distress gave acrimony to the spirit of po- litical discussion. Physical force was threatened; torchhght meet- ings were held; processions were formed, in which guns, pikes, and other weapons were openly displayed; and on the 12th of December the Government issued a proclamation against all sijch gatherings. Chartism, however, was not destroyed by this measure. It is about this period, or a little earlier, that we become aware of two great names in modern statesmanship. Mr. Gladstone — then a young man of twenty-three — was returned for Newark, in December, 1832, to the first reformed Parliament. He was then a Conservative, with the same High Church leanings which, in the midst of innumer- able changes on other subjects, he has manifested ever since. His ability, his mental culture, and his habits of business, attracted the attention of Sir Robert Peel, who, in his short-lived Administration of 1834-5, made him a Junior Lord of the Treasury, and afterwards Under-Secretary for Colonial Affairs ; but it was not until the begin- ning of Victoria's reign that he became conspicuous. His rival, Mr. Disraeli, afterwards I^ord Beaconsfield, did not enter Parliament until the latter half of 1837 — the first Parliament of the reign of Queen Victoria. He was the son of Isaac D'Israeli, an author of distinction, the descendant of a family of Jews, formerly connected with Spain and Italy. Isaac having quarrelled with the 42 VICTORIA. Wardens of the Synagogue, his son Benjamin was brought up as a Christian from an early period of his life. By 1837-8, he had made a name for himself by a variety of novels, embodying those political and social ideas which afterwards influenced his conduct as a public man — a sort of Toryism, with an infusion of democratic sympathy. It was as a species of Radical, though with Tory support, that he first endeavored to obtain a seat in the House of Commons; but a few years later he found no difficulty in displaying the Conservative col- ors without reserve. The inconsistency, though of course not suscep- tible of being entirely explained away, was hardly so extreme as might at first appear. Mr. Disraeli hated the Whigs, and objected to several features of the Reform Bill, as giving too much power to the middle classes, and too little to the working classes, and as tend- ing in this way to the increased predominance of the great Whig fam- ilies. He appeared, therefore, to be attacking the same enemy, whether, from a Radical or a Tory platform. The future Lord Beaconsfield was thirty-three years of age when he entered the House of Commons as the Conservative Mem- ber for Maidstone. He was five years older than Mr. Gladstone, and began his Parliamentary career five years later ; but, from the close of 1837 to the summer of 1876, when Mr. Disraeli was advanced to the Peerage, both were members of the Lower House, except during the short interval between Mr. Gladstone's retirement from Newark in 1846 an his election for Oxford University in 1847. The appear- ance of the representative for Maidstone did not create a favorable impression. He was a dandy, a type existing in those days, with the addition of a certain extravagance and gorgeousness. His long black hair, his sallow countenance, his bottle-green coat and white waistcoat, his profusion of rings and gold chains, his strange gestures and general exaggeration of manner, excited a sense of the ludicrous which was not fortunate for the new-comer. His first attempt at oratory had a disastrous termination. The great figures of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli have occu- pied such prominent positions during the reign of Queen Victoria, that it has seemed necessary to make special reference to their rise as politicians. At this period, both sat on the Conservative side of the House. But their Conservatism was of two very different orders; QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 43 Mr. Gladstone's being more of the steady, orthodox kind, while Mr. Disraeli's shot forth into novelties and unexpected developments, touching on autocracy in one direction, and on democratic power in another. The term "Conservative," it may be here remarked, arose about the commencement of the Queen's reign, or at any rate not long before. Since 1832, also, it had been not unusual for certain enthusiasts of the opposite party to call themselves Liberals ; but the older members of both bodies preferred the historic appellations of Whig and Tory. "Radical" was another term belonging to the same epoch ; so that we find all the party watchwords which are still active in the political arena. A Favorite Dog (af+er an Etching by the Queen) n) •n o c 3 a 5 II. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. Principal Events of 1839 — Chinese War — Albert, Prince of Saxe Coburg — Marriage of the Queen — Character of the Prince — His Position at Court — Rowland Hill and the Postal System — Attempt on the Queen's Life — Birth of the Princess Royal — The Anti-Corn-Law League — Sir Robert Peel — The Oxford Movement — Newman — Birth of the Prince of Wales — Other Attempts on the Life of the Queen. HE principal events of the early part of 1839 were the taking of Aden, January 20th, by the troops of the East India Company ; the opening of Pariiament by the Queen in person, February 5th ; and the arrest of the superintendent of the British trade in China by the Chinese government. Aden, a town and harbor at the extreme southwest of Arabia, at that time was a collection of mud huts with six hundred inhabit- ants. A British ship wrecked on the coast was plundered and its crew barbarously treated by the natives. A war ship sailed from Bombay in 1838 to compel the reigning Sultan to make restitution. The Sultan agreed to the demands, but afterward tried to break his promise, though in the end he did what he had agreed to do. This was the first enterprise with Aden, which now, under British rule, is a flourishing trading place, a coaling station of the Anglo-Indian mails and a convenient position for communication with Asia and Africa. The Chinese matter was of more importance. An English "fac- tory" was established in Canton in 1680, and several such places of trade (the Anglo-Indian meaning of the word) were in operation in 1839. 'The trade was in opium, grown in India, and smuggled into China. Dissensions rose in consequence of such smuggling, and in 1839 matters came to a climax in the arrest of Captain Elliot, the English superintendent. A naval war broke out between England and China, which lasted till 1842 when a treaty of peace was con- cluded at Nankin when it was provided that Amoy, Foo Chow, Ning- po and Shanghai, in addition to Canton, should be thrown open to the 45 46 VICTORIA. British, and that the Island of Hong Kong should become English tei-ritory. These matters scarcely come under the life of the Queen, except that so early in her reign there occurred events which, trifling in their incipiency, yet led to results which added to the greatness of Britain and formed a chain of strength. The youthful Queen, by modesty of demeanor and strength of will was doing much to change the current of opinion in her favor — for there were times until then when she was not popular, more perhaps because of being misunder- stood than by reason of any fault of hers. Her consideration for others was noted, her genuine kindness for the poor and afflicted — not the state-kindness of a sovereign, but the sympathy and pity of a woman for those whom accident had placed in a position lower than 'her own. And then^all at once, she was loved. "All the world loves a lover," and certain events of importance and of great interest had happened in the life of the Queen. When in 1836 it became evident that the Princess Victoria would in all probability succeed to the throne, her uncle, King Leopold, consulted with his friend and ad- viser, Baron von Stockmar, as to a possible husband for his niece. Stockmar thought well of the young Prince of Saxe-Coburg. A visit to Kensington Palace was arranged and Albert came to England with his father and brother in May, 1836. The Prince made a very favorable impression on the Princess. During the next few years the Prince pursued his studies in Germany, winning the highest praises from his instructors. While there was no formal engagement, it came to be gradually understood that the English Queen and the Saxon Prince stood in a certain relation of mutual fidelity, though not of an absolutely bind- ing order. Attached as she was to the Prince the Quee^n desired to postpone the marriage a few years, partly because of her cousin's youth. But ^ visit of Albert to Windsor Castle in October, 1839, de- cided the matter. All previous hesitation disappeared, and on the 14th of October, the Queen informed Lord Melbourne that she had made up her mind. On the 15th, she wrote to Baron Stockmar: 'T do feel so guilty, I know not how to begin my letter, but I think the news it will contain will be sufficient to insure your forgive- QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 47 ness. Albert has completely won my heart, and all was settled be- tween us this morning. * * * j fg^i certain he will make me very happy. I wish I could say I felt as certain of my making him happy, but I shall do my best. Uncle Leopold must tell you all about the details, which I have not time to do." Prince Albert, at the time of his Marriage. The marriage was celebrated in the Chapel Royal, St. James,' on the loth of February, 1840. The Queen looked excited and nervous, and according to a let- ter from the Dowager Lady Lytt^lton (one of the ladies-in-waiting), her eyes were swollen with weeping, although great happiness apr- QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 49 peared in her countenance. The Duchess of Kent is said to have been disconsolate and distressed. As Her Majesty was returning to Buckingham Palace, it was re- marked that the paleness and anxiety of the morning had given place to a bright flush and a more unrestrained and joyous manner. After the wedding breakfast the newly married couple left for Windsor, on reaching which they found the town brilliantly illuminated. A cor- dial reception by the Borough followed. In some degree, the very virtues of Prince Albert's character stood in the way of his rapidly making friends, though a feeling of respect was not slow in arising. His manners were reserved and dis- tant, and people mistook for haughtiness what was nothing more than the disinclination of a reflective and sequestered nature to enter heart- ily into the promiscuous and not always very sincere intercourse of what is called general society. He was considered cold and ungenial and it is probable that to some he really was so. To those whom he truly loved, and whose natures were sympathetic with his own, he could be a most delightful companion; but this, of course, was no compensation to courtiers who expected to find in him a facile man of the world, but whose frivolities repelled and wearied him. In truth, he was something of a formalist, and formalism is the quality, of all others, which generally makes Englishmen feel most uneasy. One of his favorite ideas was to promote the abolition of duelling in the British army by the substitution of courts of arbitration on ques- tions of personal honor. The Duke of Wellington and other leaders gave some heed to this proposal ; but it had no great prospect of suc- cess, and in time ceased to be talked about. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the agitation of this subject by Prince Albert, in 1843, co-operated with other causes to put down the foolish and wicked practice against which his Royal Highness sought to make provision. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne, duelling was frequent. In twelve or thirteen years, it had almost entirely died out, killed by the ridicule and the awakened moral sense of all reason- able men. The question of the Prince's position in the Royal Household was unquestionably one of no little importance. The young hus- band possessed "no independent authority by right of his position, 50 VICTORIA. and could exercise none, even within his own household, without trenching upon the privileges of others, who were not always dis- posed to admit of interference. This could scarcely fail to embarass his position in the midst of a vast Royal establishment, which had in- herited many of the abuses of former reigns, and where he found much of which he could not approve, but yet was without the power to rectify. And as behind every abuse there is always some one in- terested in maintaining it, he could not but be aware that he was regarded with no friendly eyes by those who were in that position, and who naturally dreaded the presence among them of one so vis- ibly intolerant of worthlessness and incapacity. The consequence was that the Prince sometimes found himself in collision with func- tionaries who would scarcely allow him any authority whatever. Confusiop and extravagance, delay and discomfort, reigned within the Palace; the Queen and the Prince were equally inconvenienced and annoyed ; yet, although some reforms were efifected at an earlier period, it was not until 1844 that the system was radically altered. In relation to the State, the position of the Prince was even more beset with thorns than in respect of his domestic arrangements. It was impossible that he should cut himself ofif from all interest in the great events of the time ; yet he had no place in the Constitution, and it was most necessary that he should avoid even the semblance of interfering in the politics of the country on which he had been affil- iated. His own idea was to constitute himself the Private Secretary and confidential adviser of the Queen ; and this was the position which, after a while, he actually filled. He read the foreign des- patches which it is the duty of Government to submit to the sover- eign before sending them out ; he wrote notes for the guidance of her Majesty's judgment, and in many ways assisted the youth and inex- perience of one who had been called, without much preparation, to the discharge of onerous duties. The suggestions of the Prince were not seldom accepted by Ministers ; though of course it was necessary to regard them as coming from the Queen, as, indeed, by adoption they did. The domestic life of this period was cheered and exalted by reading, by music, by art, and by frequent visits to the theatre, especially to witness the plays of Shakespeare, then interpreted by a school of actors who in these days have' scarcely any successors. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 51 Occasional visits to Claremont relieved the oppressive monotony of London existence. A few weeks before the marriage of Prince Albert, a social and administrative reform had begun in Great Britain. For many years the Postage system of the country had been in a state wholly inade- quate to the requirements of modern civilization. When a regular Post Ofifice was established in the reign of Charles I the number of persons who could read and write was small, and the needs of the pub- lic were proportionably trivial. But in the middle of the nineteenth century it was imperative that the transmission of letters should be cheap, rapid and facile. Education was spreading; yet, to relatives and friends divided by a few miles, the expense of a letter was so great that, in many instances, people forbore from writing altogether, or resorted to a number of curious and dishonest tricks for sending and obtaining some sort of intelligence without paying for it. Peers, members of the House of Commons, and Cabinet Ministers, had the right of "franking," as the phrase was ; that is, by writing their names on the outsides of letters, whether their own or those of other per- sons, they could secure their free conveyance. In the case of Minis- ters, this privilege was without limits; in the other cases, the right was confined to a certain proportion of letters in the course of the year. The system of franking was bad in every way. It deprived the revenue of what was legitimately its due, and something must be done. Mr. Rowland Hill (subsequently Sir Rowland) was the third son of Mr. Thomas Wright Hill, of Kidderminster, and afterwards of Birmingham, and brother of Matthew Davenport Hill, an eminent lawyer, politician and reformer, whose name is identified with the more humane treatment of juvenile offenders. Delicate in health from his childhood, young Rowland showed a premature genius for figures, and a still greater genius for organization. In 1833, when about thirty-seven years of age, he was appointed Secretary to the South Australian Commission, and was largely instrumental in founding the colony of South Australia. It was about this time that his attention was first directed towards the Postal system, and early in 1837 he published a pamphlet on "Post Ofifice Reform : Its Import- ance and Practicability." He had observed that the number of let- 52 VICTORIA. ters passing through the post bore a ridiculously small proportion to the number of the population. His mathematical mind induced him to make calculations as to the cost of conveyance ; and he found that the expense of transit on each individual letter between London and Edinburgh — a distance of four hundred miles — ^was not more than the thirty-sixth part of a penny. Indeed, the cost was but little en- hanced by distance; and Mr. Hill therefore came to the conclusion that, if the rates of postage were reduced to the lowest, if the despatch of letters were made more frequent, and the speed of conveyance were increased, the revenue would gain instead of lose, to say nothing of the social boon. Starting from his well-ascertained datum, that thirty-six letters could be carried from London to Edinburg at a cost of a penny, Mr. Hill strongly urged the desirability of adopting a uniform rate of postage within the limits of the United Kingdom. That this rate should not be more than a penny, followed naturally from the proved facts of the case, and from the obvious justice of giving the public the advantage of a cheapness which would actually benefit instead of injuring the revenue. Nevertheless, the opposition to be encount- ered proved very serious and harassing. All the persons engaged in the old system were pledged to resist the new ; and it appears to have been really thought that a penny post would entail such difficulties in its organization as to be practically impossible. The Postmaster General, Lord Lichfield, declared in the House of Lords that the proposed scheme was the wildest and most extravagant he had ever known. In the opinion of this official, and of several others, the nec- essary expenses would be absolutely overwhelming, while, owing to the immeasurable increase of correspondence, no building would be large enough to receive the clerks and the letters. On the other hand, many believed that there would be very little increase in the number of letters, and that there was, in fact, no real demand for any change whatever. Rowland Hill, however, was not a man to be deterred by any amount of difficulty. He had convinced himself, and ultimately he convinced others, that letters might be sent to any part of Great Britain and Ireland for the sum of one penny, and that yet there would be a profit of two hundred per cent. The uniformity of charge QUEE3Sr AND EMPRESS. 53 would in itself save a large amount of time and trouble ; and if the postage could be paid in advance, there would be a still further gain in a general convenience. As Mr. Hill was not himself a member of Parliament, it was essential to his scheme that he should get a spokesman or two in that Assembly. He was well served by Mr. Warburton arid Mr. Wallace, who frequently brought the subject before the attention of the House of Commons. In February, 1838, Mr. Wallace moved for a select committee to investigate and report upon the proposed scheme of postal reform; but, as the Government declared that the matter was under their consideration, the motion was not carried. Public attention, however, was by this time strongly directed towards the subject, and numerous petitions were sent up to Parliament from very influential bodies, praying that the law might be altered. The Mel- bourne Ministry began to see that the subject was one which must shortly be taken in hand, whether in a greater or a less degree. The natural inclination was, of course, to treat it in the slightest degree possible, and various minor reforms were proposed, which only showed that the official position was getting insecure, but yet that there was a strong disinclination to sanction any radical change. At length, on the Sth of July, 1839, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in bringing forward the annual budget at an unusually late period of the session, proposed a resolution declaring it to be expedient "to re- duce the postage on letters to one uniform rate of one penny, charged upon every letter of a weight to be hereafter fixed by law ; Parliamen- tary privileges of franking being abolished, and official franking strictly regulated; this House pledging itself at the same time to make good any deficiency of revenue which may be occasioned by such an alteration in the rates of the existing duties." The evidence obtai'ined by a committee of the House had shown the absolute need and the entire practicability of Rowland Hill's plan. The demand for the adoption of that plan was now universal, and the Government could no longer resist a change which was supported by convincing reasons. The requisite Act of Parliament was rapidly passed, and the law received the Queen's sanction before the end of August. Between the introduction of the new Postal system and the pass- ing of the bill for the protection of youthful sweeps, her Majesty had 54 VICTOEIA. been exposed to a danger and an affront which she had probably never anticipated, .though it has been repeated several times since. On the loth of June, 1840, the Queen was driving up Constitution Hill, in company with Prince Albert, when she was twice fired at by a pot-boy, seventeen years of age, named Edward Oxford. Her Ma- jesty turned very pale, and, between the firing of the first and second shots, rose up in the carriage ; but Prince Albert immediately pulled her down by his side. A pleasing impression was produced at the time by the thoughtfulness of the Queen in ordering the carriage to be at once driven to the residence of the Duchess of Kent, that her mother, who might have heard some rumor of the occurrence, should see that she was safe. On afterwards driving through Hyde Park, her Majesty had a most enthusiastic reception from the fashionable company in the Row. She was ultimately escorted home by a crowd consisting of all classes, and repeated shouts revealed the cordiality of the public feeling. On the oflfender being examined next day be- fore the Privy Council, he said that, although there were many wit- nesses against him, they contradicted each other in several important particulars. It appeared that he belonged to a secret society called "Young England," the rules of which prescribed that every member should, when ordered to attend a meeting, be armed with a brace of loaded pistols and a sword, and should also be provided with a black crepe cap, to cover the face. This society, however, does not seem to have had any wide ramifications, and was probably nothing more than an association of foolish young people, actuated as much by van- ity as by malice. On the loth of July, Oxford was tried for high treason in its most aggravated form, including an attempt on the very life of her Majesty. The defence was based on an allegation of in- sanity. He was ordered to be kept in a lunatic asylum during her Majesty's pleasure; but in 1868 he was set at liberty, on condition of going abroad. One good effect was the increased popularity both of the Queen and of her husband, who were received with genuine enthusiasm whenever they appeared in public. The condition of her Majesty in the summer of 1840 rendered it advisable that a Regency should be appointed. The Queen's own wish was that Prince Albert should be named as Regent; but of course it was necessary to carry a bill to this effect through Parlia- QUEEN AND EMPBESS. 55 ment, and it was feared that there might be some difficulties of a vex- atious nature, unless an understanding could be previously arrived at with the leaders of the Opposition. The Duke of Sussex was known to dislike conferring this position on Prince Albert, and to favor the idea of creating a Council of Regency, in which he himself would be a prominent member. Baron Stockmar, therefore, opened com- munications with Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington, and the matter was speedily arranged. A bill appointing Prince Albert to the office of Regent in the case supposed was introduced into the Upper House on the 13th of July, and passed with no other dissent- ient voice than that of the Duke of Sussex. The measure was equally successful in the House of Commons, and it was generally agreed that the father, as the natural guardian of any offspring, was the fittest person to exercise supreme power in the name of the Royal infant, until he or she had attained the legal majority. On the other hand, there was the objection that the actual ruler of the country dur- ing many years would be a born foreigner ; but, as this had happened several times before in the history of England, it was held to be no serious obstacle to an arrangement otherwise satisfactory. On the nth of September, Prince Albert was made a member of the Privy Council. He and the Queen were then residing at Windsor. But an event was now approaching which rendered a re- turn to Buckingham Palace advisable. The London residence of her Majesty was re-entered on the 13th of November. The baptism of the Princess Royal took place on the loth of February, the first anniversary of the Queen's marriage, when the infant was christenedfVictoria Adelaide Mary Louisaj The Prince, in writing, on the 12th of February, 1841, to his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, said that the christening had gone off very well. "Your little great-grandchild," he added, "behaved with great propriety, and like a Christian. She was awake, but did not cry at all, and seemed to crow with immense satisfaction at -the lights and brilliant uniforms, for she is very intelHgent and observing. The ceremony took place at half-past six P. M. ; and after it there was a dinner, and then we had some instrumental music. The health of the little one was drunk with great enthusiasm." The sponsors at the christening were the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha (repre- O 1) u .s bJ3 C "S CI J3 ^ f l^fm>ii>i)i\\'f^^ ^t55g»T^»^p;^S«5a»r!^5«w ^■J^i=-r.-^'»-i~-iaV-'' Sf ^^ ^ ^ ■«. .1,,^ - .■!W ^ VICTORIA, (a?t. 26.) QUEEN AND ElVIPRESS. 59 sented in his absence by the Duke of WelHngton), the King of the Belgians, the Queen Dowager, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent, and the Duke of Sussex. Only the day before, the Prince had met with an accident, which might have proved fatal. He was skating on the ornamental water in Buckingham Palace Gar- dens, when a piece of ice, which had been recently broken, and had thinly frozen over again, gave way as he was passing across it. He had to swim for two or three minutes, in order to get out; but her Majesty, who was standing on the bank, showed great presence of mind, and afforded valuable assistance. During the last two years the Queen had been made anxious by affairs in the East. Egypt had annexed Syria, and Ibrahim Pasha repeatedly worsted the Ottoman forces. A compromise had been effected in 1833. ^^t in 1839 Mehemit AH again rose. Mahmond II expired July ist, shortly after being defeated in Syria. A few days after his death the Captain Pasha, or Lord High Admiral, deserted to Mehemit AH with the whole Turkish fleet, and the Ottoman Empire might have been rent to fragments but for the intervention of Eng- land, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Thus assisted, the young Turkish Sultan, Abdul-Medjid pronounced the deposition of the Egyptian. Beyrout was bombarded by a combined English, Austrian and Turk- ish fleet, and captured. Other successes followed, and Mehemit AH made his submission. There had been no little danger of a rupture with France, owing to the different views of the Eastern question taken by that power and England, and M. Guizot was sent on a special mission to London in the hope of composing matters. The Queen received him graciously, and shortly afterward the cloud passed away, and soon after the birth of the Princess Royal, all men- ace of a European war had disappeared. A minor but still important incident, belonging to the same period, tended to the creation of a better feeHng between England and France, and, in a not distant future, helped forward a striking change in the political condition of the latter country. In May. i840,during the reign of Louis PhilHppe, the body of Napoleon I was removed, by permission of the English Government, from the island of St. Helena to the dominions where the great conquero^ad once held such brilliant, yet disastrous, sway. On the isth of December, 60 VICTORIA. the remains were buried with solemn pomp in the Hotel des In- valides, in Paris. A magnificent monument has since been, erected over the grave, and it cannot be doubted that the enthusiasm awak- ened by the reception of the mighty soldier's ashes had m'uch to do with the subsequent revival of the Napoleonic Empire. A question of great importance, which had been growing up for years, was now acquiring a degree of prominence which renders it advisable that some notice should be taken of its rise and develop- ment. The Corn Laws of England had long operated not only as a serious interference with the trade of the country, but as an artificial aggravation of the price of food. From time to time, various at- tempts had been made to lighten the burden by making the tax de- pendent on the price of native wheat ; but the injury to the populace was always considerable, and the benefit, if there was any benefit at all, was enjoyed simply by the land owners and the agricultural class. Strange to say, the great body of the people, who were chiefly inter- ested in the matter, made little remonstrance during a long term of years, and it required the persistent efforts of an organized body to excite the necessary amount of opposition to an impost which did cruel injustice to the multitude. An association for obtaining the repeal of the Corn Laws was established in London in 1834, and other bodies, animated by the same intention, arose in dififerent parts of the country. Still, their influence was but slight; and it was not until the work was taken up by men peculiarly fitted to carry on the discus- sion, that the country recognized the evils of a system which made the poor man's loaf dearer than it ought to be. In 1804, a small landed proprietor near Midhurst, in Sussex, had a son born to him, who was afterwards the celebrated Richard Cob- den. Tlie boy was soon introduced to business life in London, and subsequently became a partner in a Manchester printed-cotton fac- tory, for which he occasionally traveled. In this way he saw a good deal of the world, and, being a person of a singularly shrewd, pene- trating and reflective mind, he discerned the whole fallacy of the Pro- tective system, and determined to devote his energies to a repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1838, he and some others brought the matter before the attention of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and from that time forward the question came into the first rank of public QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 61 discussion. The following year delegates were sent from the manu- facturing districts to London, that their views upon the subject might be brought under the notice of the Legislature. At that time, Cobden had no seat in the House of Commons, but the desired reform was ably supported in that assembly by the brother of the late Earl of Clarendon, Mr. Charles Villiers, who, so far as Parliament is con- cerned, may be described as the Father of Free Trade. On the 19th of February, 1839, Mr. Villiers moved that the House resolve itself into a Committee of Inquiry on the Corn Laws; and on the 12th of March he moved that certain manufacturers be heard by counsel at the bar of the House against the Com Laws, as injurious to their private interests. Both motions were rejected by large majorities, and the delegates returned to the North, convinced that nothing would serve their cause but a systematic campaign, directed against the evils from which they suffered, together with the great majority of the people. Hence the creation of the Anti-Corn-Law League, the constitu- tion of which was adopted on the 20th of March, 1839, at a meeting in Manchester. The body thus formed was a sort of federation of all similar bodies existing in different parts of the kingdom. It was agreed that delegates from the different local associations should from time to time meet for business at the principal towns repre- sented, and that, with a view to securing unity of action, the central ofifice of the League should be established in Manchester; to which office should be entrusted, among other duties, those of engaging and recommending competent lecturers, and of obtaining the co-op- eration of the public press. The two chief leaders of the movement thus set on foot were Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright; but there were several others who lent valuable assistance to the cause. In partic- ular, Captain (afterwards General) Perronet Thompson, a man of great literary power, published (originally in 1827, and again in later years) a "Catechism of the Corn Laws," which placed the whole ar- gument in a singularly lucid and compact form before the nation. Numerous tracts, written with similar objects, were printed in enormous numbers, and dispersed all over the country. Meetings were held in important towns, and lectures were delivered by a staff of paid assistants, of. whom one of the principal was the late W. J. 62 VICTORIA. Fox, afterwards Member for Oldham — a journalist of distinction, a ready and effective disputant, and a speaker gifted with remarkable powers of persuasive eloquence. By the early part of 1841, the public mind had been to a considerable extent permeated by the ideas favored by the League; but a great deal still remained to be done before either party in the State could be convinced that the only proper course was to abolish the impost upon corn, and give the British people the benefit of foreign produce in those years of scarc- ity to which their variable climate so frequently condemns them. The sincerity with which capitalists in the commercial parts of Eng- land adopted Free Trade views was strikingly shown by the large sums of money subscribed every year for the maintenance of the League, and for the diffusion of its economic principles. It is true that manufacturers had an interest in removing all restrictions upon trade, which at that time were numerous, and operated to the general disadvantage of commerce. But in their resistance to injurious en- actments they were fighting the battle of the people themselves, and the reforms which began a few years later enhanced the prosperity of England, and materially lessened the menaces of discontent. In 1841, the year of the final defeat of the Melbourne Ministry, which had become more and more unpopular, Prince Albert for the first time, took a somewhat prominent part in politics. A little while after the royal marriage. Lord Melbourne expressed to the Prince his conviction that the time had come when the Court should treat all parties, especially the tories, in the spirit of general amnesty. The year following. Lord Melbourne, who had all along been most anxious that the Queen should tell the Prince and show him everything connected with public affairs, "intimated that the political crisis would no longer be delayed. It was," his Lordship said, "the Prince's duty to prepare the Queen for the possible event- uality." A letter written by Baron Stockmar to the Prince about this period is memorable not only for the prudence of its advice, but because it embodies the principles on which the Prince Consort con- scientiously acted. "If," wrote the Baron, "things come to a change of Ministry, then the great axiom irrefragably one and the same for all ministries, is this, viz., the Crown supports frankly, honorably and with all its might, the Ministry of the time, whatever it be, so long QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 63 as it commands a majority and governs with integrity, for the welfare and advancement of the country. A King who, as a constitutional King, either cannot or will not carry this maxim into practice, delib- erately descends from the lofty pedestal on which the constitution has placed him to the lower one of a mere party chief. Be you, therefore, the constitutional genius of the Queen. Do not content yourself with merely whispering this maxim in her ear when cir- cumstances serve, but strive to carry it out into practice at the right time and by the worthiest means." The severance of the official relations which had existed be- tween the Queen and Lord Melbourne, by the defeat of the govern- ment of the latter was naturally a blow. It was, however, greatly mitigated by the consciousness that in her husband she had a consti- tutional counsellor not only safe, but one who commanded the con- fidence of the country as well. In the new administration. Sir Robert Peel was First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Lyndhurst Lord High Chancellor, Sir James Gra- ham Home Secretary, Mr. Goulburn Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Aberdeen Foreign Secretary, Lord Stanley Secretary for the Colonies, Sir Henry Hardinge Secretary of War, Lord Ellenbor- ough President of the Board of Control, and the Duke of Wellington leader of the House of Lords, without office. These were the prin- cipal appointments, and they constituted a Government of consider- able abiHty. The chief strength of the new cabinet, however, lay in Sir Robert Peel himeslf. His abilities as a financier were generally admitted, and have probably never been surpassd. If the country was to be dragged out of the abyss of its ever-increasing embarrass- ments. Peel was the man most likely to perform the feat. But the deficit was alarming and, shortly after the reassembling of Parlia- ment, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said he must ask for a vote of 2,500,000 pounds, adding that he would in time state how he pro- posed to meet the existing deficiency. In the meanwhile, the dis- tress of the working classes was becoming every day more intense, and in the manufacturing districts great dissatisfaction was expressed that Sir Robert Peel not only refused to adopt Free Trade in its in- tegrity, but even repudiated Lord John Russell's project for a small fixed duty upon corn. Peel favored what was known in those days 64 VICTORIA. as the Sliding Scale, by which foreign wheat was allowed to be im- ported at a variable duty — greater when the price of home-grown wheat was low, and lower when the price was high. The truth is that neither the Whigs nor the Tories had made up their minds to accept the principles of Free Trade, while both sought to postpone Sir Robert Peel. the threatened day by contrivances more or less objectionable, and more or less futile. But the general election had returned to Parlia- ment a man who in the course of a few years was to carry the Free Trade banner triumphaiiitly on to the Treasury benches themselves. Richard Cobden now sat for the first time in Parliament, and his QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 65 "unadorned eloquence," as Peel afterwards called it, was soon to produce an immense effect upon the minds of those who heard him. Among the many sources of agitation existing at that time, none was more remarkable, or in some respects more important, than the High Church movement, which had originated several years before, but which in 1841 was beginning to assume grave proportions. This turmoil of the religious mind had first shown itself in the Uni- versity of Oxford towards the latter end of the reign of George IV. A number of enthusiastic young students — men of great mental ' power, and of unquestionable sincerity — began to be dissatisfied with the position, doctrine, and ceremonial of the Church for which they were being prepared, or which they had already entered. They considered that the Church had abnegated some of its most valuable functions ; that it was lax in its ideas, somnolent in its teaching, for- getful of tradition, slovenly in its ritual and indifferent to its authori- tative powers. Curious inquirers trace back the beginning of this movement to the lectures of Bishop Lloyd on the Prayer Book and the Council of Trent, which were delivered when he was Regius Pro- fessor of Divinity at Oxford, about 1823. But, whatever impulse he may have given to subsequent speculations,Dr. Lloyd does not appear among the leaders of the great movement which afterwards shook the religious world of England to its centre. Those leaders were the Rev. John Keble, author of "The Christian Year," and Fellow of Oriel ; the Rev. J. H. Newman (now Cardinal Newman) ; the Rev. Richard Hurrell Froude (who with Newman, was also a Fellow of Oriel); the Rev. E. B. Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church; and the Rev. Isaac Williams, Fellow of Trinity, and author of "The Cathedral, and Other Poems." Cam- bridge contributed the services of the Rev. Hugh Rose ; but, on the whole, the sister University was little affected by the new ideas. The founders of the modern High Church were not long in using the press as the most effectual method of propagating their opinions. They issued a series of papers called "Tracts for the Times," of which ninety numbers were published between the years 1833 and 1841 ; and articles to the same effect were also published in the British Critic. These manifestos produced an extraordinary effect on a large portion of the clergy, and a certain number of the laity ; but at 66 VICTORIA. the same time they aroused the bitterest opposition amongst num- erous classes of churchmen and church-goars. It was alleged that some of the most distinctive doctrines of the Romish Church were ostentatiously paraded by the reformers as irrefragable and indis- pensable doctrines of the English Church ; though, in some instances at least, these doctrines might be fairly inferred from the Articles and the Prayer Book. What perhaps gave more offence than any- thing else was the scorn and hatred with which the Tractarians, as they were soon called, repudiated the word "Protestant," as if it necessarily involved the most detestable of heresies. They called themselves "Anglicans," and would admit no other description. The most bigoted of Romish divines could hardly have regarded Luther with greater dislike than was manifested by the more extreme mem- bers of the school. The days of the Reformation were stigmatized by High Church enthusiasts as days of degradation and wickedness, and every form of dissent was an invention of the devil. All these vagaries induced many persons, who argued rather through the me- dium of, their alarm and anger than by means of their reason, to believe that Tractarians were consciously and designedly preparing the way for a return to Roman Catholicism. With some, indeed — notably with Mr. J. H. Newman — this was the actual result of their speculations. But, as a body, the Hig-h Churchmen had no such in- tention. They had not the slightest wish to subject their Church to the orders of an Italian priest holding his court at Rome. What they really desired was to subject the whole of England — the State as well as the individual — to their conceptions of ecclesiastical pre- dominance. Most of the younger clergymen fell in with the Tractarian move- ment, as young men are generally disposed to fall in with anything new. A spirit of revivalism spread over the land. The writings of the Fathers, the ancient liturgies of the early Christian Church, the' history and traditions of the Church in all ages, the lives of saints, the mediaeval books of devotion and morals — all these were dili- gently disinterred from dusty shelves where they had long slumbered, and studied in the belief that they would shed a new and divine light on modern troubles and perplexities. Gothic architecture and art, of a purer type than had been known for nearly five hundred years, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 67 were cultivated as a means of influencing the public mind in favor of the strictest ecclesiasticism. Symbolical forms were interpreted in a deeply mystical sense, and gradually the conceptions of the re- formers began to find their way, not merely into the churches, but into general literature, especially into poetry of a tender and emo- Portrait of Victoria, St. George's Chajpel. tional order. Then arose the battle of surplices", intonings, candles, and altars, which at first shocked, and afterwards exasperated, the average Englishman. In the early part of 1841, Mr. Newman published the celebrated "Tract No. 90," the object of which was to show that subscription to 68 VTCrrOKTA. the Thirty-nine Articles need not deter a man from holding various doctrines which are commonly regarded as Romish. This was going a little too far for the patience of the authorities, and, on the 15th of March, the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses at Oxford censured the offending Tract, in a resolution which set forth — "That modes of interpretation such as are suggested in said Tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of the Thirty-nine Articles, and reconciling subscription to them with the adoption of errors which they were designed to counteract, defeat the object, and are incon- sistent with the due observance, of the statutes of the University." Next day, Mr. Newman addressed a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, acknowledging himself as the author of the Tract. Some time after, he resigned the Vicarage of St. Mary's, Oxford, and in 1845 he seceded to the Church of Rome. It is no secret that neither the Queen nor Prince Albert liked the extreme views of the Tractarians, but would have preferred a broader and more liberal interpretation of Church doctrines. But the move- ment was of course entirely independent of Royal influences, and the time was one of awakened enthusiasm in all matters appertaining to religion. In Scotland, as in Eng-land, men's minds were being agi- tated by conflicting views as to the proper character of a Church ; and the dispute at the North terminated in a disruption of an important nature. A party had arisen in the Kirk of Scotland which desired, like the Tractarians in the Church of England, to emancipate the re- ligious body from the control of the State in all matters of doctrine and discipline ; but this was no easy task. An Act of Parliament had been passed in 1712, which subjected the power of the Presbytery to the control of the law-courts. Until then, the appointment of pas- tors had been with the Church-courts of Scotland ; but now the min- ister was in many instances nominated by a lay patron, and the Pres- bytery thereupon admitted him as a matter of course, unless there was some flagrant objection which could not be evaded or overcome. The popular element in the Scottish Kirk was thus subordinated to aristocratic influence, and in time many sincere members of that body were so much disgusted as to secede from the Established Church, and form separate communions of their own. Matters had reached such a pass by 1834, when the "Evangelical," as opposed to the QUEEN AND EMFRrfSS. 69 "Moderate," party had obtained the upper hand, that the General Assembly of the Kirk affirmed the right of each congregation to ex- ercise a veto on any presentee, in accordance with a fundamental law of the Church, "that no pastor should be intruded on any congrega- tion contrary to the will of the people." This was the celebrated Veto Law, which soon became the subject of much controversy. The lay patrons, finding themselves deprived of what they considered their rights, resisted the ruling of the General Assembly, and ap- pealed to the law-courts. Sometimes the decision was in favor of one party, sometimes of the other ; and at length the Strathbogie case brought the law-courts and the General Assembly into open conflict. The Presbytery of Strathbogie supported a certain minister who, in 1837, had been nominated for the parish of Marnoch. The General Assembly issued its edict that the minister was to be rejected. The majority of the local Presbytery still continuing defiant, seven of their number were, by the General Assembly, finally expelled from their places in the ministry on the 7th of May, 1841 ; and, from that time forward. Dr. Chalmers, who had moved their expulsion, became the great leader of the reforming party. The controversy went on with increasing bitterness ; the decisions of the Court of Session, upheld by the House of Lords, completely overruled the decisions of the Gen- eral Assembly of the Kirk ; and, on the 18th of May, 1843, nearly five hundred ministers of the Church of Scotland, under the leadership of their distinguished and eloquent champion, seceded from the Estab- lishment, and began what is called the Free Church of Scotland. These ministers had no quarrel with the older body on matters of doctrine ; but they would not submit to the dictation of lay patrons, or the control of the law-courts. Such, in brief, is the history of this memorable revolt. In the midst of so many perplexities, it was fortunate for the new Government, and also for the Queen herself, that they had an inter- mediary so highly qualified to fill the part as Prince Albert. He had now acquired an almost perfect command of English, though, when he came over to be married, in the early part of 1840, he knew but lit- tle of the language. The first of his speeches in public, however, had been delivered as early as the ist of June, 1840, at a meeting to pro- mote the Abolition of the Slave Trade. On the 25th of June, 1841, 70 VICTORIA. he laid the foundation stone of the London Porters' Association ; so that he was now coming out into the Hght of pubUcity, to an extent from which he at first shrank, feeling himself a stranger in a strange land, and not being very confident as to the cordiality of the general sentiment. His acceptance, in October, of the Chairmanship of the Fine Arts Commission was another step forward in the direction to King Edward VII. at the Age of 7. which he had recently been turning his thoughts. For several years, Prince Albert did admirable service in educating the English mind to a higher sense of artistic beauty. On the 9th of November, 1841, the Prince of Wales was born at Buckingham Palace. Shortly after the birth of the young Prince — namely, on the 4th of December, 1841 — the Queen created him, by Letters Patent, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. The Letters Patent went on to say : "And him, our said and most dear son, the Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as has QUEEN AND EMPEBSS. 71 been accustomed, we do ennoble and invest with the said Principality and Earldom, by girding him with a sword, by putting a coronet on head, and a gold ring on his finger, and also by delivering a gold rod into his hand, that he may preside there, and direct and defend those parts." By the fact of his birth as heir-apparent, the Prince inherited, without the necessity of patent or creation, the dignities and titles of Duke of Saxony, by right of his father, and, by right of his mother, those of Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Great Steward of Scotland. The christening of the Prince of Wales took place on the 25th of January, 1842, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In the midst of great pomp and splendor, the ceremony was performed by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury with water specially brought from the river Jor- dan. The sponsors were the late King of Prussia (Frederick Wil- liam IV) ; the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, represented by the Duchess of Kent ; the Duke of Cambridge ; the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha, repre- sented by the Duchess of Cambridge ; the Princess Sophia, repre- sented by the Princess Augusta of Cambridge ; and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg. Sunday, the 29th of May, a young man, named John Francis, attacked the Royal party while returning from Chapel Royal, St. James' Palace. As they were driving along the Mall, near Stafiford House, a man stepped out from the crowd, and presented a pistol at Prince Albert. The Prince heard the trigger snap, but the weapon missed fire. He turned to the Queen, and asked, "Did you hear that?" adding, "I am sure I saw some one take aim at us." No other person, however, seems to have been aware of the attempt, and it was considered advisable that the Queen and Prince Albert should drive out again on the following day. They went towards Hampstead, and, on their return, when approaching the Palace, were again shot at. A policeman was standing close by, and Francis was immedi- ately seized. Was condemned to death ; but the sentence was after- wards commuted to transportation for life. The Royal Barge. 72 III. EASTERN TROUBLES. Herat— Jellalabad—Cabul— Trip to Scotland— O'Connell and the Agitation for Repeal — O'Connell, His Characteristics and His Power — His Ar- rest, Trial and Release— Ashburton Treaty with the United States- Purchase of Osborne — Discoveries in Science — Income Tax — The Spanish Marriages— The Sikh War— Resignation of the Peel Ministry. lOR some years there had been proceeding in the East Cabul, as it is sometimes called after the capital city, a series of events which, in the early part of 1842, eventuated in one of the most tragical catastrophes of modern history. To the west of Northern India lies the independent kingdom of Afghanistan, or The country is mountainous, barren and austere ; the people are cour- ageous, warlike, revengeful, predatory in their habits, yet not want- ing in some manly virtues. They are Mohammedans of the Sunnite communion, and consequently regard the Turkish Sultan as the head of the Moslem world. The military genius of the Afghans was al- ways prominent, and after the founding of the Durani dynasty by Ahmed Khan, in 1747, an immense Afghan Empire was rapidly cre- ated, which spread from Herat into HinSostan, and from the banks of the Oxus to the Arabian Sea. This dominion broke up early in the present century, and in 1836 the Ameer Dost Mahomed was rul- ing at Cabul over a territory not very extensive or important. This somewhat petty sovereign had at his disposal a revenue of 1,400,000 dollars, and an army of 18,000 men. But his dominions were in a disturbed state, and, at the same time, he was at war with Lahore in the east, while, in the west, the Persians had attacked Herat, at that date ruled by one of the Durani princes. Dost Ma- homed was therefore very desirous of securing the friendship of the British in India. Lord Auckland, then Governor-General at Cal- cutta, was disposed to enter into negotiations with the Ameer, con- ceiving that English power in the East was menaced by the intrigues of Russia, Persia, and Afghanistan. He therefore, in September, 73 74 VICTORIA. 1837, despatched Captain Alexander Burnes to Cabul, with instruc- tions to discuss certain matters. Unfortunately, Captain Burnes was not authorized to promise Dost Mahomed the assistance which he required, to assume a position of independence towards Persia and Russia, Both these Powers were acting for the advancement of their own interests; and, although the Ameer had listened to their suggestions, he told the British envoy that he would much rather co- operate with England, if he could obtain the terms he needed. Burnes urged upon the Governor-General of India the policy of guaranteeing the integrity of the Ameer's realm, or at least of prom- ising him a subsidy in case of attack. But Lord Auckland would do neither, while at the same moment ordering the distracted chieftain to abandon all negotiations with the rival Powers. The natural consequence was that Dost Mahomed again leant towards the liberal, though interested, offers of Russia ; but even then he would gladly have considered the proposals of England, had any been made. The Governor-General, however, preferred to enter into a treaty with Runjeet Singh and Shah Soojah — the former a leader of the Sikhs, the latter a descendant of Ahmed Khan, who had once before ruled in Afghanistan, who had been expelled from the throne, and who was generally detested by the people. Runjeet Singh was to be main- tained at Peshawur (to which the Afghans considered they had a claim), and Shah Soojah to be restored to the throne of Cabul with the assistance of an English army. For a while, however, matters seemed to go very well. The Persian attack on Herat had been held in check by the courage of the garrison, led, instructed and inspirited by the skill and heroism of a young officer, named Eldred Pottinger, who was staying there at the time. Nevertheless, the place would not have been saved but for the action of the Anglo-Indian Government, which in 1838 sent a naval squadron to the Persian Gulf, and gave the Shah to understand that, if he carried his operations any farther, his persistence would be regarded as a proof of hostility to England. The blockade of Herat was abandoned, and the position was saved. Captain Burnes left Cabul on the 26th of April, 1838, and met Lord Auckland at Simla. On the ist of October in the same year, a manifesto was issued by the Governor-General, which was virtually a THE QUEEN AND PRINCE WILLIAM, OF PRUSSIA, (Now WnLiAM II., Emperor of Germany). (From a drawing by M. I,. Gow, R. I.) QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 77 declaration of war against Dost Mahomed. Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Macnaghten, Secretary to the Government of India, was appointed Minister at the court of Shah Soojah, before any such court existed ; and he was to be helped in his operations by Sir Alex- ander Burnes, for the discredited envoy had now been made a knight. Unanticipated alterations of plan, consequent on the bad faith of Runjeet Singh, who' at the last moment refused to allow a passage through his dominions, as he had promised, delayed the starting of the expedition, which did not get on its way until the late winter of 1839. The army, which was in three divisions, consisted of British troops, Afghans, and Sikhs ; and it was encumbered with a large num- ber of camp-followers and baggage-animals. The routes pursued were beset by all those difficulties which belong to a mountainous and rocky land. Numbers of men and camels were lost ; the soldiers were disheartened by fatigue, and by the gloom of their surround- ings ; food began tO' fail ; the supplies which were expected at Quetta, beyond the further end of the Bolan Pass, were not forthcoming ; and the tW'o principal divisions of the invading force, which had now effected their junction, pushed forward, in a half-famished state, and by a long and difficult defile, to Candahar, which was reached on the 25th of April. The city surrendered without a blow; but the army was now greatly reduced in numbers and could not reckon more than 10,400 fighting men. Sir John Keane, who had command of the whole invading force, then set out for Ghizni.two hundred and thirty miles distant from Candahar, which was itself more than a thousand miles from the points of departure. Ghizni offered a determined resistance, but was taken by storm on the 23d of July. Sir John Keane next pushed on to Cabul, where the fall of Ghizni had produced a feeling of such extreme consterna- tion that the Ameer found himself unable to act against the enemy, and therefore fled with a few attendants to the mountain solitudes of the Hindoo Koosh, on the northeastern boundary of Afghanistan. The English army, accompanied by Shah Soojah, entered Cabul on the 7th of August. On September 3d, the invaders were joined by the third division, consisting for the most part of Afghans and Sikhs, under the orders of Colonel Wade, who had taken the fort of Ali Musjid situated in a narrow part of the Khyber Pass, and the city of 78 VICTOIQa. Jellalabad. It now seemed as if the Afghans were entirely suSdued, and in its premature satisfaction, the British Government showered honors on the persons principally concerned. The new settlement was believed to be so entirely safe that many of our troops were sent back long before the close of 1839, and the occupying force then consisted of 8,000 men, Europeans and Sepoys. As if inspired by some evil fate, the English officers wrote to India for their wives and children. In the spring of 1840, the British and Sepoy regiments were removed from the Bala Hissar (a fortified pal- ace of great strength), and stationed in cantonments on the neigh- boring plain, where they had scarcely any protection against the sud- den attack of an enemy. These attacks speedily came. The coun- try began to seethe with insurrection. Dost Mahomed was again in arms, moving about rapidly from place to place, and sometimes gain- ing the advantage. In one of these encounters, he discomfited a British force under Sir Robert Sale, by whom he was attacked, on the 2d of November, in the Purwandurrah valley. The disaster was chiefly owing to the misconduct of some Hindoo cavalry, who pre- cipitately retreated, and sought shelter among the English guns. Everything was thrown into confusion, and Sale's force was only just able to cut its way back to Cabul. It might reasonably have been supposed that, after this brilliant success. Dost Mahomed (whose heroism and capacity have been warmly acknowledged by English writers) would have advanced all his warriors to the capital. But he felt his inability to cope with such a power as England, and on the following day he rode up to the quarters of Sir William Macnaghten, introduced himself as the deposed Ameer, and delivered up his sword. But the insurrection against the authority of Shah Soojah still continued with unabated violence. Cabul burst into a flame of ex- citement on the morning of November 2d. General Elphinstone, who was in the cantonments with his troops, seems to have been utterly prostrated by the news, nor were any of his officers better pre- pared for the emergency. No steps were taken against the insur- gents, and Elphinstone contented himself with saying that they must wait until the morning, and then see what could be done. AH he did when the morning came was to send urgent messages to Sir Robert Sale, who was then on his way to Jellalabad, to proceed QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 79 as rapidly as possible to Cabul. Sir Robert, however, thought it a matter of such paramount importance to keep open the communica- tions with India, that he pursued his way to Jellalabad, and fortu- nately so, as was proved by after events. General Nott despatched three regiments to Candahar, in the hope of relieving the Cabul gar- rison ; but the difficulties of the way and the severity ef the weather were so great that they turned back, after accomplishmg a portion of the distance. The cantonments at Cabul were now commanded by two guns, which the Afghans had planted on a neighboring hill ; and the British troops failed in an attempt to break out into the open country. The supplies of food ran short, and ultimately failed alto- gether ; so that an agreement of some kind became an absolute neces- sity. The last act of Sir William Macnaghten was to open negotia- tions with the Afghan chiefs; but on the 23d of December — a few days late* — he was treacherously murdered by Akbar Khan, the eldest son of Dost Mahomed, who was now the leader of the insurrec- tion. The cantonments were quitted by the British troops on the 6th of January, 1842. The troops not unnaturally murmured at having to give up the guns and ammunition; but there was no help for it, and the doomed regiments filed out towards the desert in a condition little capable of successful defence against attack. The number of lighting men was not more than 4,500 (chiefly Asiatics) ; but they were accompanied by 12,000 camp-followers, including the wives and children of the officers. An inclement winter, with deep snow en- cumbering all the roads, added to the horrors of the time, and the Ghiljies began to attack the rear-guard immediately it had got clear of the cantonments. The fugitives entered the Pass of the Khoord- Cabul on the 8th of January, and the attacks now became frequent and unsparing. The Afghans were posted on the surrounding crags, and the English officers and troops began to fall rapidly. Wo- men were carried away ; many of the children were killed. Fatigue, cold and deprivation slew as many as the bullets of the lurking foe. Ere long, all military discipline was lost. The men thought only of themselves, and, disregarding the commands of their officers, hurried on towards Jellalabad as fast as horses, camels or their own legs could carry them. One gloomy rugged pass succeeded another; but the 80 VICTORIA. relentless Afghans were stationed at every point, and their match- locks brought down the scattered fugitives with unresting activity. On the 1 2th and 13th of January, the force was reduced to a mere fragment ; but, in proportion to the smallness of their numbers, the men seemed to recover the habits of discipline, they had lost, and standing close together, entered into hand-to-hand conflicts with the Afghans, in which the latter suffered severely. The position, how- ever, was absolutely hopeless, and, in the course of January 13th, thirty soldiers — all who were now left, though the camp-followers still numbered two or three hundred — took up their station on the slopes of a hill, and fought with wonderful resolution until overpow- ered and slain. Setting aside the hostages, all were now extermin- ated — English, Sepoys, and camp-followers; all, with the exception of one man, who, wounded, and in a state approaching exhaustion, rode up to the walls of Jellalabad on that fatal 13th of January, still holding in his nerveless grasp a broken and unavailing sword. The survivor of the great catastrophe was Dr. Brydon, one of the medical officers, who had somehow managed to escape the massacre, and who conveyed intelligence of what had happened to General Sale and his gallant companions, then holding a position which in itself was des- perate. On one of the occasions when Akbar Khan held parley with the fugitives, he suggested that the ladies and children should be given up to him, and he undertook to convey them in safety to Peshawur. These terms were accepted, with the single modification that the husbands of the married ladies should accompany their wives. As the women and children could not have escaped massacre, or death from cold and fatigue, had they remained with the army, the arrange- ment was a wise one, as it oiTered them at least a chance of life. They were treated with some consideration, and ultimately rescued during the military operations of a later period. Two days later Akbar Khan again entered into negotiations with the English officers, and demanded that General Elphinstone, Brigadier Shelton, and Captain Johnson, should be given up to him as additional hostages. This was done, and the chief commander of the British forces went into captivity with his two subordinates. Tlie treaty concluded by Gen- eral Elphinstone and Akbar Khan, before the former quitted Cabul, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 81 contained an article stipulating that the English force at Jellalabad should march for Peshawur before the Cabul army arrived, and should not delay on the road. Information of this agreement was conveyed to Jellalabad by a band of horsemen, who, under cover of a flag of truce, presented themselves before the gates. They bore with them a despatch from General Elphinstone, ordering Sir Robert Sale to evacuate the country without delay. Sale was placed in a very difificult position ; for Elphinstone was his superior officer, and yet to obey his orders, as by strict military duty he was bound to do, might entail the destruction of his whole force. He accordingly sum- moned a council of war, at which it was formally resolved that to obey such an order would be imprudent. The position, therefore, was held with splendid gallantry. The ruined fortifications had already been reconstructed and every effort was now made to supply the town with food and fuel. It was known that an army under General Pol- lock was hastening to the relief of the garrison ; but some time must elapse ere it could arrive, and in the meanwhile the situation was fraught with peril. Akbar Khan, with a numerous army, had ap- peared before the walls ; but Sale determined to hold out to the last. On the 19th of January, an earthquake shook the defences of the town into ruins ; and had Akbar immediately assaulted the place, it is almost certain that he would have taken it. Probably, the unex- pected convulsion inspired him with awe, and, as the English at once set to work to repair the damage that had been done, they were soon in a position to resist attack. In the early part of April, food and ammunition began to fail, and the spirited commander deter- mined on active operations. On the 7th of the month, the Afghans were attacked, and driven off. With the remnant of his disheartened army, Akbar fled towards Cabul, leaving an immense quantity of stores. Pollock was with difficulty forcing his way through the Khyber Pass; on the i6th of April he arrived at Jellalabad; at the same time, General Nott and Major (afterwards Sir Henry) Rawlin- son were holding Candahar; but Colonel Palmer, after a gallant de- fence, was forced to surrender Ghizni to the Afghans. In the same month which witnessed the relief of Jellalabad, Shah Soojah was as- sassinated by the adherents of his elder brother — a man, like himself, far advanced in years. The position of Nott at Candahar was pre- 82 VICTORIA. carious, but, when at length relieved, he was able to join Sale and Pollock in an advance on Cabul, where they resolved to avenge the injuries of their countrymen. The chief command was in the hands of Nott, who showed himself a thoroughly capable officer. His first proceeding was to retake Ghizni, and on the 17th of September all three divisions effected their junction at Cabul. It is lamentable to be obliged to add that the city was pillaged by the infuriated soldiers, though perhaps not with the sanction of their commanders, and that needless destruction and slaughter marked the path of the avenging army. The English prisoners, including the women and children, had during their captivity been frequently moved about from place to place, often in the most terrible extremities of weather, and under circumstances of great hardship ; but when the British army arrived at Cabul, they were on their way back to that city. General Elphin- stone had died on the 23d of April ; the other members of the party were alive and well. On the 12th of October, the invaders left Cabul and again, as on the occasion of their advance, passed through defiles still rendered terrible by the whitening bones of their comrades. The greater part of Jellalabad was destroyed, together with the fortifica- tions; Ali Musjid, in the Khyber Pass, was blown into the air; and Afghanistan was entirely evacuated by the troops before the close of 1842. Th policy of Lord Auckland was now completely reversed by his successor. Lord Ellenborough, whose term of office had com- menced on the 28th of February. In announcing the withdrawal of the British forces from Afghanistan (which he did in a proclamation dated from Simla on the ist of October), Lord Ellenborough ob- served that "to force a sovereign upon a reluctant people would be as inconsistent with the policy as it is with the principles of the British Government." Dost Mahomed was set at liberty by the Anglo-In- dian Government; and in 1843 restored to the throne which he seems to have had a legitimate claim to fill. His reign was thus divided into two parts, and the division is marked by a wide river of human blood. While Afghanistan was distracted by a vengeful war, the general state of England continued even worse in the earlier part of the year. Parliament was prorogued on the 12th of August, 1842, by the Queen QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 83 in person, and in the Speech from the Throne her Majesty expressed a hope that the members of the two Houses "would do their utmost to encourage, by example and active exertions, that spirit of order and submission to the law without which there can be no enjoyment of the fruits of peaceful industry, and no advance in the career of social improvements." Sedition was indeed becoming more ripe every day. In the manufacturing towns, mills were violently entered by disorderly mobs, their machinery was destroyed, and those who were willing to work were compelled to abandon their labors. Man- chester was in so disturbed a state that a regiment of the Guards was dispatched thither to overawe the malcontents ; and in many of the northern towns collisions, attended by bloodshed and loss of life, occurred from time to time. The demand of the workpeople was for increase of wages; but political ideas also were mixed up with the purely social question. The Chartists joined the discontented arti- sans, and for a while the Government was seriously alarmed. But the arrest of the leaders struck terror into the rest, and, as the autumn advanced, the worst of the danger was at an end. In the west of Scotland, however, disturbances continued for some time longer; yet it was at this period that the Queen and Prince Albert paid their first visit to the Northern Kingdom.. The visit of the Queen to Scotland, where the "Journal" was so delightfully written, was more than a mere pleasure jaunt, for the presence of the Sovereign and her husband had the effect of allaying the Chartist disaffection to the crown, of which the West of Scotland was in a way the headquarters. The state of her health precluded the Queen from opening Par- liament in person on the 2d of February, 1843, ^^^ for the same rea- son she was unable to hold the usual spring levees. These were ac- cordingly held by Prince Albert, as the representative of her Majesty; but some members of the Court were so much annoyed at the ar- rangement, which they regarded as an unwarrantable assumption of Royal functions by the Prince, that they absented themselves from these ceremonial gatherings. The speedy recovery of the sovereign after the birth of the Princess Alice soon enabled her Majesty to oc- cupy once more her proper position at the head of the Court, and the general opinion of the public was quite in favor of the step which had 84 VICTORIA. been temporarily adopted. This left Prince Albert free to devote himself with the greater application to his duties as head of the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts, which had been appointed with refer- ence to the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament. Ireland was excited nearly to the point of rebellion in 1843, owing to an agitation for the Repeal of the Union which had been Daniel O'Conneli. originated by Daniel O'Conneli, one of the most remarkable men of that epoch. O'Conneli belonged to a good but impoverished family in Kerry, and was brought up as a lawyer. Whatever his faults and errors, he was unquestionably a devoted son of the church to which he and his family belonged ; and the Romanists of this realm sufifered at QUHEN AND EMPRESS. 85 that time from many unjust disabilities. In a few years he became the leader of the movement for Catholic emancipation, and when the Act of 1829 was passed, O'Connell was regarded by the great mass of the Irish people as a hero who could always lead them to victory. O'Connell had sat in the Imperial Parliament since 1829; and even in the House of Commons his fervid and headlong eloquence was often most impressive. But his greatest triumphs belong, doubtless, to what may be called the platform order of oratory. Th» champion of Repeal had an unexampled command over the vocabulary of abuse ; though it must be admitted that some of his opponents were not far behind in this effective accomplishment. At the open-air meetings, the speeches of O'Connell were char- acterized by his most effective style of popular oratory. The unap- proachable excellence of Ireland, the unexampled baseness and cru- elty of England, were the themes on which he principally dwelt. All the miseries of his native land would be removed as soon as an Irish Parliament was once more sitting on College Green. That event would be brought about in not more than a year ; and then the golden age of Ireland would begin. Banners, showy decorations and exciting music, accompanied the march of the peasantry, and at an unusually large meeting on the hill of Tara — a spot where the ancient kings of Ireland used to he elected — O'Connell himself was crowned with a species of semi-regal cap. This was on the 15th of August; on the 8th of October, an im- mense meeting was to be held at Clontarf, three miles from Dublin. But the Government now thought that matters were proceeding to a dangerous length, and, by a proclamation issued on the 7th of Octo- ber, they forbade the contemplated assemblage. O'Connell, his son, and eight others, were arrested on charges of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assembling. The proceedings against O'Connell and his associates com- menced formally on the 2d of November, 1843, ^^ the Dublin Court of Queen's Bench; but the actual trial did not begin until the i6th of January, 1844. With one exception, all the prisoners were found guilty, and sentences of varying severity were pronounced. O'Con- nell was condemned to one year's imprisonment, to pay a fine of 2,000 pounds, and to enter into security and recognizances, in the 86 VICTORIA. sum of 5,000 pounds, for his good behavior during a term of seven years. The others were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, together with a fine of fifty pounds, and were ordered to find secur- ities for the same period as their leader, in the sum of i,ooo pounds. They were removed to the Richmond Penitentiary at Dublin. The Liberator issued a proclamation to the Irish people, commanding them to keep perfectly quiet ; but at the same time he transmitted a writ of error to London, in order that the legality of the sentence might be reconsidered. The Lords, to whom the appeal was made, referred the matter to the twelve Judges ; the Judges were not agreed as to the technical points involved ; and the question went back again to the Lords. The decision now rested with four Law Lords, three of whom — Lords Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell — voted that the judgment of the Irish Court should be reversed. Tlie only dis- sentient was Lord Brougham ; but his single vote was, of course, in- operative. O'Connell, therefore, had gained a legal triumph, and he was released from prison in the midst of a popular ovation. One of the pacific successes of the Peel Administration was the conclusion of the Ashburton Treaty with the Government of the United States. A good deal of mutual irritation had existed for sev- eral years, owing to the absence of a distinct and undisputed boun- dary between Canada and the State of A-Iaine. The matter had at one time been referred to the arbitration of the King of the Nether- lands ; but neither party would accept his award. Sir Robert Peel, therefore, sent out a special negotiator in the person of Lord Ash- burton, a member of the great commercial family of the Barings. The American representative was the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, and, after much discussion, a treaty was signed at Washington on the 9th of August, 1842. The boundary thus established was said to give England a better military frontier than she had possessed before, and it certainly included some heights commanding the St. Lawrence which had not been assigned to us by the King of the Netherlands. The conclusion of this treaty was announced to Parliament at the opening of the session of 1843, ^^'^ Sir Robert Peel claimed credit for having brought about so favorable an adjustment. This, however, was not the view entertained by the Opposition. Lord Palmerston, in calling attention of the House of Commons to the treaty, on the QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 87 2ist of March, 1843, described it as "the Ashburton capitulation." Undoubtedly, the larger part of the disputed territory was handed over to the United States, and it has since been generally considered by Englishmen that Mr. Webster demanded and obtained more than his country was entitled to. Some other clauses of the treaty were excellent. Provision was made for the better suppression of the slave traffic, and it was agreed that each country should render up to the other certain classes of criminals against whom a sufficient case should be established by due legal process. Osborne House. Perhaps the culminating triumph of the first seven years of the Queen's reign was that which Her Majesty achieved on October 28, 1844, when she opened the new Royal Exchange, in London. "Nothing," Her Majesty wrote to her Uncle Leopold the next day, "ever went ofif better, and the procession there, as well as the pro- ceedings at the building, were splendid and royal in the extreme. It was a fine and gratifying sight to see the myriads of people assembled, more than at the coronation even, and all in such good humor and so 88 VICTORIA. loyal. I seldom remember being so pleased with any public show, and my beloved Albert was most enthusiastically received by the people. * * * "The articles in the papers, too, are most kind and gratifying. They say no sovereign was ever more loved than I am (I am bold enougli to say), and this because of our happy domestic home and the good example it presents." "The feeling," comments Theodore Martin on this extract from the Queen's book, "to which voice was thus given by the press, had taken widemost in the country. It was Osborne, Isle of Wight. based upon two grounds — the exemplary home life of the Queen and the Prince and the purely constitutional attitude with relation to political parties which had been maintained by the sovereign." During the first few years of her reign the Queen had not the benefit of the poetic eulogiums which are expected in a court which maintains a Poet Laureate. Southey, the Laureate, still lived, but his mental condition for some time had rendered intellectual work out of the question. Leigh Hunt, however, addressed some lines to Her Majesty, and alluding to the birth of the Princess Alice, which QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 89 event occurred on the 25th of April, 1843, he sang with considerable beauty. Speaking of the Queen herself, he writes : "May her own soul, this instant, while I sing Be smiling, as beneath some angel's wing. O'er the dear life in life, the small, sweet, new Unselfish self, the filial self of two. Bliss of her future eyes, her pillowed gaze, On whom a mother's heart thinks close and prays." F -****?■ i * I •4 \r » 1' Royal Nursery at Osborne. Soon after the birth of the child, the Queen wrote to the King of the Belgians : "Our little baby is to be called Alice, an old English name, and the other names are to be Maud (another old English name, and the the same as Matilda), and Mary, as she was born on Aunt Glouces- ter's birthday." There were now three children. 90 VICTORIA. During the next few years the life of the English Queen, if not uneventful, was at least not monotonous. The links of affection which bound her to her people had been drawn closer by the birth of five children — that of the Princess Royal in 1840, of the Prince of Wales in 1841, of Princess Alice in 1843, of the Duke of Edinburgh in 1844 ^iid of the Princess Helena in 1846. The four remaining children. Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice, were born between 1848 and 1857. The existence of the royal family much resembled that of many of the more considerable of the Queen's subjects. There was the season in London, graced by the court ceremonials, in which Her Majesty and the Prince Consort took a conspicuous part, and after the season was over, there were journeys to Scotland, sometimes to Ire- land and occasionally to the Continent, followed by a brief period of residence at Osborne, in the Isle of Wight — purchased from Lady Isabella Blatchford in 1844 — its grounds being exquisitely laid out under the superintendence of and from the designs of Prince Albert himself, on a long stay at Windsor. Scientific discovery, or at any rate the practical application of scientific truths to the ordinary needs of life, had made considerable progress since the accession of Queen Victoria. Electric Telegraph was probaly of more importance than any other. Tlie active powers of the electric "fluid" had been known for many years, and some of the greatest inquirers of modern times had anticipated extraordinary results from an agency so potent, and so various in its operations. The transmission of electricity by an insulated wire was shown by several experimenters as early as 1747, and in later years telegraphic arrangements were devised by scientific explorers, both English and foreign. But no very decided progress in the transmission of thought by electricity was effected until a short period before the death of William IV, when somewhat analogous plans were simul- taneously conceived in England and America by Professor Wheat- stone and Professor Morse. Another great achievement of this period is the art of photogra- Arctic discovery made some important strides about this date. Sir John Franklin, accompanied by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames, QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 91 sailed in the Erebus and Terror on his third Arctic Expedition, May 24th, 1845. From subsequent investigations, it appears that he dis- covered the Northwrest passage, having sailed down Peel and Vic- toria Straits (now called Franklin's Straits) a few months after his arrival in those inhospitable regions. The Expedition, however, was fatal to the brave explorers. All England waited with anxiety for tidings of these adventurous men; but, after a few despatches, an appalling silence and mystery descended on the enterprise. Months passed away, and nothing more was heard of the Erebus and Terror. It was as if ships and men had been snatched away from the world ; and the public could comfort itself only with vague hopes that, after all, the vessels and their crew would reappear at some unexpected corner of the earth. When the suspense became no longer bearable, expeditions were sent out in search of the missing voyagers,and coals, provisions, clothing, and other necessaries, were deposited at various points by the Enghsh and American Governments, by Lady Franklin and by several private individuals. Some years later, wild rumors started up that Sir John Franklin and the gaunt remnant of his crew had been seen at this place and at that ; but these accounts always proved incorrect. It is unnecessary to recount the numerous expe- ditions sent out by Lady Franklin, and by the Governments of Great Britain and the United States. Suffice it to say that, on the 6th of May, 1859, Lieutenant Hobson found at Point Victory, near Cape Victoria, a cairn and a tin case, the latter containing a paper, signed on the 25th of April, 1848, by Captain Fitzjames, which certified that the ships Erebus and Terror were beset with ice on the 12th of Sep- tember, 1846; that Sir John Franklin died on the nth of the follow- ing June; and that the ships were deserted on the 22d of April, 1848. Some skeletons and other relics were afterwards discovered ; but the precise nature af the sufiferings endured by these heroic men is swal- lowed up forever in the icy silence of the Polar Seas. And the Queen lived her life. There were times of foreboding, and hours of happy home life wherein the Queen-wife and mother knew the joys of women whose highest claim to queenship is in wife- hood and motherhood. But Victoria had her pubHc life as well, and knew the responsibility of it. Politics ran high and the diflferent fac- tions were bitterly opposed to one another. The conservatives 92 VICTORIA. under Peel were in power, and they found a troublous condition of affairs which must be combatted. At home there was scarcity of work, low wages, while food was held at exhorbitant prices. The defeat and resignation of the Peel government came in 1846, consequent on its change of opinion on the subject of protec- tion. Home affairs had till then monopolized the interests of En- ghsh politics, and it would be impossible to enter into the question of ^**y.. Prince Metternich, the connection of Her Majesty with these, without opening what will long continue to be a vexed chapter in modern British history. It has, however, become tolerably cleai% from correspondence since published, that during all these years the Queen was much more sub- ject than had at one time been supposed, to the political influence of Prince Albert, and especially of Baron Stockmar and King Leopold. Thus the jealousy which still lingered in the national heart toward the Prince, and the reserve with which he was treated by Lord Palm- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 93 erston, both then and later on, is neither unexplained nor altogether unjustified. In 1845 and 1846 the condition of England and Ireland was highly critical. In the former country there was social distress ; in the latter there were both distress and disaffection, and the Queen was obliged indefinitely to postpone her visit to her subjects on the other side of St. George's Channel. Abroad, England was involved in a serious Chinese war. In Afghanistan, the greatest disaster which ever befell the British army was impending. The presence of the English fleet in the Tagus alone prevented a Portuguese insurrection. Spain was distracted by a ruthless civil war. America was exasperated against England on account of the right claimed by British cruisers, and a question as to the marine frontier of a most urgent character, was being pressed on for settlement. It seemed as if national bankruptcy were immi- nent. The income tax rose to 7d. on the pound sterling on all incomes above 150 pounds, and the Queen greatly increased her popularity by declining to exercise her royal right of indemnity from the burden. Together with the Prince, she did all that she could to give a stimulus to trade by court festivities. Dinners, concerts and balls followed fast one upon another. The Queen and Prince Albert went in state to a ball given at Covent Garden Theatre for the relief of the Spital- fields weavers. A magnificent bal costume had been given at Buck- ingham Palace with a similar object a fortnight before. Lord John Russell went intO' power in 1846. That same year the foreign policy of the country caused great anxiety to the Queen. France was unfriendly, while in Spain, the question of the marriage of Queen Isabella produced a serious estrangement between the two nations. Suddenly it was announced that the Queen of Spain was about to marry her cousin, the Duke of Cadiz, and that her sister, the Infanta, was at the same time to become the wife of the Due de Mont- pensier. The treaty of Utrecht had been construed to prohibit inter- marriages between the Royal families of France and Spain. If the Queen of Spain had no issue, the crown descended to the heir of her sister, and that sister with a Royal French husband might have an heir, to whom accession to both the thrones of France and Spain might be possible. 94 VICTOEIA. These Spanish marriages which took place shortly after the ac- cession to power of Lord Russell, with Lord Palmerston at the For- eign Office, violated the principles of existing European treaties, and were the prelude to the greatest diplomatic compHcation which the Queen of England had ever had to deal. But such events as the Pohsh insurrection and the Portuguese difficulty, which immediately followed these marriages, served not only to try the powers of the Queen, but also demonstrated that she possessed capacities of a high order. In 1874 there was published by Mr. Theodore Martin for the first time, in his "Life of the Prince Con- sort," a series of interesting memoranda on the relations of England with Italy and Germany, which, read in connection with the interna- tional sympathies that Her Majesty at a later period developed, are significant proofs of the extent to which the Queen was indoctrinated with the ideas of her husband. We may incidentally notice that in July, 1847, the Prince was elected and installed as Chancellor of Cam- bridge University, the installation ode being written by the then Poet Laureate, Wordsworth. The record of the observed of all ob- servers in this ceremony is interesting. "I cannot say," Her Majesty writes in her diary the same day, "how it agitated and embarrassed me to have to receive the address and hear it read by my beloved Albert, who walked in at the head of the University." On the 17th of November, 1845, the Sikhs declared war on the English, and on the nth of December the first Sikh soldier crossed the Sutlej. On the i8th, the battle of Moodkee was fought by Sir Hugh Gough, afterwards. Lord Gough, who was in command of an army of 11,000 men. Moodkee is a village in the Ferozepore dis- trict, lying in a plain twenty-six miles south of the Sutlej. Two days before the battle the Sikhs crossed the river at Ferozepore with 4,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 22 guns. At Moodkee they were driven from their position after a hard struggle, in which Gough had 215 killed and 657 wounded. The battle may be said to have gone on till the 22d, when our troops stormed and took the entrenched camp of the enemy at Ferozeshah, twelve miles from the left bank of the Sutlej. The Sikhs attributed their defeat at that place not so much to the skill of our generals, as to the treachery of their own leader. They lost 2,000 men, and the British 694 killed and 1,721 wounded ere the earthworks were carried. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 95 On the 26th of March, London was greatly excited by the tid- ings of another great victory, which had been won on the 28th of January. This is known as the victory of Ahwal, the battle having Lord Gough (after a Painting by Sir Francis Grant, F. R. A.) been fought at a village of that name about nine miles west of Lood- iana, on the left bank of the Sutlej. It had been held by Ranjur Sing, who had crossed the Kiver in force and menaced Loodiana. On the 96 VICTORIA. 28th, Sir Harry Smith — determined to clear the left bank of the stream, i. e., the British bank — attacked the Sikhs in great force, and, after a desperate effort, put them to flight. It was, however, a troop- ers' battle, being gained by the stubborn valor of the British cavalry, which was hurled in masses, three times, against the Sikhs, each time piercing their lines. The last charge decided the day. The enemy were pushed into the river, where large numbers were drowned, and 67 guns were ultimately taken by the victors. The effect of this bat- tle was immediate. The Khalsa banner vanished, as if by magic, from all the forts on our side of the Sutlej, and the territory east of the river submitted to the Indian Government. All doubt as to the fortune of war ended on the loth of Febru- ary, 1846, when Gough fought the terrible battle of Sobraon. The Sikhs had chosen a strong position on the east side of the Sutlej, pro- tecting the Hariki ford, and their rear rested on the village of So- braon. It was on the Ferozepore side that the fight took place, the Sikhs holding their earthworks defiantly, till cut down almost to the last man. They lost S,ooo men, and but few lived to recross the Sutlej. Hardly had the Queen and the country ceased to rejoice over political, diplomatic and military triumphs, than another painful Ministerial crisis had to be faced. Sovereign and subject were alike touched by the strange and dramatic coincidence of their trusted Minister, at the supreme moment of victory, falling, like Tarpeia, crushed, as if in requital for a great service to the people. On the 26th of June there was a Cabinet meeting to consider the hostile vote on the Irish Coercion Bill, and the Prime Minister went down to Osborne to confer with the Queen. He returned to inform Parlia- ment, on the 29th, that Ministers had tendered their resignations, and only held ofifice till their successors could relieve them at their posts. He also said that he would support Lord John Russell in all his Free Trade measures, and paid an eloquent tribute to Mr. Cob- den, to whom he generously gave cre4it for organizing the victory of the Free Traders. When he left the House he was followed home by a cheering crowd. The resignation of Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues was a mournful incident in the Queen's life. She had learned to respect ^MXm'^^%J± 97 The Queen Opening Parliament (1846). 98 VICTORIA. and trust the Prime Minister and his colleagues, one of whom, Lord Aberdeen, had, by his gentle manners and cultured companionship, won the hearts of the Queen and the Prince Consort. The country, in the opinion of the Queen, was in a critical condition. One of the great political parties was shattered as a governing organization, and her Majesty and her husband both knew how safe and valuable was the pilotage of those with whom, says Sir Theodore Martin, "they had grown familiar, not merely in the anxious counsels of State, but in the intimacies of friendship/' A Favorite Greyhound (after an Etching by the Queen). IV. RUSSELL ADMINISTRATION. Whigs in Office— Troubles in New Zealand— Submission of Maori Chiefs —Feeling Against Louis Philippe— Quiet Days at Osborne— First Submarine Cable— Famine and Free Trade— Cabinet and the Crisis- Epidemic of Speculation— The Ten Hours' Bill— Panic in the Money Market. jL^J^j^ ALLED to the ministry, Lord John Russell had little difficulty in selecting a Cabinet. An office would have been offered to Cobden, but he was desirous of rest from public work. Milner Gibson represented the Free Trade Party; and Sidney Herbert Lord Dal- housie and Lord Lincoln were invited to join the Gov- ernment, but declined. The new Ministry was con- ventionally Whig, Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secre- tary. There were numerous and difficult matters to adjust, the re- duction of differential duties on sugar; the disturbed state of Ireland where evictions and famine were making the people desperate. The Whigs were embarrassed by their opposition to Sir Robert Peel's Coercion Bill, because they had justified their tactics by belitt- ling the disorder and lawlessness which that measure was designed to repress. Many of their own supporters accordingly complained bitterly when Ministers, on the 7th of August, invited the House to prolong the expiring Irish Arms Act till May, 1847. Lord John Russell's only excuse was, that there was a distinction to be drawn between the proposal of new coercive legislation, and a request to prolong an existing law, without which it was impossible to curb the mania for buying arms and ammunition which was seizing the Irish peasantry. The spirit and tone of the Opposition speeches during the debates on Peel's coercive measure conveyed, and were meant to convey to the people of England and Ireland the impression that the Whigs were opposed, not merely to a Coercion Bill, but to a coercive policy, and the distinction between proposing new and prolonging old but expiring repressive legislation was generally felt to be a dis- 99 100 VICTORIA. tinction without a difference. Lord Seymour forced- Lord John Russell to withdraw the clauses in the Arms Act relating to domicil- iary visits and the branding of arms; but, though this enabled the Government to carry the second reading of the measure on the loth Lord John Russell (1850). of August, it was ultimately abandoned on the 17th. On that day the Government introduced a remedial scheme for the purpose of empowering local authorities to employ the destitute Irish people on relief works started by State advances, to be repaid in ten years at 31-2 per cent. To meet the case of poor districts where repayment QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 105 was impossible, an appropriation of 50,000 pounds — a ridiculously small sum — was set aside for grants in aid. Parliament, in sheer weariness, sanctioned this project, although it was warned that the scheme would divert public money from the improvement of the land to the construction of useless roads and bridges, and tempt the peas- antry to neglect husbandry for well-paid labor on superfluous public works. As Mr. Disraeli subsequently said, its effect was to set a population .as great as that of Holland to break stones on the roads, and, he might have added, on good roads, that were too often broken up that they might be unnecessarily remettalled. Towards the end of the Session the House of Commons plunged into a somewhat exciting controversy over the abuse of corporal pun- ishment in the army. This arose out of the revolting disclosures which were made at an inquest which Mr. Wakley, M. P., Coroner for Middlesex, insisted on holding on the body of a soldier named Whyte, who, on the 15th of July, had died from the efifects of 150 lashes which had been administered to him .by order of a court-mar- tial. A storm of passionate wrath swept through the land when the truth, in spite of vain efforts at concealment on the part of the mili- tary authorities, was revealed. The Duke of Wellington, when he heard of the affair, exclaimed to Mr. Fox Maule, Secretary of State for War," "this shall not occur again. Though I believe that cor- poral punishment cannot be dispensed with, yet I will not sanction that degree of it which shall lead to loss of life and limb." In fact, his Grace had reason to fear that the Queen's indignation would be roused by this scandalous occurrence, for he knew only too well that she held very pronounced views, not altogether in accord with his own, on the subject of military punishment. On one occasion, for instance, when the Duke brought her a soldier's death-warrant to sign, she asked him, with tears in her eyes, if there was nothing to be said on behalf of the man. The Duke explained that he was an in- corrigible deserter, but, after being pressed by her Majesty, admitted that the culprit's comrades spoke well of him in other respects. Her Majesty replied, eagerly, "Oh, your Grace, I am so glad to hear that," and, with trembling hand, rapidly scribbled the word "Pardoned" across the fatal scroll, and signed her name with a sigh of relief and a smile of satisfaction. Captain Layard therefore felt sure of his 106 VTCTOnTA. ground when, on the 3d of August, he rose in the House of Com- mons to move an Address to the Crown complaining of the use of the lash in the army. His motion was withdrawn, but Dr. Bowring im- mediately gave notice of another motion for the abolition of corporal punishment in the Service, It never came on for discussion, because the Duke of Wellington interposed, and appeased public feeling, by issuing an order restricting the powers of courts-martial, and prohib- iting them from inflicting more than fifty lashes even in the worst cases. Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of August, the Lord Chancellor reading the Queen's Speech. Her Majesty congratu- lated both Houses on the passing of the Corn Law Bill, on the settle- ment of the Oregon dispute, on the victories in India, and, oddly enough, on "a considerable diminution of crime and outrage in Ire- land" — a significant commentary on the abortive attempt of Lord John Russell to prolong the existing Irish Arms Act. During 1846 the relations between England and her Colonies were, save in one instance, undisturbed, though in Canada some traces of the bitter feeling engendered by the rebellion were still dis- cernible. Th Canadian Lgislative Assembly accordingly adopted an Address, which gave forcible expression to the dismal prediction that Free Trade with England must impoverish Canada, and thus depress one of the best markets then open to English commerce. Mutter- ings of secession even ran through the Address ; it warned the Crown that, when the Canadians found they could not successfully compete with the United States in the only market open to them, they would naturally begin to doubt whether it was "a paramount advantage" to remain subjects of the British Empire. Undoubtedly the Free Trade policy of Peel, whatever good it may have done, had one bane- ful efifect. It alienated the Canadian Colonists from the mother country. New Zealand was the only Colony which gave her Majesty and her Ministers much serious concern during 1846. It was a depend- ency which was originally meant to be colonized. A Company was formed for this purpose, and its administrators were to use the pro- ceeds of land sales, to import labor in fair proportion to the land ap- propriated. They were also to see that settlers did iiot, by dispersal. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 107 degenerate into squatters. The first ruler of the settlement, Gover- nor Hobson and his officials annoyed the Company in the most pro- voking manner. They selected the land for emigrants foolishly, and they neglected to appropriate 40,000 pounds from land sales to the immigration service. His successor. Captain Fitzroy, found the Colony with a debt of 68,000 pounds, an expenditure of 20,000 pounds a year, and a population of 15,000. He issued 15,000 pounds' worth of paper money, which he made a legal tender ; upset the terms on which settlers had bought native lands ; refused on var- ious pretexts to let emigrants, who had paid the Company cash for their lands in England, settle on them when they came out ; encour- aged native turbulence by ill-timed displays of sympathy; and sup- pressed a local Volunteer Force, offering the Colony, as a substitute, fifty soldiers, to protect a region 200 miles long, and inhabited by 10,000 persons. In fact, instead of governing the Colony, the Gov- ernor had virtually made war on the Colonists, whose hostility to him was pronounced and unconcealed. However, the feeling against Captain Fitzroy in the Colony was so strong that he was recalled, and Captain Grey was sent out in his stead. His arrival was hailed with delight, for it was supposed to in- augurate a new era in New Zealand. Governor Grey, soon after he entered on his duties, began to coerce the turbulent chiefs, whom Captain Fitzroy had attempted to subdue by diplomacy, and on the loth of January Captain Despard attacked the fortified Pah or camp of the rebel chief Kawiti, with a force of 1,100 men, aided by a large number of native allies. The combat lasted for two days, for the rebels fought with extraordinary tenacity, but ultimately they had to yield. The success of the EngUsh arms was followed by the immediate submission of the rebel chiefs. This was notified in a proclamation issued by Governor Grey on the 23d of January, in which he granted a free pardon "to all concerned in the late rebellion, who may now return in peace and safety to their houses, where, so long as they conduct themselves properly, they shall remain unmolested in their persons and properties." In South Africa a Caflfre war or rising broke out in April, 1846, the natives attacking Graham's Town with remarkable audacity. A 108 VICTORIA. sharp struggle for the possession of the frontier of the Cape Colony raged for some time, but the Caflfres were finally beaten in an engage- ment at Fish River, and, though they continued to be troublesome, they were throughout the year successfully held in check by Colonial levies. Early in the year the Sultan of Borneo, acting under bad advice, caused an attack to be made on his uncles, Muda Hassim and Bim- Gateway of St. James Palace. dureen, who were the leaders of what might be called the Anglophile or British party in the State. They were murdered along with their families and dependents. The Sultan immediately began to prepare to defend his territory against any English troops that might come to avenge the death of our allies. Sir Thomas Cochrane accordingly determined to proceed to Brunai, the capital of Borneo, to demand reparation from the Sultan. Accompanied by Mr. James Brooke QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 109 (Rajah of Sarawak), H.M.SS. Spiteful and Phlegethon, with Mr. Brooke's schooner Royalist, Sir T. Cochrane, after a somewhat severe engagement, forced his way past the forts that guarded the river leading to Brunai. He then landed a party of marines, who took possession of the town. The Sultan and most of the inhabitants fled into the interior. An expedition sent to capture him failed, but before leaving for China, Sir T. Cochrane issued a proclamation to the people warning them that the Sultan was at the mercy of the British, and declaring it to be our intention to return "and act with the extreme of vigor should he ever again evince hostility to Great Britain." Sir Thomas Cochrane next sailed for China, where the turbulent Cantonese were annoying the European community at Hong Kong. The disturbances in Canton, news of which reached England in September, were, however, easily quelled. About the same time her Majesty's Government was informed that all questions as to the completion of the Treaty by which the Chinese war had been settled had been peacefully adjusted. The right of entry to Canton, which that Treaty had guaranteed to us, had been withheld by the Chinese, who now formally conceded it peacefully. On our side preparations were at once made to give up Chusan, which we retained in pawn so long as the Government at Pekin denied our right to enter Canton. In 1846 the foreign poHcy of the country brought great anx- iety to the Queen. It was part of the irony of fate that her Govern- ment was drifting into unfriendliness with France, though the Queen personally entertained sentiments of warm friendship and ad- miration for King Louis Philippe and his sons and daughters. But in Switzerland and South America the policy of England and France was antagonistic. In Portugal a French faction was striving to un- dermine British influence, and in Spain the question of the marriage of Queen Isabella produced a serious estrangement between the two nations. Among those who aspired to the hand of the Spanish Queen was the Count of Trapani, youngest brother of the King of Naples and the Queen Dowager Christina, and therefore uncle of Queen Isabella. The Queen Dowager opposed his pretensions; the young Queen her- self, like the great mass of her people, was also averse from an alliance 110 VICTORIA. with him. Another suitor had therefore to be found. England ob- jected to a French prince being chosen, her traditional policy being hostile to whatever might bring France and Spain under one crown. France was willing to respect this objection,provided no prince but a prince of the House of Bourbon was selected as the Queen's con- sort. Here came the difficulty. Of those princes his Highness of Lucca was ineligible, because he was married already ; the Count of Trapani was ineligible, because the Queen and her subjects disliked him ; the sons of the Don Francisco de Paula, her Majesty's uncle — the Duke of Cadiz and the Duke of Seville — were ineligible because they were both disagreable to the Queen, and, according to M. Guizot, compromised by their intimacy with the Radicals ; and Count Montemolin, the son of Don Carlos, was ineligible, first, because everybody detested him, and, secondly, because he was formally ex- cluded from the succession by the Spanish Constitution. How, then, was the French demand that the Queen of Spain should marry one of the descendants of Philip V to be satisfied? M. Guizot ad- mitted, in a despatch to M. de St. Aulaire, that these difficulties were incontestable ; but he added that the Court of Lisbon was the centre of an intrigue to promote a marriage between the Queen and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, whose connection with the Royal Family of England rendered him objectionable to France. If this project were further developed, M. Guizot cunningly argued, France would be freed from the pledge she had given to England, and might then demand the hand of the Queen of Spain or her sister the Infanta, for a French prince of the House of Bourbon; in other words, for the Due de Montpensier. It was on the perfectly gratuitous and abso- lutely erroneous assumption that England was promoting the can- didature of the Prince Leopold, that M. Guizot made ready to play the diplomatic trick which ultimately destroyed the cordial feeling between England and France. Louis Philippe had given his Royal word to Queen Victoria at Eu in September, 1845, that in no case should the Due de Montpensier marry the Infanta till the Queen of Spain was herself married, and had children who might assure the direct succession to her throne. But suddenly, in the autumn of 1846, it was announced that the Queen of Spain was about to marry her cousin, the Duke of Cadiz, and that her sister, the Infanta, was at QUEEN AND EMPEESS. Ill the same time to marry the Due de Montpensier. Technically, it does not appear that England had a right to complain of this double marriage as a breach of the Treaty of Utrecht. It was, no doubt, meant to evade and defeat the provisions of that instrument ; but the Treaty itself had never been, construed, as Lord Palmerston seemed to imagine, as a positive prohibition of all intermarriages between the Royal FamiUes of France and Spain. For example, in 1721 The Royal Pew. King Louis I of Spain married Louisa Elizabeth of Orleans, Madcr moiselle de Montpensier and fourth daughter of the Regent of France. In 1739 Don PhiHp, Duke of Parma, a son of Philip V, married Louisa Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Louisa XV of France. In 1745 the Dauphin of France, as all the world knows, married Maria Theresa Antonia, Infanta of Spain, and a daughter of Philip V. In truth, it must be conceded that the Treaty of Utrecht simply stip- ulated that the crowns of France and Spain should not rest on the 112 VIC?rORIA. head of the same sovereign. Even if the Queen's marriage were without issue', and a child or descendant of her sister and the Due dc Montpensier had fallen heir to the French and Spanish crowns — a somewhat problematical event — the Treaty of Utrecht would have obviously operated as a bar against his claim. It would have com- pelled him to elect which country he should rule over. The intrigue that ended in this double marriage was regarded by England — nay, by Europe — as a piece of diplomatic knavery, and both Louis Philippe and M. Guizot suffered in character and in prestige accord- ttigly. The Queen was naturally more highly incensed than the nation, because from her position and her vigilant study of foreign policy she knew more than her people of the secret history of the affair. The motives of the chief conspirators in the intrigue — Louis Philippe and the Queen Dowager Christina — were rather disreputable. They ut- terly ignored the feelings and the interests of the young Queen, and treated her as if she were a chattel to be bartered away for their own aggrandizement. Louis Philippe's object was simply to secure for his son a consort whose dowry would still further enrich the Orleans family, the aggrandizement of his House being the dominant idea of his diplomacy. The Dowager Queen Christina had been an unjust steward of the fortune which the Queen and her sister inherited from their father. King Ferdinand VII, and for her it was therefore a vital necessity to find husbands for her daughters, who would not be too curious as to the accuracy of her accounts. It is believed that when Ferdinand VII died he was worth 8,000,000 pounds sterling, and though there is reason to suppose he left a will, no such instrument was ever found. After his death, however, his property was set down as being worth only 60,000,000 francs, and by law this was divided between his daughters. The Queen Dowager was said at the time to have appropriated not only the balance, but also a considerable proportion of the rents of the Patrimonio Real, which passed through her hands during her guardianship of her daughters. Her uncle, Louis Philippe, was understood to be cognizant of the Queen Dow- agers "economies," as they were ironically termed in Spain, and he knew how her illegitimate offspring had grown rich during the mi- nority of the young Princesses. Louis Philippe could answer for it VICTOEIA. 113 that if his son married one of the Royal sisters, no inconvenient ques- tions would be asked about settlements. In the Duke of Cadiz he discerned an imbecile Prince of the House of Bourbon who would be equally pliable and accommodating. Moreover, he was supposed to be physically unfitted for matrimony, so that by arranging his marriage with the young Queen, Louis Philippe presumably calcu- lated that the union would be without issue, which would place, the children by the Queen's sister and the Due de Montpensier in the direct succession to the throne, almost as surely as if Louis Philippe had arranged that his son should marry Queen Isabella herself. The pledge which Louis Philippe had given to the Queen of England at Eu was an obstacle to this heartless project, but the pre- text for violating it was ingeniously manufactured by the Queen Dowager Christina. She addressed a letter, proposing a marriage between Queen Isabella and Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, .who happened to be on a visit to the Court of Lis- bon. After telling Mr. Bulwer (afterwards Lord Dalling), the Brit- ish Minister at Madrid, what this letter contained, and being warned by him that the English -Government could not support such a pro- posal, Queen Christina asked him to let her letter go in his despatch bag, by his messenger. ' In courtesy he could not refuse this favor, and Lord Aberdeen, when he heard what had happened, -laid the facts loyally and frankly before M. Guizot. M. Guizot immediately founded on the incident his monstrous pretext that there was an An- glo^Portuguese intrigue on foot to marry the Queen of Spain to a Prince nearly related to the Royal Family of England — the pretext which released Louis Philippe from the pledge given at the Chateau d'Eu. Still, Louise Philippe shrank from taking steps which he was aware must compromise his reputation; M. Guizot, however, knew how to overcome his last lingering scruples. To- cherish an antip- athy to Lord Palmerston, who had succeeded Lord Aberdeen at the Foreign Office, was a point of honor with Louis Philippe, who had not forgotten how France was checked in Syria in 1840, and Lord Palmerston, it must be admitted, indiscreetly played into M. Guizot's hands. He wrote on the i8th of December a despatch to Mr. Bul- wer, discussing the marriage of Queen Isabella, and mentioning — without, however, specially favoring — the candidature of Prince Leo- 114 VICTORIA, pold, along with that of the various Bourbon Princes. He added a series of caustic criticisms on the absokitism which tainted the Gov- ernment of Spain. A copy of this despatch was given to M. Guizot. He immediately roused Louis Philippe's suspicions and disti'ust by pointing to its maladroit references to Prince Leopold's candidature. Then he sent to Queen Christina a copy of the offensive references to the absolutism of the Spanish Government. She at once saw, or The Guard-Room at Windsor. pretended to see, in the document indications of an alliance between the EngHsh Government and her enemies, the Progressists, which it was quite reasonable for her to neutralize, by drawing closer the ties between Spain and France. Louis Philippe, accordingly, no longer hesitated, nor did the Queen Dowager, to arrange the marriages of Queen Isabella and her sister to the Duke of Cadiz and the Due de Montpensier — in defiance QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 115 of the pledges given at the Chateau d'Eu. The English Govern- ment met the announcement with a diplomatic protest. The King of the French induced Queen Marie Amelie to announce the "double event" to Queen Victoria, who in reply sent the following dignified but cutting letter : Osborne, September lo, 1846. "Madame — I have just received your Majesty's letter of the 8th inst., and I hasten to thank you for it. You will perhaps remember what passed at Eu between the King and myself; you are aware of the importance which I have always attached to the maintenance of our cordial understanding, and the zeal with which I have labored towards this end. You have no doubt been informed that we refused to arrange the marriage between the Queen of Spain and our cousin Leopold (which the two Queens had eagerly desired), solely with the object of not departing from a course which would be more agree- able to the King, although we could not regard that course as the best. You will therefore easily understand that the sudden an- nouncement of this double marriage could not fail to cause us sur- prise and very keen regret. "I crave your pardon, Madame, for speaking to you of politics at a time like this, but I am glad that I can say for myself that I have always been sincere with you. "Begging you to present my respectful regards to the King, "I am, Madame, "Your Majesty's most devoted sister and friend." The shrewdest comment made on this brilliant diplomatic tri- umph of France was Metternich's. "Tell Guizot from me," he said, "that one does not with impunity play little tricks with great coun- tries" — ^and Metternich was right. The loss of the English alliance ruined Louis Philippe in the eye of public opinion in Europe, and gave courage and hope to the Liberals in France, who were bent on dethroning him. In England the feeling against Louis PhiHppe was one of mingled regret and disgust. London was now so unpleasant to the Queen that early in Feb- ruary she and Prince Albert went to Osborne where they were build- ing a new country house. Here they enjoyed a little repose. But in March' they had to return to town and once more take up the bur- den and agitation of political strife, 116 VICTOEIA. On the 25th of May the Princess Helena was born, and salvos of artillery announced her advent into a "rude and naughty world." At the beginning of August, the Court Circle was again at Osborne for a brief rest, for the Queen, who was never so happy as when she had round her those she loved and away from the stiffness and overpowering conventionalities of Court life in London, though at a later date she was most insistent upon the observance of every point of prescribed etiquette by those in her presence. But life in the Royal circle was not all amusement. Baron Stockmar bears testimony to the zeal with which both the Prince and the Queen devoted themselves at this time to business and graver studies. And many events were happening, many intellectual and social movements beginning to develop, which keenly interested them. The unsatisfactory position of British art — emphasized by the fate of Haydon, who committed suicide in despair of ever inter- esting the English people in the higher forms of art — the develop- ment of the great movement in favor of popular education, and the rise of what afterwards came to be known as the Party of Secularism, were keenly canvassed during the latter part of this eventful year in every circle where thoughtful men and women met. Among the many remarkable movements that arose when the country was liberated from the strain of the Free Trade agitation, was that which originated the strife between parties as to the share which the Church and State should take in the work of education. A crude and rudimentary scheme of national education was part of Lord John Russell's programme, and the attention of the country had been excited by a memorable pamphlet published by Dr. Hook, then Vicar of Leeds, afterwards Dean of Chichester, in which he pro- posed a plan which very much resembles that which the late Mr. W. E. Forster induced Parliament to accept in 1870. Her Majesty and Prince Albert were deeply interested in Dr. Hook's plan, the leading points of which were: (i) Schools to be universally supported by the State ; (2) Education to be secular, but one day in the week to be set apart for religious instruction, which should be given by each denom- ination to the children of its own members. In the year 1846 the scientific world was greatly interested by the publication of a most extraordinary series of experimental re- QUEEN AKt) EMPRESS. 117 searches in electricity conducted by Faraday, illustrating alike the genius of the man and the spirit and methods of scientific investiga- tion during the early part of the Victorian epoch. "I have long held the opinion," wrote Faraday, "that the various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest have one common origin, or, in other words, are so directly related and mutually dependent, that they are convertible, as it were, into one another, and possess equiv- alents of power in their action. * * * j recently resumed the inquiry by experiment in a most strict and searching manner, and have at last succeeded in magnetizing and electrifying a ray of light and in illuminating a magnetic line of force." The paper from which it is taken simply proved that a ray of polarized light sent through certain transparent substances in the line of action connecting the poles of a magnet, became visible or invisible just as the current was flowing or was stopped. In another paper "On New Magnetic Ac- tions," Faraday proved that a non-magnetic body suspended freely in the line of a magnetic current is repelled by either pole, and takes up a position at right angles to the line, and, therefore, at right angles to the line a magnetic body would assume in similar circum- stances. But perhaps one of the most interesting events, to Prince Albert at least, was the laying of the first submarine telegraph cable at Ports- mouth on the r3th of December, 1846. In the year 1843 telegraphic communication from the Nine Elms terminus at Portsmouth to Gos- port had been established. Then the wires were continued to the Clarence Victualling Yard. The harbor, however, still intervened between the end of the wire and the Port Admiral's house, and it was supposed to be impossible to connect the two points electrically under water. The first plan suggested was to lay the wires in metal cases, to be fixed in position by divers with diving-bells. But it was finally agreed to lay the wires in a stout cable, and this was done with- out the use of a return wire. The first message sent over it thus dem- onstrated that water would act as a ready conductor in completing the electrical circuit, and almost immediately projectors were devel- oping a plan for laying a submarine cable to France. This and the discovery of the use of ether as an anaesthetic in surgery — the first painless operation being performed on a patient under its influence 118 VICTORIA. by Mr. Listen in University College Hospital — were the chief prac- tical achievements in science during a year which closed with anxious forebodings from Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, where the scourge of famine was again smiting the people. 1847 ^^y t>s called the year of distress. Famine stalked in Ire- land, religious controversies of the most bigotted nature set English ecclesiastics by the ears, there were terrible financial panics, and So- cialism raised its crimson flag of unrest. Free Trade was said to have caused the Irish famine. Where the mass of people do not live by selling the produce from the soil, the fall in the price of grain which followed Free Trade should have been a boon. But in Ireland, where the masses existed on the profits of their tillage on a small scale. Free Trade was a disaster. Coupled with the failure of the potato crop it meant famine. The people were starving, gaunt skeletons tottered out upon the high ways searching for food. When the Sessions of Parliament opened on the 19th of January, 1847, the Queen, in reading her speech, seemed downcast and sor- rowful, and her voice is said to have trembled and fallen low as she spoke of the sufiferings of the Celtic population, and commended the patience and exemplary resignation with which their sufiferings were borne. And well might her voice and heart sink, for at that time the newspapers teemed with descriptions of scenes of sufifering in Ire- land, more harowing than any which the most lurid pages of history record — scenes in which pestilence dogged the track of famine, and perishing wretches fought with each other .like wild beasts for carrion. They were more dreadful even than those that live for ever in the ghastly narrative of Josephus, and, as Lord Brougham said in the Upper House, they recalled the canvas of Poussin and the dismal chant of Dante. Lord John Russell explained, on the 2Sth of January, the plans of the Government. Some 2,000,000 pounds were advanced to feed the Irish people on doles of Indian meal, and to give them work and wages. A new Irish Poor Law, based on the English principle that property must support pauperism, was introduced, much to the dis- gust of the Irish landlords. The Corn Law and Navigation Acts were to be temporarily suspended. The Tories, not to seem lag- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 119 gards in the race of philanthropy, through Lord George Bentinck brought in a Bill to raise 16,000,000 pounds for the construction of new railways in Ireland, so that employment might be given to the poor. His plan was that for every 100 pounds expended on a line, 200 pounds should be lent to its promoters by the Government at the same rate of interest at which it had been borrowed, and it was significant that in drafting his measure Lord George had been guided by Mr. Hudson, "the Railway King," who made railways, and Mr. Alderman Thompson, who supplied materials for their construction. The House rejected the project as one designed to invest the money of the taxpayers in speculative enterprises for the benefit of financial "rings," who had duped the Protectionist leader. Ministers, how- ever, to the surprise of the House, followed up this rejected measure with a Bill of their own on the 26th of April, providing for advancing Treasury Loans, amounting in all to 620,000 pounds, repayable at 5 per cent, interest, to Irish railways, 50 per cent, of whose capital was paid up. During the discussions on these measures. Sir Robert Peel's Bank Restriction Act of 1844 was continually attacked by the Pro- tectionists as the cause of the prevailing financial distress. The object of that Act was to insure the convertibility of paper currency into gold, so that the holder of a bank-note might always be. certain that he could get an equivalent in coin for it on demand. The coun- try was sufifering from a scarcity of money to trade with, and this scarcity was traced to a restriction of the Bank's paper issues. On the contrary, it was really due (i) to failure of the food crops, which involved a loss of 16,000,000 pounds sterling of capital ; (2) to the rise in the price of cattle, due to a failure of crops; (3) to a loss of 16,000,000 pounds in gambling speculations during the railway mania of 1845-46. This mania, which produced such monstrous schemes during the close of 1845, began to bear evil fruits when holders of scrip, in face of falling markets, were haunted with visions of bankruptcy. A return was issued, by order of the House of Commons, containing the names of the unhappy individuals who, during the Session of 1845, had subscribed towards railways in England, Scotland and Ireland, for sums of less than 2,000 pounds. It is a huge catalogue, extend- 120 VICTORIA. ing over 540 folio pages, and forms the oddest jumble of "all sorts and conditions of men." Vicars and vice-admirals elbow each other in the reckless race after easy-gotten gain. Peers struggle with printers, and barristers with butchers, for the favors of Mr. Hudson, "the Railway King," who was the presiding genius of this greedy rabble. Cotton-spinners and cooks. Queen's Counsel and attorneys, college scouts and Catholic priests, editors and flunkeys, dairymen and dyers, beer-sellers and ministers of the Gospel, bankers and their butlers, engineers and excisemen, relieving officers and waiters at Lloyd's, domestic servants and policemen, engineers and mail- guards, with a troop of others whose callings are not describable, figured in the motley mob of small gamblers. In the beginning of 1846, when in obedience to the Standing Order of the House the deposit of 10 per cent, on railway capital had to be lodged with the Accountant-General, the Money Market was greatly alarmed. It was estimated that 10,000,000 pounds would have to be lodged in compliance with the law on the 29th of January, and on the loth the Times, in a memorable article, declared that to lock up half that sum for a week in the circumstances would produce "the greatest incon- venience and pressure." It was in vain that the officers of the Crown and the Govern- ment were implored by the trading community, who dreaded a Gold Famine, to sanction a deviation from the rigid rule of the Standing Order in face of the exceptional outbreak of an epidemic of specu- lation. This reached its height just a month before the Governor of the Bank of England could be persuaded that the potato-rot was rendering famine inevitable. In 1847, after years of opposition, there was carried the "Ten Hours Bill," the Bill limiting the hours of employment of children and young persons in factories. Between the Election and the assembling of Parliament the Government was greatly disturbed by the renewed outbreak of out- rages in Ireland, and of the commercial panic which had long been imminent. These two events caused Ministers to summon Parlia- ment on the 1 8th of November. The panic in spring, which we traced to dearth and high prices of food-stuffs, was eased in midsum- mer by the fall in prices. This, however, in its turn, produced the second panic in the autumn, for speculators had bought corn in ad- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 121 vance at rates far above those which began to rule the market. Then money became "tight." On the 5th of August the Bank raised the rate of discount to 5 1-2 per cent., and Funds fell 2 per cent, in a week — from 88 5-8 to 86 3-4. At the end of August failures to the extent of 3,000,000 pounds Were announced, and on the ist of October the Bank of England refused to make any further advances on Stock. At the end of the week consols fell to 80 1-2. On the 19th of Octo- ber they were sold for money at 78, and for the account at 79, and Exchequer bills fell as low as 30 per cent, discount. Banking-houses of national importance now began to close their doors, and confi- dence vanished from the commercial world. The country may be said to have been at a very low ebb, and in the "fierce light that beats about a throne," a Queen with a heavy heart took on all the panoply of State and wore the ermine of power, yet could do little to bring her country out of the seeming ruin. Facsimile of Portion of the Marriage Record of Victoria. From an Etching made by the Queen. 122 THE COURT AND REVOLTS. The Defences of England— Prince Albert and Cambridge— Dr. Whewell and the Queen— Holiday in the Highlands— A Year of Revolt— Flight of Louis Philippe — The Meeting on Kensington Common— The Duke of Wellington's Arrangements — The "Young Ireland" Party — Col- lapse of the Irish Rebellion — Another Spanish Quarrel — Palmerston — Beginning of the Great Reform Movement. '^#;idV/>URING 1847-48, Foreign Affairs chiefly occupied the '':iJ...fe^"'-j3 attention of the Queen and Prince Albert. The an- nexation of Cracow, long meditated by Metternich, was rendered easy to Austria by the coolness which had sprung up between England and France. It was felt that French and English protests, though presented, must be unavailing, because every one knew neither Power would go to war for the sake of Poland. Mr. Hume brought the incident under the notice of the House of Commons, his proposal being to stop the payments to Russia by Great Britain on account ©f the Russo-Dutch Loan — in other words, to fine Russia for sanction- ing Austria's evil-doing. It was the subject of a debate which would have been tame but for Lord George Bentinck's imprudent eulogium on the three despotic Powers — which vastly displeased his Party, and as Lord Palmerston, in a letter to Lord Normanby, said, extin- guished him as a candidate for office. Hume's motion was not pressed to a division. French influence had been at work in Portugal to estrange the Queen from her English alliance. The dynastic connection between the Houses of Coburg and Braganza rendered Portuguese affairs intensely interesting to Queen Victoria at this time. The King Con- sort of Portugal — Prince Ferdinand, son of the younger brother of the reigning Duke of Coburg — had, it was rumored, quarrelled with the Queen, who was tempted to carry out in her dominions the arbi- trary policy of the Bourbons. The people rebelled ; and in view of a possible Franco-Spanish intervention, England, not uninf^enced by tlie views of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, stepped in between 123 124 VICTORIA. the Portuguese Sovereign and her people. English intervention was at the outset purely diplomatical. It was limited to the arrange- ment of a compromise between the contending parties. Ultimately our diplomacy was successful ; but the proposals of the English En- voy were finally rejected by the Portuguese Junta, and a Protocol was drawn up with Portugal, Spain and France, for the purpose of bringing the Junta to submission. The General Election was now impending in England, and it was feared that on a motion in the House of Commons, censuring the Government for interfering to coerce the Junta, a combination of Protectionists and Radicals with Lord Palmerston's enemies would defeat the Government. Sir Robert Peel held some anxious conferences with Prince Albert on the subject; and the Queen was afraid lest a vulgar suspicion might get abroad that the policy of her Government had been dominated, not by British but by Coburg interests. Luckily, no serious coercion was needed, and the Junta finally submitted on the 30th of June. The dispute between France and England over the Spanish marriages, the personal quarrel between Lord Normanby, the En- glish Ambassador at Paris, and M. Guizot, and the deep distrust of Lord Palmerston, which poisoned the mind of Louis Philippe, bore bad fruits. Lord Normanby allied himself more closely than ever with M. Thiers and the Teaders of the Opposition in the French Chambers, who harried the Government with their attacks. M. Guizot began to lean for support on the Northern Powers, and he cultivated the fatal friendship of Metternich. His policy was thus one under which revolution naturally ripened. The unsatisfactory state of our foreign relations rendered the Duke of Wellington most anxious about the defence of the country; in fact, he was, says Charles Greville, "haunted" by it night and day. Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston were with the Duke. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was against him ; as for Lord John Russell, he was neutral. In January, 1848, the Duke of Wellington, however, startled the country by a letter which he h,ad addressed to General Sir John Bur- goyne early in 1847 on the unfortified state of England. At that moment, he averred, the fleet was the only defence the nation pos- sessed. He doubted if 5,ooo men of all arms could he sent into the field, unless we left those on duty, including the Royal Guards, with- .ir--< ■ ■-.-.it J:^ I 125 The Duke of Wellington at Windsor Castle. 126 VICTORIA. out any reliefs whatever. He pleaded for the organization of a militia force at least 150,000 strong, and for strengthening the de- fences of the South Coast from the North Foreland to Portsmouth. This letter was a private one. Lady Burgoyne .and her daughters, however, had distributed copies of it among their friends, and one Pigou, "a meddling zealot," says Mr. Greville, "who does nothing but read Blue Books and write letters to the Times," got hold of a copy and printed it in the newspapers, much to the annoyance of the Duke and Lord John Russell. The Duke of Wellington all through the latter half of the year had indeed given the Ministry and the Queen some uneasiness, and this might have had serious conse- quences, but for the fine tact and delicate social diplomacy of her Majesty. Enfeebled by age and anxious as to the defences of the country, which the Government persisted in neglecting, the "Great Captain" querulously threatened to resign — a step which the Queen dreaded because she considered that it would greatly reduce public confidence in the Government. A statue in the worst possible taste had been put up on the archway opposite Apsley House — the first equestrian statue, indeed, ever erected in England to a subject. It was put there only provisionally, but the Duke held that to take it down would be an insult to him, and this further strengthened his resolution to retire. The Queen, however, was "excessively kind to him," and her winning courtesies soothed the irritated veteran. "On Monday," says Mr. Greville, writing on the 19th of June, "his grand- daughter was christened at the Palace, and the Queen dined with him in the evening. She had written him a very pretty letter, expressing her wish to be godmother to the child, saying that she mshed her to be called Victoria, which name was so peculiarly appropriate to a granddaughter of his." After that the country was no longer dis- turbed by rumors of the Duke's impending resignation. Of Court life outside the sphere of politics, in this year of dis- tress, we gain some interesting glimpses in the Memoirs and Diaries of the period. In February wheat was selling at 102 shillings a quar- ter, and in May the Queen herself says she had been obliged to limit the allowance of bread to every one in the Palace to one pound a day, "and only secondary flour to be used in the Royal kitchen." Two great events in the domestic life of the Court in 1847 were the visit to Cambridge and the visit to Scotland, which took ..place QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 127 after Parliament was dissolved. On the 12th of February, 1847, his Royal Highness was deeply gratified to receive from Dr. Whewell, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, a letter asking permission to nominate him for the vacant Chancellorship of the University. Acting quite independently of Dr. Whewell, Lord Lansdowne sent a Dr. Whewell. similar request, and Mr. Anson, Prince Albert's secretary, received a communication from the Bishop of London (Blomfield), assuring him that a great many of the leading members of the University were deeply interested in the election of his Royal Highness, and would consider his acceptance of office alike honorable and advantageous to Cambridge. The Queen was touched with these expressions of 128 VICTORIA. kindly feeling, for if there had ever been a shadow over her happi- ness, it had been due to a lurking suspicion that her husband was not fairly appreciated by the people, among whom for her sake he had elected to work out a career of self-efifacement. Here, at last, it seemed to her Majesty, there was an indication that her husband's high qualities were meeting with their just reward. The ofifer of the Chancellorship of Cambridge she regarded as an honor conferred on the Prince for his own sake rather than for hers — as the first mark of distinction won by him in England, outside the sphere and range of her influence. The visit to Scotland was arranged in August, after the general election, and was one of those happy jaunts which the Queen thor- oughly enjoyed. During the autumn Session of Parliament, while the Irish Co- ercion Bill was under debate, the Queen and her family retired to Osborne. Pleasant experiments in landscape gardening there formed an agreeable diversion from the distracting anxieties of foreign poli- tics in London. And truly by this time affairs on the Continent began to assume a more threatening aspect than ever. In Switzer- land the rebellion of the seven Catholic cantons of the Sonderbund had been crushed by General Dufour, who commanded the forces ol the other fifteen cantons. The rising was suppressed before the Cabinets of England, Austria, France, Russia and Prussia had time to intervene. But in Italy the popular party, excited by rumors of Lord Minto's sympathy with their movement, were stirring up the people against their Austrian masters. The Pope was growing afraid of his own diluted Liberalism. France Was rapidly becoming demoralized. Sensational trials in the law courts revealed a shock- ing amount of corruption in official circles in Paris. The deficit in the Budget was greater than had been anticipated. Louis Philippe was accused of debauching the electorate and the Representative Chamber by bribery ; his quarrel with England, and his futile attempt to win compensatory alliances elsewhere, destroyed his prestige; the Liberal Party, secretly encouraged by his enemy. Lord Palmer- ston, attacked his Government with every weapon of invective and ridicule ; his Ministers had lost the confidence of the people, and the Uemand for a wide extension of the franchise accordingly became THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES AT THE CHARITY BAZAAR, MANSION HOUSR. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 131 loud and deep. To this demand, perfectly reasonable in itself, the King and his Minister, M. Guizot, offered the most dogged and infat- uated opposition. The movement in North Italy against Austrian domination also created an agitation for reforms in the Two Cicilies, to which the King would make no concessions whatever. The Royal troops, in January, 1848, were beaten in an attempt to quell a revolt in the island of Sicily, and a futile compromise was scornfully rejected' by the insurgents, who insisted on nothing less than the Constitution of 1 81 2, and the assembly of a Parliament at Palermo. Naples in turn became restive, whereupon the terrified King dismissed his auto- cratic advisers, formed a Liberal Ministry, and granted a Constitu- tion, with an amnesty, on the 12th of February. Even Lord Minto, Palmerston's unofficial emissary to "Young Italy," failed to persuade the Sicilians to accept it. But these concessions, barren as they were, forced the hands of the Pope and of the rulers of Tuscany and Sar- dinia, who in turn granted Constitutions. In fact, the tide of revolu- tion was rising fast, and threatened to sweep everything before it in the Italian Peninsula. On the 2 1st of February, M. Guizot prohibited the Reform ban- quet in quet in Paris. On Tuesday the 22d the National Guard had revolted and the mob from behind the barricades attacked the troops. On Wednesday not one-tenth of the National Guards answered the roll-call. The Government was paralyzed with panic; Ministers re- signed, and M. Odillon Barrot impeached M. Guizot. The insur- rection rapidly made headway, and on the 24th Louis Philippe abdi- cated in favor of his son, the Comte de Paris, and fled from his capital. As soon as the Royal Family had left the Tuileries, the mob gutted the Palace, smashing everything in it but the throne, which they car- ried through the streets, amidst shrieks of derision. M. Lamartine formed a Provisional Government, which proclaimed a RepubHc. The King and Queen, it seems, made their way to Dreux, where, thanks to a friendly farmer, they procured disguises. After wander- ing to Trouville and Honfleur, they ultimately embarked in a fishing- boat, and were picked up by the Southampton steamer. Express, which had been hovering off Havre to meet the fugitives. On the 132 VICTORIA. 3d of March, about midnight, his Majesty, under the name of "Mr. Smith," was shivering in a little public-house at Newhaven, called the "Bridge Inn." On the 4th they reached London, and immediately drove to Claremont. Other members of the Royal Family of France arrived by devious ways, after much variety of perilous adventure, and were received by the Queen with a generous hospitality, the warmth of which was indeed far from pleasing to the English people. England had neither forgotten nor forgiven the hostile duplicity of Louis Philippe's foreign policy, and even Prince Albert had to beg her Majesty — whose heart has always been easily touched by the spectacle of sorrow or misfortune — to moderate her expression of sympathy for the dethroned monarch. In truth, Louis Philippe — who complained to the Queen that Palmerston's intrigues with the Liberals in France had upset his Government — deserved his fate. The outbreak which followed the foolish prohibition of the Reform banquet was only that of a turbulent mob. The King had a large and loyal army at his back, and the proverbial "whifif of grapeshot" would at the outset have quelled the rising. Louis Philippe, how- ever, lacked the courage to defend his crown, and his flight trans- formed a riot into a revolution. April witnessed the rioting of the Chartists in London, and the spirit of uprising all over the world seethed in England. The "Young Ireland" Party joined issues with the Chartists, and a revo- lution was planned, Whit Monday the day which should usher it in. But the uprising failed, arrests were made, those prominent in the plans punished and what had alarmed the people as a possible rebel- lion collapsed, though it created considerable alarm and some isolated cases of damage done were reported. Though the progress of the Revolutionary movement in Eng- land, Ireland, and France engi-ossed the interests of the Queen and Prince Albert, it was impossible for them to be indififerent to its pro- gress in other countries, notably in Germany, where it took the form of a movement in favor of National Unity. Ferdinand I, a monarch weak alike in body and mind, at this time sat on the throne of Austria. He was, however, little better than the tool of Prince Metternich, the energetic and unscrupulous Minister in whom Absolutism was incar- 133 Reception of l/juis Phillippe at Windsor Castle. 134 VICTOEIA. nate. After the fall of Louis Philippe, turbulent Viennese mobs de- manded constitutional reforms in Austria. On the 13th of March, the populace sacked Metternich's Palace, in Vienna, and the Minis- ter himself, disheartened on finding that his Imperial master shrank from defending his prerogatives, fled from the capital in disguise. "If emperors disappear, it is never till they have come to despair of themselves," was the mocking observation with which Metternich placed his resignation in the hands of the Archduke Charles. Hun- gary naturally caught the contagion of Liberty, and Louis Kossuth carried in the Diet at Pesth an address to the Emperor Ferdinand, demanding a national Government, from which the foreign — i. e., the German — element was to be eliminated. Feeble efiforts at re- pression in Vienna ended in the concession of a Free Press, a Na- tional Guard, and a Liberal Constitution for the Empire. It almost seemed as if the Revolution of '48 had come to enforce the views which the Queen and Prince Albert had in vain impressed on their German relatives. Those views were to the effect that the time had arrived when the Princes of the Empire ought, as a matter of grace, to grant constitutional liberties to their subjects. But their Teutonic Majesties and Serenities had lost their chance of conceding by policy what Revolution now extorted from them by force. The movement began in Baden, where, on the 29th of February, the Grand Duke was compelled to grant a Free Press, a National Guard and Trial by Jury to his subjects. It spread fast through the minor States. In Munich it ended in the abdication of the King on the 2 1st of March. In the Odenwald the peasants sacked the baronial castles and a servile war seemed imminent, even in Coburg. Prussia was stricken sharply by the revolutionary tempest. The very day after Metternich fled from Vienna the mob of Berlin rose against the Government. Riot after riot followed this outbreak, and the concessions proclaimed on the i8th of March came too late — though the King, Frederick William, imagined he would win the sympathies of the German race by advocating the formation of a United Germany, federated under one flag, one army, one law, and one executive. The people, full of joy at their triumph, went to the Palace to congratulate their Sovereign, who came forth to harangue them. A glimmer of steel, however, within the castle quadrangle in ' QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 135 an instant transformed the loyal crowd into a raging and rebellious mob. "Bitter experience," says Mr. Charles Lowe, "had taught them to distrust the word of their King. But instead of retiring, a squadron of dragoons, with a company of foot, advanced to clear the square, and either by accident or design, two muskets were fired into the crowd. 'Treason !' 'Revenge !' 'To arms !' was resounded on every side." Two hundred barricades rose in the streets as if by magic, "and the city was soon one wild scene of carnage," lit through- out the dark hours of night and morning by the red glare of sacked and burning houses. The troops virtually triumphed, but the King, grief-stricken, because of the slaughter of his "dear Berliners," sud- denly gave the command next morning to "cease firing." The un- popular ministers were dismissed. An amnesty was proclaimed, and the troops were ordered to quit the city. A Burger Guard was ex- temporized, and the King was compelled by the mob to stand bare- headed on the balcony of his Palace, and salute a ghastly procession of the dead who had been slain by his troops. , On the 21st of March he rode through the streets, delivering many efifusive and emotional speeches, promising a liberal constitution, and pledging himself, even in defiance of Austria, to head the movement for German Unity. The Crown Prince who was wrongly supposed to have ordered the troops to fire on the people, fled to England, and his Palace was saved from attack solely because some loyal person artfully chalked over it the words, "National Property." He was most hospitably enter- tained by the Queen till the end of May, when he returned tO' Berlin. "May God protect him," writes her Majesty to her uncle, King Leo- pold. "He is very noble-minded and honest, and most cruelly wronged." Italy, already a hotbed of discontent, naturally participated in the revolutionary movement. Early in March, Lombardy rose against the Austrians, and Venice, led by Daniel Manin, proclaimed a Republic. Charles Albert, King of Sardina, yielding to popular pressure, put himself at the head of the agitation for Italian unity, and on the 23d of March advanced to Milanese territory. The peo- ple of Tuscany and the Papal States flew to arms, but were pacified by the grant of constitutions, though the Pope was forced by the populace in May to levy war on Austria, his most faithful ally, The 136 VICTORIA. ' Dukes of Parma and Modena fled for their lives from their capitals. In Sicily alone the revolution was suppressed by force. This seems to have disheartened the liberators of North Italy — or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say it encouraged their Austrian masters. Ignoring defeat after defeat, the Austrians, under Radetsky, held on to their Italian provinces with grim tenacity. Pacific mediation was rejected on both sides, and, finally, Charles Albert, who by this time found that Sardinia was expected to bear the brunt of the war single- handed, was rendered helpless by his fatal reverses at Custozza (22d of July) and Somma Campagna (26th of July). The Pope, alarmed by the liberal movement he had encouraged, lost the confidence of his subjects, and on the assassination of Rossi, his secretary, fled from Rome to Gaeta (24th of November). From thence he issued a pro- test against the Revolutionary Government of the Holy City, which protest was promptly supported by the armed intervention of France. In Spain, however, the Revolution, in May, took a form which gave Queen Victoria the greatest anxiety. At first all parties in the Cortes were opposed to violence. Suddenly, however, the Party of Action waxed strong. The Government foolishly prorogued the Cortes, and this was followed by a protest in the shape of a popular rising in Madrid, on the 26th of March. It was suppressed, and a few of the most distinguished men in Spain were summarily banished beyond the seas. Lord Palmerston here interfered with character- istic recklessness and audacity. On the i6th of March he wrote to Sir Henry Bulwer, the British Minister at Madrid, requesting him to advise the Queen of Spain to change her Ministers. Sir Henry Bul- wer not only sent a copy of this despatch to the Due de Sotomayor, but also procured its publication in the Opposition newspapers. The Spanish Government, incensed at Sir H. Bulwer's intrigues with the Party of Violence, not only resented this impertinent interference with their afifairs, but haughtily returned the despatch to the English Foreign Office. Lord Palmerston replied sarcastically to Soto- mayor, and not only approved of the conduct of Sir Henry Bulwer, but caused him to be made a K.C.B. Accordingly, on the 19th of May, the Spanish Government requested Sir Henry to leave Spain within forty-eight hours, which he did, and a cessation of diplomatic intercourse was the result. Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister, QUEEN AND EaviPRESS. 137 had seen Lord Palmerston's ill-advised despatch, and having told Lord Palmerston that he objected to it, he naturally concluded it would not be sent. "Shortly after," writes Mr. Greville, "he (Lord John Russell) was with the Queen, and, in conversation on this topic, he told her what had passed between Palmerston and himself, and what he had said. 'No ! did you say that?' said the Queen. He said, 'Yes.' 'Well, then,' she replied, 'it produced no efifect, for the despatch is gone. Lord Palmerston sent it to me. I know it is gone.' " There was quite a storm of indignation against Lord Palmerston in every political club and coterie when this affair became known. The Queen was angry, and so were Palmerston's colleagues, some of whom declared that they could not defend his conduct. He was at- tacked by the Opposition in both Houses; and Lord Lansdowne, who had to plead for him in the Lords, told Lord John Russell that "this must never happen again," and that in future Lord Palmerston must not be allowed to send out any despatches unless they were sanctioned by Lord John himself. It was morally certain that Sir H. Bulwer had, at Lord Palmerston's instigation, mixed himself up with the intrigues of the revolutionary party in Madrid, and on the 5th of June Mr. Bankes gave expression to the true feeling of every sec- tion of the House of Commons, by moving a Vote of Censure on Lord Palmerston. Whigs, Tories, and Radicals were agreed that his conduct had been imprudent and discourteous. The Queen ex- pressed to Lord John Russell her grief over his rude and un- toward management of diplomatic business. His colleagues con- demned him in private, and yet the attack on him mysteriovisly col- lapsed. Study of a Child (from an Etching by the Queen). 138 VI. RELAXATION AND WORK "Condition of England" Question — At Balmoral — Relief of Irish Poverty — Irish Poor Law — Disaflfection in Canada — National Reform — Inter- national Arbitration — The Sikh War — Napier — Royal Visit to Ireland — Death of the Queen Adelaide — Socialism in Paris — Queen's Irish Policy — Death of Sir Robert Peel — Attack on the Queen — Fall of the Whig Cabinet — Defeat of Lord John Russell. ij^^O the Queen and the Prince Consort the year of the Revo- lution brought many domestic anxieties which the Court newsman of the day could not chronicle. But the public business connected with the distressing and alarming state of affairs abroad condemned both the Queen and her husband to the severest toil. Twenty- eight thousand dispatches were received by or sent out from the Foreign Office during 1848, and most of these had to be studied closely, and annotated and advised on either by her Majesty or Prince Albert. Lord Palmerston's irrepressible restless- ness kept the Queen in a state of feverish anxiety, for she never knew when some fresh freak of the Foreign Secretary might not make her appear ridiculous to Continental Courts. Moreover, it occurred to the Royal pair that the troubles at home might perchance be smoothed if the influence of the Crown were judiciously and delicately applied to promote a peaceful solu- tion of many alarming social problems. Thomas Carlyle was then thundering forth anathemas against the governing orders of Eng- land for neglecting what he called "the Condition of England Ques- tion," and accusing them of abdicating their natural position as lead- ers and guides of the people. Had he suspected what was going on in the Royal circle, he would have known that this charge did not at all events lie against the highest of all the governing orders in the State. The "Condition of England Question," in fact, had now become a subject of engrossing interest to the Queen and her con- sort. 139 140 VlCKfORIA. Prince Albert's letters to Baron Stockmar indicate that he over- estimated the power and significance of the Chartist organization. But they show that he did not under-estimate the disastrous effect of popular discontent on the commerce and industry of the nation. Her Majesty and the Prince seemed to have arrived at a very clear idea as to how far they could either of them afifect the crisis. Personally, the Sovereign at such a time could not with propriety mingle in the social warfare waged between rich and poor. But much might be done through Prince Albert to show that the Crown was not un- mindful of the claims of labor, and to indicate that her Majesty bated not one jot or tittle of her sympathy for that class of the community, which, as Prince Albert pithily said, in a speech he delivered on the i8th of May, "has most of the toil, and least of the enjoyments, of life." It is curious to observe that all through the Queen's corres- pondence during the most alarming year of her reign, there is ex- pressed a feeling of proud confidence in the stability of the British Monarchy, and an abiding certitude that under her rule no effort will be spared to minimize the sufferings or better the lot of the poor. Bolingbroke's "patriot King" could not have more completely iden- tified Sovereignty with national life and national yearning. That the Revolution had no perceptible effect on England, one can now see was inainly due to the fact that alike in the repeal of the Corn Laws, anAin the encouragement of schemes for social improvement, the Monarchy became almost guilty of partisanship in espousing the popular cause. The air was indeed full of such schemes, and it is hardly a breach of confidence now to say that but for the risk of in- curring the reproach of infecting England with German ideas, the Court would have marched in advance of its advisers. It was gen- erally believed at this time that the Queen and Prince Albert were first struck with the inadequacy of the provision made in England to mitigate the painful chancefulness of life among the artisan classes. It has been, in fact, supposed that it was in a special sense for her Majesty's perusal that the late Dr. Farr then investigated the prob- lem, from a point of view which was as essentially German as it was antagonistic to the ideas of the English laissez faire school. Our Poor Law, Dr. Farr argued, is really a great scheme for insuring i^^^^f--:'^^^^^. ^ 141 Christening of the Princess Lotaise. 142 VICTORIA. every man's life against the risk of starvation. In those days to die from starvation was an accident in England. In the countries which were swept by the Revolution, however, to be succored from death by starvation was the accident. The Poor Law had, therefore, with other influences, saved Society in England. Whether, in these cir- cumstances, it might not be well to develop the beneficent idea un- derlying it, was a question often thoughtfully pondered in the Royal Family. On the i8th of March the Princess Louise was born, and on the 13th of May she was baptized in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace, being named after Prince Albert's mother and the Queen of the Belgians. The Prince himself adapted the music of a choral he had composed for the Baptismal Service. "The Royal christening," writes Bishop Wilberforce to Miss Noel, "was a very beautiful sight in its highest sense of that word beauty; the Queen, with the five Royal children about her, the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal hand-in-hand, all kneeling down quietly and meekly at every prayer, and the Httle Princess Helena alone just standing and looking round with the blue eyes of gazing innocence." In July, Prince Albert opened the Agricultural Show at York, and his speech in which he identified himself with the interests of the country gentry and farmers of England gave him even a better stand- ing with those whom he addressed. For the Prince was even yet looked upon with distrust by many. He was a "foreigner," not to the manor born, and an Englishman trusts most those of his own nationality. However, the Prince was gradually gaining the confi- dence of the nation by his modest demeanor in affairs of state and his good sense when he was called upon to act in a momentous question. One more triumph over insular prejudice won by the Court dur- ing the year of Revolution remains to be recorded. Prince Albert, very soon after his election as Chancellor of the University of Cam- bridge, alarmed the Colleges by indicating that he had no intention of being merely an ornamental official. His first demand to be sup- plied with a sketch of the plan of academic study at Cambridge was ominous of interference. At Cambridge everything was at this time sacrificed to mathematical sudies, and an idea of the state of mind in which University reformers approached the Prince with suggestions QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 143 may be found in Dr. Whewell's liberal proposal, that a century should pass before new discoveries could be admitted into the academic cur- riculum. Nominally philosophy, literature and science were in- cluded in that curriculum, as the table of studies prepared by Dr. Philpott for the Prince showed. But there was no denying the truth of his Royal Highness's trenchant criticism on this document in his letter to Lord John Russell, in which he said that all the activity in these departments was "on paper," and even if it had been real, the scheme was incomplete. After a long and laborious correspondence ,^" mjimmm Balmoral Castle with the best authorities on the subject, the Prince succeeded in per- suading the University to thoroughly modernize its course of instruc- tion, and his revised plan of studies was triumphantly carried on the 1st of November, 1848. The Queen came to town in September to prorogue Parliament. No sooner had this function been discharged than the Royal Family made haste to proceed to the Aberdeenshire Highlands, where, on the recommendation of Sir James Clark, Prince Albert had leased the Balmoral estate from the Earl of Aberdeen. Mountain 144 VICTORIA. air, at once dry and keen, was, in Clark's opinion, essential for the health of the Royal Family, and Balmoral was the driest place in Deeside. Nobody has described this romantic retreat better than the Queen herself. From the hill above the house the view, she says, is charming. "To the left you look to the beautiful hills surrounding Lochnagar, and to the right towards Ballater, to the glen or valley along which the Dee winds, with beautiful wooded hills, which re- The Queen and Reapers at Blair Castle. mind us very much of the Thuringian Forest. It was so calm and so solitary, it did one good as one gazed around, and the pure mountain air was most refreshing. All seemed to- breathe freedoin and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils. The scenery is wild and yet not desolate ; and everything looks much more pros- perous and cultivated than at Laggan." As winter drew on, the state of Ireland became increasingly dis- tressful, and the confusion on the Continent more and more ominous. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 145 In England some faint signs of reviving trade were discernible, but only just discernible. The death of Lord Melbourne, however, on the 24th of November, painfully affected the Queen, whose affection for her first guide in statecraft had never abated. "Truly and sin- cerely," she writes in her Diary, "do I deplore the loss of one who was a most kind and disinterested friend of mine, and most sincerely attached to me. He was indeed for the first two years and a half of my reign almost the only friend I had, except Stockmar and Leh- zen." Her last letter to the aged Minister, expressed in terms of simple but touching solicitude, according to his sister, Lady Palmer- ston, did much to lift from his wearied spirit the cloud of melancholy that had settled on it. Melbourne's character was rather misunder- stood, for his whole life was a conceited protest against affectation. He was one of those who get great amusement out of life by treating it as a comedy, in which even in withered age they persist in playing the role of the jeune premier. He toiled hard to persuade Society that he was an elegant idler, and masked his vaulting ambition under the guise of a cynical indifferience to worldly pomp and power. His tastes were a little coarse — otherwise his imposture would have been complete, and he would have perhaps realized the "grandly simple ideal" of a perfect aristocratic character, which the Earl of March imputed to George Selwyn. Melbourne's first impulse was usually to frivolity. But when he saw that business must be attended to, no man could work harder or bring to bear on affairs of State a keener intellect, a more astute judgment, or a craftier scheme of strategy. His handsome person and his charm of manner rendered him in his old age a persona grata at the Court of the Queen, who treated him with filial affection and respect. In him one often fancied the char- acters of Walpole and Bolingbroke met in combination, and there is a passage in his speech on the Indemnity Bill (nth of March, 1818) which may be cited as strangely appropriate to his career. It is that in which, after expatiating on the advantages which a soldier has whose exploits are performed in the light of day, before his comrades and his foes, and so publicly, that his valor and his virtues cannot be denied or disputed before a world in Which they receive bold adver- tisement, he proceeds to show that it is far otherwise with the politic- ian. "Not so the services of the Minister," exclaimed Melbourne, QUEEN IN STATE ROBES (1887). QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 149 a period of commercial difficulty, deficient production of food, and political revolution." Naturally the country Party attacked those portions of the Speech which implied approval of Sir Robert Peel's Free Trade pol- The Victoria Tower, Westminster Palace. , icy. In both Houses the arguments were that the Government ex- aggerated the prosperity of the country, that their foreign policy had left them without aUies, that the outlook abroad in Ireland and in India was troublous, and did not justify the large reductions in the estimates which were foreshadowed. The Irish Party i" *i-e House 150 VICTORIA. of Commons scoffed at the Royal allusions to Ireland, and contended that the insurrection which had been suppressed was a sham one, "got up," said Mr. Grattan, "to put down Repeal." Radicals like Mr. Hume attacked the Colonial policy of the Government and clam- ored for the removal of Lord Grey from the Colonial Office, because of certain arbitrary proceedings which he had sanctioned in British Guiana and Ceylon. It was felt that the real object of the Opposi- tion was to inveigle Parliament into giving a hostile vote against Free Trade and the Repeal of the Corn Laws, one paragraph in the Amendment to the Address affirming that the worst Protectionist predictions had been verified. It was also admitted that the policy of the Government had been right in its aim, which was to keep the country out of war, and that this had been attained, in spite of Lord Palmerston's turbulent methods of diplomacy. The Amendment to the Address was rejected only by a majority of two in the House of Lords, but in the House of Commons Mr. Disraeli was fain to with- draw it. On the 3d of February, when the Address to the Crown was adopted, Lord John Russell proposed and carried certain resolutions for facilitating the despatch of public business — tO' wit, that Bills be read a first time without debate, that when a Bill in Committee was ordered by the House tO' be taken up again on a particular day, then when that day came the Speaker should leave the Chair without put- ting any question, and let the House go into Committee without delay; that the amendments on a Bill, reported from Committee of the whole House, should be received without debate. Mr. Milner Gibson vainly endeavored to induce the House to add another reso- lution limiting speakers to one hour each, with an exception in favor of Members introducing Bills and Ministers of the Crown replying to attacks. Lord John Russell gave some faint signs of sympathizing with this restriction on Pai-liamentary garrulity, and Mr. Cobden sup- ported the proposal vehemently. But Sir Robert Peel carried the House against it, and Mr. Gibson's motion was accordingly lost by a vote of 96 to 64. In the Session of 1848 Ministers were unable to apply their Free Trade policy to the Shipping Trade, owing to Protectionist obstruc- tion. On the 14th of February, 1849, they, however, proposed to repeal the Navigation Laws, which restricted "the free carriage of QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 151 goods by sea to and from the United Kingdom and the British Pos- sessions abroad." Power, however, was reserved to the Queen to re-enact the restrictive laws against countries that adopted a com- mercial policy hostile to British interests. The monopoly of the coasting trade, however, was not completely abandoned. The Presi- dent of the Board of Trade, Mr. Labouchere, did not venture to pro- pose that foreign ships might trade from port to port as freely as our own. All he said was, that a foreign ship sailing from a British port might in the course of her voyage to foreign ports touch at and trade freely in British ports en route. The Resolution was carried, and a Bill founded on it was brought in on the 9th of March, when it was vigorously opposed by Mr. Herries. The case of the monopolists was sadly damaged by Mr. Gladstone, who showed that with every relaxation of restrictions the English Shipping Trade had increased. The fact was, however, that the question was felt to be no longer arguable. The Navigation Laws were meant to protect the mon- opoly of English shipowners. Having stripped every other class of Protection, it was absurd to obstruct the perfect working of Free Trade by maintaining Protection for the benefit of the shipowners alone. Moreover, it was necessary to establish a free shipping trade in Canada, to compensate her for the loss of the protective duty on corn. Mr. Labouchere ultimately struck out the clauses relating to the coasting trade for purely fiscal reasons, and a masterly speech from Sir James Graham, on the 23d of October, carried the third reading of the measure, which crowned the edifice of Free Trade. Ireland was quiet, but sullen and disaffected. Though there was no open rebellion in the country, the secret organization of revolt still existed, and the Home Secretary felt that it would be necessary to renew the Bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act. Sir George Grey brought forward a motion to this effect on the 6th of February, defending the proposal on the ground that it was purely a precau- tionary one, and that Lord Clarendon, who thought it necessary, could be trusted to use his powers vnth discretion. The weakness of the Government lay in their opposition to the Coercion Bill of 1846. Then they turned out Sir Robert Peel by refusing to vote for Coer- cion unaccompanied by remedial measures. "Where," asked the P^^lites, sneeringly, "^re thf r^mfdij^l nie^sures which shgulcj ?ig- 152 VICTOEIA. company this Whig Bill?" Nevertheless, Peel generously supported the Ministry, ostensibly on the ground that Ireland must not be made the battle-ground of party, really because he was determined, at all costs, to maintain in power a Ministry that would give his fiscal policy a fair trial, as against a Protectionist Ministry, whose primary aim would be to wreck it. Yet a remedial measure had been introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 7th of February, in a proposal to grant from the Imperial Exchequer 50,000 pounds to thirty distressed Irish Poor Law Unions, of which twenty-one were utterly bankrupt. Most pit- iful was the picture which Sir Charles Wood drew of Ireland in mov- ing the grant. The potato crop had again failed. Pauperism had again increased. Ireland was being depopulated, not so much by an emigration, as by an exodus. The landlords were sinking under the poor rates, and their estates, deserted by tenants who ran away with- out paying rent whenever they disposed of their crops, were in many places lying waste and desolate. Mr. Hume protested against the never-ending system of grants in aid, but the Government carried their vote in its original form. On the 1st of March Lord Russell brought forward another scheme — a proposal for a six penny tax for local pui'poses. Logi- cally it was unjust to tax the industry of Ulster in order to provide local grants in aid for Ireland, while the industry of the United King- dom generally escaped taxation. The proposal was obstructed in various ways, the Ministerial defence being that Imperial taxation feirmore lightly on Ireland than on England and Scotland. Irish pauperism must be stopped by this means or by imposing the in- come tax in Ireland. The Peelites could not agree, Peel himself supporting the rate-in-aid scheme, not because he liked it, but be- cause he believed that after what had been done for her, Ireland ought to make some special exertion to help herself, which would also have the effect of inducing England to co-operate with her in pushing 'on regenerative measures. Mr. Bright defended the grant-in-aid scheme, declaring, however, that the incurable evils of Ireland were traceable to her misgovemment by her landlords. But it is quite clear that Peel was the only politician on either side of the House who at this crisis had the penetration to see that the ills of Ireland were QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 153 too desperate to be remedied by a pettifogging system of English doles and grants in aid. He stood alone in seeing that nothing less than a reform going to the root of Irish rural economy, would be of the slightest use, and in his speech he suggested that the best remedy would be to increase facilities for the transfer of land. From his am- biguous language one gathers that he had in contemplation some scheme by which the State should buy up the poverty-stricken tracts and plant them with solvent colonists, the plantations being man- aged by a Government Commission. As for the people, those who were not needed as laborers might be induced by the Commission to emigrate. Had he combined this project for one to give Ireland tenant-right, and had he persuaded Parliament to accept his ideas, there would probably have been no "Irish problem" to perplex us in the jubilee year of the Queen's reign. After wearisome debates the proposal of the Ministry was carried in both Houses, Government having made an advance of 100,000 pounds to the impecunious Unions in anticipation of the Bill passing the Lords. The next Irish measure was Sir John Romilly's Encumbered Estates Bill, introduced on the 29th of April. The Bill of the pre- ceding Session had failed to work because its machinery — that is, the Court of Chancery — was too cumbrous. Romilly's idea was to sub- stitute for the Court a Commission, which should conduct the busi- ness of land transfer unfettered by the clumsy procedure or the heavy fees of Chancery. His speech was a masterpiece of exposition, and Mr. Bright expressed the prevailing opinion when he said he ac- cepted the Bill as the harbinger of better legislation for Ireland. It passed both Houses without serious opposition. It has been said that the sudden pressure of the Poor Law on the mortgaged estates of Ireland nearly ruined the Irish gentry. The Queen and Prince Albert Were deeply distressed by painful accounts of the sufferings of this class which reached them. The Prince, in- deed, drew up a memorandum for Sir George Grey, pointing out very sensibly the injustice of the existing law. A good landlord spent his substance in improving his estate, and in finding or making work for his laborers. A bad landlord kept his money in his pocket, and when his laborers, unable to earn wages, began to starve, he threw them on the rates. Both landlords paid the same poor rate, 154 VICTORIA. SO that the good landlord not only taxed himself through his im- provements to keep his own workmen from idleness,' but was taxed through the Union, to support the unemployed workmen of the bad and non-improving landlord. The idea of the Queen and her hus- band was that the pressure of the rate should be eased on good land- lords who made sacrifices to keep their laborers in work and wages. Sir George Grey submitted the project to the Cabinet, and then told Prince Albert that it would have to be abandoned, for nobody could embody it in a practical Bill. This did not show that the idea was bad, but merely that Whig constructive statesmanship at that time was feeble, not to say incompetent. But the glaring fact remained that the application of the Elizabethan Poor Law to Ireland was bringing ruin to the rich, and doing but little to fend off starvation from the poor. Property was simply unable to support the mass of pauperism that was suddenly cast on it for maintenance. Some modifications in the law must be proposed, if the whole system — up- held as it was solely by grants in aid from England — was not to break down completely. Lord John Russell accordingly proposed, on the 26th of April, a Bill to limit the Hability of Irish land for poor rates, by fixing a maximum beyond which the rate could not be increased. The proposal was carried in the Commons, but in the House of Lords the maximum rate clause was struck out. This was an infringement of the privileges of the Lower House, for the Peers have no right to alter a Bill sent up by the Commons fixing rates or taxes. Yet it was almost impossible for the Peers to handle any Poor Law Bill without trenching on this privilege, and hence it was proposed that the House of Commons should formally waive its privileges in regard to this Bill in order to let it be set down for reconsideration. Precedents ex- isted in favor of this course, but Sir James Graham very cogently observed that it was bad public policy to be perpetually adding to precedents, waiving the absolute and exclusive right of the Com- mons to control fiscal legislation, and he ingeniously suggested an- other way out of the difficulty. This was to throw the Bill out in the meantime, and re-introduce it afresh with the Lords' Amend- ments embodied in it. The suggestion was negatived, and the Bill reconsidered, the Lord's Amendments being for the most part adopted. Tlie failure of the Government to provide a guarantee for QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 155 meeting any deficit that might exist after a maximum rate had been levied, had proved fatal to the maximum rate clause. Early in May the Queen was grievously annoyed to learn that the turbulent Canadians were again threatening to rebel. Parlia- ment, therefore, soon found itself discussing a Canadian question. After the rebellion in Canada, which ended in 1838, a Bill was passed giving compensation to loyal sufferers in Upper Canada. A The Houses of Parliatnent. similar measure was demanded for Lower Canada — the French pro- vince — which had been the seat of the insurrection. As it was ar- gued that much, if not most, of the compensation would find its way into rebel hands, the claim was resisted by "the British Party" in the province. But in 1848 the Ministry — a Tory, or "British" Ministry — was ejected. The Governor- General (Lord Elgin) then formed another Cabinet out of the "French Party," who, of course, brought in and passed an Indemnity Bill for the Lower Province. When 156 , VICTORIA. Lord Elgin went to the House of Assembly, in Montreal, on the 25th of April, 1849, to give this Bill his sanction, the "British" mob rose in its wrath, and stoned him as he was leaving the building. They then set fire to the House of Assembly itself, and burned it to the ground in a frenzy of loyalty to British interests. Troops were promptly called out, and the disaffected accordingly adopted the less violent course of petitioning the Queen to recall Lord Elgin and veto the obnoxious Bill. The "British Party" gradually cooled down, but throughout the year they remained sulky, vainly endeavoring to persuade themselves to secede to the United States. The condition of the Colony was, in truth, not such as to stimulate its loyalty. It had lost the benefit which it had enjoyed from privileged access to a protected English market. Its finances were disordered. Its stag- nation and decay were in startling contrast to the prosperity and progress of the New England States of the American Republic. The form of its provincial Government was cumbrous, inciting to political feuds; and then — worst of all — in the mother country, Manchester Radicals persistently incited the Canadians to secede, by promulgat- ing the doctrine that British Colonies not only benefitted by inde- pendence, but were, whilst in the dependent state, a source of trou- ble and expense to the English taxpayer. The whole question came before the House of Commons more than once. On the 14th of June the Rebellion Losses Bill was fiercely attacked by Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons as a measure for rewarding rebels. Some years afterwards Mr. Gladstone made a kind of apology for his onslaught ; but even then he quite mis- understood the true meaning and bearing of Lord Elgin's policy. Mr. Herries moved an Address calling on the Queen to veto the Bill. For two nights it was attacked ; but Sir Robert Peel's intervention routed the opposition, for he pointed out that the measure could not possibly give compensation, as Mr. Gladstone alleged, to any one who was shown to be a rebel, and that it was only, as Lord Elgin said, the logical sequence of other measures of the sort, which had been passed without opposition. His strongest point, however, was that to reject the Bill would be taken as an insult to the Colony, and an encroachment on its right of self-government. Mr. Herries lost his motion by a majority of 141. In the House of Lords, however, the QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 137 attack was renewed by Lord Brougham, and but for the timely aid of three proxies the Government would have been beaten by him. The curious thing to note is the calming influence of this firm and reso- lute attitude of the Government and Parliament on the Colony. The Tory Party in Canada up till then had strained every effort, Lord Elgin writes in one of his letters, to drive him to a coup d'etat. They had breathed nothing but rebellion and slaughter for months. The moment Parliament gently snubbed them, however, they were quieted as if by magic, and their organs began to write articles de- claiming against the practice of abusing the French, with whom, in the long-run, the Tory or English Party were bound to live in amity. On the 26th of June Sir William Molesworth moved an Address to the Queen begging for a Commission to inquire into the Admin- istration of the Colonies, more especially with a view to lessen the cost of their government, and to give free scope to individual enter- prise in colonizing. He startled the House by quoting figures which showed that, in fifteen years, "a series of remarkable events in the Colonies" had cost England the modest sum of eighty millions ster- ling. It could not have cost more to settle 4,000,000 able and ener- getic emigrants in Australia alone; and yet in the whole Colonial Empire in 1849, it appears there were not more than 1,000,000 per- sons of British or Irish descent. Charles Buller some years before had condemned the Colonial Office for its arbitrary character, its in- difference to local feeling, and its ignorance of local wants, its pro- crastination and vacillation, its secrecy and irresponsibility, its serv- itude to parties and cliques, its injustice, and its disorder. In this debate Lord Grey's Administration was held to aptly illustrate all these vices; and yet Lord Grey had become Colonial Minister be- cause he stood pledged to cure them. Lord Grey's idea of Colonial government seemed to be either to rule the Colony with a high hand from London, or, if it had some semblance of representative institu- tions, to govern it by means of a violent Party minority in the popu- lar Chamber, co-operating with a majority of the Council nominated by the Crown. Self-government for Colonies that were fit for it, and intelligent government for those that were not, were Sir William Molesworth's remedies. A strong plea for reducing the extravagant outlay on official salaries and useless military expenditure was 158 VICTOTIIA. pressed; and protests against convict emigration, which, together with our misgovernment, drove honest EngHsh Colonists to the United States, were entered. Mr. Hume and Mr. Gladstone, on be- half of the Radicals and Peelites, gave a general support to the mo- tion; but the indefatigable Mr. Hawes came smilingly to the defence of Lord Grey with his stereotyped "Non possumus," and Lord John Russell declared that the scope of the reference to the Commission was too vast and wide for practical purposes. His novel argument was that to attempt to define the limits of Imperial and local ques- tions must end in bitter disputes between the Colonies and the mother country. Undeterred by the failure of the Radicals to force a rational Colonial policy on the Whigs, the Peelites next took up the matter, and on the 19th of June Lord Lincoln moved an Address to the Crown expressing the opinion that the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, to which Vancouver Island had been granted by Royal Char- ter, was ill-adapted for ruling or developing the resources of a colony founded on principles of political and commercial freedom, and gen- erally challenging the validity of the grant. One would have thought that it needed little argument to demonstrate the unwisdom of found- ing a colony to be ruled by an absentee proprietary, earning its rev- enues by a trading monopoly. The history of the United States was full of examples of this species of folly, and both Lord Lincoln and Mr. Hume argued their case with the greatest ability. But they spoke to no purpose, for just as Mr. Hume was warming to his work the House was counted out ! In these days, when the air is full of schemes for Imperial Federation, and Home Rule, it is interesting to note how, in 1849, the battle of Colonial Reform was fought by a combination of Conservative Peelites and "stalwart" Radicals, against the Whigs, who were jealously opposed to all extensions of Colonial autonomy. After Colonial policy, and not long after it in point of interest, came Finance. The popular feeling in favor of economy was first manifested by the formation of Financial Reform Associations in the large towns — that of Liverpool being especially energetic — and they were soon busy discussing a practical plan, which emanated from the fertile brain of Cobden, for the remission of the Malt Tax and other public burdens. Cobden's scheme was simply to effect retrench- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 159 merit by going back to the scale of expenditure that was deemed adequate in 1835, and in this way he proposed to reduce taxation by about 10,000,000 pounds sterHng. Quite a flutter of excitment ran through the House of Commons when, on the 26th of February, he brought his plan under its notice. He contended that military ex- penditure had caused the increase of 10,000,000 pounds, which he desired to reduce. Therefore he moved that the expenditure under this head be diminished with all practicable speed. The insular po- sition of England was itself a sure defence against her enemies. Provided she did not interfere recklessly with foreign nations, she had less to fear in 1849 than in 1835. Why, then, should the military and naval expenditure of 1835 be exceeded? Vast sums of money, too, were spent on the Colonies. Here also a reduction might be effected, for the English taxpayer got no more food from the Colonies than the foreign one did. At this period it was evident that Mr. Cobden had not put to the test the sound maxim that "trade follows the flag." The answer of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was that in 1835, to the expenditure of which Mr. Cobden wanted to revert, no adequate provision had been made for the true wants of the country; and that, since then, many things had happened to in- crease expenditure unavoidably. The introduction of steam into the Navy was an illustration of these changes. Moreover, the Gov- ernment had reduced expenditure by about a million and a half ster- ling — and that was surely a pledge of their earnestness as financial reformers. The Tories put Mr. Herries forward to attack both parties. Pie blamed Ministers for encouraging the financial refoi'mers, and de- nounced Mr. Cobden for the violence of his speeches out of doors on the subject. The policy of the Tories was to demand that expendi- ture should not be lessened, whilst there was ground for anxiety as to foreign affairs. The Free Traders made a bid for the rural vote by arguing that, if the landed Interest wanted the relief which the Pro- tectionists promised them, they ought to vote for the reduction in expenditure, which would enable Parliament to grant that relief. It was not till the 29th of June that Sir Charles Wood made his financial statement to the House. It was not a cheering one. The expen- diture, which was 53,287,110 pounds, had exceeded the Ministerial 160 VICTORIA. estimate by 1,219,379 pounds, and it exceeded the revenue of the year by 269,378 pounds. Of course, by excluding unexpected out- lays on Irish distress, Canadian emigration, &c., a more favorable state of accounts could be shown ; but, as the excluded money had been spent, there was really no reason for ignoring it. For the com- ing year his estimated expenditure, he said, would be 52,1 57-696 pounds, and his estimated receipts would yield, he hoped, a surplus over that of 94,304. Sir Charles Wood's strongest points were that every effort would be made to keep current expenditure within cur- rent income, and that insttead of using small surpluses to remit small b\ims of taxation, they would be kept as the nucleus of large sur- pluses, for the reduction of large amounts of taxation. The Radi- cals and Financial Reformers were not satisfied with Sir Charles Wood's long list of objectionable taxes that had been removed. In spite of all that, expenditure increased — and what was worse, there was a steady increase in permanent burdens on the revenue, in the shape of charges for the Public Debt. Mr. Hume demanded that Excise be done away with, and that the example of Sir James Gra- ham, who reduced the expenses of the . Admiralty by 1,200,000 pounds, be followed. Mr. Milner Gibson attacked the paper duty, the newspaper stamp duty, and the tax on advertisements, as taxes on knowledge ; and he cited the petition of the Messrs Chambers, of Edinburgh, who declared that the paper duty had stopped the con- tinuance of a work for the humbler classes which they were bringing out, and of which there had been a sale of 80,000 copies. Everybody wanted some special duty repealed, either that on hops, bricks, soap, beer, malt, tea or timber. The Budget was felt to be unsatisfactory, for, as Mr. Cobden said, it made the two ends barely meet. At the close of the Session (20th of July) Mr. Herries supplemented this dis- cussion by starting another question — that of raising some portion of the supplies of the State by a fixed duty on corn. • The Protection- ists argued that Sir Charles Wood's estimates were too sanguine, and that more taxes must be imposed on the people, unless a small duty were put on foreign corn. This was not a protective duty, but one merely for revenue purposes, and as such surely it was justifiable. It would be only a tax on food in name ; in fact, the defence of the proposal was like the Irish vagrant's apology for the existence of her QUEEN AXD EMPRESS. 161 baby — "Please, sir, it's only a very little one." Of course the Free Traders sprang upon Mr. Berries with great glee. The Tories were going round the country promising the farmers Protection. But when they came to the House of Commons all they ventured to ask Pope Pius IX. for was a small fixed duty on corn, which was to be levied not for pro- tective but for revenue purposes. The position was an awkward one for Mr. Herries. Either his small fixed duty did or did not raise the price of corn. If it did, he was deceiving the House of Commons. If it did not, he was deceiving his clients among the farmers. His move was obviously one for putting heart into a desponding faction. 162 VICTORIA. Another important debate was raised by Lord Beaumont, on the 14th of May, on French intervention in Rome. The States of the Church had long been preparing for a revolt against Papal misgov- ernment. Pius IX therefore determined to modify the policy of his predecessors, and a hapless scheme for satisfying the democracy, by appointing lay councillors to work with or check a priestly govern- ment was tried — the Pope refusing to bate one jot or tittle of his temporal authority. The lay councillors could only meet and de- bate. They could not initiate refonns. No sooner had this consti- tution been granted than the revolution swept over Italy, and the Romans demanded the same concessions as had been extorted by the Neapolitans. Concessions were given with the intention that they should be withdrawn. Rossi — once French ambassador at Rome — was made Prime Minister, and to. extricate the country from financial embarrassment, he proposed to mortgage the property of the Church. He was, however, assassinated when entering the Capitol ; and then the Cardinals began to retract the concessions which had been made to Liberalism. The people rose, insisting that the Pope should pro- tect the Constitution, and assuring him of 'their fidelity. He then fled to Gaeta. Attempts to reconcile the Pontiff and his people failed. The Roman Republic was proclaimed, and peace established, when suddenly France interfered to restore his Holiness. It was to prevent France from having a pretext for interfering in Italy that Lord Minto's mission was undertaken, and thus another failure had to be debited to Lord Palmerston's foreign policy. Naturally Lords Aberdeen and Brougham taunted the Government with the failure of the Minto mission. But taunts were powerless to extort from Ministers a statement of their relation to the French expedition. In the House of Commons, however, those who objected to French in- terference with the Roman people succeeded in obtaining from Lord Palmerston an expression of disapproval of the course which France had taken ; but that was all. Early in the year the Queen was distui-bed by evil tidings from India. Hard fighting was reported from the banks of the Chenab. The Sikhs, it was true, were in retreat ; but the English victory was a barren one, as they captured neither prisoners, guns nor Standards, and sacrificed two of their Generals (Cureton and Havelock), whg fell QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 168 at the head of their regiments. In losing Cureton, her- Majesty lost the finest cavalry officer in her service. The Sikhs were conquered, but not subdued. In April, 1848, a Sikh chief murdered two British officers at Multan. This was followed by a general outbreak, which was met on the whole successfully by the desperate efforts of Lieu- tenant Edwardes and a mere handful of men. Multan was besieged in June, 1848; but 5,000 of the Sikh auxiliaries deserted to the enemy and the English had to retreat. The British had not enough troops in the Junjab to control the rising, and their auxiliaries under the Mah- arajah were not trustworthy. On the other hand, the rebel chief, Shere Sing, at the beginning of 1849, ^^d 40,000 men under his or- ders, and once again British supremacy in India was trembling in the balance. On the 5th of March, however, still worse news came to London. Lord Gough, with inconceivable recklessness, had, on the 14th of January, attacked the enemy in a strong position at Chillian- walla with a small British force worn out by fatigue. The conditions of the combat ensured disaster. Tlie loss of life by the English was enormous, and Lord Gough, though he fought like S. hero in the thickest of the melee was Jiot to be found at a critical moment to give orders. The news of this disaster was received with universal indig- nation. The Government attempted to allay public feeling by ap- pointing Sir William Gomm to succeed Lord Gough; but as Sir William was believed to be equally incompetent, a demand for Sir Charles Napier's appointment became clamant. But before Gough could be recalled, he redeemed the disaster of Chillianwalla at Gujerat. The news of this successful battle, which was fought on the 21st of February, reached the Queen on the ist of April. It meant that the crisis in India was over, and it lifted from her mind the burden of a supreme anxiety. Multan, too, had fallen, and finally the East India Company, admitting at last that it was im- possible to protect their frontier from attack, annexed the Punjab on the 29th of March, 1849, thus closing the history of the Sikhs as an independent nation. England had found in them the most fearless and formidable of enemies. Since the annexation oif their country, they have, been the staunchest and the most loyal of the Queen's In- dian subjects. That year the Queen and Prince went to Ireland. "Such a day of jubilee," wrote the London Times, of the royal entry to the 164 VICTORIA. Irish metropolis, "has never been beheld in the ancient capital of Ireland since first it arose from the banks of the Lififey. No ovation of olden Rome, enriched with the spoil of conquered nations and illustrated by the wealth of captured kings, was so glorious as the tri- umphant entry of Queen Victoria into Dublin." In 1849 Prince Albert wrote to the Dowager Duchess of Gotha announcing a very important event in the Queen's family. "The children," he writes, "grow more than well. Bertie (the Prince of Wales) will be given over in a few weeks into the hands of a tutor, whom we have found in a Mr. Birch." Yet Mr. Birch can hardly be credited, highly competent as he was, with being the choice of the Queen. Her Majesty had been jealous in controlling the edu- cation of her children, but that of the Prince of Wales was deter- mined by her Consort. Prince Albert decided that this education must be such as would prepare the heir-appai'ent for taking his position in a changeful state of society whose institutions were in a transitory condition. Royalty no longer ruled, but the people, and a King was not the autocrat he had once been, but the conserver of the peoples' rights and privileges. "The proper duty of sovereigns in this country," wrote Stock- mar, "is not to take the lead in change, but to act as a balance wheel on the movements of the social body." Above all, it was deter- mined that the education of the young Prince should be English, and not foreign. Furnished with these principles to guide him, Mr. Birch entered upon his task. Again in 1849 the life of the Queen was threatened. An Irish- man named Hamilton, craving notoriety, attempted to shoot her as she was driving with her children. Without change of countenance Her Majesty engaged the attention of the children, and with a sign directed the coachman to drive on as though nothing had happened. That year the Queen visited Ireland which was in a discontented state. "It is done," wrote Lady Lyttleton, who watched the squadron sail ofif, "England's fate is afloat." There was, however, no serious cause for anxiety. The Queen was everywhere received with favor. On the 2d of December the Royal home was turned into a house of mourning. On that day the good Queen-Dowager Adelaide QUEEN ANB EMPRESS. 165 passed away from among the small but appreciative circle of friends and relatives who admired and loved her. The Queen's grief was deep and sincere. "Though we daily expected this sad event," writes her Majesty to King Leopold, "yet it came so suddenly when it did come, as if she had never been ill, and I can hardly realize the truth now. * * * g^g ^^s truly motherly in her kindness to us and our children, and it always made her happy to be with us and to see us !" Socialism was troubling Paris in 1850, Italy was in a sad plight and Mazzini advocated a rebellion. Again, in 1850 the feeling was strong for the unifying of Germany and this was opposed by France, Russia and Austria. The Queen and the Prince Consort by extreme cleverness steered clear of entering into these matters. On the 1 8th of May, Lord John Russell brought in a memora- ble Bill to abolish the ofHce of Lord- Lieutenant — an ofifice the main- tenance of which has undoubtedly given an Imperial sanction to the Separatist principle in Ireland. The Queen was very much inclined to favor this step, and for a curious reason. Her Irish tour had im- pressed her with the fact that her social influence in Ireland might be turned to good account in winning the hearts of a chivalrous and generous people, thereby converting the golden link of the Crown into a healing institution of conciliation. Were the Viceroyalty abolished, the Queen promised Lord John Russell that she would from time to time visit Ireland in State, and keep up the Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park as a Royal Palace. The tories opposed the Bill, because they contended that Lord Clarendon's success in gov- erning Ireland proved that the Viceroyalty was useful. The Irish members were divided in opinion. Some supported and some op- posed the Bill, because it might tend to stimulate Nationalism. Others supported and opposed it for precisely the opposite reason. A third section, as to whose sincerity there could be no doubt, op- posed it because it would spoil the trade of Dublin. The general feeling of the country was expressed by Peel, who said he was willing that the experiment should be made,though he said so with hesitancy, but he was also desirous, if it were possible, to see the Irjsh Adminis- tration merged in the Home Ofifice, and not conducted by a fourth Secretary of State. The measure was read a second time by a vote of 10 166 VICTOEIA. 295 to 70, but introduced as it was when the country was in a fever of excitement over Lord Palmerston's foreign quarrels, the country took little interest in it, and it was not pressed further. When the Queen prorogued Parliament the shadow of mourn- ing was over both Houses. Sir Robert Peel had died suddenly on the 2d of July. Returning on horseback from a visit to Buckingham Palace on the 29th of June, he met Miss Ellice, one of Lady Dover's daughters, on Constitution Hill. As he bowed to her, his horse shied at the Green Park railings, and threw him. His fifth rib was broken, and its jagged end pierced the lung with a mortal wound. He lingered in great agaony for three days, and it is hardly possible to describe the extraordinary sensation his accident and illness pro- duced throughout the country. Party animosities vanished, and the nation with one voice joined the Queen in the expressions of sorrow which came from her when she said, "The country mourns over him as over a father." On the 4th of February, 1851, Parliament assembled with the din of the agitation over Papal aggression ringing in its ears. Men talked of nothing save the legislation that might be necessary to check the encroachments of Rome. But it was not supposed that the course of the Government would be other than smooth, for not only was the Prime Minister in full accord with the popular feeling against Papal aggression, but the great International Exhibition dwarfed public interest in purely party questions. We shall see how these anticipations were falsified by events, and how the Whig Gov- ernment was hurried to its doom. One of the politicians behind the scenes, who forecast the fall of the Cabinet more accurately than the public, was Mr. Cobden. "I expect," he writes on the 19th of Feb- ruary in one of his letters, "that this 'No Popery' cry will prove fatal to the Ministry. It is generally thought that the Government will be in a minority on some important question, probably the Income Tax, in less than a fortnight. The Irish Catholic members are de- termined to do everything to turn out Lord John. Indeed, Ireland is in such a state of exasperation with the Whigs, that no Irish mem- ber having a Catholic constituenecy will have a chance of being elected again unless he votes through thick and thin to upset the Ministry." QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 167 The Address to the Queen was carried in both Houses. The Queen's Speech promised a measure for resisting the assumption that a foreign Power had a right to confer ecclesiastical titles in Eng- land; and some forthcoming Chancery reforms, and reforms in the registration of titles, were also promised. The Protectionists harped on their old string — agricultural distress. The Radicals complained that the Government gave them no hope of cutting down taxation, and grumbled because no reference was made to Parliamentary re- form. But they fought rather shy of the proposed legislation against Papal aggression; yet speaking generally, the "No Popery" cry was popular in both Houses of Parliament. On the 7th of February, Lord John Russell moved for leave to introduce his Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, which prevented the assump- tion of such titles "in respect of places in the United Kingdom." and he was met by a scathing attack from Mr. Roebuck, who condemned the measure as retrograde and reactionary. But the fatal blow came when Mr. Locke King, on the 20th of February, brought forward his motion for leave to introduce a Bill for equalizing the town and county franchise, by reducing the latter to the limit of 10 pounds yearly value. Although Lord John Russell promised to bring in a measure for improving representation, he re- sisted Mr. King's motion. It was then carried against him by a vote of 100 against 52. "The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill," writes Mr. Cobden to his friend Mr. J. Parker, "is the real cause of the upset of the Whig coach, or rather of the coachman leaping from the box to escape an upset. This measure cannot be persevered in by any Gov- ernment so far as Ireland is concerned, for no Government can exist if fifty Irish members are pledged to vote against them under all cir- cumstances when they are in danger. A dissolution would give at least fifty members to do that work, and they would be all watched as they are now by their constituents. This mode of fighting by means of adverse votes in the House is far more difficult to deal with by our aristocratic rulers than was the plan of O'Connell, when he called his monster meetings. They could be stopped by a procla- mation or put down by soldiers, but neither of these modes will avail in the House. What folly," adds Mr. Cobden, as if he had even then foreseen the success of Parnellism in our day, "it was to give a real 168 VICTORIA. representation to the Irish counties, and to think of still maintaining the old persecuting ascendency." On the 22d of February, Lord John, as Mr. Cobden says, "leaped from the box," for on that day he and his colleagues resigned. VII. PLOTS AND PLEASURES. King Bomba's Dungeons— The Queen and Kossuth— The Exhibition— The Queen's Ball— Mademoiselle de Montijo, afterward Empress of the French— Palmerston's Dismissal— A Year of Excitement and Panic —The Second Burmese War— The Advance on Rangoon— Death of the Duke of Wellington— Character of the Iron Duke— The Funeral- Disraeli. WW^'^M: m OREIGN affairs but slightly interested Parliament in 1 85 1. No doubt a great deal of excitement was I 3p^ I produced by the two letters on the State prosecu- I f S I tions by the Neapolitan Government, which Mr. L 1^ I Gladstone addressed to Lord Aberdeen, and much pl^l^^^^ indignation was expressed at the stupid tyranny of King "Bomba," whose dungeons were full of political prisoners. The charges of cruelty and injustice caused Sir De Lacy Evans to question the Foreign Secretary on the subject in the House of Com- mons, and from Lord Palmerston's reply it turned out that above 20,000 persons were then confined in Neapolitan prisons for political offences, most of whom had been deprived of liberty in flagrant vio- lation of the existing laws of their country. Copies of Mr. Glad- stone's letter were sent by Lord Palmerston to every foreign Gov- ernment, in the hope that a joint-remonstrance from the Powers might put an end to King Ferdinand's outrages on civilization. The Jews in the Session of 1851 failed to remove the political disabilities under which members of their community lay. They carried their point in the House of Commons. When Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, arrived at South- ampton on the 23d of October, he was welcomed by a popular dem- onstration, and some leading Radicals took part in it. Lord Palmer- ston immediately resolved to receive him, and it became known that if he did this the Austrian Government would recall their Ambassa- , dor. Lord John Russell pointed out the impropriety of the step which Lord Palmerston obstinately insisted on taking. Palmer* 169 170 VICTOEIA. ston's last word on the subject to the Prime Minister was that he con- sidered he had a right to receive M. Kossuth privately and unoffi- cially, and that he would not be dictated to as to the reception of a guest in his own house, though his office was at the disposal of the Government. A meeting of the Cabinet was immediately sum- moned, and the matter was laid before those present by Lord John Russell. It was agreed that Lord Palmerston could not with pro- priety receive Kossuth, and he promised to submit to the decision of his colleagues. Up to this point everything went smoothly, and the Queen was greatly relieved in mind to learn that the Foreign Secre- tary had been so reasonable as to promise not to insult a friendly Power. Her feeling on the subject was that, being at peace with Austria, we had no right to get up demonstrations in favor of per- sons who had been endeavoring to upset the Austrian Government. "I was at Windsor," writes Mr. Greville on the i6th of November, "for a Council on Friday. There I saw Lord Palmerston and Lord John mighty merry and cordial, talking and laughing together. Those breezes leave nothing behind, particularly with Palmerston, who never loses his temper, and treats everything with gaiety and levity. The Queen is vastly displeased with the Kossuth demonstra- tions, especially at seeing him received at Manchester with as much enthusiasm as attended her own visit to that place. * * * Delane is just come from Vienna, where he had a long interview with Schwarzenberg, who treated, or at least affected to do so, the Kos- suth reception with contempt and indifference." Two days after Mr. Greville made this entry in his Diary, to the amazement of the Queen and Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, addressing a depu- tation that waited on him from Finsbury and Islington, expressed on behalf of England his strong sympathy with the cause of the Hun- garian revolutionary leaders. He had kept the word of promise to the ear, but had broken it to the hope. What he had said was in- finitely more irritating to Austria than his reception of Kossuth could have been. The breach of faith with his indignant colleagues was inexcusable, and it prepared the way for Palmerston's expulsion from the Cabinet, which followed his recognition of the coup d'etat in December. QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 171 On May ist, 1851, the long cherished ambition of the Prince Consort was carried out in the opening of the Crystal Palace exhibi- tion. As might have been expected, the London season of the Exhi- bition year was a particularly brilliant one. It was marked by eccen- tricity and gaiety. The Crystal Palace was an immense success, and further than stimulating subsequent trade, the weekly takings at the gates were never less than fifty thousand dollars, of our money, while in one special week it amounted to four times that amount. Eighteen hundred and fifty-two was a year of excitement and panic at home and abroad. The Queen was also to sustain a great loss in the death of the Duke of Wellington. Eighteen hundred and fifty-two was also called the last year of "The Great Peace." The Tory Cabinet fell, the French Republic was transformed into the Second Empire, gold was discovered in Australia, and in the air were the first faint rumblings of the Crimean War. When Parliament was prorogued on the 20th of August, 1853, the following passage was inserted in the Queen's speech : "It is with deep interest and concern that her Majesty has viewed the serious misunderstanding which has recently risen between Rus- sia and the Ottoman Porte. The Emperor of the French has united with her Majesty in earnest endeavors to reconcile differences, the continuance of which might involve Europe in war." The war to which these differences led, has ever been regarded by the Queen as the heart-breaking calamity of her reign. The first striking event of the season was the withdrawal of Mac- ready from the stage on the ist of February, and from the Memoirs of that great actor we find that the Queen made a point of being present at his farewell performance on the 26th of February at Drury Lane — ^the scene of his triumphs, not only as an actor but as a man- ager, who had restored Shakespeare's plays to the stage in their fullest integrity. Nor was this the only performance which her Majesty honored with her presence. Writing on May 17th, Lord Malmes- bury records that "Lady Londonderry appeared at the Duke of Dev- onshire's play in a gown trimmed with green birds, small ones round 172 VICTORIA. the body and down the sides, and large ones down the centre. The beak of one of the birds caught in the Queen's dress, and it was some time before it could be disentangled." On the 12th of June there was a grand fancy ball at the Palace, the period chosen for illustra- tion bemg the time of Charles II. The nobility and gentry appeared in the characters of their ancestors. The high officers of State donned the costumes of their predecessors in the reign of the "Merry Monarch." "We went to the Queen's Ball," writes Lord Malmes- bury; "it is said that her Majesty received 600 excuses out of 1,400 invitations, and that she did not fill up their places. I thought it very inferior to the first two. Most of the fancy dresses shabby, as if they had been got up cheap." This was the season during which "the Spanish beauty," Mademoiselle de Montijo, afterwards Empress of the French, shone meteor-like in London Society, and divided the honors with Narvaez, "an ugly, little fat man, with a vile expression of countenance," ac- cording to Lord Malmesbury, and who, after being Prime Minister of Spain, and having headed many pronunciamentos, uttered one famous bon mot on his deathbed. When he was asked by the priest to forgive his enemies, he answered, "I have none, as I always got rid of them." Important events were enacting in France and it was imperative that England should have nothing to do with them. Did the Queen wish to appear in these political matters or not? On the 5th of De- cember, Lord Palmerston sent a despatch to Lord Normanby, the British Ambassador at Paris, stating that "it is her Majesty's desire that nothing should be done by her Ambassador at Paris which could wear the appearance of an interference of any kind in the internal affairs of France." Lord Normanby accordingly called on M. Tur- got, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to communicate this instruction, and apologized for his delay in making communication. M. Tur- got sarcastically replied that the delay was not of importance, as he had two days before that heard from M. de Walewski, the French Envoy in London, that Lord Palmerston had approved of the deeds of the Prince-President. When the despatch from Lord Normanby recording this interview reached the Queen, she sent it to Lord John Russell, pointing out that Lord Palmerston's approval of the coup piTCirivSS pF YORK (.Now Duchhss ok CoKN\vA;,i,y pUKE OF YOR:^; (now Duke of Cornwai,lJ. QUEEN AND EMPRESS, 177 d'etat was not only a defiance of her own personal wishes, but also of a resolution of the Cabinet. Lord John Russell complained to Lord Palmerston about the matter, but instead of expressing- regret, the latter sent to Lord Normanby a despatch strongly approving of the coup d'etat, which, however, he concealed from the Prime Min- ister and the Queen. It was not till the i8th of December that Lord John Russell was able to inform the Queen that he had at last re- ceived from Lord Palmerston an explanation, which was so unsatis- factory that he had been compelled to write to that turbulent Min- ister "in the most decisive terms." In plain English, Lord John called on Palmerston to resign. He sent in his resignation promptly enough, excusing himself by saying that his approval of the coup d'etat was but the expression of a personal and not of an official opin- ion. The whole correspondence was submitted to the Queen, who accepted the resignation of the Foreign Secretary with alacrity. "It was quite clear to the Qiieen," writes Prince Albert in a letter to the Prime Minister, "that we were entering on most dangerous times, in which Military Despotism and Red Republicanism will, for some time be the only powers on the Continent, to both of which the Constitu- tional Monarchy of England will be equally hateful." The calma- tive influence of England, her Majesty thought, should be used to assuage and not embitter the conflicts abroad which produce such a perilous state of things. But this influence, she held, had "been ren- dered null by Lord Palmerston's personal manner of conducting the foreign afifairs, and the universal hatred which he has succeeded in inspiring on the Continent." On the 22d of December a Cabinet Meeting unanimously con- demned Palmerston's conduct, and the post vacated by him was ac- cepted by Lord Granville. Eighteen hundred and fifty-two was a year fruitful in alarms and excitement. The excitement arose from the discovery of gold in Australia towards the end of the year 1851, and from th rich supplies of the precious metal which came pouring in from the new El Dorado. The alarms arose from the unsettled state of afifairs abroad, the tortu- ous policy of Louis Napoleon, and Cassandra-like warnings from military writers that the national defences were utterly untrust- worthy. A troublesome Cafifre War at the Cape had also been drain- 178 VICTORIA. ing away the best blood of the army during eighteen months, and absorbing troops who could be ill spared at home. The second Burmese war ostensibly arose out of a complaint made to the Indian Government by a Mr. Sheppard, master of a Lord Granville. Madras trading vessel. He alleged that he had been imprisoned and fined by the Governor of Rangoon on the false charge of having thrown a man overboard. This was followed by other complaints from British subjects, who had been ill-used by the Burmese author- ities, and the Rangoon merchants declared that, unless they were protected against the lawless exactions of the Governor's subordin- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 179 ates and dependants — who had been told by him to get money as best they could, seeing he had none with which to pay their salaries — they must abandon all efforts to trade in the country. The Gover- nor-General of India came to the conclusion that these complaints were justifiable, and easily proved that the Treaty ofYandaboo, made at the end of the first Burmese war, had been violated. Commodore Lambert accordingly sent in H.M.S. Fox and two steamers to Ran- goon, with a courteous message seeking reparation from the King of Ava, on account of the conduct of the Governor of Rangoon. The request was refused, and it was followed by a more peremptory de- mand. The Court of Ava replied in a conciliatory tone, recalled the Governor of Rangoon, and appointed a new one, who treated Com- mander Fishbourne, Lambert's second in command, with some dis- courtesy. Commodore Lambert forthwith blockaded Rangoon, and seized a vessel belonging to the Burmese king. On the loth of January, four days after the blockade was established, the Fox was compelled to destroy a hostile stockade on the river. After some diplomatic fencing between the Indian Government and the King of Ava, an ultimatum was sent to his Majesty. He still refused to make any concessions, and war was declared. General Goodwin, with a contingent from the Bengal Army, sailed from India for the mouth of the Irawaddy on the 28th of March. He arrived there on the 2d of April, and on the 5th stormed and captured Martaban, where the enemy, five thousand strong, fought behind a river line of defences extending over 800 yards. In the meantime. General Goodwin had been reinforced by a contingent from Madras, and Commodore Lambert had destroyed the stockades on the Rangoon river. It was then determined to attack Rangoon on the 9th of April. On the i ith. Rear- Admiral Austen cleared the way for the army by destroying the whole line of river defences on both banks. On the 12th three regiments of infantry and part of the artillery were landed, and the contest was, to the surprise of the Gen- eral, commenced by the Burmese, who left their stockades and at- tacked the flanks of our advance. A strong blockade which stood in the way was carried, after severe losses. Major Fraser, Com- manding Engineer, took the ladders to the fort, and mounting its defences alone, attracted by his gallantry the storming party round 180 VICTORIA. him which drove the enemy from the position. The troops were or- dered to march on Rangoon, but by a different road from that on which the Burmese had made preparations to meet them. They car- ried by assault the Grand Pagoda, the fall of which place made them masters of the town. All the posts on the river gradually yielded in turn, and on the 27th of July Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-Gen- eral of India, arrived at Rangoon, and congratulated the army on its ^' 'SBS victories. He then returned to Calcutta. On the 9th of October General Goodwin occupied Prome with a strong force, and in No- vember an expedition was sent against Pegu, which was taken, after some sharp fighting, on the 20th of that month. After this victory Lord Dalhousie annexed the whole province to the British domin- ions; indeed, had it not been that he had an objection to expose British India to contact with the frontier of China, he would proba- bly annexed the whole of Burmah. Tlie small garrison at Pegu was then subjected to harassing attacks by the Burmese, and the war dragged slowly on. The Burmese always fled to the jungle QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 181 whenever the men attacked them, returning to annoy the troops whenever they fell back on their quarters. The capture of the chief centres of population and defence was not allowed by the submis- sion of the people. There were few roads in the country. General Goodwin had not adequate transport for his artillery. The climate had sadly weakened his forces, so that the unexpected prolongation of the war, however disappointing to the country, was inevitable. In the meantime an event occurred which for the moment stilled the clamor of contending parties and united the whole nation in mourning. That event was the death of the Duke of Wellington at Walmer Castle on the 14th of September. This mournful calamity was long expected. But when it happened the people seemed inca- pable of realizing it. "It was," said Prince Albert in a letter to Col- onel Phipps, "as if in a tissue a particular thread which was worked into every pattern was suddenly withdrawn." Moreover, it broke the last link that bound the nineteenth to the eighteenth century. "He was,'* wrote the Queen to King Leopold, "the pride and good genius, as it were, of this country ; the most loyal and devoted sub- ject, and the staunchest supporter the Crown ever had. He was to us a true friend and a most valuable adviser. * * * -y^g £{^^11 soon stand sadly alone. Aberdeen is almost the only personal friend of the kind left to us — Melbourne, Peel, Liverpool, now the Duke — all gone." The Queen would at once, and of her own motion, have ordered a public funeral, with the highest honors of State, for the remains of the illustrious dead, following the precedent set in the case of Nelson. She, however, deemed that a solemn vote of Parliament would confer additional distinction on the ceremony. It was thus determined that the body of the Duke should lie in the custody of a Guard of Honor until both Houses of Parliament could meet in November and pass a resolution in favor of burying, in St. Paul's Cathedral, the Victor of Waterloo by the side of the Victor of the Nile. The pages of Han- sard are full of the glowing tributes to the memory of the great Duke, paid by the foremost orators of the Senate. Of these, one of the most briUiant came from Mr. Disraeli, and it subsequently gave rise to a good deal of scandal. A morning paper published a translation — said to come from the pen of the late Mr. Abraham Hayward, Q.C. 182 VICTORIA. — of the eulogium passed by M. Tliiers in the French Chamber on the Emperor Napoleon I. This certainly bore such a suspiciously close resemblance to Mr. Disraeli's oration, that the English orator was accused of plagiarism. But the highest tribute of homage to the Duke of Wellington came from the English people, to whom the Duke seemed to embody all the manly virtues of their race. To this fact Mr. Cobden himself bears striking, though grudging, testimony in a letter to his friend Mr. Thomasson, of Bolton, condemning the millitant policy which led to an ever-increasing war expenditure. "Let us ask ourselves candidly," he writes, "whether the country at large is in favor of any other policy than that which has been pursued by the aristocracy. Whig and Tory, for a century and a half? The man who impersonated that policy more than any other was the Duke of Wellington, and I had the daily opportunity of witnessing, at the Great Exhibition last year, that all other objects of interest sank to insignificance, even in that collection of a world's wonders, when he made his entry into the Crystal Palace. 1 The frenzy of ad- miration and enthusiasm which took possession of a hundred thou- sand people of all classes at the very announcement of his name, was one of the most impressive lessons I evei* had of the real tendencies of the English character^ On the announcement of the Duke's death every town in Eng- land displayed the customary emblems of mourning. When, on the loth of November, the arrangements for the public funeral were well advanced, the corpse was removed, under military escort, from Wal- mer Castle to the great hall in Chelsea Hospital, where it was re- ceived by the Lord Chamberlain, and laid in state on a bier prepared for the purpose. On the nth, the Queen, Prince Albert, and their family privately visited the Hospital, and paid their last respects to their dead friend. After they left, the Chelsea Pensioners, the Life Guards and Grenadiers, and the children of the Duke of York's Schools were admitted. On the 12th, the nobility and gentry who held tickets of admission from the Lord Chamberlain came, and then there ensued a scene of deplorable confusion. Eighteen thousand persons passed before the bier between nine o'clock in the morning and five in the afternoon, and many thousands more, after waiting QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 183 wearily outside in rain and gusty weather, turned away hopelessly when darkness set in. When the public appeared next day (Saturday) claiming admis- sion, the crowd before the Hospital gates in the morning simply c^ l/d'el^^y- iff "^Wu The Duke of Wellington. overwhelmed the police. As it grew and gathered, the press became unbearable, and a surging mass of spectators fought and struggled with each other for their lives. Yells of agony rent the air ; men and women were knocked down, or fell fainting for want of breath. Screaming children were held aloft in the air to escape sufifocation by 184 VICTORIA. mothers, who themselves disappeared every minute in the struggle. A great cloud of steam exhaled from the heaving multitude, and far and near the approaches were impassable. After some time the police, reinforced by soldiery, gained control over the crowd, and some 50,000 persons then passed through the hall. On Monday bet- ter arrangements prevailed, and 50,000 persons passed the body with the greatest ease. On Tuesday 60,000, and on Wednesday 65,000 persons were admitted. On Saturday three persons, and on Tuesday two, perished in the crush. On Wednesday a squadron of cavalry conveyed the corpse to the Horse Guards. On the morning of the i8th of November the great funeral pageant, which Charles Dickens irreverently tei'med a "masquerade dipped in ink," passed to St. Paul's through streets draped in black. Heavy rain and biting wind did not prevent spectators from perching themselves all through the preceding night on every spot where a glimpse of the procession could be obtained. Windows, roofs of houses, porticoes, balconies, every "coign of vantage" were covered with mourners. A million and a half of spectators gazed at the pro- cession and few ever forgot the strange and sudden silence into which the multitude was everywhere hushed, when the head of the column appeared, led by the dark, frowning masses of the Rifle Brigade, marching to the beat of mufifled drum and the wail of the "Dead March" in Saul. Solemnly, "Sad and slow. As fits an universal woe," one of the most wonderful of military pageants filed past to the strains of mournful music. When the car with the remains of the Duke appeared, a thrill of sorrowful emotion surged through the crowd at each point of the route, as they saw "warriors carry the warrior's pall." Strange unutterable thoughts were aroused at the sight of the narrow and curiously emblazoned tenement which con- tained all that Time and Death had left of him who had overcome the master of modern Europe, but who, in turn, had himself fallen before a Conqueror unconquerable by the mightiest. To this exal- tation of feeling succeeded an outburst of homely grief when the Duke's favorite charger, led by his venerable groom, appeared fol- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 185 lowing his master's coffin. When the procession came to Temple Bar it was received by the Lord Mayor and Corporation, and at ten minutes to twelve it reached St. Paul's. The appearance of the cathedral will never be forgotten. Tiers of seats covered with black cloth rose on every side of the nave. The sombre draperies of the interior threw up the florid architecture of the great Protestant temple in relief of dazzling whiteness, and rows of gas jets round the cornices shed a soft warm radiance on the scene. The service was choral. The Dean read the lesson, and when the "Nunc dimittis" was chanted, a dirge acompanied by trumpets fol- lowed, at the end of which the body was slowly lowered into the vault, the while the organ and wind instruments pealed forth the sad strains of the "Dead March." As the coffin slowly vanished from view a wave of intensely sorrowful emotion passed over the vast assembly of mourners. Prince Albert visibly shook with grief. The veteran Marquis of Anglesey lost control of his feelings. Tears sud- denly coursed down his furrowed cheeks, and, stepping forward, he placed his trembling hand on the vanishing coffin, as if to bid a last farewell to his old chief and companion in arms. The rest of the service proceeded in the usual manner, the conclusion of the ritual being Handel's anthem — "His body is buried in peace." There- upon Garter King at Arms stepped forward and proclaimed the style and titles of the illustrious dead, and the Comptroller of the House- hold of the Duke advanced, broke his stafif of office, and handed the pieces to Garter King at Arms, who laid them in the grave. The Bishop of London pronounced the benediction, and all was over. The Queen and Prince were of the opinion that no eloge on the great Duke was in better taste than Lord John Russell's; but, per- haps, the one that will best stand the test of time was that of Alfred Tennyson : "Where shall we lay the man whom we deplore? Here in streaming London's central roar, Let the sound of those he wrought for, And the feet of those he fought for. Echo round his bones for evermore. ****** 11 136 ' VICTORIA. Mourn, for to us he seems the last, Remembering all his greatness in the past. No more in soldier fashion will he greet With lifted hand the gazer in the street. O friends, our chief state-oracle is mute : Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood, The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute, Whole in himself, a common good. Mourn for the man of amplest influence. Yet clearest of ambitious crimes. Our greatest yet with least pretence, Great in council and great in war, Foremost captain of his time. Rich in sowing common-sense, And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime. O good grey head, which all men knew, O voice from which their omens all men drew, O iron nerve to true occasion true, O fall'n at length that tower of strength Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew. Such was he whom we deplore. The long self-sacrifice of Hfe is o'er. The great World-victor's victor will be seen no more." Though much has been written about the career of the Duke of Wellington, a brief review of his character may not be amiss here. "His striking characteristic was his judgment," writes Mr. Spencer Walpole. "He had no doubt in addition capacity and courage. He could not have fought Salamanca without the one, and he would not have held Waterloo without the other. But in capacity he was not, possibly, superior to Moore ; ^ in courage he was not superior to Gough. He was a great general, not because he had a great intel- lect, but because he made fewer mistakes than other men." His success in war was as conspicuous as his failure in politics, and for the simplest of r.easons. He was the only great soldier of his time who understood that to triumph in battle it is necessary to have the most exact and minute knowledge of the mechanism of an army, to know QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 187 as thoroughly how a soldier's knapsack should be buckled, as how a mighty campaign should be planned. In this consisted his super- iority over Napoleon I, who concentrated his mind on the grand scheme of a battle or a campaign, leaving to his subordinates the task of carrying it out in detail. All Napoleon's subordinates could do the work of subordinates better than their Imperial master. Not one of Wellington's subordinates, from the Marquis of Anglesey him- self down to the humblest private, could do his individual work bet- ter than the Duke could do it for him. It was this easy mastery in handling all the machinery of war that enabled him to readjust his arrangements so much more quickly than his opponents could, when any part of a carefully-planned scheme miscarried. But just because he did not possess the same minute and exact knowledge of the polit- ical organism, he constantly fell into grievous errors in statesman- ship. Starting with wrong premises in politics, he perpetually blun- dered into erroneous conclusions. His saving virtue as a politician was his strong common sense. It taught him with unerring certi- tude when a thing must be done long before his reasoning faculty, obscured by faulty data, taught him fhat it ought to be done. He never regarded himself as in any sense the servant of the people. It was as the sworn servant of the Crown that he always spoke and asted, and the only test he ever applied to any project of legislation was whether it was likely to strengthen or weaken the Monarchy. No considerations of personal consistency, conviction, or conven- ience could deter him from accepting or abandoning a policy or a principle, if it could be shown that by doing either he prevented the authority of his Sovereign from being undermined. Duty to the Crown was the pole-star of his life. To' gain a point for the advan- tage of his Sovereign he would even push aside all considerations of personal dignity. Sir Francis Doyle tells a story about him which illustrates most curiously this dominant trait in his character. One day, when Sir Francis Doyle's father was dining at Apsley House, the Duke said to him, "After the battle of Talavera I wanted the Spanish force to make a movement, and called upon Cuesta to take the necessary steps, but he demurred. He said, by way of answer, 'For the honor of the Spanish Crown I cannot attend to the direc- tions of the British general, unless that British general go upon his 188 VICTORIA. knees and entreat me to follow his advice.' Now," proceeded the Duke, "I wanted the thing done, while as to going upon my knees I did not care a two-penny damn, so dawn I plumped." This little anecdote gives one a clearer insight into the secret of the Duke of Wellington's public life than all the biographies of him that have ever been written. No sooner had the Duke of Wellington been buried than rival parties resumed the war of faction. The Free Traders, who had been resuscitating the old anti-Corn Law organization in the North of England, resolved to force from the Ministry an unambiguous dec- laration against Protection. Mr. Charles Villiers accordingly moved a series of resolutions on the 23d of November, affirming, that the Free Trade policy of the country had been wise, just and beneficial — "three odious epithets," said Mr. Disraeli, which could not be ac- cepted by the Tory Party. He ridiculed this attempt to revive the cries of "exhausted factions and obsolete politics." He was himself fain, however, to propose a resolution, which admitted that Free Trade had cheapened the necessaries of life, which bound the Gov- ernment to adhere to that policy, but which did not contain any for- mal recantation of Protectionist principles. Mr. Bright hit the weak spot in these tactics when he asked, was it safest to let the national verdict on Free Trade be drawn up by Mr. Villiers, who advocated it, or by Mr. Disraeli, who did not advocate it, and the majority of whose followers were pledged to exact from the people some kind of com- pensation to the landed interest for the repeal of the bread tax? Had it suited Lord Palmerston to let the Ministry be beaten, nothing could have prevented their defeat. But, as we have seen, he had resolved never to serve under Lord John Russell ; and there was too much reason to fear that at the moment Lord John was the only pos- sible Premier in the event of Lord Derby resigning office. "A moderate resolution," writes Sir George Cornewall Lewis to Sir Edmund Head, "had been prepared by Graham, and assented to by Lord John and Gladstone. Charles Villiers was willing to move it, but Cobden insisted on something stronger, in the secret hope that the House would reject it, and thus damage itself in public opinion, thereby promoting the cause of Parliamentary Reform. Palmerston got possession of the resolution prepared by Graham, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 189 and moved it as an intermediate proposition." The resolution af- firmed the principle of Free Trade, but not in terms obtrusively of- fensive to the Tories. It was eagerly accepted by Mr. Disraeli, who saw in it the means of deliverance from his enemies, and it was carried by a majority of 468 to 53 — the minority representing all the Tories who were prepared to cling to Protection, even after it had been formally abandoned by Mr. Disraeli in his audacious address to his constituents. Mr. Disraeli's tactics in thus evading defeat have sometimes been cited as a proof of his skill. In reality, they were the outcome of inexperience and exaggerated self-confidence. He did not cor- rectly understand why Sir James Graham and Mr. Gladstone desired to move a moderate resolution. They were, of course, anxious not to turn out the Ministry before Mr. Disraeli's Budget saw the Hght. They were morally certain that it would contain some fantastic pro- posals, which must not only wreck the popularity of the Government, but destroy public confidence for ever in Mr. Disraeli's financial skill. Events proved that they were right in their calculation. On the 3d of December, in a speech of dazzling brilliancy, Mr. Disraeli introduced his famous and fatal Budget. It reduced the Malt Tax by one-half. The House Duty was raised from gd. to is. 6d. in the pound, and extended from houses of 20 pounds to houses of 10 pounds rental. Light dues paid by ships other than for the support of lighthouses pure and simple were taken off. Tea duties were to be reduced gradually by small amounts from 2s. 2 i-4d. to IS. a pound. The Income Tax was to be extended to funded prop- erty and salaries in Ireland. A distinction was drawn in taxing per- manent and precarious incomes, the exemption for industrial in- comes being limited to 100 pounds a year, and for incomes from property to 50 pounds ; and the rates of assessment per pound were 7d. on incomes from rent of land and from funds, but only 5 i-4d. on incomes from farming, trade, and salaries. Farmers' incomes were to be taken as a third instead of a half of their rents. The remissions were so balanced by the additions to taxation that no surplus on the estimated revenue could be shown. A surplus of 400,000 pounds was, however, manufactured by appropriating as revenue the repay- ments on local loans made to the Exchequer Loan Commission — re- payments hitherto used for clearing off debt. The scheme could not stand criticism. After four nights' debate, it was utterly demolished, Mr. Gladstone's speech attacking it being one of the few which are said to have ever really turned doubtful votes in the House of Com- mons. The addition to the House Tax, pressing, as it did, on those who would come within the extended range of the Income Tax, infur- iated the urban voters. The remission of half the Malt Tax failed to satisfy a landed interest, hungering for compensation for the aboli- tion of the Corn Laws, because a reduced Malt Tax, it was agreed, benefited nobody but the publicans and the brewers. An extension of the Income Tax to funded property, Mr. Gladstone contended, was a breach of Mr. Pitt's pledge to the public creditor, in 1798, that no distinct and special tax should ever be laid on the stockholder as such. Mr. Gladstone, like all the eminent financial authorities, pro- tested against recognizing the illusory principle of a graduated In- come Tax, which lurked in the distinction made between perma- nent and precarious incomes. He further protested against the danger of estimating too narrowly for the services of the year, and urgedwith incontestable force that it was a vicious principle to reckon as surplus revenue 400,000 pounds of repayments on the score of local loans — that is to say, to regard the repayment of borrowed money as true income. The Government were beaten on their Budget, by a vote of 305 to 286, on the morning of the 17th of December. In the evening Lord Derby handed his resignation to the Queen at Osborne. VIII. THE LONG PEACE BROKEN. Whig and Peelite — South Kensington — Nearing the Second French Empire — Shall it be "Brother" or "Cousin?" — Napoleon Ill's Marriage with Eugenie— Australian Gold— Russia and "The Sick Man"— The Holy Places— Fleets in Turkish Waters— The Vienna Note— Birth of Prince Leopold— Another Visit to Ireland— The Czar's Letter. ,ORD John Russell was conceded an impossible Pre- mier. On the 28th of December, 1852, the famous coalition Ministry was organized — Lord Cranworth was Lord Chancellor; Lord Aberdeen, Prime Min- ister; Mr. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Palmerston, Home Secretary ; Lord John Rus- sell, Foreign Secretary ; the Duke of Newcastle, Colonial Secretary ; Mr. Sidney Herbert, War Secretary ; Sir J. Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Granville, President of the Council; Sir C. Wood, President of the Board of Control ; the Duke of Argyle, Lord Privy Seal ; Sir W. Molesworth, Chief Commissioner of Works ; the Mar- quis of Lansdowne, a Minister without ofifice. "The success of our excellent Aberdeen's arduous task," writes the Queen to the King of the Belgians, "and the formation of so brilliant and strong a Cabinet would, I was sure, please you. It is the realization of the country's and our own most ardent wishes, and it deserves success, and will, I think, command support." The Queen here simply reflected public opinion. Never had a Cabinet of abler men, individually speaking ruled England since the Ministry of "All the Talents" fell from power. But the Sovereign and her people both forgot that in a strange and anomalous constitution no Cabinet is, as a rule, so weak as a Cabinet of strong men. This Ministry, which started on its career on the flood-tide of Court and popular favor, was destined, by its vacillation in foreign policy, to lead the country into the terrible calamity of a European war. It was doomed to fall amidst the exe- crations even of those who, Hke Mr. Cobden, declared that to his 191 Drawing-Room, Buckingham Palace, 192 QUEEN AND EMPHESS. 193 dying day he could never sufficiently regret giving one of the votes that brought it into power. After the formation of the Government, the usual explanations of the position of affairs were given in both Houses of Parliament, Lord Derby attempting to show that the destruction of his Ministry had been plotted by an unprincipled combination of hostile factions. On the contrary, as Sir George Cornewall Lewis says in one of his letters, "there was no real anxiety on the part of the Opposition to turn out the Government ; the sections of it were divided, and there was none of that 'coalition' which Lord Derby spoke of. The Budget, however, was more than human flesh and blood could bear. The promises of a substitute for Protection which Disraeli had made at the Elections rendered it necessary that the Government should propose something which appeared for the benefit of the agricultur- ists. They sounded some of their supporters among the county members as to a transfer from the local rates to the Consolidated Fund ; but I believe the answer they got was, that a measure which destroyed the power of the magistrates and the local authorities would not be acceptable to their party. They had nothing then to propose but a reduction of the Malt Tax, which created a large deficit and rendered an increase of taxation necessary. This latter object was effected by doubling and enlarging the House Tax. Disraeli was evidently very confident of the success of his Budget, and im- patient to produce it. But when it had been out a week it was clear the country would not agree to it. The farmers did not care about the reduction of the Malt Tax ; but the towns did care very decidedly for the increase of the House Tax, and showed a strong objection to it. * * * Having made their Budget a means of redeeming their promise to give their party an equivalent for Protection, they could not modify it, and therefore defeat on it was vital." On the 31st of December all the appointments under the new Government were filled up, and Parliament was adjourned till the loth of Febru- ary, 1853. In the early part of the year the Queen was much distressed by reason of her husband's anxieties in connection with the affairs of the Great Exhibition. His idea was to apply the surplus in the hands of the Exhibition Commissioners to the purchase of a site at 194 VICTORIA. South Kensington, for the Science and Art Institution which he hoped to see created. Ninety acres of land were bought for 342,500 pounds, of which sum Government advanced 177,500 pounds, with the intention of transfering the National Gallery to the site. During 1852 one striking event m Foreign Affairs that occupied the attention of the Queen was the transformation of the French Re- public into the Second Empire. In Paris, on the ist of January, Charles Louis Napoleon was installed at Notre Dame as President of France, and he promulgated a new Constitution, preserving little of the form and none of the spirit of Liberty. The whole Executive was to be vested in the President, who was to be advised by a Coun- cil of State, a Senate of nobles nominated for life, and a powerless legislative body elected by universal s,uf?rage for six years, whose transactions at the demand of five members could be kept secret. Tlie next step taken by the Prince-President was to issue Decrees on the 23d of January, compelling the Orleans Princes to sell their real and personal property in France within a year, and confiscating the property settled on the family by Louis Philippe previous to his ac- cession in 1830. This raised a storm of indignation among all Frenchmen who were not accomplices of the Prince-President in the coup d'etat, and it caused Montalembert to resign his seat on the Consultative Commission on the 2d of December. De Morny and Fould also resigned, M. de Persigny replacing the former. To the Queen, whose partiality for the Orleans family was well known, these Decrees were painfully offensive. The Prince-President's strongest partisan in England, Lord Malmesbury, wrote a letter remonstrating with him, and the reply serves to illustrate the character of the men who consented to serve in the Senate. "He (the Prince-President)," says Lord Malmesbury in a letter to Lord Cowley, British Ambaissa- dor at Paris, "declared the confiscation neessary, as even some of his own Senators had been tampered with by Orleanist agents and money." On September 13th this patriotic Senate prayed for "the re-establishment of the hereditary sovereign power in the Bonaparte family;" an on the 4th of November the Prince-President announced that he had in view the restoration of the Empire, and ordered the French people to be consulted on the matter. The French people, when consulted, were for the, restoration — 7,839,552 voting "Yes," QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 195 and 254,501 "No." The vote was cast on the 21st of November, three days after Wellington was laid in the grave. As Cobden said, one might almost picture the third Napoleon rising from the yet open tomb of the vanquisher of the first. On the 2d of December Charles Louis Napoleon was declared Emperor of the French under the title of Napoleon III. The Constitution of January was con- firmed with some slight modifications. A Royal title was given to Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's uncle. St. Arnaud, Magnan, and Castillane were created Marshals of France; and then there arose the first of the Imperial difficulties — that of obtaining recognition from the European Courts. The Queen took a thoroughly sensible view of the situation. The atrocities of December and the confiscation of the Orleans prop- erty had not prepossessed her Majesty in favor of the French Em- peror. But in her opinion there was no essential difference between such a Republic as had been established by the coup d'etat strength- ened by the Constitution of January, and a military Empire without glory or genius. If the vast majority of Frenchmen were desirous of transforming their Prince-President into an Emperor, that was their afifair, and Foreign Courts had no concern in the matter. The Queen was, therefore, strongly in favor of recognizing the title of the Emperor of the French, and of according to him the customary cour- tesy of addressing him in ceremonial communications as mon frere. The Northern Courts, however, could not bring themselves to treat as an equal, an adventurer who, to use his own expression in an- nouncing his rriarriage in the Chamber on the 22d of January, 1853, "had frankly taken up before Europe the position de parvenu." Ultimately they all yielded to facts, and with the exception of Russia, agreed to address Charles Louis Bonaparte as their "brother." The haughty autocrat of Muscovy, who had smiled on him approvingly when he strangled Liberty in France, frowned on the attempt to raise on its ruins a fabric of Empire, claiming parity with the ancient dominion of the Romanoffs. The Czar, therefore, persisted in ad- dressing the French Emperor, not as "my brother," but "my cousin." This trivial slight is mentioned here, because it had subsequently a potent influence on the fortunes of England. "England," writes Sir Theodore Martina, "conceded the phrase men frere without a grudge." That is a somewhat misleading state- 196 VICTORIA. ment. It was certainly decided in England that the Emperor should be recognized some little time before the Empire was proclaimed, because everybody knew that its proclamation was inevitable. Hav- ing determined that the Prince-President was to be recognized in some fashion as Emperor, a question as to style was raised by the pedants of diplomacy, which showed where the "grudge" lay. It gave rise to that most grotesque of diplomatic struggles — the once famous but now forgotten Battle of the Numeral. Charles Louis Bonaparte, through his envoys, let it be known at the Court of the Queen that he meant to call himself Napoleon III. "Why Napo- leon the Third?" asked alarmed Diplomacy. "Clearly he means to filch from us a recognition of the ephemeral title of the Due de Reichstadt, the son and heir of Napoleon I, who was proclaimed when the First Empire crashed into ruins." It was a crafty device to avenge Waterloo with the blast of a herald's trumpet, and to wipe out fifty years of French history, just as the Parliament of the Restor- ation tried to efiface the Commonwealth by dating the statutes of 1660, as of the twelfth year of the Merry Monarch's reign. The usurper might be recognized by England as Napoleon II, perhaps, but never, argued Lord Malmesbury, as Napoleon III, for that would have countenanced more than our recognition of the Second Empire was actually meant to convey. It would have implied a recognition of the Emperor's hereditary, as distinguished from his elective, title to the Throne. Most wearisome were the disputes and most tiresome the conferences between Lord Malmesbury, then ForeigUv Secretary, and the French Ambasador on this subject. At last it was agreed that we shbuld accept the disagreeable numeral, after the French Government admitted in writing that it was not to imply our recog- nition of the Emperor's hereditary right to the Imperial Crown of France. From first to last, however. Lord Malmesbury and the other diplomatists were mistaken. Very little reflection might have taught them that if the numeral were meant to efface Waterloo, and the Monarchies of the Bourbons and the Barricades, the us^tirper would have styled himself Napoleon V, and not Napoleon III, for his elder uncle Joseph and his father Louis both survived the young and ill-fated Due de Reichstadt. A hereditary title, moreover, would not need to have been consecrated by a plebiscite^ and the QUEEN AND EMPRESS. lO'? reign of its wearer would not have been dated from 1852, but from the date of Louis Bonaparte's death. It is, therefore, natural to ask how Charles Louis Bonaparte came to style himself the Third and not the Second Emperor. The explanation illustrates the faciUty with which the tragi-comedy of fussy English diplomacy is trans- Napoleon III. formed into farce at the touch of fact. Lord Malmesbury, who is rendered supremely ridiculous by the story, tells it himself as follows in his Diary : "December 29 (1852). We went to Heron Court. Whole country under water. Lord Cowley relates a curious anecdote as to the origin ofthe numeral III in the Emperor's title. The Prefect of 198 VICTOEIA. Bourges, where he slept the first night of his progress, had given in- structions that the people were to shout 'Vive Napoleon !' But he wrote 'Vive Napoleon!!!' Th people took the three notes of in- terjection for a numeral. The President, on hearing it, sent the Due de Mortemart to the Prefect to knoW' what the cry meant. When the whole thing was explained, the President, tapping the Duke on the shoulder, said, 'Je ne savais pas que j 'avals un Prefet Machia- veliste.' " After the proclamation of the French Emperor, his matrimonial schemes touched the family connections of the Queen somewhat closely. The Emperor's marriage, in truth, was the favorite topic for gossip and scandal in every high social circle in Europe. His first project was to seek in marriage the Princess Caroline Stephanie de Vasa, a granddaughter of the Duchess of Baden, and daughter of Prince Gustave de Vasa, son of the last King of Sweden of the old legitimate dynasty. The proposal was not accepted, and the lady afterwards married a German Prince. In December, how- ever, Walewski was sent to the English Court to ask the hand of the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe for his Imperial master, greatly to the disquietude of the Queen, who was her aunt. On the 28th of December, when the Tory Ministers went to Windsor to deliver up their seals of office, the Queen began at once to discuss this delicate affair with them. Lord Malmesbury says: "The Prince (Albert) read a letter from Prince Hohenlohe on the subject, which amounted to this, that he was not sure of the settlement being satisfactory, and that there were objections of religion and morals. The Queen and Prince talked of the marriage reasonably, and weighed the pros and cons. Afraid the Princess should be dazzled if she heard of the ofifer. I said I knew an ofifer would be made to the father. Walewski would go himself. The Queen alluded to the fate of all the wives of the latlers of France since 1789, but did not object positively to the mar- riage." This project, however, fell to the ground, and the Emperor, tired of being rejected by Princesses, acted on the wise apophthegm of Ovid — Si qua vis apte nubere, nube pari. On the 22d of January, 1853, he announced his intention of marrying Eugenia de Montijo, Countess of Theba, daughter of the Donna Maria Manuela Kirk- patrick, Dowager Countess de Montijo, by the Count de Montijo, an officer of rank in the Spanish army. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 199 His Majesty told the deputations from the Senate, the Legisla- tive Body and the Council of State, that whilst it was his aim to place France once more within the pale of the old Monarchies, that result would be better attained by policy than by "Royal alliances, which create feelings of false security, and frequently substitute family in- terests for those of the nation." Now, any dispute which engages Europe in diplomatic controversy that finally leads to war, is apt to produce fresh groupings of the Powers. An Imperial pai-venu seek- ing for a respectable ally finds in these new groupings excellent op- portunities for insinuating himself into "the pale of the old mon- archies." Hence the Emperor's marriage was a sinister omen for England, because it was his fixed idea that England was the most profitable ally France could have. The Queen, however, on hearing that the Emperor's marriage was a loive match, imagined that his abandonment of an attempt to contract a Royal alliance gave addi- tional force to his assurance at Bordeaux, on the 9th of October, 1852, that the "Empire was Peace," and that under its guidance France was about to enter on a busy epoch of Industrialism. Eng- lish Society approved of the marriage, and the Press was loud in its praises of the Imperial pair. Nobody, indeed, had the faintest sus- picion at the time of the near approach of war — a war which gave the French Emperor that very alliance with England for which he was then scheming. But before describing the events that led up to the most disastrous calamity that darkens the Queen's reign, it may be well to sketch briefly the chief points in the Home Policy of her Majesty's Ministers during 1853. It has been said that there were only two great projects in which the Queen interested herself during this year, filled, as it was, with distracting anxieties as to foreign afifairs — the Budget and the India Government Bill. There was, however, a third : Lord John Russell's scheme — unhappily abortive — for establishing a national system of public instruction. Parliament met on the loth of February, and Mr. Disraeli called Sir James Graham and Sir Charles Wood to account for speaking rudely of the French Emperor in their hustings addresses. Nothing came of his pungent attack, and public interest in politics was languid till April arrived, wh?n Mr^ Gladstone introduced his celebrated 200 VICTORIA. Budget — the first of a series that enabled him to divide with Sir Rob- ert Peel the glory of being the greatest Finance Minister of the Vic- torian age. Mr. Gladstone found that Mr. Disraeli, by under-estimating his revenue and over-estimating his expenditure, had left him with a surplus, not of 461,000 pounds, but of 2,307,000 pounds. Unex- pectedly military expenditure, due to dread of a French invasion, had reduced this surplus to 807,000 pounds. The primary feature in Mr. Gladstone's Budget was the extension of the tax on personal property devised by will to real property, and also to personal prop- erty that passed by settlement. This, Mr. Gladstone reckoned, would ultimately bring in 2,000,000 pounds, and put him in a posi- tion to deal with the Income Tax, which came to an end in 1853. He proposed to continue the Income Tax at sevenpence in the pound for two years, then to reduce it to sixpence, and in three years after that to reduce it to fivepence. He extended the tax to Ireland, but, by way of compensation, remitted the debts which Ireland had re- cently incurred to the Imperial Treasury. He increased the duties on Scotch spirits from 3s. 5d. to 4s. 8d., and on Irish spirits from 2s. 8d. to '3s. 4d. a gallon, and thus, he reckoned, he had a surplus of 2,151,000 pounds to spend. How did he spend it? He abolished the duty on soap, thereby terminating the last of the taxes on the four "nec- essaries" — salt, leather and candles were the other three — which Adam Smith condemned a century before. He reduced the taxes on 256 minor articles of food, besides tea, advertisements, carriages, dogs, male servants, apples, cheese, cocoa, butter, and raisins. He reduced the rate of postage to the Colonies — a reduction which, it is surprising to find, had not been even suggested by Mr. Disraeli or any of his predecessors in the highest of Imperial interests. An in- genious feature in his Budget was his manipulation of the Funds. Old Three per Cent. Consols, which could be paid ofif at a year's rfotice, sold for a little over par, that is to say, 100 pounds of stock sold for a little more than 100 poujids. New Three per Cents, how- ever, which were not redeemable for twenty years, sold for 103 pounds — ^i. e., 100 pounds of stock was worth in the market 103 pounds, the difference of 3 pounds representing the value of the M Is ■fe ° 11 ^ ir o QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 203 State guarantee to pay interest on the stock for twenty years. Hence, he said, if he gave a Hke guarantee for some of the unguaranteed stock, he might lay hands on the increment of value thereby added to it for the benefit of the State. He accordingly permitted fund- holders to exchange loo pounds of Consols, or "Reduced Three per Cents." for Exchequer bonds, or for 82 pounds ids. in New Three and a Half per Cent. Stock, guaranteed for forty years to pay 2 pounds 17s. gd. of interest, or for no pounds irredeemable Two and a Half per Cent. Stock. Mr. Spencer Walpole has said that "in breadth, in comprehension, in boldness, in knowledge, and in orig- inality," Mr. Gladstone's first Budget will compare with Peel's great- est efiforts in 1842 and 1845. ^"t even Mr. Walpole admits that, whereas Peel's Budgets can be tested by results, Mr. Gladstone's can be judged of only from its intention. The Crimean war — which he did not forsee, and which, as will be shown presently, was then brew- ing — upset all his calculations. It was not favorable to conversion of debt; moreover, the new succession duty did not bring in one- fourth of the estimated sum. The India Bill was introduced by Sir C. Wood on the 3d of June, 1853. The complaints against the system under which India was ruled were that it led to wars, deficits, mal-administration of justice, neglect of public works and of education. The Dual Government of the Imperial Board of Control and the Court of Directors of the East India Company was maintained, but the Court of Directors was reduced from thirty members to eighteen, twelve of whom were to be chosen by the Company, and six nominated by the Crown, who were to be Indian officials of ten years' service. The new system, which was to prevail till Parliament chose to change it, put an end to the old plan of leasing the Indian Empire for a term of years to a Company of merchant adventurers. As to patronage, competition was substituted for nomination as the mode of entering the public service. Direct appointments to the Indian Army were, however, left in the hands of the Directors of the Company. The scheme was warmly discussed, the friends of the Company insisting on immediate legislation; its enemies, thinking that in time they might be able to educate the country up to the point of abolishing the authority of the Directors, and transferring the government of India absolutely to the 12 204 VICTORIA. Crown, pressed for delay. Mr. Disraeli and the bulk of the Tories were for postponing legislation, but in the end the Government car- ried the Bill. Lord John Russell, on the 4th of April, explained his scheme for establishing a system of national education. The main point in it was that it empowered Municipal Authorities to raise a rate in aid of voluntary schools, the rate to be applied to pay twopence in the week for each scholar, provided fourpence or fivepence were contributed from other sources. The scheme was, however, abandoned. Lord John had in his speech foreshadowed the introduction of a Bill im- posing drastic reforms on the Universities, and this roused the Tory Party to obstruct his proposals. It is but fair to draw attention to this Bill, because Lord John Russell is entitled to the credit of having been the first statesman to present a comprehensive scheme for or- ganizing primary education, based on the principle that it is the duty of the community to provide for the instruction of the people by levying an education rate. This, said Mr. W. J. Fox, was "a most important step in the progress of public instruction." It was on the loth of September, 1852, that, the West India mail steamer brought news to England which revived the old yearning for the discovery of the fabled El Dorado — dormant in the English breast since the days of Raleigh. Gold, it was reported, had been found near Bathurst, in New South Wales, where a frantic rush to the diggings had taken place. The merchant left his warehouse, the shopman his counter, even the lawyers deserted their clients — all eager to join in the headlong race to the mines. But all the gold they were likely to win could not possibly balance the loss caused to the Colony at the time by the mad stampede of the shepherds, who abandoned their countless flocks for the mines. The gold fever was further exacerbated by the subsequent discovery of another rich de- posit in Victoria. America had found her El Dorado in California; Englishmen accordingly heard with pride that they, too, had come into a richer heritage in the hitherto despised convict settlements of Australasia. On the 23d of November, 1852, three vessels from Australia sailed into the Thames with a cargo of seven tons of solid gold. The Eagle brought 160,000 ounces, worth 600,000 pounds, and she had made the passage from Melbourne to the Downs in sev- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 205 enty-six days; the Sapphire and Pelham,, from Sydney, brought 14,668 ounces and 27,762 ounces respectively; the Maitland, from Sydney, followed with 14,326 ounces; the Australia, the first steamer that arrived from these Colonies, next came in with a still larger quantity ; and in December the Dido appeared with a cargo of gold- dust valued at 400,000 pounds. What was the effect of the discovery of gold on the Australian Colonies? Very much the same as the discovery of rich deposits of any other saleable ore, excepting in this respect, that gold is the one metal that commands an immediate sale, at a high and very slightly varying price. Land, labor, and Capital are the three great requis- ites of production. Of these Australia, prior to 1853, had only the first in abundance. The gold mines attracted a rush of emigrants to Australia. But gold mining is a lottery in which the prizes fall to the few. The average earnings of the digger were soon found to be lower than the wages paid in other employments. Hence crowds of men who had been attracted to the mines soon left them, and were ready to follow other pursuits, so that the gold rush gave Australia the second element in production — labor. But the gold which was won, and the demands of the mining population, soon stimulated in- dustry and increased wealth in the Colonies — in other words, the gold rush brought to Australia the third requisite of production — capital. The Australian gold discoveries, therefore, transformed an in- significant penal settlement into a rich and queenly Commonwealth, and saved England from the gold famine, with its disastrous fall in prices, which a sudden expansion of trade must inevitably have pro- duced after Protective duties were abolished. There were, however, two shadows on the picture. The gold rush to Australia depleted the labor market at home. The demands of the Australian Colonies for British goods, after gold had been discovered, were enormous. A sudden diminution in the supply of labor, combined with a corres- ponding increase in the demand for the goods which labor produces, naturally led to a demand in England for increased wages. Strikes broke out all over the country. Labor was scarce and business brisk and though the conflict was, except in rare cases, unaccompanied by violence, it may be said that generally speaking victory lay rather with the workers than with their masters. Wages were forced up, 206 VICTORIA. which was perhaps fortunate, because, as the year wore on, it be- came apparent that a bad harvest in England, France and Germany would seriously increase the price of food. The enormous impetus given to industry, and the rise in wages which followed, enabled skilled labor to bear this increase in the price of bread. The un- skilled laborers, however, who from lack of organization cannot "strike" with much effect, suffered acutely, especially towards the end of the year. But by that time a calamity was within measurable dis- tance, which diverted the minds of the English people from dear bread and bad harvests. The calamity was the Crimean war, which rendered 1853 the last year of "The Great Peace" which followed the battle of Waterloo. When Parliament was prorogued on the 20th of August, 1853, the following passage was inserted in the Queen's Speech. "It is with deep interest and concern that her Majesty has viewed the seri- ous misunderstanding which has recently risen between Russia and and the Ottoman Porte. The Emperor of the French has united with her Majesty in earnest endeavors to reconcile differences, the continuance of which might involve Europe in war." The war to which these differences led has ever been regarded by the Queen as the one heart-breaking calamity of her reign — a calamity hardly equalled by the great Mutiny, which, though it nearly wrecked her Eastern Empire, ended in establishing her authority more firmly than ever in her Asiatic dominions. No such tangible result as that followed, however, from the war into which the country was now being rapidly hurried. The results of this war — the battles, the siege operations, "the moving accidents by flood and field" — are all well known ; but its causes are to this day very imperfectly understood by Englishmen. The folly and weakness of the Aberdeen Ministry, the influence of Prince Albert, the aggressive designs of Russia, the obstinacy and brutality of the Turks, the determination of Napoleon III to foment a disturbance from which he might emerge with the status of a Ruler who had linked the throne of a parvenu in an alli- ance with an ancient monarchy, the factions desire of the Tory Op- position to entangle the Coalition Ministry in Foreign troubles to all these causes have different writers traced the Crimean war. Let us, then, examine carefully, and closely, the development of the dis- QUEEN ANB EMPRESS. 207 pute that broke the peace of Europe in connection with the attitude to it — sometimes, it must be frankly said, a wrong attitude — which the Queen and the Court of St. James' held. The geographical conditions of Russia, and the political state of Turkey, favored the outbreak of war between these States. Russia has no outlet to the sea except through the Baltic in the north, which is frozen in winter, and through the Bosphorus in the south, which is open all the year, but which is dominated by the Sultan so long as Constantinople is the capital of Turkey. Russia had, therefore, an obvious interest either in making Turkey her vassal, or in expelling the Turks from Europe, and establishing a Power at Constantinople in servitude to the Czar. The Emperor, Nicholas, was the most aggressive of modern Czars, and there is no reason to doubt the cynical candor with which he expressed his views on this subject to Sir George Hamilton Sey- mour, in his conversations with him early in the year. Yet it is certain that his ideas as to the reconstitution of European Turkey in the event of the Turkish Empire breaking up, took the form of or- ganizing a series of autonomous States, which, like the Danubian Principalities in 1853, should be under his protection, though, per- haps, under the nominal suzerainty of the Turks — by that time ban- ished to Asia Minor — "bag and baggage." These ideas may have been right or wrong. It is, however, just to say that they were the ideas of the Czar, and that they do not correspond with the scheme for making Constantinople the capital of Russia, which most popular English writers accuse him of cherishing. The interest of Russia being thus revealed, let us see where her opportunity lay. It lay in the fact that the Ottomans, though they had enough bodily strength to conquer, had never enough brain-power to govern a European Empire. In this respect they diflfered signally from the equally savage hordes of Manchu Tartars, who overran China, and who, instead of destroying, adapted themselves to the civilization with which they came in contact. The Christian provinces of Turkey, and the Greek Christians, under the rule of the Sultan were misgov- erned, plundered, and at times tortured by the myrmidons of a bar- barous and feeble autocracy. The Russian Czar, as head of a nation fanatically devoted to the Greek cult, could always find in this mis- 208 VICTORIA. government and oppression apt opportunity for interfering between the Sultan and his Greek subjects. Moreover, in every act of inter- ference the Czar of Muscovy knows that he will be supported to the death by the fervid fanaticism of the Russian people. But the example of other Powers was not wanting in 1853 to emphasize the promptings of interest and opportunity. In 1852 the Turks determined to strike a blow at Montenegro, with which they had for centuries waged chronic warfare. The Sublime Porte sent Omar Pasha to occupy the Principality of the Black Mountain. Austria, alarmed at the prospect, despatched Count Leiningen to Constantinople, and instructed him to press for the recall of Omar. The Porte yielded to this demand, and recalled him. Nor was Austria the only Power that was demonstrating the ease with which Turkey might be coerced. France had a dispute pending with Turkey, as to the privileges of the Roman Catholic monks in Jerusalem — a dispute into which the French Emperor, when Prince-President in 1850, had entered with vigor, for the pur- pose of conciliating the French clergy. Mr. Kinglake insinuates that Napoleon III manufactured this. quarrel in order to force on a European war that might strengthen his position. It is but fair to say that the Emperor inherited the controversy from Louis Philippe. As it led to the assertion of claims on the part of Russia, the rejection of which by Turkey caused the Crimean war, it may be well briefly to set forth its salient points. In 1740 the Porte, in a treaty with France, granted to the Roman Catholic monks and clergy in Jerusalem the custody of cer- tain places in the Holy Land, associated with the memory of Christ, and to which Greek and Latin Christians were in the habit of making pilgrimages. The Great Church of Bethlehem, the Sanctuary of the Nativity, the Tomb of the Virgin, the Stone of Anointing, and the Seven Arches of the Virgin in the tomb of the Holy Sepulchre, were among the Sacred Places thus ceded. During the Revolution French zeal for maintaining the privileges of the Romish clergy in Syria grew cool, and the Holy Places in the custody of the Latin monks were shockingly neglected. The Greek Christians, however, not only visited these consecrated spots as pilgrims, but piously re- paired them with the sanction of the Porte, thus acquiring by firmans QUEEN AND EMf BESS. 209 from the Sultan the privilege of worshiping in them. The policy of the Porte seems to have been to induce Latins and Greeks to share the use of the sacred shrines. But Latins and Greeks, under the protection of France and Russia respectively, each claimed an exclu- sive right of control and guardianship over them. The dispute had been carried on in a desultory way till, in 1850, it was narrowed down to this point : France, on behalf of the Latin monks, contended that, in order to pass into the grotto of the Holy Manger, they should have exclusive possession of the key of the Church of Bethlehem, and of one of the keys — the other being in Greek custody — of each of the two doors of the Holy Manger; further, that the Sanctuary of the Nativity itself should be ornamented with a silver star, and the arms of France. In February, 1853, the Porte adjudicated on the rival claims in a letter addressed to the French Charge d'Affaires, and in a firman to the Greek patriarch. The representative of France was told that the Latins were to have the keys they demanded. The Pa- triarch was told that Greeks, Armenians and Latins should have keys also, and that the Latins were not to have any of the exclusive rights over the Holy Places that they claimed. When it became known that the Porte had thus spoken with "two voices," France complained that the exclusive rights demanded by her under the Treaty of 1740 were denied in the firman. Russia, on behalf of the Greeks, claimed credit for moderation in accepting the firman as a compromise, and insisted on its being publicly proclaimed at Jerusa- lem as a charter of Greek privileges. The Porte, in deference to the opposition of France, refused to make public proclamation of the firman. The Russian Consul-General left Jerusalem in high dud- geon. "The Latins," says Mr. Walpole, "on hearing the decision of the Porte, that they should be allowed to celebrate mass once a year in the Church of the Virgin, near Gethsemane, but that they should not be allowed to disturb the altar and its ornaments, declared that it was impossible to celebrate mass on a schismatic slab of marble and before a crucifix whose feet were separated." In this quarrel of a few ignorant monks over the mummeries of their rival rituals lay the germ of that great war in which England sacrificed the lives of 28,000 brave men, and spent 30,000,000 pounds of sterling treasure ! The Porte endeavored, by contradictory concessions, such as 210 VICTORIA. by publicly reading the firman, and by permitting the Latins to put a star over the altar of the Nativity, to please both parties — but in vain. Russia, towards the end of 1852, had moved a corps d'armee on the frontier of Moldavia. France threatened to send her fleet to Syria; and in the end of February, 1853, the Czar sent Prince Men- schikoflf on a special mission to Constantinople, for the purpose of enforcing the Russian demands. The turn in afifairs that placed Lord Aberdeen at the head of the Queen's Government did not tend to moderate these demands, or induce the Czar to treat the Porte with any delicacy. The Czar, in fact, was honestly convinced that his views as to the future of Turkey were, in the main, shared by Lord Aberdeen, and therefore by the British Cabinet. Now, it seems certain that up to the very moment when war was declared, the Emperor Nicholas was convinced that Lord Aberdeen's Government would never take sides with France against him, in any quarrel about Turkey. Lord Stratford de Redclifife reached Constantinople on the 5th of April, 1853. There he found that Prince Menschikoff, at the head of a menacing mission, had arrived before him on the 28th of Febru- ary. Menschikoflf began operations by refusing to treat with Fuad Effendi, the Foreign Minister. Fuad resigned in favor of Rifaat Pasha. The tone of the Russian envoy then alarmed the Grand Vizier, who sought advice from Colonel Rose, British Charge d'Afifaires. Colonel Rose immediately begged Admiral Dundas to bring the Mediterranean squadron to the mouth of the Dardanelles, but the Admiral refused to sail without instructions from the Cabi- net, and the Cabinet disapproved of Rose's action. France, how- ever, thought that this act indicated an intention on the part of Eng- land, to forestall her, and despatched the Toulon squadron to Sal- amis, without waiting to hear whether Colonel Rose's action had been sanctioned by his Government. The presence of the French fleet so near the scene of an acrid controversy between France and Russia, would have tended to neutralize the conciliatory diplomacy of England, even if Lord Stratford de Redclifife had honestly meant to work in the interests of peace. Lord Stratford, When he arrived at Constantinople, found the Sublime Porte in a panic. Though Russia had assured the English Government that no question then remained open between her, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 2H France, and Turkey, except that of the Holy Places, Menschikoff had demanded from the Porte a treaty, the negotiation of which, he said, must be kept secret from the Powers, acknowledging the right of Russia to a protectorate over all Greek Christians in Turkey. Ultimately he offered to accept a Note; but the objection to the con- cession in any such shape, was that it virtually transferred to the Russian Czar the allegiance of 12,000,000 of the Sultan's subjects. Lord Stratford de Redclifife advised the Porte to begin by settling the question of the Holy Places, which was the fons et origo of the dispute. That question was quickly settled, and then Menschikoff promptly and peremptorily pressed the new claim of Russia to a protectorate over the Greek Church in Turkey. On the 5tli of May he sent an ultimatum to the Porte demanding its surrender on this point within five days. On Lord Stratford's advice the Porte refused to surrender, and Prince Menschikoff and his suite left Constantino- ple in wrath. At this crisis the voice of Nicholas was for war; but that of Nesselrode, his able and tranquil Minister, was for peace. As a compromise the Czar therefore determined that the Danubian Prin- cipalities should be occupied by his troops, and held till Turkey guar- anteed to Russia "the rights and privileges of all kinds which have been granted by the Sultan to his Greek subjects." On the 31st of May Nesselrode wrote to Reschid Pasha that Russian troops would cross the Pruth, and on the 2d of June Admiral Dundas was ordered to proceed with the Mediterranean squardon to Besika Bay. The French fleet was ordered to go there also, and the allied squadrons made their appearance in Turkish waters about the same time. The quarrel up till now had been one between France and Russia. It was thus suddenly transformed into one between France and Eng- land on the one side and Russia on the other. On the 2d of July Prince Gortschakoff entered the Principalities; and then Austria, which had selfishly held aloof, became nervous as to the control of the Danube, and manifested a desire to act with the Western Powers. Turkey was advised not to treat Russian aggression on the Principal- ities as a casus belli, and the Porte met it with a protest, though it was very nearly forced by its fanatical Moslem subjects to declare war. In England the Government was condemned for its extreme reticence in Parliament as to the turn affairs were taking ; and up to 212 VICTORIA. this point the Cabinet certainly committed three blunders. In the first place, they permitted Lord Stratford to encourage the Porte to resist Russia, without having come to a clear and definite determin- ation to support that resistance by force, if Russia proved unbending. Secondly, they relied too much on Count Nesselrode's smooth, pacific assurances after they knew, or ought to have known, from Prince Menschikofif's proposal of a secret treaty to the Porte, and from the warlike demonstration on the Moldavian frontier, that these assurances were illusory. Thirdly, they did not meet the proposal for a secret treaty and the demonstration on the frontier by ordering Dundas to Besika Bay, and they met the occupation of the Principal- ities by sending Dundas, not to the Black Sea, but only to Besika Bay. Lord Aberdeen's apologists allege that the latter step would have caused Russia to occupy Constantinople. That is a feeble de- fence, for subsequent events showed that Russia could not even mo- bilize enough troops to hold the Principalities against the Turks. The English Government did enough to irritate the Czar, and though they did not do enough to check him, they did too much to enable them to extricate themselves with honor from the quarrel. Something, however, had to be done for the Porte, after it had, at the bidding of England and France, refrained from defending the Principalities, which were in its dominions. A Conference of the Powers was therefore assembled at Vienna, on the 24th of June, to arrive at a pacific solution of the difificulty, and on the 31st they adopted the Vienna Note, which has become famous in European history. It was sent to Russia and Turkey for acceptance as a settle- ment which, in the opinion of Europe, would be equally honorable and fair to both. The Czar accepted it promptly on the loth of August. Lord Stratford de Redclifife, in his official capacity, advised Turkey to accept it ; but he played his Government false, by plainly indicating his personal objections to it. The Porte acted on his private advice, and refused to accept the Note unless it were modi- fied. Turkey thus dashed all hopes of peace by repudiating the advice of the Powers, and, by thus putting herself in the wrong, she put Russia in the right. Here Lord Aberdeen and his colleagues committed another blunder. On balancing the gain against the loss to Turkey which QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 213 was likely to accrue from concessions that would prevent war, they might fairly enough have told the Porte that, if it rejected the Vienna Note, it would be left to struggle with Russia single-handed. Aus- tria, however, followed by France, England and Prussia, asked the Czar to accept the modifications of Turkey. The Czar refused to do this, and instructed Count Nesselrode to give his reasons for re- fusing, whereupon Austria and Prussia veered round, and again recommended the Porte to accept the original Note. England and France, on the contrary, alleging that Count Nesselrode's despatches proved that the Czar attached a different meaning to the Note from that which they attributed to it, decHned to join Austria and Prussia in pressing Turkey to accept it. The European concert was de- stroyed, and it was the European concert which alone rendered war impossible. Just before the allied fleets were sent to defend Turkey in the Black Sea the Porte ordered Omar Pasha to demand the evacuation of Moldavia within fifteen days, and, failing compliance, to attack the Russians at once. The Russians held their ground, standing on the defensive, and the Turks crossed the Danube, inflicting on them de- feats, that of course, deeply wounded the pride of the Czar. He therefore ordered the Russian squadron at Sebastopol to retaliate in the Euxine. On the 30th of November it discovered a Turkish fleet at Sinope, which, the Turks declared, was bound for Batovim. The Russian admiral, however, believed it was on its way to the Circas- sian coast, for the purpose of stirring up an insurrection against Rus- sia in the Caucasus. Instead of watching it or blockading it, as he might have done, he attacked and destroyed it. This catastrophe, of course, brought England nearer to war. A fierce cry of wrath went up from the English people. Their fleet had been sent to defend Turkey against Russia, yet it had tamely allowed Russia to perpetrate "the massacre of Sinope." Russia knew that England stood pledged to protect Turkey from attack in the Euxine. Sinope was, therefore, a direct challenge to England, and it must be promptly taken up. The foresight of Prince Albert was thus amply justified. The Government had stupidly sent to the Black Sea a fleet strong enough to provoke Russia, but not strong enought to protect Turkey, and insinuations of treason were freely 214 VICTORIA. made. "The defeat of Sinope," wrote the Prince, "upon our own element — the sea — has made the people furious; it is ascribed to Aberdeen having been bought over by Russia." Nor was Aberdeen the only one who suffered. Prince Albert was scurrilously attacked by Tories and Radicals of the baser sort, and, almost in as many words, accused of being a Russian spy, whose influence with the Queen was paralyzing her Government. But if the English Gov- ernment blundered foolishly in sending the British fleet to the Black Sea with orders to protect Turkey, without first making sure that Turkey would not provoke attack, or that our fleet was strong enough to defend her, Russia blundered, not foolishly, but criminally, in attacking the Turks at Sinope. Mr. Spencer Walpole says: "Though the attack on Sinope may be justified, its imprudence can- not be excused." But surely if it cannot be excused it is idle to "justify" it. The Czar was warned that England and France would defend Turkey if the latter was assailed in the Euxine. An attack on Turkey at Sinope, in spite of that warning, he must have known would be taken by the English and French people as a defiance, which would so madden them, that the war party in France and England must forthwith control the situation. Therefore, to say it was an "imprudence" is to say that, in the circumstances, it was a crime against civilization. As will be seen later on, it provoked France and England to order their fleets to patrol the Black Sea, and require every Russian ship they met to put back into Sebastopol, so that a second Sinope might be prevented. During most of this anxious time it is hardly necessary to say that the domestic life of the Queen was one of wearing excitement. At the outset of the diplomatic disputes in which her Government entangled the country it seems that she paid less attention than usual to foreign aiifairs. Palmerston was no longer at the Foreign Office, and in Lord Aberdeen, who was at the head of the Government, the Queen put the most implicit confidence. She had formed a habit of regarding him as the beau ideal of a "safe" Minister, and thus, when she sat down every morning to read her official correspondence, her Majesty approached all the projects of her Government, if not with a decided bias in favor of them, at any rate without that wholesome prepossession of suspicion, that rendered her a keen and searching QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 215 critic of the Foreign Policy of the country when it was under the di- rection of Lord Palmerston. It was not till late in the autumn that the Queen's correspondence, so far as it has been made public, shows a disposition on her part to resume the tone of independent, out- spoken, but confidential criticism, that so often checked the vagaries of Lord John Russell's Cabinet. The Queen, in fact, put too much confidence in the sagacity of the Coalition Government. The Coalition Government, conscious that, so long as Aberdeen could be persuaded to endorse their doings, they would not be very jealously scrutinized by the Crown, entered with a light heart on the most dan- gerous course of diplomacy. The Queen, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Czar all set out with the most sincere and unbounded confidence in each other. In little more than twelve months they were accordingly in almost irreconcilable controversy. On the 7th of April another Prince was born to the Royal cou- ple. The child was named after, the Queen's uncle, Leopold, the King of the Belgians. "It" (Leopold), she writes, "is a name which is dearest to me after Albert, and one which recalls the almost only happy days of my sad childhood." The Prince's other names were to be George, Dun- can and Albert — George, after the King of Hanover, and Duncan, "a compliment to dear Scotland." This Prince was the Duke of Albany. On the 9th of April, the four powers, England, France, Austria and Prussia signed a Protocol at Vienna, which bound them "to re- main united in maintaining the integrity of Turkey, and in safe- guarding under the guarantee of Europe, the liberties of her Chris- tian inhabitants, by every means compatible with the independence of the Sultan ; to enter into no arrangement with Russia or any other Power which might be inconsistent with this object without first of all discussing it in concert. At the end of August the Queen determined to visit Dublin on the way to Balmoral. There was little pleasure in the visit, though she was received with every evidence of loyalty. War was in the air, and her Majesty was ever a woman of peace, not of the spirit of Eliz- abeth, with whom she has so often been compared. With all the joys of her intimate home life, here was a woman on the throne that more 216 VICTORIA. in her tenure of occupancy than in that of any other was to feel the effects of war, bitterly as she hated it. On the 6th of September she was at Balmoral. It was here, on the evening of the 12th, that she heard that the Vienna Note was rejected by the Turks, and that the Eastern ques- tion was again simmering in the fatal cauldron of diplomatic inca- pacity. From that day her Majesty's great aim was to work, like Lord Aberdeen, for peace ; but there was an end to holiday repose at Balmoral. Foreign affairs became more and more unsettled, and on the 6th of October Stockmar was implored to come over and give the Queen and her husband the benefit of his advice. Sir James Graham was staying with them at the time, and his depressed spirits reacted on the Royal Family. To refuse to protect the Sultan the Queen saw would so rouse public opinion that the Coalition Minis- try, which she was so anxious to support, must fall. To declare war on Russia, Prince Albert assured her, would with equal certainty ul- timately destroy that Ministry. One thing only was clear to them. Aberdeen must abandon all idea of resigning in favor of Lord John Russell, and, despite age and infirmity, must remain at the head of affairs till the war-cloud passed away. On the 14th of October the Queen accordingly returned to Osborne, painfully anxious lest the concessions which Lord Aberdeen had made to Palmerston and Russell as leaders of the War Party, and on which she commented caustically in her letter of the nth of October to the Prime Minister, would bring the country still nearer to war. What were we to go to war for? That was the question which troubled the Queen. She could understand that in some dire extremity it might be right to exact the most terrible sacrifices from her people, to keep the Rus- sians out of Constantinople, and prevent the balance of power from being upset to the detriment of England. That was an intelligible war for the tangible interest of England and the civilized Pqwers. But such a war was a very different affair from the kind of war for which Palmerston clamored — a war for the maintenance of the com- plete integrity of the Ottoman Empire. If waged, it must surely not be so waged that it would end by putting the oppressed Chris- tians in Turkey once again in the absolute power of such a cruel dominion as that of the Porte. To this conclusion her Majesty had QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 217 been forced by her close study of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe's own despatches, describing the brutal treatment to which the Christians in Turkey were even at that time subjected. But then, of what use was it to suggest these ideas to the Cabinet, even though Lord Aber- deen supported them? When Prince Albert, at the Queen's request, put them into the form of a Memorandum, Palmerston wrote a flip- pant reply to it only too closely in harmony with the popular frenzy of the time, the gist of the answer being that it was the duty of Eng- land to make war for Turkey and for Turkey alone, quite irrespective of any considerations affecting her treatment of her Christian sub- jects. To ask Turkey for concessions to civihzation, he argued, somewhat inconclusively, meant that we must connive at her expul- sion from" Europe. As for all the stories of Turkish fanaticism that had frightened the Queen, Lord Palmerston scofifingly described them as "fables invented at Vienna and St. Petersburg." The Czar's manifesto of the ist of November still further excited the War Party, and it was followed by a letter to the Queen, written by his own hand, begging her Majesty to decide between him and her Government in the dispute which had arisen from his attempt to apply the principles of the Treaty of Kainardji to the new situation which French pretensions in Syria had created in Turkey. To this the Queen replied with dignified courtesy, saying that, after repeat- edly reading and studying the 7th Article of that Treaty, she could not fairly say that the Czar's interpretation of it was correct, and add- ing that the continued occupation of the Principalities must lead to events "which I should deplore, in common with your Majesty." The year closed with the ferocious attacks of a certain portion of the Press on Prince Albert, and as for the future, it was dark with the signs and omens of impending war. The Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey. 218 IX. WAR. "Treason" of Prince Albert — The two Emperors — War Declared — Cross and Crescent — Operations in the Black Sea — Crimea — Battle of the Alma — Inkerman — Napoleon III and Prince Albert — Death of the Czar — Lord Raglan — The Redan — Fall of Sebastopol — Peace Confer- ence — Review of Crimean Troops — Rupture with Persia — The Chinese War — Napaleon at Osborne. URING the early part of 1854 people talked of the "treason" of the Prince Consort. He is said to have been so accused because of his friendship for Peel, and the like, the Tories bitterly hating Peel. But war was declared by England and France against Russia, and all was excitement. Sir Charles Napier was the Admiral in English affairs and had a magnificent Armada ready for him at Spithead. The operations in the Black Sea were brilliant. On the 13th of September the troops sighted the Crimea. The allied troops skilfully disembarked without loss or con- fusion at the Old Fort, a spot twenty miles south of Eupatoria. Twenty thousand French and twenty thousand English soldiers, with a powerful artillery, were thus thrown upon a hostile coast in per- fect marching order in one single day. On the 19th of September they moved southwards, and got touch of the Russians under Prince Menschikoff. These were 40,000 strong, and they held a fortified position on the heights of the Alma, a little river which flowed be- tween them and the Allies. On the morning of the 20th the battle began. The French attack was dashing, but somehow it did not succeed quickly. As for the Russians, they were clumsily handled. The defence of Sebastopol was staked upon the army of the Alma. The stronghold lay at the mercy of the Allies after that army was routed, and could have been taken next morning by a coup de main. Raglan was eager to press on, but St. Arnaud held him back. The Allies then spent three days in burying the dead, and by that time the Russians had considerably strengthened their fortifications. 13 ' 221 222 VICTORIA. Raglan again, urged that the city should be attacked, but, as St. Arnaud was unwilling to risk an assault, it was agreed that the in- vaders should march round to the south of the citadel, and attack it from that aspect. On the 29th St. Arnaud, whose health and brain had been long failing him, died, and Canrobert, an equally sluggish soldier, succeeded to his command. Whilst the Allies were, at Rag- lan's instigation, marching round to the south of Sebastopol, they were for a whole day exposed to a flank attack from the enemy, which, had it been delivered, would have simply cut them to pieces. Some of the divisional commanders, like Cathcart and Campbell, were eager for storming the place at once, and, had they done so, they could have captured it with hardly any appreciable loss. . Sir John Burgoyne — then supposed to be infallible as a military engi- neer — and General Canrobert thought the risks too great, and said that the army must wait till the siege-train was brought up. Raglan yielded to Canrobert's hesitancy and Burgoyne's ignorance. But what shall be written of the Crimean War that history has not already told?— -what of the Alma, Inkermann, Sebastopol? The sufifering of ofificers and men, the charge of that slender Light Brigade that rode into the "valley of death," what of that? "It was magnificent, but it was not war," that Balaclava. Inkermann. The Russians lost 12,000 men, the French 1,800, the English 2,600, and the sickness on the field, cholera, and nearly 10,000 men to their death. Sebastopol! Fire, carnage! History gives the tale of horror, the bravery, the endurance of men of England and men of France, but a Life of the Queen will dismiss the Crimean War, not because of its unimportance, but that History has made it one of the wars to expound and enlarge upon. In London the "Crimean Ministry" resigned, and a new Cabinet went intO' power. Meantime diplomacy was appealed to tO' end the war. "If Austria did her duty," writes the Queen, "she might have prevented much of this bloodshed. Instead of this, her Generals do nothing but juggle the Turks of the Principalities, and the Government shuf- fles about, making advances and then retreating." On the 5th of November Miss Nightingale reached the scene of her labors, and found the hospitals veritable pest houses into which QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 223 were brought, the wounded from Balaklava where "some one had blundered," and the "noble six hundred" rode into the "valley of death." Lord Palmerston. The noble work done by Florence Nightingale will never be forgotten, and well might the Queen present her with an order equal to that of Knighthood. 224 VICTORIA. Lord Palmerston was now Prime Minister, and his strength was proven as never before. Lord Raglan had died, and was said to have been almost as incompetent as the commander of the French army, St. Arnaud. And the political wrangling kept up. Early in 1855 Her Majesty became anxious as to how the year was to be financiered. She was in favor of Gladstone's policy, which Lady Palmerston. was to meet expenditure out of current revenue. But the cost of the campaign was so enormous, that it was impossible to increase the taxation so as to cover it. The Queen had much to worry her, and at her heart was the welfare of her soldiers who were sufifering for want of many requisites. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 225 "I myself," said Queen Elizabeth to her troops at Tilbury, "will be your general and your judge, and the rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field." If Queen Victoria has never either in statecraft or power attained the position held by Elizabeth, she did not fail to emulate her in her devotion to the gallent men who bled and died for England in the desolate Chersonese. She visited the sick and wounded who came to England from the field of battle, and cheered them as a good woman may cheer a hero, not so much as a Queen may flatter a soldier. The French Empress, Eugenie di Montijo that had been, pressed the Emperor to go to the field and the Queen was alarmed because she saw infinite danger from the scheme. The Emperor would naturally desires to take supreme command of both the French and the English troops, and the English people would not permit the British troops to serve under a foreign sovereign. Prince Albert's visit to France was planned by the Emperor Napoleon for the purpose of raising his status in the eyes of his peo- ple, whose cultured and aristocratic classes looked askance at his up- start court and his mushroom nobility. First of all, he sounded Lord Cowley on the subject. The Queen thought that such a visit might render the French alliance more trustworthy than she was disposed to consider it, and the Prince soon let Lord Cowley know he would visit France whenever he was invited. Again intervention was asked to end the war by diplomacy, so many lives had been lost, so little accomplished. Then came the death of the Czar. His son, Alexander IL, suc- ceeded him, and let it be known that he would carry out the ideas of his father, whose heart had broken through the failure of his plans in the Crimea. That same year (1855) Lord Raglan died, and the country was shocked. The finances were at a low ebb, and care was required in manipulating the funds. The Queen invited the Emperor and Empress of the French to visit her, it having been suggested to her that she might dissuade the Emperor from his plan. The visit of the French Imperial pair was made much of in London, and the Queen invested Louis Napoleon with the Order of the Garter. 226 VICTOEIA. In August, the Queen and the Prince Consort returned the visit, accompanied by the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales. Writing to the Dowager Duchess of Coburg on the 30th of August, Prince Albert says: Lord Raglan. "We purpose making our escape on the 5th (September) to our mountain home, Balmoral. We are sorely in want of moral rest and bodily exercise." So Paris, with its flattering crowds, became a thing of the past. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 227 On the loth the Prince writes to Stockmar: "Prince Fritz William comes here to-morrow evening. I have received a very friendly letter from the Princess of Prussia." The young Prussian Prince was the only possible suitor for the Princess Royal, who was now sixteen years of age. On the 20th of Lord Campbell. September the Prince laid his proposal of marriage before the Queen and her husband, and they accepted it so far as they were concerned, but asked him not to speak to the Princess on the subject, till after she had been confirmed. "Our Fritz," as the Prince was called, was no •228 VICTORIA. idle youth of fashion, and he had gone through a hard experience in army life. He was then twenty-three, and the heir to the throne of Prussia. But while this tender episode was going on, news from the field of battle was exciting. On the night of September lo, came the news of the capture of SebastO'pol, and it is thus notified in the royal journal of that date: "Our delight was great, but we could hardly believe the good news, and from having so long sO' anxiously expected it, one could not realize the actual fact. Albert said they could go at once and light the bonfire which had been prepared when the false report of the fall of the town arrived last year, and had remained ever since waiting to be lit. In a few minutes Albert and all the gentlemen, in every sp^ecies of attire, sallied forth, followed by all the servants, and grad- ually by all the population of the village, up to the top of the cairn. We waited and saw them light the bonfire, accompanied by general cheering." When Lord Raglan died. General Simpson, who had been chief of his stafif,. was appointed to succeed him. He was less capable than his predecessor, but a good-natured, pliable man who was not likely to be troublesome to the home authorities, and when Sebas- topol fell it was not the Russians, but Generals Simpson and Pelis- sier who were paralyzed by the catastrophe. Her Majesty was in- censed. On the 2d of October she wrote to Lord Panmure, saying, "when General Simpson telegraphed before that he must wait to know the plans and intentions of the Russians, the Queen was tempted to advise a reference to St. Petersburg for them." The Queen pressed the War Ofifice to appoint a new commander-in-chief. General Codrington was appointed chief in command instead of Sir Colin Campbell, a strong competent man but who had no "interest," and had too strong a will and stubborn nature to be easily, coerced by those at home. ' Sir Colin Campbell returned to England determined to quit the service. The Queen, however, sent for him and • persuaded him to alter his intentions. She told him of her anxiety as to the fate of her army and as a personal favor to herself to go back to the Crimea. To the credit of Her Majesty it must be told, that this was the last 229 Lord Campbell's Audience of the Queen. 230 VICTORIA. time that Campbell was neglected. It took him forty-six years' hard thankless toil to rise to a Lieutenant Colonelcy, in eight years he became a Field Marshal. On July 3 the Queen reviewed in Windsor Park all the regi- ments returned from the East, and a general order was issued at her command, to the army, expressing Her Majesty's admiration of their good order, discipline, bravery and patience. "The Queen," the address concluded, "deplores the loss of many of her best officers and bravest men, but history will consecrate the ground before Se- bastopol as the grave of heroes." She had already performed a more graceful act in receiving the wounded guards at Buckingham Palace. "The signing of the Treaty of Peace with Russia," writes Lord Malmesbury, "was announced by the firing of cannon from the Tower and Horse Guards." The solitary result of the Crimean war, says Spencer Walpole,, was to "set back the clock some fourteen years." And what were the terms of peace? The Powers admitted Turkey to participate in all the advantages of the public law of Europe, and they agreed that in any future dispute with the Porte, the matter must be submitted to arbitration before force was used by either side. The Sultan was bound by the Treaty to communicate to the Powers a firman improving the condition of his Christian sub- jects, but this instrument, it was stipulated, gave the Powers no col- lective or individual right to interfere between Turkey and her Chris- tian subjects. The Black Sea was neutralized — i. e., all ships of war were excluded from it, and the establishment of arsenals on its coasts was prohibited. But the Euxine was declared free to the trading vessels of all nations, and the Powers were at Hberty to keep a few armed ships of light draught for police duty on the neutralized sea. The navigation of the Danube was declared free. Russia ceded Bes- sarabia to Turkey. The privileges and immunities of Wallachia, Mol- davia, and Servia were guaranteed, but the Sultan was permitted to garrison the latter province. Russia and Turkey were bound to restore to each other the conquests they had respectively made in Asia. It will be observed that there was nothing in this instrument to provide means for punishing Russia if she broke it. Hence, on the 15th of April, France, Austria, and England signed what was QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 231 called the Tripartite Treaty, binding each other jointly or severally to go to war against any Power that violated the Treaty of Paris. This compact was treated like a dead letter when Russia attacked Turkey in 1877. "The peace," said Prince Albert in a letter to Stockmar, "is not such as we could have wished, still infinitely to be preferred to the prosecution of the war, with the present complica- tion of general policy." That was in truth the verdict of the country. Florence Nightingale. Comparing the terms with those which we might have obtained at Vienna in 1855, it was a humiliating settlement for England, in no way justifying the continuance of the war after the battle of Inker- mann. During the spring of the year the wounded from the Crimea had been pouring in. In February the Queen presented Miss Florence Nightingale with a jewel, somewhat resembling the badge of an Order of Knighthood, for her services at Scutari. On the i6th of 232 VICTORIA. April Her Majesty went to Chatham with her husband to visit these victims of the war. She passed through the wards much affected by the sight of some of the more ghastly wounds, speaking kind and comforting words of sympathy to those whp had suffered most severely. The Camp at Aldershot was also visited on the i8th of April, and 14,000 troops were reviewed, her Majesty riding along the line whilst the men presented arms. Next morning was a field day, The Wounded Soldiers Toast "The Queen." and the Queen appeared on the ground on horseback, wearing a Field-Marshal's uniform, with the Star of the Garter over a dark-blue riding-habit. On the 23d of April the splendid fleet at Spithead was reviewed. The spectacle was one of surpassing magnificence, and upwards of 100,000 persons witnessed it, crowding every spot from which a view could be obtained between Fort Monckton and South- sea Castle. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 233 On the 8th of July the Queen again went to Aldershot to review a great body of Crimean troops, the Royal party including the King of the Belgians and Prince Oscar of "Sweden. The officers who had been under fire, with four men from each company and troop, stepped forward, and her Majesty, rising, addressed them a few words of welcome and thanks. She told them to say to their comrades that she had herself watched anxiously over their difificulties and hard- ships, and mourned with deep sorrow for the brave men who had fallen in their country's cause. When she ceased to speak, the cry of "God save the Queen" burst forth from every lip. The air was black with helmets, bearskins, and shakoes, which the men tos'sed up with delight. Flashing sabres were waving and glancing along the lines, and on every hillside crowds caught up the cheering that rose from the serried and glittering ranks of the army. Next day the Guards and Highlanders arrived, and were received by the Queen and enthusiastic crowds in the Park. "They marched past in fours," writes Lord Malmesbury, "preceded by their colonels on horseback and their bands, in heavy marching order. Certainly they looked as if they had done work; their uniforms were shabby, many having almost lost all color, their bearskins quite brown, and they them- selves, though they seemed happy, and were laughing as they marched along; were very thin and worn." On the 12th of July the Cabinet advised the Queen to appoint her cousin, the Duke of Cam- bridge, Commander-in-Chief, and her Majesty was gratified to find that the arrangement was one which was highly popular with the troops. Thus the intention of Wellington was fulfilled, and the army again passed under the direct command of a Prince of the Blood Royal. Parliament was opened on the 3d of February, 1857, and the Queen's Speech naturally referred to the wars and rumors of war that filled the air. After many harassing consultations, the Queen felt that it was impossible for the Cabinet to resist the growing agitation against the Income Tax. The coalition between Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli was too onrinous to be disregarded; and so, on the lOth of February, she wrote to King l^eopold, "We think we shall be able to reduce the Income Tax and yet maintain an efficient navy, and 234 VICTORIA. the organisation of the anny, which is even more important than the number of the men." When Sir George Cornewall Lewis brought in his Budget on the 13th of February, it was found that he reduced the Income Tax from is. 4d. to yd. in the pound; but of course this was still 2d. above the peace limit fixed in 1853. The complaint of the Opposition was that the Government imposed that 2d. merely to promote what Mr. Disraeli called the "turbulent and aggressive policy" abroad by which Lord Palmerston diverted the attention of the country from its own afifairs at home. The Budget, however, was carried through though in a slightly modified form. In 1857 there was a little war waged in Persia. It had sprung out of the irrepressible desire of the Shah to hold Herat, and from the traditional belief of the I;oreign Office that when Herat was in Persian lands, "the key of India" was in the pockets of the Czar. In 1851 Persia had promised that she would not meddle with Herat if the Afghans did not attempt to seize it. But the Gov- ernor of Candahar advanced on the coveted city, whose ruler ap- pealed to Persia for protection. The Foreign Office, however, sus- pended diplomatic relations with the Court of Teheran. Persia then agreed to retire from Herat when the Afghans withdrew, and nego- tiations went on in a dilatory fashion till the Crimean War broke out, when the Czar urged Persia to resist and become his ally. The Shah's Prime Minister held his Imperial master back, and Mr. Thomson, a typical representative of the Foreign Office in Persia, by way of further conciliating the friendly Premier, appointed as First Secre- tary of the British Legation, a disreputable person who had been dismissed from the Persian service, and whose family were among the most active enemies of the anti-Russian Minister. The Minister refused to receive this individual — Meerza Hashim by name. The Persian Premier then threatened to arrest Meerza Hashim. As a matter of fact, he arrested his wife, and maliciously insinuated in a despatch, when Mr. Murray demanded her release, that he had com- promised himself with the lady. Murray accordingly struck his flag and demanded an apology, whereupon Persia issued a manifesto declaring that the Afghans were advancing on Herat, and threaten- ing to seize that fortress. In July, 1856, a British force was ordered to proceed from Bombay to occupy the island of Karrack and the QUEEIST AND EMPRESS, 235 city of Bushire. By this time the Crimean War was over, and Persia could get no aid from her Russian ally. A Persian ambassador therefore was sent to Paris to negotiate for peace, but he broke his journey at Constantinople to arrange the terms with Stratford de Redcliflfe. Whilst there, news came that Persia had captured Herat. Stratford demanded its evacuation, and the dismissal of the Prime Minister. This latter demand the Persian Envoy rejected. The English Government therefore. went on with the war. It was, how- ever, declared by the Indian Government that war was waged for the recovery of Herat, which Persia had offered to evacuate, whereas the British Government, in their declaration, stated that their object was the dismissal of the Persian Premier, who had foiled the attempt of Russia to drag the Shah into the Crimean War. The Expedition, led by General Outram, occupied Karrack and captured Bushire. But the Shah refused to dismiss his Prime Minister, aiid Pal- merston was accordingly fain to withdraw his demand, and be con- tent with an apology for the imputations which had been cast on Mr. Murray's character. Such was the inglorious end of a war which is one of the least creditable events in Lord Palmerston's career. The Chinese War of 1857 occupies an unique place in the events of the Victorian epoch, because it was a war which was provoked by a member of the Peace Society. In October, 1856, the Chinese au- thorities arrested twelve Chinamen on board a native lorcha called the Arrow, on a charge of piracy. The British Consul, asserting that the "Arrow was a British ship, contended very properly that the ac- cused should have been demanded from him. Nine of the Chinamen were released. Sir John Bowring thereupon insisted on the release of the other three, and an apology within forty-eight hours, on pain of immediate reprisals. The three men were released; but the Chin- ese Governor courteously refused to apologize, because, he said, as the Arrow was not a British ship, no wrong had been done to the British flag. The courtesy of the Chinese in surrendering the pris- oners in deference to an illegal demand, which Bowring had couched in terms of offensive arrogance, was rewarded next day by the bom- bardment of the luckless commercial city of Canton. In fact, "a prancing pro-Consul," to use a famous phrase of Sir William Har- court's, had virtually usurped the prerogative of the Crown, and 236 VICTORIA. levied war on a foreign Government on his own responsibility. In- stead of recalling Bowring and the British Consul, Lord Palmerston, without giving the matter much thought, identified himself with their proceedings, though many Members of his Cabinet, notably Lord Granville and Mr. Labouchere, who afterwards were forced to defend Bowring in Parliament, personally disapproved of his con- duct. But Ministers virtually abandoned the case of the Arrow when the controversy grew hot. "As usual," writes Mr. Morley, "they shifted the ground from the particular to the general; if the Sir John Bowring. Chinese were right about the Arrow they were wrong about some- thing else; if legality did not exactly justify violence, it was at any rate required by policy; Orientals mistake justice for fear; and so on through the string of well-worn sophisms, which are always pursued in connection with such affairs." The real truth, as the Tory leaders said in the debates in both Houses of Parliament, was that Bowring's vanity had been hurt because the Chinese had refused to receive him in Canton. When he sent Admiral Sir M. Seymour to bombard the port he tacked on to his original ultimatum a demand that foreigners QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 237 should be freely admitted to the city, on the ground that this privi- lege, though ceded by the Treaty of 1846, had never been granted. Admitting that his interpretation of this disputed point in the Treaty was correct, neither he nor Lord Palmerston had any right to force that interpretation on China by war. Their duty was to have acted in concert with the Governments of France and the United States, who were equally interested in the question, and in this way to ex- haust the resources of diplomacy, before appealing to the arbitra- ment of the sword. That same year the French Emperor paid another visit to Eng- land. The Queen hoped that personal communications between the two sovereigns might serve some useful purpose. The visit was scarcely at a happy time, France was not then very popular in Eng- land and eighty detectives were employed to look after the Emperor's safety. The Queen nor her Ministers were not in spirits for gaiety such as an important visitor should have commanded. The Indian Em- pire had been shaken to its center by the revolt of the Bengal Army, a revolt known in history as the great Indian mutiny. 14 238 X. THE MUTINY. Causes of the Indian Mutiny — Nana Sahib — Relief of Lucknow — A Royal Romance — Betrothal of Princess Royal and Prince Frederick Wil- liam — Prince Albert's Title — the Queen and the Mutiny — Grant to the Princess Royal — Preparations for -the Wedding — Distribution of the Victoria Cross — The Wedding between England and Germany. C^'^jj^^jf ^ O the end of time historians will probably differ as ^J .t,^ tL^ to what it was that caused the Indian Mutiny. Oudh was misgoverned by a vicious but feeble-minded Prince, and the people were tortured not only by his tyranny, but by the exactions of a corrupt aristocracy. At the same time, the Kings of Oudh had long been trusty allies of the East India Company, who had borrowed money from them, protected them against their mutinous subjects, and used their territory as a recruiting ground for the Sepoy army. One-half of condition that a British army should be maintained in the country for the support of the reigning dynasty. Attempts had been made to evade this obligation, but they were made in vain. After the first Sikh war. Lord Hardinge had warned the King- of Oudh that the Company could no longer tolerate misrule in his territory, and Dal- housie, in 1848, had sent Colonel Sleeman to reconstruct, if possible, its internal administration. The task was a hopeless one, and in 185 1 Sleeman reported that there was no choice but to assume the whole government of the kingdom. Unfortunately, the Treaty of 1 80 1 had stipulated that all improvements in the administration of Oudh must be carried out by Native officers under British advice. It was impossible, therefore, to transfer the administration of Oudh to the servants of the Company, and equally impossible to expect reforms from the servants of the King. The country was annexed by Sir James Outram on the 7th of February, 1856, the King's pri- vate property being confiscated and sold. Nor was Qudh the only centre of Court intrigues against the British raj. The question of settling the position of the Royal 239 240 VICTOKIA. Family of Delhi, the last representatives of the old Emperors of India, had been much debated in Dalhousie's reign. When Lord Canning went to India, in 1856, it was again taken up, and a final decision given on the points raised. The heir-apparent. Prince Fukhr-ood-deen, who had agreed to evacuate the Palace, died on the loth of July, 1856, and it was supposed he had been poisoned. The Queen, Zeenut Mahal, immediately began to intrigue for the purpose of procuring the recognition of her son as heir-apparent, and the King of Delhi petitioned the Government of India to this effect. But the petition could not have been granted without a breach of the Mohammedan law, and so Mizra Korash, the next in legal succession of Fukhr-ood-deen, was recognized as heir to the throne. But whereas, in the case of Fukhr-ood-deen, the recogni- tion of the Government was the result of a compact or bargain be- tween independent authorities, in the case of Mirza Korash it took the form of an Imperial decree, conferring rank and dignity on a vassal prince. The Royal Family of Delhi resented the whole ar- rangement. The sudden collapse of Palmerston's militant policy in the Cri- mea and in Persia convinced every enemy of England in India that the omens were propitious for a revolt against English rule. Hence, in 1857, every Hindoo villager was solemnly warned that wise men, who, a century ago, held infallible commune with the stars, foretold that in this fateful year the British raj must end. Unfortunately, the base on which the empire of the Company had rested for a century was at this critical period extremely insecure. India was won and India was held, but by Native soldiers. The British Empire was, therefore, built up on the fidelity of the Sepoy, and the Sepoy had become dissatisfied with his masters, especially in Bengal. Obviously, if the Sepoy was not to be trusted, the whole fabric of empire in India was in such circumstances resting on a rotten foundation, and although officers of experience refused to doubt the loyalty of their men, the spirit of mutiny was most cer- tainly abroad in the Bengal army. The Sepoy had grievances, and the Government had not sense enough to redress them. Unfor- tunately, too, most of the recruits were drawn from Oudh, the an- nexation of which had been a scandal, and which was swarming with QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 24] disbanded soldiers, who had been in the personal service of the de- posed King. The Crimean War caused the British Army to substitute the rifle for the old smooth-bore musket popularly called "Brown Bess." In 1856 it was determined to serve out Enfield rifles to the Indian Army, and in doing this no heed was paid to Sepoy prejudices. The cartridge of the new weapon could not be rammed home unless it were previously greased. But, then, no Hindoo can touch the fat of ox or cow without loss of caste, which is worse than loss of life, and no Moslem can touch pigs' fat without moral defilement. Yet no steps were taken to exclude these substances from the grease for the Indian cartridges! A rumor accordingly flew round the bazaars that in order to attack Hindoo and Moslem alike the two objec- tionable fats had been mixed in the grease. But no sooner had one suspicion been banished from the Sepoy mind than another took its place. A glazed paper was used for the ungreased cartridges, where- upon a new rumor flew round to the effect that the glaze was pro- duced by fat. A detachment of the 34th was sent from Barrackpore to Ber- hampore. They carried the tale about the glazed paper with them, and communicated the fresh panic to the 19th Native Infantry at that station. The day after the men of the 34th arrived the 19th Regiment had blank cartridges served to them, which by some mis- take had been made out of two different kinds of paper. The men at once suspected that the new defiling cartridges had been mixed with the old ones, so that their caste might be destroyed, and they refused to take their percussion caps. On the 29th of March, Private Mun- gul Pandy of the 34th, in a fit of drunken fanaticism, attempted to get up a mutiny among his comrades. He shot the horse of the Adjutant, who was cut down in trying to seize him. Only one man of the quarter-guard responded to the order to arrest the mutineer, who was finally captured, tried, and hanged on the 22d of April. Evil communications had passed between the 19th and the 34th, and it was found that, though the Sikhs and Moslems in the regiments were loyal, the Hindoos were mutinous to a man. The discharged men of the 19th, however, carried the story of their wrongs to their homes in Oudh and Bundelkund, and soon it came to be believed 242 VICTORTA. that not only were the cartridges greased, but, in order to produce a general pollution of the Natives, which would destroy all caste, "that the public wells, and the flour, and ghee (a clarified butter sold in the bazaars), had been defiled by ground bone-dust and the fat of cows and pigs, while the salt had been sprinkled with cows' and hogs' blood." Fires next broke out at Umballa, as at Barrackpore — the officers alleging that Sepoys, who were as yet "undefiled," set fire to the huts of those who had accepted the defiling cartridges, and that the latter retaliated. Oudh soon became affected, and in May Sir Henry Lawrence had to disarm the 7th Irregular Native Infantiy at Lucknow. In the North-West Provinces the famous "chupatties" began to make their appearance. They consisted of small baked cakes, and they were passed on from hand to hand, from hamlet to hamlet, spreading a strange excitement wherever they went. The circula- tion of the "chupatties" was evidently a signal of some sort, and yet, though Native society was shaking with revolutionary tremors, noth- ing happened. At last an event occurred which precipitated a gen- eral catastrophe. At Meerut eighty-five men of the 3d Native Cav- alry had been tried and doomed to ten years' hard labor on the roads for refusing to bite their cartridges. They were paraded and pun- ished before the other Native regiments, who seem to have been irritated, rather than overawed. Next day (loth May), the 3d Cav- alry forced the gates of the jail and released their comrades. The men of the 20th and nth Regiments flew to arms, shot every Euro- pean they met, set fire to their huts, and marched on to Delhi. The people of the city rose and massacred the Europeans. The Native regiments in Delhi — the 38th, S4th, and 74th — joined the mutineers one by one, and though the arsenal was held for a time by Lieutenant Willoughby, with Lieutenants Raynor and Forrest, and six other Englishmen, they blew it up when it was no longer tenable. The Mutiny was now a war of liberation. It had a King for a rallying- point, and an Imperial city for a capital. At the end of May the Sepoys in Lucknow rose and marched away to Delhi, leaving a handful of Europeans to hold a rebellious city. Cawnpore is forty miles south of Lucknow, and there General Wheeler and another devoted band were similarly situated. On the QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 243 night of the 21st of May, Wheeler and the English population — about a thousand souls — withdrew into a kind of temporary fortress which he had created, and which he defended by some 210 men. At Cawnpore, in May, 1857, there Avas residing a young Mahratta noble, Nana Sahib by name, whose popular manners had rendered him a favorite in the English community. Nana Sahib had been busy with plots against the English raj for many years, and his agents were ubiquitous. In Oudh they had been especially active. Yet Wheeler trusted the Nana Sahib so implicitly that he put the treasurer of Cawnpore in the charge of his personal retinue lest his own Native troops might fail him. On the 4th of June General Wheeler's Sepoys revolted, joined Nana Sahib's retinue and plundering the treasury, and then, laden with spoil, set out for Delhi. But the Nana's idea was to win empire for himself rather than for a degenerate descendant of the Mogul dynasty. He therefore persuaded the rebels to return, and besiege the English garrison at Cawnpore. On the twentieth day of the siege he sent one of his prisoners, an old lady named Green- way, to General Wheeler, offering the beleaguered English a safe conduct to Allahabad if they would surrender. The offer was ac- cepted. On the 27tli of June the survivors — men, women, and chil- dren, about 450 in all — marched to the boats which had been pre- pared for them. As soon as they had embarked Nana Sahib treach- erously opened fire on them, and converted an exodus into a mas- sacre. Next morning their bodies, some still quivering with life, were thrown into a well. When tidings of this ghastly crime reached Europe, the nation was for a moment horror-stricken, but only for a moment. A cry of rage broke forth from the British people, and the Government hastened to send avenging reinforcements to the East. They could not, however, arrive in time to save Cawnpore, and when it fell, the rebels closed round Henry Lawrence at Luck- now. Two days after the siege began a stray shot mortally wounded him, and, after thirty-six hours of intense agony, one of the noblest hearts in India had ceased to beat for ever. In Oudh, Nana Sahib, the viper of the insurrection, was installed at Cawnpore; whilst a small band of Englishmen, bewailing the loss of their heroic leader, stood desperately at bay at Lucknow. In six 244 VICTORIA. months, the Empire which had been created in a century, was shat- tered and in ruins. The man who really took the rebel stronghold was not a soldier but a civilian, for it was John Lawrence, at Lahore, and not any of the generals before Delhi, who was the bulwark of the war. When the Mutiny broke out the Punjab was — by the prompt action of Lawrence's subordinates who disarmed sulking troops, and stamped out the germs of mutiny whenever and wherever they were visible — saved and secured. After this Delhi seemed to him to be the very keystone of the insurrection. To take it there was no risk too great to run — no hazard too perilous to undergo. Though his own position at Lahore was dangerous enough, he threw himself on the people, and staked everything on the fidelity of the Sikhs. He summoned the old gunners of the Khalsa from their fields. The low-caste "Muzbis" he converted into sappers. The fierce chieftains, who had fought the English in '48 and '49, together with their fol- lowers, he hurried on to the rebel city, thereby stripping his province of local leaders who might have organized a rising. What wonder, then, that in England as in India, where it was admitted that the fall of Delhi broke the neck of the insurrection, all men who knew the circumstances of the case, who knew how he had to stimulate laggards, strengthen faint hearts, overcome jealousies, sweep away obstructions — "all greeted Sir John Lawrence by acclamation as the man who had done more than any single man to save the Indian Empire." The fall of Delhi was not the end, but the beginning of the end, of the Mutiny. Oudh had to be recovered, and if it be said that Lawrence captured Delhi, it is but right to say that Canning wrested Oudh firom the grasp of the insurgents. His position in Calcutta was an embarrassing one. A terrible panic had paralyzed those round him. Though they seemed able to do nothing but clamor for vengeance and for blood; yet in the whirlwind of their passion Canning stood "steadfast as a pillar in a storm." He sent to Bombay, Madras, and Ceylon for reinforcements. He intercepted at Singa- pore the force that was on its way to China to support Lord Elgin, who had been sent to supersede Sir John Bowring, and he armed Henry and John Lawrence with absolute power in Oudh and the RI'.CEPTION AT liUCKINC.HAM TALACE. liozd t^alisbury Kissing' tlif Hand ul the yuctu. The Loed Chancellok Peesenting the Addeess of the House of Loeds to Hee Majesty AT Buckingham Palacs- QUEEN ANT) EMPRESS. 249 Punjab. On the 23d of May, Neill brought to Calcutta the first of the reinforcements from Madras. Havelock followed with two regi- ments from Persia, superseding Neill; and after him came Outram, who was to supersede Havelock and succeed Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner in Oudh. Outram, however, refused to deprive Havelock of the honor of relieving Lucknow, and accompanied him merely in his civil capacity. On the 17th, Havelock forced his way Scene at the First Relief of Lucknow. to the scene of the massacre at Cawnpore, where the sickening relics of Nana Sahib's crime were still visible. Onwards his Army of Ven- geance swept with hungry hearts to Lucknow, which they entered on the 25th of September, after a great variety of perilous adventure. The death of Anson, and the startling development of the in- surrection in midsummer, together with the pressing appeals of the Queen, roused the Cabinet to action. They sent out reinforcements, and on the nth of July decided to appoint Sir Colin Campbell as The Queen Distributing Crimean Medals. 250 QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 251 Anson's successor. On the 17th of August he arrived at Calcutta, and toiled without ceasing to organize an army. On the 9th of November he got to Cawnpore ; and then by a brilliant forced march on the 1 2th he reached the Alumbaugh — a summer palace of the kings of Oudh — from which he was able to signal his arrival to Outram. On the 14th Sir Colin Campbell moved on the city. On the 1 6th he attacked the chief stronghold of the rebels — the Secun- der-baugh. On the 17th of November Campbell had fought his way to the Residency, and Lucknow was saved. The Victoria Cross. That year another princess was added to the royal circle — the Princess Beatrice being born on the 14th of April. On the 25th of June the Queen conferred on her husband, by Royal Letters Patent, the title of Prince Consort, which, however, had already been given to him by the people, who never called him anything else. Still it had been a popular, not a legal title, and Prince Albert could claim no other precedence than what was accorded to him by courtesy. On the 26th, her Majesty presided over one of the most inter- esting functions of her reign — the first distribution of the Victoria Cross, or Cross of Valor, to the men who had earned it by personal prowess in war. The Queen was strongly of opinion in 1856 that exceptional deeds of personal valor should have more distinctive 252 VTCTORIA. recognition than the war medal which every man received, however slight might have been his share in the campaign. In that year, therefore, she instituted, by the Royal Warrant of January 29th, 1856,, the Order of the Victoria Cross. The decoration was to be given to soldiers or sailors who had performed some signal act of valor or devotion to their country in face of the enemy — and a small pension of £10 a year was to be attached to the Cross. It was not until late in 1857 that a list of persons qualified for admission to the Order could be drawn up, and when it was submitted to the Queen she re- solved to decorate them with her own hands. Public interest in the ceremony on the 26th of June was intense. At an early hour crowds of well-dressed sightseers swarmed into Hyde Park, where a vast am- phitheatre had been erected. In the centre stood a table, on which were laid the bronze Maltese crosses. In front, a body of 4,000 troops was drawn up. Between them and the Royal Pavilion stood the small group of heroes — sixty-two in number — who were to be decorated. At 10 a. m. the Queen rode into the Park. One by one each hero was summoned to her presence, and bending from her saddle, her Majesty pinned the Cross on his breast with her own hands, whilst the Prince Consort saluted him with grave and respect- ful courtesy. As each soldier or sailor was decorated, the vast con- course of spectators cheered and clapped their hands — whether, he were an officer whose breast was already glittering with stars anc} orders, or a humble private or Jack Tar whose rough tunic carried no more resplendent embellishment than the ordinary war medal. , On the 1 6th of May the Prussian 0/?joa/ Ca::citc announced the forthcoming marriage of the Princess Royal and. Prince Frederick William. On the 19th of January, 1858, Buckingham Palace was full of guests. It was a scene of bustle and excitement awaiting the day of the wedding. On the 24th, after balls, dinner parties, and dra- matic entertainments, the Queen records in her diary that "this is poor dear Vicky's last unmarried day .... an eventful one, re- minding me of my own." ' ■ Charming in its simplicity, is the Queen's description of the family delight over the wedding gifts. .; QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 253 On the 25th, the wedding day, the Queen writes, "I felt as if I were being married over again myself, only much more nervous, for I had not that blessed feeling which I had then, which raises and supports me, of giving myself up for life to him whom I loved and worshipped — then and forever." The Princess Royal. The wedding was celebrated in the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace. The entrance of the bride with her father and King Leopold, sent a flutter of excitement through the brilliant throng there assem- bled. When the Princess passed the Queen she made a deep bow. 254 VICTORIA. and as her eyes met those of the bridegroom her cheeks flushed crimson. "My last fear of being overcome," writes the Queen, "van- ished on seeing Vicky's quiet calm and composed manner." Through cheering crowds the bride and bridegroom and splen- did train of wedding guests proceeded to Buckingham Palace, where the newly wedded pair and their parents stood on a balcony, and bowed their thanks to the applauding populace below. Nothing pleased the Queen more than the demeanor of the people. Their demoniOations of loyalty have always been most grateful to her. On the 1st of February the Queen writes in her diary, "The last day of our dear child being with us, which is incredible and makes me at times feel sick at heart." When the next day came round the Queen's fortitude failed her. Mother and daughter were weeping in each other's arms when the "dreadful time," as the Queen calls it, arrived, and they had to go down into the hall filled with friends and servants, assembled to bid farewell to a Princess whom another land must now claim. ' "I clasped her in my arms and blessed her, and knew not what to say," writes the Queen. "I kissed good Fritz, and pressed his hand again and again." The Prince and Princess were gone. London was resplendent with decorations and vast crowds bid the newly married pair "good speed." When the Prince Consort who had accompanied his daughter and son-in-law part of the way returned home, the Queen's grief broke out afresh. As for the Prince Consort, he told the Princess in one of his letters that the void she had left was not in his heart alone, but in his daily life. Nothing but the cordial and brilliant re- ception which welcomed her in Germany, could have consoled him for the parting from a daughter whom he proudly desci-ibed to the husband, as having "a man's head and a child's heart." It was the first break in a homelife as simple in afifection as the homeliest. XI. LOKD DERBY AND THE COUNTRY. Palmerston's Waning Popularity — The Orsini Plot — Resignation of Pal- merston's Cabinet — The Queen's Opposition to the Indian Bill — Can- ning — The Queen's Indian Proclamation — The Italian Revolution — The French Denounce the Queen — New Libapal Ministry — The Queen's Distrust of French Policy — Lord Clarendon— Commercial Treaty with France — Garibaldi — The Pope — The Prince oii Wales' American Tour. 'OWARDS the end of 1857 the commercial credit of the country was severely shaken. The great railway companies in America sank under the burden of de- benture debts : when they failed to pay their creditors, banks were unable to give gold in exchange for their convertible issue of notes, and then prjvate firms of the highest standing rapidly tumbled into insolvency. The effect of these disasters on English commercial credit was most serious. Houses engaged in American commerce that had been rashly over- trading on the capital of their creditors, fell in rapid succession, drag- ging down others in their fall. The suspension of the Bank Charter Act by the Executive necessitated an application to Parliament for a Bill of Indemnity. Hence Parliament was summoned to meet on the 3d of December. The Queen was under the impression that fresh light would be thrown on the crisis by the debates in both Houses; but there was really nothing new that could be said on the subject. As the Prince Con- sort observed in one of his letters, "Long prosperity had made all bankers, speculators, and capitalists careless, and now they are being unpleasantly remiinded of natural laws which have been violated, and are asserting themselves." Other matters besides the Indemnity Bill were mentioned in the Royal Speech; but, after passing that measure. Parliament separated on the 12th of January, 1858, to meet again on the 4th of February. The' business of suppressing the Mutiny was carried on vigor- ously in 1858. On the 4th of March operations began in real earnest, 255 256 VICTORIA. ending with the capture of the third line of defence on the 14th of March. Cawnpore was virtually taken on the 15th; but most of the rebels had escaped. The Queen of Oudh, with 7,000 men, still clung to the Palace of the Moosee Bagh, and the fanatical Moulvee of Fyzabad yet held the heart of the city. Outram captured the Queen's position, but not the Queen herself, whilst Sir Edward Lu- gard drove the Moulvee from his stronghold. The mutineers had now contrived to concentrate at Bareilly, with Khan Bahadoor Khan, Prince Feroze, of Delhi, the Queen of Oudh, the fanatical Moulvee, and the Nana Sahib of Bithoor, as leaders. Bareilly, however, suffered the fate of Lucknow, the leaders again escaping. The rebel Koer Singh was hunted out of Bahar and the jungle round Oudh, after much harassing irregular fighting. During May and June the rebels contrived, greatly to the surprise of the Government, to concentrate in force at different places in the most unexpected manner. Driven out of the Upper Provinces, they tried to find refuge in the eastern Gangetic districts, but at every turn they were met and dispersed by flying columns told off to watch them. It was, however, in Central India that the sword of vengeance was plied most ruthlessly. Sir Hugh Rose relieved Saugor on the 3d of February. He invested the formidable fortress of Jhansi, the Ranee, or Queen, of which was, as Sir Hugh himself said, "the best man of the war." On the ist of April he defeated, in spite of great odds against him, a rebel army that attempted to raise the siege. On the 4th he carried the citadel, and took possession of the town. The investment was so complete that escape was impossible, and, as at the Secunderbund, the mutineers, to the number of 5,000, were all massacred. The Ranee of Jhansi and Tantia Topee had now concentrated an army of 20,000 men at Kalpi, and held an entrenched position at Kunch. Here, on the 7th of May, Rose defeated them, and his pur- suit was so fierce and unresting that hardly a single fugitive escaped. But fresh work awaited Rose and his followers. Tantia Topee had organized a conspiracy against Scindia at Gwalior, whose contingent had, early in the Mutiny, revolted from his standard. Instead of waiting for British help, Scindia insisted on striking at the conspira- QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 257 tors with such troops as he had still attached to his household. When he attacked the enemy at Barragaom, his followers deserted him, and he had to fly, with a small escort, to Dholpoor, leaving the great fortress of Gwalior, with its vast stores or arms and munitions of war, to be occupied by the rebels. This gave fresh life to the Mutiny: the Nana Sahib promptly proclaimed himself Peishwa, and took the field with a new army of 18,000 men, strengthened by the superb artillery of Gwalior. But the news of this terrible misfortune did not daunt Sir Hugh Rose. He immediately resumed the command of the Central Field Force, which he had laid down, and made a dash for Gwalior. He drove the enemy before him, like chaff before the wind, tearing them to pieces by fierce onsets of cavalry, in one of which a trooper of the 8th Hussars slew the dreaded Ranee of Jhansi, who fell fighting in male disguise. Nana Sahib's broken army alone kept up a faint semblance of rebellion in Oudh towards the end of 1858. Nor were British arms less fortunate elsewhere than in India. The operations at Canton, which had been suspended by the Mutiny, were successfully ended at the beginning of the year, a small French contingent acting as our allies against the Chinese. Home and Foreign Affairs, however, brought more trouble and annoyance to the Queen than the operations of war in the East. In fact, .at this period of her career, her Majesty found it more necessary than ever it had been to devote her best energies to the public service. The Queen, like the Prince Consort, was uneasy as to the sta- bility of the Government. But she had erroneously formed an opin- ion, which was indeed shared by many others, that the danger to be apprehended was from the decay of Lord Palmerston's health. ' The real danger, as will soon be seen, which menaced the Min- istry was not Palmerston's decaying health, but his waning popu- larity. The Party of Reform early in 1858 had become convinced that nothing was to be hoped for from him beyond empty and evasive promises. They were therefore, when Parliament reassembled on the 4th of February, simply waiting for a pretext to turn him out of office. While the Radicals were mutinous, Mr. Disraeli was intriguing with the younger Whigs to form a Coalition. Of course, when Par- liament met no division of opinion existed as to the propriety of passing addresses congratulating the Queen on her daughter's mar- is 258 VICTORIA. riage. But when, on the 8th of February, resolutions were moved thanking the civil and military officers in India for the ability with which they had dealt with the Mutiny, some of the Tories, let us hope reluctantly, led by Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli, made them- selves the mouth-pieces of the "White Terror" at Calcutta, and op- Lord Derby. posed a vote of thanks to Lord Canning. His j)olicy had been object- ed to because it was not sufficiently bloodthirsty; therefore, argued his critics, it was rash to pass a vote of thanks to him. The vote was carried, but it was clear that the Indian policy of the Government would bring trouble on their heads. The Indian government must QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 269 be transferred to the Crown, and as Mr. Vernon Smith, a man of limited capacity, was the Minister responsible for India, the prospect was not thought by experienced Anglo-Indians to be an alluring one. We ought to wait till we had stamped out the last traces of the Mutiny, it was contended by Lord Ellenborough, before we brought India directly under the Government of the Queen. Still, Ministers defeated a resolution to postpone their India Bill, and nothing seemed fairer than their prospects, though they were even then (i8th of February), on the brink of destruction. The blow came when Pal- merston, desirous of conciliating the French Emperor, introduced a Bill to alter the Law of Conspiracy. The history of this fateful measure is as follows: — Ten days be- fore the marriage of the Princess Royal, a small group of conspirators in England carried out a plan for assassinating the Emperor of the French in the Rue Lepelletier, Paris, by exploding hand-grenades under his carriage. The Emperor and Empress escaped, but ten persons were killed, and 156 were wounded. The plot had been con- cocted by Felix Orsini in England. Therefore, the followers of the Emperor, whose fortunes depended on his life, denounced the Eng- lish nation as Orsini' s accomplices. On the 20th of January Walew- ski wrote a despatch to Persigny, which he had to communicate to Lord Clarendon, and which not only accused England of deliberately sheltering the assassins of the French Emperor, but also asserted that the English Government ought to assist that of France, in avert- ing "a repetition of such guilty enterprises." Instead of answering this despatch in the high-spirited tone which Lord Malmesbury had taken in his conversation with the Emperor in 1853, a reply of a timid and indefinite character was privately sent through what was called the "usual official channels of personal communication." The substance of it was that the Government needed no inducement to amend the English law of conspiracy, and that the Attorney-General had the matter in hand already. The assumption that the English Government was deliberately aiding and abetting a gang of assassins was an insult which Lord Palmerston, as the exponent of a spirited foreign policy, was expected to resent. His failure to resent it gave his enemies an opportunity of holding him up to contempt. Walew- ski's despatch was laid before the House, which found out that it had 260 VICTOKIA. never been answered with spirit and dignity. The anger of the Repre- rentatives of the people then rose to white heat. Lord Palmerston and the Cabinet immediately resigned. The new Ministry announced that they would answer the Walewski despatch. Acting through Lord Cowley, Lord Malmesbury arranged with Count Walewski a form of reply to the despatch which would ade- quately meet the demands of the English people, and yet give the French Government an opportunity of honorably repudiating any intention of wounding British susceptibilities. On hearing of this, Persigny, the French Representative, who had pledged himself to restore Palmerston to power by forcing the Tory Government to pass the Conspiracy Bill in a week, resigned, and Marshal Pelissier, Duke of Malakofif, was sent to England in his place. This was an- other triumph for the Tory Ministry, because Palmerston had reck- oned on Walewski appointing Moustier, French Ambassador at Ber- lin, to the Court of St. James's when Persigny resigned, and as Mous- tier was, like Walewski, virtually a Russian agent, fresh troubles would soon have been manufactured for Lord Malmesbury. Napo- leon IIL, however, insisted on sending a personal representative, who from his Crimean services would not be unacceptable to the Queen and the English people. He, therefore, selected^ Pelissier, who, though ignorant of diplomacy, was not likely to fall into Persigny's indiscretions, and whose appointment was received by the Queen as a token of renewed goodwill on the part of France. Where the Government broke down was in attempting to deal with the future administration of India; and it is a fact that had they but listened to the Queen's advice, who strongly opposed their policy, they would have avoided a defeat which served to convince the people that the evil reputation of the Derby-Disraeli group for legis- lative incapacity was only too well founded. The Tories had opposed Palmerston's India Bill, transferring the government of India to the Crown, so they were forced to bring in one of their own. Palmer- ston's Indian Council consisted of nominated officials of high rank and ripe experience. The Tory Bill, which was devised by Lord Ellenborough, introduced into the Council a fantastic elective ele- ment. Four out of th? Council of eighteen were to be chosen by QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 261 holders of Indian Stock, and by Indian military and civil servants of ten years' standing, and five were to be elected by the commercial constituencies of London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and Bel- fast. The Queen warned the Cabinet that these provisions were fatal to their Bill. The selection of the constituencies was arbitrary, and othel cities would in time agitate for representation on the Coun- cil. The turmoil of democratic elections was not likely to influence for good Imperial policy in a country about which the electors could at best know little. But the Cabinet held that the electoral clauses would secure the Radical support necessary to carry the Bill, and the- Queen, reluctant to bring about another Ministerial crisis, left the matter in the hands of her Ministers. But when Mr. Disraeli, on the 26th of March, introduced the Bill, to his surprise, the Radicals ob- jected as strongly as the Queen to the electoral clauses. In 1857 Lord Canning had incurred the odium of panic-stricken Englishmen at Calcutta, because in his repressive measures he min- gled justice with severity. In June, 1857, when he gagged the Native press, he gagged the English press as well. In August, when dis- arming C'alcutta, he compelled Europeans, as well as Natives, to take out licenses to carry arms, and in July he issued orders to stop the indiscriminate slaughter of mutineers, distinguishing between the cases of those whose guilt was of varying degrees of intensity. A storm of abuse accordingly broke over his head, and the English in Calcutta petitioned for the recall of "Clemency Canning." The British army in India, with its reinforcements, was but a handful of men among millions. Indiscriminate proscription of the Natives, such as was clamored for, would have driven the whole of India into mutiny; in other words, it would have cost England her Indian Em- pire. The Queen and the Cabinet, however, supported Canning, and matters went well with him for a time. But in the spring of 1858, when Lucknow fell, another attack was made on him from a different point of view. He had drawn up a proclamation confiscating the lands of all landowners in Oudh save those who had been loyal to England, and those who would immediately return to their allegiance, and help to put down the rebellion. Lord Ellenborough, ignoring, the saving clauses in the proclamation, sent Canning a "Secret Despatch," bitterly condemning the apostle of "clemency ' as a heart- 262 VICTOHIA. less tyrant, and even casting doubts upon the title by which Oudh was held by England. On the 17th of June the India Bill, based on the resolutions of the Government, and vesting the sole dominion of India in the Crown, was introduced by Lord Stanley, and it passed into law on the 2d of August. Another measure was passed in July, though opposed rather venomously by the Tories in the House of Lords — namely, the Bill providing that either House might resolve that henceforth Jewish members of Parliament might omit from the Parliamentary Oath the words, "and I make this declaration on the true faith of a Chris- tian." This ended a long and bitter controversy. On the 26th of July Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild came to the table of the House of Commons, and was sworn on the Old Testament, the House having agreed to resolutions in terms of the new Act. Another anxiety obtruded itself — the issue of the Queen's Proclamation to the Indian people on assuming the government of India. She objected strongly to the draft of it which was submitted to her, and begged Lord Derby to write one out for her in "his own excellent language," keeping in view "that it is a female Sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred millions of Eastern people on assuming the direct government over them after a bloody civil war, giving them pledges which her future reign is to redeem." Such a Proclamation should, says her Majesty, emphasize the ideas of gen- erosity, benevolence, religious toleration, liberty, and equality before the law. What offended her deeply in the draft was a menace re- minding the Indian people that she had "the power of undennining" native religions and customs. Her Majesty, writes Lord Malmes- bury by her directions, "would prefer that the subject should be in- troduced by a declaration in the sense that the deep attachment which her Majesty feels to her own religion, and the comfort and happiness which she derives from its consolations, will preclude her from any attempt to interfere with native religions." In January, 1859, Prince Napoleon was married to Princess Clothilde, daughter of the King of Italy. Napoleon III. then signed a family compact promising aid oflfen- sive and defensive to Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel pledging himself to QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 263 cede to France Savoy and Nice in return for land acquisitions in Lombardy. The Powers rose in arms. It would be tedious to follow the tangled skein of intrigue that finally ended in war. At the outset the advantage lay with Austria, because if she had struck quickly and sharply she might have crushed Sardinia, ere France could have come to her rescue. Protracted negotiations deprived Austria of this advantage, so Napoleon III. welcomed the proposal of England to find a diplomatic solution of the Italian Question — all the more readily that his failure to obtain pledges of absolute neutrality from England and Prussia, caused him to waver from his purpose. It was in the hope that he might be in- duced, when in this state of mind, to insert a pacific clause in his address to the Chambers, that the Queen, on the 4th of February, wrote to him suggesting this course; in a letter thanking him for his congratulations on the birth of the Princess Royal's son. Napo- leon's reply was friendly but evasive. He professed great friendship for England, and respect for treaties, but virtually reserved to him- self the right to interpret them in his own interests. Lord Cowley was then sent to Vienna to mediate between France and Austria, but the revolution was on and urgent telegrams came pouring in every hour to the Queen, whose nerves were sorely strained by the excitement of the crisis. Austria took the fatal and aggressive step which, as the Queen predicted, would turn public opinion against her. Instead of accepting the Congress, as France and Sardinia had accepted it, she called on Sardinia to disarm within three days, otherwise an Austrian army would march on Turin. Had Austria attacked at once she might have crushed her enemy before France could come to her aid. She hesitated and was lost. The efifect of Count Buol's ultimatum on England was electric. The Min- istry, despite its pro- Austrian sympathies, hastened to protest against the invasion of Sardinia, and the Queen, in a letter to King Leopold, reflected the opinion of the people, when she said "though it was originally the wicked folly of Russia and France that brought about this fearful crisis, it is the madness and blindness of Austria that has brought on the war now." On the 29th Austrian troops crossed the Ticino. "All Italy is up," writes Lord Malmesbury in his Diary: a feeble eflfort on his part to patch up negotiations for a Congress was 264 VICTORIA. rejected by France, though accepted by Austria, and the game of war began in earnest. It is scarcely necessary to follow the conduct of the war, only to say that Garibaldi became a hero in his conquest of the Sicilies, and General Garibaldi. that the Queen was denounced by the French for her supposed Italian sympathies. Then Garibaldi declared that he would hold South Italy till the whole peninsula Avas free — till Austria was expelled and France QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 265 chased away. This declaration forced the hands of France and Sar- dinia. Cavour and Napoleon agreed that intervention in the Papal States and in Naples could not be postponed. Victor Emmanuel, therefore, summoned the Pope to dismiss the foreign levies he had organized for the purpose of forcing his revolted subjects to return to their allegiance. His Holiness refused, and then Cialdini and Fanti overran Umbria and the Marches, crushed the Papal army, and forced Lamoriciere to surrender the fortress of Ancona. Carefully avoiding a collision with Austria and with the French army of occupation in Rome — a condition attached to the neutrahty of Napoleon HI. — the Piedmontese troops marched on to complete the conquest of the Sicilies, where the King still held out at Gaeta and Capua. When this had been efifected the kingdoms, by a popular vote, decided on an- nexation to Sardinia, and Europe acquiesced in the interests of law, order, and monarchial institutions. Garibaldi, on handing over the Sicilies to Victor Emmanuel, retired to Caprera, refusing all reward or recompense for his splendid services to his country, and appealing to Italy to be ready to renew the struggle for freedom in Venetia next year. Napoleon HI. had played his policy and it scarcely pleased Eng- land where he was now distrusted. The feeling of mistrust against France had given a strong im- petus to the Volunteer movement in the country, and in i860 this found vent in the great review of the citizen army in Hyde Park, and the formation of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon. The enthusiasm of the men and spectators exceeded all description. There were 20,000 Volunteers, all young men between eighteen and thirty. They went through their evolutions with the greatest steadiness and precision, and at the final advance in line, when they halted within a short distance of the Queen, and the bands had ceased playing 'God Save the Queen,' they raised a cheer that might be heard for miles. This was taken up by the spectators, and the scene was so excit- ing that the Queen was quite overcome. Many interesting family events rendered the year i860 memor- able to the Queen. Of these, one of the most important was the tour of the Prince of Wales in Canada — a visit which had been promise(3 during the Crimean War, in answer to a deputation which had in- 2«6 VICTORIA. vited the Queen to go to the Colony, and, without avail, begged her to appoint one of her sons Governor-General. In spring it was de- cided that the Prince should proceed to the Far West under the care of the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and when the news reached America, Mr. Buchanan, President of the United States, invited the Prince to visit the Republic, promising him such a warm welcome as would be most pleasing to the Queen. The invitation was accepted, but it was intimated that on his tour the Prince would drop all Royal state and travel under one of his Scot- tish titles — Baron Renfrew. When the Prince crossed to the United States the people there strove to outdo the Canadian welcome. It was laughingly said that he would be lucky if he got out of the country without being asked to "run for President" next year, and the accounts which the Queen received of the splendid reception at Chicago deeply moved her. "On the 3d of October the Prince visited President Buchanan at Washington, and in company with him stood uncovered before the tomb of Washington — who had wrested the independence of the continent from his great-grandfather. The Duke of Newcastle, in reporting on the results of the tour, attributed its success first, to the growing feeling of goodwill that was springing up between Americans and Englishmen. The Prince of Wales, in fact, embodied for the American people the romance of their ances- tral past — and their hearts warmed to him from the moment he set foot on their territory. The President wrote to the Queen, telling her how the Prince had , passed through the ordeal of the visit — always dignified, always frank, always afifable, so that he "conciliated, wherever he has been, the kindness and respect of a sensitive and dis- criminating people." The Queen in her reply said that her son could not sufificiently extol the great cordiality with which he had been received, and she went on to say, "Whilst as a mother I am most grateful for the kindness shown him, I feel impelled to express, at the same time, how deeply I have been touched by the many demon- strations of affection towards myself personally which his presence has called forth." Early in May the Royal Family were visited by Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt, between whom and the Princess Alice "a natural liking" had grown up, which was destined to ripen into a warmer QUEEN AND EMPEES8. 267 feeling. "The Queen and myself," observes the Prince Consort in a letter to Baron Stockmar, "look on as passive spectators, which is undoubtedly our best course as matters at present stand." It was, however, an open secret that they favored the alliance. In the fol- lowing November, Prince Louis came to Windsor as a formal suitor for the hand of the Princess. In her "Leaves from a Journal" the Queen herself tells the story of the wooing on the 30th of November. "After dinner," she says, "while talking to the gentlemen, I per- ceived Alice and Louis talking before the fireplace more earnestly than usual, and when I passed to gO' to the other room, both came up to me, and Alice in much agitation said he had proposed to her, and he begged for my blessing. I could only squeeze his hand and say 'Certainly,' and that we would see him in our room later. . . . Alice came to our room — agitated but quiet. . . . Albert sent for Louis to his room — went first to him, and then called Alice and me in. . . . Louis has a warm, noble heart. After talking a little we parted, a most touching, and, to me, sacred moment." The autumnal sojourn at Balmoral was shortened by the Queen's decision to visit Germany, where she had now a little grand-daughter added to the Royal circle. On the ist of October the Prince Consort narrowly escaped being killed. The horses of his carriage ran away with him, and to save his life he had to jump out when he saw that a collision with a barrier across the road was inevitable. He was bruised badly, though not seriously injured. The Queen, however, was much alarmed. "Oh! God," she writes, "what did I not feel! I could only, and do only, allow the feelings of gratitude, not those of horror, at what might have happened, to fill my mind;" and in tes- timony of her gratitude she established the "Victoria-Stift" in Co- burg — an investment of £1000 in the names of the Burgomaster and chief clergyman of Coburg. Every year, on the ist of October — the anniversary of the Prince's escape — the interest from this sum is di- vided among certain young men and women, to help them in their occupations and assist them to earn a livelihood. Politically, though the year had been eventful, it was not with- out its compensations. The dying embers of the Indian Mutiny had been extinguished. The war with China had ended with the capture of Pekin, the destruction ol the Summer Palace, and the ratification 268 VICTOKIA. of the Convention of Tchung-Kow and the Treaty of Tien-tsin. An event this year much grieved the Queen and her family. This was the death of the venerable Earl of Aberdeen, on the 14th of Decem- ber. Lord Aberdeen was not only the trusted Minister, but the valued personal friend of the Queen and her husband. His exper- ience of public affairs extended from the close of the war with Napo- leon to the beginning the war with Russia, and no English Minister in modern times enjoyed in a higher degree the respect and confi- dence of foreign Governments and Sovereigns. His stainless integ- rity and scrupulous honesty won the confidence of the Prince Con- sort. The high moral courage which led him to speak the truth in public, however unpalatable and unpopular it might be, so endeared him to the Queen that she expressed her admiration for it on the only occasion when she rebuked him for an impolitic indulgence in this virtue. Though a Peelite, he differed from his leader in having greater foresight, and a firmer grip of principle. Aberdeen did not, like Peel, work aimlessly from sheer expediency. He had a theory, a guiding idea, which, rightly or wrongly, always pushed him far in advance of his Party. This theory was that the less people were meddled with by governments, the happier and more prosperous would they become. He carried his principle of non-intervention from foreign to home policy, and acted on the conviction that more good was to be done by repealing old laws, than by enacting new ones. For the salvation of the people, he trusted to independence rather than patronage — to liberty rather than protection. Pie was blamed for buttressing the petty despotisms of the Continent, but he was blamed unjustly. He shrank from shedding English blood, and wasting English treasure in helping revolutionary movements, and he did so for two reasons. Nations worthy of freedom, he thought, must free themselves; the patronage of revoluticmary move- ments must sooner or later involve England in war with all the Great Powers of Europe. His failure to avert the Crimean War need not here be dwelt on. It was the great blot on his career. Yet it is but due to his memory to say, as even Mr. Disraeli admitted, that if Lord Aberdeen had been head of a Cabinet the members of which all shared his views, and were all loyal in supporting his policy, the Cri- mean War would probably never have broken out. If Aberdeen had QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 269 been master in his Cabinet, if he had been served at Constantinople by a loyal Ambassador, and at St. Petersburg by an Envoy who could have opposed with his own tact, patience, and cool common sense the monomaniacal ideas and arguments of the Czar, the conflict between Russia and England could have been averted. ^ \ >^r- •^.^- . , -> Windsor Castle, from Tljftmes Street. 270 XII. DEATH OF THE PEINCE CONSORT. Napoleon in the East — Newspaper Criticism of Prince Albert — Approach- ing Marriage of Princess Alice — Death of Cavour — Royal Tour of Ire- land — Coronation of King of Prussia — Illness of Prince Consort — Love and Faithfulness of the Queen — Death of the Prince Consort — Prince Albert's Public Services — Estimate of His Character. i ROM her own tranquil island the Queen, at the begin- ning of 1 86 1, looked abroad upon a world that was strangely disturbed. It was a world in which men cried peace when there was no peace. In Europe, French agents were intriguing with the revolutionary parties in Poland, Hungary, and the Danubian Prin- cipalities. Italian conspirators were busy as usual in Venetia. The misgovernment of Turkey was again goading her Christian subjects to despair, and rousing the wrath of Panslavic fanaticism in Russia. Across the Atlantic the New Year brought with it the severance of South Carolina from the United States. It is true that the harvest had been bad, and that the winter had been the coldest that had been experienced for half a century. But Free Trade made food cheap and wages high, so that there was no popular discontent to trouble the Government. The prospect of a cotton famine in Lancashire, as the result of a civil war in America, was not thought to be within the range of practical contingencies. A project was on foot which gave the Queen great uneasiness. Napoleon — whose brain, said Lord Palmerston once, was as full of schemes as a warren was full of rabbits — was said to be in favor of creating a new Eastern State or kingdom, with Constantinople as its capital, and King Leopold, the Queen's uncle, as its Sovereign. In that case France would naturally take Belgium by way of compen- sation; but the idea, if ever seriously entertained, was soon consigned to the limbo of vanished Imperial dreams. The condition of Austria was now rather serious. All her proposals for reforming the political system of Hungary, relegated that ancient kingdom to the position 271 272 VICTOEIA. of an Austrian province. The Hungarian people, however, refused to accept this position, and demanded the restoration of their rights as an independent State under the Sovereign of Austria, reigning over them as crowned King of Hungary. Their demand might at any moment take the form of a revolutionary movement, which would probably re-open the Eastern question, and involve England in war. Luckily this calamity was averted by the preoccupation of Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel, who alone had either the power or the will to raise a revolution in Hungary. But affairs in the North were much more disquieting. Early in March the dispute between Denmark and the Duchies of Sleswig- Holstein, which the Queen and her husband had watched with jealous eyes from its origin, became acute. The Danish Government was willing to submit the budget for the Duchies to their local legis- latures, on condition that it was not altered. The German Diet or Bund declared that this was equivalent to an assertion that territory which was really subject to the authority of the Bund, was under the exclusive Sovereign authority of Denmark. The three non- German Great Powers declared that Denmark ought to yield to the Duchies their constitutional rights, and laid it down that if this were not done, the German Bund might justly force concessions from Denmark, by Federal execution in Sleswig-Holstein. Denmark ig- nored the award and threats of the Powers, and Prussia took up the cause of the Sleswigers. In England the Prussian Government was sneered at for menacing Denmark because she denied the Duchies the right to control their Budgets, whilst it raised money for its own military purposes without the consent of its own subjects. Other than political anxieties made the spring of 1861 dismal to the Queen. On the 12th of March she had visited her mother, the Duchess of Kent, at Frogmore, and found her suffering great pain from the effects of a surgical operation which had been per- formed to relieve an abscess in her arm. On the isth Her Majesty and her husband were inspecting the Horticultural Society's gardens at South Kensington, when they were summoned by Sir James Clark to the bedside of the Duchess of Kent, who began to develop feverish symptoms. When they arrived they found her dying. "I knelt be- fore her," writes the Queen, "kissed her dear hand and placed it next I-H ^^^ •V. ' "■ "■ !>-•*«■ ~ii^' |<1^« THE QtiRKN, THE DUCHEvSS OV YORK, PRINCESS I'R. JOSl'RU AND EVA OF BATTENBERG. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 275 my cheek; but though she opened her eyes, she did not, I think, know me .... I went out to sob," adds Her Majesty, stricken to the heart at finding, for the first time in her Hfe, her mother had not received her with a loving smile of recognition. All through the night the Queen watched by the bedside of the dying Princess, weeping as she thought of her childhood and its sacred memories, and of the dreadful blank her mother's death must make in her life. At eight in the morning of the next day (the i6th) Prince Albert persuaded the Queen to leave her mother's room for a little, and rest. But she could not rest. She insisted on returning to the sick- room, and when she went back she saw that her mother was passing away. The heart-beats grew fainter; the eyes slowly closed, and as the clock struck half-past nine, Prince Albert took the Queen out of the room, a».d she knew all was over. For forty-one years she had not been parted from her mother save for a few brief weeks at a time. Now the}' were parted for ever on this side of the grave. "I seemed," she writes, "to have lived through a life, to have become old." The Easter recess had produced a lull in politics, and it might have been expected that the Queen would have been permitted to mourn her bereavement in peace. It was not so. On the 12th of April she was deeply pained to find the Times renewing old attacks on Prince Albert, and again accusing him of thwarting Lord Pal- merston's Itahan policy in the interests of his German relatives. For this cruel imputation there was no warrant, save the fact that Austria persisted in holding Venetia, which had been guaranteed to her by the pact of Villafranca, in spite of Lord Palmerston's recommenda- tion that she should cede the province to Italy. Meanwhile the Queen, still sad at heart and depressed in spirits, struggled bravely to perform her social duties. She held two Draw- ing-rooms and two Investitures before June was ovfer. Visitors, too, came to comfort her in her sorrow. The King of the Belgians and his son, and the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia and their chil- dren .arrived in midsummer. They were followed in rapid succes- sion by others, including some members of the Orleans family, the Archduke Maximilian, and the Archduchess Charlotte, the Princess Charles of Hesse, and the King of Sweden, who arrived in August. But it was a year fruitful in sorrow for the Queen and her family. 276 VICTORIA. Mr. Sidney Herbert had early in the year accepted a peerage, and retired to the Upper House as Lord Herbert of Lea. In July he fell ill, and to the great grief of the Queen, who regarded him as the future Prime Minister, died in August. In him the Peelites lost the The Princess Alice. Bayard of their party. On the 25th of July a great gap was made in the ranks of the Ministry in the Lower House by the elevation of Lord John Russell to the peerage as Earl Russell of Kingston Russell, Lord Russell compared himself to the Emperor Charles V., who, having been engaged in all the great affairs of his age, and desiring QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 277 to see how the world would get on after his death, had the dark pageant of his funeral prepared, and officiated as his own chief mourner at the ceremony. On the 27th of April the Queen announced the approaching mar- riage of the Princess Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt, which was approved by Parliament on the 4th of May. On the 6th the Princess was voted a dowry of £30,000 and an annuity of £6,000 a year. The time had now come when the Queen had to make prepara- tions for a visit to Ireland which she had planned. On the 21st of August her Majesty, the Prince Consort, Prince Alfred and the Princesses Alice and Helena, started for Holyhead, which they reached at seven o'clock in the evening. They arrived at Kingstown at midnight, and next morning (22d August), accompanied by Lord Carlisle, the Lord-Lieutenant, his Chief Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, and Sir George Brown, Commander of the Forces in Ireland, they proceeded to Dublin. Despite the wet and stormy weather, the populace gave their Royal visitors a cordial reception. Next morn- ing (23d August) the Prince Consort visited -the Curragh Camp to see for himself how the Prince of Wales was progressing with his military studies there, and the Queen received a loyal address from the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Dublin. In the afternoon the Royal party drove through the city, where crowds cheered them loudly wherever they went. On Saturday, the 24th, the Queen her- self visited the Curragh Camp, and reviewed the troops there. As they passed the cavalry one of the bands began to play an air which had been a favorite with the Duchess of Kent, and repeated it on marching past. "This," wrote the Queen in her Diary, "entirely upset me, and the tears would have flowed freely had I not checked them by a violent effort. But I felt sad the- whole day till I came to Bertie (the Prince of Wales), who looked so well." On Sunday afternoon the Queen visited the Kilmainham Hospital, and on Mon- day (August 26th) celebrated her husband's birthday. "Alas!" she writes to King Leopold, "there is so much so different this year — nothing festive, and we on a journey, and separated from many of our -children, and my spirits bad," 278 VICTORIA. In the afternoon the Queen and her family left the Viceregal Lodge for Killarney. Muckross was visited, and next day (August 28th), after driving round Muckross Lake, the Queen went on that splendid sheet of water, and admired especially the excellent rowing of the boatmen. Very reluctantly did the Queen bid farewell to her kind hosts on the 29th of August, when she hastened back to her yacht at Kingstown. The affairs of Germany had now drifted into such a critical con- dition that the Prince Consort felt bound to explain to the King of Prussia the views of the English Court on this subject. All over the Fatherland the people, stirred by the success of the movement in Italy for unity, were forming political clubs, and Prussia, to whom they looked for leadership, was disappointing them by refusing to reform her internal administration. Prince Albert, writing to the King of Prussia, took the popular German view — pointing out how Austria had ever worked for the purpose of wealcening the Father- land, and how she had once more given to France, after her victories in Italy, a strong position on the Rhine. It has been said that the Queen and her husband were not consistent in their policy, because, while they showed little sympathy for the national movement in Italy, they always encouraged the same movement in Germany. To them it must be remembered that the former movement was an anti-Ger- man one. They believed that if Austria lost Venetia, Galicia, Hun- gary, and Poland, Germany would be crushed — because they as- sumed that these nations, like the new kingdom of Italy, would be under the hostile influence of France. The mistake which they made in the case of Italy lay in supposing that poUtical gratitude is stronger than the love of national independence. During this autumn the Prince of Wales visited Germany, osten- sibly to be present at the military maneuvres in the Rhine Provinces, but really to make the acquaintance of the Princess Alexandra of Denmark at Speyer and Heidelberg, where she happened to be stay- ing, and where, according to the Prince Consort, "the young people seem to have taken a warm liking for each other" when they first met. Oh the .i8th of October the King of Prussia was crowned at Koningsberg, and Lord Clarendon, who was present as representing QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 279 the Queen, congratulated her Majesty on the charming manner in which the Crown Princess did homage to her father-in-law. On leaving Balmoral the Court proceeded to Holyrood, and on the 23d of October the Prince Consort laid the foundation stones of the new Post Office and the Industrial Museum in Edinburgh. The Queen and her family reached Windsor on the same evening, where her Majesty's grief broke out afresh, as it was the first time she had lived at the Castle without finding her mother at Frogmore.^^ As Sovereign of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, the Queen held her first investiture of Knights at Windsor Castle on the ist of November. At Windsor the Prince Consort now began to make arrange- ments for the approaching marriage of the Princess Alice, and the journey of Prince , Leopold, then in delicate health, to Cannes. He busied himself also with the preparation of Marlborough House as a residence for the Prince of Wales. On the 4th of November he in- spected the works at Wellington College. On the 12th of November the Queen began to notice that her husband's repeated journeys to London were making him "low and sad." On the 22d of November he inspected the buildings of Sandhurst Military College amidst a downpour of rain, and it was at first thought he here caught the ill- ness which sent him to his grave. On the 23d, though complaining of malaise, he went out shooting with Prince Ernest of Leiningen. On the 24th he complained of rheumatic pains, but walked with the Queen and her family to Frogttiore. Next day (Monday) he went to Cambridge to see the Prince of Wales, who found him "greatly out of sorts," and when he came back to Windsor he was so ill he could not walk out with the Queen in the afternoon. On the 26th he was worse. On the 2d of December Sir James Clark and Dr. Jenner pro- nounced him to be suffering from low fever. The Queen could not bring herself to believe that her husband was seriously ill, and on the 3d her opinion was confirmed by that of Sir James Clark, for the Prince slept better that night and so Palmerstorfs suggestion was overruled. Next day even Sir James Clark admitted there was no improvement, and that the symptoms were discouraging. On the 4th of December the Queen says she found the Prince "very woabe- gone and wretched." He had not slept, and his appetite had gone. The Princess Alice Reading to Her Father. 280 QUEKN ANB EMPRESS. 281 Sir James Clark still consoled the Queen with smooth prognostica- tions; but Dr. Jenner told her that the Prince must eat because he was simply starving to death. On the 5th he began to marvel what kind of illness it could be that clung to him so persistently, and how long it would last. Clark, however, reported that he was somewhat better, and the Queen was again deceived by delusive signs of im- provement. The Prince was obviously suffering from typhoid fever, and Dr. Jenner broke the news to her Majesty as softly and kindly as he could. Still, they told her the symptoms were not bad, and she tried to think of those who had been smitten with typhoid fever and had survived. On the 7th the Queen worked hard — harder than ever she had worked in her life; for her husband's pen was no longer at her service. She herself has said that "the tears fell fast" as she sat by his bedside watching him and thinking of the shipwreck of their plans, "and of the painful loss this long illness would be, publicly as well as privately." On the 8th the Prince felt so well that he begged to be moved into a larger room, and as he lay in the sunshine he asked the Princess Alice to play for him some of his favorite German chorales. Charles Kingsley preached that Sunday in the Chapel, but the Queen, who attended service, says in her Diary, "I heard nothing." In the after- noon she sat by her husband and read "Peveril of the Peak," he hold- ing her hand, and occasionally murmuring words of love and ten- derness. But on the i ith the Queen, on visiting him in the morning to give him some beefrtea, noticed how his face, "more beautiful than ever, had grown so thin." As she assisted him to his sofa, he stopped to look at a picture on china of the Madonna, saying, "It helps me through half the day." The doctors, it seems, felt uneasy towards the evening, whan they discovered that the Prince had begun to breathe with more difficulty. The Queen read to him during the greater part of the day, and he manifested great reluctance to let her leave him, even when her duty called her away for a few minutes. On the 1 2th the bad symptoms increased, and Palmerston wrote three letters, in quick succession, to Sir C. Phipps, each more dis- tracted than the other. On the 13th Dr. Jenner had to warn the Queen that congestion of the lungs might set in, and she herself saw that her husband had become much weaker. But all through '282 VICTORIA. the night comforting reports were brought to her, and next morn- ing, the 14th, Mr. Brown, the Royal apothecary, told her that Prince Albert was over the crisis. She went straight to his bedside. "I went in," she writes, "and never can I forget how beautiful my darling looked, lying there with his face lit up by the rising sun, his eyes un- usually bright, gazing as it were at unseen objects, and not taking Sir diaries Phipps. notice of me." Hour after hour, as she watched by the sick bed, the Queen saw that her husband was slowly sinking. Still, in the after- noon he knew her — for as he laid his weary head on her shoulder, he kissed her and muttered, "Gutes frauchen." Then his mind would wander, and then he would doze in brief and troubled snatches of sleep. He took his children by the hand when they came and kissed him, but it is doubtful if he now knew them. Late in the afternoon - #« ii i ii The Prince Consort. 283 284 VICTORIA. he asked for Sir Charles Pliipps, who came and kissed liis hand, whereupon lie again closed his eyes. So he lingered on. the Oueen keeping her mournful watch with hreaking heart. At a late lionr they changed his bed, and on the Queen pointing to a fa\oralile sig-n. Dr. Jenner told her that the Prince's breathing rendered all favorable signs of no avail. At last she went to her room, but returned when she heard the breathing grow worse. The Prince was partially con- Funeral of the Prince Consort. scions, for when she kissed him and whispered, "Es ist kleiiics Frauchcii' — " 'Tis your own little wife" — he kissed her also. But he seemed desirous of being left quite undisttn-bed, and so she retired to her room to weep. The end was coming fast. Clark soon saw that a serious change for the worse w^as setting in, and the Princess Alice went to sunnnon the Queen. When she came she found the Prince still breathing, and she knelt at the bedside, taking his cold QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 285 hand in hers. On the opposite side kneh the Princess Alice — at the foot of the bed the Prince of Wales and the Princess Helena. The doctors, Generals Bruce and Grey, Sir Charles Phipps, the Dean of Windsor, Prince Ernest of Leiningen, and the faithful valet, Lohlein, stood around hushed and grief-stricken, and the sobs of those to whom the Prince was dearest alone broke the stillness of the cham- ber of death. The dying man's face grew serenely soft and reposeful, as his breathing became feebler and feebler. At last he strove hard to take a- long, deep breath. In this effort he passed away to his last, long rest, as the great clock of the Castle struck the third quarter after the tenth hour of the night. Of the grief that broke the widowed heart of the Queen it is not becoming to speak here. The veil of silence must be drawn over a crisis in her life too sacred, and too tragical even for her children's eyes. But through England a great wave of sorrow swept over the hearts of men when they became conscious of all that the Prince Consort's death might imply. Political partisans whose wayward- ness had harassed the Prince during his life, were not unmoved by the touching story of his last days. Some were even ready to drop a remorseful tear over his grave, when they remembered how eagerly they had, for base party purposes, too often wounded the proud but gentle heart which would now beat no more. The voice of calumny was silenced at last. The EngUsh people, however, had on the whole judged the Prince Consort generously through life, and they mourned over his death with genuine and unaffected sincerity. Some such feeling as this was universal when, amidst the gloom that tinged the skirts of the dying year with hues of sorrow, the nation reviewed Prince Albert's career, so full of usefulness, of self-restraint, of high aim, of patriotic purpose, of unselfish devotion. "Her Majesty is unnaturally quiet," was the remark of an eye- witness two days after the event. The Duchess of Cambridge was the first member of the Royal Family who ventured to write to the Queen. She described the answer of the Princess Alice as "heart- rending." Her Majesty sat all day in dumb despair, staring vacantly round her, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that the Royal sign manual could be obtained for the most urgent business. The / < ii^6 VICTOMA. wise, strong affection and the capable energy of the Princess Alice, however, spared her Majesty from many anxieties at the moment when her grief was keenest. Lord Granville was the first Minister she was able to see, and she transacted some business with him a few days after the Prince's death. Her Majesty was able to hold her first Privy Council, after the Prince's death, on the nth of January, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Granville, and Sir George Grey being in attendance. The chief point under discussion was that of sum- moning Parliament. The Duke of Newcastle, who was a valued friend of the Prince Consort, had a quiet conversation with her Majesty early in January, before she left Windsor for Osborne. "His account of the Queen," writes Mr. Hayward in a letter to Lady Emily Peel, "is highly favor- able. He said his private interview left him with the very highest opinion of her strength of character." After retiring to Osborne, however, nervous exhaustion seriously impaired her strength. Lady Ely told Lord Malmesbury that during the first weeks at Osborne her Majesty seemed very low and wretched. "She (Lady Ely)," writes Lord Malmesbury on the 4th of February, 1862, "gives a sad report of the poor Queen, who talks continually about the Prince, and seems to feel comfort in doing so. She takes great pleasure in the universal feeling of sympathy for her and sorrow for him shown by all classes. King Leopold of Belgium came to Osborne in the end of January, and he endeavored by his good offices to bring about an arrangement with Lord Palmerston for facilitating the transaction of Ministerial business with the Queen. At that time her health was not actually bad. But the King of the Belgians said that though she was outwardly composed she was not, equal to the strain of dining at table, even with her half-sister, the Princess Hohenlohe, and with Prince Louis of Hesse, who were then at Osborne. She seems to have desired no other companionship in the first weeks of her widow- hood save that of the Princess Alice. As to the public aspects of the Queen's married life, Count Vitzthum was favored with many disclosures from the Duchess of Cambridge. "She spoke," writes the Count, "with tears in her eyes, of the almost unparalleled happiness of his (the Prince Consort's) twenty years of married life, now brought to such a sudden end. Li The Queen at Osborw, 288 VICTORIA. all that clear and sunny sky there was only one cloud. How gladly would the Queen have shared her crown with the husband who helped her to wear it, and was her all in all! In vain already, in Sir Robert Peel's time, had she expressed her wish to bestow the title of King upon her husband. The constitutional scruples of the deceased Tory Minister were urged still more emphatically by Lord Palmerston when, later on, the question was again mooted. The promotion of the Prince to the title of 'Prince Consort' was the consequence of a compromise. Prince ^Albert was naturalized in 1840, and obtained, in the same year, by letters patent, precedence next to the Queen. Nevertheless, he was not a British prince, and both at Court and the Privy Council his eldest son, on attaining his majority, must have taken precedence of him. 'For the Prince of Wales,' as the Duke of Cambridge says, 'is and remains Prince of Wales.' " Of the Prince Consort's character, much that is interesting and curious might be written. "The silent father of our kings to be" was respected rather than appreciated during his Hfe by the nation he served so well. Save for the fact that he had no special aptitude for military science, we might have traced a curious parallelism between the work he did for England, and that which was done by William of Orange. Prince Albert's strength, and perhaps his weakness, really lay in his capacity for looking at affairs from other than merely con- ventional British points of view. His serene intellect had scarcely any bias traceable to prejudice of vanity. His conclusions were always based on the application of a finely tempered logical mind, to all the facts of a given case that could be collected by patient and unceasing indtt^try. A natural love of justice and truth informed his convictions. Instinctive sagacity and wise tolerance characterized his judgments. The good sense never deserted Prince Albert in any crisis of his life. His policy was seldom at fault, because its sole aim was to conserve national as distinguished from dynastic interests. Pie was an omnivorous, desultory reader, and his education was fortunately neither academical nor technical, neither exclusively literary not ex- clusively scientific. His thirst for knowledge was unquenchable, and it was gratified under the guidance of a singularly correct taste. He was constantly corresponding with all sorts of interesting people, in all ranks of life, who happened to know anything that was worth QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 289 knowing. Every business, or pursuit, or calling, that made men use- ful to each other, or added comfort, grace, beauty, and dignity to ex- istence, had an irresistible fascination for him. The Prince Consort's public life seemed as if it were planned in order to bridge this chasm. As for his private life, it is perhaps enough to say that the veneration and love with which his family, his friends, and his servants regarded him sufficiently attest its unblemished worth. Of the calumnies that pursued him almost to the verge of the grave, there is little to add to what has been already stated in preceding chapters. They never touched his honor as a gentleman, or his conduct as the head of an illustrious family. All the attacks which were directed against him were ostensibly directed against his supposed interference with affairs of State — in the interests of foreign despots. It was on the 23d of December that the Prince Consort's remains were removed from Windsor Castle, and tempoi'arily deposited in the entrance to the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel, where they were to lie until the completion and consecration of a mausoleum for their reception. The Ouccn Keeping Hallowe'en at Balmoral. THE QUEEN DISTRIBUTING CHRISTMAS GIFTS. XIII. WAR AND WANT. Civil War in America — Fall of Sumpter — President Lincoln — Settlement of Trente Dispute — Mexico — Bismarck — Exhibition of 1862 — Marriage of Princess Alice — Mason and Slidell — Princess Alexandra — Marriage of Prince of Wales — Cotton Famine — Danish War and Queen's Policy of Peace — Garibaldi in London. HE closing days of 1861 and the opening days of 1862 were days of feverish excitement. The citizens of the United States were locked in deadly and fratricidal strife of Civil War. The passions and prejudices which divided them into hostile armies, divided their kith and kin in England into hostile factions. In America the fight between North and South was waged on the field of battle. In England it was carried on in the Press, on the Platform, on the floor of the Senate, in Clubs, in drawing-rooms, by road and rail, in the market-places of the great cities, and in the ale-houses of quiet rural villages. Roughly speaking, the classes as opposed to the masses took the side of the South. Those who view public afifairs from the standpoint of privileged as distinguished from national and popular interests, and who can always command the facile advocacy of what may be termed the organs of well-dressed opinion in the London Press, were nearly all arrayed against the North. At the end of 1 86 1 the nation watched the struggle with breathless interest, for events had happened which rendered it probable that England might be dragged into it, which the Queen was determined should not be' the case if she could help it, America meant a great deal to her, North and South equally. After the fall of Sumpter England began looking more at the man at the helm in American affairs. The English at first could not understand President Lincoln, they could not understand how a "rail splitter" could be a statesrnan and the reorganizer of the entire social system of the United States. It took some time for them to pass by the lack of veneer in "Old Abe," and to understand the §n- m 294 VICTORIA. thusiasm for justice that actuated a gentleman with the exterior of a back-woodsman, and to appreciate the nobihty of his purpose and his great love of freedom for all men irrespective of birth or envi- ronment. In August the Federal troops attacked the Confederate position south of the Potomac at Bull's Run, and were defeated; but the Northern levies effectually protected Washington and held down wav- ering States hke Maryland. Then an incident happened which threat- ened to extinguish the small party which among the wealthier classes in England still favored the North. On the 8th of November, 1861, Captain Wilkes, of the San Jacinto, a Federal man-of-war, stopped and boarded the English mail steamer, Trent, which had the day before sailed from Havannah with passengers for Europe. Among these were Messrs, Mason and Slidell, Envoys accredited by the Confederate Government to the EngHsh and French Courts. Cap- tain Wilkes arrested them and carried them away to the San Jacinto, in spite of the protests of the Commander of the Trent. On the 27th of November, when the news reached England, the partisans of the Southern States strove hard to lash the country into fury. The pop- ular excitement increased every day, and the Prince Consort, then sickening under his last illness, grew anxious as to the result. The Queen, who had steadfastly opposed every suggestion which had been made in the direction of manifesting sympathy with the South- ern Confederacy, became nervous lest her policy of scrupulous neu- trality should be thwarted. She was informed on the 29th of Novem- ber that the Cabinet were determined to demand reparation, and Pal- merston had indicated that he was ready to assume Captain Wilkes had been positively instructed by Mr. Lincoln's Government to in- sult the British flag. To the Queen this seemed an absurd as- sumption. On the 30th of November, 1861, Lord Russell forwarded the despatches to Windsor, and they confirmed the Queen's suspicions. She disliked their tone, and took them to the Prince Consort, who quite endorsed her opinion. Though he was so ill that he could hardly hold his pen, he drafted a Memorandum for the Queen, com- plaining of the dispatch to the American Government, and suggest- ing a more courteous and friendly way of stating the case against QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 295 them. Even this draft the Queen herself revised and slightly toned down. The point on which she and the Prince Consort insisted was that all through Lord Russell should emphasize the assumption that as the United States Government could not have intended to wan- tonly insult England, they would naturally be desirous of offering reparation for any breach of international law Captain Wilkes had committed, either by disobeying or misunderstanding his instruc-. tions. The words of the royal draft were adopted, and with the hap^ piest result. When the despatch arrived at Washington, Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, told Lord Lyons, the British Minister, that the wording of it meant peace or war. After reading it, Seward went avert war, in spite of the recriminatory outcry of the press, the vote of thanks which Congress had passed to Captain Wilkes, and the immediately to Lord Lyons and told him that the tone of the despatch was so courteous -and friendly that it would enable him to ovations he had received in Northern cities. Notwithstanding the amiable adjustment of this aflfair, there was a strained feeling existing between England and America, so that it was very gratifying to the Queen to learn that a kind-hearted citizen whose princely charity has endeared his memory to the Eng- lish-speaking race, had given a munificent gift to the poor of London. Mr. George Peabody had a high reputation as a merchant in the City, where his generosity and courageous use of his credit had saved many firms from ruin in the financial crisis of 1857. In the spring of 1862 he made over to Trustees the sum of £150,000, to be applied for^ the benefit of the poor of London, his only stipulation being, that the' management and application of the fund should be free from all sec- tarian bias. He did not limit the discretion of the Trustees, though he suggested that they would best spend the money in providing im- / proved dwellings for the people. His ideas were not quite carried out, for the blocks of buildings erected by the Peabody Trustees were soon occupied, not by the poor of London, but by the lower middle class, who were not meant by Mr. Peabody to participate in the benefits of his gift. The policy of intervention in Mexico in conjunction with France and Spain was not one which found much favor in England, although King Leopold of Belgium endeavored to win the Queen over to sup- 296 VICTORIA. port it in the interests of his son-in-law, the Archduke MaximiHan of Austria. It was for this purpose that his Majesty carried on his intrigues at Osborne early in February. The real object of his policy was to establish a monarchy in Mexico, and to persuade the Queen that the Mexicans desired to have Maximilian as their ruler. This, however, was not divulged at the time, and thus, so far as England was concerned, she stood committed — despite King Leopold's secret negotiations at Osborne — to nothing save to act with Spain and France in obtaining from Mexico satisfaction for wrongs done to certain British subjects. The French Emperor, however, was bent on creating a Latin Monarchy in the New World, under French pro- tection, as a counterpoise to the great Anglo-Saxon Republic. After the allies landed, dissensions soon became manifest when the French contingent was doubled. Spain objected to convert Mexico into a French dependency, nominally under the rule of an Austrian Arch- duke. Hence, when the Mexican Government of Juarez offered to submit to the original demands of the allies, England and Spain ac- cepted their proposals, and withdrew their forces. General Lorencez was ordered to march on Mexico, and enable the natives to choose a Government with which France could negotiate, which meant that they were to vote for a French Protectorate under the Archduke Maximilian. As a preliminary token of their appreciation of this pro- posal, the Mexican troops stopped the march of Lorencez at Orizaba. General Forey, with reinforcements, was accordingly sent out from France to prosecute the war, which was already unpopular with all Frenchmen who were not slaves of the Ultramontane Party. Italian intriguers had been busy at Athens fomenting rebellion against King Otho. Their object was to depose him, and seat Prince Thomas, the Duke of Genoa, on the throne. Russian and French intrigues seem also to have been going on. But every conspiracy, whether of native or foreign origin, had for its object the expulsion of King Otho, whose authority had been undermined by Palmerston's treatment in 1850, and whose reign had done nothing to gratify Greek aspirations for an extension of territory. Otho's opposition to pro- gressive reform rendered him an obstacle to those who thought that Greece in the Ottoman Empire, might play the part of Piedmont in Italy. He was therefore driven from his throne, and the Crown of QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 297 Greece offered to Prince Alfred of England, on whose behalf it was declined. England, however, showed her goodwill to Greece by de- claring herself ready to surrender the Ionian Islands, an offer which gave Lord Palmerston an opportunity of emphasizing his belief in "the doctrine of nationalities," which he had so strenuously insisted Prince Bismarck. on applying in Italy. In 1863, when the Greeks chose a Danish Prince for their King, these islands were transferred to Greece. In Germany the cause of Reform slept. Austria apparently had increased her influence, because the King of Prussia was in conflict with the representatives of the Prussian people as to the reorganiza- 298 VICTORIA. tion and strengthening of the Army. But Hungary and Venetia had still to be held down by the sword. The Queen, however much she might regret the contest between the Crown and the nation in Prus- sia, did not view it with the scornful levity that was fashionable at the time in England. She knew that the carrying out of the military policy of Prussia was the condition precedent to the incorporation of North Germany under Prussian leadership. She was well aware that when the Bernstorff Ministry fell. Count von Bismarck, Prussian Minister at Paris, would become President of the Council, and she knew what purpose he had in view. Von Bismarck had, in fact, vis- ited London in July, 1862, and he had conversed freely and frankly with the leaders of both parties. At a dinner party given by Baron Brunnow in his honor, he revealed his plans to Mr. Disraeli, who on the same evening repeated the conversation to Count Vitzthum. " 'I shall soon,' said in effect the Prussian statesman, 'be compelled to undertake the conduct of the Prussian Government. My first care will be to reorganize the Army, with or without the help of the Land- tag. The King was right in undertaking this task, but he cannot ac- complish it with his present advisers. As soon as the Army shall have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first best pretext to declare war against Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor States, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership. I have come here to say this to the Queen's Ministers.' " The Landtag refused to sanction an in- crease in the Army, for which it saw no obvious use. The King could not publicly avow why the increase was wanted. The Cabinet con- fessed itself helpless in the dilemma, whereupon the King telegraphed for Count von Bismarck, who was holiday-making in the Pyrenees, to come to Berlin. He arrived there on the 19th of September. On the 23d, after seven days' debate, the Chamber refused to vote the Army Estimates and the Ministry resigned. The King's retort was the appointment as Prime Minister of the man, whose policy was that of "blood and iron." From that moment the history of Continental Europe took a fresh departure, which was watched by the Queen with anxious eyes. Like the Prince Consort, her sympathies were with the new Prussian policy. Only, she would have endeavored to attain Von Bismarck's ends without using his methods. QUKKN AND EMPRBSS. 299 The I St of May had been fixed for the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1862, and the ceremony was a somewhat mournful one. The sable liveries of the lackeys who appeared in the grand proces- sion served to remind the people of the late Prince Consort, who had been the life and soul of the project. His place was taken by the Duke of Cambridge and the Crown Prince of Prussia, who was asso- \ Marriage of the Princess Alice. ciated with him by the special request of the Queen, as one of her representatives. After her father's -death, the Princess Alice was ?o deeply affected by her mother's grief and her own bereavement, that for a time Prince Louis of Hesse thought she would not hold to her engagement with him. However, this fear soon passed away, and it was duly an- nounced that the Princess would be married on the 1st of July. The 300 VICTORIA. ceremony took place in private at Osborne, and was performed by the Archbishop of York, in the absence of the Archbishop of Canter- bury, who was suflfering from a severe ilhiess. The parting between mother and daughter was a mournful one, though both kept their feehngs well under control. Writing from the Royal yacht to bid adieu to the Queen, the Princess said, "My heart was very full when I took leave of you and all the dear ones at home; I had not the courage to say a word — but your loving heart understands what I felt." Indeed, it may be doubted whether the loss of her daughter's society for a time had not a salutary influence on the Queen. It stimulated her to take a fresh interest in her family hfe, for a cor- respondence, intimate and affectionate, was carried on between mother and daughter, in which the Queen had to transmit budgets' of home news, the mere collecting of which diverted her thoughts from the heart wound that tortured her. In the meantime preparations for an interesting and important event in the Royal Family had tO' be made. It has been already men- tioned that the Prince of Wales had been much attracted by the fasci- nating society of the Princess Alexandra of Sleswig-Holstein-Glucks- burg, whom he met shortly before his father's death whilst visiting Germany. The feeling had ripened into a warm attachment, and it soon came to be rumored that the lady had listened favorably to his suit as a lover. In autumn it was decided that the Queen should pro- ceed to the Continent and arrange the preliminaries of this alliance with the parents of the Princess. It was also her Majesty's wish to visit Gotha — consecrated to her now by many tender memories — as soon as she was able to endure the fatigue of travel. Lord Russell was selected to accompany her Majesty as Minister in attendance. In the middle of October the Princess Louis of/lIesse-Darmstadp and her husband came to England, awaiting at Windsor the arrival of the Queen, who was then at Osborne. The thoughtful affection of the Princess herself prompted this visit. It was feared that the an- niversary of the Prince Consort's death might bring on one of those attacks of nervous prostration from which the Queen suffered, during the first year of her bereavement, and at such a moment the presence QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 301 of the Princess Alice afforded comfort, consolation, and confidence to the Royal family. On the 1 8th of December the Queen emerged from her seclusion to superintend the removal of the Prince Consort's remains from St. George's Chapel. Early on the morning of the i8th of December the remains of the Prince were taken from St. George's Chapel, Windsor, to Frog- more, the ceremony being conducted in extreme privacy. On the loth of March, 1863, occurred the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Alexandra. The ceremony took place in the Chapel Royal, Windsor. The Queen, in deep mourning, took no part in the festivities, looking on from the retirement of the royal closet. The Princess Alexandra was clad in rich white satin robes, trimmed with Honiton lace and orange blossoms. Her necklace, ear- rings, and brooch of pearls and diamonds were a gift from the Prince of Wales ; her riviere of diamonds was the gift of the Corporation of the City of London. On her wrists shone three bracelets — two being of opals and diamonds, one of which was given to her by the Queen, the other by the ladies of Manchester, whilst the third, of diamonds, was the gift of the ladies of Leeds. Her bouquet was a magnificent collection of orange blossoms, white rosebuds, lilies of the valley, and costly orchids, made up at Osborne in accordance with the Queen's directions, and throughout, the mass of floral bloom was relieved by sprigs of the myrtle which had served for the bridal bouquet of the Princess Royal. The design of the four great flounces of Honiton lace on her robe was a sequence of cornucopiae filled with roses, sham- rocks, and thistles, arranged in festoons and interspersed with these national emblems. As for the Prince of Wales, he wore a General's uniform, with the mantle of the Garter, the gold collar and jewel of that Order, and the decorations of the Golden Fleece and the Star of India. His chief supporters were the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-and-Gotha. The Princess was led in by her father. Prince Christian of Denmark, and the Duke of Cambridge, and her bridesmaids were eight unmarried daughters of Dukes, Mar- quises, and Earls. As the procession reached the altar, the band and organ performed Handel's march from Joseph. The choir next sang / • . Marriage of the Prince of Wales. ao2 QUEEN ANn BMtRESS. 30S one of the late Prince Consort's chorales — Jenny Lind's sweet bird- like notes ringing high above all other voices. The Archbishop then read the service, and when the ring was placed on the finger of the Princess, distant guns thundered forth a salute, and the bells of Windsor rang out a peal of joy. After the benediction the Psalm was chanted with great solemnity, and the united processions of the bride and bridegroom left the Chapel, the choir singing Beethoven's Hal- lelujah Chorus from the Mount of Olives. At the Grand Entrance to Windsor Castle the bride and bridegroom and their train were re- ceived by the Queen, whose features bore traces of deep emotion, and were by her conducted to the Green Drawing Room and White Room, where the marriage was attested in due form by the Royal guests, the ecclesiastical dignitaries, the Ministers of the Crown, and M. de Bille, the Danish Minister. As the year closed the country was relieved of all anxiety as to the Cotton Famine in Lancashire. The crisis had, indeed, passed early in summer, and the nation no longer feared that the calamity would prove unmanageable. The problem of relieving the distress was solved with ease and simplicity. There were no epidemics of pestilence, and, save in Staly- bridge, no riotous disturbances. The noble resignation, the heroic patience of the sufferers, and their perfect confidence in the sympathy and the helpfulness of their countrymen, in fact compelled the ad- miration of the civilized world. In the month of December, 1862, there were 500,000 cotton operatives receiving relief in Lancashire, and the loss in wages from lack of employment was estimated at £168,000. Cotton then came in, though in small quantities, and some mills were able to run. Emigration and the transference of labor to other employments also relieved the pressure, so that in June, 1863, only 256,000 persons were receiving relief in the afflicted districts. Atthe end of the year this number was reduced to 180,000, and after awhile all distress was over. In 1864, Baker discovered Lake Albert Nyanza, and scientific men talked of the possibilities of the open sea at the North Pole. The Danish war caused considerable excitement, but the Queen's moderate views kept the statesmen from too much rupture. Palmer- 304 VICTOEIA. ston drafted a war-like speech for the Queen, but she refused to sanction it. Lord Derby was summoned to Osborne and pledged himself to a policy of peace. Palmerston protested against the German victories when the Danes retreated to Duppel, and with the other fighting he was plainly desirous of taking part. But the Queen was firm for peace. That year Garibaldi visited London. Ovations were showered on the guerilla leader from the moment of his landing. In London he was met at the railway station by the Duke of Sutherland, and conducted in pomp through the leading thoroughfares to Stafford House. Countless multitudes thronged the streets, and hailed this triumphal procession with acclamations. Gari- baldi was lodged like a prince at the Duke of Sutherland's mansion. Thither came the most distinguished ladies of the aristocracy to court the favor of a look or a smile from the feted champion of freedom. London society thronged round the lion of the day The old sailor was not the least imposed on by it all — not the least im- pressed. He made his appearance in the gilded saloons without coat or waistcoat, and paraded in his red flannel shirt. In the streets he wore his black felt hat, with a red feather. Festivities and attentions bored him intensely. The reception of Garibaldi was meant as a warning to Austria that if invincible in Denmark she was vulnerable in Venice; to France, that if through pique she thwarted Palmerston's diplomacy in Northern Europe, there would soon be trouble brewing for her at Rome; and to Russia, that if she deserted England she would find that the spirit of revolution could yet be roused in Poland. But after the lion had roared loud enough to wake the echoes of the Tuileries, Lord Clarendon was sent to Paris on a private diplo- matic mission. His object was to induce the Emperor Napoleon to support Lord Palmerston's proposal for a Conference of the Powers on the Sleswig-Holstein Question, a scheme which France as yet did not sanction. It must be allowed that if the German Powers scofifed at the attempt to frighten them by a Cockney demonstration in favor of Garibaldi, Lord Palmerston and his envoy seem to have made it serve their turn in Paris. Napoleon III. agreed at last to support the Palmerston-Russell scheme of a Conference, provided Palmerston QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 305 would send Garibaldi out of England as quickly as possible. This was an embarrassing condition to fulfil, as the guerilla chief was becoming far too popular to be treated in such an unceremonious fashion. He had entered into an engagement to proceed to Manchester, and from thence on a provincial tour of agitation, which greatly disquieted Napoleon III., and which must therefore be stopped. The end of the farce may be told in Lord Malmesbury's words. In his Diary on the 20th of April he writes: — "Garibaldi leaves England on Friday. . . . Certainly there must be some intrigue, as Mr. Ferguson, the surgeon, writes a letter to the Duke of Sutherland — which is published — ■ saying it would be dangerous for Garibaldi's health if he exposed himself to the fatigue of an expedition to Manchester, etc., etc. On the other hand. Dr. Basile, Garibaldi's own doctor, says he is perfectly well, and able to undergo all the fatigue of a journey to the manu- facturing towns." This communication from Dr. Basile was pub- lished, because Garibaldi was naturally angry at having been over- reached by Palmerston and the Whig aristocracy, who sacrificed him whenever he was of no more use to them as a piece on the political chessboard. What made matters worse was that Garibaldi felt cer- tain that, if he had been allowed but one week for agitation in the provinces, he would have stirred up so much popular feeling that he could have defied Lord Palmerston to order him home. ^ lit 1 3 ^ J;j/-'^-^-' V - XIV. THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE. Gladstone— Birth of the Heir Presumptive— Death of Palmerston — Death of Cobden — Assassination of President Lincoln — Gladstone Leader of the House — Death of King Leopold — The Queen's Depression — Mar- riage of the Princess Helena— The Tide of Democracy— Hyde Park Riots— Disraeli— Founding of Royal Albert Hall. N 1864 there were disputes which rose out of the re- lations of England to the belligerents in the Amer- ican Civil War. The Southern States having no navy to cope with that of the Federal Government, had equipped swift steam cruisers which swept American com- merce from the seas. They ran no risks in scuttling unarmed merchantmen, and their speed protected them from capture by men-of-war. The most formidable of these cruisers or privateers, such as the Alabama and the Georgia, had been built in English yards, usually under the pretence of being destined for some Foreign Power which was at peace. When they escaped to sea and got their arma- ment on board, they hoisted their true colors, and set forth to prey on American commerce. The authorities, however, were successful in arresting certain steam-rams, the sailing of which Mr. Adams warned Lord Russell would be taken by the Federal Government as an act of war. Lord Monck, then Viceroy of Canada, in a letter to the late Mr. A. Hayward, says that the arrest of the rams had pro- duced a good efifect in favor of the English Government on the official mind in America. On the other hand, the shipbuilders at- tacked the Government. These attacks were futile, but to avoid the annoyance of litigation, the Government virtually bribed the ship- builders into silence by buying the rams for her Majesty's service. On the other hand, the partisans of the Northern States blamed the Government for being too generous in extending hospitality to the Southern cruisers. 307 308 VICTORIA. In 1864 finance was again the mainstay of Lord Palmerston's Administration. Mr. Gladstone had come to be regarded as a kind of fiscal magician. He rose superior to every reverse of fortune, and he had an expedient ready to meet every emergency. In spite of monetary panics, cotton famines, lavish military expenditure, and large remissions of taxation, the elasticity of the revenue under his • fostering care supplied every deficit almost as soon as it was created. The public credit of England had never been higher; her finances had never been more stable or productive. The year had been uneventfully prosperous, and again the bal- ances were on the right side of the national ledger. The revenue had produced above the estimates; the expenditure had been below the estimates. On the existing basis of taxation, Mr. Gladstone es- timated for the coming year a large margin for financial readjust- ments. The Budget was popular, not only on its own account, but on account of the masterly exposition of the financial state of Eng- land which accompanied it. In 1864 the Queen reappeared for the first time in public since the death of the Prince Consort. The occasion was a flower show at Kensington. Very early in the year a son was born to the Prince and Princess of Wales. This was Albert Victor, the Heir Presumptive. Many festivities were given on the day of his baptism. Brighter prospects dawned on the year 1865 than could have been anticipated. England was at peace with all the world, and in spite of Lord Palmerston's irritation against the German Powers, it was certain that the country would not permit him to engage actively in Continental broils. The Civil War in America, so disastrous to Lancashire, was drawing to a close; and though a dubious and desul- tory conflict with the Maoris in New Zealand was going on, the scene of strife was far away, and the struggle but slightly affected the course of business. Trade was sound and healthy, and the cotton famine had almost disappeared. Lord Palmerston's Cabinet still held its ground, and though its aged chief had begun to show signs of physical decay, his high spirits and indefatigable energy gave no in- dication that the end of his career was at hand. The approaching triumph of the Northern States in the Ameri- can Civil War was plainly foreshadowed by the increasing civility of Lord Russell's references to the Federal Government. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 309 Richard Cobden, who declared that it would be just as possible for the United States to sustain Yorkshire in a war with England, as for England to enable Canada to contend against the United States, was sickening with his last illness. On the 2d of April he died, and with him passed away the purest, most generous, and most John Bright (1857). chivalrous paladin of EngHsh Liberalism in the House of Commons. It was on the 26. of June that Lord Russell in the House of Lords declared the Civil War in America at an end, and refused Con- federate vessels any further rights of harbor in English ports. It has 18 310 VICTORIA. been shown how General Sherman's devastating march through Georgia exposed the real weakness of the South. At the end of 1864 Hood's army was pining away in Alabama or Tennessee, and Beauregard, with 20,000 men, alone stood between Sherman's le- gions, flushed with victory, and the harassed and outnumbered ai'my of Lee. On Christmas Day the Confederates repelled an attack by Butler on Wilmington, but on the 14th of January, 1865, when opera- tions were renewed by General Terry and Admiral Porter, the key of the position was easily taken, and the Confederates were deprived of their only free and practicable outlet to the sea. On the 17th of February Charleston was evacuated. Sherman had already set forth on his march to the north — Beauregard retreating rapidly before him. Sherman's movement to the north enabled Grant 'o press Lee with effect. He forced him back to Petersburg and Richmond. On the 1st of April both towns were captured, and Lee was not only pursued but overtaken and beaten in his last fight. This year saw the assassination of President Lincoln. The Queen who had always admired Lincoln's character wrote at once to Mrs. Lincoln. Addresses on the assassination were presented by both Houses of Parliament to the Crown, and the Queen wrote in reply, "I entirely participate in the sentiments you have expressed in your address to me on the subject of the assassination of the Presi- dent of the United States. I have given directions to my Minister at Washington to make known to the Government of that country the feelings which you entertain in common with myself and my whole people with regard to this deplorable event." Lord Palmerston died on the 18th of October, within two days of his 8ist birthday. He had sat in sixteen Parliaments, and had been chosen to sit in the seventeenth. He had been a member of every Administration that had ruled England since 1807, save those of Sir Robert Peel and Lord Derby, and the voice of the nation rightly decreed for him the funeral honors of Westminster Abbey. Lord Palmerston's funeral took place in Westminster Abbey, accompanied by every mark of respect and honor. The arrangements made for filling up the vacancies in the Cabinet which were caused by his death were simple. Earl Russell was called upon by the Queen to assume the post of Premier. The important position of Leader QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 311 of the Government in the House of Commons devolved upon Mr. Gladstone, who had found a seat in Lancashire. His financial genius had vastly added to the prestige of Lord Palmerston's Ministry, and his commanding intellect and fascinating oratorical power had long before marked him out for the leadership. The history of Ireland was summed up in the administration of Coercion Acts that were rendered necessary by outrages which a peasantry infuriated by land clearances and rack-rents, perpetrated. For a time the policy of eviction and emigration went on unresisted. In 1854 the rebels of '48 were amnestied, but when they came back they found that Irishmen regarded them rather as reactionaries than rebels. As had always been the case in Ireland, the pendulum of public opinion had now swung over from Anti-Unionism to Separ- atism. The failure of '48, the triumph of the evicting landlords, the progressive poverty of the people, the treachery of leaders like Sad- lier and Keogh, who were bought up by the Whigs, disgusted Irish- men with Parliamentary agitation. The Fenian- conspiracy was the outcome of this feeling. It originated among victims of the famine clearances, and among some of the men of '48. It was introduced into Ireland during the Indian Mutiny by Mr. James Stephen, when it was known as the Phoenix Society. One of his first converts was a Jeremiah Donovan, of Skibbereen, who afterwards dubbed him- self O'Donovan Rossa. He in turn, induced ninety out of the hun- dred members of the Skibbereen Club to join his band. That Society could hardly have conducted its proceedings with much secrecy at this time, for it was soon denounced from every altar in the country. The Lord-Lieutenant, however, proclaimed it, and there and then elevated the Phoenix plotters to the dignity of national heroes. The leaders were arrested, and on pleading guilty were released with ad- monition. But over the Atlantic the Society had taken firmer root among the victims of evicting landlords, as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. Yet even there it would have probably perished from the opposition of the priests and the advocates of open agitation, but for the cleverness with which its leaders made capital out of the famous McManus funeral. McManus, one of the most amiable and highly respected members of the Young Ireland Party, had, after his escape from Van Diemen's Land, settled in California, where he 312 VICTORIA- died. It was resolved by his compatriots to exhume his body and convey it to Ireland for burial. The route of the funeral, from San Francisco to Dublin, was naturally at every stage the scene of a patriotic Irish demonstration, and by adroit management the Fenian leaders had contrived to get control of all the arrangements, so that, the reflected prestige of this impressive and imposing demonstration of Irish nationahsm went to their credit. In Ireland the Society was soon considered to be the only one that had any real power to help the people, and after the McManus funeral it grew apace. In 1862 it announced at Chicago its intention of establishing Irish indepen- dence by armed force, and its organ — the Irish People — was founded in Dubhn by Messrs. John O'Leary, Thomas Clark Luby, and James Kickham. For two years the Society was permitted to carry on its propaganda. Then in September, 1865, Luby, O'Leary, Kickham, and Stephens were arrested. Ten days after their capture Stephens escaped from jail by aid of his gaolers, who were also Fenians. In November the others were tried for treason,felony, and sentenced to penal servitude for terms varying from ten to twenty years. On the 8th of August the Queen, with Prince Leopold, the Prin- cesses Helena, Louise, Beatrice, and suite, left England for Germany. She arrived at Coburg on the nth, and immediately proceeded to Rosenau. On the 26th she unveiled the statue which had been set up in memory of the Prince Consort in the quaint-market-place of Coburg. Later in the year it was announced that the Princess Helena was to be married to the Prince Christian of Sleswig-Holstein, second son of the Duke of Augustenburg. "Many thanks," writes the Prin- cess Louis to tlie Queen on the 8th of December, "for your letter received yesterday with the account of Lenchen's verlobung [be- trothal] . I am so glad she is happy, and I hope every blessing will rest on them both that one can possibly desire." It was arranged that the Queen should lend Frogmore to her daughter, so that she and her husband might be able to live in England. But the shadow of death was again brooding over the Royal Household. On the nth of December King Leopold died, and on that day the Princess Louis of Hesse, ever ready to sympathize with her mother's sorrows, wrote to the Qtieen, "Alas! alas! beloved Uncle Leopold is no more! QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 313 How much for you, for us, for all, goes with him to the grave! One tie more of those dear old times is rent ! I do feel for you so much, for dear uncle was indeed a father to you." King Leopold's life was indeed "a history in itself." He was almost ostentatiously indifferent to his position — ever impressing on his subjects that he reigned in their interest rather than in his own. It has been said that he could always bring them to reason by threat- ening to abdicate. The sagacity and tact with which he prevented the Catholics and the Liberals in Belgium from coming to blows, gave him great influence in Europe. But that influence was en- hanced by his capacity for diplomatic intrigue, and the opportunities for exercising it which his curious family connections gave him. Though he began life as one of the obscurest of the petty Princes of Germany, he had married in succession the heiress of England and the daughter of the King of the French. By a double marriage, his children were allied to the Imperial House of Hapsburg. He was the uncle and mentor of the Queen and the Prince Consort — indeed, he and Baron Stockmar had brought about their marriage. In 1866 the Queen was even more depressed than usual, and she retired to Osborne for rest. She had mourned for the Prince Consort and was not to be consoled, and that mourning was ever to be hers. The Princess Helena was married to Prince Christian of Sles- wig-Holstein on the 5th of July, at Windsor Castle. The bride was given away by the Queen, but the function was quieter than most Royal weddings. The country was now truly Democratic, Kings serve, but rule no longer. When Lord Derby came into power in 1866 he let it be known that he intended to stem "this tide of democracy." But op- position was brought to bear against any Reform Movement. The country was excited, knowing not what to expect. Huge mass-meetings were held, and the Government prohibited such meetings. The Reformers then said they would hold a meeting in Hyde Park, and there were riots when they were informed that no such meeting should be held. The Queen, whose legal right to exclude people from the Royal Parks was the pretext for the action of the. Government, became ex- 314 VICTOEIA. tremely nervous as to the effect which the policy of her Ministers might have on the stabihty of the Monarchy, and it finally turned out that the Home Secretary had gone beyond the law, in vindi- cating her Majesty's rights over Hyde Park by military force. Those rights were secured to the Crown solely by a civil action for trespass. At the height of the dispute the leaders of the Reform League ob- The Queen Laying the Foundation Stone of Royal Albert Hall. tained an interview with Mr. Walpole, in the course of which that amiable but misguided Minister shed tears when the grave conse- quences of his action became manifest to him. He withdrew his op- position to the use of the Park. The Reformers held their meet- ings, and on the 28th of July London was so quiet and orderly, that no chance visitor would have dreamt that it had during the week been on the verge of revolution. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 315 Mr. Disraeli was not popular that year, his Budget being not so popular as Gladstone's of the year before — Gladstone's having shown surplus, Disraeli's a deficit. On the 20th of May, 1867, the Queen laid the first stone of the Hall of Arts and Sciences at Kensington, now known as the Royal Albert Hall. It was intended, and has since been used, for scientific and artistic congresses, both national and international; performances of music, distribution of prizes by public bodies, agricultural, horti- cultural, and industrial exhibitions, and displays of pictures and sculpture. In July the Sultan Abdul Aziz visited the Queen at Windsor. He was the lion of the London season, his jewels a wonder. Also, in July the Empress of the French spent a few quiet days with the Queen. The Empress was then the beautiful leader of the fashions of the world, her friendship with the Queen to continue till they were both sorrowing widows, old women — one the sover- eign of the greatest country in the world, the other a deposed Em- press, childless and alone in the world. The Queen paid another visit to Scotland that year, her faithful attendant, John Brown, looking after her comforts and leading the festivities in her honor. Missing Page Missing Page QUEEN VICTORIA. (From a marble bust by E. Onslow Ford, R. A.) QUEEN RECEIVING WAR NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA. .^^gp^rg^ - ^^j^jte^'- ' W» THE QUEEN REVIEWING HER TROOPS. XV. THE NEW ERA. Disraeli Prime Minister— Gladstone's First Government— The Queen's Book — A Hopeful Year — Indian Affairs — Bonapartism in its Laiit Throes — Orangemen and Fenians — Franco-Prussian War — "On to Berlin"— Siege of Paris— Betrothal of the Princess Louise— Death o; Charles Dickens— The Queen and Dickens— His Place in Literature. IGHTEEN hundred and thirty-eight found Parties and politicians preparing for the great electoral struggle for power. On the 13th of February Parliament met, and on the i6th the town was startled to hear alarming accounts of the Prime Minister's health. Repeated attacks of gout had broken up his constitution, and on the 24th of February he resigned, Mr. Disraeli being chosen by the Queen as his successor. Mr. Disraeli took an early opportunity of showing his colleagues that he meant to be master in his own house. He sent Lord Chelms- ford — whom he had not forgiven for his venomous opposition to the emancipation of the Jews — an intimation that he must resign. His next act was to offer the Lord Chancellorship to Lord Cairns, in order to strengthen the debating power of the front Ministerial Bench in the House of Lords. The new Prime Minister met his followers in Downing Street on the 5th of March, and promised them that his policy would be truly Conservative. At half-past five he rose in the House of Commons, amidst general cheering, to explain his position, which he did with some superfluous humility. In Foreign Afifairs his policy, he said, would be Lord Stanley's — one of peace without isolation — and in Home Afifairs it would be "a Liberal one — a truly Liberal one." The Reform Bills for Ireland would proceed, an Education Bill was promised, and on the following Tuesday Lord Mayo would explain the views of the Cabinet as to Ireland — views which doubtless would of action. His policy he declared to be the disestablishment and 321 322 VICTOEIA. disendowment of the Irish Protestant Church, and he announced that he would take the opinion of the House on a definite proposal for carrying it out. What Mr. Gladstone challenged was really "the sacred union of Church and State, which has hitherto been the chief means of our civilization, and is the only security of our liberty." It was obvi- ously indiscreet for a Tory Minister to assert that the principle of a State Church was involved in the maintenance of an ecclesiastical establishment which served no State purpose whatever, save that of making the Irish people hate England. Mr. Gladstone's scheme was to terminate the existence in Ireland of any salaried or stipendary clergy paid by the State, whether Catholic or Protestant ; though, by way of compensation for life-interests, he promised to leave three- fifths of their endowment in the hands of the Anglican clergy. Mr. Gladstone carried his motion to go into Committee on his Resolutions, and on the 5th of April Lord Malmesbury writes in his Diary, "Government has been beaten on Lord Stanley's amendment. We shall not resign, but dissolve and meet a new Parliament." There was the usual political business that year, bills carried and defeated, Tory and Liberal, Disraeli brilliant and astute, Gladstone solid and determined. Parliament was prorogued on the last day of July, and a curious passage in the Queen's Speech referred with satisfaction to the fact that the Government had not seen cause to use the power given them for suspending Habeas Corpus in Ireland. Then came the struggle for power in the new democratic constituencies. Mr. Disraeli's Electoral Address, which was issued in October, had three defects. It appealed to the country to return the Ministry to power in order to prevent the Pope from becoming master of England — a perfectly absurd attempt to revive the "bogey" of Papal aggression. Mr. Gladstone's Address, issued a week later, was much more seductive and business-like. It proclaimed' a positive policy of administrative reform and of retrenchment, justified a pol- icy of conciliation to Ireland, and pressed for the disestablishment of the Irish Church. The result of the appeal to the new electors was fatal to the Government. The Liberals carried the country by a majority of over 100 seats. QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 323 Mr. Disraeli met defeat with manliness and dignity. The Prime Minister went down to Windsor on the 2d of December, and not only tendered the resignation of the Cabinet to the Queen, but advised her to send for Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone was sum- moned by telegraph to Windsor on the 3d, and was commissioned to form a Government. Mr. Disraeli refused all honors for himself, though he was offered a peerage, but Mrs. Disraeli was created Vis- countess Beaconsfield in her own right. The great and unexpected popularity with which a little book from the Queen's pen — "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands" — containing a diary of her holiday rambles, was received during the season, gratified her much. It delighted the people, to whom it showed the homely, matronly, sensible business-like quali- ties which Englishmen value in the women of their race, reflected in the daily life of their Sovereign. Her Majesty was seen very little in public. The people were not pleased at this seclusion, but the monarch, loving her people though she did, yet insisted upon her rights to use her personal privacy as she pleased. That summer was very hot, so the Queen was urged to go to Switzerland for a brief season. On her return she heard of the death of Dr. Lonzly, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Tait, then Bishop of London, succeeded him. On the 5th of December the Queen was informed that Mr. George Peabody, the American millionaire, had presented 100,000 pounds to the poor of London. This was his second gift, so that his whole donation came to 350,000 pounds. The 14th of December was the seventh anniversary of the Prince Consort's death. Accordingly the Queen and her family proceeded to the Mausoleum at Frogmore, which had now been completed, and where a special service was held. As the year ended, the mind of the country was disturbed by tales of impending war. The Princess Louis of Hesse and the Crown Prince of Prussia both warned the Queen of the dangers which menaced Europe. France had arranged to withdraw her troops from Rome in order to attack Germany, and a Spanish garri- son was to be substituted as the Pope's guard. Napoleon's scheme for garrisoning Rome by Spanish troops was upset by the sudden 324 VICTORIA. outbreak of a revolution in Spain, provoked partly by the reactionary policy, but mainly by the personal misconduct of the Queen Isabella. On the 1 8th of September a revolt broke out at Cadiz, and the Queen and her dynasty were dethroned. Hopefulness was the prevailing feeling with which the year 1869 was hailed by everybody. PoHtically the country was in a state of tranquility. The democracy had won a great victory at the polls, and a new and brilliant ministry had been called to power to give effect to the will of the people. Though this year several meas- ures were said to have been miserably mismanaged. The Fenians, who had given more or less trouble in years past, and of whom many had been incarcerated were to the fore. Those under arrest were liberated, and the government seemed honestly to be bent on dealing fairly with the burning Irish question. Foreign affairs alone seem to have been prudently managed. The only serious question with which the Foreign Office had to deal was that of the Alabama Qaims. The Tory Minister, reversing the somewhat defiant policy of Lord Russell, had conceded to the Amer- ican Minister — Mr. Reverdy Johnson — every claim he was instructed to prefer. This policy was continued by Lord Clarendon. The India Office, too, under the Duke of Argyle, was managed so as to add considerably to the prestige of the Government. The affairs of India had indeed been conducted, since the accession of Sir John Lawrence to the Viceroyalty, with consummate ability. The struggle for power in Afghanistan between the descendants of Dost Mahomed had been watched by Lawrence with masterly inactivity. At last, as if by a Providential inspiration, Lawrence came to the conclusion, in 1867, that of all the rival aspirants the fugitive Shere Ali was the one who was to be favored by Fortune. Foreign affairs had little interest for the Queen in 1869. In Germany the policy of Von Bismarck was directed to prevent the premature development of the national sentiment in favor of form- ing a new German Empire. France was engaged in hastily reor- ganizing her military system, and the French Emperor, broken in health and depressed spirits, had to meet, with anxious heart, the ris- ing tide of Liberalism, which the elections that followed the dissolu- tion of the Legislature, showed was beginning to flow in France. In QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 325 July, when the Legislative Body met, the Opposition, which used to number about six, numbered 120, and when they threatened to at* tack the Government M. Rouher offered to come to terms with them. The Emperor's illness postponed matters for two months, but mean- time the old Ministry resigned in favor of a more Liberal one. Fin- ally, a still more Liberal one was formed by M. Emile Olliver, at the end of the year, charged with the mission of transforming Bonapart- ism into Constitutional Monarchy, on the basis of Parliamentary Government. In the beginning of the year the Queen had an interview with Mr. Carlyle, in whose sorrowful life Dean Stanley had interested her. Her Majesty expressed a desire to become personally acquainted with a man whose genius had shed so much lustre on her reign, and, according to Mr. Froude, Carlyle felt for the Queen "in her bereave- ment as she had remembered him in his own." The meeting took place in the Westminster Deanery, and Carlyle's account of it is as follows : "The Queen was really very gracious and pretty in her de- meanor throughout; rose greatly in my esteem by everything that happened ; did not fall in any point. The interview was quietly very mournful to me." On the 17th of April the Queen visited Aldershot, and reviewed the troops stationed there. Ismail Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, paid a second visit to the Queen this year and was well entertained. After his departure, her Majesty made another tour of the Highlands and enjoyed it as much as she had enjoyed her former tours. Lady Palmerston, a close personal friend of the Queen, died in September, the last of four great ladies who had done much to shape the fortunes and politics of the country, where women have always been important in affairs. The other ladies were Lady Jersey, Lady Willoughby and Lady Tankerville. On Saturday, the 23d of October, Lord Derby died in the sev- enty-first year of his age, forty-nine years of which had been spent in political life. For a quartet of a century his name and influence had worked like a wizard's spell on the minds and hearts of the Tory Party, and yet, as a statesman and a legislator, he had done compar- atively little. Passionate unwisdom was too often the leading trait of his policy, but his impetuous and imperious self-confidence, his 326 VICTORIA. Stately presence, his eager spirit, fiery partisanship, and irrepressible pugnacity rendered him an invaluable Party leader. He passed away amid the wreckage of most of his political idols, conscious that he had failed in what he had haughtily asserted was his mission — to stem the tide of democracy. The year closed with gloomy news from Ireland. The electors of Tipperary,acting under Fenian intimidation, had returned the Fenian "convict" Jeremiah O'Donovan, or "O'Donovan Rossa," as he called himself, to Parliament, an election which was of course void, and which was alleged, by opponents of the Ministry, to dem- onstrate the futility of Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy of conciliation. Dark rumors also flew round to the effect that the Government had in contemplation the summoning of Parliament and the suspension of Habeas Corpus in Ireland. The Orangemen, who had resented the disestablishment of the Irish Church by menaces of rebellion, now threatened to stand aloof in any conflict between the Crown and the Fenians. At a time when Englishmen were being persuaded to adopt a conciliatory Irish policy, when , after having disestablished the Church, they were meditating the disestablishment of the rack-rent- ing landlords, the Irish people deemed it wise to increase their demands. In 1870 war broke out between France and Prussia. It is a curious fact that at the beginning of the year none of the diplomatists — not even Von Bismarck himself — had the faintest suspicion that ere six months had passed, this war would be declared. The Em- peror of the French was watching in July, 1869, with straining eyes the election of a new Legislature. This election, as we have seen, ended in the return of a strong Opposition, headed by M. Thiers, M. , Jules Favre, and M. Emile Ollivier whose criticism of personal Gov- ernment drove Napoleon to make popular concessions. A Parlia- mentary Constitution was granted, and at the end of the year the Emperor had induced M. Ollivier and a few moderate Liberals to form a Cabinet charged with the mission of reconciling Parliamen- tary Government with Universal Suffrage and the claims of the Im- perial dynasty. The Emperor considered that his new Liberal Con- stitution should be revised by the Senate, and the ever-subservient Senate accordingly inserted in it a provision authorizing the Emperor QUEEN AND EMPE.ESS. 327 to "go behind" his Parliamentary Ministry, and submit any question to a plebiscite. This of course meant that whenever Parliament thwarted the Emperor, he could set aside its decision and appeal on a confused issue to a hasty vote of an ignorant democracy, whose verdict was pre-arranged by subservient Prefects. The new Con- stitution itself was ubmitted to such a vote, and though M. Ollivier remained in office, most of his abler colleagues resigned. By a ma- jority of five and a quarter millions against a million and a half, the people cast their sufifrages for the Emperor. The first result of the vote was the appointment of a Ministry in which M. Ollivier was the sole representative of Liberal feeling, or Constitutional instincts. The Due de Gramont became Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Marshal Leboeuf, the Minister of War. But fifty thousand soldiers had voted against the Emperor in the plebiscite, and Napoleon III was accordingly warned that to conciliate the army something must be done by France to eclipse the fame which Prussia had won at Sadowa. His envoys and agents in Germany assured him that the German States hated Prussia, and in their hearts looked to France for deliverance. The pretext for the quarrel was soon found. Spain had long been looking for a King. She offered her crown to Prince Leopold of HohenzoUern. On the 6th of July the Due de Gramont angrily declared in the Legislature that if Prussia permitted a Prus- sian Prince to accept the Crown of Spain, France would consider his acceptance as a cause of war. Ever anxious to promote the cause of peace, the Queen personally strove to avert hostilities, and so far as Prussia was concerned with some success. The English Court and the English Cabinet induced King William to advise Prince Leo- pold to refuse the Spanish Crown. King William's magnanimity and moderation in making this concession to the arrogant demands of France were ill-requited. M. Ollivier, it is true, announced to the Legislature that the dispute was at an end, and Europe breathed freely. But to the amazement of everybody it soon appeared that M. Ollivier had been duped, for instead of crossing the golden bridge of retreat which the King of Prussia generously built for him, Napo- leon put forward a fresh demand. It was not enough, said he, that Prince Leopold's candidature should be withdrawn. King William, as head of the Hohenzollerns, must give a pledge that he would 328 VICTORIA. never in all time coming permit a Hohenzollern to aspire to the Crown of Spain. The insolent claim was rejected. A sensational and mendacious statement in the French Ministerial Press, to the effect that King William had rudely refused even to grant an audi- ence to the French Ambassador, lashed the Parisians into a warlike mood. This insult, the Due de Gramont, amid a tempest of cheer- ing, told the French Chamber could only be avenged by a war — a war into which M. Ollivier airily observed he went "with a light heart." On the i6th of July the French Declaration of War was delivered at Berlin, and French armies were moving towards the Rhine, with Parisian screams of "On to Berlin!" ringing in their ears. Napoleon commanded in person, with Leboeuf as his lieutenant ; Marshal Macmahon led the right wing, or Army of Strasbourg; Bazaine, with Frossard, Douay, and De Failly, commanded the corps that held the line northward as far as Metz and Thionville. In the meanwhile Von Bismarck biassed the opinion of Eng- land against France by publishing, on the 25th of July, the draft of a secret Treaty proposed by the Enghsh ally. Napoleon III, to the King of Prussia, by which France was to consent to the union of Prussia, or North Germany, with the States of South Germany, in consideration of Germany helping France to seize Belgium. North and South Germany swiftly mobilized their armies under the supreme command of the King of Prussia, with Von Moltke as Chief of the Staff. When the Parisians were vaunting the success of the French troops in a slight skirmish at Saarbruck, the Crown Prince defeated the French at Weissenburg on the 4th of August, and on the 6th shattered Macmahon's army at Worth, while Stein- metz — the "blood spendthrift," as Bismarck called him — crushed Frossard on Spicheren heights. A German corps was sent to invest Strasbourg, whither part of Macmahon's army had fled. The Crown Prince started after the rest of that ill-fated force, then retreat- ing on Chalons. The relics of Frossard's army had fled to join Bazaine near Metz, whose design was to unite with Macmahon at Chalons. The Emperor of the French had appointed the Empress as Regent when he took command in person of the army near Metz. This command he now resigned to Bazaine. The Legislative Body, QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 329 infuriated by the defeats on the frontier, turned the Ministry of Olli- vier out of office, and General Montauban, Duke of Palikao, was called to power. To secure the Emperor from the political conse- quences of retreat, Bazaine had delayed his departure from Metz to The Princess Louise. Chalons for a fortnight after the rout at Worth. This obviously enabled the Germans to come up in time to prevent him from joining hands with Macmahon. On the 14th Steinmetz held him for a day at Courcelles. Then Prince Frederick Charles advanced and har- assed Bazaine with impetuous cavalry charges till reinforcements 19 330 VICTOKIA. arrived, which drove the French back on Gravelotte St. Privat. On the 1 8th the Germans fought and won the battle of Gravelotte, but at the cost of one-seventh of their effective strength, and finally shut Bazaine up in Metz. Von Moltke immediately made arrangements The Marquis of Lome. to crush Macmahon's reorganized army, at Chalons. It is due to Macmahon to say that he himself and the Emperor desired to fall back on Paris, but the Empress-Regent, fearing that the Emperor's appearance in Paris, with an army in retreat, might have bad political lesults, fooHshly insisted on Macmahon hastening eastward to Metz QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 331 to relieve Bazaine. Macmahon obeyed these orders, and, as might have been expected, was intercepted and surrounded by the Germans at Sedan, where the Emperor and his army, after a disastrous fight, surrendered to the King of Prussia as prisoners of war on the ist of Charles Dickens. September. The second Empire was consumed in the circle of fire at Sedan. During 1870 the Queen emerged from her seclusion on the nth of May to open the splendid hall and offices of the University of London in Burlington Gardens. The ceremonial was conducted with a pomp and dignity worthy of the occasion. 332 VICTOKIA. In the autumn of the year the Queen in Council gave her con- sent to the marriage of the Princess Louise and the Marquess of Lome, the eldest son of the Duke of Argyll. The death of Charles Dickens on the 9th of June robbed the world of a great humorist, whose genius was consecrated not only to the delight, but to the service of the English people. The Queen was a devoted admirer of the novelist's genius. Next to Scott and George Eliot, Dickens was her favorite. It had been her desire in the early part of her married life to make his ac- quaintance personally, but there was a touch of false pride in Dickens which made him morbidly sensitive on the subject of "patronage," and this prevented a meeting being brought about. In 1858 the Queen made a second attempt to bring the great novelist to Court. "I was put into a state of much perplexity," wrote Dickens. "I don't know who had spoken to my informant, but it seems that the Queen is bent on hearing the 'Carol' read, and has expressed her desire to bring it about without offence, and hesitating about the manner of it, in consequence of my having begged to be excused from going to her when she sent for me after the Frozen Deep" — the other time when the Queen had hoped to meet him. "I parried the thing as well as I could, but being asked to be prepared with a consid- erate and obliging answer, as it was well knonw the request would be preferred, I said, 'Well, I suppose Colonel Phipps would speak to me about it, and if it were he who did so, I would assure him of my desire to meet any wish of her Majesty, and should express my hope that she would indulge me by making one of some audience or other, but I thought an audience necessary to the effect.' Thus it stands, but it bothers me." This difficulty could not be overcome, though the Queen by buying a copy of the "Carol" signed by the author's autograph at the sale of Thackeray's library, testified' to her interest in the two great humorists of her age, although Thackeray by his attacks on her family might have been thought scarcely one to enjey his Sov- eign's favor. It was not till 1870, shortly before his death, that Dickens met the Queen. He had brought from his American tour many photographs of the battlefields of the civil war. Having taken a great interest in that struggle, and followed its details closely, her QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 333 Majesty who had heard of the photographs, expressed a wish to see them. Dickens at once sent the pictures to Buckingham Palace. He then received a message from the Queen inviting him to see her that she might thank him in person. Dickens of course went, for though he had refused a baronetcy which the Queen would gladly have conferred on him, he was persuaded to go to Court. Afternoon Tea. 334 XVI. SORROW AND JOY IN THE PALACE. Dowry of the Princess Louise— Her Majesty's Seclusion— Disputes with the United States— Marriage of the Princess Louise— Opening of the Royal Albert Hall— Illness of the Queen— Illness of the Prince of Wales— Thanksgiving Day— Attack on the Queen— Geneva Convention The Queen's Private Estates — Death of the French Emperor— Mar- riage of the Duke of Edinburgh. ^^ ■ o u [NE of the first questions that came up in 1871 was the dowry of the Princess Louise. At first the match had not been popular, the Marquis of Lome not being of the blood royal. But there was little chance of Louise succeeding to the throne, while the womanly sweetness iimmwriiH ^j ^j^g Queen in permitting her daughter to go beyond the list of possible suitors because of love had its influence, and an English Princess must have the dowry of a princess. In former cases England had been liberal ; the Prince of Wales, on his marriage, was voted 100,000 pounds a year, and as he already had 60,000 pounds a year from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, the House was asked to vote but 40,000 pounds a year out of the Consol- idated Fund. For the Princess of Wales a separate allowance of 10,000 pounds a year was granted, and in the event of her surviving her husband she was to secure a jointure of 30,000 pounds. The Queen was wealthy — at her death she was said to be worth over a hundred millions of American dollars, but the State was proud and looked after the pocket money of Royalty. The Princess Louise was alloted 40,000 pounds, and an income of 6,000 pounds a year. Her Majesty's seclusion was giving much irritation to all the people, but her grief for the Prince Consort never left her. In May the Queen was gratified to learn that a basis for settling the out- standing dispute between the United States and Great Britain had been at last discovered. With frankness, the British Government, through their Commissioners, expressed their sincere regret that Confederate cruisers had escaped from British ports to prey on 335 p o PL, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 337 American commerce. American claims against England, and Eng- lish claims against America, "growing out of" the Civil War, it was agreed should be alike referred to a Commission of Arbitration, and the English Commissioners admitting that some just rule for deter- mining international liability in such cases should be laid down, ac- cepted the principle that neutrals are to be held responsible f®r negli- use against a belligerent. The English Commissioners next agreed to let this principle be applied to the Alabama Claims, and though they were blamed for allowing these claims to be determined by an ex post facto rule, it was difficult for them to adopt any other course. As to the Fishery dispute, citizens of the United States, it was agreed, were to have for ten years the right to fish on the Canadian coast, and Canadians were to have a similar right of fishing on the coasts of the United States down to the 39th parallel of latitude. As the British Commissioners insisted that the balance of advantage was here con- ceded to the United States, and that it therefore ought to be paid for by them, that point was by mutual agreement referred to another Commission for adjustment. On the 21 st of March the Princess Louise was married to the Marquis of Lome at Windsor with much splendor. On the 29th of March, in the presence of a brilliant and fashion- able crowd of upwards of 10,000 persons, the Queen opened the Royal Albert Hall at Kensington. On the 2 1st of June the Queen again appeared in London to open the new buildings of St. Thomas' Hospital on the Albert Em- bankment, and her neatly-worded reply to the address which was presented to her on that occasion attracted considerable attention, because it was rumored that it had been carefully written out by her- self. In September the country was greatly grieved to learn that the Queen had fallen seriously ill. Those who had been reproaching her for retiring from active life now began to suspect what was the truth, namely, that the Queen's labors were not materially lessened by her withdrawal from the exciting functions of each London season. Gradually the prostration which this illness had caused passed away; but, unhappily, no sooner had her own health ceased to give the Queen cause for anxiety, than that of her eldest son broke down. VICTORIA. Nothing could exceed the alarm of the country wheit it was an- nounced on the 20tli of November that the Heir to the Throne was smitten at Sandringham with typhoid fever — the very malady which had cut off his father in his prime. Da}- by day the bulletins were eagerly scannetl, not only in the newspapers, but by excited crowds at public places like the Mansion House and Marlborough House, where they were exhibited. After Marlborough House. twenty-five days of suffering the Prince, who had shown signs of re- covery, had a relapse, and then the worst was feared. The Prince, it was thought, must die, and the shock of the bereavement might be fatal to the Queen, whose health was already .sadly impaired, ^\dlen it was announced on the 9th of December that all the members of the Royal Family had suddenly lieen summoned to Sandringham, secur- ities in the Money Market, with the exception of Consols, fell from one to two per cent. Twice the physicians warned the Queen that QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 339 the end was at hand, but at last, on the 14th of December — strangely enough the tenth anniversary of his father's death — the Prince made a rally, and the bulletins again became more hopeful. Prayers had been oflfered up for his recovery in every church in the empire, and even the Republican societies had sent addresses of sympathy to the Sovereign. During the first weeks of 1872 the convalescence of the Heir Apparent seemed to obscure all other topics of pohtical interest. Faction, indeed, was for the time silenced throughout the land, and the Queen soon saw that it was the universal desire of the nation that the recovery of the Prince, which had saved the country from much anxiety as to its future under a Regency, should be celebrated by a solemn public function. It was therefore announced in the middle of January that the Queen would proceed in State to St. Paul's Ca- thedral on as early a day as could be fixed after the 20th of February, to return thanks for the recovery of her son. Ultimately Tuesday, the 27th, was fixed for the ceremony. As for the crowds in the streets along the line of route, they were said to number from a million to a million and a quarter of spec- tators, and the decorations far surpassed any similar display ever seen in London. The procession started from Buckingham Palace, led by the carriages of the Speaker, the Lord Chancellor, and the Duke of Cambridge, and was composed of nine royal carriages, in the last of which the Queen was seen accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Her Majesty seemed to be in good health, and she looked supremely happy. The Prince was pale and rather haggard, and he kept bowing all along the way to the multitudes who cheered him. The hearty reciprocal feeling between the Queen, the Prince, and the populace, which the shouts of such a vast crowd expressed, ren- dered the scene a magnificent demonstration of national loyalty to a popular Sovereign. Within the Cathedral the scene was imposing and impressive, for all that was exalted in station, high in official position, or eminent by reason of genius, talent, and public services was represented in the congregation of 13,000 persons. On the 29th of February a strange attack was made on the Queen. When she returned from her afternoon drive in the Park, j*40 VICTORIA. she passed along by Buckingham Palace wall, and drove to the gate at which she usually alighted. The carriage had hardly halted when a lad rushed to its left side, and bending forward presented a pistol at the Queen, while he flourished a petition in his hand. He then rushed round the carriage and threw himself into a similar attitude on the other side. The Queen remained calm and unmoved, and the boy's pistol was taken from him, when it was discovered that it was unloaded. The petition was a poor scrawl, demanding the release of the Fenian prisoners, and the lad gave the name of Arthur O'Con- nor, and stated his age to be seventeen. In Parliament that year the "Alabama Qaims" was brought up. The United States claimed damage for the harm done by the English cruisers during the Civil War. There was an outcry m England over what was called the "sharp practice" of the Americans. The story of the controversy on the "indirect claims" may here be told. The United States, in extremely conciliatory despatches, insisted on including these claims in their case. They argued that it was for the arbitrators at Geneva to say whether they were or were not admissible under the Treaty. Tliey rested their contention on an ambiguous phrase which Lord Ripon and Sir Stafford Northcote had unfortunately permitted to pass uncorrected mto the Treaty. The first Article of that instrument described its object to be that of removing and adjusting "all complaints and claims," &c., "growing out of acts committed by the said vessels, and generally known as the 'Alabama' Claims." This certainly gave the Americans a plausible excuse for demanding "consequential" as well as direct damages. On the other side, the English Government argued that all the con- cessions made by the British Commissioners at Washington were made on the understanding that the "indirect claims" were not in- cluded in the Treaty ; that in all their correspondence with the Wash- ington Department of State no claims save direct claims were ever "generically" known as the Alabama Claims; and, lastly, that their interpretation was publicly expressed and well known to the United States Government, people, and Minister at the Court of St. James', and was never objected to by either of them. When the arbitrators met at Geneva, the representatives of England persistently refused to take part in the proceedings till the "indirect claims" were with- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 341 drawn. The arbitrators then adroitly extricated the agents of the Washington Government from a false position. They met and de- clared that, without reference to the scope of the Treaty or to the merits of the dispute as to its interpretation, which England refused to discuss before them, they were agreed that "indirect claims" could never, on general principles of international law, be a tenable ground for an award of damages in international disputes. The Americans then withdrew the obnoxious part of their "case," and the arbitrators awarded to the United States 3,229,000 pounds damages against England for the depredations committed by three out of the ten Confederate cruisers which the British Govern- ment had negligently permitted to escape from British ports. The American claim for naval expenses incurred in chasing these cruisers was, however, rejected. Early in May telegrams were received in London announcing that Dr. Livingstone, the African explorer, as to whose safety much anxiety had been felt, had been discovered by Mr. Stanley, a special correspondent on the staff of the New York Herald. The Queen received these tidings with the deepest gratification. Her interest in Livingstone, and in his last efforts tO' discover the sources of the Nile, was well known — indeed, when in England the explorer had a private interview with her Majesty, of which an account is given in Mr. Blaikie's "Personal Life of Dr. Livingstone." "She (the Queen) sent for Livingstone," writes Mr. Blaikie, "who attended her Majesty at the Palace without ceremony. The Queen conversed with him affably for half an hour on the subject of his travels. Dr. Livingstone told her Majesty that he would now be able to say to the natives that he had seen his chief, his not having done so before hav- ing been a constant subject of surprise to the children of the African wilderness. He mentioned to her Majesty also that the people were in the habit of inquiring whether his chief was wealthy, and when he answered that she was very wealthy they would ask how many cows she had got, a question at which the Queen laughed very heartily." Stanley had found Livingstone at Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika, and on his way back to Zanzibar he met the English expedition, which had been despatched by the Royal Geographical Society, carrying R42 VICTORIA. succor to the explorer. In recognition of his services the Queen sent Stanley a gold snuff box set with diamonds. In June the Queen had to mourn the loss of a highly trusted old family friend, Dr. Norman Macleod of Glasgow. On the 1st of July the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice and Prince Leopold, visited the National Memorial erected in Hyde Park to the memory of the Prince Consort for whom she was ever to mourn. Tlie death of the amiable and accomplished Princess Feodore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg on the 23d of September plunged the Queen into deep despondency. The Princess was half-sister to her Majesty, and the tie that bound them together through life had been close and affectionate. "All sympathize with you," wrote the Princess Louis to the Queen when she heard of her mother's be- reavement, "and feel what a loss to you darling aunt must be, how great the gap in your life, how painful the absence of that sympathy and love which united her life and yours so closely." On the 13th of February, 1873, Mr. Gladstone introduced the Irish University Education Bill. It affiliated several other educa- tional institutions besides Trinity College to the Universty of Dub- lin. Two of the Queen's Colleges, established by Sir Robert Peel, were to be associated with the University, and the Queen's Univer- sity itself was to be abolished. Queen's College at Galway was to be suppressed, because it had failed to attract students to its class-rooms. The so-called Catholic University and several other Roman Catholic seminaries were also, in the same manner, to be attached to the Dub- lin University. The new University was to have an income of 50,000 pounds a year, a fourth of which was taken from Trinity College, a fourth from the endowment for Queen's University, three-eighths from the Irish Church surplus, whilst fees, it was expected, would make up the balance. It was to have professors for teaching in Dublin all academical subjects excepting history and mental philos- ophy, which were tabooed as too controversial for Ireland. Bur- saries, Scholarships, and Fellowships were liberally endowed. Tests were to be abolished, the Tlieological Faculty of Trinity College was to be transferred — ^with an endowment — to the Disestablished Church, and the prohibited subjects. History and Philosophy, were QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 343 not to be compulsory in examinations for degrees. The constitu- ency of the University was to consist of all graduates of the affiliated colleges. At first the Bill was very well received, and there was a very general disposition to admit that, in view of the limiting condi- tions of the problem, it was impossible to find a solution less offensive to the Protestants, and more generous to the Catholics of Ireland. But in a few days it became apparent that the measure was doomed. But the Catholic Bishops met in secret, and decided to oppose the Bill. As the Catholics opposed it for giving them too little, the Protestants opposed it because it gave the Catholics too much. The Bill was defeated on the 12th of March by a vote of 287 to 284, the votes of 36 Catholic Members and 9 Liberals having turned the scale. Mr. Gladstone's defeat was followed by the resignation of his Ministry, and the crisis was a most embarrassing one for the Queen. Mr. Disraeli, when sent for by the Sovereign, attempted to form a Cabinet, but did not succeed. When Mr. Disraeli reported his fail- ure to the Queen, she again consulted Mr. Gladstone, who, however, suggested that some other Conservative leader — obviously hinting at Lord Derby — might succeed where Mr. Disraeli had failed. But Lord Derby was at Nice when the crisis became acute ; and although the Tory Party felt that he was in a special sense their natural leader at such a juncture, they knew that it was decidedly inconvenient for the Prime Minister to be a member of the Upper House and that he would refuse to enter into anything like rivalry with Mr. Disraeli. Yet a restful Ministry, competent in administration, under a cool- headed, sensible Conservative aristocrat, was what the majority of the people,alarmed by harassed "vested interests," desired at the time Be that as it may, Mr. Disraeli, when appealed to a second time by the Queen, refused to assist her out of the difficulty, and Mr. Glad- stone was again summoned to the rescue. He returned to power with his Cabinet unchanged and disavowed any intention to dissolve Parliament. Apart from the political strife and Ministerial embarrassments which so severely taxed the nerves of the Queen, life at Court was not very eventful. Indeed, it centred chiefly round the Prince and Princess of Wales, who were discharging vicariously and with great popular acceptance most of the social duties of the Crown. The 344 VICTORIA. Prince of Wales, though very far from being a spendthrift, has never shrunk from incurring expenditure which, in his judgment, was nec- essary to maintain the dignity and prestige of the Crown in a manner worthy of the great nation whose Sovereignty is his heritage. But he has always refrained from appealing to Parliament for subsidies and subventions, either for himself or his family, other than those to which he is equitably and legally entitled by his ofificial position in the State. A considerable section of the public during the controversy that raged over the Princess Louise's dowry had expressed a strong opinion in favor of limiting future Royal grants to an additional al- lowance to the Heir Apparent, for the purpose of meeting the unan- ticipated expenditure which he had incurred by taking the Queen's place as the head of English Society. Mr. Gladstone, on the 21st of July, introduced a Bill enabling the Queen to bequeath real prop- erty to the Prince of Wales, so that he could alienate it at will. The obvious advantage of such a measure was that it imparted a fresh elasticity to the financial resources of the Heir Apparent. For he had discovered a fact hitherto unrevealed in the history of his dyn- asty in England, namely, that though the Sovereign could bequeath to the Heir Apparent alienable personality, such as hard cash, land or real property so bequeathed, became, when vested in his person on ascending the Throne, the property of the State, and therefore in- alienable. And yet the generous intentions of the Queen, and the honest purposes of the Prince which formed the motives for the Bill, were snappishly and churishly misrepresented by several Radicals, and by at least one aristocratic Whig. Mr. George Anderson op- posed the Bill because Sovereigns kept their wills secret. Sir Charles Dilke objected to it because he said it allowed the indefinite accum- ulation of private property in the hands of the Sovereign. His argu- ment, in fact, came to this, that profligacy in the Monarch,_should be encouraged by the posthumous confiscation of his private estates. As for Mr. Bouverie, he asked what business the Sovereign had to possess large private means The Bill, however, passed, and an in- cident which at one time threatened to be unpleasant for the Queen and her children was closed. On the 4th of January the Queen was grieved to hear of the death of the ex-Emperor of the French, at Chislehurst. Her tender QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 345 sympathy was freely bestowed on the ex-Empress, who was pros- trated by her misfortunes and her sorrow. Five years before, the death of this strange man, whose Imperial life seemed ever shadowed by the great crime of the coup d'etat, would have convulsed Europe. Now the world seemed quite indifferent to it, and when politiciains spoke of it, all they said was that by disorganizing the Imperialist party in France it lessened the labors of M. Thiers in founding the Third Republic. The English people, whom Napoleon III had kept in feverish dread for two decades, and whose support and friendship he had rewarded with the perfidy of the Benedetti Treaty, did not pretend to mourn over his grave. They spoke of his character, which was a moral paradox, and his career, which was a political crime, without prejudice or ill-feeling. But as they thought of the horrors of the Crimean War, the wasted millions which Palmerston spent in fortifying the South Coast, and the final act of treachery which the German Government had revealed in July, 1870, there were some who sonsidered that the Queen might have been less de- monstrative in her manifestions of sorrow. When spring came round, "the great j-oyless city," as Mr. Wal- ter Besant calls the East End of London, was gladdened by a Royal visit, for on the 2d of April the Queen went there to open the new Victoria Park The foreign curiosity of the London season in 1873 was the Shah of Persia. Soon after the Queen's visit to the East End ceased to be discussed, the coming of the Shah was the favorite topic of talk. At the end of April his departure from Teheran amidst the blessings of an overawed crowd of 80,000 subjects was chronicled. Gradually astounding rumors of his wealth were sent round. He had brought only half a million sterling for pocket money, because there had just been a famine in Persia ; still the sum would meet the modest wants of his exalted position. He was said to be covered with jewels and precious stones, and he wore a dagger which blazed with diamonds, so that one could only view it comfortably through ground glass. On the 1 8th of June the long-expected guest landed at Dover from Ostend. The cannon of the Channel fleet thundered forth a salute, and the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Arthur welcomed him as he stepped on the pier. His Majesty arrived at Charing Cross in the 20 346 VICTORIA. evening, and London forthwith went mad about him. It may be recorded that when he appeared the Shah disappointed sightseers, who were looking out for the black velvet tunic powdered with dia- monds, and ornamented with epaulettes of emeralds. His Majesty, in fact, was clad in a blue military frock-coat, faced with rows of bril- liants and large rubies ; his bdlt and the scabbard of his scimitar were likewise bright with jewels, and so was his cap. It was semi-officially announced in the middle of July that the Duke of Edinburgh had been bethrothed (nth July) to the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, the only daughter of the Czar of Rus- sia. The afifair had been the subject of some difificult and delicate negdtiations, not so much because there was some difference of re- ligion between the bride and bridegroom, but because, being an only daughter, the parents of the Grand Duchess felt that parting with her would be a bitter heart-wrench. This alliance was unusually interesting, for the Duke of Edin- burgh was practically witlvn the Royal succession. Nothing but an Act of Parliament barring him from the succession, such as men talked of passing against the hated Duke of Cumberland, who con- spired with the loyal Orangemen of Ulster to oust the Queen from the throne, could prevent the Duke from succeeding to the Crown if the Prince of Wales and his children did not survive the Queen. There \\ras a very general feeling that this marriage was worthy of the country. Apart from her great wealth, the only daughter of the Czar of All the Russias appeared to the average British elector to be a much more fitting mate for a Prince who stood very near the Eng- lish throne, than an infpecunious young lady from a minor Teutonic "dukery." Thoughtful observers of public life were grateful to the Queen for establishing a precedent which enlarged the area of mat- rimonial selection for English Princes. Since the reign of George II this had been so closely limited to Germany, that the Royal Fam- ily of England from generation to generation had been purely and exclusively German. There was, therefore, no popular outcry against a Parliamentary settlement for the Duke of Edinburgh. Mr. Gladstone, on the 29th of July, carried a resolution in the House of Commons, giving the Duke of Edinburgh an annuity of 25,000 pounds a year, and securing to the Grand Duchess Marie 6,000 QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 347 pounds a year of jointure in the event of her becoming a widow. The marriage itself was solemnized on the 23d of January, 1874, at the Czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in accordance with the Greek and the Anglican rite. All that wealth and absohite power The Queen Visiting the London Hospital. could do to invest the ceremony with Imperial pomp and splendor was done. The Queen of England was represented by Viscount Sydney and Lady Augusta Stanley. The Queen deeply regretted her inability to be present at a ceremony so interesting to her, and, in some respects, momentous for her House. 348 VICTORIA. The Grand Duchess, when she came to her new home, brought her own weather with her. She was introduced by the Queen to London and the Londoners on the 12th of March, in the midst of a bleak and bhnding snow-storm. That dense crowds of people should line the street, and stand for hours in the half-frozen slush for an opportunity of bidding the Grand Duchess welcome to her new home, afforded an impressive testimony to the deep-seated loyalty of the capital. The Queen, the Grand Duchess, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family, left Windsor Castle at II o'clock in closed carriages for the railway station, under a brilliant escort of Scots Greys. The Royal train steamed to Pad- dington terminus, which was all ablaze with Russian and EngHsh colors. The people thronged the windows, balconies, the house- tops and the pavements, and each side of the roadway, all along from Paddington to Buckingham Palace, and the Queen and the Royal couple showed their appreciation of the splendid reception which was given to them by braving the snow-storm in an open landau. The Queen, who was dressed in half-mourning, smilingly bowed in acknowledgment of the hearty cheering, and the Grand Duchess, who sat by her side, attired in a purple velvet mantle edged with fur, a pale blue silk dress and white bonnet, was evidently sur- prised at the warm greeting she received. At night London was illuminated, and the new duchess had nothing to complain of in the way she was received by the English people and the affectionate consideration of the Queen, whose moth- erliness made her cling to the fair stranger so far away from home and kindred. XVII. CO'NSERVATISIM. Ashanti War — Disraeli's Cabinet — Gladstone's Defeat — Leopold — The Queen and "Cruelty to Animals" — Martin's "Life of the Prince Con- sort" — Empress of India — Fugitive Slave Circular — Prince of Wales in India — Turkey and the Powers — Bulgarian Atrocities — The Servian War — ^Jingoism — Resignation of Lord Derby — Third Afghan War — Death of Princess Alice. N 1874 the Engilsh Government became involved in a dispute with the King of the Ashantis over a subven- tion which the Dutch had always paid him. The Ashantis attacked the English settlements near El- mina, but were beaten off by a small party of English troops. When the cool season came it was decided to send Sir Garnet Wolseley with an expedition strong enough to march to Coomassie, the Ashanti capital, and, if need be, lay the country waste. Sir Garnet arrived before his troops, and engaged with success in several unimportant skirmishes. The main army left England in December, and on the 5th of February, 1874, it entered Coomassie in triumph. The place was so unhealthy that it had to be evacuated almost immediately. But ere the troops left a Treaty was signed by which King Koffee renounced his claim to sovereignty over the tribes who had been transferred from the Dutch to the British Protectorate. And yet the Ashanti War failed to arrest the decay pf public confidence in the Government. With tact the Tory leaders put forward Lord Derby to deprecate wasteful mili- tary enterprises and extensions of territory in pestilential climes, whilst Sir Stafford Northcote attacked the Ministry fiercely in Sep- tember for engaging in such a war without consulting the House of Commons. In these circumstances the question came to be would Ministers dissolve, or would they meet Parliament and attempt to regain popularity through the work of a reconstructed Cabinet, whose latest and most influential recruit never spoke in public with- out showing that, when he did not abandon his principles, he was at 349 350 \t:ctokta. variance \Yith his colleagues? Various ruiuors wore current as to a contlict of opinion on the subject between Mr. Gkulstoue and nis col- leagues and the Queen. Ultimately it was decided that there should be no dissolution before spring. Eut Parliament was dissolved on the j6th of January, and it wa.s reckoned that the new Tlonse of Connnons would be elected by St. A'alentine's Day. The elections defeated the Liberal Tart). ^Ir. Cdadstone tendered his resignation at once when the resulls of the Elections were known, and Mr. Disraeli on lieing sent for Lord Beaconsficld in the TTouse of Connnons. formed a Cabinet, in which the oihces were ilistributed as follows: First Lord of the Treasury, j\lr. Disraeli: Lord Chancellor, Lonl Cairns; Lord President of the Council, Duke of Ivichmond ; Lord Privy Seal, Lortl Malmesbur)- : Foreign Secrel;u')-, Lord l\-i-by; Secretary for hidia, Lord Salisliury Colonial Secretary Lord Car- narvon; Home Secretary, Mr. R. A. Cross; War Secretary, Mr. Gathorne-LIardy ; First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Waril Hunt; Ciiancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Staii'ord Nortlicote; Postmaster- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. Sol General, Lord John Manners. The Cabinet was a strong one and much was to be expected from it. The Queen hoped for the settlement of many troublesome mat- ters through the new Ministry. On the 19th of March the Queen's Speech'was read to both Houses of Parliament. It referred joyfully to the termination of the war with the Ashantis, the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh, but mornfully to the famine which was then dev- astating Bengal. It promised a Land Transfer Bill, the extension of the Judicature Act fusing law and equity to Ireland and Scotland, a Bill to remedy the grievances of the publicans, a Bill dealing with Friendly Societies, and a Royal Commission on the Labor Laws. Only one cloud shadowed the Foreign policy of the Cabinet dur- ing this uneventful year. The contest between Prince Bismarck and the Roman Catholic Church was raging in Germany, and the per- sonal rivalry of the German Chancellor and County Harry Arnim — who had been the German Ambassador at Paris — had ended in the arrest of the latter on the charge of embezzling State documents. This arrest had been effected after Count Harry Arnim's house had been ransacked by the police, and the Continent rang with the scan- dal. Mr. Disraeli, at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, on the 9th of No- vember congratulated the country on the Conservatism of the British workihg classes, who, he said, enjoyed so many liberties that they were naturally loyal to the institutions under which their freedom was safeguarded. "They are not," said he, "afraid of political arrests or domiciliary visits." The Queen was somewhat pained at an utter- ance which the German Government regarded as an impertinent in- terference with its domestic afifairs, but a few days afterwards the wrath of Prince Bismarck was appeased by an official explanation in the Times to the effect that Mr. Disraeli had not meant to refer to the afifairs of Germany, or to the arbitrary conduct of the Berlin police. In this unfortunate speech Mr. Disraeli, however, struck a popular note when he referred to the extension of the Empire by the annexa- tion of the Fiji islands, in terms that foreshadowed a policy of Colon- ial expansion. During the year the Queen seldom appeared in public, which was, perhaps, one reason why a marked deterioration in the moral tone of society was discernible. A curious languor crept over the 3S2 VICTORIA. upper classes. They were consumed with a quenchless thirst for amusement, and the genius who could have invented a new pleasure would have had the world at his feet. When the Prince of Wales gave a State Fancy Ball in July, the Times devoted three columns of space to an elaborate description of the dresses. Sport became a serious business to all classes of society, and even grave and earnest men of affairs like Mr. Gladstone wasted their lives in the laborious idleness of ecclesiastical controversies. The more vigorous youth of the aristocracy now began to make their "grand tour," not as did their ancestors to study foreign afifairs and institutions, but merely to kill big game. Fashionable life became so costly that rents had to be exacted with unusual rigor, and the strikes among the agricultural labors that mitigated the advantages of a good harvest, were accord- ingly spoken of in West End drawing-rooms as if they had revived the horrors of the old French times. Though prices had begun to fall, the mercantile classes vied with the aristocracy in the ostenta- tious extravagance of their personal expenditure, and in the City the old and substantial Princes of Commerce were pushed aside by gam- blers who termed themselves "financial agents," and who had sud- denly grown rich by "placing" Foreign Loans and floating fabu- lously successful Joint-Stock Companies. Parliament voted Prince Leopold an income of 15,000 pounds a year. He was a delicate student, and the Queen saw in him much that reminded her of the Prince Consort, the same refined and cul- tured tastes. On the 30th of March the Queen proceeded to Windsor Great Park to review the troops who had been engaged in the Ashanti War. The force, 2,000 in number, went through their evolutions m gallant style, and her Majesty with her own hands awarded the Vic- toria Cross to Lord Gifford for personal bravery in the campaign. On the 13th of April the Queen also inspected the sailors and ma- rines of the Royal Navy who had fought in the Ashanti War. The review took place at Gosport, and many of the officers were, by the Queen's desire, personally presented to her. The controversy then raging over Vivisection seemed to have interested her Majesty greatly, for at the Jubliee meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals there was read a PRINCE OF WALES, rnspecting the Imperial Yeomanr}' Prior to their Departure for South Africa ALliXAXDRA, QUEEN CONSORT. EDWARD VII., KING OF ENGDAND. TRINCB OF WALKS, AS ADMIRAL. QUEEN AND EaCPRESS. 357 letter written by Sir Thomas Biddulph by the Queen's instructions, which ran as follows : "My Dear Lord. — Tlie Queen has commanded me to address you, as President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals, on the occasion of the assembly in this country of the foreign delegates connected with your association and of the Jubilee of the Society, to request you to give expression publicly to her Majesty's warm interest in the success of the efforts which are being made at home and abroad for the purpose of diminishing the cruelties prac- ticed on dumb animals. Tlie Queen hears and reads with horror of the sufferings which the brute creation often undergo from the thoughtlessnes* of the ignorant, and she fears also sometimes from experiments in the pursuit of science. For the removal of the former the Queen trusts much to the progress of education, and in regard to the pursuits of science, she hopes that the entire advantage of those anaesthetic discoveries, from which man has derived so much benefit himself in the alleviation of suffering, may be fully extended to the lower animals. Her Majesty rejoices that the Society awakens the interest of the young by the presentation of prizes for essays con- nected with the subject, and hears with gratification that her son and daughter-in-law have shown their interest by distributing the prizes. Her Majesty begs to announce a donation of loo pounds to the funds of the Society." On the 23d of November her Majesty was present, with the Em- press of Russia, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other members of the Royal Family, at the christening of the infant son of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh — Prince Alfred of Edinburgh ; and on the 3d of December she received a deputation from France to present her with an Address of thanks for services rendered by Enghshmen to the sick and wounded in the war of 1870-71. On the 3d of December her Majesty at Windsor personally pre- sented several seamen and marines with the medals which they had won for conspicuous gallantry in the Ashanti War. A few days after this ceremony the attention of the country was absorbed in the first volume of the biography of the Prince Consort by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Theodore Martin. The verdict of the public was one of imme- diate and unreserved approval. They werfe dehghted with Mr. Mar- 358 VICTOEtA. tin's picture of Prince Albert's domestic life, and of the tender com- panionship in which he and the Queen lived lovingly together. The year 1875 opened less gloomily for the Ministry than for the Opposition. Mr. Disraeli had sanctioned the despatch of a Polar Expedition, and in a curious letter, since published by Mr. Froude, he had tendered Mr. Carlyle the Grand Cross of the Bath on the ground that "a Government should recognize Intellect." He had also offered Mr. Tennyson — "if not a great poet, a real one," to use his own phrase — a baronetcy. Both offers had been refused, but the scientific and literary classes — potent agencies for influencing public opinion — sang loud the praises of a Ministry that was so obviously in sympathy with them. As for the Opposition, Mr. Gladstone's definite refusal to lead them any longer, compelled them to elect a successor, whereupon an infinite amount of dissension, heartburning and jealousy was stirred up in their ranks. Mr. Goschen, Sir Wil- liam Harcourt and Mr. W. E. Forster were the candidates who had most partisans, and the last was undoubtedly the one on whom the public choice would have fallen, if the public had been permitted to arbitrate between the rivals. The Nonconformists, however, had not yet forgiven Mr. Forster, and Mr. Bright put him out of the field by using his powerful influence in favor of Lord Hartington, who was finally selected. Ministers lost considerable of their popularity through Disraeli's kindness towards the owners of unseaworthy ships. Mr. PlimsoU had stirred up public opinion against the "ship-knackers," as he called them, who, having over-insured vessels that were rotten, sent them away to founder at sea with their crews, and then put the in- surance money in their pockets. The Board of Trade had rather frowned on his efforts to get it to detain unseaworthy ships for sur- vey, but in deference to popular pressure the Government had prom- ised to bring in a Merchant Shipping Bill to check the evil which Mr. Plimsoll had discovered and denounced. The Bill was read a second time in the Commons without opposition, and it was one in which the Queen was said to be as much interested as Mr. Plimsoll himself. But Mr. Disraeli announced other business, which would put the Bill aside. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 359 Mr. Plimsoll rose quivering with rage and passion, and moved the adjournment of the House. He not only protested against the Government postponing a Bill that interfered with "the unhallowed gains" of the "ship-knackers," but said that some of them sat in the House, and mentioned by name one of "the villains" he was deter- mined to "unmask." The day after the scene in the House of Com- mons a storm of agitation broke over the country on behalf of Mr. Plimsoll. From every constituency remonstrances couched in terms of strong indignation poured in upon the House of Commons. Tory Members warned the Whigs that they did not dare to run athwart the wave of passion that swept over the land. The Cabinet accord- ingly held a meeting and resolved to bring in a temporary Bill em- powering the Board of Trade to detain rotten ships and to prohibit grain cargoes frombeing carried in bulk. The measure was passed. ParHament was prorogued peacefully on the 13th of August, and, on the whole, Ministers emerged from the Session with credit. In the middle of September it w^s discovered that the Foreign Office had induced the Admiralty to issue a Fugitive Slave Circular to naval officers. They were told they must not receive fugitive slaves in ter- ritorial waters unless their lives were in danger. If the fugitive slave came on board a British ship in territorial waters, he was not to re- main if it were proved he were a slave. If received on the high seas, he must be surrendered when the ship came within the territorial waters of the country from which he had escaped. The Circular, in fact, defined the legal obligations under which British ships of war must logically lie if they chose to enter the territorial waters of slave States, with which England was not at war. It was a Circular em- bodying regulations on which every Liberal Minister had habitually acted, but the Liberal Party immediately proceeded to make political capital out of it. An agitation as fierce as that which was caused by the abandonment of the Merchant Shipping Bill sprang up, and Lord Derby, at whose instance the Admiralty issued the Circular, was ac- cused of attempting to commit England to a furtive partnership with slave-owners. The most that could be said in fairness against the document was that it was so badly drafted as to imply that the deck of a Queen's ship was subject to foreign jurisdiction. Moreover, the order to surrender a fugitive slave who had taken refuge on a 360 VICTORIA. Queen's ship on the high seas, was so completely indefensible that Lord Derby himself struck it out of the second edition of his Circular. It was announced in March that the Prince of Wales was to visit India in November, with Sir Bartle Frere as his guide. In July it was decided that his tour should be a State Progress, the expenses of which should be paid for out of the revenues of England and India. The opening days of 1876 were marked by the announcement of Lord Northbrook's resignation as Viceroy of Indid. The Indian A^iceroy had for some time thwarted the policy of the Secretary of State, and the final rupture was made when they dififered in opinion as to the kind of Envoy the Government should have at Cabul. It was a quaint controversy. Lord Salisbury said the face of the British Envoy should be white. Lord Northbrook contended that it should be black, whereupon Lord Salisbury wrote Lord Northbrook a de- spatch, couched in terms that left him no alternative save resigna- tion. According to Lord Salisbury, unless a white Envoy kept watch over the Ameer, Shere AH, our information from Cabul would be defective. According to Lord Northbrook, if we sent an Eu- ropean Envoy to Cabul, he would be promptly assassinated, in which case v(e should get no information at all, and India would be dragged into a ruinous war of vengeance. Lord Northbrook had nothing on his side but facts. No Afghan Ameer had ever been able to guar- antee a Christian Envoy at Cabul against assassination. When Lord Salisbury did send an European Envoy to Cabul he was not only murdered, but, pending his inevitable murder, the only information worth having that came from Cabul, came from native sources. It was, moreover, a slight on the Indian Government to say that they had not been able to train a Mohammedan official of rank up to the duties of efifective diplomatic espionage at Cabul. However, the dispute ended in Lord Northbrook coming back to England, and in Lord Lytton going out to India as his successor. Unhappily, in 1876, a different type of ruler was needed in India. The war cloud in Eastern Europe was about to break, and it was well known that in any diplomatic contest between Russia and England, it would be the aim of Russia to weaken England by making trouble for her on her Indian frontier. For the stress of the times, a man like Lord Mayo was necessary, and Lord Lytton was everything that Lord Mayo was not. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 36] All through 1875 there had been in Bosnia and Herzegovina disturbances precisely similar to those in the Principalities which pre- ceded the Crimean War. After Lord Derby had been appealed to by Musurus Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador in London, he sug- gested to Count Andrassy that Austria should prevent her subjects on her frontier from supporting the insurgents in the mutinous Turk- ish provinces, and a similar suggestion was made to the Servian Gov- ernment. His advice to the Turks was to stamp out rebellion as quickly as possible, so as to prevent it from spreading and provoking Garden Party at Windsor Castle. European intervention. The Porte, instead of acting on this advice, desired that the Consuls of the Great Powers should mediate between the Sultan and the rebels, and Lord Derby, instead of adhering to his original counsels, weakly fell in with this proposal, and consented, though with great hesitancy, to let the British Consul join the dele- gation. The rebels were delighted with the proposals of the Consuls for their better government, but refused to lay down their arms unless the Powers guaranteed that the Turks would carry them out. The Consuls were pleased that the demands of the insurgents were mod- 362 VICTORIA. erate and reasonable, but could give no guarantees for the good faith of Turkey. As they were returning from their mission fighting began again. The Royal Titles Bill was introduced by the Prime JMinister on the 7th of February. He had some idea that it would be an offence against the prerogative if he stated what the new title was to be, but it was said that the Queen, ever since the Duchess of Edinburgh had claimed precedence over her sister-in-law, on the ground that hers was an Imperial, whilst theirs was a Royal title, desired to be styled Empress of India. On the other hand, most people objected to change the Queen's designation. Why, it was asked, should the successor of Egbert wish to be a modern Empress? To insert India in the existing form of the Royal title would adequately meet any real necessity for change. The Imperial title was also surrounded with evil associations, and it suggested that ImperiaHsm or personal Gov- ernment, tempered by casual appeals for supoprt to the democracy or the Army over the head of Parliament, was the end aimed at by the Ministerial policy. Mr. Disraeli's haughty refusal to commun- icate the new title to the House of Commons was met by a motion that no progress be made with the Bill till the title was revealed. The Prime Ministers accordingly yielded the point, and promised to give the necessary explanations before the Bill was read a second time. The debate on the Second Reading showed clearly that the House of Commons was hostile to the Bill ; but as the Government gave a pledge that the title should be used in India only, the Second Reading was carried. This pledge was soon broken, for the Procla- mation was made, not that the new title should be used in India, but that it might be used everywhere save in the United Kingdom. The Peers were as reluctant as the Commons to sanction the adoption of any exotic titles by the Crown, and the Court did not scruple to bring personal pressure to bear on them for the purpose of overcoming their threatened opposition. Lord Shaftesbury was summoned to Windsor in early spring. As it was twenty years since he had been the Queen's guest, he says in his Diary that he assumed his invitation wss brought about by the controversy then raging over the Royal Titles Bill. "I dread it(the visit)," he writes in his Diary, on the I2th of March, "the cold, the evening dress, the solitude, for I am old QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 363 and dislike being far away from assistance should I be ill at night. * * * She (the Queen) sent for me in 1848 to consult me on a very important matter. Can it be so now?" The next entry showed his foreboding to be correct. He says, on the 14th of March, "Returned from Windsor. I am sure it was so, though not distinctly avowed. Her Majesty personally said nothing." But though she did not dis- cuss the views he expressed to her, a Lord-in-Waiting formally re- quested him to communicate them to Mr. DisraeU. Mr. Disraeli paid no heed to them, and Lord Shaftesbury accordingly moved (3d of April) in the House of Lords, an Address to the Queen praying her not to take the title of Empress. On the 17th of August the Queen unveiled the Scottish National Memorial of Prince Albert, which had been erected in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. The monument consisted of a colossal eques- trian statue of the Prince Consort, and the four panels of the pedestal contained bas-reliefs illustrating notable events in his Royal High- ness's career. During the Recess, .the country could think of nothing save the Eastern Question. Throughout the Session Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hartington had, with commendable patriotism, abstained from putting questions to Ministers with reference to their Eastern policy. Parliament and the country were, therefore, in the dark as to what was going on. But towards the end of June disquieting rumors flew about to the efifect that there had been a revolution in Bulgaria, and that the Turks had suppressed it by massacres of the most revolting barbarity. On the loth of July Mr. Forster put a question on the subject, which Mr. Disraeli answered by saying that he considered the reports exaggerated, nor did he think that torture had been re- sorted to by "an Oriental people who, I beheve, seldom resort to tor- ture, but generally terminate their connection with culprits in a more expeditious manner." This ill-timed jest was hailed with a great guffaw of laughter from the Ministerial Benches. It destroyed Mr. Disraeli's authority in the country when the awful truth was revealed, not by the diplomatic agents of England, who strove hard to conceal it, but by two American gentlemen, Mr. J. A. Macgahan, a distin- guished journalist, and Mr. Eugene Schuyler, the United States Consul-General in Turkey. They went to Philippopolis on the 25th rf64 VICTORIA. of July, and Mr. Macgahan's description of what he saw in the coun- try, which had been ravaged by the Turks, when pubUshed in the Daily News, sent a thrill of horror through the civilized world. The partisans of Turkey were enraged beyond self-control, and vowed that the worst of all outrages that had been committed was that which was perpetrated by the publication of Mr. Macgahan's report on the brutalities of the Turkish soldiery. Some Conservative writers and speakers still tried to persuade the world that the Russian Government had bribed the Turkish Pashas to commit and the Bulgarians to submit to outrages, in order to discredit Ottoman rule in Europe. But their efforts were futile, and the word went forth from all sides that never again would Eng- land draw her sword, as in 1854, to save Turkey from the conse- quences of her incurable barbarism. Strange to aay. Lord Beacons- field failed to guage the strength of this feeling. On the 20th of September, in his speech at Aylesford, he spoke in a querulous tone of the popular meetings which were being held all over England ex- pressing sympathy with Bulgaria and urging the Government to shield her from the cruelty of her oppressors. The agitation, he said, was "impolitic, and founded on erroneous data." Those who got up these meetings, he declared, were guilty of outrages on "the principle of patriotism, worse than any of those Bulgarian atrocities of which we have heard so much." His negative policy which de- stroyed the Berlin Memorandum without putting any counter pro- posals in its place, would, he contended, have had a happy issue in negotiations. These, however, were upset by the unexpected Ser- vian declaration of war against Turkey, which was prompted by "the Secret Societies." Yet England had signed the Andrassy Note, which warned Turkey that this unexpected war would be waged against her by Servia, unless she granted the reforms demanded in the Note. When Turkey, instead of granting these reforms, mas- sacred the population that craved for them, it was absurd to suppose that "the Secret Societies of Europe," rather than the popular sym- pathies of the Christian Slavs, forced the Servian Government into war. On the 25th of September, the day after the war with Servia began. Sir H. Elliot pressed the Porte to make peace on terms which QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 365 Lord Derby suggested, and which were most creditable to his diplo- matic sagacity. Lord Derby's proposals, if carried out, would have saved Turkey from the supreme disaster which was awaiting her, for they provided that the Porte should effectively guarantee admin- istrative reforms in her Christian Provinces, while Servia and Mon- tenegro should lay down their arms and return to the status quo ante bellum. The Porte would only accept an armistice which would have been unfair to Servia and Montenegro, and Servia would not accept a settlement which did not provide for the withdrawal of the barbarous soldiers of Turkey from Bulgaria. Whilst negotiations were pending, the Turks, on the 29th of October, beat down the Servian defence at Alexinatz, whereupon, to the mortification of England, the Czar effected in an instant that which Lord Derby, after many weary weeks of negotiation, had failed to accomplish. Igna- tiefif was instructed to tell the Porte that if it did not accept an armis- tice of six weeks within forty-eigh hours, diplomatic relations be- tween Turkey and Russia would cease. When the same threat had been delivered by the British Ambassador, the Turks ignored it ; in fact, they were impudent enough to meet it with a counter-proposal so absurd, that the Italian Minister said they were obviously playing with England. Although strengthened by a great victory, they did not, however, dare to treat the representaive of the Czar as if he were the representative of the Queen. They accepted his ultimatum without demur or delay, and thus owing to the feebleness of Eng- glish diplomacy, Russia emerged with the honors of the game in which, up to the last moment. Lord Derby held the winning cards. Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Derby had now given Russia not only a plausible pretext for taking the lead in dealing with the Eastern Question, but also an opportunity for intimating to the world that, in circumstances which extorted the sanction of the Continental Powers, she had the right, in case of a deadlock, to deal with it sin- gle-handed. In other words, the English Government, by allowing the Porte to trifle with it during September, 1876, flung away at one cast the only practical results won by the Crimean War. The Czar now proposed that a coercive naval demonstration by the Powers should be made in the Bosphorus, but Lord Derby re- jected the idea. After some weeks he suggested that a Conference 21 366 VICTORIA. of the Powers should be held to consider the situation on the basis of his own excellent proposals for peace, which have been already de- scribed. The Conference was assented to, and Lord Derby to some extent retrieved the position he lost on the morrow of Alexinatz. The Czar had also given the English Government the fullest assur- ances that he had no design on Constantinople, and in proof of his sincerity he had withdrawn a suggestion he had thrown out for the temporary occupation of Bosnia and Bulgaria by Austrian and Rus- sian troops, and frankly accepted the English proposals for a settle- ment. Early in 1876 the death of Lady Augusta Stanley, wife of the Dean of Westminster, removed one of the Queen's most trusted friends. She had been for many years in personal attendance on her Majesty, and her services were so valuable that for many years her marriage with Dean Stanley had been postponed simply because the Royal Family could not spare her from their domestic circle. This gentle lady, throughout her life of unobtrusive usefulness at the Deanery of Westminster, served as one of the connecting links be- tween the upper, the middle, and the lower classes. The daily papers were filled with glowing accounts of the proc- lamation of the Queen as Empress of India (Kaiser-i-Hind) at Delhi, in the presence of the Viceroy and the great feudatories of the Em- pire on the 1st of January, 1877. The ceremony was accompanied by salvoes of artillery. In 1877 Sir Stafiford Northcote was Leader in the House of Commons. The debates in Parliament were rendered memorable by the appearance of a cool and adroit gladiator on the Irish benches, whose business-like methods of attacking the Prisons Bill in Com- mittee extorted admiration from all old ParHamentary hands. This was Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell. It was known to be his intention to obstruct the Prisons Bill, in defiance of the wishes of Mr. Butt, the leader of the Irish Party. But it was assumed that a combina- tion of the two great English Parties would easily crush opposition of the frivolous and factious order with which Mr. Beresford Hope and a section of the Tories had met Mr. Forster's Ballot Bill. But Mr. Parnell had evidently forseen this contingency, and he met it by inventing a higher and more scientific type of obstruction than Mr. QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 367 Hope had been, capable of devising. His obstruction paralyzed the two front benches, because he took care that it was not frivQlous. He had evidently spent many nights and days in the minute dissec- tion of the Bill, and he had manifestly toiled without stint in reading up the whole question of Prison discipline. It was not till he had made himself master of the entire subject that he intervened in the Debates, and then the House, to its amazement, found that the Home Secretary himself, when pitted against this bland young Irish squire with his soft voice, his lugubrious intonation, his funeral man- ner, and dull, prosaic Gradgrind-like form of speech, was but a poor amateur wriggling in the firm grip of a pitiless expert. To the dis- may of the three leaders of the House — Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Hartington, and Mr. Butt — there was no easy means of getting rid of Mr. Parnell, simply because his amendments — ^and their name was legion — ^were not vamped up. Nay, he had draughted them so skil- fully that most of them appealed strongly to the sympathies of other sections of the House than those connected with Ireland. Indeed, but for the persistency with which Mr. Parnell and one or two of his friends "bored" the House with the sufiferings of certain Fenian pris- oners under discipline, one would have thought that his treatment of the Bill was simply that of an English country gentleman, who had made himself an authority on the question, and had a genuine desire to eliminate from it stupid provisions which had been palmed ofif on a credulous Home Secretary. Nor was it in mastery of detail and skill of draughtsmanship alone that. Mr. Parnell showed himself formidable. His ingenuity in inventing amendments drawn on lines that appealed to English popular feeling was inexhaustible. This year the Queen received General Grant who was making his famous tour. The Queen, who had a genuine admiration for the brave American, arranged several festivities for the General and Mrs. Grant. It is not necessary to describe the steps which led to the out- break of the war between Russia and Turkey, though it may be said in passing that her Majesty was greatly disturbed. Nor is there need to narrate the events of the war — how Osman Pasha from be- hind his earthworks at Plevna blocked the Russian advance, and Mukhtar held the Russians at bay in Asia Minor. The Tories were 368 VICTORIA. clamoring for England to interfere on behalf of Turkey, some of them seeming to hold out that it was almost a duty for the country to head a new crusade on behalf of Islam against Christianity, so fever- ish and extravagant was their partisanship. But the public utter- ance of the Ministers indicated their determination to remain neutral, and Lord Derby did his best to convince Musurus Pasha that Turkey was abandoned to her fate. Though the fact was not known at the time, a perfectly frank and friendly understanding existed between Russia and England all the time. But the rnoney market was affected, and securities fell with amazing rapidity. Throughout England, meetings were held by business people, protesting against any divergence from the policy of neutrality. At night, bands of young men representing the war party marched about London sing- ing: "We don't want to fight, But by Jingo if we do We've got the ships, we've got the men, And we've got the money, too." Thus originated the terms "Jingo" and "Jingoism," so much made use of in English politics down to the present time. The third volume of the "Life of the Prince Consort," was pub- lished about this time, and it was assumed by the partisans of both sides that its author, Theodore Martin, had issued it by the Queen's order as a powerful pamphlet against Russia. But another circumstance gave color to the floating gossip as to the Queen's anti-Turkish sympathies. She resolved to bestow on Disraeli, now Lord Beaconsfield, a distinction she had bestowed on only three of her Premiers — Melbourne, Peel and Aberdeen — that of paying him a visit at his country seat — Beaconsfield who held to the views of the Prince Consort undeviatingly in this matter. But it was war, always war, and Lord Derby in 1878 did what he could to stifle the War Party that were for trouble with Syria, and more than all he saved the country from war with Russia, in which victory could bring no other gain to England than the privilege of restoring the liberated Turkish provinces to barbarism. Lord Derby resigned, and the panic caused by his resignation made the Cabinet do what it could without making war inevitable. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 369 Lord Derby's successor was Lord Salisbury. Then came the war. The war was of short duration, and the Treaty of Peace was signed at San Stefano March 3d, 1878. Nineteen days later, the text of this Treaty, by which, as Prince Bismarck told General Grant, "Ignatieff had swallowed more than Russia could digest," was printed in the English newspapers. The war party collapsed, it was clear that the Russians had not touched British interests, and that to offer to fight on behalf of Turkey when she no longer existed as a fighting Power and had signed a treaty of Peace, was rather odd. In 1878 came the third Afghan trouble. War was declared, and Parliament was summoned on the 5th of December to hear the news. It need scarcely be touched on in this connection, save to remark that the Queen had much to do and think of rather than to make herself a voluntary worshipper of sorrow for her husband, as many have thought was the case. The Queen always had to do with public afifairs. Says Smalley, "A notion prevails that, while the Queen is ad- mirable in all the relation of private life, she has had no great influ- ence on the course of public afifairs. It is a mistaken notion, and it rests on a mistaken conception of the Sovereign's relation to the State. The days when a King or Queen of England ruled as well as reigned are, of course, long since past. England has been governed successively by the Crown, by her aristrocracy, by her middle class, and now by her democracy. The transfer of power to the middle class was effected just before the Queen came to the throne. Its transfer to the working classes was effected late in her reign, partly in 1868, finally in 1874, by the passage of the County Franchise bill. "But from the beginning of the Victorian era in 1837 down to the present day the Queen has had a constant and often a considera- ble share in the government. It has been, moreover, an increasing share, and, though it may seem a paradox, it is perfectly true that under the present democratic constitution of the government her share of power has been larger than while the middle classes gov- erned and the suffrage was restricted. The reason is not political mainly, but personal. It is the personal character and capacity of the Queen which have asserted themselves. She began to learn her trade as soon as she became Queen. Under the tutelage of Lord 370 VICTORIA. Melbourne she applied herself to the business of the state. She maintained with successive Prime Ministers — with Peel, with Pal- merston, with Disraeli, with Mr. Gladstone, with Lord Salisbury, and with the lesser men who at various periods held the Premiership, a close and continuing relation. They were Prime Ministers from time to time. She was Queen all the time. She knew everything. All the springs of foreign and domestic policy were laid bare to her. "If there ever was a period during which her ascendancy seemed likely to be shaken it was while Prince Albert was Consort. She came much under his sway, and, accomplished as he was, able in some ways as he proved himself, he was not a good adviser. He was a foreigner, and he had the foreigner's point of view. So had Stock- mar. The Queen, nevertheless, though leaning too much on Prince Albert, applied herself as assiduously as ever to business. Then and ever she read all the important despatches. No matter of moment in foreign policy was ever settled without her knowledge, seldom without her concurrence. • In domestic affairs she had less authority. She might influence, and did influence Ministers, but she could only influence the House of Commons at second hand, and she had to sub- mit, of course, to many a change — sometimes a change that to her seemed revolutionary, and was at any rate fundamental — which she had vainly opposed." During the session of 1878 only one matter personally afTecting the interests of the Queen came up. She sent to both Houses the announcement of the approaching marriage of the Duke of Con- naught with the Princess Louise, third daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, popularly known as the "Red Prince." The Princess was described by Lord Beaconsfield as "distinguished for her intelligence and accomplishments, and her winning simplicity of thought and manner." The only great public function of the year in which the Queen took part was the review of the fleet at Spithead. It represented a naval force which, except for its ordnance, was equal in strength to the navy of any of the Continental Powers. At Paris, June 12th, there died George V., ex-King of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland, grandson of George III, of England, and first cousin of the Queen. The old jealously with which the people re- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 371 garded English princes who had interests apart from those of Eng- land, must account for the general indifference as to his decease. The end of the year brought a greater sorrow to the Queen than the death of her cousin. The Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, died under extremely pathetic circumstances. The 8th of November, her daughter, the Princess Victoria, was attacked by diphtheria. The Grand Duchess attended the child, and the whole family, though isolated, contracted the disease. The strength of the Grand Duchess gave way under the bodily fatigue and mental strain, she was stricken with diphtheria and died. The grief of the Queen was equalled by that of the Prince of Wales who seems to have re- garded the Grand Duchess as his favorite sister. CosUvnic Ball, Buckingham I'alace. XVIII. PEACE, AND NO PEACE. The Zulu War — Death of Prince Louis Napoleon — Fall of Lord Beacons- field — Bradlaugh and the Oath — Boer and Briton — Parnellites— Crisis in Ireland — "Boycotting" — Death of George Elliot — Assassination of the Czar — Assassination of President Garfield — Phoenix Park — Death of Beaconsfield, Darwin, Garibaldi and Gambetta — John Brown — People's Palace and First Thought of the Golden Jubilee. 4 'I' ^ jifJ^HERE is no difficulty in understanding the causes of the ^^^"^Q* Zulu War in 1879. The Zulu king (Cetewayo) had ever been a staunch ally of England. But he had a blood-feud with the Boers of the Transvaal, and he claimed part of their territory as having been originally stolen by them from his race. The Queen did all she could to stop another war, but the fighting had begun. Sir Garnet Wolseley was accordingly sent to take su- preme command at the scene of action. Ere he could arrive Chelms- ford, stimulated into action by Colonel Evelyn Wood, had however taken a decisive step. He gave the Zulus battle at Ulundi on the 3d of July, and won a victory which put an end to the war. Cetewayo was taken prisoner on the 28th of August, and, despite the efforts made by Sir Garnet Wolseley and others to set up another Govern- ment for the one which had been destroyed, Zululand lapsed into the confusion and anarchy in which it has since remained. The Afghan War had been more skilfully managed. The Brit- ish invaders overcame all resistance, and when Parliament assembled General Stewart was in possession of Candahar, and Shere Ali had fled from Cabul. Soon afterwards he died, and his heir, Yakoob, come with his submission to the British camp at Gundamuk. There, on the 25th of May, he signed a Treaty which bound the Indian Gov- ernment to give him a subsidy of 60,000 pounds a year and defend him against his enemies, in return for which he ceded the "scientific frontier," and agreed to manage his foreign policy in accordance with the advice of a British Resident who was to be received in Cabul. 373 374 VICTOKIA. In South Africa affairs began to assume a more hopeful aspect towards the end of the year. After the victory of Ulundi the Zulu chiefs one after another submitted to the British Government. Cet- ewayo — who, as we have seen, had been captured on the 28th of Au- gust — was sent as a State prisoner to Cape Town, and Sir Garnet Wolseley made peace with the Zulu chiefs and people. The Kafhr chief, Secocoeni, who had defied the Government before the Zulu War broke out, was attacked and subdued. He had been secretly aided by the Boers, who had warned Sir Bartle Frere that they did not accept the annexation of the Transvaal. At Pretoria Sir Garnet Wolseley, however, told the Boer leaders that the annexation which they were resisting was irreversible, and the Boers for a time confined themselves to obstructing the judicial and fiscal administration of the British Government. The Zulu War was marked by one incident that powerfully in- fluenced the destiny of Europe : It cost the heir of the Bonapartes his life. The young Prince Louis Napraleon — or the "Prince Imperial," as the Bonapartists insisted on calling him — had resolved to serve with the British Army in Zululand. His object was to acquire a mil- itary reputation that might be useful to him as a Pretender. On the 1st of June Colonel Harrison allowed the Prince to make a reconnoissance for the purpose of choosing the site of a camp, but without obtaining Lord Chelmsford's sanction. The Prince's party was to consist of six troopers and six Basutos, and though no officer was sent to accompany him. Lieutenant Carey, an accomplished and intelligent soldier, happened, by an accident, to join the band. Carey had been employed to survey and map out some of the adjoin- ing ground, and he asked leave to go with the Prince to clear up a doubtful topographical point on which he and Lord Chelmsford dif- fered in opinion. Carey merely went for his private convenience. He was not told to look after the Prince ; in fact, he was told that, if he went, he was not to interfere with him, because his Imperial High- ness, eager to re-gild the tarnished Eagles of his House, desired to have all the credit of conducting the Expedition. The Prince was in command of the party, and in a fit of boyish impatience, and in de- fiance of Carey's advice, ordered it to march without waiting for the six Basutos, who were late of putting in an appearance. He led his QUJCEN ANJl KMPKESS, 375 little troop for sotrte distance, and then, without taking the most or- dinary precautions against surprise, he halted — again against Carey's counsel — for a rest in a deserted kraal surrounded by a field of tall Indian corn. This was a fatal blunder, for the cover of the cornfield rendered the place eminently convenient for the conceal- ment of an ambuscade. Here the Prince waited an hour, whilst the Zulus surrounded him. Then he gave his men the order to move. The Zulus sprang from their hiding-places and fired on the little band, whose startled horses were difificult to mount. It was impos- sible to see what was going on in the cornfield, and it was not till the troopers had retreated for some distance that Lieutenant Carey and his comrades discovered that the Prince was missing. To have made a stand in the cornfield would have been instant death. It ap- peared that the Prince had been unable to mount his horse, which was frightened and restive, and that the Zulus overtook him and stabbed him with their assegais. Thanks to Carey's knowledge of the ground, the rest of the party, with the exception of two troopers, were saved, and Carey was able to give Colonel Wood's force the val- uable intelligence that the enemy, contrary to the general belief, were infesting the country in front. The ex-Empress, who had encouraged her son to go to South Africa, was prostrated with sorrow and remorse. Even the tender sympathy of the Queen could not console her for the loss of one whose life was necessary for her ambition, and whose death shattered the last hopes of Imperialism in France. The family life of the Court in 1879 was brightened by a Royal wedding. On the 13th of March the marriage of the Duke of Con- naught with the Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia was cele- brated with some display. That same month the Queen and Princess Beatrice went to Italy. Here she learned of the death of her grandson. Prince Waldemar, of Prussia. During her stay in Italy her Majesty assumed the title of the Countess of Balmoral. Garibaldi and the Pope vied with King Humbert in welcoming her. King Humbert and Queen Margherita left Rome for Monza, and met the train which brought the Queen from Baveno. The party then drove to the Royal Castle, said to be the most uncomfortable of Royal residences, and after lunching, the 37G ^'^CTORTA. Queen returned to Baveno, which slie left on tlie 23d of April, arriv- ing in Paris the next day. On her arrival at Turin, she \vas met with the news of the death of the Duke of Roxburghe, the Imsband of one of her valued friends — the shadow of death seeming to keep close to her. She arri\-ed at Windsor on the 27th, where the German Empress came to spend some days with her in May. During this visit both Royal ladies became great-grandmothers, the Queen's first great- The Green Drawing-Rooni, Windsor Castle. grandchild being born on the 12th of May. This was the firstborn daughter of the Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, the eklest daughter of the German Crown Prince and Princess. "If 1880 opened cheerfully, it was solely because men felt a sense of relief at getting rid of what they called 'the bad old year.' " Parliament was opened on the 5th of February. The Ameer liad abdicated and the army could not be called home, the distress in Ireland was great and had to be provided for in QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 377 the Irish ReHef Bill. This was the year of the rout of the Tories and Beaconsfield. While the elections were taking place the Queen was abroad. Little dreaming that the verdict of the people would destroy Lord Beaconsfield's Ministry, she had arranged to visit Hesse-Darmstadt to be presented at the confirmation of the daugh- ters of thejate Princess AHce. Her Majesty returned to England on the 17th of April, and on the 28th the Ministers resigned office. Gladstone became Prime Minister. The year was not an eventful one in the family life of the Court. Before Parliament was dissolved the Queen arranged to visit her rela- tives in Germany. The time had come when her granddaughters, the Princess Victoria and the Princess Elizabeth of Hesse were to be confirmed, and her Majesty desired to be present at the ceremony. She returned to England just as the electoral crisis was over, to find the Ministry she had thought so stable overthrown, and public opin- ion not only clamoring for the dismissal of Beaconsfield from office, but for the return of Gladstone to power. On the 20th of May the Queen and the Princess Beatrice left Windsor for Balmoral, and the Prince and Princess of Wales dis- charged her Majesty's social duties as they had already done so fre- quently, and have ever since. On her way to her Highland home, the Queen took part in a ceremony of which she was the promoter. During a terrific storm in February, a Swedish ship had been thrown on the rocks of Peter- head. The coastguard succeeded in flinging a rocket over the wreck, but the crew apparently misunderstood the working of the apparatus. The vessel would have been lost but for the bravery of one of the coast guard. He leaped into water, and after a fierce conflict with the waves reached the ship, fixed the rocket appliance, saw the crew safely conveyed ashore, and was himself the last to take his place in the cradle. The Queen presented him with the Albert medal in ' May, decorating him with her own-hands. That year Lord Beaconsfield published his audacious poHtical novel "Endymion." The town was in raptures over the burlesque on society in it, and every character was said to be recognized as some one in social and political life. 378 VICTORIA. The usual political differences as to management of the country brought about the usual results, and with the approach of the elec- tions the people were excited. The "mismanagement" of the wars, their "good management," the good Budget, the bad Budget, these were the cries. At the elections the Tories were defeated. While the elections were taking place the Queen was abroad. Little dreaming that the verdict of the people would destroy Lord Beaconsfield's Ministry, she had arranged to visit Hesse-Darmstadt to be present at the confirmation of the daughters of the late Princess Alice, and after that ceremony to spend a brief holiday at Baden. Her Majesty returned to England on the 17th of April, and on the 28th of April the Ministers resigned office. Lord Beaconsfied was not present on the occasion. He had bade farewell to the Queen on the previous day. After the results of the Election were known strenuous efforts were made to prevent Mr. Gladstone from becom- ing Prime Minister. The general opinion, however, was that, as Lord Beaconsfield's fall from power was due mainly to Mr. Glad- stone's energetic-and persistent criticism of his policy, Mr. Gladstone ought to take the responsibility of forming a Government. On the 3d of May an incident occurred which at the time inter- ested America as well as England. Mr. Bradlaugh, the new mem- ber for Northampton, came forward to be sworn. Mr. Bradlaugh was notoriously an Atheist, and he claimed to make an affirmation. The Speaker doubted if he could affirm, and a Select Committee ap- pointed to consider the question, reported that he could not. On the 2ist of May Mr. Bradlaugh came forward and claimed to take the oath. This the Fourth Party opposed as revolting to their con- sciences, for had not Mr. Bradlaugh publicly declared that as he was an Athesist the religious sanction in the oath was to him meaningless? There was no precedent for refusing to swear a member. The law seemed to be that it was his duty to his constituents to get himself sworn. But the point was referred to another Committee, and they reported that Mr. Bradlaugh could not be sworn. The absurdity of this proceeding is easily illustrated. In the Parliament of 1886, Mr. Bradlaugh was allowed to take the oath without a word of protest from the conscience-seared pietists of the Fourth Party. But by that time most of them had become Ministers, and were not anxious QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 379 to encourage the obstruction of public business. On the 21st of June Mr. Labouchere, the senior member for Northampton, moved that Mr. Bradlaugh be allowed to affirm. The motion was rejected on the 22d of June by a vote of 275 to 230, and when Mr. Bradlaugh, after speaking in his defence, refused to leave the bar, Sir Stafford Northcote carried a motion that he be imprisoned in the Clock Tower. This step made the House the laughing-stock of the nation, and the Tories promptly released Mr. Bradlaugh from his luxurious retreat. On the ist of July Mr. Gladstone moved and carried a res- olution allowing Mr. Bradlaugh to affirm at his own risk, and subject to any penalties he might incur by doing so, if it were found by the Courts that he had broken the law. Difficulties of a serious character soon gathered round the Min- istry. The Turks refused to make those concessions of territory to Montenegro and Greece which had been recommended by the Treaty of Berlin. Lord Granville succeeded in uniting the European Pow- ers in a vain attempt to induce Turkey to fulfil her obligations. The Porte was warned that, unless Dulcigno was given up to Montenegro by a certain date, the Powers would resort to coercion. When that date arrived the European Fleets assembled at Ragusa, under the command of Sir Beauchamp Seymour, to make a naval demonstra- tion against Turkey, but, as the captains of the ships were prohibited from firing a shot, the naval demonstration amused rather than alarmed the Porte. At this point Mr. Gladstone hit on a happy ex- pedient for bringing the Sultan to reason. He threatened to send a British fleet to Smyrna, and, though France refused to join in the scheme, Russia and Italy were willing to act with England. The mere threat was sufficient. The customs dues of the port of Smyrna supplied the only ready money on which the Sultan could depend for the payment of his household expenses. Mr. Gladstone's intention plainly was to intercept or impound these moneys till Turkey fulfilled her obUgations ; and the Sultan, alarmed at the prospect, instructed Dervish Pasha to hand over Dulcigno to the Montenegrins. The Greeks were less fortunate. Finding that they could get no con- cessions from Turkey by diplomacy, they threatened war. But under pressure from the European Powers, they were held down, and the diplomatists again undertook to reconsider their claims. 380 VICTORIA. The mischievous policy of annexation which had been pursued in South Africa was now bearing fruit. When the Transvaal Repub- lic was annexed Englishmen were told that the Boers desired annex- ation. As a matter of fact, the Boers never meant to submit to the loss of their independence. When the Boers in the Transvaal asked for the restoration of their rights, they were told by Sir Bartle Frere that England would never concede their claims ; though, as a matter of fact, no sane Englishman had ever dreamt of holding the Trans- vaal Republic by an army of occupation against the will of its people. The Boers ultimately rebelled, the occasion of the revolt being the refusal of a citizen at Pretoria to pay an illegal claim made on him by the Treasury. On the 13th of December, 1880, at Heidelberg, they proclaimed a Republic under the Triumvirate Kruger, Joubert and Pretorius. A collision between the insurgents and British troops under Colonel Anstruther occurred at Bronkhorst Spruit, which ended in the defeat of the latter ; and as the year closed. General Sir George Pomeroy Colley was making a futile effort to quell the rising and reconquer the Transvaal. Nothing could be more embarrassing than the condition of Ire- land when Mr. Gladstone became Prime Minister. The Home Rul- ers returned sixty-eight members to the House of Commons, and, though a few of them were lukewarm Nationalists, they had organ- ized themselves into a Separate Party, under the leadership of Mr. Parnell. He plainly indicated that they would make use of the feuds between the Opposition and the Government to further their own cause. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Forster first of all decided to rule Ireland without coercive legislation. But during the debates on the Address to the Crown it was made manifest that they had no clear idea of the extent to which agrarian distress prevailed in Ireland- that they ignored the alarming increase of harsh evictions which were certain to excite the peasantry to savage deeds of retaliation; that they failed to understand how famine had been averted solely by the charitable funds raised during the previous year; and that they ac- cordingly did not mean to re-open the Land Question. The Irish Party, therefore, at the outset ranged themselves with the Opposi- tion, and even' sat beside the Tories below the gangway on the left side of the Speaker's chair. They began operations by bringing in Thk RrcTOR OI-- \\'iiipriNr,nAM Thi-: ]!isiii>i- oi'- WiNLii I's ri K THK OUKKN'S LAST ATTKNPANTvS. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 383 a Bill to suspend evictions for non-payment of rent, which the Gov- ernment opposed. But the case presented by. the Irish Members seemed too serious to be put aside. Tliey had publicly declared that 15,000 persons were to be evicted that year, in circumstances which rendered eviction tanta- mount to a sentence of death. They had publicly admitted that it was wicked to extort rack rents from these persons by threats of evic- tion, and that, unless they were protected from the rapacity of their landlords^ the peace of Ireland would be imperilled. And then they permitted the Peers to reject the protective Bill, which Mr. Forster had pressed forward as necessary for the preservation of tranquility ! Either the Government was wrong in introducing the Bill, or it was wrong to remain responsible for the peace of Ireland after the Bill had been rejected. Rural Ireland had by this time been completely organized into a Land League by Mr. Michael Davitt, and this Land League was really a gigantic trades-union, to promote strike against rack rents. The leaders of the League advised the people to resist eviction, and Mr. John Dillon used words to which Sir W. Barttelot called attention in the House of Commons on the 17th of August, that seemed to advise a general strike against rent. Debates fol- lowed day after day, in the course of which the hostility between the Parnellites and the Ministry deepened with every turn. Mr. Par- nell's cynical argument that as Ministers could not, because of a Par- liamentary defeat, carry the Disturbance Bill, which they admitted was essential for the good government of Ireland, they ought, as men of honor, to free Ireland from the mischievous interference of .the Imperial Parliament, seemed to cut Mr. Forster to the quick. At last, in Committee of Supply on the 26th of August, it was clear that an organized attempt to coerce the Government by obstruction was to be made. This set the Parnellites and the Ministerialists by the ears, and consumed a great part of the sitting. On the 6th of September Parliament was prorogued. But dur- ing the recess the condition of Ireland grew worse and worse. The landlords, dreading the forthcoming Land Bill, pressed on evictions. The Land League urged the people to refuse to pay back rents, and the League had by this time become so powerful, that it could en- force its decrees almost as surely as if it had been the regular Govern- 22 38 1 VR'TOKI \. incnl of llic ciuintr}". The laxoiite \\ea|i(]ii was in pri iin miu'C against the laiullonl w agent ni tins w a}' — ho was ignorcih Irealcil as a leper. lU) goods soUl to him, nothing lione for Inni. This was cahetl "boycotting." Ciiark's Stewart rarneU. On the _'(! of No\enh)cr, i S8o, the Irisii Atlorne\ -t ieneral liled an in(hclnicnt of nineteen connts. against i\h-. j'ai-neh, .Mr. Dillon, and various leaders of tlie Land League, lor consjiiring to incite ten- QUEEOSr AND EMPRESS. 385 ants not to pay rent or take farms from which the occupiers had been evicted, but the trial, after lasting for twenty days, broke down, be- cause the jury could not agree on a verdict. Ere the year ended it was known that the Cabinet, though it had nearly been broken up by the decision, had at last consented to let Mr. Forster bring in a strong Coercion Bill next Session. The year was not an eventful one in the family life of the Court. Before Parliament was dissolved the Queen arranged to visit her relatives in Germany. The time had come when her granddaugh- ters, the Princesses Victoria and Elizabeth of Hesse, were to be con- firmed, and she desired to be present at the ceremony. Her Majesty and the Princess Beatrice (traveling as the Countess of Balmoral and the Countess Beatrice of Balmoral), left Windsor Castle on the 25th of March, and embarked at one o'clock on the royal yacht Victoria and Albert. It was intended that the Queen should proceed to Darmstadt to visit the Grand Duke of Hesse and the tomb of Princess AHce. There the Queen would be joined by the Prince and the Princess of Wales. On the 25th the Queen and her suite landed at five o'clock at Cherbourg, and entered their special train. On the 17th of April her Majesty was on the way home again, and on the 27th she gave Lord Beaconsfield a farewell audience, and for the next two weeks was busy in transacting business connected with the forming of a new Ministry. The long-expected Irish Land Bill was introduced by Mr. Glad- stone on the 7th of April, 1881. It gave tenants the right to go be- fore a Land Court and have "fair rents" fixed for fifteen years, a fair rent being one that would let the tenant live and thrive. During these fifteen years eviction, save for non-payment of rent, was to be impossible. If a tenant wished to sell his tenant-right or goodwill, the landlord had the pre-emptive right of buying at the price fixed by the Court. The Court was to have power to advance to tenants desirous of buying their farms three-fourths of the purchase-money, or even the whole if need be, and these advances were repayable on easy terms. Advances could also be made to promote emigration. The Bill was well received on the whole by the country, but the landed gentry denounced it as an act of socialism and confiscation, and the Duke of Argyll resigned his office. 386 VICTORIA. The recall of Sir Bartle Frere did not settle the South African difficulty. Sir G. P. Colley, in trying to avenge the defeat of Bronk- hurst Spruit, was early in the year beaten by the Boers at Laing's Nek and Ingogo. On the 26th of February, reinforced by Sir Eve- lyn Wood, he let the Boers out-manoeuvre him, and spring upon the oddly variegated and composite force with which he had rashly occu- pied Majuba Hill. Though the enemy's troops only consisted of raw levies of irregular sharpshooters, they soon dispersed the Brit- ish host. It was a shameful rout, in which a kind fate doomed the luckless Colley to death. The unfortunate thing was that this fray should have happened at all. Negotiations were actually going on between the British and the Boers for a peaceful settlement. The end of it was, that the Boers were allowed to set up an autonomous RepubHc under a British Protectorate, British interference being limited to controlling their foreign policy. In the spring the shadow of mourning fell over the nation. On the morning of the 19th of April Lord Beaconsfield, who had been ailing for some days, passed away peacefully to his last rest. Mr. Gladstone at once telegraphed to his relatives offering a public fun- eral in Westminster Abbey, but the executors were compelled to de- cline the honor. Lord Beaconsfield's will directed that he should be buried beside his wife, and there were also legal obstacles that even the Queen's personal wishes could not overcome. His life, to use a favorite phrase of his own, was "really a romance," and his career a long and brilliant adventure. His strength lay in his freedom from prejudices, in his intellectual detachment from English insularity, in his consummate knowledge of the foibles of the lower middle class whom he enfranchised. He achieved success by skilfully avoiding the mistake of Peel, who led his Party without educating it. Lord Beaconsfield did both. His fame as a writer of sparkling political burlesques, his command of invective, his wit, and his audacity won for him the ear of a Senate which loves men who can amuse it. He had the subtle tact and the delicate refinement of a woman, with the stubborn courage and iron will of a man. As for his policy and his principles, the time has not yet come to judge them fairly. He was no more to blame for bringing his generous democratic impulses to the service of the Tory Party than the eldest son of a Whig Peer OUEEN AND EMPRESS. S8? IS to blame for limping after the Radicals on the crutch of Conserva- tive instincts. In the one case it is the tyranny of chance and oppor- tunity, in the other the accident of birth, that determines the choice. All through life Mr. Disraeli had to frght his battle from false posi- tions, and this gave his efforts an air of gladiatorial insincerity. Not till 1874, when he came to power with a large majority, was he en- Lord Beaconfield's Last Appearance in the House of Commons. tirely a free agent ; and then it was seen that, though comparatively indifferent to questions of administration and questions involving the mere forms of Government, he took an eager and practical inter- est in social reform. For nearly two years he was at the zenith of his power. The House of Commons he managed with bright urbanity, easy grace, conciliatory dexterity, and a light but firm touch wdiich had never been seen before. 388 VTCTOUIA. Although diplomatic controversies had created much ill-feeling between the Governments of England and Russia, the Queen and the Czar had ever maintained the friendliest personal relations. It ^vas, therefore, -with the deepest pain that her Majesty was informed, on the 14th of March of the assassination of Alexander II. The Czar was returning from a military review near St. Petersburg on Sunday, the 13th of March, when a bomb was thrown, which exploded be- hind the Imperial carriage, killing several soldiers. The Czar jumped out of the carriage to see to the poor men who were hurt, and it was to this kindly act that he owed his death. Another bomb was flung at his feet,, which exploded and mangled his body in the most cruel manner. The Queen did what she could to console the Duchess of Edinburgh, who was prostrated with grief by her father's death. It was now recognized that Alexander II would live in his- tory as one of the most enhghtened and humane of European Sover- eigns. The great act of his life, the liberation of the Serfs, had con- verted them into communal peasant proprietors, and put them in a more secure position than any other peasantry in Europe. On the 9th of July the Queen reviewed 50,000 troops in ^\'indso^ Park. On the i8th her Majesty lost one of her dearest friends. Dean Stanley. His relations with the Royal Family were the clos- est. He was buried in Henry VH's Chapel, Westminster Abbey. On the 24th of August the Queen arrived at Edinburgh, and took up her quarters at Holyrood Palace. In the afternoon she vis- ited the Royal Infirmary, and on the following day she reviewed 40,000 Scottish Volunteers (who had come from the remotest parts of the country) in the great natural amphitheatre of the Queen's Park. The spectacle was marred by the torrents of rain that fell all day, and the troops had to march past the saluting-point in a sea of slush and mud which reached nearly to their knees. The fine ap- pearance and discipline of the men, the patience and the hardihood with which they carried out their programme through all the miseries of the day, deeply touched the Queen. In spite of entreaties to the contrary, she persisted in sharing these discomforts with them, hold- ing the review in an open carriage, in which she remained seated under a deluge of rain till the last regiment had defiled before her. From Edinburgh the Court proceeded to Balmoral. There the QUEEN AND EMPRESS. ^89 Queen received the melancholy news of the death of James A. Gar- field, President of the L'nited States, who- had been shot by an assas- sin named Guitcriu on the 2d of July at the railway station at Wash- ington. The Queen sent a touching letter of sympathy to Mrs. Garfield, and ordered the Court to go into mourning, as if Mr. Gar- field had been a member of the Royal caste. The political movements of the Recess had been followed with growing anxiety by the Queen. Mr. Parnell's followers had been divided in opinion as to how they should treat the Land Act, some declaring that they should impede its working, others urging that every advantage should be taken of it. ^Ir. Parnell, after some hes- itancy, united his Party on the policy of "testing" the Act. The Land League was directed to push into the Land Courts a series of "test cases," that is to say, of cases where average rents were levied, so that a clear idea might be gained of the practical working of the Act. The tenantry were warned by the Land League not to go into Court, but to stand aside till the decisions on the test cases were given. On the 13th of October Mr. Parnell was arrested in Dublin as a "supcct"" under the Coercion Act, and all his more prominent followers were in quick succession lodged in Kilmainham Jail. The Land Leaguers retaliated by issuing a manifesto to the Irish people to pa}' no rent whilst their leaders were in prison — a false step, for, in view of the opposition of the clergy, a strike against rent was not feasible. The Land League was then suppressed by Mr. Forster as' an unlawful association, and agrarian outrages began to increase every day. Then came a catastrophe which revolutionized the Irish Policy of the Government — namely, the murder of Lord Frederick Caven- dish and Mr. Thomas Burke, in Phoenix Park, Dublin. On the 27th of February, 1882, a monument, which the Queen had commissioned Mr. Belt to prepare for the perpetuation of the memory of Lord Beacoiisfield, was erected in Hughenden Church. It was a touching record of rare friendship between Sovereign and the subject. The centre of the memorial is occupied by a profile portrait carved in low relief. Beneath, is a tablet bearing the fol- lowing dedication penned by the Queen herself: — §90 VlCTOHtA. To the dear and honored Memory of BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACOKSFIELD, This memorial is placed by his grateful and affectionate Sovereign and Friend, VICTORIA R.I. "Kings love him that speaketh right." — Proverbs xvi. 13. The year was marked by an attempt to assassinate the Queen, which created much public alarm. On the 2d of March her Majesty was driving from Windsor Station to the Castle, when a poorly- dressed man shot at her carriage with a revolver. Before he could fire again a bystander struck down his arm and he was arrested. He was a grocer's assistant from Portsmouth, named Roderick Maclean ; his excuse was that he was starving, and he probably desired to draw attention to his case. He was tried next month at Reading Assizes, where it was shown that he had been under treatment as a lunatic for two years in an asylum in Weston-super-Mare, but had been dis- missed cured. He was acquitted on the ground of insanity, and ordered to be placed in custody during her Majesty's pleasure. The sympathy which was expressed by all classes with the Queen, when tidings of the outrage were published, was universal. On the night of Maclean's arrest the National Anthem was sung in all the theatres, and from every quarter messages came pouring in congratulating her Majesty on her escape. These demonstrations caused her to ad- dress a touching letter of heartfelt thanks to the nation. Another outrage on the Queen has to be set down in the record of 1882. On the 26th of May a young telegraph clerk, named Albert Young, was tried before Mr. Justice Lopes, and found guilty of threatening to murder the Queen and Prince Leopold. (^ Tlie marriage of the Duke of Albany was now approaching, and it was with deep regret that the Queen found it necessary to leave him at Mentone, as he had not recovered from the effects of an accident he had met with. The grant of 25,000 pounds a year for hi-s Royal Highness had been moved by Mr. Gladstone in the House of Com- mons on the 23d of March, and carried.) i^Li r^i'jn Anjj TjIV) I'ur'^nri. On the 27th of April the marriage of the Duke of Albany with the Princess Helene of Waldeck-Pyrmont was solemnized in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with a sustained pomp and splendor rarely seen even in Royal pageants. ' Ill .1- "■K-i:^ ^•^. , — t^i' J John Brown. The death roll of the year was a heavy one. On the 19th of April the death of Charles Darwin robljed not only England but Europe of a singularly original, painstaking and conscientious scien- tific investigator. No man of his stamp has so profoundly affected the thought of the Victorian age or surveyed so wide a field of na- ture, in such a fair, patient, and humble spirit. 392 VICTORIA. A trusted and valued friend and servant of the Queen passed away on the 3d of December, when Dr. Tait, Archbishop of Canter- bury, died after a long and painful illness. The death of Garibaldi on June 2. and of ^1. Gambetta on De- cember 31, profoundly moved the Knglish people. Garibaldi's life of heroic adventure, unselfish patriotism, and disinterested devotion to the cause of liberty, had endeared him to the masses. M. Gambet- ta"s amazing energy in endeavoring to lift France out of the mire of defeat in 1870 had won for him the admiration of the world. The strange case of Lady Florence Dixie who alleged that a murderous attack had been made on her in the shrubbery of her house at Windsor, by two men disguised as women, lost the Queen a valued friend. As her ladyship had been writing a good deal on the Irish question, and the town was in a panic over the dynamite war, it was feared that this attack had been planned by one of the secret socie- ties. The story alarmed the Queen showing lier as it did that there was peril almost at the doors of ^^'indsor Castle, and her ^lajesty's personal attendant, John Brown, was despatched to examine the ground where the reported outrage was said to have occurred. He caught a chill in doing so and died in March. Brown, about whom so much has been written and told, began life as gillie to the Prince Consort. For nineteen years he was the per- sonal attendant of the Queen, and no servant was ever more com- pletely trusted by a royal master or mistress. The Queen's expres- sions of sorrow over Brown's grave gave expression to a sentiment of melancholy which was a natural outcome of her life of "lonely splendor." The gifted pen of a powerful novelist had thrown light on the East End of London. Mr. Besant preached what wealth owes to poverty, and wealth attended. Hands swift to do good were stretched forth from the West End to the East End, and a move- ment destined to realize some of the ideals of the clever author of "All Sorts and Conditions of Men" was started, and was to be per- fected in the People's Palace in the Jubilee year over which all phases of society were now talking. The pace of three London seasons had been rapid and the fashionable world had exhausted its resources of amusement, so the Jubilee Year, 1887, was a new theme. The West yUKJiJN AJNU JiMi'KJiBS. 393 End began to visit the worst parts of the city, and "slumming" was the vogue, as it was known how much the Queen favored Besant's plan of bettering the condition of the socially ostracised and Lord Salisbury's essay on the Housing of the Poor. It was no unusual thing for ladies and gentlemen to leave a ball and go to the haunts of misery and crime, and if idle curiosity took many, the lesson learned was not thrown away. Queen Victoria in the State Robes. 394 XIX. SOUDAN AND AFRICA. Gordon in Khartoum — The "Scramble" for Africa — Death of the Duke of Albany — Fall of Khartoum — Gladstone's Home Rule — The Golden Ju- bilee — The Diamond Jubilee — The South African War — Cecil Rhoads —Kruger— Relief of Ladysmith — Ki;chener— Roberts— Trouble with China— The End of the War in Sight— "The War is Not Over," said Kruger — British Losses in Men — Costs in Money. HE life of a Queen must take in it the life of the nation she' governs. Sufificient has been shown in this nar- ration of politics and parties, incidents of life in the various parts of the English dominions to tell the part the Queen played in them all, what was her position in them, her duties and how she performed them. From 1884, down to that first month in the new Century that was to see the end of the Queen the same activity and irrita- tion of life kept up — South Africa, India, Ireland, China, all with their perplexities and their politics. In March, 1884, much' was heard of Gordon and the Arabs. He had made an unsuccessful sortie from Khartoum and found that not only his army, but the civil population was a mine of treason. In vain he implored the Government to send troops to Berber to aid the escape of two thousand fugitives. Instead, the Government recalled General Graham and his troops from Suakim, and the Arabs believed that Gordon was abandoned by his countrymen. Gordon's negotiations with the Mahdi were a failure, and he protested against the desertion of Khartoum. The Government said that he was in no danger, and that when he was aid would be sent. In the Autumn the decision to send an expedition to Khartoum was arrived at with reluctance. Lord Wolseley went to Cairo. Down to the end of 1884 his proceedings were veiled in mystery. Dim rumors of Gordon's disgust at being abandoned reached Eng- land. Gordon had sent General Stewart to Berber begging him to appeal to the munificence of the people of the United States and 395 396 VICTOEIA. the British Colonies. Stewart was murdered by natives. The Mahdi pressed the siege with redoubled energy. On the i6th of December, ^^'olseley joined the camp at Korti, and received intelligence from Gordon that Khartoum could hold out for forty days. Khartoum The Duke of Albany. fell on the 26th of January; the Buri gate had been opened by treach- ery to the Mahdi's troops who rushed in, and Gordon was killed for refusing to surrender. "A soldier fit to stand by Caesar and give direction." QUEEN AND EMPRESS 397 The Queen's letter to his sister was most sympathetic, and in it she speaks of "the stain left upon England for your dear brother's cruel, though heroic, fate." The coolness between Germany and England which marked the latter half of 1884 was caused by the "scramble for Africa." The regions opened by Stanley had been practically occupied by the International iVssociation, the head of which was the King of the Belgians. England, however, to exclude dangerous rivals, recognized the absolute claims of Portugal to hold the outlet of the Congo. Germany united the Powers to quash this policy. There was a strip of land extending from Cape Colony to the Portuguese frontier on the Congo, in which a Bremen firm had established a trading settlement at Angra Pequena. They applied to Prince Bis- marck for protection. He asked Lord Granville if England claimed sovereignty over this region, and if the government could give the German traders the protection they wanted. The answer was that England had only proclaimed sovereignty at certain points along the coast, any encroachment on it by a foreign power would be regarded accordingly. In December Bismarck repeated his question. The dispatch was left unanswered for six months. Bismarck stung by affront answered it in his own way by annexing Angra Pequena to Germany. The year 1884 brought much sorrow to the Royal family. On the 28th of March the Duke of Albany died at Cannes. The Queen was so prostrated with grief that her condition alarmed her attend- ants. As soon as she raUied she sent the Princess Beatrice to Clare- mont House to comfort the Duchess of Albany. All the details of the funeral arrangements were superintended by the Queen; the body was brought back to England by the Prince of Wales, and was buried on the 5th of April with solemn pomp in St. George's Chapel, Wind- sor. Soon after this death the Queen was recommended to go to Germany, and she visited her son-in-law and grandchildren at Darm- stadt, where the marriage of the Princess Victoria of Hesse and Prince Louis of Battenberg was celebrated at the end of the month (April). The wedding ceremony as usual was pretty, but rather quiet under the circumstances. 898 VICTORIA. London was dull and gloomy. During August the Queen was much troubled as to the issue of the crisis arising from the Reform bill debates and the threatened conflict between the Democracy and the House of Lords. She deprecated an attack on the Peer^ during the recess, and Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues paid due deference Prince Henry of Battenberg. to her wishes. She made it clear that she was unwilling to use her prerogative for the purpose of creating new Peers to force the Re- form bill through the Upper House. From this it was inferred that if the House of Lords resisted to the end, the Queen would prefer to coerce them by a dissolution rather than by prerogative. •S) 5 QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 401 Before the court left Osborne the Queen surprised the country by announcing her decision to confer the Order of the Garter on Prince George of Wales, for there was no precedent for giving the Garter to a junior member of the Royal family in his minority. When the Queen came to the Throne there v/ere only four Royal Knights The Princess Beatrice, of this Order, and pedants of heraldry now complained that there were twenty-eight, and that the Royal Knights outnumbered the ordinary ones. Gladstone went to Balmoral and anent the Reform bill earnestly deprecated the obstinacy of the Peers, and so clearly pointed out 23 402 VICTORIA. the difficulty of avoiding collision that Her Majesty subsequently used all her influence to bring about a compromise. The supreme difficulty of effecting this compromise lay in breaking down the re- sistance of Lord Salisbury and the Tory Peers who were resolved to force a dissolution on the basis of the old franchise. This resistance gradually weakened after Gladstone's visit to Balmoral. That it finally disappeared was mainly due to the firm but gentle pressure which the Queen put on the Duke of Richmond in order to induce him and his colleagues to accept a compromise. Eighteen hundred and eighty-five has been called the admirable year of the Queen's reign. It witnessed the final settlement of the Reform question which the Whigs had left unsettled in 1832. It witnessed the amazing development of the Home Rule movement in Ireland under two influences — ^the extended franchise, and the alli- ance between the Parnellites and the Tory Party. There was an end of the Egyptian tragedy; there was the conquest of Burmah; the General Election which made Parnell master of Ireland and shat- tered the English Party system that had been built up after 1846, and the rumored adoption of Home Rule as a part of Gladstone's programme. The most remarkable social event of the year was the betrothal of the Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, the younger brother of Prince Louis who had married the Princess' niece, Victoria of Hesse. For fourteen years the Princess had been the close com- panion of the Queen, and their lives had in time become so closely intertwined that a separation could hardly be contemplated with equanimity by either. It was therefore quite natural that Prince Henry, whose fortune was scarcely adequate to the maintenance of a separate establishment, should permit intimation to be made that he was to live with the Princess in attendance on the Queen. The match was not entirely congenial to the family — poor Bat- tenberg who was not to live so many years afterward. The death of the "Red Prince" sent the English court into mourning. He was the father of the Duchess of Connaught, to whom he bequeathed a large part of his vast wealth. The Court removed to Osborne, the Queen being desirous of personally superintending the arrangements of the Princess Beatrice's QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 403 marriage, wliich was to take place at A\'hippinghani Parisli Church. On the 23d of July the marriage was solemnized by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, the Dean of A\'ind- sor, and Canon Prothero, Vicar of Whippingham. The ceremony was one of demi-state only. The wedding was very charming, yet some- how the ceremony seemed to lack the courtly importance and dignity of the other Roval marriages, the absence of the German Crown Marriage of the Princess Beatrice. Prince and Princess being only too noticeable. The German Em- peror who had been affronted by a pohtical scandal of the Court of Darmstadt did not look kindly on the Prince of Battenberg. After the marriage the Queen conferred the Order of the Garter on Prince Henry of Battenberg — adding one more to the already crowded companionship of the Royal Knights. This distinction had never before been given to a foreign personage not a monarch dc 404 VICTORIA. facto, or born in the Royal caste, and there can be no doubt that the other Royjd Knights in the family would have considered a lesser order a more suitable distinction for Prince Henry. The husband of Princess Beatrice had not espoused a lot for which he might be grateful, loving his wife though he did and being loved by her. Few of the Royal Circle were especially friendly in their relations with him, and society which takes its cue from its leaders was not long in letting him see that he was regarded as an intruder. The Queen made up all that she could in uniform kindness and consideration, and grew to love her daughter's husband as a son, but for all that, and for all the difficult duties the Prince performed he was more or less persona grata. It was soon plainly intimated to the Queen that the Royal rank and precedence conferred on Prince Henry of Bat- tenberg would not be recognized at Berlin, Vienna and St. Peters- burg. In the spring of 1885 a rebellion of French half-breeds in the Canadian Northwest, led by Riel, one of the pardoned insurgents who had been engaged in the Red River rising, was suppressed with great skill and ability by the Canadian Militia, and Riel was tried and hanged for treason. The misrule of Theebaw, the half-crazy King of Burmah, to- gether with his intrigues with the French — then busy with the con- quest of Tonquin — led to disputes between the Indian and Burmese Governments. The result was a war which ended in the deposition of King Theebaw and the annexation of upper Burmah to the Indian Empire. As the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee was now within measurable distance, already there were great manifestations of pop- ular feeling in favor of Imperial Unity. In 1886 the Imperial Federa- tion League was founded for the purpose of drawing closer the bonds between the colonies and the Mother Counti-y. The Indian and Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington was organized by the Prince of Wales on a scale of splendor which attracted visitors from all parts of the world. It was opened with great pomp and cere- mony by the Queen on the 4th of May, in the presence of the more prominent members of the Royal family, the dignitaries of Church and State, and the representatives of India and the Colonies. This great display of the vast resources of the Empire soon degenerated QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 405 into a mere lounge, but it brought together numbers of able men from every quarter of the globe interested in the problem of Im- perial Federation, and the Prince of Wales dexterously seized the opportunity thus created for him to establish a centre and rallying point for British Imperialism. He started the movement that ended in the foundation of the Imperial Institute. During the absence of the Court in Scotland the Prince and Princess of Wales stimulated the gaity of the London Season. It was remarkable for the prevalence of Sunday reunions, the patronage of which by the Heir Apparent soon made them fashionable even among church-going people. On the 2d of July the Queen reviewed ten thousand troops at Aldershot. She attended the brilliant garden party given that month by the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House, and then accompanied by the Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg left Windsor for Osborne, where she was soon absorbed in business attendant on a change of Ministry. On the 17th of July Her Majesty left Osborne for Edinburgh, where on the eighteenth she opened the International Exhibition. On the- 5th of November she visited the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and inspected the Hospital for Incurables at Edinburgh. On the twenty-second of the same month Her Majesty received at Windsor with much ceremony their Imperial Highnesses, the Prince and Princess Komatsu of Japan, and a few days later the Court removed to Osborne. The Queen was now an aging woman, seen very seldom by her people, and seeming to the uninitiated to lay little stress on hei position. Since she had come into power a wholly different mode prevailed; the grande dame and the courtly gentleman had gone out, and in their stead was the free and independent woman whose title was merely a "handle" in time of need, and the man with a pedigree several yards in length was not above engaging in trade that promised a return of riches which should enable him to live as lived the kings of finance whose origin might be unknown, but whose bank accounts made even crowned heads bow before them. If elegance of a severe or an insipid sort had vanished, a more sensible regime was come in its stead, even though money-getting seemed the end in all of every endeavor. The world was better than it had ever been, oppression 406 VICTORIA. was denounced, the poor were looked after, and the people, the common people, had their opinions which even a Royal Autocrat must respect. It was democracy, brotherhood. And from this did there arise hatred for the woman sitting on the throne? Hers had been a wise and beneficent reign, pure and generous; the people no longer feared the sound of a title, but they loved the name of their Queen. It was on the 20th of June, 1886, that the Queen entered on the fiftieth year of her reign. But she naturally assumed that she would live till the end of that year, and the actual celebration of the Jubilee was put ofT until June 20th, of the following year. Public interest in politics was lost, the attention of the country was concentrated on the Queen. It was known that she would come from the seclusion that had so long been hers, and to some degree drop the mourning weeds she had worn so many years. The first note of the Jubilee was struck in India, where the Im- perial festival was celebrated in February. In presidency towns, in- land cities, even in Mandalay, the newly acquired State of Upper Burmah, natives and Europeans vied with each other in proclaiming the event. Banquet's, reviews, illuminations were not the only methods adopted for celebrating the Jubilee. At Gwalior all arrears of land tax, amounting to a million pounds sterling, were remitted; libraries, colleges, schools, water works, hospitals, and dispensaries were opened in honor of the Empress. All over England preparations were now making for the cele- bration of the great anniversary. Public parks, libraries, town halls, museums, hospitals were regarded as the best method of honoring the occasion. There was one Jubilee institution of great grandeur that won public favor — the Imperial Institute that was originated by the Prince of Wales. In March congratulatory addresses began to pour in. The 23d of March Her Majesty opened the new Law Courts in Birmingham. The Democratic demonstration at Birmingham gave point to the passage in the Laureate's Jubilee ode: — "Are there thunders moaning in the distance? Are there spectres moving in the darkness? Trust the Lord of Light to guide her people Till the thunders pass, the spectres vanish, And the Light is victor, and the darkness Dawns into the Jubilee of the Ages." Queen and empress. 4o7 On the 4tli of May Her Majesty received the representatives of the Colonial Governments who presented her with addresses, con- gratulating her on having witnessed during her reign, her Colonial subjects increased to upward of nine million souls, her Indian subjects to two hundred and fifty-four millions, and her subjects in minor de- pendencies to seven millions. The same month she received the Maharajah and Maharanee of Kutch Behar and Maharajah Sir Pertab Sing, and held a Drawing- room, and visited Buffalo Bill's "Wild West Show" at Earl's Court. On the 14th she opened the People's Palace at WhitechapeJ which had grown out of a suggestion in Walter Besant's romance of "All Sorts and Conditions of Men." The Jubilee itself was celebrated on the 21st of June. The streets of London were decorated beyond recognition. Fabulous prices had been paid for seats on the line of the procession. Only thrice in the history of England had a Jubilee been celebrated, and in none of these cases was there, as now, ground for unalloyed joy. Henry III. had a distracted reign, that of Edward III. was clouded with disaster at the end, and George III. had lost America. It was not till the head of the procession moved along from Buckingham Palace and the Royal carriages came in sight, that the feelings of the dense masses of spectators found utterance in volley after volley of cheers. The Queen's face was tremulous with emotion as she bowed to the people. Beside her were the Princess of Wales and the German Crown Princess. The loyal tumult all along literally drowned the blare of bands and trumpets. The first part of the procession consisted of carriages in which were gorgeous Indian Princes blazing with jewels, who had come from India to celebrate the Jubilee of their Empress. Then came car- riages with the Duchess of Teck, the Persian and Siamese guests of the Queen, the Queen of Hawaii, the Kings of Saxony, Belgium, and Greece, and the Austrian Crown Prince. Then came life guards, lacqueys of the Court, outriders in scarlet. In the first part of the procession were carriages conveying the Princesses of the Royal families. Between these carriages and that of the Queen rode the Princes. In the first rank the Queen's grandsons. Prince Albert Victor and Prince William of Prussia being among the most con- 408 VICTORIA. spicuous. Then came the Queen's sons-in-law, the central figure being the German Crown Prince so soon to become Emperor of Ger- many. After these came Her Majesty's sons, the Duke of Connaught, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales. Then came the Queen. The scene in Westminster Abbey was impressive. Silver trum- pets announced the coming of the Queen. Clad in black, but with a bonnet of white Spanish lace glittering with diamonds, and wearing the Orders of the Garter and Star of India, she was escorted by the Lord Chamberlain, amid the peals of the Abbey organ, to the Royal dais, and when the Princes and Princesses in her train had arranged themselves the picture was of imposing magnificence. The Thanksgiving service was brief and simple. The Primate and the Dean of Westminster officiated, while the music was largely selected from the compositions of the Prince Consort. The Queen was several times overcome with emotion. The Prince of Wales bent forward and kissed her hand, but Her Majesty raises her bent face and salutes him on the cheek. The German Crown Prince and the Grand Duke of Hesse pay their homage, but the emotion of the moment was too strong for Court ceremonial, and the Queen discards etiquette and embraces the Princes and Princesses with unreserved aflfection. Then she turns to the German Crown Prince and kisses him warmly on the cheek. Making a profound bow to her foreign guests, the Queen quitted the scene as the "March of the Priests" in Atlialic pealed forth from the organ. The procession was now formed again, i;nd the sovereign returned to Buckingham Palace, the crowd along the way even more enthusiastic than when they had greeted her on the way to the abbey. At night there was a general illumination. All over England and in the North of Ireland the Jubilee was celebrated as enthusiastically. The illumination of Edinburgh is said to have been even finer than that of the metropolis. Eight peerages, thirteen baronetcies and thirty-three knight- hoods were conferred in honor of the event. A royal amnesty to deserters was proclaimed. In the colonies the day was celebrated joyously, and in foreign lands the British residents made festivals. In the United States the citizens of the Republic joined the British residents honoring the Oueen. < \ '1 \ m I'V ■k:'^ .SW»r 409 Queeu Victoria. (1887) 410 VICTORIA. But of all the Jubilee celebrations perhaps the most novel was that held in Hyde Park. A few weeks before Jubilee day it occurred to Mr. Edward Lawson of the Daily Telegraph, that there was a fatal omission in the ofiScial programme. Elaborate arrangements had been made to interest all classes but one — the school children, the men and women of the next generation. Mr, Lawson determined that this omission should be remedied, and the whole town was taken with the idea. Mr. Lawson found himself honorary treasurer of the children's Jubilee Fund. Great ladies took a hand, and on the 22d of June twenty-seven thousand children from all parts of London were entertained in Hyde Park. The Queen not only came out and greeted them, but the little ones received her with such delight that she was profoundly touched. On the 24th of June an evening party was given at Buckingham Palace which was attended by nearly all of the Queen's family, by the foreign sovereigns and Princes then in London, and by a throng of distinguished persons. On the 25th of June a letter evidently from the Queen's heart was sent to the Home Secretary thanking the nation for their display of loyalty and love. In this communication it seems as though the Queen laid bare her heart to the people with a frank and simple con- fidence rare in the relations that subsist between sovereigns and their subjects. On the 27th Her Majesty received at Windsor Castle congratu- latory deputations from municipalities, friendly societies, and public bodies and professional associations, representing every phase of English life, and thought and enterprise. The Queen's garden party at Buckingham Palace on the follow- ing Wednesday was attended by several thousand guests. On the 2d of July the Queen, from Buckingham Palace, re- viewed twenty-eight thousand Metropolitan Volunteers. On the 4th of July the crowning event of the Jubilee Festival occurred. On that day the Queen laid the foundation stone of the Imperial Institute in the Albert Hall. Noting the growing Imperial- ism which the Jubilee called forth the Prince of Wales determined to fix it by embodying it in some permanent institution. In spite of dis- tracted counsels, inter-colonial jealousy and much anti-monarchical QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 411 Opposition, the necessary funds for the purpose were raised, but it was universally admitted that but for the incessant work of the Heir Apparent the scheme would have fallen through. The Institute was and is meant to stand as an outward and visible sign of the neces- sary unity of the British Empire. It was to be a rallying point of all colonial movements, a centre of instruction for those who desire in- formation as to colonial trade and colonial resources. In simple, what the Queen inaugurated on the 4th of July at Kensington as the culminating function of her fiftieth year of Queenhood, was a vast and ubiquitous Intelligence Department for her far-stretching dominions. The decorations of the building in which the ceremony took place were composed of myriads of flowers, so that the scene was more beautiful than if the professional decorator had used the usual buntings and silly paraphernalia brought into time honored service on such occasions. When the Queen entered, preceded by the offi- cers of her household, and escorted by her family, she took her seat on the draped platform, and found herself again surrounded by Kings and Princes. The Prince of Wales read an address to Her Majesty describing the aims and prospects of the institution. Lord Tenny- son's health did not permit of his officiating as Laureate on this occa- sion, and Browning had always declared himself unable to produce ceremonial odes to order. The ode was written by Lewis Morris, and was set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. After it was finished the Queen, assisted by the Prince of Wales and the architect Colcutt, laid the first solid block of the building, a slab of granite weighing three tons. ' Prayers were read by the Primate, after which the com- missioners of the exhibition of 185 1 presented an address congratu- lating the Queen on the celebration of her Jubilee. Her Majesty then leaning on the arm of the Prince of Wales left the hall while the band struck up "Rule Britannia." The ceremonial differed from that which took place in the Abbey in one respect. The Thanksgiving service threw the minds of Sover- eign and -subject back to the past with all its trials and triumphs, but the function in the Royal Albert Hall struck the note of the future, and invited speculation as to the part which the monarchy should play in the evolution of the English speaking race. The Institute 412 VlCtO&tA. typified the inheritance of Etnpire which Englishmen had won during the reign hy their toil and their enteqjrise. As Lewis Morris sang, 'To-day we. would make free The mi'lions of their glorious heritage. He,-e, Lubor crowds in hopeless misery; The;e. in unbounded work and ready wage. I'Le salt breeze calling stirs our Northern blood, Lead we the toilers to their certain goal ; Guide we their feet to where Is spread, for those who dare, A happier Britain, 'neath an ampler air. ******* First Lady of our British race, 'Tis well that with th)' peaceful Jubilee This glorious dream begins to be." With this great function the record of the Queen's career through half a century may close. A retrospective glance over that career is not witiiout its worth. Only seventeen years elapsed between the death of George IIL and the accession of Victoria to the sovereignity of a people "who had let a virgin continent slip through their hands" and who were not only exhausted hy wars, but had at the same time exhausted the nations that trafficked with them. England then had but one hope of resuscitation. It was to bind the forces of nature to industry. To this end she bent all her energies of intellect and genius. The Vic- torian period represents the triumphs of applied sciences rather than the softer apotheosis of the arts and the humanities. "The true found- ers of modem England," to quote Spencer Walpole, "are its inventors and engineers." The power which the British Empire now represents has therefore been built up under the Queen's sceptre. "The political results of the reign of Victoria in England may be described as tending in a direction eminently democratic. The* assertion of the doctrine that the sovereign reigns, but does not gov- ern, has become, for the first time in English history, under her, com- pletely established. QUEEN AND EMPKESS. 413 "In her early days she was prevented from following the auto- cratic examples of her uncles and her grandfather by the prudent advice of those about her. In her womanhood she abstained from all interference with her Ministers, actuated by her personal experience and convictions of the necessities of the English monarchy, and when womanhood was declining into age she consequently did not feel the temptation, as affairs certainly would not have admitted the possi- bility of reverting to the traditions of a regime that had become an anachronism. Thus it is that the government of England, whatever its title, is in reality a veiled republicanism. Henceforward, whoever sits upon the throne of England must be content to know that divine right, perhaps even family right, has nothing to do with his title to allegiance, and that he derives the charter of his sovereignty from a people's will. "But, though Queen Victoria has been satisfied to hold her sceptre upon these conditions, she declined in minor matters of cere- monial or of state to surrender an atom of her personal dignity or her individual will. If the rebuke which she caused to be administered to Lord Palmerston on the occasion on which he had foregone the formality of showing her a diplomatic document before its final despatch were the only instance of her hostile collision with a Minister of State after the bedchamber dispute, there have been many cases in which she has asserted her determination to insist upon all the usages of royal etiquette. It is even upon authentic record that more than one bishop, although singled out for promotion, was not finally advanced, in deference to her desire, while in the lesser classes of ecclesiastical appointments — canonries, archdeaconries, and so forth — her wish was frequently expressed, and was acted upon by her Min- isters. Undoubtedly, though the Queen has successfully preserved the appearance of impartiality in conferring with the successive chiefs of her governments, she has had her favorite statesmen, just as she has had her favorite divines. It was perhaps the result of that peculiar state of mind which, more or less, became chronic with her after her , husband's death, partly also of that tenderness with which by the force of association all things connected with Scotland inspired her, that she contracted such an admiration for Scotch Presbyterian and Free Kirk theology. 414 VICTORIA. "The clerical teachers for whom she has exhibited the most pre- ference in England have belonged to that class of whom Dr. Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, may be taken as a type. Her Majesty liked the Broad Church clergyman and the Low Church, but detested the High; she was as severe a critic of the oratory of the pulpit as she was of the manner in which a regiment — for the Queen had a keen eye to military effect — performed its march past, or an army went through the intricate tactics of a field day. Not unnaturally the Queen is believed to have regarded with special favor the surviving whig statesmen and their modern successors, the liberals, and she cer- tainly liked Mr. Gladstone and John Bright better than she did Mr. Disraeli or Lord Derby. "These, however, were sentiments of which the nation, if aware at all, was never made inconveniently aware. Whatever her political predilections, the machinery of government has gone on all the same, and the only measure on whose passing the Queen is believed to have exercised any influence was the Public Worship Regulation bill of 1874. It was rather the personal eccentricities which displayed them- selves continuously or at intervals in her after the death of her hus- band that gave, not altogether unjustly to her subjects, some ground of grievance." So far as the pubhc life of the Queen has affected her house it has been done in but one direction. At her accession the Crown had almost entirely lost its meaning as a governing order in the state. At her Golden Jubilee the Crown held a position of authority higher than any to which it had attained since WiUiam of Orange. According to Gladstone the effects of the Queen's policy had been due to her "de- termination to acquire influence rather than power for the monarchy." But if the historian be right in insisting that power can be most surely kept by the means whereby it was acquired, this may be read in the lesson of the Queen's life. There were to be ten years more before the culmination of the Queen's life as a sovereign — the Diamond Jubilee. In these years the woman-heart was to be tried in many ways, death in the Royal family was to make its inroads, that of the Princess Royal's husband, Fred- erick, who had succeeded his father as Emperor of Germany; and Prince Henry of Battenberg. Perplexities in political matters were QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 415 to occasion worry and anxiety, and there were to be wars and rumors of wars, though happily none of any great significance. It would seem that the Golden Jubilee was no sooner over than the thought of the public took in the possibility of Her Majesty com- pleting her sixtieth year as a queen, which was only ten years off. She would then be a woman far advanced in years, but the proba- bilities were that her life would be spared. In 1897 the world was to see a celebration such as no other period of the world's history had ever witnessed. Her Majesty was in reasonably good health when the year opened, and week by week the advent of June was looked forward to. Preparations for the great event were reported from this one part of the earth to all the others, and it is safe to say that in no quarter of the globe was there any feeling but one of rejoicing for the celebration. As the months brought it nearer, London began to be crowded, a hundred thousand people from the United States alone going thither. In the beginning of June it was seen what a tremendous access to the population might be expected, at least an increase of three millions was anticipated. There was little thought of housing this great multitude, that is, no structures were erected for their ac- commodation, consequently prices prevailed in accordance with the importance of the function and the congested state of the city guar- anteed. The presents sent Her Majesty were of exceptional magnificence, and from crowned heads and the commonalty they were received in countless profusion. The ceremonies began on the 20th, "Accession Day." Throughout London, the United Kingdom and the Empire, in every cathedral, church of chapel of the Established Church of Eng- land were held services similar to those at St. George's Chapel, Wind- sor, where Her Majesty paid her devotions, and offered solemn thanksgiving. The announcement that the services at St. George's Chapel would be private and for the members of the Royal family prevented the gathering of a large crowd. The scene was most impressive and the service very simple. Her Majesty sat in the chair of state im- mediately in front of the communion rail, and just beside the brass 418 VICTORIA. plate whose inscription designates the spot which was the temporary place of interment of the Prince Consort. She was dressed all in black, except for a white tuft in her bonnet. The widowed Empress Frederick of Germany, attired in deep black, took the seat at the right of the Queen, while the Duke of Connaught, wearing his Windsor uniform, seated himself at her left. The others grouped themselves closely behind and looked very like a simple family of worshippers. There was no sermon, but a special hymn, written by the Right Rev. William Walsham, Lord Bishop of Wakefield, with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, was sung at Her Majesty's request. Before the benediction the following special thanksgiving was offered : "Oh, Lord, our heavenly Father, we give Thee hearty thanks for the many blessings which Thou hast bestowed upon us during the sixty years of the happy reign of our gracious Queen, Victoria. We thank Thee for progress made in knowledge of Thy marvelous works, for increase of comfort given to human life, for kindlier feeling be- tween Church and poor, for wonderful preaching of the Gospel to many nations, and we pray Thee that these and all Thy other gifts may be long continued to us and to our Queen, to the glory of Thy holy name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." The choir of St. George's Chapel, rendered the musical portion of the service, Sir Walter Parret presiding at the organ. The service lasted forty minutes, the Queen remaining seated throughout and fol- lowing closely the special prayers and hymn. At the end there was a pause. The Queen, with bowed head, continued in silent prayer. Then followed a touching scene. Sum- moning Empress Frederick, who bowed low at her side, the Queen kissed her on both cheeks. The Duke of Connaught and the others of the family followed, receiving on bended knee a similar token of affection. In many cases the recipient was kissed several times. Days were given up to various fetes in which the Queen took part, processions, a dinner where three hundred thousands of the very poor were fed. Kings and Potentates doing honor to the aged lady, illuminations, balls, reviews, great garden parties. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 417 The result had been beyond expectation. It was natural that the Jubilee should be remarkable, but few had realized how great would be the strength of the popular feeling. The unexampled devotion to her obligations to her people after sixty years had well won her a rest, and in so far as a sovereign could, she now proposed to let the burden of responsibility fall on those who must bear it when she passes away. Says a writer in comparing Elizabeth and Victoria, "It will prob- ably always be thought that the great work of these sixty years has been what Mr. Gladstone calls a work of emancipation — a work partly of political liberation, partly of social amelioration. Into the details of either I have no space to enter, even in the briefest way. But it is a work which has tended to the welfare of the state in so far as it has improved the condition of the people who compose the state. "It ought, therefore, to have made the people more contented, more loyal, more devoted to the form of government under which they live — more loyal, better Englishmen. The naval and military power of England has, at any rate, grown with her growth, so that the Queen will have it to say when she departs that she leaves her king- dom stronger than she found it, and that there is no single enemy whom England does not overmatch, nor any two whom she need fear combined. Her own share in this steady increase of naval power has not been slight, but, whatever may have been her share, the worldwide supremacy of England on sea is part of the glory of her reign. "Elizabeth was succeeded by James — a king who squandered the prestige she had won. The present Prince of Wales is certainly no James, no pedant or driveller, but neither has he had that training in statesmanship which his mother has had all through her long life. He will inherit the crown; he cannot inherit that accumulated ex- perience and ripe wisdom which the Queen, with her sixty years of contact with great affairs, possesses in unequalled degree. He has the constitutional and personal traditions of her reign; he has natural abilities, which he may turn to high account. Should the Prince prefer to take a lesser part than the Queen's in the business of state, there will be none the less statesmen and soldiers, Parliament and people, to guard the great heritage which the Queen will transmit — 24 418 VICTORIA. a heritage which she has preserved and augmented. The England of Elizabeth was a far nobler power in the world at the end of her reign than at the beginning, and meantime had done an immense work of civilization. The same may be said of the England of Vic- toria, and neither of the two great Queens need care for a better epitaph." And sorrows were still to come. Gladstone died, Tennyson died, one after another of those who had known her in her younger days. Kings, statesmen, poets, friends were gathered to their kindred dust, until she seemed to stand alone with only younger generations round her in her era of gold that had done for the world more than a,ny other era in previous history. ^/^hen' hef son, the Duke of Clarence, passed away the old monarch knew how fresh grief may be even to one of her years and who had known so much of pain, and was to pursue her till the last. The South African trouble was to add to her list of burdens. In 1896 Jameson made his famous raid. This was the begin- ning of the events that were to lead to the great war — this and Cecil Rhodes, whose schemes for aggrandizement in South Africa roused the Transvaal. Kruger was President of the Transvaal, and he was a stubborn, determined man. The Africanders had suffered much and .they determined to suffer no more if they could help it, they wanted independence without British interference. The trouble has been called "Mr. Chamberlain's war," because Chamberlain in his speech of 1899 helped on hostilities in insisting that foreigners in South Africa were badly treated and not given their rights. Not to go into full particulars of a war which at first was regarded by Great Britain almost as a joke, but which was to be one of the most im- portant with which England had to do. General Sir Redvers Buller and his troops went at once to Cape Town. Here they heard the truth — there had been fighting, the war was on for sure, there had been battles with horrors on both sides. They heard that Kimberley had called for relief forces, that the Boers were making attacks on the border. General Buller's troops also learned that the Boers closed in on the town of Mafeking where they were destroying railroad beds and all communications with the city as fast as the British troops could repair them. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 419 All along the south frontier of the Free State the signs of ex- pectation for an early collision between the Briton and the Boer grew. The English proclamation of treason was posted on the notice boards of railways, with the text in English and Dutch, be- ginning: "Whereas a state of war exists between the government of Her Majesty and the governments of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State," going on and asking for good and loyal be- havior from all, and ending with "God save the queen." On November ist the Boers drew around Ladysmith. It was stated in London that the Boers were shelling Lady- smith, that their guns were well handled, and that their batteries were hard to locate because they used smokeless powder. It was also said that the Boers were calling fresh forces together, and that unless- the English had speedy aid the worst might be feared. News from Kim- berley told that the British had required fresh forces to assist in the defence of the town, therefore the situation there must be grave. The latest news from Mafeking said that the Boers had been shelling the town since October 26th, but without bringing it to sub- mission. Ladysmith was in a bad way, and if the British forces did not speedily come to its relief it would be forced to surrender. This would be a severe blow to the English for there were large and valu- able stores in the town, ammunition and the like, which would of course have to be abandoned if the city were given up. Rations at Ladysmith were also low, and sickness had broken out. Still the British held the town, and the Boer artillery which at first was not effective in its fire, was now better served and reports said it was doing much damage. Then the reports came that General Methuen's victory at Mod- der River did not appear to have given him the advantage he had anticipated. The Boers who were forced back in this engagement, had taken fresh positions between the British camp and Kimberley, and were fortifying them. It was also stated, in the meagre and contradictory reports that reached London from the seat of war, that in the western, or Hope- town district, the Dutch population had risen and would organize a force to oppose the British advance. All the Africanders, or people 420 VICTORIA. of Dutch descent, in South Africa had joined in the fighting, those under English rule had risen and revolted against their rulers. At the same time it was said that the English were arousing the Kaffirs, with the intention of having them take part in the war, and this rumor caused much comment, for the reason that England had expressed her determination not to allow the blacks to fight. On the 8th of December the British troops, under General White made a successful sortie from Ladysmith. On the loth. General Gatacre, commanding three thousand British troops and two batteries of artillery, tried to surprise the Boer force at Stormburg. He suffered heavy loss, and in addition to the killed and wounded reported six hundred and thirty officers and men missing. It was now decided that the war was no joke. Two of the best generals in the army were sent to South Africa — Roberts and Kitch- ener. Lord Kitchener's record in the Soudan is familiar to most of us, his bravery there, his tact and military diplomacy. Lord Roberts won his title in the Afghan war through a famous march he made from Kabul to Kandahar. He was commander-in-chief of the army in India from 1885 to 1893, and was much loved by his soldiers who nicknamed him Bobs Bahadur, Bahadur being Hindustani for hero. The Boers still held Colenso, and their forces occupied Natal. It was true that thousands of troops had arrived to make a break in the situation, that the British army had advanced ten miles, but Ladysmith was still locked in the grasp of the Boers. The British force massed at Ladysmith sailed out to meet them. The English said, "By to-morrow there will not be a Boer within twenty miles." By the evening of October 30th, Sir George White's whole command of twenty squadrons, six batteries and eleven bat- talions were thrown back into town with three hundred wounded and nearly a thousand prisoners. Then the Boers reached further. Did they mean to try to blockade Ladysmith? That was ridicu- lous — send a battalion to Colenso to keep communication open, that was all that was needed. So the Dublin Fusileers went to Colenso. Two days later the Boers cut the railway south of Ladysmith at Pieters, shelled the garrison out of Colenso and locked the English QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 421 force in Ladysmith. Two months passed and things were not changed, for these Boers knew how to fight. Then the army began to come. Its commander, knowing the country, would have liked to go through the Free State and liberate Ladysmith at Bloemfon- tein, but the War Office decided otherwise. The army came with great force, and the Boers held the key still. Finally Sir Redvers Buller came with forces. The fight at Colenso took place and the British leaders learned that the blockade of Ladysmith was solid. Another division hurried up, battery after battery, till now there were two cavalry and six infantry brigades, and nearly sixty guns. It was with this force that the British hoped to break through the Boer lines surrounding Ladysmith. The town had stood two months of siege and bombardment, food and ammunition were running low, disease had crept in. How long could it hold out? — that was the question everywhere — how long could Ladysmith hold out? Then came good news for the English from East London. Gen- eral Gatacre was carefully patching up the opening misfortune of his campaign, and had seized Dordrecht. The best news of all for the English came from Arundel, near Colesberg, where Generals French and Brabazon were "coaxing" the Boers back out of the colony. Perhaps, said the English, the tide of war had turned, and that 1900 was to mark the beginning of British policy throughout South Africa. And then came January 6th. It was boom, thud, thud, boom, thud, thud, at two o'clock in the black morning. It was Ladysmith of course, such cannonading went on there all the time. But the reports grew more frequent, and at last they mingled into one great roar. Never before had there been such bombarding — cannonading, then the sharp spiteful discharge of field pieces. Man- oeuvre after manoeuvre, fighting, mile by mile to reach Ladysmith where the Boers were doing such awful work. These actions for the liberation of the plucky people in the be- leaguered town were carefully watched in all parts of the world. There had rarely been seen such obduracy and stubborn tenacity as was exhibited by the Boers, who as a people, are unused to obeying orders, because of their free life, but who now were heeding Cronje and the other commanders with the utmost attention to the smallest detail; though in all likelihood, so little used were they to giving up 422 VICTOEIA. an undertaking which they had begun, they would have held together in this determination to keep the EngHsh off it there had been no commanders at all. Opposed to them was an English force who had made up their minds that Ladysmith should be opened to those hemmed within while a victorious army was to take possession of it and end a war that had held out only too long and been accountable for losses which might never be made up. It was irritating to think how small the Boer force was, and that in spite of its smallness one of the greatest armies ever gathered together could not annihilate or dislodge it. The Boers were not a military people, their standing army was a farce, their parliamentary councils were childish in their simplicity. And yet this army of farmers and peasants could with- stand assaults conceived by the most strategic minds and conducted by military officers famed for their ability. Of course the Boers had the advantage of position, which was a good deal, but this position must in time give way, though the failure to effect this up to now caused many a frown in proud and valiant faces. The Boers were brave, though, and it was something to fight a brave foe. The youngest stripling in their army was as firm in his resolution to hold out as was Kruger, the indomitable one, the crafty, strong old man who held his people by some magnetic influence he possessed, some hypnotism he exercised. And the Boers believed that Ladysmith gone and the English in possession, their country would be theirs no longer. Mafeking, too, must go away from them, and with that and Ladysmith relieved the South African Republic would exist no longer; there would be no President Kruger, no simple form of gov- ernment; all that would be changed. Sir Redvers Buller's force was strengthened by the arrival of a battery of Horse Artillery, two powerful seige guns, two squadrons of the 14th Hussars and drafts for the Infantry battalions, in all, 2,400 men. In this way the loss of the 1,600 men in the five days of fighting around Spion Kop was made good, but a thousand men strengthened the army till it was that much more than it had been before the re- pulse. And then came the declaration that General BuUer had dis- covered the key to the enemy's position, and he promised that within a week Ladysmith should be relieved. At last, at last poor Lady- smith would be rescued. On the afternoon of February 4th, the QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 423 principal officers were informed of the outlines of the plans General Buller had decided should be followed. The scheme in general was to take possession of the hills forming the left of the Boers' position and turn the enemy over from the left to the right. The Boers, as usual, careless, were massed in their central camp behind Spion Kop. As no demonstration was to be made against the position to the front of Trichardt's Drift their entire force would be occupying the curve of the horseshoe and taking care of the right flank. At the angle of the river a mile below Potgieter's a new pon- toon bridge had been thrown over the river, the purpose being to use it in support of the frontal attack. While Wynne's advance and the artillery advance against Brak- fontein were going on, Clery's Division (which consisted of Hild- yard's and Hart's Brigades), and Lyttelton's Brigade were to mass close to the new pontoon bridge, as though for the purpose of sup- porting the frontal movement. As soon as the new bridge was built, Lyttelton's Brigade was to cross and then attack the Vaal Krantz bridge, forming the left of the horse shoe curve around Potgieter's. On Sunday afternoon the infantry brigades began to move to their positions. The cavalry division broke camp behind Spearman's Hill at daybreak on the Sth. About 7 o'clock the bombardment of the Brakfontein position began and a few minutes later all the artillery guns with the exception of the guns on Swartkop were firing at the Boer redoubts and entrenchments in a cool and leisurely manner. At the same time Wynne's Brigade moved forward, and the cavalry massed close to the infantry brigades near the second pontoon bridge. The firing went on steadily. The Boer guns sent shells all along the line of advanced English batteries. The shells burst between the guns and threw up great fountains of dust and smoke. The gunners could not be seen for the grimy clouds that sprang from the earth and covered them. Shrap- nel shells also took part in the matter and the dusty plain was torn and ripped by their missiles. And now opposite Vaal Krantz the six English batteries and the howitzers and seventy guns began shelling. Boer guns opened from Doomkloop, on the right, and took an active part. There came thun- 424 VICTORIA. dering crashes of cannonading and the garrison in Ladysmith won- dered what it all meant, and if anything unusual were happening. At noon a part of Lyttelton's brigade crossed the third pontoon bridge to the opposite bank of Vaal Krantz. The troops kept moving across the plain, paying no attention to the Boer fire from Doom- kloof, which stormed them and kept up a continual charge. Not more than an hour more, and the leading companies reached the foot of the ridge and riflemen could be seen climbing up. The advance continued steadily, slowly, determinedly. One of the Boer Vickers- Maxim guns retired and got ofif, though the English fired a tre- mendous volley after it. Slowly, steadily, foot by foot, the English gained an advantage amid the blinding dust and the deafening roar and battle. At last the Durham Light Infantry sprang up the hill and carried it at the point of the bayonet. By the night of February 5th, Lyttelton's Brigade occupied Vaal Krantz. During the night the men made shelters of stone. Then it was said that field guns could not occupy the ridge, it was too steep and rocky. And so the hill which had been so difficult to take was of no use, especially as the Boers' long range rifle work would do much damage. And all the next day this bombardment kept up, accompanied by an irritating long range rifle fire. Then a big gun firing a hun- dred-pound six-inch shell went into operation from the top of Doom- kloof, and its awful projectiles reached Vaal Krantz and the bivouacs, one of them exploding within a few yards of General Buller. But about 4 o'clock in the afternoon there was a sudden attack by the Boers who crept up to within short range and then began firing, supported by their Vickers-Maxims. Driven back with loss, the pickets at the western end of the hill ran, and it appeared for awhile as though the Boers would retake the hill. Then General Lyttleton ordered a half batallion of the Durham Light Infantry and the King's Royal Rifles to clear the hill. While these operations were going on, a new pontoon bridge was springing across the Tugela at a bend directly under the Vaal Krantz ridge. It was clearly understood when Sir Redvers Buller broke ofif the combat at Vaal Krantz and for the third time ordered his still un- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 426 beaten troops to retreat that without delay there would be another attempt to penetrate the Boer lines. The army moved from Shear- man's and Springfield to Chievely. General Lyttleton succeeded Gen- eral Clery in command of Clery's Division and Brigade, and marched by way of Pretorius's Farm, Sir Charles Warren covering the with- drawal of the transport and supplies and following on the loth and nth. The regular cavalry brigade with two battalions to guard the bridge at Springfield, for the Boers had crossed the Tugela with con- siderable strength and were reported as being active in the neigh- borhood. The left flank of the marching infantry was covered by Dundonald's Brigade of Light Horse. There was no interruption from the Boers. Orders were issued to reconnoitre Hussars Hill on the i2th. It was a wooded hill four miles from Chievely, on the east, and the direction of the next attack became known. Ladysmith! It was a word of magic; the world knew it and wondered what would come of all the efforts towards reUef. The army under General Buller was only eight miles from it, the troops on Monte Carlo looking down into the town, where there had been suffering for many weary days and weeks and even months. The papers spoke of the splendid efforts of Lord Roberts towards the re- lief of Kimberley; they reported General Cronje as captured by the force of Lord Roberts. Besides, the Maine, the hospital ship fitted out by English women, had arrived in South African waters and was giving needful assistance to sick and wounded. From all over the African continent came reports more or less truthful detailing hap- penings in connection with the war — how Mafeking was still hold- ing out, how the savage tribes were rising, how Kruger's sons and grandsons were in the war and more than one of them wounded unto death. But interest was centered on Ladysmith, by one consent that was the point towards which all eyes were directed. The garrison there had so long kept the Boers away, the Boers had so long per- sisted in shelling the place insisting upon capitulation, and the Eng- lish forces back of the Boers had so often been repulsed in their efforts, to relieve the worn out garrison. The situation had become desperate, and urged by the distress of those within the beleaguered city, and the criticism of the English press. General Buller made one supreme effort to relieve the impris- 426 VICTORIA. oned army. Ladysmith was only a little way off, but despite the desperate resistance of the Boers, the English forces pushed forward, fighting as they went, until finally with one grand rush over hills and rocks, they entered the city and the joyful news went out, that Lady- smith was at last relieved. The same morning General Buller advanced on Bulwana Hill. The infantry marched down from the positions they had carried, and by two o'clock the plain of Pieters was full of them, with long columns of guns and transports in the rear. The Bulwana Hill was seen to be abandoned by the Boers and the army went into camp. There was another town, too, that besieged, was relieved in time — Kimberley. There were assaults and repulses, ground gained one day and lost the next, till General Roberts, on whom so many hopes were based, one day scattered the Africanders and the relief of the town came. A few days later came word that General Cronje's whereabouts had been learned, for the Africander commander was now fighting what might be the decisive battle of the war. His retreat toward Bloemfontein had been conducted in a mas- terly manner, he nearly succeeded in bringing his men in safety to the goal. In General Roberts he had a man opposed to him who was very well acquainted with the Boer style of fighting, and who was a most brilliant leader and one who was capable of inspiring his men with full confidence. Cronje had sent for reinforcements. Having ascertained that the Boer positions were very strong and any attempts to dislodge the Africanders would mean a terrible sacrifice of life. Lord Roberts determined to turn his attention to the reinforcements. He made his calculations so accurately that he was able to intercept the arriving troops and scatter them, thus hindering the Boers from strengthen- ing their forces and making the end a certain gain to the British. But the end was not yet. The Boers seemed to know nothing about giving up, their leaders lost no time in complaining about the in- evitable, but as soon as the relief of Kimberley seemed an assured fact they began to make preparations for other things. The skill and quickness of Lord Roberts' operations, combined with his careful organization, filled England with enthusiasm, for QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 427 though Ladysmith had not ended the war, proceedings were going on which must lead to a speedy termination of the struggle. Lord Roberts was continually taking the retreating Boers by surprise and outflanking them, with the help of French and other generals. Cronje had surrendered, he was a prisoner, and the world prophetically de- cided that little more was to be done. There was a great deal yet to be done. Roberts leaving the scene of Cronje's surrender sped on to Poplar Grove (March 7th). At dawn next day General Roberts started to reinforce General French, and Bloemfontein was entered by General Roberts at the head of the British troops, March 13th. Lord Kitchener had been as active as General Roberts. He paid a flying visit to Kimberley March 9th, and next day undertook a railway journey to Victoria Road to put down a rising of the Dutch on the frontier of Cape Colony. In the meanwhile General Gatacre pushed on from Burghers- dorp toward Bethulie where the Boers destroyed the railroad bridge over the Orange River. The same day General Clements shelled the Boers, and General Brabant repulsed them near Aliwal North. But Mafeking was not yet relieved, the Boer investment grow- ing closer. There were now two hundred thousand men in the English force, shipped from time to time, and all anxious to assist in the settlement of matters. All at once the good news was flashed across the wires in the middle of May that Colonel Baden-Powell, who had so finely held Mafeking against its besiegers for over six months, was at last relieved. Mafeking was not Ladysmith, but the men who held it were as brave as lions. The rapidity of Lord Roberts' advance will be realized when it is stated that it was May ist when the veteran commander inspected a division as it marched from Bloemfontein north under General Pole-Carew. Brandfort was captured by Pole- Carew and Generals Tucker and Hutton, and on May 3d was entered by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. Fresh fighting ensued on the Vet River, which was crossed May 6th, Winberg and Smaldeel falling into the hands of the British. Then Generals Pole-Carew, 428 VICTORIA. Tucker, Hutton, Ian Hamilton and Bruce Hamilton cleared the Boers from the north bank of the Sand River May loth. President Steyn had fled from Bloemfontein, and on the 12th of May Lord Roberts' army entered Kroonstadt without opposition. Lord Roberts proclaimed the annexation of the Orange Free State. From Klip River, on Monday afternoon, May 28th, his Lordship cabled to London that a twenty mile march that day had brought his forces within eighteen miles of Johannesburg, and that Generals French and Ian Hamilton had engaged the enemy eight miles to his left. The junction connecting Johannesburg by rail with Pretoria and Natal was seized, along with some rolling stock. Johannes- burg was quiet and no mines had been injured, so Lord Roberts proposed to enter the city, "the gold city," at noon on Wednesday. Tuesday, June 5th, was another memorable day in the history of the war. President Kruger had flown to Pretoria, and was taken prisoner. At Balmoral Castle, where the Queen was staying, the word was brought of the capture of the stubborn old President. Then came victory after victory for the English, and the end of the war was said to be in sight. Then came the word, "Flight of Kruger," for the old fellow had got away and with much treasure, too. And fighting was to keep on for months, away into the next year. But the war was ended and England owned South Africa. Of course with England as a foe Kruger could have no hope of winning, but his determination to hold on was praised all over the world, the man was brave. For a year it was kept up, and then Joubert dead, Cronje gone, Kruger a fugitive, the end of the war was declared to be in sight. The British loss in men was 50,000, in money nearly eighty million pounds; the Boers were still deter- mined, and though they lost province after province until the British occupied all the land, they could still have a guerilla war and harass their foe and hope that in time they might make another resistance and regain the country they called their own and which England claimed. The fighting was still going on when the twentieth cen- tury dawned, and Kruger made a visit to Europe, hoping for sym- pathy in his cause and never acknowledging defeat. "The war is QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 429 not over," he said, and it was to be a fight to the last man. While South Africa was in turmoil England had other affairs to claim her attention. In 1899 the Dervish force surrendered to Great Britain, the Venezuelan arbitration awarded a compromise, and England agreed with America and Germany for the partition of Samoa. In all these various affairs the Queen was deeply interested, but the African war told most on her. She loved her country, her brave soldiers were being killed, and war which she always hated was doing its worst. The Transvaal and the Orange Free State might be annexed to the Crown, but at what a cost! Her Majesty grieved in the palace as much as the soldier's widow in a humble habitation, and her pity went out for the Boers. The Queen saw little use in the trouble, annexation might be the choice of the Ministry, but for herself she felt that another country added to England's already tremendous possessions was also adding additional cares and responsibilities to the people and their sovereign. She was old and ailing, she prayed for peace. Before January of 1901 it was seen that Her Majesty was very weak. But she had lived so long, she had rallied so often from illness, that while her condition gave anxiety it was supposed to be scarcely serious. Her thoughts were for her people, her family. She would willingly live for them, but she had wanted rest so long, and ever since the death of the Prince Consort life had seemed dimmer and grief a very real thing. Iiiverary Castle. 430 XX. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. The South African War Continues — Death of the Duke of Clarence — List of Wars in the Queen's Reign — Illness of the Queen — "The Queen is Dead!" — Scenes in London on the Evening of the Queen's Death — The Longest Reign in History — Progress during Her Reign — Acces- sion of the Prince of Wales — Estimates of the Character of the Queen — The Funeral Pageant — ''Long Live Edward VH, King of England and Ireland and Emperor of India!" T was thought that after the Diamond Jubilee the Queen might retire to a well earned rest. The Prince of Wales attended tO' many of the duties which had formerly attracted the attention of Her Majesty, while the cares of State were in a degree removed as much as possible from her. But Victoria was still Empress and Queen and until she appointed a regent or died there were troublesome matters which she alone must deal with, and, be- sides, she had the will of a long line of proud ancestors, and neither age nor physical disability must keep her idle in the afifairs of her sovereign if she could overcorne such weakness. In 1897, to a large extent, she retired from an active part in social matters, though now and then she made an appearance, and did with dignity the offices which she had one time done with so much facile grace. And troubles came as usual, sickness and death of those dear to her, war in her kingdom and its territories. Had she not had enough of wars? In her long reign she could scarcely remember a year when the nation had been free from military engagements. The list is a for- midable one, though it tells of many victories for England and in- crease of power and territory. 1838 — Insurrection in Canada. 1839 — British forces occupy Cabul and take possession of Aden. 1840 — War expedition to Syria. Mehemet Ali sues for peace. 1841 — Succesful insurrection in Cabul. British invade China and take Canton and Amoy. 1842 — British take Boer Republic in Natal. 431 432 VICTORIA. 1845 — Outbreak first Sikh war. 1848 — Insurrection in Ireland attempted. Outbreak second Sikh war. Boers establish republic. 1850 — Taiping rebellion in China. 1851 — Burmah provoked British hostilities. 1854 — Crimean war. 1856 — Crimean war finished. England attacks China. Per- sions occupy Herat, but British drive them out of India. 1857 — Outbreak of Indian mutiny. 18607— Anglo-French expedition to Pekin. 1861 — England sends a fleet to Mexico. 1867 — Fenian insurrection in Ireland. 1874 — Ashantee war. 1877 — British take Transvaal Republic. 1878 — War against Afghanistan. 1879 — War againts Zulus. Roberts enters Kandahar. Trans- vaal uprising. 1881 — MajUba Hill. Mahdi revoh in Soudan. 1882 — War against Arabi Pasha. 1885 — Gordon killed in Khartoum. 1893 — War in Matabeleland. 1896 — Kitchener occupies Dongola. Ashantees accep/ British sovereignty. 1897 — Revolt of Indian hill tribes. 1899 — Transvaal declared war, October i. Added to these was the trouble in China over the "Boxer" out- rages which threatened at one time to be almost a universal war, for the missionaries killed by the Chinese fanatics represented many countries. This trouble came in the midst of the Transvaal war, and at first it looked as though England would have two mighty horrors on its hands at once. Her Majesty was distressed, war had always been a terrible thing to her, and victory seemed not such a glorious thing when back of it were thousands of widows and orphans, pillage and poverty. Before the end of the Boer war was in sight the Duke of Edinburgh died. Here was another stroke to the very old Queen who had always loved her children so fondly. The murder of the King of Italy was another blow to her. Her QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 433 age was not relieved of pain, and worn in body and mind reports now and then came of her physical illness. But she was to see the^ new century come in. Early in January, 1901, came word of her serious condition. On the 22d there was flashed over the wires, "Death of the Queen. Queen Victoria is dead, and Edward VII. reigns." The greatest event in the memory of this generation, the most stupendous change in existing conditions that could possibly be imagined, has taken place quietly, almost gently, upon the anniver- sary of the death of Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent. The end of this career, never equaled by any woman in the world's history, came in a simply furnished room in Osborne House. This most respected of all women, living or dead, lay in a great four posted bed and made a shrunken atom whose aged face and figure were a cruel mockery of the girl who in 1837 began to rule over England. Around her were gathered almost every descendant of her line. Well within view of her dying eyes there hung a portrait of the Prince Consort. It was he who designed the room and every part of the castle. In scarcely audible words the white haired Bishop of Winchester prayed beside her, as he had often prayed with his sover- eign, for he was her chaplain at Windsor. With bowed heads the imperious ruler of the German Empire and the man who is now King of Englana^^e~w6man who has succeeded to the title of Queen, the Princes and Princesses, and those of less than royal designation, listened to the Bishop's ceaseless prayer. Six o'clock passed. The Bishop continued his intercession. One of the younger children asked a question in shrill, childish treble, and was immediately silenced. The women of this royal family sobbed faintly and the men shufifled uneasily. At exactly half-past six Sir James Reid held up his hand, and the people in the room knew that England had lost her Queen. The Bishop pronounced the Benediction. The Queen passed away quite peacefully. She suffered no pain. Those who were now mourners went to their rooms. A few minutes later the inevitable element of materialism stepped into this pathetic chapter of international history, for the court ladies went busily to work ordering their mourning from London. 25 434 VICTORIA. The Prince of Wales was very much affected when the doctors at last informed him that his mother had breathed her last. Em- peror William, himself deeply affected, did his best to minister com- fort to his sorrow stricken uncle, whose new dignity he was the first to acknowledge. The record of the last days of the reign of Victoria is not easy to tell. The representative of the Associated Press was the only cor- respondent admitted to Osborne House, and his interview with Sir Arthur John Rigge, Private Secretary to the late Queen, was the only official statement that was given out at that time. For several weeks the Queen had been failing. On January 14th she summoned Lord Roberts and asked him some very searching questions regarding the war in South Africa. ■■ On the following day, Tuesday, she went for a drive, but was visibly affected. On Wednesday she suffered a paralytic stroke, accom- panied by intense physical weakness. It was her first illness in all her eighty-one years, and she would not admit it. Then her condition grew so serious that against her wishes the family were summoned. When they arrived her reason had practi- cally succumbed to paralysis and weakness. At the lodge gates the watchers waited nervously. Suddenly along the drive from the house came a horseman, who cried, "The Queen is dead!" as he dashed through the crowds. Then down the hillside rushed a myriad of messengers, passing the fateful bulletin from one to another. Soon the surrounding country knew that a King ruled over Great Britain. The local in- habitants walked as if in a dream through the streets of Cowes, but they did not hesitate to stop to drink the health of the new monarch. The Queen died at 6.30 in the evening of January 22, 1901. The excitement in London was tremendous. The scene in the Strand by 8 o'clock beggared description. At that time people were driving down in shoals to the theatres. Bigger and bigger grew the numbers, until the Strand was blocked with carriages. Most of the theatres at once closed their gates, placing heavy black bordered notices outside to the effect that, owing to the death of the Queen, their performances were postponed until further notice. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 435 Those living in the East End came in vast bands to see what was going on in the western part of town, while those who lived in the west "made tracks" eastward to see what was taking place around the Strand. These two vast waves of humanity met in the narrow Strand and added themselves to the already large floating masses composed so largely of theatre goers and mummers. All this was amid such surroundings as cabs and omnibuses blocked up in one great inextricable mass, men and boys yelling as though Bedlam were let loose. At the same time the people threw themselves into telegraph oiKces and sent telegrams ofif all over the country, and there was a general rush to telephones, all telling the same, oft repeated tale, "The Queen is dead," and all this, remember, little more than an hour and a half after the Queen had breathed her last at Osborne. The cheap shops on the Strand promptly began to shut up, but before they did it was noticed that several men's clothiers had promptly dressed their windows with black ties and mourning gloves, upon which forthwith there was a run, causing them to remain open later than they would have done otherwise. Those who came to see the plays in the main decided to get out of their carriages and walk about to see the other kind of show — that of the streets, which, indeed, was more striking than anything they could have come out to see. They will never forget the human drama which they saw being played upon the streets of the Strand. Meanwhile, as though to impress the solemnity of the occasion still more deeply, the deep notes of "Big Tom," from the top of St. Paul's, began to ring out from the east, and with those of "Big Ben," from the tower of the House of Commons, were borne over the night air like the booming of heavy calibre cannon. Clang, clang, clang, came from all the intermediate churches, each tolling the knell of the dead, tolling slowly, solemnly and with a minute between each ring. Down Fleet street way the offices of the evening* papers were besieged by leather lunged newspaper venders, who fought each other in their anxiety to be first served and to rush ofT to the West End, Bicycle boys, weighed down with newspapers, picked their 436 VICTORIA. way, goodness knows how, with infinite skill, through the dense crowds. The presses of the papers were insufficient to supply the first demand. The impression left of all this was one great rush and a wild sort of fury and tangle of discordant sounds, all dominated or punctuated by the great boom of the two mammoth bells' discord- ing jangle. The rest, meanwhile, of the city itself was a scene scarcely less wildly animated. Around St. Paul's the people ralHed in their thousands. They had come to hear "Big Tom" ring out — that great bell which, you must understand, has only once before rung out the death toll of royalty — which death was that of the Duke of Clarence. And toll it did, with impressive resounding and with the full force of sixteen tons of hollow metal, and just one minute between each great cavernous sounding rumble which filled out into volumes of sound. Throughout the world there was mourning for the loss of the Queen, beloved by Empire, Kingdom and Republic. While the sacred dust lay in the darkened room at Osborne awaiting the pomp of the funeral the world thought much of the son who had succeeded her, Edward VII., King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. The King went to London the day after the Queen's death. London had donned a garb of mourning from end to end, and an early hour found a thick fog enveloping the city like a pall, a fitting accompaniment of the funeral apparel of every one. Throughout the West End drawn blinds were the order of the day, while on all the embassies. Government offices and public buildings the flags were half masted. The law courts, the Stock Exchange and all the Produce and Metal Exchanges throughout the country only assem- bled to close immediately after the presiding officers had addressed to the members a few words of tribute to the dead monarch. There were exceptionally larger congregations in the churches in all parts of the country. At St. Paul's Cathedral the prayers for * the royal family were altered to read: "For our sovereign, Lord, the King, and the Queen Consort." All the services were ended by the playing of a dead march. QUEEN ANB EMPRESS. 437 The various naval and military stations fired a salute of eighty- one guns at mid-day, to signalize the death of the Queen, one gun for each completed year of the Queen's age. The public buildings were draped with black, the stores dis- played many signs of mourning and business was practically at a standstill. Dense crowds, beginning at St. James street, hned the entire route to Victoria Station from an early hour. The Hall and the front of Buckingham Palace were especially thronged. All along the former, from the palace to Marlborough House, carriages filled with ladies stood as if for a drawing room, excepting that the coach- men, footmen and occupants were all dressed in mourning. The poHce precautions were unusual. Men on foot and mounted guarded almost every yard of the way. The crowds waited patiently for hours to greet their King. Finally, preceded by half a dozen mounted policemen, the new sov- ereign arrived in a plain brougham, which was driven very rapidly, with the coachman and footman in their usual gray liveries, with mourning bands on their arms. An equerry was seated beside him. The King was dressed in the deepest and most simple mourn- ing, and carefully raised his hat in acknowledgment of the silent un- covering of heads, which was more impressive than the most en- thusiastic cheers. The King looked tired and very sad, but very well. Following him came the Duke of York, the Duke of Connaught and others. Both the King and the Duke of York looked pathetically up at Buckingham Palace as they passed and acknowledged the salute of the guard of honor drawn up inside the palace grounds. The troops . there and elsewhere showed no signs of mourning, except that the bands were not present, but all the officers had crape on their left sleeves. The King drove to St. James Palace from Marlborough House to preside at the first Privy Council by way of Marlborough House yard, the Mall and the Garden entrance of the palace. He was at- tended by Lord Suffield (who has been Lord of the. Bed Chamber to the Prince of Wales since 1872) and was escorted by a captain's escort of the Horse Guards. The procedure was exactly as on levee days. 438 VICTORIA. By the time the King arrived a great gathering of Privy Coun- cilors, in levee dress, with crepe on their left arms, had taken up posi- tions in the throne room — Cabinet Ministers, Peers, Commoners, Bishops, Judges, the Lord Mayor, etc., including the Duke of York, the Duke of Connaught and lesser members of the royal family. Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, A. J. Balfour, the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Strathcona and Mountroyal and a host of the most prominent personages in the land were there to receive the King's formal oath, binding him to govern the kingdom according to its laws and customs, and hear him assume the title of King Edward VIL of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. The ceremony was interesting and according to precedent. The King was in a separate apartment from the Privy Councilors. To the latter the Duke of Devonshire, Lord President of the Council, formally communicated the death of Queen Victoria and the succes- sion to the throne of her son, the Prince of Wales. The royal Dukes, with certain Lords of the Council, were then directed to repair to the King's presence to acquaint him with the terms of the Lord President's statement. Shortly afterwards his Majesty entered the room in which the Councilors were assembled and addressed them in a brief speech. Lord Salisbury then administered the oath to the King. Afterwards, the various members of the Council, commenc- ing with the Lords in Council, took the oath of allegiance, and then passed in turn before His Majesty, as at a levee, except that each paused and kissed the King's hand. King Edward, in his speech to the Privy Council, said : "Your Royal Highness, my Lords and Gentlemen : This is the most painful occasion on which I shall ever be called upon to address you. My first and melancholy duty is to announce to you the death of my beloved mother, the Queen; and I know how deeply you and the whole nation, and, I think I may say, the whole world, sym- pathize with me in the irreparable loss we have all sustained. "I need hardly say that my constant endeavor will be always to walk in her footsteps. "In undertaking the heavy load which now devolves upon me, I am fully determined to be a constitutional sovereign in the strictest QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 439 sense of the word, and, so long as there is breath in my body, to work for the good and amehoration of my people. "I have resolved to be known by the name of Edward, which has been borne by six of my ancestors. In doing so I do not under- value the name of Albert, which I inherit from my ever-to-be lamented, great and wise father, who by universal consent, is, I think, deservedly known by the name of Albert the Good, and I desire that his name should stand alone. "In conclusion, I trust to Parliatnent and the nation to support me in the arduous duties which now devolve upon me by inheritance, and to which I am determined to devote my whole strength during the remainder of my Hfe." Mingling with the royal Dukes and great personages of the Kingdom were a few men in plain clothes, to represent the fact that the general public have a nominal right to be present. The King wore a Field Marshal's uniform and the ribbon of the Order of the Garter. When he began his speech his voice was painfully broken with emotion, but he recovered as he went on. The proclamation of the accession of his Majesty was signed by the Princes present, the Duke of York first, then the Duke of Connaught, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Christian, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Mayor and the other representatives of the city of London. At 4.30 P. M, the artillery began firing salutes in St. James Park to signalize King Edward's accession to the throne. Among the incidents of the day was an imposing civic proces- sion. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, accompanied by the City Marshal, Mace bearer and other members of the corporation, es- corted by a strong body of poHce, proceeded from the Mansion House, by way of the Thames Embankment and Trafalgar Square, to St. James Palace, in gilded equipages, with liveried outriders, includ- ing twenty semi-State carriages, making a notable picture, which was witnessed by thousands of silent people, who filled the sidewalks along the entire route. By 3.30 P. M., when his Majesty returned to Marlborough House, the crowd in the neighborhood was of immense proportions. The King's prior journey was accomplished in almost complete 440 VICTOEIA. silence, but on this occasion he was lustily cheered all along the line of route. The House of Lords and the House of Commons assembled at 4 o'clock and took the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign. The attendance in the House of Commons was large. All the members, dressed in the deepest mourning, stood up as Speaker The Duke of Connaught. Gully entered and announced that, by reason of the deeply lamented decease of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, it had become their duty to take the oath of allegiance to her successor, his Majesty, King Edward VH. The Speaker then administered the oath, and the swear- ing in of the members proceeded. Joseph Chamberlain, the Secre- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 441 tary of State for the Colonies; Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer; Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal leader in the House, and Sir William Vernon Harcourt, were the first to subscribe their names on the roll. In the House of Lords the oath was taken by the Duke of York, the Duke of Connaught, Earl Roberts, Lord Rosebery, Lord Salis- bury, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Lansdowne, and a hundred others. On the 24th London was given a glimpse of mediaeval times. The quaint ceremonies with which King Edward VH. was pro- claimed at various points of the metropolis exactly followed ancient precedents. The officials purposely arranged the function an hour ahead of the published announcement, and the inhabitants, when they awoke, were surprised to find the entire space between St. James's Palace and the city lined with troops. About 10,000 soldiers. Life Guards, Horse Guards, Foot Guards and other cavalry apd infantry regiments, had been brought from Aldershot and London Barracks after midnight. All the officers had crape on their arms, and the drums and brass instruments were shrouded with crape. The troops were grandly imposing, but they were entirely eclipsed by the strange spec- tacle presented by the officials of the College of Arms. The ceremony began at St. James's Palace, where, at 9 o'clock, Edward VH. was proclaimed King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. The proclamation, which was read by William Henry Weldon, King-at-Arms since 1894, and formerly Windsor Herald, was as follows: "Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy our late sovereign, Lady Queen Victoria of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the imperial crown of the United King- dom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Prince Albert Edward, we, therefore, the Lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being here assisted with these of her late Majesty's' Privy Council, with numbers of other principal gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of London, do now hereby with one voice consent of tongue and heart to publish and proclaim that the high and mighty Prince Albert Edward is now, by the death of our late sovereign of happy memory, 442 VICTORIA. become our only lawful and rightful liege Lord, Edward VII., by the Grace of God King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, Emperor of India, to whom we ac- knowledge all faith and constant obedience with all hearty and himible affection, beseeching God, by whom all Kings and Queens The Prince of Wales. do reign, to bless the Royal Prince Edward VII. with long and happy years to reign over us." The King was not present. There was a large assemblage of ofificials and college heralds. There was a great concourse of people from the commencement to the close. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 443 The proclamation was greeted b^ a fanfare of trumpets. At the conclusion of the ceremony the band belonging to the Foot Guards in the Friary Court played "God Save the King." The members of the King's household witnessed the ceremony from Marlborough House. On the balcony, overlooking. the Friary Court, from which the proclamation was read, were the Duke of Norfolk and other offi- cers of State. The balcony was draped in crimson cloth. Beside the officials in resplendent uniforms were stationed the State trumpeters. In the yard of Marlborough House and the Friary Court there was a large body of police, soldiers and Foot Guards. The Foot Guards acted as a guard of honor, and they were posted immediately beneath the balcony. The spectators began to assemble at an early hour. The troops arrived at 8 o'clock, and shortly before 9 o'clock in the morning a brilliant cavalcade passed down the Mall and en- tered Friary Court. It consisted of the headquarters staff, headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the forces. Earl Roberts, in full uniform, and carrying a marshal's baton, and Sir Evelyn Wood, the Adjutant General. At 9 o'clbck the court dignitaries, headed by the Duke of Norfolk, appeared on the balcony. Then the heralds blew a fanfare and King-at-Arms Weldon, in the midst of dead silence, read the proclamation. All heads were bared. As the reading was concluded, the King-at-Arms, raising his three cornered hat, cried loudly, "God save the King!" The crowd took up the cry, while the cheers, the fanfares of the trumpets and the band playing a national anthem made a curious medley. Kihg-at-Arms Weldon read the proclama- tion in clear tones, which were distinctly heard at a great distance. The third fanfare of trumpets ended the ceremony. On the 25th both Houses of Parliament received identical mes- sages from the King and voted condolence with his Majesty on his bereavement and congratulations on his accession to the throne. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Salisbury, and the Speaker, William Court Gully, read the message in their respective Houses. It was as follows: "Edward Rex: The King is fully assured that the House of Commons will share the deep sorrow which has befallen his Majesty and the nation by the lamentable death of his mother, the late Queen. 444 VICTORIA. Her devotion to the welfare of her country and her pople, and her wise and beneficent rule during the sixty-four years of her glorious reign, will ever be held in affectionate memory by her loyal and devoted subjects throughout the dominions of the British Empu-e. In both Houses the galleries were filled with a notable gather^ ing of peeresses and diplomats. Mr. Choate, the United States Am- bassador; Mr. White, the Secretary of the United States Embassy, Holyrood Palace, from the South-east. and Mr. Carter, the Second Secretary, and their wives, were in the galleries of the House of Lords when Lord Salisbury moved the reply to the King's message in a speech full of emotion. He said that in performing the saddest duty that had ever fallen to him he was only echoing accents of sorrow deeper than he had ever known of this nation, which had been called forth by the singular loss which, under the dispensation of Providence, they had suffered, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 445 and their admiration of the glorious reign and splendid character of the sovereign they had lost. Being a constitutional monarch, with restricted powers, she had reigned by sheer force of character, by the lovableness of her dis- position and by her hold on the hearts of her subjects. The example which she set of governing by esteem and love would never be for- gotten, nor how much she assisted in the elevation of her people by their simple contemplation of her brilliant qualities as wife, mother and woman. Her wonderful powers of observing with absolute strict- ness the Hmits of her powers as a constitutional sovereign and at the same time maintaining steady and persistent influence over the actions of her Ministers inspired the greatest admiration. She always maintained a rigorous supervision over public affairs, giving her Ministers the benefit of her advice and warning them of dangers. No minister could disregard her views or press her to disregard them without feeling he had incurred a great danger. She had brought the country peacefully through a great change from old toi new England. She possessed extraordinary knowledge of what peo- ple would think. He had always said that when he knew what the Queen thought, he knew for a certainty what her subjects would think, especially the middle classes. The King came to the throne with the one great advantage of having before him the greatest example possible. He had been familiar for a generation with political and social life. He enjoyed enormous popularity, and was almost as much beloved in foreign courts and countries. Congratulations could be tendered him with earnest sincerity, and in the belief that he will adorn the throne, and be no unworthy successor of the Queen. Lord Kimberley, the Liberal leader in the House of Lords, and the Archbishop of Canterbury seconded the address. Lord Kimberley said he desired to echo every word of the noble Marquis. His access to the sovereign dated back to an even earlier period than the Marquis. He had always been struck with the extraordinary consideration and kindness which marked her Majesty's conduct towards all who came in contact with her. He was simply amazed at the sound, real knowledge she possessed of all important affairs. 446 VICTORIA. The Archbishop of Canterbury said the Queen's influence as a truly reHgious woman was far greater than anything exercised by the wisest statesman or cleverest administrator. In the House of Commons A. J. Balfour, First Lord of the Treasury and Government leader, in moving the address in reply to the message, said the House in all its long history had never met under sadder circumstances nor with a clearer duty to express the universal sorrow extending from end to end of the Empire. The sorrow was felt not only as a national, but also as an irreparable per- sonal loss. It was hard yet to realize the magnitude of the blow which has fallen on the country. In the whole history of the British monarchy there had never been a case in which the national grief had been so deeply seated. The end of a great epoch has come, an epoch more crowded with important changes and great develop- ments than any period of Hke length in the history of the world. The influence of the Crown in the British Constitution was not a diminishing, but an increasing, factor, and must continue to in- crease with the growth and development of the self-governing com- munities over the sea, which were founded by Great Britain through the person of the sovereign, who was a living symbol of the unity of the Empire. This cumulative result of a great ideal, of the great example of Queen Victoria, was the greatest the world had even seen. At a meeting of the Royal Scottish Corporation Lord Rosebery dwelt in eloquent terms on the life and death of Queen Victoria, saying that in the whole history of mankind no death had so touched such a large number of persons in the entire world. There was scarcely an intelligent individual in the civilized world but was pro- foundly moved. He wondered if her subjects yet realized how much they had lost, and what an enormous weight the Queen had in the councils of the world. It was not brilliancy or genius which could supply the advantage she gave Great Britain by her fund of knowledge which was une- qualed by any constitutional historian. It was no disparagement of other Kings to say she was the chief of the European sovereigns and her influence in the councils of nations was always used for peace, freedom and good government. The last loving look at the dead queen by the royal family was extremely affecting. The coffin was brought into the bed-roomfin QUEEN AND EMPllESS. 447 the presence of King Edward, Emperor William, the Duke of Con- naught,. Sir James Reid and the royal ladies. The latter having re- tired, Sir James Reid, with reverent hands, assisted by three trusted household servants, and in the presence of the King, the Emperor and the Duke, removed the body from the bed to the coffin. In death it was lovelier than in the closing days of life. Not a trace of the ravages of disease was visible. The Queen's Private Sitting Room, Osborne. The servants having retired, Queen Alexandra, the Princess and the children were recalled, and, with lingering steps and stifled sobs they passed slowly before the white robed and peaceful figure. At the foot, never moving, stood the King, and when the mourning crowd had passed there remained only the son and grandson of the dead. Emperor William wept even more bitterly than the royal ladies. Finally he also retired, and the King was left alone. Sir James Reid, Missing Page Missing Page QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 451 On the 27th throughout the United Kingdom all places of worship held services in memory of Queen Victoria. At St. Paul's Cathedral there was an unusual scene. Before 9 o'clock in the morn- ing an enormous crowd, wholly attired in black, streamed from all directions to the vast edifice, and by 10 o'clock it was packed. Thousands, unable to obtain admission, stood vainly waiting on the steps and around listening to the low organ strains and muffled peals. The service began at half past 10. The Most Rev. Frederick Temple, Primate and Archbishop of Canterbury, preached a touch- ing sermon. There was a similar scene at Westminster Abbey, where all the services throughout the day were attended by enormous congrega- tions. The large assemblage in the Chapel Royal, at St. James's Palace, included Princess Frederica of Hanover, Prince Francis of Teck, a host of titled people, many members of the Cabinet and other distinguished persons. All the Roman Catholic and foreign churches in London held special memorial services. The members of the French Embassy attended the French church, and very elaborate services were held at the chapel of the Russian Embassy, by command of Emperor Nicholas. The venerable William MacDonald Sinclair, Archdeacon of Lon- don and Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, preached a commemorative discourse at Canterbury Cathedral. Special sermons were preached in St. George's Chapfel at Windsor. Everywhere cathedrals and churches were draped and hung with mourning emblems. Telegrams from the colonies and from all the principal cities abroad where British subjects reside report me- morial services. Sir Alfred Milner attended the service at the Cathe- dral in Cape Town. Earl Cadogan, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, accompanied by the Countess, attended an afternoon service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. At Osborne memorial services were also held. Lord Roberts and Mr. William St. Johjj Broderick, Secretary of State for War, were present at morning prayers in Whippingham Church at 11 26 452 VICTOEIA. o'clock. An hour later King Edward, Queen Alexandra and all the royal personages now at Osborne arrived at the church for the me- morial service. This was a simple function, the hymns being sung by an unsurpliced choir of school children. Sir Walter Parratt, pri- vate organist to the late Queen and organist to St. George's Chapel Royal, Windsor, played several funeral excerpts. The Bishop of Winchester delivered an eloquent panegyric upon Victoria, and declared that Emperor WilHam's action in coming to her deathbed touched the hearts of the British people and cemented the unity and friendship of the two kindred nations. At the conclu- sion of the service all stood during a performance of the "Dead March." President McKinley was among the first to send a message of sympathy to the new King, while throughout the United States badges of mourning were freely displayed on buildings. And the Queen's enemies! Had she many? Those who had opposed her government grieved for her, — the Boer War was not hers, and in South Africa the Boers also wore their black badges for the Queen, whose troops they were fighting at the time of her death in a war which was said to have hastened her death. The Queen had left explicit directions, written in 1862, as to her funeral. It was to be, as far as possible, like that of her dearly beloved and never forgotten husband, the Prince Consort, her body to rest beside his in the mausoleum at Frogmore. The Queen, then, was to be buried in the day time', the first English sovereign whose funeral had not been conducted at night and by torchlight. On| Friday, the ist of February, the Queen's body was removed from the Isle of Wight. Rarely has there been witnessed in history a procession more remarkable in its combination of pomp and splen- dor with grief and humility than that which escorted the body of Queen Victoria from Osborne House to the royal yacht Alberta, lying at Trinity pier. The spectacle of two great monarchs, followed by Queen, Princes and Princesses, walking silently along the country road behind the bier, blazing with precious stones, will Hve long in the memory of those who saw it. The veneration and the love which the action implied were ac- centuated by the splendor of the uniforms of the royal mourners and QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 453 the magnificence of the military display which preceded them, a dazzling mass of color. The crowds of spectators, a silent, reverent throng, were a fitting setting for the unusual scene. A service conducted by the Bishop of Winchester in the chapelle ardente was the preliminary to the great events of the day. At noon the gorgeous trappings about the bier were removed. Over the coffin was spread the robe worn by the Queen at her coronation, and on this was placed the royal regalia, wand, sceptre and crown, which will be buried with her at Frogmore. Outside the royal residence, at the Queen's entrance, the Queen's company of the Grenadier Guards were drawn up in double rank. As they stood there, rigidly forming a brilliant line, their heads were bowed over their reversed arms, as in the death chamber. From where the Guards' ranks ended a long, thin line of red stretched through the green and brown woods, clustering about the royal residence, to the gate where the remainder of the miUtary were waiting a glittering medley of uniforms. At half-past one o'clock the bars of the main door of Osborne House creaked and the petty officers of the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, who were to act as coffin bearers, dofifed their hats and entered. King Edward now came from a side entrance, accompanied by Emperor William of Germany. Both wore admirals' uniforms. The Grenadiers momentarily raised their heads and came to the salute, which the King returned, and the men again became mute figures. Through the glass doors could now be seen the coffin coming, carried by sailors. It was preceded by pipers and accompanied on either side by equerries. As the bearers emerged from the house with their precious burden the Grenadiers presented arms for the last time in honor of their dead Queen. The coffin was borne to the waiting gun-carriage, and the royal princes, the Queen and princesses, all afoot, joined the cortege, sev- eral of the royal party, especially Princess Beatrice, were sobbing bitterly. The pipers began a dirge, and the little procession moved slowly down the winding cedar hedged path. After the dirge came a touch- ing lament, "The Flowers of the Forest," which represents the with- ering of the last and best of them. 454 VICTORIA. As they reached the Queen's Gate, and wailed their closing strain, forty muffled drums rolled an echoing response, and then the massed bands burst forth into the magnificent music of Chopin's ''Funeral March." Of¥ went every hat, and the troops who lined the roadway to the pier reversed arms and leaned their bended heads over them. Down hill through the silent ranks of soldiers and populace moved the sad procession. Thousands of men, women and children were gathered all along the route. The road was lined with poles, with shields of black and silver, upon them bearing the royal monogram or surrounded with flags. Stands for spectators were scattered here and there along the way, while in Cowes every stand, window, and roof whence the pro- cession could be viewed was filled with humanity. The first sentiment among the crowd seemed to be one of ad- miration at the briUiant show, of which the mounted grooms, clad all in scarlet, who headed the line, were the foretaste. But this quickly changed to quick and keen realization of the meaning of the pageant. When the khaki colored gun carriage came in sight, even the tiniest boy perched in the tree top knew that those jewels and that rich coronation robe hid the form of the woman who for more than sixty years had governed the great empire. Behind the coffin came the King, with the Emperor of Germany and the Duke of Connaught on his right and left, forming a sad look- ing group in spite of the brilliancy of their uniforms. Behind them appeared the royal Princes, three abreast. There was hardly time for the spectators to recognize any of these, including the tawny bearded Prince Henry of Prussia and young Duke Arthur of Con- naught, perfect of figure and with handsome face, quivering mouth and nervous movements, before the most truly pathetic sight of the day came in view. It was a simple band in black, for all the world like the sisters of some religious order, mourning humbly for one of their order who had passed away. None was distinguishable from the others. AH wore plain black dresses with long crepe veils and walked three by three with downcast heads. Yet the first was the Queen of England, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 455 and with her was the woman who, if she lives, will also hold the proud title, and behind them walked the Princesses to whom every knee in England, however noble, is bowed in courtesy. In striking contrast with the black robed women, followed be- hind the heads of the royal households, in gorgeous uniforms, and bringing up the rear, most humble but sincere mourners, came the royal tenants and servants. At last the pier was reached, and the body was reverently borne by seamen on board the Alberta there, while the last notes of a funeral march echoed across the water. It was a little before three o'clock when white smoke broke from the battle ship Majestic's side and a second later a report cracked over the harbor and echoed to the hill, announcing the starting of the Alberta from Trinity pier. From ship to ship the salute was passed down the line, each vessel of the fleet firing minute guns. As the royal yacht Alberta, bearing the remains of England's beloved Queen, came abreast, they all employed their shore side batteries, so that, as seen from the mainland, the silhouettes of hulls, spars and ironwork stood out against backgrounds of dense gray smoke. Eight torpedo boat destroyers led the funeral procession, mov- ing in pairs, like pall bearers marching before a hearse. They were the Portsmouth squadron, all the eight of exactly the same size, every inch of hull and machinery painted a dull black. An officer stood like a statue in the bow of each, while the crews were aligned at "attention," like sentries, on their decks. Hardly a ripple came from their bows, their speed being barely five knots. The pairs of torpedo boat destroyers were about one hundred yards apart, with four boats' lengths between sterns and bows. A quarter of a mile behind, but seeming, across the water, but a stone's throw, followed the royal yacht Alberta, a commonplace looking little vessel, lying low in the water, with a gilt trimmed hull and side wheels protected by yellow paddle boxes. At her stern stood an officer, uniformed in d,ark blue, alone, as motionless as part of the ship. The Union Jack was at the foremast, the royal standard fell from half way up the mainmast and the naval ensign trailed from the stern. The after deck of the yacht was roofed with a white awn- ing, and beneath the awning, through glasses, could be seen the 456 VICTORIA. catafalque, of royal purple, on which rested the coffin. Four officers in uniform stood at the corners of the catafalque, facing outward. A few other persons could be seen clustered on the Alberta's deck. As the funeral yacht moved slowly past the crews of the war ships formed a solid mass along the decks of each vessel, standing with their arms at "attention." A line of scarlet coats, topped by snowy, shining helmets, on the after decks, showed where the marines were stationed. The fighting tops and guns were also manned. The officers stood out in showy full dress array. Each ship's band took up the funeral march when the Alberta came abreast, and the spectators on all the other craft took off their hats. And so, with the booming of minute ginis and the strains of funeral marches, the procession moved on. Following the Alberta trailed along five other yachts at regular intervals. First was the Victoria and Albert, a royal yacht, twice as large as the Alberta and of similar design. She carried the royal mourners, who, as relatives or officials, followed the coffin. King Edward and Emperor William were chief among them, but from the observation boats they were the only group not recognizable. A few scarlet coats could be seen, with ladies in the deepest mourning, and on the upper deck the Queen's Indian attendants were dis- tinguishable by their white turbans. In the wake of the Victoria and Albert Emperor William's yacht, the Hohenzollern, loomed up like an ocean greyhound, as large as a war ship, painted a spotless white, with yellow funnels, trim, glit- tering, carrying the German flag at her bow and the naval ensign at half mast at her stern. Three other yachts came in single file behind — the Osborne, larger than the Alberta and of the same class; next the Admiralty yacht Enchantress, smaller, and then a little Trinity House yacht. Finally came a black torpedo boat destroyer. But the Alberta, marked by the purple and opal on her deck, and the big Hohenzollern stood out conspicuous in the crawling procession. Past the most powerful fleet England could gather on short notice — the Alexandra, Camperdown, Rodney, Benbow, Colling- wood. Colossus, Sans Pareil, Nile, Howe, Melampus, Severn, Galatea, Bellona, Pactolus, Pelorus, Diana, Conqueror, Arrogant, Minerva, QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 457 Niobe, Hero, Hood, Trafalgar, Resolution, Jupiter, Hannibal, Mars, Prince George — through this long line of British battle ships and cruisers till Japan's Hatsuse, the biggest war ship in the world, was left astern and the German Baden was beam to beam with Vice Ad- miral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson's splendid flagship, the Majestic, of the Channel squadron, the procession slowly steamed. Twenty minutes after the first pair of torpedo boat destroyers came abreast of the press boat the historic parade had passed, and was dwindling, smaller and smaller, toward the sunset, where the purple clouds and volumes of smoke made an impressive spectacle. The guns of each war ship ceased firing when the Alberta had gone by, and the marines "reversed arms," but the latter and all the crews remained at their stations while the fleet of steamers from the shores, their decks crowded with thousands of the late Queen's subjects, raised their anchors and followed outside the line of war ships. Gradually the din of the minute guns lessened as the batteries of the ship after ship ceased firing, while the funeral parade swept round the end of the line and into the entrance of Portsmouth Harbor. It was five o'clock when the echoes of the last gun ceased. The sun was a great, red globe sinking to the hilltops, the clouds began to fall again upon the Channel and the body of the Queen was safe in Portsmouth Harbor. Before 9 o'clock Saturday morning the body of the Queen was taken from the royal yacht Alberta, at Portsmouth, and transferred to the funeral train which was waiting to carry it to London. A brief religious service preceded the removal of the body, only the royal mourners attending. On the jetty, waiting as a guard of honor, were several hundred marines and bluejackets, while around the railway station were gathered dense throngs of reverent on- lookers. When all was ready the petty officers of the royal yachts, who acted as bearers, lifted the coffin and bore it, shoulder high, to the train. Minute guns were fired from the forts as the procession moved along. The coffin was placed on the dais in the special funeral car, the royal mourners took their seats, and the train moved slowly away. 458 VICTORIA. Meanwhile, at Victoria Station, London, a host of grooms, equerries, ofificials and army officers were gathering to receive the dead. The long platforms were covered with purple cloth. Facing the platform at which the Queen's train was to arrive, guards of honor, composed of bluejackets and Grenadier Guards, were drawn Princess Christian. up. The Lord Chamberlain and his officials, bareheaded, with their white wands of office, received the most distinguished personages, in- cluding the foreign royalties, and conducted them to a specially deco- rated pavilion. Carriages came for the new Queen and the Princesses, state car- riages with gold mounted harness, and trappings, the horses ridden , QUEEN AND :EMPBESS. 459 by postilions in scarlet jackets, with a band of crape on their arms. Following these came that which made every officer in the throng come to the salute. It was the little khaki colored gun carriage which was to be the Queen's hearse. The eight Hanoverian, cream colored horses which drew the Queen's coach at the Jubilee, the gold harness, scarlet coated postilions and scarlet and gold covered grooms who held the horses by the bridle were all the same. Only the gun carriage marked the change. It was exactly eleven o'clock when the royal train steamed into the station. King Edward, alighted first and, with his hand at the salute, watched with the rest of the royal family the slow removal of the coffin to the gun, carriage. The King, Emperor and princes then mounted and the procession started, amid the firing of minute guns and the tolling of church bells throughout the city. Royalty, the army and the navy monopolized the pageant. Three thousand soldiers and sailors, picked companies, representing all branches of the service — cavalry, artillery, infantry, yeomanry, militia, volunteers and colonials — formed the advance escort. They marched slowly and without music. Most of the uniforms were covered with dark overcoats, and the standards were draped with black, the officers wearing bands of crape on their sleeves. Then came Field Marshal Earl Roberts and his stafif and foreign military attaches. After them came four massed bands, three hun- dred musicians, announcing the coming of the body of the Queen. There was a long array of court officials, under the leadership of the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, all ^ttired quaintly and brilliantly, bearing maces or wands. Beside the coffin walked the stalwart bearers, non-commissioned officers of the Guards and Household Cavalry, and outside of these the Queen's equerries, lords-in-waiting and physicians. The spectacle was quickly past, and then came the royal mourn- ers^mounted on beautiful chargers. The King, Emperor and Duke of Connaught, who rode ahead, wore long black cloaks over their brilliant military uniforms, which were only now and then revealed in part as they moved along. The Kaiser was attired in his new British Field Marshal's uni- form. He glanced right and left as he rode, and his hand was fre^ 460 VICTORIA. quently raised to his hat as he responded to salutes. His splendid white charger pranced up and down, giving His Majesty an oppor- tunity to display fine horsemanship. Next came a dazzling array of Continental royalty, numbering about forty in all, and riding three abreast. So close were they to- gether and so quickly did they pass that few of the present and pros- pective rulers of kingdoms and principalities could be distinguished. The new Queen and Princesses in carriages and a small military es- cort, including a deputation from the Queen's German Dragoon regiment, brought up the rear of the procession. Just two hours was taken in passing from Victoria Station to Paddington, where the coffin was transferred to a train, and the journey to Windsor began. At Windsor the great east window of St. George's Chapel, with its faint stained figures, threw a soft light over this burial and wor- shipping place of kings, the funeral service in which was one of the most marvellous sights of the ceremonies. Such an array of royalty and so many flaming colors never were concentrated in so small a space. Before each oaken stall glimmered the waxen taper which burns when Knights of the Garter are present. Above their heads, resting upon the carved sabres of the stalls, were the special insignia of each knight, while hanging over this were the motionless banners bear- ing the strange devices of the members of the order. On each side of the chancel flamed two rows of candles, in the light of which glittered the gold and red worn by the knights. In sombre contrast sat the long line of princesses and ladies in waiting, making a foreground of deepest black. Among the early arrivals were Ministers and former Ministers in full state uniform, their breasts a mass of gold braid. Members of the Cabinet took their seats in a row. The castle courtyard was filled with privileged spectators. Ex- quisite wreaths almost covered the chapel steps. Inside, while those in gorgeous uniforms and deep black took their places, court attendants in gold and black and pages costumed in the style of George III.'s reign, with big lace ruffles, bright red coats and white breeches and stockings, flittered hither and thither. QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 461 With the brilliancy of official costumes vied in splendor the col- lege of heralds, gorgeous in quaint mantles, tabards and insignia, and the mediaeval looking Yeomen of the Guard, carrying their halberds at slope. Lord Salisbury followed, wearing a velvet skull cap and wrapped in an ordinary black overcoat over a plain court uniform. The ladies in waiting, veiled as the Princesses were yesterday, took their seats on a long bench below the stalls. Lord Rosebery entered about a quarter after one o'clock. Most of the Diplomatic Corps occupied two rows of stalls on the right of the chancel. His brilliant robes made the Chinese Minister most conspicuous. Baron Eckhardstein, the giant of the Diplomatic Corps, in attendance upon Count von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, the German Ambassador, towered above all others in the magnificent white and gold uniform of the German army. The Haytian Minister, with black face, formed a severe contrast to Count von Hatzfeldt, .who sat next to him. From the courtyard came the sounds of sharp commands, as troops were brought to attention or shifted. Two o'clock came, and the congregation was coughing uneasily. At a quarter after two Sir Walter Parratt, at the organ, began Mendelssohn's march in E minor from the "Songs Without Words." The castle clock struck the half- hour, and the organ ceased. The sound of the slowly saluting guns was heard, and silence fell on the assemblage. Ten minutes passed, and Sir Walter Parratt played softly. White haired statesmen, one by one, dropped into their seats. The strain was too much, and the diplomats followed suit. The music of the bands could be heard, first faintly and then nearer and nearer, until the majestic roll of the funeral march pene- trated every corner of the chapel. Quietly, with no heralding, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Windsor, who were to officiate, walked from the vestry down to the chancel, followed by the choir. The nobles rose to their feet. For fifteen minutes the congregation listened to the military, bands outside. At twenty minutes after three the doors swung open. "I Am the Resurrection" was sung by the choir. Slowly the white robed boys made their way up the aisle. 462 VICTORIA. After the Archbishop of Canterbury came the white rods, the coffin borne by Grenadiers, and then the equerries, carrying the pall and regalia. Walking together came the King, Emperor William and the Duke of Connaught. Behind them were the King of the Belgians, the King of Greece, and the King of Portugal, and after them the royal Princes. Mr. Choate, the American Ambassador, in evening dress, en- tered with the procession and sat in a corner, near the master of ceremonies. The choir, having passed to the right of the altar, and the Queen and Princesses having gone to their positions in the Queen's Gallery, overlooking the altar, the service proceeded. The Archbishop stood at the altar steps, directly before the coffin. On his left was the Bishop of Winchester, in scarlet robes, who read the regular lesson for the dead. The Duke of Cambridge was helped to a stall, being unable to stand any longer. The coffin rested upon a catafalque placed at the steps of the altar. The cross over the communion table was covered with white flowers, and the reredos was almost concealed with sprays of fern dotted with lilies. "Man That Is Born of Woman" was chanted by the choir to Wesley's music, followed by "Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts." The Dean of Windsor read "I Heard a Voice," and the choir sang the Lord's Prayer to music composed by Gounod especially for the late Queen. Once more the strains of the choir welled up through the ancient chapel with Tchaikowsky's "How Blessed Are They That Die." A few sobs were heard, and the choir then broke the oppressive stillness with the sweet harmony of the "Dresden Amen." Then the loud tones of the Norrey King of Arms, William Henry Weldon, proclaimed the dead monarch's titles, ending with "God save the King," in such dramatic tones, that his heai'ers started with realization that a new regime had begun. Spohr's anthem, "Blessed Are the Departed," followed, and the service ended with Beethoven's funeral march, played by Sir Walter Parratt. QUEEN ANB EMPRESS. 463 The trembling voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is almost blind, had scarcely ended the final benediction before he turned to go up the altar steps. His sight and strength failed him, and he tottered, groped and was on the point of falling when the Archbishop of York, who had been standing some distance behind him, advanced and caught his hand, and gently led the venerable pre- late to the holy table. Then they both knelt, the greatest dignitaries of England's Church, next in rank to the royal blood, their heads bowed upon the purple altar cloth. While the Archbishop prayed and the Bishops and clergy rever- ently kept their knees, the King and Emperor William, followed by three other Kings, walked up to the altar rails and out into the castle by a private exit. Their gorgeous suites followed mechanically, and a kaleidoscope of color and royalty surged by the chancel. Against this hurrying throng the coffin and kneeling figures within the holy enclosure stood out in contrast. Still the Archbishop prayed and still the gayly caparisoned princes sought an outlet by which they might gain the Waterloo chamber, and the body of the Queen was left alone before the altar, save for the stern figures of her gentlemen-at-arms, with halberds in hand, guarding the remains, as the bodies of JEdward IV., Charles I. and Henry VHI. were guarded in the same chapel hundreds of years ago. In all parts of the world services were held the same day in memory of the Queen — Paris, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Rome, The Hague, Canada, the United States, all joined in a common respect and sorrow. Catholic, Protestant, worshipers apart from the Christian religion as one for the one cause. On Monday afternoon, February 4th, the last honors were paid to Queen Victoria, and her body was placed beside that of her hus- band in the mausoleum at Frogmore. The final ceremonies were of a deeply pathetic character. Shortly before 3 o'clock, in the presence of the royal mourners, the Grenadier Guard of Honor lifted the casket from its temporary resting place in the Albert Memorial Chapel and placed it on a gun carriage. In the meanwhile, the Queen's company of grenadiers, drawn up in the quadrangle, presented arms and wheeled into line, their rifles at the reverse, and with slow, measured steps marched towards the castle gate. 464 VICTORIA. At the head of the procession was a band playing Chopin's funeral march. Slowly the cortege passed under the massive archway on to the Long Walk, which was a mass of black, brilliantly edged with scarlet. Life Guardsmen kept the crowds back. In place on the gun carriage was the same regalia which had attracted the eyes of millions since the march to the grave began at Osborne. Close behind walked the King and Duke of Connaught, wearing dark military overcoats and plumed cocked hats, and look- ing pale and careworn. In similar dull attire were the Kings of Portugal and Belgium. All heads were bent. The blue and gray of the German Princes redeemed the royal group from perfect sombreness of color. Behind these walked Queen Alexandra and the royal Princesses. The Queen carried an umbrella, but the others had their hands folded. As the last trio of these veiled women passed out from the castle there came two boys dressed in bright tartan kilts and velvet jackets. Be- tween them was a young girl, her fair, loose hair glittering against the crepe of her mourning. Two of these were children of Princess Henry of Battenberg and the other little Prince Edward of York, who could hardly keep pace even with the slow progress of the mourning band. The rear of the procession was brought up by the suites of the Kings and Princes, their vari-colored overcoats forming a striking patch of color. Down the Long Walk, with the band still playing Chopin's dirge, this quiet throng slowly made its way to the mausoleum. At the lodge gates the strains of the band died away, and the pipers commenced their lament. There, between the broad avenue of stately trees, the crowds were the thickest, forming dense black banks. By 3.30 P. M. the crowned bier had passed into the other lodge, which leads to the Frogmore enclosure, where none but the family and servants was admitted. Dismounted Life Guardsmen, in their scarlet cloaks, the white plumes of their helmets glistening in the sun, kept the route clear from the castle slope. Amid the bare boughs of trees below the mist QUEEN AND EiMl'RESS. 465 arose from the damp earth, trampled into mud by the uneasy few thousands. The air was sharp and cold. From the Albert Memorial Chapel to the mausoleum, nearly a mile from the Great Gate of the castle, there is a steep slope of 500 yards, at the bottom of which is the Lodge Gate and a fence. On the castle side of this were hundreds of ticket-holders. On the other side, where the Long Walk commences, the public was massed. ^^5 - i m 1 ^^^^^ "^ "^ M ^^^m^ >^ |K^^k ^^^^^^ w ^^^^S p^;-* ^^^^y^^^S \ ■ ^^^^^^^ "' ^'^^^^^S^^^^^^^^M^ K fmm Frogmore House. At 2.45 P. M. a picturesque touch of color was added to the scene. Sir Walter Parratt, private organist to the late Queen and organist of St. George's Chapel Royal, Windsor, and his choir, all in surplices and college caps, walked quickly down the slope, through the crowds to the mausoleum. Then minute guns commenced to boom, as a battery of artillery at the foot of the Long Walk paid its final honors to the dead Queen. The Windsor church bells tolled 466 VICTORIA. solemnly, and the strains of the band, gradually growing stronger and stronger, echoed from the castle quadrangle. At 3.15 P. M. the head of the procession passed slowly out of King George's Arch, in the following order: The Queen's Company of Grenadier Guards, with arms reversed. The Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle, the Duke of Argyll. Highlanders and pipers. The Mausoleum, Frogmore, Last Resting Place of Victoria. Royal servants. Band of the Grenadier Guards. The Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Windsor. The Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward. The gun carriage, with the coffin, supported by the late Queen's equerries and household, flanked by officers. Following the coffin walked King Edward, the Duke of Con- naught, Emperor William, the King of the Belgians, Prince Henry "GOn SAVE THE KING.'' (Earl Roberts Saluting the National Anthem, after the Proclamation.) gUEEN AND EMPRESS. 469 of Prussia and all the other royal personages, including Queen Alex- andra and the princesses. Those present were accompanied by their suites. The route was through the Norman Gateway, across the quad- rangle, through the George IV. Archway, down the Long Walk, through the Lodge Gates, and then from the Long Walk to the mausoleum. The route from the George IV. Archway to the gates of the mausoleum was lined with troops under the command of Colonel Napier Miles, of the First Life Guards. The Queen's Pipers played from the gates to the mausoleum itself. On arriving there the Queen's Company of Grenadiers opened outward and formed in double rank on the steps of the mausoleum. The choir met the funeral cortege on the steps. The High- landers' Pipers and servants, on their arrival, went into the mauso- leum, and took up the positions allotted to them. The coffin was borne from the gun carriage by the Grenadiers, the Pipers ceased their dirge, and the choir, moving forward, com- menced to sing, "Yet Though I Walk Through the Valley Before." The inside of the mausoleum being, reached, they sang "Man That's Born of Woman," while the royal family took their places around the coffin. The dome of Victoria's tomb re-echoed with the sad strains of "Lord, Thou Knowest." The choir sang Sir Arthur Sullivan's anthem, "Yea, Though I Walk;" the hymn, "Sleep Thy Last Sleep," and Tennyson's "The Face of Death is Turned Towards the Sun of Light," set to music by Sir Walter Parratt. The Bishop of Winchester, standing on the platform surround- ing the marble figure of the Prince Consort, on which rested the Queen's coffin, read the committal prayer and the Lord's Prayer. Then the choir sang "Sleep Thy Last Sleep," the Dean said the col- lect, the choir broke forth into the anthem, "The Face of Death is Turned Toward the Sun of Life," and, with hands stretched over the congregation, the Bishop of Winchester pronounced the Benediction. A short, solemn silence followed, broken by the sweet cadence of Strainer's "Amen," and then King Edward and Emperor William, 470 VICTORIA. the visiting Kings and the Princes and the Queen and the Princesses filed before the bier and passed out to their carriages. And so she passed beyond the sight of men, that lady full of years, that Queen of many triumphs and many trials. And so a King was to rule again after so many years of Queen- ship. A popular man, a Prince whom even these democratic days saw as a fitting successor to her who had reigned so long. The Prince of Wales had ascended the throne, his accession had been attended with dignity and manliness. His speech on the opening of Parliament was awaited, for though a King may not be the auto- crat he had been in older times, yet his utterances make for the pleasure or offence of the people. Parliament was to be opened on the 14th of February. It was to be an occasion of great pomp and display. This ceremony and the coronation of the King which was to take place later on are in striking contrast with the inauguration of the President of the United States, to occur on the 4th of March next ensuing. These events coming so closely together accentuate the out- ward distinctions between the British monarchy and the Republic. The installation of the American Presidents has been accompanied by more elaborate military displays in recent years than formerly. There has been a departure from Jeffersonian simplicity; but the American inaugurations are distinctly popular celebrations, in which no orders of nobility take precedence to mark the differences in human conditions. The President himself is of the people. Many of our Chief Magistrates came from the humblest environments, and, after a brief term of office, returned to the ranks of ordinary citizen- ship. The American inaugurations are only so far ceremonial as may be necessary to give dignity to the occasion. Nevertheless, the stately demonstrations in London were inter- esting to Americans, who have a joint inheritance with English speaking people in a glorious literature, in the "common law" and in the numberless customs and habits which identify the race. The QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 471 scene in London was historical. The description of it in cold print strikes the imagination and revives one's interest in English tra- ditions. The first Parliament of the new King was opened by His Majesty in person, accompanied by Queen Alexandra, the Duke of Con- naught and many others of the royal family. The last state ceremony of the kind occurred in 1861, when Queen Victoria opened Parliament accompanied by the Prince Con- sort, and nothing, since that event, equalled in splendor the cere- monies of February 14th, 1901. Not since the wedding of the then Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra had the gorgeous state coach been seen in the streets of London. In this coach the new King and Queen rode from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. The route of the royal party, through the Mall, the Horse Guards parade, White Hall and Parliament street, was guarded by 5,000 soldiers. Thousands of Londoners packed St. James Park, bordered the route of the procession and filled windows, stands and roofs. The cortege was short but spectacular. The royal coach drawn by eight famous cream-colored Hanoverians, with postilions in red and gold liveries and footmen leading the horses, which were covered with trappings of morocco and gilt, was preceded and fol- lowed by Life Guards in full uniform with silver breast plates and red plumed helmets, and a small escort of gentlemen-at-arms in his- tory costumes immediately surrounded the vehicle. Five carriages of state containing uniformed officials and ladies- of-the-household, each drawn by six horses with postilions and out- riders, led the procession. Next came the massive state chariot, the occupants of which could be plainly seen through the plate glass windows, the King, who was in full uniform, saluting constantly and the Queen bowing on all sides. The procession speedily traversed the short route to an accom- paniment of roars and shouts, and reached the royal entrance to the palace of Westminster beneath the Victoria tower at the appointed time. On the arrival of the members of the House of Comntons in the House of Lords the King read his speech. 472 VICTORIA. There was the great officers of state and the others who were to take part in the ceremony had assembled in order to receive Their Majesties. Upon the King and Queen ahghting from the state car- riages the procession was quickly formed and proceeded to the robing-room in the following order: Pursuivants. Heralds. The King's Equerries. Gentlemen ushers, grooms-in-waiting and officers of the house- hold, flanked by sergeants-at-arms. The Lord Privy Seal. The Lord High Chancellor. Black Rod. Garter King-at-Arms. Earl Marshal. Lord Great Chamberlain. The Sword of State, carried by the Marquis of Londonderry. The King and Queen, attended by the Master of the Horse, the Lord Steward and the lords and ladies in waiting, followed by the pages of honor. Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms. Silver Stick in Waiting. Field Officer in Waiting. Officers, Gentlemen-at-Arms and Yeomen of the Guard. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Duchess of Fife, the Duchess of Argyll, Prince and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Hol- stein. Princess Henry of Battenberg, Prince and Princess Charles of Denmark and the Duke of Cambridge and their attendants had pre- viously assembled in the House of Peers to await Their Majesties. The diminutive chamber was filled to its capacity by the highest and noblest of the kingdom. United States Ambassador Joseph H. Choate, and the other Ambassadors occupied a special enclosure behind the bench of the Bishops. The King and the robed procession advanced to the House of Lords, in the order already detailed. As soon as His Majesty was enthroned the Lord Great Chamberlain received the royal command QUEKN AND EMPRESS. 473 to summon the members of the House of Commons to hear the speech from the throne. All present rose as the procession ended, thankful that the long wait was over, and all eyes of this "house of peeresses," as it was dubbed for the occasion, centered on the Queen's dress, which, it could be seen, in spite of the ermine cape, was of deep black and glittered with jewels, while across her breast was the ribbon of the Order of the Garter, her husband's latest tribute. When their Majesties reached the throne the Lord Chancellor stood on the King's right. On the Queen's left was Lord London- derry. Lord Salisbury stood at the foot of the throne. In the state chairs were the Duchess of Cornwall and York, Princess Charles of Denmark, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and the Duche- esses of Connaught, Fife and Argyll. The Dukes of Connaught and Cambridge stood near Lord Salisbury. With a motion of his hand the King signified that the distin- guished gathering should sit, and the Queen, whom his Majesty had gallantly led to the throne, by the hand, was the first to do so. Her example was followed on all sides. Then the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, after a deep obeisance, hurried to the House of Commons and, in a few minutes, the Speaker, wearing his state robes and attended by the Sergeant- at-Arms and Chaplain, appeared at the bar. In solemn tones the Lord Chancellor administered the oath, with the King sitting. The Lord Chancellor then, kneeling, handed the King a roll, which he signed, after which all present once more stood up, and the King put on his Field Marshal's plumed hat, rose and, in clear, ringing tones, read his speech, turned to the Queen, helped her to rise and led her out of the chamber. The oath King Edward took was the "No Popery oath," im- posed by the bill of rights. It is as follows: "I, Edward, do solemnly and sincerely, and in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do believe that in the sacrament of our Lord's Supper there is not any trans- substantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation and adoratioa of the Virgin 474 VICTORIA. Mary or any other saint and the sacrifice of Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous; and I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do make this declaration and every part thereof in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by EngHsh Protestants, without any evasion, equivoca- tion or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the Pope, or any other au- thority or person whatsoever, and without any hope of any such dis- pensation from any person whatsoever, and without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man of any part thereof, although the Pope or any other person or persons or power whatso- ever should dispense with or annul the same or declare that it was null and void from the beginning." The King repeated the oath after the Lord Chancellor and kissed the scarlet bound Bible. The King's speech was as follows: "My Lords and Gentlemen: — I address you for the first time at a moment of national sorrow, when the whole country is mourn- ing the irreparable loss we have so recently sustained, and which has fallen with peculiar severity on myself. My beloved mother, during her long and glorious reign, has set an example before the world of what a monarch should be. It is my earnest desire to walk in her footsteps. "Amid this public and private grief it is satisfactory to me to be able to assure you that my relations with the other Powers continue friendly. "The war in South Africa is not yet entirely terminated, but the capitals of the enemy and his principal lines of communication are in my possession, and measures have been taken which will, I trust, enable my troops to deal effectually with the forces by which they are still opposed. "I greatly regret the loss of life and expenditure of treasure due to the fruitless guerilla warfare maintained by Boer partisans in the former territories of the two republics. Their early submission is much to be desired in their own interests, as until it takes place it will be impossible for me to establish in those colonies the institu- QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 475 tions which will secure the equal rights of all the white inhabitants and protection and justice for the native population. "The prolongation of the hostilities in South Africa has led me to make a further call on the patriotism and devotion of Canada and Australasia. I rejoice that my request has met with a prompt and loyal response, and large additional contingents from those col- onies will embark for the seat of war at an early date. "The suffering and mortality caused by the prolonged drought in a large portion of my Indian Empire have been greatly alleviated by a seasonable rainfall, but I regret to add that in parts of the Bom- bay Presidency distress of a serious character still continues, which my officers are using every endeavor to mitigate. "Gentlemen of the House of Commons: — ^The estimates for the year will be laid before you. Every care has been taken to limit their amount, but the naval and military requirements of the country, and especially the outlay consequent upon the South African war, have involved an inevitable increase. "The demise of the Crown renders it necessary that renewed provision shall be made for the civil list. I place unreservedly at your disposal those hereditary revenues which were so placed by my predecessor, and I have commanded that the papers necessary for a full considration of the subject shall be laid before you. "My Lords and Gentlemen: — Proposals will be submitted to your judgment for increasing the efificiency of my military forces. "Certain changes in the constitution of the court of final appeal are rendered necessary in consequence of the increased resort to it which has resulted from the expansion of the Empire during the last two generations. "Legislation will be proposed to you for the amendment of the law relating to education. "Legislation has been proposed and, if the time at your dis- posal proves to be adequate, it will be laid before you, for the pur- pose of regulating the voluntary sale by landlords to occupying tenants in Ireland, for amending and consolidating the factory and workshop acts, for the better administration of the law respecting lunatics, for amending the public health acts in regard to water supply, for the prevention of drunkenness in licensed houses and public places, and for amending the law of literary copyright. 476 VICTORIA. "I pray that Almighty God may continue to guide you in the conduct of your deliberations, and that He may bless them with success." The King wore a Field Marshal's chapeau when he read his speech. His voice was clear and firm. After the reading of the speech the procession was reformed, the King proceeded to the robing room, unrobed and left Westminster in the state carriage, in the same order as the procession entered. On the resumption of business in the House of Lords the Lord Chancellor read the King's speech, and the Marquis of Waterford, Conservative, moved the address in reply. He is, perhaps, the young- est member to whom the honor has ever been accorded. Lord Manners seconded the motion. Lord Kimberley, the Liberal leader, after complimenting the mover and seconder of the address, said the House needed no further assurances that the King would follow in the steps of his mother, and proceeded to express dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war in South Africa. He said the present conditions in South Africa fifled him with apprehension. The Government had been living in a fool's paradise. Unless they enabled General Kitchener to speedily terminate the war the situation could easily become more dangerous. If the Government attempted to put the whole military system on a more satisfactory basis they would receive every support from the Liberals. Lord Salisbury, leisurely, added his congratulations to the mover and seconder of the address, and proceeded to refer to the manner in which the country's loss had been received throughout the world. Continuing, Lord Salisbury said the country could now hope confidently that the promise given by the King that he would follow his mother's steps would be fully and abundantly borne out. If so, it would be the greatest triumph for the principle of monarchy and for the name of the British union. Dealing with the war, Lord Salisbury thought there was nothing unusual in the length of the campaign. He referred Lord Kimberley to the Indian mutiny and the American war, between which and the South African campaign there was a great resemblance. In Bosnia it took two years and the whole power of Austria to conquer the QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 477 peasants. Where great enthusiasm and persistency existed in a country like South Africa months must elapse before tranquility could be restored. Therefore, he did not believe there was any real ground for the discontent or apprehensions expressed by Lord Kim- berley. It was four years before the whole efforts of that very intelligent and most efficient community. North America, were able to bring the war of secession to a final and successful issue. He would be glad to hear Lord Kimberley repudiate all idea of asking the Govern- ment to alter its conduct towards the enemy. It was the business of the Government to put its whole heart and strength to the ask before it. A not numerous but noisy faction tried to make out that the • English people were not hearty supporters of the war, and urged the Government to adopt action short of what was implied in carry- ing the operations to a successful issue. If the enemy were allowed to retain any portion of their inde- pendence, it would involve incessant, continuous warfare. Unless the British were masters and conquerors of these territories, there were no hopes of abiding peace. What the country does with the power when obtained was another question. But it was perfectly obvious that the first purpose to which the enemy would put any powers granted them would be to accumulate new forces and new arms, to await a fitting occasion for a new attack. If Great Britain slackened her efforts it would be an avowal to the world that her frontier could be invaded in the most insulting manner, and that the Empire was powerless to effectually resist it. If Lord Kimberley could impose his opinion on his party gen- erally, it would be a great advantage to the Empire, as it would dispel the impression in South Africa that an important party movement in their favor existed in this country, and it would help to bring to an end the insane resistance which was bringing desolation and misery to two countries. The address was agreed to, and their Lordships adjourned until February 19. The House of Commons was crowded when the gentleman usher of the Black Rod appeared and informed the Speaker that the 478 VICTORIA. King commanded the House to attend his Majesty immediately in the House of Lords. The Speaker forthwith left the chair, and, escorted by the Black Rod and preceded by the Mace, proceeded to the House of Lords, the members crowding after them in hopes of getting into the upper chamber. The only members of the House of Commons not wearing mourning were three Nationalists. When the Speaker returned to the House of Commons he read the King's speech. The House, after a brief recess, reassembled, and a message was brought in from the King, thanking the Commons for their address of sympathy on the loss of his mother and their expression of dutiful attachment to his person. The Speaker then read the message of condolence from the various Parliamentary bodies. Among the measures announced, Gerald Balfour, President of the Board of Trade, gave notice that, at an early date, he would in- troduce a bill to amend and consolidate the Literary Copyright laws. The Speaker having read the King's speech, H. W. Forster, Conservative, West Kent, who was in the uniform of the Yeomanry, moved the address in reply to the speech from the Throne. After a reference to the change of sovereignty, Mr. Forster said he hoped the House would remember the dignity of the King's position and deal generously with the civil list. Sir Andrew N. Agnew, Unionist, Edinburgh, seconded the motion. , Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal leader, after wish- ing the King and Queen might have a long and happy reign, took up the political paragraphs of the speech from the throne. He asked the House to face the facts in connection with the war. They must not shut their eyes to the gravity of the situation in South Africa. He dwelt at length on the miscalculations of the Government, and paid a warm tribute to the army, saying he thought there was no i-eason to withhold the fullest confidence from the gen- erals in the field. The position in South Africa presented formidable difficulties. Neither here nor in South Africa was there any idea of flinching. The question was. Had the Government adequately realized the cir- cumstances and adequately provided for thern? QtTKliIN AND EMTKBSS. 479 The House would not hesitate to vote anything necessary to clear the colony of invaders; but, when that was accomplished, then was the moment to make the people of the two States such terms of settlement, as, while securing for the Empire all they were con- tending for, would assuage their fears, save their dignity and restore their personal rights. While supporting the despatch of such reinforcements as the ' military authorities at the Cape required, he strongly urged, as a solvent infinitely more efifective than military measures — that definite proposals should be made at the same time. If they were to keep South Africa they must win the confidence of the Dutch. Whatever was done must be done openly. The despatch of peace emissaries was not wise. A. J. Balfour, the Government leader, followed. In congratu- lating the King, he said his Majesty had followed precedent in relin- quishing to the Government all Crown property, and he might be assured that the Commons was ready to make ample provision. Re- ferring to the question raised by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as to the misconduct of the allied troops in China, he declared that the behavior of the British troops there had been exemplary. He ad- mitted that the Government had not foreseen that the leaders of the Boers would be "so ill-advised in their own interests and the inter- ests of their country as to continue the struggle. The Government," he said, "had exceeded Lord Kitchener's demands rather than fallen short of them," adding that the Boer leaders "know perfectly well that, if they lay down their arms, their persons and property will be respected and equal rights granted to all. "More than this," continued Mr. Balfour, "the Boer leaders know that as soon as it becomes possible free institutions vdll be adopted. His Majesty's Government holds that it would be perfect insanity to grant all the institutions self-government while the effects of war are still visible. We have put our hand to the plough and shall not withdraw it. The war will be continued until it comes to the only conclusion consistent with our honor." No feature of the London ceremony emphasizes the difference between British and American methods more strongly than the King's speech. The inaugural address of an American President is 480 VICTOBIA. a minute review of public affairs and a detailed and definite presen- tation of the Executive's views as to matters of national concern. No Englishman expects this in a royal deliverance to Parliament, even in a national crisis. The addresses of the late Queen to Par- liament were invariably short and colorless, almost perfunctory. The speech of Edward VII., though made at the beginning of his reign and with grave, unsolved problems facing him, was not very illu- minating. It was mainly congratulatory. The most noticeable para- graphs in it were those referring to the colonies. He expressed lively concern for the welfare of his subjects "beyond seas," and compli- mented the patriotism of Canada and Australia as displayed in their loyal response to the call for troops in the South African campaign. We look in vain for any concessions to the Boers, or for any specific programme for the government of the late Boer Republics. The "early submission" of these people is awaited. The King justly referred to his mother as an example of what a monarch should be, and promised to follow in her footsteps. Noth- ing teaches so rapidly as responsibility. The new King, so far as his first formal deliverance as monarch indicates, feels the weight of the crown, and realizes what the British public expect from the successor of the lamented Queen. England is governed by Parlia- ment. Its prerogatives are secure, but an unworthy occupant of the throne would be a disgrace and a burthen unendurable by modern England. As to domestic legislation the King said nothing beyond a mere recapitulation of proposed measures. In this he followed many illustrious precedents. In opening one of the early Parlia- ments of her reign Victoria's speech was so framed, says an English writer, that its contents would be matters of safe discussion. "It was on domestic subjects that antagonism was most likely to arise, and the speech was, therefore, confined to topics of foreign policy." King Edward in his speech at the opening of Parliament was similarly discreet in avoiding contentious topics. Thus Parliament was opened in the new reign, a King was on the throne who promised no radical changes from the views of his illustrious mother, and he had before him the complexities of government which had called forth so much of her tact and judgment. That he would fulfil the premises in his favor was to be hoped, a friend to his pfeople, an QUEEN AND EMPEESS. 481 honor to his country, Edward, the seventh of that name, defender of the Faith, King of England and Ireland, Emperor of India, son of Victoria, the Well Beloved. VICTORIA AND RELIGION. By the Rev. Montague Fowler. It is difficult to realize that our beloved Queen, whose span of life stretched from almost the commencement of the ninetenth cen- tury to the opening weeks of the twentieth, is no longer with us. The influence of her personality, no less than the wisdom of her counsel in State affairs, has played an important part in the recent history of the nation and the Empire, and both will be sorely missed. Of Her Majesty as the ruler of hundreds of millions of subjects, different in creed, in nationality, in temperament, others will speak. The central topic of this article is the religious character of Queen Victoria. Born on May 24, 18 19, the Princess Victoria was the only child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. From infancy she was trained in tender solicitude by her mother — the Duke having died when she was only eight months old — and from the Duchess of Kent the future Queen early imbibed those devotional instincts which soon became a part of herself. But the formation of her character, in child- hood, also owed much to her tutor, Mr. Davys, who afterwards be- came successively Dean of Chester and Bishop of Peterborough. His method of instruction was simple and quaint. I have the follow- ing story from one who knows the future Bishop well, and had it from his own lips. When teaching the little Princess her alphabet, he used to produce a number of letters made of ivory, which he threw upon the floor, and then instructed his pupil to pick out the letter he named. When she was about twelve years old, it was decided, with the sanction of the Duchess of Kent, that she should be informed of the likelihood of her succeeding her uncle on the throne. Accordingly, Mr. Davys, having led her on to the study of contemporaneous history, asked her who would be the next ruler when the King died. She pondered the matter long and anxiously, and then remarked: "I suppose it would be myself." And then — 483 484 VICTORIA. showing even at that age a seriousness beyond her years — she added: "There is much splendor, but more responsibility." From that moment the Princess seems to have resolved to spare no pains to fit herself for the position to which she would, in all proba- bility, be called. One of her favorite subjects of study during her girlhood was the Book of Psalms, which she read so frequently that she almost knew it by heart. In a small edition, given by her to a friend — which should still be in existence — there are numerous mar- ginal notes and other entries, recording the days on which the young Princess was accustomed to read the volume, and giving many in- dications of the devotional habits of mind which she cultivated in those days. Both the Duchess of Kent and her daughter were much attached to Dr. Davys. When the Princess became heir-presumptive to the Throne, it was intimated to her mother that it would be more fitting that some distinguished prelate or ecclesiastic should be ap- pointed as instructor to the future Queen. Her Royal Highness cleverly met this point, without yielding her own wishes in the matter, by replying that, if a dignified clergyman was indispensable to fill this important office, the opportunity had arrived for conferring on Dr. Davys the preferment which he so well merited, and shortly afterwards he was made Dean of Chester. Two years after her acces- sion, the Queen promoted him to the see of Peterborough. The coronation of Her Majesty was an event which might easily have turned an older and wiser head than that of the young Princess Victoria, whose first thought, when she was roused in the dead of night by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain, to learn from them that she was Queen of England, was to ask the former to pray for her. But it is recorded that when she attended the service in Westminster Abbey, with its solemn ceremonial and historical pageant, her deep sense of reverence was apparent to all those who were present on the occasion. One who took part in the procession on that memorable day has testified that Her Majesty looked — not exultant and elated (as might have been expected in a young girl of only eighteen summers, suddenly raised to the pin- nacle of earthly ambition) — but pale and tremulous. The Queen's marriage to her cousin, Prince Albert, which took place in 1840, brought into her life a further influence for good. Of KINC; EDWARD VII'S FIRST ACT OF GOVERNMENT. (Subscribing tbe Oath for the Security of the Church of Scotla:}4, ^:\'l-::r'', ■'l^-'''^7^i^'.---^^':--:'r^^mm.- Till' KING OF jiXGi^AM) Axu TiH'; f.i'RMA:; i';Mriu