v^- '^■.;«^;^;^._ -^ ^'^^'^Z V s- wm^/ 4'\°^^yw/ #' % r- %c# b^.* ^ >* Jubilee jEMtion Fifty Years a Queen M V BY KATHERINE HODGES NEW YORK AND CHICAGO BELFORD, CLARKE & COMPANY 1887 T! copyright: BELFOIiD, CliARKK & CO. X 1887. 7 TO ERASTUS WIMAN, ESQ., A DISTINGUISHED BlilTISH SUBJECT WHO IS A PROMINENT FACTOR IN AMERICAN COMMERCE, POTENT IN MAINTAINING FRIENDLY RELATIONS BKTWEEN THE UNITED STATTCS AND CANADA, AND A LEADING SPIRIT IN PROMOTING THE QUEEN'S JUBILEE OK THissroa oiTTars Atlantic, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY Dv:DICATED. PREFACE. In this work, x)ertment to tlie time, the intent of the author hiis been to give, from an American staudj^oint, a brief and unbiassed resume of the events of Queen Victoria's time, and of her reign of half a century. Contemporaneously with the iifty years of her sovereignty, the marked i)rogress made iu Great Britain has been equalled, if not exceeded, by that made in the United States. Both nations have made enormous material growth within tbat period; and in the friction of events between the mother country and our own, the sentiment of good ueighborship manifested towards us by the Queen of England invites the recognition of the American x)eoi)le, since, in addition to its pleasing aspect, it has been a factor in the harmony preserved be- tween the Uuited States and Eugland through her reign. In our day of need, when tlie exigencies of civil war were taxiugto its utmost our country, it should be re- membered to the houor of Victoria that she steadfastly refused the earnest eutreaty of ISTapoleon III. that England should unite with France in the establishment of an empire in Mexico, and that she also declined his api^eal that Great Britain should join France in the recognition of the Confederate Government as a belliger- ent power. She refused to take advantage of our critical situation, and to imperil our grand union at that time. When America lost its great men, Lincoln, Gar- field, and Grant, her sympathy was as promptly and tenderly expressed as it has been in other national calamities. She has also been a power in the moralities of the age. All these are reasons in favor of a general celebration of her jubilee on this side of the water, ns well as in Britain. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Birth of Queen Victoria — Her Baptism and Sponsors — Derivation of- Her Name Victoria— Her Place in the Succession to the Throne Remote — Arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Kent in England — The Duke of Kent's Circumstances — Death of George III. — George IV. Ascends the Throne— Death of the Duke of Kent Page 5 CHAPTER IL The Duchess of Kent's Second Widowhood — Her Devotion to the Baby Princess— Sen- sible Management of Her Children and Household— Close Relations of the Royal Mother and Child— Glimpses of the Little Princess from Her Pirst Year — Happy Home Life and Methodical Habits— Death of the Duke of York — The Princess Victoria Becomes Heir Pre- sumptive to the Throne— George IV. Threatens to Remove the Princess out of Her Mother's Care Page 11 CHAPTER IIL Peculiarities ot George IV. — His Management of His Daughter — The Princess Char- lotte of Wales— The Duchess Keeps the Young Princess from His Court — The Royal Mother Fears the Removal of the Princess from Her Keeping Page 18 CHAPTER IV. Letters from the Duchess of Coburg to the Duchess of Kent — The Birth of Prince Albert — Marriage of the Princess Feodore, the Princess Victoria's Sister— The Last Appearance of the Princess at the Court of George IV.— Death of King George IV. — William IV. Begins to Reign— The Duchess of Kent NamedRegent Page 30 CHAPTER V. King William Desires the Presence of the Princess at His Court — Sir Walter Scott Pre- sented by King Leopold of Belgium to Princess Victoria — The Princess Learns Her Place in the Succession to the Crown — Death of the Dowager Duchess of Coburg — N. P. Willis's Description of Queen Adelaide and the Princess — William IV. Becomes Angry at a Birthday Dinner — The Prmcess Victoria in Tears Page 36 CHAPTER VI. Interesting Early Associations of the Princess Victoria and Prince Albert— Incidents of Prince Albert's Youth and Childhood — The Princess Victoria's First Mee!lng^vith Prince Albert — She is not Anxious to Marry Him Page 44 CHAPTER VII. The Princess Victoria Comes of Age — Rejoicing Throughout the Kingdom — Death of William IV. — Victoria Awakened from a Sound Sleep to be Informed that She is the Queen of England — Her Majesty Holds Her First Court at Kensington Palace — The Young Queen Receives the Homage of Her Subjects Page 53 CHAPTER VIII. Victoria Proclaimed Queen at St. James's Palace — Description of the Queen on Her Proclamation — Prince Albert's Letter to the Queen on Her Accession to the Throne — Her Majesty's Household — The Queen's First Appearance in the House of Lords — Charles Sum- ner Hears the Queen's First Speech from the Throne — The Queen Confers the Order of Knighthood on the First Jew, Sir Moses Montefiore — Disraeli in the First Parliament Pre- sided over by the Queen Page 59 CHAPTER IX. The Queen takes Possession of Buckingham Palace — Her Majesty's New Throne- Prince Albert Writes of the Queen — How the Duke of Wellington Managed George IV. — Queen Victoria's Management of the Duke — Prince Albert Sends the Queen Tokens from Abroad — Gilts Treasured by the Queen — The Queen's First Christmas at Windsor Castle — Troublesin Victoria's Early Reign — The Sovereign Discharges Her Father's Debts... Page 65 CHAPTER X. The Coronation of Victoria— Splendors of the Coronation Ceremony — Prince Albert Declared of Age — The Princes Albert and Ernest Arrive in England— '1 he Queen Ofters Her Hand and Heart to Prince Albert— Engagement of the Queen and Prince — Her Majesty Informs Her Privy Council of Her Approaching Marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha Page 72 CHAPTER XI. Joy in England over the Coming Marriage of the Queen — Official Declaration of the Marriage in Coburg — The Queen is Congiatulated by Parliament on Her Happy Engage- ment — Envoys Leave England to Conduct the Prince from Coburg — Prince Albert Received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace — Marriage of the Queen and Prince — The Royal Pair go to Windsor Castle for their Honeymoon Page 83 CHAPTER XII. Rejoicing over the Marriage of the Queen — The People Cheer the Queen's Mother — The Queen's First Levee after Her Marriage at which the Prince Appears — Formation of Prince Albert's Household — Affecting Partings — Whigs versus Tories — The Queen's Twenty-first Birthday — Her Majesty is Shot at for the First Time — Prince Albert is Made Regent in Contingent Circumstances — Birth of the Princess Royal Page 93 CHAPTER XIII Baptism of the Princess Royal — The Queen Opening Parliament — Incidents of the Melbourne Ministry — Parliament Prorogued — The Queen Holds the Last Drawing-room of the Season — Sir Robert Peel Succeeds Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister — Prince Albert Becomes President of the Fine Arts Commission — Discovery of Young Jones in Her Majesty's Private Rooms in Buckingham Palace — Royal Housekeeping Page 103 CHAPTER XIV. The Birth of the Prince of Wales — The Baptism of the Prince — Sponsors of the Prince of Wales- -Their Future King Shown to the People — The King of Prussia Witnessing the Opening of Parliament — Troubles Abroad and Uneasiness at Home — A Large Deficit and National Distress — The Disaster at Cabul — Gaieties Instituted at Court to Stimulate Com- merce— A Second Attempt on the Queen's Life— The Third Effort to Shoot Her Majesty. Page III CHAPTER XV. Trouble with the Afghans — English and Afghan Situation — Dilemma Forced upon Sir Alexander Burns — A.ltered Despatches — Massacre of the British Forces at Cabul — Fetes and Festivals Instituted by the Queen — The Peel Ministry Dismayed and England Appalled. Page 123 CHAPTER XVI. Prince Albert's Brother Comes to Spend His Honeymoon in England— Death of the Duke of Orleans — The Queen's First Visit to Scotland — Enthusiastic Welcome from the Scots to their Sovereign — Queen Victoria in Holyrood Palace— Rooms in Holyrood once Occupied by Mary Queen of Scots- Room in which Queen Mary's Son was Born in Edin- burgh Castle — The Queen's Return to England — Some Complications Accommodated — Hos- tility to Prince Albert— Birth of the Princess Alice — Reform in the Royal Household. Page 130 CHAPTER XVII. Queen Victoria's First Visit to the King of the French at the Chateau D'Eu — The French Royal Family Receives the Queen and Prince at Treport — The Queen and Prince in Bel- gium — " Poor Carlotta" — The Emperor of Rus^a on a Visit to the Queen — Peculiarities of the Czar — The King of Saxony at the Court of England — Royal Vicissitudes — Jealousy of Kings and Nations — Incidents of the Russian Emperor's Visit to England — Death of the Duke of Coburg— A Royal Love Letter Pai^e 140 CHAPTE51 XVIII. The Queen Receives the King of the French at Windsor Castle — The Prince of Prussia at the English Court — Familiar Scenes — London Revisited by the French King — M. Guizot's Mention of the Queen — Birth of the Duke of Edinburgh — Complications Between France and England — Pointed Letters from the Queen to the King of the Belgians— Spanish Marriages —The Queen's Second Visit to Scotland Page 151 CHAPTER XIX. Duelling Abolished in England — Prince Albert Becomes the Chancellor of the Univer- sity of Cambridge — The Queen Presides at the Chancellor's Installation and Receives His Speech— The International Exposition— Origin of the Crysta Palace— Schools of Design Instituted in England— Importance of Art Industry in Commerce — The Queen Purchases Osborne in the Isle of Wight — Petition to the Queen to Visit Ireland— The Queen in Ger- many—Germans Honoring the Queen and Prince — The Prince Keeps His Birthday ia Fatherland - - Page 159 CHAPTER XX. Her Majesty Meets Old Acquaintances in Germany — The Queen and Prince Visit Belgium, and Make a Short Visit to Louis Philippe at Treport — The Galerie Victoria in the Chateau D'Eu — A Ministerial Crisis — Birth of the Princess Helena—The Royal Family in the Scottish Highlands — Revolution in Europe — Louise Philippe and Family Fly to England, and Receive an Asylum from the Queen — The Queen and Prince in Great Anxiety. .Page 170 CHAPTER XXI. Birthof the Princess Louise — The Chartist Demonstration in London — Louis Napoleon Sworn in as Special Constable — The Uprising in Ireland— Famine in Ireland — A Fourth Attack Made Upon the Life of the Queen— Pate's Assault Upon Her Majesty — Death of Louis Philippe at Claremont — Louis Napoleon Becomes Emperor of France— The Queen Visits Ireland— Birth of the Duke of Connaught— Balmoral— Prince Albert Visits Napoleon III. — Birth of the Duke of Albany — The Crimean War in which France and England are Allies — Death of the Emperor of Russia— The Emperor and Empress of France are Guests of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle Page 181 CHAPTER XXII. The Queen is Informed of the Fall of Sebastopol — Betrothal of the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia— Her Majesty's First Visit to Napoleon III.— Queen Victoria Makes Her Toilet for a Ball at Versailles in Marie Antoinette's Boudoir— The Empress Eugenie Dressed for a Ball —Birth of the Princess Beatrice— Marriage of the Prin- cess Royal — The Sepoy Rebellion — The Princess Ch rlotte of Belgium and Maximilian ot Austria at the English Court— The Queen's First Grandchild — Betrothal of the Princess Alice to Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt Page 194 CHAPTER XXIII. The Twenty-first Anniversary of the Queen and Prince's Marriage — Death of the Duchess of Kent — Incidents in Her Majesty's Home Life — A Merry Scene at the Swiss Cottage — The Royal Children Mentioned by the Prince — The Prince of Wales in America — Civil War in the United States— Death of Prince Albert— Scenes at the Time of His Sickness and Death — Fears for the Queen —Norman McLeod Visits the Queen at Balmoral — Mar- riage of the Prince of Wales — Her Majesty's First Appearance at Festivities since Her Wid- owhood — Marriage of the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome Page 205 CHAPTER XXIV. The Queen's Congratulation over the Atlantic Cable to the President of the United States — Friendly Feeling to America — Sympathy to America on the Loss of its Great Men — The Sultan of Turkey and the Shah of Persia in England — Disraeli Becomes Prime Minister — The Conquest of Abyssinia — Capture of the Zulu King — Serious Illness of the Prince ot Wales — After Twelve Years of Widowhood Her Majesty wears a White Flower in Her Bon- net — Fall of the French Empire — The Emperor and Empress of France in Exile— The Queen Made Empress of India— Disraeli Created Earl of Beaconsfield Page 218 CHAPTER XXV. The Princess of Wales — The Duchess of Edinburgh and the Wives of the Other Princes —The Queen's Dominions— Courts of Other Times— Moral Aspects— Domestic Life of Queen Victoria — The Daughters of the Queen — The Crown Princess of Germany and the Princess Alice of Hesse- Darmstadt — Women's Industries in Germany — Teaching Women to Work and Opening Avenues of Labor — The Queen Encouraging Industrial and Domestic Art in England — Fifty Years' Reisn and Results of It Page 226 CHAPTER I. THE BIRTH OF QUEEN VICTORIA— HER BAPTISM AND SPONSORS— DERIVATION OF HER NAME VICTORIA— HER PLACE IN THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE REMOTE- ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF KENT IN ENG- LAND— THE DUKE OF KENT'S CIRCUMSTANCES— DEATH OF aEORGEIIL — aEORGE IV. A.SCENDS THE THRONE— DEATH OF THE DUKE OF KENT. Oil tlie morning of May 24., 1819, the clingy old Palace of Kensington in London was in a state of commotion, wlien there was ushered into life a health}^ baby-girl, who is now Queen Victoria, and who has been the Queen of England, Irelan(l,and Scotland for the past fifty years, less a few months, and for a i)art of that time Empress of India besides. Something less than two years before the birth of this child, her cousin, the Princess Charlotte, the heir pre- sumi)tive to the English throne, and inexi)ressil)ly dear to the people, had passed out of life under especially touching circumstances. The Princess was the daughter of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George lY., and of his Avife Caroline of Bruns- wick, and the only child of that loveless marriage, notoriously a discordant one. She grew to womanhood, a gracious, beautiful, generous Princess, an idol of the English x)eople whose ho])e she was. When the adored young wife of less than a year, she died in giving birth to an heir to the crown of Great Britain. 5 6 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. This circumstauce had pluuged the nation into a pro- foimcl sorrow that was still fresh in the hearts of the people when the little stranger opened her blue eyes in Kensington Palace on that May day; but as no thought was then entertained of h-er being a future sovereign, her advent was not deemed a matter of much conse- quence at the time. The baby Princess was the daughter of the fourth son of George HI. of England — Edward, Duke of Kent, and of his Avife the Princess Maria Louise Victoria of Saxe- Ooburg-Saalfeld. When a month old she was baptized (June 24, 1819,) in the great saloon of the Palace, with all the porai) becoming the grand-daughter of a King. Her sponsors male were the Emi)eror of Kussia and the Prince Eegent of England; female, the Queen Dow- ager of Wurtenberg and the Duchess Dowager of Coburg, the two latter being represented respectively by the Princess Augusta and the Duchess Dowager of Gloucester. A superb baptismal font of gold was brought from the tower for the ceremony, nt which the Archbishop of Canterbnr3 , assisted by the Bishoi^ of London, ofliciated. In honor of the Emperor of Eussia and of her grand- father George III., the Princess was to be christened Alexandrina Georgina. There occurred, however, the startling reflection that one of these august names would have to be put in the second x)lace; and it having been decided that neither of them must be so slighted, as a way out of the dilemma, her mothers name, Victoria, was substituted for Georgina, and she was christened Alex- andrina- Victoria. As a child the little Princess was for a while called " Drina," an abridgment of the first name given her; but in time her own preference to honor her mother's name, by giving it the first place, was made plain by her desire to be called Victoria. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEK. 7 In the succession to tbe tlirone, before the daughter of the Duke of Kent at the time of lier birth there were, besides her father, her uncle, tlio Prince Regent (who, on the death of his fatlier a lew months later, became George lY.), and her uncles, tiie Duke of York (child- less) and the Duke of Clarence, who had but lately lost a princess, and to whom there was a i^romise of other heirs. Indeed heirs to the English throne were then abund- ant. The King (George HI.), still living, had seven sons, " the royal brothers," four of them about as worth- less and disreputable a groui3 of scapegraces as ever made parents and the people generally miserable; while not one of them could be considered the wise and pru- dent ruler that makes a nation great and the people happy. The Prince Regent, try as he would, had not succeed- ed in getting rid of his wife, Caroline of Brunswick; and as he could not in consequence legally contract another marriage, the death of his daughter the Princess Charlotte, and that of the baby that died with her, made the exi)ectation of heirs to the throne from that branch of the royal family well-nigh out of the question. Fred- erick, Duke of York, had no children eligible to the crown. The Dukes of Clarence, of Kent, and of Cam- bridge had been married at about the same date, and soon after the death of the Princess Charlotte, from which marriages there were hopes of heirs. The Duke of Sussex had long been irregularly married, but as the marriage had been ])ronounced invalid, his children were not in the succession. Less than two months before the birth of little Alexandrina Yictoria, the Duchess of Clarence had given birth to the Princess Charlotte, who breathed feebly for a few hours and died. Again, on December 20, 1820, when the Duke of Kent's baby was about seven months old, the Princess Elizabeth was born 8 jTil^TY YEARS A QUEEN. to tlie Duke and Diicliess of Clarence, to follow her wee sister out of the world after a brief three months of life, leaving tho royal small cousin as near to the crown of Great Britain as before her advent. On the 6th of i^ovember, 1817, the good aud charming Princess Charlotte lay dead with her baby boy in one of the rooms of what bad been her earthly paradise— Chire- mont. With the deaths of the Duke of Clarence's little daughter added to these, in the short period of about three years, four heirs, who would have taken prece- dence of the child born in Kensington Palace, on Ma^' 24th, 1819, had been removed from the succession before her to the throne. The halo of the crown, however, was even then far removed from the head of the small Princess; so very far indeed that she was little thought of as the future Queen of England, except perhaps by her own father, who cherished such hope for her. The Duke of Kent, a man always in difficulties, was, just previous to the birth of his daugliter, exceedingly low in fortune; and for the means to make the journey to England so that his child might be born on his native soil, he was obliged to become indebted to a friend out- side of his own family. The i)oor man's condition had been one of chronic indebtedness. He seems to have grown up in that condition and to have remained in it to the last hour of his life. His father was harsh and un- just in his treatment of him. At the age of eighteen lie was sent out of England under the direction of a military Grovernor, Baron Wangenheim. A yearly allowance of 1,000 pounds was made him, of which he was not allowed to touch a penny, except as it was doled out to him by tlie excellent Wangenheim, who was as fond as George III. himself of curbing the liberties of young persons, and reducing them when possible to a condition of abject submission. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. ' 9 Finally, tlie Duke of Kent's allowance was increased to 6,000 i)ounds a year; but as lie was only permitted to have for pocket money less tlmn two pounds a week, lie got in debt, ran away from the Baron, and returned to Eng- land. This was more tlian twenty years before the birth of Iiis daughter, and a cold reception he met at home on his arrival there. His fatlier refused to see him, and in- sisted upon his imraedijite departure from England. With this edict the Duke was obliged to comply; and he had to endure the moititication of having his travel- ling expenses entrnsted to the care of the captain of the ship in which lie sailed. For some years after this time the Diike of Kent lived abroad, occui^ying various positions. He was made Governor of Gibralter, Oommander-in-Cliief of the Brit- ish forces in British America, and for a while he was Field Marshal. On his return to England in 1807 he was in debt, owing more than 100,000 pounds, which he used the efforts in his poNver to pay, without, however, being successfnl. The Prince Regent's debts; the debts of the Dnkes of York, of Clarence, of Kent, of Cumberland, and of Sus- sex, together with the marriage portions of the three Dukes who had married in 1818, were subjects distract- ing the Parliament and the tax-paying people of England in that year. On their marriage, 6,000 pouiuls a year was settled on the Dukes of Kent and Cambridge. The Duke of Clarence, however, insisted upon an allowance of 10,000 i:)ounds a year, which he got. Seven royal marriages had taken place within two years, for which settlements had to be made. A great deal of money had to be provided for the mantainance of the various establishments of their royalties, and the demands of the Prince Regent for money to carry for- ward his exceedingly^ expensive methods was distracting to the Govermeut. 10 FIJ^TY YEARS A QUEEN. Meantime the days of the King were drawing to a (ilose. The great bell of St Paul's sent forth its knell at midnight of January 29, 1820, announcing to sleeping- London the death of George III. He had been blind and insane for ten years. He passed out of life at the age of eighty-two, having survived his wife, Queen Charlotte, two years, two months, and some days. King George III. had reigned sixty years. He had lost to the Crown the principal American colonies — ,which Dickens termed, "that immense country, made independ- ent under Washington and left to itself, became the United States, one of the greatest nations of the earth." In that reign, however, the union with Ireland had been gained. George TV. ascended the throne at the age of fifty-nine years, succeeding his father as King of Great Britain and Ireland, January 29, 1820. Six days prior to the death of the king, the Duke of Kent died at his country home near Sidmouth, from the effects of a fever sui)erinduced by a cold. Tliis event was wholl}' unexpected. As usual, the Duke had con- tinued to be harrassed by debt. For the sake of economy he had moved his household to the place where death overtook him, and where his family were left in strait- ened circumstances. By the death of her father and grandfather, the baby- princess, "a little Drina," was borne still farther alongin the succession to the Crown of England. These deaths were forward steps, soon followed by others, that ad- vanced her nearer and nearer to the throne. CHAPTEE II. THE DUOHESS OF KENT'S SECOND WIDOWHOOD— HER DEVOTION TO THE BABY-PRINCESS -SENSIBLE MANAGE- MENT OF HER CHILDREN AND HOUSEHOLD — CLOSE RELA- TIONS OF THE ROYAL MOTHER AND CHILD — GLIMPSES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS FROM HER FIRST YEAR— HAPPY HOME LIFE AND METHODICAL HABITS —DEATH OF THE DUKE OF YORK— THE PRINCESS VICTORIA BECOMES HEIR PRESUMPTIVE TO THE THRONE - GEORGE IV. THREATENS TO REMOVE THE PRINCESS OUT OF HER MOTHERS CARE. Before lier marriage in 1818, with theDiike of Kent, the Dncbess had been the widow of Prince Charles of Leiii- ingen. She was the youngest sister of Prince Leopohl, the widower of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, avIio had upon his marriage with the presumptive heir to tlie crown, received a settlement of 50,000 pounds a year. This being still continued to him, Priuce Leopold had tlie means as well as the disposition to offer his sister from time to time the assistance which she needed after her husband's death. By the decease of the Duke of Kent, the Duchess was for the second time a widow, with three children to care for, the Princess Fedore and Priuce Charles of Leiningen of her first marriage, and the Princess Alexan- drina Yictoria-the future sovereign of England — by her marriage with the Duke of Kent. Some years before his death, the Duke had given bonds to his creditors for the debts owing them, and 11 t2 FI^TY YEARS A QUESEN. these lie had acquitted with as much regularity as pos- sible whilst he lived. The liquidation of this indebted- ness, the widowed duchess conceived to be an obligation upon her to which she felt in honor bound; and from her limited income she paid what she could toward those debts. The duchess of Kent was a woman of excellent principles. Her moral standard was a lofty one, and she was besides a judicious as well as a tender mother. To all of her children she gave watchful care, her baby forming her cliief one. Instead of delegating that sacred duty to another, as ladies in her rank of life are wont to do, she nursed her baby at her own breast, and constantly watched over it with her own eyes. Averse to every species of idle display, this royal woman, with great good sense, regulated her household on simple, healthful methods; and she applied the same system of management to her children. A believer in fresh air as a j^rimary i^rinciple of good health, in suitable weather she had her baby kept much out-of-doors when her age rendered it feasible. The child's plain, wholesome food, regular hours for meals, abundant play and out-of-door exercise, together with plenty of sleep and an absence of all excitement, from which she was scrupulously guarded, made her merry and healthful, as loving to all about her and to her " dear, dear Boppy'' (her nurse, Mrs. Brock) as if she was not going to be the " sovereign ruler of the Nation." Bishop Wilberforce afforded a glimx)se of the close relationship maintained between the royal mother and her baby, and of the simple domesticity in their lives when the little Princess had entered upon her sf^cond year. "The Duchess of Kent," he said, "received me, with her fine animated child on the floor by her side, busy with her playthings." FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 13 At the age of three years she used to be seen at Keu- singtou Gardens, attended by her mother, riding on the back of a donkey, gaily decked with floating bine rib- bons, answering politely and cheerfully those who accosted her. In her hai>py home, the j)rincely child had the loving society of other children. The most affectionate intercourse existed between her elder hnlf-sister and herself, this relation extending to her hnlf-brother. It was by no means an isolated little royal heart starving for natnral affection that beat in the bosom of the young- princess. On the contrary, it was one made sweet by a spontaneous active interchange of childish love and sympathy — a love that entered with her into child-land, taking grave cognizance of the beauty and other inter- esting phases i)eculiar to the charming realm of dolls and play -toys. When the princess was about five years old, Leigh Hunt mentions having seen her in Kensington Gardens, "walking up a cross-path from the Bayswater Gate with a little girl by her side, whose hand she was hold- ing as though she loved her." Probably the "little girl " was her half-sister the Prin- cess Fedore, who about that time was almost constantly Ler companion in her walks and rides, and whom she did love devotedly. There was no formality about the walks and rides of the little princess. Her safety being assured, she was not made helpless by needless restraint. On the con- trary, she was enconraged to enjoy herself as other healthy, high-spirited children do, by a good romp or run in the open air. About two years later than the period at which Lei^^h Hnnt saw her with her child companion in Kensington Gar(^ens, F.ord Albemarle recorded his observation of i lie movements of a pretty, bright little girl of seven years 14 FIFTY YEARS A QUEElJf. of age who~ was watering plauts under one of the windows of Kensington Palace. The child was attired in a white cotton gown, with a large straw hat on her head, and the onl}^ ornamental feature of her dress was a colored fichu around her neck. This, he saj^s, " was the Princess Yictoria, now our gracious sovereign; and in a garb so simple did tbe Duchess of Kent array the regal child, whom she was carefully rearing to he tbe Queen of England. By her mother's side, tbe Princess had her breakfast of bread and milk and fruit at 8 o'clock on summer morn- ings. After that she walked, rode, or drove for an hour. Then lessons with her mother for two hours, followed by a good romp or I)la3^ Two o'clock brought her dinner hour — a dinner simple as tlie breakfast. Two hours more of lessons, and afterwards play or other recreation, finished the day, when sui)per and to bed at 9 o'clock punctually, the Princess was soon buried in healthful slumber. Punctuality marked every occupation of the young Princess; whether play, lessons, exercise, or sleep the hours were set for them, as was the time for meals. The value of her own time and that of other persons was a lesson inculcated by the Duchess on her child which afterwards bore good fruit. The mother had her little daughter at her meals, which she nnfailingl}^ sui^erintended. At her own luncheon hour, the Princess had her dinner, and at the Duchess's dinner-time, her little one had her supper. The chihl's small bed was by the side of her own, within re^h of her loving hand. Thus was the child always under the watchful care of the affectionate mother. A few months after the time that Lord Albemarle saw the young Princess watering flowers at Kensington Palace, another step in her advance towards the throne FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 15 occured in the deatli of the Duke of York, her uncle, the second son of George III. He left no children. The Duke of Clarence, next in the succession after him, had had no other children after the two princesses who had passed out of life in the years 1819 and 1821. Next to her uncle of Clarence therefore, the Princess Victoria was heir presumptive to the Crown. Her stages in that progress had been marked by graves. Including those of the Princess Charlotte and her baby, seven of them could be numbered when this royal child, in her eighth year, had drawn still further within the shadow of sovereignty. Her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, hated the Princess cordially. To his view she was an "intruder" standing between him and the throne, to which he would have liked to attain. George lY., the "King-uncle," liked her bright beauty and childish, merry prattle. The effete oldi^rodigal desired that her youthful presence might brighten by its jo^'Ousness his Court and his life, and to that end he wished to see much more of her than her mother desired that he should. The Duchess dowager of Coburg, mother of the Duch- ess of Kent, was very fond and i)roud of the Princess Yictoria, her grand-daughter. Hundreds of pretty notes with regard to the child were written by the Duchess from her home in Coburg to her daughter in England. She appreciated thoroughly the position of this grand- child as a future Queen of England, and all that she wrote on the subject had the merit of being sensible as well as charming. "I see by the English papers," she says in a letter to her daughter, "that Her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of Kent went on Yirginia Water with His Majesty. The little monkey must liave pleased and amused him, she is such a pretty, clever child. " 16 FIFTY TEARS A QUEEIN'. "The monkey" referred to was tlie young Princess, wlio did amuse "His Majesty," King George, very much. He expressed liimself charmed with the grace of her maimer. He found fault with the Duchess of Kent for keex)iiig his royal niece too much in seclusion — too much away from his Court and from his gracious presence. She was not formed ux)on tlie model that he would have her formed ui^on, and he used to threaten to have her removed from her mother's care and put into that of some one chosen by himself. The King liad the power to do this if he would. The Duchess, remembering his injudicious treatment of his own daughter, and all the indignities which he had put ui)on her, trembled for her child. If, however, he had formed any such intention, his interminable squables with Lis ministers, his j)erplexity in carrying on his government, his failing health, and his dissipatious and intrigues were factors in diverting his mind into other channels. In 182S, two years before his death, when the Princess Victoria was in her ninth year, the King used to com- l)lain that his Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, was " King of England ; O'Oonnell, King of Ireland ; and himself no more than Dean of Windsor." Whilst talk- ing in tnis strain to some confidant, the King would sug- gest his own abdication, when his brother William, the Duke of Clarence, might x)rove a more acceptable King, or the Princess Victoria might be educated to the tastes of the i)eople, and reign as Queen. ^Nevertheless, it was not a pleasing reflection in the royal bosom that one day the Princess Victoria would wear his Crown. Her uncle, Prince Leopold, his son-in- law, the King detested From Prince Leopold to his sister the Duchess of Kent, the feeling of dislike extended, and in a certaiu measure to his niece, the Princess, her daughter. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 17 In 1830, the year of bis death, the King was openly expressing his displeasure that France and Eussia should have offered to Prince Leopold the throne of Greece, a measure which he protested against. The cause of his dislike to the widower of his daugh- ter had been in a large degree that Prince Leopold was the son-in-law of his hated wife Caroline of Brunswick, as well as his own ; and as the Princess Oiiarlotte had loved her mother fondly and faitlifully, the King liad feared that, from the love the Prince had for his wife, he might give aid or countenance to her mother while he (the King) was endeavoring to divorce her. However, while she was with him the Princess Yicloria inspired the old King with pleasurable feelings. Her fresli youg spirits and youthful presence were delights to him that, when withdrawn, used to inspire the threat of taking her out of her mother's control, so that he might have have her more constantly near him, OHAPTFE III. PECULIARITIES OF aEOHaE IV.— HIS MANAGEMENT OF HIS DAUGHTER. — THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES. —THE DUCHESS KEEPS THE YOUNG PRINCESS FROM HIS COURT.— THE ROYAL MOTHER FEARS THE REMOVAL OF THE PRINCESS FROM HER KEEPING. The well-known character of George lY. from youth to age offered serious cause of alarm to the Duchess of Kent, lest he should carry out his threat of taking" the Princess Victoria into his own care. When he was past middle age, and had made his rec- ord, Burke described him as "a man without any sense of duty as a prince, without any regard to the diguity of his crown, and Avithout any love to his people; dissolute, false, venal, destitute of any positive good qualities whatever excex)t a pleasant temi)er and the manners of a gentleman. " But, says another, "in company with elegant and praisworthy tastes were found others of a low and vulgar description. He took delight in * rowdy' escapades and riotous jests, and he often engaged in scuifles and broils, being prudent enough, however,to retain annmber of ^bruisers' to attend him in case of beingoverpowered. " These and the following are incidents of his yontli. "No sooner had King George III gone to bed, than lie jind his brother broke out of the palace in search of riotous adventures. One of these outrageons scenes may be taken as a specimen of the rest. One night, with his FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 19 ch-ief favorite and the worthy Duke of Oumberland, he set off for Blackheath to sup with Lord Chesterfield, where the wliole company presently got so drunk tbat the Prince was obliged to lie down." A large dog was let loose, and "a man of uncommon strength engaged in a fight with the animal, attemi)ting to tear out his tongue. The enraged dog broke from the holdui)on him, flew at another of tbc partj^, tore his arm, then mangled a foot- man, on which the whole party assailed him en masse. He had just seized the coat of the Prince when he was felled to the ground." The king, on hearing of this transaction, was so affected, "that he fell ill and told the Duke of Gloucester that he had not slept for ten nights." The Prince of Wales was twenty-three years of age at the time of his marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert, a beautiful woman of twenty-eight. This marriage Avas solemnized December 21st, 1785, the Eev. Mr. Burt officiating; and it was in a certain way recognized by many members of the royal family ui) to the day of the bridegroom's death, and after it by his brother William lY., who then re- ceived Mrs. Fitzherbert most cordially, and *' introduced her to his family as one of themselves." Nearly ten years later, April 8th, 1795, the Prince of AVales was again married, by the Archbishox) of Canter- bury to the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, his cousin. The flame of his affection for Mrs. Fitzherbert burned fitfully. For the Princess, his wife, he had no love at all ; and being in the habit of transferring his allegiance from one lady to another at will, Lady Jersey was at the time of his second marriage the favorite of his heart, "at whom he was peri^etually looking during the marriage ceremony." That condition of the princely affections augured ill for the happiness of the royal bride, and the Princess at once perceived the situation, as she told a friend: "The 20 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. first moment I saw mj future husband and Lady Jersey together, I knew how it all was, and I said to myself, *0h very well, I took my partie '" As Lady Jersey was made the principal lady-in-waiting to the Princess, and took frequent occasion to be rude to her, harmony did not set in with the bridal. About the time of the birth of the Princess Charlotte, the King wrote the Prince of Wales: "You removed the Princess twice in the week immediately i3 receding the day of her delivery from the place of my residence, in expectation (as you voluntarily declare) of her labour; and both times, upon your return, you industriously con- ceal from the knowledge of me and the Queen every cir- cumstance relating to this important aftair; and you at last, without giving notice to me or to the Queen, precipi- tately hurried the Princess from Hampton Court in a condition not to be named. After having thus, in the execution of your own determined measures, exposed both the Princess and her child to the greatest of perils^ you plead surprise and tenderness for the Princess iOs the only motives that occasioned these repeated indigni- ties to me and to the Queen, your mother. * * * * I shall for the present leave to the Princess the care of my grand-daughter, until a proper time calls upon me to consider hc'^ education." The Princess was born January 7th, 179G, and on Ai^ril 30th, less than four months subsequently, the Prince of Wales wrote to his wife: "As Lord Cholmondeley in- forms me that you wish I would define, in writing, the terms upon which we are to live, I shall endeavor to explain myself on that head with as much clearness and with as much propriety as the nature of the subject will admit. Our inclinations are not in our i)ower, nor should either of us be held answerable to the other because nature has not made us suitable to each other* Tranquillity and comfortable society is, however, in our FIFTY YEARS A QUEElJ-. 21 power; let our iufcercoiirse therefore be restricted to that, and T will distinctly subscribe to the condition which you require. " The king labored to effect a reconciliation between the Prince and Princess of Wales, to which the latter was well inclined, only stipulating, however, that the cause of their mutual disagreement. Lady Jersey, sidiould be removed from her household. This was done later, but the reconciliation never took x>lace, the breach between the dissevered j)air growing constantly wider. The king openly espoused the cause of the Princess of Wales. She was his niece as well as his daughter-in- law, for whom he had a warm affection. The people took uj) her cause too, and began to cheer her when she ap- l^eared abroad. The Prince of Wales separated their daughter from her mother, the young Princess being de- tained at Carlton House so that she might be more par- ticularly under his fatherly ca.re(?), with Lady Elgin and Miss Hayman ("dear Hamy") in charge of her. In 1798, when the Princess Charlotte was two years old, her father had returned to live with his first wife, Mrs. Fitzherbert; and he continued that relation until his royal affections became entangled by the charms of Lady Hertford. The mixed matrimonial commerce of the Prince had a confounding effect on portions of the i)eople. An agreeable gentleman of amiable disposition conceived the idea of celebrating the birthday of the Princess Charlotte by a f^te in honor of the occasion. He invited Mrs. Fitzherbert as the principal guest, introduced her as the "Begentess," gave her prominence above every lady of rank present, toasted her as the "Princess of Wales," and was eloquent on the subject of the Princess Charlotte, whom he supposed was her daughter, and to Avhom he referred as " the lovely fruit of her union with the Prince.'' 22 FIB'TY YEARS A QUEEN^. The Prince Eegent's great object iu life came to be the obtaiuiug of a divorce from Caroline of Brunswick - tliat and intrigues to extract money from the nation to enable him to pay his debts and to enter upon further courses of extravagance. Intrigues to keep his wife separated from her daughter, and in all possible ways to injure and humiliate her, and intrigues to overreach his f.ither, mother, and friends occupied his time and mind. Some one has ably said that "he loved closets within cabinets, cui^boards within closets; and he would have secret advisers besides his ostensible ones, and still more invisible ones behind his secret advisers, to none of which he would be faithful." It was a sharp thorn in the flesh of the Prince that his daughter had a fond and a fearless affection for her mother which she at all times manifested in the most positive way. From babyhood she was devoted to her; and every opi)ortunity that offered to be with her she availed herself of and showed her enjoyment in; and as she grew older she espoused her cause chivalrously. Sir Gilbert Elliott mentions an occasion of seeing the Princess and her daughter together while the child was very young. "The Princess Charlotte was in the room till dinner, aiul is really one of the finest and pleasantest children I ever saw. The Princess of Wales romped with her about the cari:)et on her knees." When the Princess was ten years old she was asked to a ball at one of the seats of royalty, and was told that she might bring any friend she wished with her, ui)on which she at once said that she would bring her mother. The Princess Charlotte was in her fifteenth year when her father, the Prince of Wales, was made Eegent, dur- ing one of the insane intervals of George III. This event he celebrated by a fete of exceeding mag- nificence, of which the Princess wrote : "My dear Hamy " (Miss Haymau), "But a few lines, as I will write you a FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 23 longer one soon again, only to tell you that the Prince Regent gives a magnificent ball on the 5th of June [1811]. I have not been invited, nor do I know if I shall be or not. If I should not, it will make a great noise in the world, as the friends I have seen have repeated over and over again it is my duty to go there; it is proper that I should. Really I do think it will be very hard if I am not asked." The Princess was not asked, however. It was rather a perplexing period to the royal giver of the fete. The King, his father, was lying, so it was supposed, at death's door, a circumstance that imx^arted to the whole proceed- ing an awkward air; and the Queen, his mother, in the situation refused to be present. While the Prince Regent could have borne with unruffled serenity his mother's absence and that of the princesses, his sisters, in the ab- sence of her majesty would also be missing the radiance of the superb crown jewels, which if present she would have worn, and that consideration was a vexing one. Another care ux)on his mind was the embarrassing one of his daughter and his wives. What disposition was he to make of them ? His daughter he did not invite to the fete, nor the Princess of Wales, her mother; and the question of Mrs. Fitzherbert was a greatly perplexing one. To accommo- date circumstances to the needs of the case, the arrange- meufc of guests with regard to rank at the Prince's table had been put aside when she was present. But on this occasion a different arrangement had to be made, and as slie was invited it became necessary for her to enquire of the Prince where she should sit. "You know, madam," he answered," you have no place.'' "None, sir," said she, "but such as you choose to give me." Disagreeable references used to be made to his plural- ity of wives by some of the i)eople in his hearing. Ira- pertinent persons would call out to him that he had two 24 MFTY YEARS A QUEEN. wives sitting at home while lie deported liis royal self abroad. While he was riding with the Emperor of Russia through a London street, a man thrust his head into the carriage window and inquisitively asked the Prince Regent, "Where is your wife ?" In addition to all tliis he had a new complication in his domestic affairs. Lady Hertford and her son Lord Yarmouth (who used to be called "Red Herrings") had gained ascendency over him, which induced him to dis- 1)1 ace Mrs. Fitzherbert in favor of Lady Hertford. The king was still very ill. Grave questions were before his ministers and the people of England ; but the Prince Regent still persisted in the endeavor to get rid of his wife, the Princess of Wales, and that he made the effort of his life. The Duke of Wellington was achieving victories, to which a reference was made in the presence of the Re- gent, when that gentleman, exasperated at such triviali- ties, burst forth, "D n the North, and d n the South, and d^ n Wellington; the question is, how am I to be rid of tliis d d Princess of Wales ?'- The Princess Charlotte, now seventeen, espoused her mother's cause with the utmost fervor. Previous to this time, while present at a banquet at Carlton House, the conduct of the Regent while at table caused the Princess to rise from it in tears, and to retire from the room, which gave rise to Byron's poem begin- ning: *• Weep, daughter of a royal line, A sire's disgrace, a realm's decay." Upon occasion, however, he used to pose as a model father. At such a time he was telling a gathering of l^eoiile that "hehad made it his care to instil into his daughter's mind and heart the knowledge and love of the true principles of the British Constitution; and he FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN, 25 had pointed out to lier young understanding', as a model for study, the i)olitical conduct of Mr. Fox, who asserted and maintaiue d tlie firm and just principles ui)oii wliicU the goverument ought to be administered for the true and solid dignity of the crown, aud tlie real security, freedom, and happiness of tlie people; and lie believed the Princess would fulfill the duties she might be called upon to discharge when his bones were laid in the grave." At this period, while the Prince Regent was uttering such sentiments abroad, in his domestic realms a fierce strife was being waged, in which wife and daughter had united against him and his mother, the Queen, who from certain measures of policy abetted the Regent. In an encounter with his daughter he asked: "Don't you know that my mother is the Queen of England;" to which she retorted, "And you seem to forget that my mother is the Princess of Wales." The Prince Regent, with his Prime Minister to keep bim in countenance, visited his daughter and made awful revelations to her with regard to her mother's indiscre- tions, and indulged in threats of terrible consequences should she persist in visiting her, a step that did not shake her loyalty at all; and against all entreaty to the contrarj^, she persisted in secluding herself during the inquiry which had been set on foot with regard to the Princess of Wales, saying that her going abroad or show- ing herself to the people was "unbecoming while her mother lay under such accusations." His wife was acquitted of the charges against her, much to the disgust of the Regent, who vented his dis- appointment where he could. The Lord Chancellor evi- dently came in for his share of the unpleasantness, as he said: "I am too low and ill to mix with the world, aud I therefore absented myself yesterday, and shall do so to- day. The Prince has been treating me with such un- 26 m^TY YEARS A quee:s'. kindness, because I won^t do as to liis wife and daughter as he wishes— in a way— that one more interview such as I liave had, if it occurs, will save me the trouble of appointing- to the secretaryship, or anything else where the officer goes out of office with the Chancellor." The *'first gentleman of Europe'' confined his daughter to her own rooms, and allowed but a few of his chosen friends to have access to her. A dramatic tableau was witnessed one day in the vicinity of Hyde Park. The Princess and the mother met, each driving in different directions, when they embraced from the respective windows of their carriages and talked together for a while. On her eighteenth birthday— the day of her coming of age— the heiress to the throne of England was left alone. No notice whatever was taken of that important event, her royal father being at that time completely engrossed with i)lans for her marriage with some prince who would obligingly make such a union advantageous to him, the Regent. The Prince of Orange was selected as the favored suitor. The Princess of Wales had been ordered to leave Kensington Palace, because her husband might ])ossibly desire to use it; and he took pains to put all possible impediments in her way of finding another residence. The Dutch Ambassador was ordered not to go near her, although the Prince of Orange was to marry her daughter; and the allied sovereigns, then in London, were hindered from taking any notice whatever of her. At a fete at which much royalty had assembled, the Prince Eegent and his prospective son-in-law, the Prince of Orange, with other royal personages, became very drunk. Two drawing-rooms were announced, from which the Princess of Wales was excluded. At that time her husband made it his care to have her excluded from FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 27 participatiug in occurreijces going forward; bnt the people, observing the slight, the more earnestly es- l^onsed her cause, cordially offering to pull down Carlton House — the Prince's residence — at her bidding. The Princess Charlotte, though of age, was also ex- cluded from many of the festivities of the period; and while she made few manifestations of her feeling on the score of self, she made spirited remonstrances against the exclusion of her mother. Abroad the peoi)le followed her with the warmest demonstrations of loyalty and love, and they used to cry to her as she passed them, "God bless you ! Don't desert your mother !" Her stipulation with her suitor, the Prince of Orange, that both her parents should have access to their home, was rudely refused, he wishing to exclude her mother. She thereupon dismissed him, happily indeed, as a part of his amiable behavior included " coming to her when he had taken too much wine,"and was, on occasions when he had come from races on the top of a stage-coach, "drunk and riotous. " At this time, too, she had for the first time seen Prince Leopold, who had come to London in the train of the allied sovereigns. He was then twenty-two, and of fine presence, and he seems to have at once attracted her and possessed her fancy. The Prince Regent's treatment of his daughter at this period was simpl^^ outrageous. Every intimidation pos- sible to employ he used to bend her to his wishes, in compelling her to accept the Prince of Orange for her husband. A command to attend the Prince Eegent at Carlton House threw her into an agony of fear, which made her so ill as to gain her a respite until the morrow, when she was plainly told that she must comply. It was made known to her that she was to be kept in durance there, and she refused to go, whereupon the Regent visited her house and demanded to see her. An 28 I?1FTY YEARS A QUEEN. agitating scene followed; the Princess hurriedly told an attendant that she was to be "shut ux), and was to see no one hut her father's friends, and that if she did not go at once the Prince would come himself," when, falling upon her knees, she exchiimed jjassionately, "God Al- mighty ! grant me patience." The Princess retired to her own room and remained there in a half distracted state until aroused by a violent knocking at her door. It was the Bishop of Salisbury, but the Princess, believing it to be her father come to seize and carry her off a captive to his own house, fled in terror from her room by another door. Upon finding the Princess gone consternation settled upon the household. Whither she had gone no one knew, until it was ascertained that a flying figure had accosted a cab-driver and offered him a guinea to drive her to Oonnaught Place, the residence of the Princess of Wales; then it was apparent that the terrified Princess had fled for protection to her mother. Messengers speedily followed, and she was at length induced to re- turn to the house of her father, where for a while she was held in restraint; and she was obliged to sell some of her jewels to procure needful means for her exi^euses. While the Regent totally disregarded his daughter's feelings, he felt it prudent to heed the public opinion that plainly condemned his course of action towards her. For this reason the marriage with the Prince of Orange was abandoned, and that with Prince Leopold concluded, of which the Princess said, almost at the moment of her death, "that she was still the happiest wife in Eng- land." From her letter to Lady Charlotte Lindsay with re- gard to her mother it maj^ be gathered that her devotion to her was unabated, and it was written but a few days before her death. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 29 "The only person now remaining with my mother, and who I trust will take courage and continue with her, is Dr. Holland, and who I believe from everything I hear of him is a most resi^ectable and respected character. I have it not in my power at present to repay any service shown the Princess of Wales, but if 1 ever have, those who remain steadfast to her shall not be forgotten by me, though 1 fear sensible people like him never depend much on any promises from anyone, still less from a royal i^erson; so I refrain from making x^rofessions of gratitude, but I do not feel them the less towards all those who show her kindness. "I have not heard from my mother for a long time. If you can give me any intelligence of her I should be mucli obliged to you to do so. I am daily expecting to be confined, so you may imagine I am not very comfor- tal)le. If ever you think of me, dear, do not imagine that I am only a princess, but remember me, with Leo- IDold's kind compliments, as your sincere friend." After the death of his daughter, the life of the regent was not more exemi)lary than it had been theretofore, nor was it mended after he became king. With a full knowledge of the king's method of model- ling the life of a young girl, as exemplified by the means employed in the case of his own daughter, the Duchess of Kent lived in a state of apprehension whenever his majesty signified his intention of withdrawing the Princess Victoria from her care, in order that she might be under his own CHAPTER IV. LETTERS FROM THE DUCHESS OF COBURa TO THE DUCHESS OF KENT — THE BIRTH OF PRINCE ALBERT — MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS FEODORE, THE PRINCESS VICTORIA'S SISTER— THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THE PRINCESS AT THE COURT OF GEORGE IV.— DEATH OF KING GEORGE IV.— WILLIAM IV. BEGINS TO REIGN— THE DUCHESS OF KENT NAMED REGENT. Oa the birth of Princess Victoria, her graud-raother, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, wrote to her daugliter, the Duchess of Kent, "I cannot express how happy I am to know you, dearest, dearest Vickel safe in your bed with a little one, and that all w^ent off so happily. May God's blessing rest^ on the little stranger and the be- loved mother. Again a Charlotte, destined perhaps to l)lay a great part one day, if a brother is not born to take it out of her hands. The English like Queens, and the niece of the ever-lamented, beloved Charlotte will be most dear to them." Three months and two days after the birth of the grand-daughter at Kensington Palace, the Ducliess was announcing to her daughter, the Duchess of Kent, the birth of a grandson at tbe summer residence of the reign- ing Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, " the Eosenau," which occurred on the 26th of August, 1819. 30 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 31 Mrs. Siebold, the same accoucheuse, had assisted at the birth of the Princess in the English Palace, and had hurried over to Germany, where now she assisted at the birth of the Prince, who in time was to be the husband of the little English girl. "Siebold," says the grand-mother, "had been called at three, and at six the little one gave his first cry in this world, and looked about like a little squirrel with a pair of large black eyes. "How i)retty the May Flower, (Princess Yictoria) will be when I see it in a year's time. Siebold cannot suf- ficiently describe what a dear love it is." On September 19th, the little Prince was baptized in the marble hall at the Eosenau, the Eev. Mr. Genzler offici- ating, the same clergyman who had married the Duke and Duchess of Kent, in the Palace at Coburg the pre- vious year. The Emperor of Austria,Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, the Duke of Gotha, Mensdorff, and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Ooburg were the young Prince's sponsors, and the names given him were, Francis Charles Agustus Albert Emmanuel. By the name of Albert alone he was usually called, and as " Prince Albert" he was the Prince Consort, the husband of Queen Victoria. A remarkable woman was this Dowager Duchess of Coburg, of whom Queen Yictoria said in after years: "She was a most remarkable woman, with a most power- ful, energetic, almost masculine mind, accompanied with great tenderness of heart, and extreme love for nature." Every member of her family appear to have loved her tenderly, and her letters to the Duchess of Kent (her fourth and youngest daughter) form an agreeable record of the close family confidence that existed between the Eoyal mother in Germany, and the daughter in England whom she kept informed with regard to the little Prince ^ 32 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Albert, aud all other matters pertaiuiiig to their family abroad. " Albert is teething like his little cousin" (Princess Victoria) she writes, and, a gain, "Little Alberinchen, with his large blue eyes and dimi)led cheeks, is bewitching, forward and quick as a weasel, the little fellow is the ])endant to the pretty cousin." When both children were in their fourth year, the Dowager Duchess begs her daughter the Duchess of Kent, " IsTot to tease her little i^uss with learning, as she was still so young." But at the same time the little German Prince was being solemnly placed under the care of a tutor, and for that purpose he was removed from the care of the nurse who had hitherto attended upon him. From the birth of Prince Albert, the grand-mamma at Ooburg, had earnestly desired his marriage witli his cousin Victoria when both should have arrived at a X)roper age. Possessing much influence with all of her famil}', the weight of that influence was brought to bear in favor of the alliance of the cousins, and she must have infornied Prince Albert of her wish in this respect, since he after- wards told the Queen, his wife, that their marriage had been the great desire of their grand-mother. The young x^rince and princess were in their twelfth year when the Dowager Duchess of Ooburg died, con- sequently the fruition of her hope in their union came long after she could realize the enjoyment of it. The year previous to her death when the Princess Victoria was eleven years old, she wrote to her daugh- ter, the Duchess of Kent. " My blessings and good wishes for the day which gave you the sweet may blossom! May God i^reserve and protect the valuable life of that lovely flower from all the dangers that will beset her mind and heart! The rays of the sun are scorching at the height to which she may one day^ attain. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEK. 33 It is only by tlie blessiiijo;' of God tbnt all the fine quali- ties He lias put into tliat young soul, can be kei)t X^ure and untarnisbed. How well I can symi>atbize with tbe feelings of anxiety tbat must possess you when tliat time comes. God wlio has helped you through so man}" bitter hours of grief, will be your help still. Put your trust in him!" The Duchess of Kent had been following steadfastly the rule she had laid down for the government of her life — to follow serenely the path of her duties, and in all circumstances, to do the best that lay in her power. From time to time she went with her children to Olaremont, the residence of her brother. Prince Leopold, and while there, found always a safe harbor from the many vexations imposed upon her bj^ members of the royal family and by the King himself. The happiest days of the Queen's childhood, were spent here, as she herself testified, and the brother Leopold was ever to his sister (the mother of the Queen) a faithful friend and counselor. At Olaremont, the Duchess of Coburg enjoyed a visit with her favorite son Prince Leopold, and with her daughter and her children who were all there to receive her in the Autumn of 1825, when the Princess Victoria was in her sixth year. When in her ninth year, her sister the Princess Feo- dora was married to the Prince Hohenlohe Langenburg, the loss of that beloved and loving sister's presence be- ing, one keenly felt by the Princess Victoria. , Hence- forth the Baroness Lehzeu who had been chief governess to the Princess Feodora, became her own — assisted after- wards by many other instructors. The last public appearance of the Princess Victoria at the Court of his Majesty George IV. was on the occasion of a ball in honor of another small royalty, the little Queen of Portugal. This took place in the last year of 34 FIFTY YFARS A QUEEN. his life, which was closed on t lie twenty-sixth (hiy of June, 1830, when he was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of Clarence, under the title of William the Fourth. Another tomb, that of her uncle Georg-e the Fourth, marked the advance of the Princess Victoria to the position of heir apparent when on the threshold of her twelfth year, and as King William was somewhat infirm of health, bodily and mentally, the e^^es of the English nation turned to this royal child as the coming Queen who should reign over it. "The English like Queens," the Duchess of Ooburg had said. The glorious reign of Elizabeth — glorious for the progress the nation had made during the forty-five years of her dominion over it — had been a grateful sub- ject of contemplation to the English i^eople for better than two centuries that i)assed since its close in 1603, and it is still one they love to dwell upon. The reign of Queen Anne — "Good Queen Anne" — which closed in 1714, was another bright page in Eng- land's histor3^ The twelve years of her sovereignty fill- ing the nation with a luster that had endured through the successive reigns distructive to its honor and pros- perity. The last of the Stuarts (as Elizabeth was the last of the regnant Tudors,) Queen Anne had succeeded a race of profligate kings of her line, who had impoverished and disgraced the country, as the Brnnswick Kings suc- ceeding her had done; therefore was a Queen the hope of the people, who looked for the rising star of their promise in the young gracious Princess who was being reared in their sight with a care and wisdom that au- gured the best for the future of Great Britain. On the assembly of the first Parlijiment under the new King William the Fourth, care was taken to settle the question of the regency should that King die during the minority of the Princess Victoria, and her mother the FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 35 Ducliess of Kent was fitly lionored by being named Re- gent in such a contiugence. Her mother had written to tlie Duchess after the death of George lY., "God bless old England, where my be- loved children live, and where the sweet blossom of May, may one day reign! May God yet for many years keep the weight of a crown from her young liead, and let the intelligent, clever child, grow np to girlhood before this dangerous grandure devolves ui)on her!" Again, after the passage of the Eegency Bill, naming the Duchess of Kent to that office. The Duchess of Co- bnrg wrote. " I should have been sorry if the regency had been given into other hands than yours. It would not have been a just return for your constant devotion and care to your child, if this had not been done. May God give yon wisdom and strength to do your duty if called upon to undertake it. May God bless and protect our little darling! If I could but once see her again! The print you sent me of her is not like the dear picture I have. The quantity of curls hide the well-shaped head, and make it look too large for the lovely little figure." The desire of the Duchess of Ooburg to see her grand- daughter, the Princess Victoria " but once again," was not to be granted her, for on November 16th, 1831, the year following, the expression of it as above quoted, she passed out of this life without the opportunity of seeing again the child she loved so well. The great gratification of hailing her youngest and favorite son, Leopold, as King of the Belgians had how- ever, been hers. On the year of her death she had paid him a visit at Brussels, and had enjoyed the contempla- tion of his regal state there but a few months before the close of her life. CHAPTEE Y. KINO WILLIAM DESIRES THE PRESENCE OF THE PRINCESS AT HIS COURT. — SIR WALTER SCOTT PRESENT- ED BY KINa LEOPOLD OF BELGIUM TO PRINCESS VIC- TORIA. — THE PRINCESS LEARJsS HER PLACE IN THE SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN. — DEATH OF THE DOWAGER DUCHESS OF COBURG. — N. P. WILLIS'S DESCRIPTION OF QUEEN ADELAIDE AND THE PRINCESS. — WILIJAM IV. BE- COMES ANGRY AT A BIRTHDAY DINNER. — THE PRINCESS VICTORIA IN TEARS. When William TV. succeeded liis brother, tlie last of the Georges, as King of England, June 26th, 1830, he was in his sixty-fifth year, an age at which the habits of life are apt to be formed; and the new majesty's habits had hitherto been erratic upon occasions. For two years i^revious to the death of George IV., the Duke of Clarence, as Lord High Admiral, had been manifesting behavior iDcculiarly perT^lexiag to the king and to his minister tlie Duke of Wellington, on whom the dut}^ devolved of keeping the action of the Lord High Admiral within proper bounds. For many years the Duke of Clarence had indulged in eccentricities peculiar to his condition of mind — never especially harmful, though in many instances productive of awkward consequences. Profane and blundering from habit or necessity, he had a certain bluff kindliness of heart which won for him the name of "the good- natured sailor kingj" but the court which he formed 36 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 37 on coming to the crown did not encourage the Duchess of Kent to make the young Princess Yictoria familiar with it. One of the earliest experiences of his want of tact to- wards his Avife, the Princess Adelaide of Meiuingen, was her introduction by him on her wedding-day into her bridal chamber at Bushy Park, upon the wall of which hung a portrait of the beautiful and celebrated actress, Mrs. Jordan. The newly-made bride, though thoroughly familiar with the nature of the relationship that existed between her husband and Mrs. Jordan, had never seen lier face, and her enquiry as to who was the original of the i)icture covered the duke with confusion. He told her the truth, however, begging her pardon humbly for not haviug had the picture removed before her arrival, and offering to have it done without delay. With her characteristic sweetness of disposition, how- ever, she told him cordially that she knew what Mrs. Jordan had been to him in the past; that she was aware she was the mother of his children; and that she desired that the portrait might remain where it was. A disposition so complaisant opened wide the doors of their father's house to the youthful Fitzclarences, who, now that he was the king, made his court unconstrainedly their home— another reason why the Duchess of Kent decided to keej) her daughter as far removed from it as she could. On the death of her own children, the Duchess of Clarence wrote to the Duchess of Kent: "My children are dead, but your child is living, and she is mine too;" and a very motherly devotion she ever showed for the Princess Yictoria, who fondly returned her affection. King William was not more partial to the Duchess of Kent than his brother King George had been, and very early in his reign he began to complain that his niece? 38 FIFTY "YEARS A QUEEN. the Princess Yictoria, was kept too mucli from his court, and to protest against that measure. On Queen Adelaide's birthday, the Princess Yictoria, with her mother and a retinue of ladies and gentlemen, attended the drawing-room given on the occasion for the first time. She was placed on the left hand of her aunt, the Queen, and as heir presumptive to the throne at- tracted universal attention. Up to this period the wise mother of the future queen had kept her daughter in ignorance of the "dangerous grandeur" that awaited her; and while she was the ob- served of all observers at the drawing-room, she herself, all unconscious of the attention she was attracting, was intent upon watching the splendors around her. Pre- vious to this Sir Walter Scott had written: "Dined with the Duchess of Kent. I was very kindly received by Prince Leopold, and x^i'esented to the little Princess Victoria — the heir apparent to the crown as things now stand. This little lady is educating with much care, and watched so closely that no busy maid has a moment to whisper, * you are heir of England.' " When twelve years old, and x^ending the bill which should make the Duchess of Kent Eegent should the Princess Yictoria come to the throne while under age, it was decided to inform her of her x)lace in the success- ion. To this end the Baroness Lehzen, the Princess's governess, put into a book of history the genealogical table of the royal famil}^, knowing it to be habitual for the royal child to look through that book when her in- structor, Mr. Davys, should have gone away after the lesson. When she did turn the leaves, tlie Princess was alone with her governess, and observing the folded paper, said, "I never saw tliat before." "It was not thought necessary that you should, princess," her governess answered. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 39 The princess, examining it, said, "I see I am nearer the throne than I thoiiglit." "Then," says the Baroness Lehzen, "the princess, having lifted up the forefinger of her rigiit hand while she spoke, gave me the little hand, saying, 'I will be good ! I understand now why jou urged me so much to learn, even Latin. My cousins Augusta and Mary never did: but you told me Latin is the foundation of En- glish grammar, and of all the elegant expressions, and I learned it as you wished it, but I understand all better now;' and the Princess gave me her hand, rei)eating, *I will be good !' "I then said, 'But your aunt Adelaide is still young and may have children, and of course they would ascend the throne of their father William TV., and not you, princess.^ The princess answered: 'And if it was so, I should never feel disai3i)ointed for I know by the love Aunt Adelaide bears me, how fond she is of children." For some reason not explained the Princess Victoria was absent from the coronation of her uncle the King — an absence inviting much criticism and ascribed to various causes. Those who could exi)lain the true cause of the absence of the heir presumptive ui)on so import- ant an occasion were silent regarding it; and the King continued cavil at the Duchess of Kent's manner of con- ducting the Princess Victoria's education, and more especially that she was hindered from frequent visits to his court. That the Duchess had been made Eegentin the contin- gency of the princess coming to the throne while under age, was a proceeding looked upon with unfavorable eye by the King and his brothers. King William, while clamoring for the society of his niece, severly deprecated her appearance much in public, and he prohibited the salutes called forth by the sight 40 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJS". of the royal standard under which she travelled with her mother and her attendants on short pleasure trips. That agreeable specimen of royalty, the Duke of Cum- berland, who was described by George lY. as one "who never saw a father well with, his son or a husband witli liis wife, or a lover with his mistress, or a friend with Ms friend that he did not try to make mischief between them," regarded his niece the Princess Victoria as a special impediment in his way in the succession — the bar which shut him out; for which reason lie hated her- self and her mother. It was the mother, the impertur- bable Duchess of Kent who invited the largest measure of hostility however — a frank hostility that met her on every hand, and which she encountered with an unruffled serenity that never betrayed trepidation. Until the Princess Victoria was twelve years old her instructors were principally G-ermans. Prom that time forward English masters rex^laced them. Her studies included Latin history, art, music, the modern languages, law, politics, and the Britisii Constitution among other subjects. In vocalism, the great Lablache was her master, and he had the rewards of i^roducing in his royal X)upil a very sweet singer, and a friend who continued one after she was queen and to the end of her master's life. Social and outdoor recreations and amusements were not lost sight of in other studies of the princess. She excelled in dancing, walking, riding, and in archery; and with her mother and governess, the Baroness Lehzen, she made visits to various interesting seaside resorts, and to houses of noble families in Wales and England. In l^ovember, 1831, the dear grandmother in German^^ the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, died, to the great sorrow of "her beloved children in old England," and elsewhere. "The sweet blossom of May" — the Princess Victoria, in her thirteenth year, mourned her sincerely, FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 41 and sympatbised her mother's profound grief at the loss of her parent so dearly loved. TLie oaths of tlie "sailor king," and acts inspired by a mental state but little removed from insanity decided the Duchess of Kent to continue to lieep the j^oung hope of England retired from his presence and court. Mr. i:^. P. Willis says about this period, "At the Ascot Eaces, in one of the intervals, I walked under the king's stand, and saw her Majesty the Queen and the young Princess Victoria, very distinctly. They were leaning over a railing listening to a ballad singer, and seeming as much interested and amused as any simple country- folk could be. The queen is undoubtedly the plainest woman in her dominions, but the princess is much better looking than any picture of her in the shops, and for the heir to such a crown as that of England, quite unnecessaril}^ pretty and interesting." Good Queen Adelaide, plain though she may have been, had a loving, generous heart, devoted steadfastly to her royal sister-in-law, the Duchess of Kent, and to the young Princess Victoria, for whom she had an affection truly motherly. Never did the queen fail in any good office that she could render to either; and so far as her power could be exercised, she made her court agreeable to them, and her husband the king, tolerant. The thirteenth birthday of the Princess Victoria was celebrated with royal honors. The king and queen gave a grand ball in her honor, and the king treated her Avith the utmost affection, loudly expressing his gratification and pride at the sweet dignity of her manner. The Princess's appearance at drawing-rooms and upon other state occasions continued to be enthusiastically hailed. In 1835 when she had passed her sixteenth year and was, beyond any reasonable doubt, heir to the throne, she opened with Lord Exeter a ball which was 42 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEI^. given in honor oflier mother and herself by the officers and the Mayor of Burghley. On the last birthday which William lY. was to celebrate on earth, the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria were invited to be pres- ent at Windsor. A dinner of state was included in the programme of celebration, at which the King had the Duchess of Kent honored by a place on his left hand, the Princess being seated on the opposite side. All went well until toasting began, when tlie good- natured Queen proposed "The King's liealth and long life to him. " In reply to the compliment, the guerulous old King said, " lie hoped in God that he might live nine months longer, when the Princess Victoria would be of age, and he could leave the crown to her, not under the authority of a Eegent who was sitting by him." Warm- ing to his subject, he continued: "I have particularly to complain of the manner in which that young lady has been kept from my court. She has been repeatedly kept from my drawing-rooms, at which she ought always to have been present, but I am resolved that this shall not happen again. I would have her to know I am the King, and I am determined to make my authority respected, and for the future I shall insist and command that the Princess do upon all occasions appear at my court, as it is her duty to do." As the Princess Charlotte had ouce done at her father's table, when she was heir to the Crown — burst into tears because of his rudeness to his guests, so now did the Princess Victoria, because of the insult offered her mother, in a similar situation, by the irresi)ousible monarch, her uncle. Queeu Adelaide's distress was but little less than that of the Princess Victoria, while among all the guests at the royal feast, the Duchess of Kent alone maintained an unruffled demeanor. I^ot a line in the tranquil gracious face was moved by the petulance of the poor old man, who, too broken to remember his FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 43 kingly dignity, had in his ebullient weakness permitted himself to insult a guest at his own dinner-table. Prince Albert and his brother Prince Ernest were 1) resent at this dinner. It was while they were making their first visit to England, at which time Prince Albert and the Princess Victoria first made acquaintance with each other. CHAPTER YI. INTERESTING- EAELY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE PRINCESS VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT— INCIDENTS OF PRINCE ALBERT'S YOUTH AND CHILDHOOD— THE PRINCESS VIC- TORIA'S FIRST MEETING WITH PRINCE ALBERT— SHE IS NOT ANXIOUS TO MARRY HIM. " The pendant to tlie pretty cousin'' had been growing in beauty and in grace in Germany, as she was doing in England. Extreme care was taken to develop in the young Prince Albert his mental, moral, and physical qualifications at their best; and in his case the unfolding life carefully directed was found responsive for good, as had been tbatofthe little Princess Victoria from her earliest childhood. In the close ties of a loyal family love, those two young lives were bound together, and each year they were drawn closer. While they were each progressing in the directions deemed advisable, there was constantly ripening the element of love that in its future perfect state should make one of them the pendant of the other. A love so strong and true was this to be, that its dis- rux)tion in after years forced, as nearly as the living can do, the barrier of tlie tomb that shrouds the dead. The grandmother in Germany and the uncle in Eng- land were strong links in the chain of affection between those royal children in different countries. Both of 44 FIFTY TEARS A QUEEN, 45 these illustrious personages were endowed with a power to wield an immense influence where their affections were enlisted, and that influence was employed for conscien- tious ends and high family aims. In every line of the Dowager Duchess of Coburg's letters to the Duchess of Kent, her daughter, such senti- ments are perceptable; and in every act of Prince Leo- l^old, done in aid of the Duchess of Kent, his sister, and of his niece, the Princess Victoria, is perceptible a wise discretion underlying his steadfast love for them. In 1832, the year after Prince Leopold was made King of the Belgians, he married for his second wife, the Princess Louise of Orleans, a daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. His daughter by that marriage was named Charlotte, after the Princess Charlotte of Wales, his first wife. She was in after years the un- happy Empress of Mexico, who, as " poor Carlotta," will long be remembered as one of the pathetic figures in history consecrated by a supreme sorrow. In his babyhood, Prince Albert's mother wrote of the son whom she loved best; " Albert is snperb — remark- ably beautiful, with large blue eyes, a delicate mouth, a fine nose, and dimpled cheeks. He is lively and always gay." Prince Ernest, afterwards Duke of Coburg, the elder and only brother of Prince Albert, was scarcely five years old, and Albert not quite four years when their education under a tutor regularly began in 1823. If a strict teacher, the children had a loving one, in Mr. Florschutz to whose care they had been committed. This gentleman used to dex)reciate the partiality be- trayed by the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld for her youngest son (Prince Albert,) which he considered in- judicious, and the " interruptions occasioned by their frequent changes of residence, and general mode of life," hurtful to the progress of their studies. 46 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. The motlier of the young Princes of Saxe-Ooburg was Princess Louise, of Saxe-G-otha-Altenburg, a beautiful impulsive woman, without the tact which malies domes- tic life a success. In 1824, a separation between husband and wife took i^lace. Tlie Duchess left Ooburg and her children, whom she did not agaiu see before her death in 1831; but although Prince Albert was a child of five years when this adoring mother faded from his life, he appears never to have forgotten her or ceased to love her memory. One of his first presents to the Queen was a little pin which he had received from his mother when a child, and which he liad carefully treasured, and after her, he named his daughter, the Princess Louise, (Mar- chioness of Lome,) whom she is said to resemble in features. Th e bereavement of th e two princes, in th e 1 oss of th eir mother, was largely repaired in the constant love of two devoted grand-mothers who assiduously watched over them— the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, their father's mother, and the Duchess of Gotha, their mother's step- mother, who dearly loved the children and their mother, and were potent factors for happiness in the early years of those children's lives. At the age of six, Prince Albert writes: '* When I got up this morning I was very happy; I washed myself and then was dressed, after which I played for a little while, then milk was brought, and afterwards dear papa came to fetch us to breakfast. After dinner we drove to the Eosenau. Here dear jiapa was shooting and we went a little way with the shooting party. Waldman was always wanting to run and chase the partridges, but we would not let him. Sometimes, how- ever, he ran away with the string, and we were forced to run fast after him to catch him again. We drove home, played, and then went upstairs to dinner, but that had FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 47 long been over. We then visited our cousins, came up- stairs agaiu, aud diued, and tbeu wrote our journals. Now I am sleepy, I will pray and go to bed." " * * * * I got up well and bappy; afterwards I had a tight with my brother.* * * " The next day. " I had another fight with my brother; that was uot right." To his father, the little Prince wrote about the same time: " Dear Papa, — The day before yesterday we went to see the Hof-Marshal, aud yesterday the Colonel. Our finches have such fine houses to live in! Think of me very often, and bring me a doll that nods its head." Again writing to his father, in his eleventh year, Prince Albert said: " You will, long before this, have reached your journey's end, and will already have gone over to London. I wish I was with you to see all the sights that you will have seen. We heard of you yester- day from Thiel, the last place at which you passed the night; and we are very glad to hear that you are quite well. We are also quite well, dear papa, and though I should like to be with you, yet we like being here also, and are very happy at the Eosenau. The quiet of the place is very agreeable, for our time is well regulated and divided. The day before yesterday was the fete of the Gymnasium atCoburg, to which we were invited; so we drove into town in the morning, and heard a beauti- ful speech from Professor Troupheller. I am sure it would have pleased you." In that year (1831), the mother of the Princes, from whom they had been separated almost from their infancy, died at Sante Wendel, the retreat to which she had re- tired upon leaving her husband's palace at Coburg. Later in the same year, the beloved grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg also i)assed out of life, to the regret of those who devotedly loved her. 48 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEiS^. In the following year (1832), Prince Albert, with his father and brother, was in Belgium on a visit to his nncle, the King of the Belgians. The visit to Brussels at that time was productive of good to the young Prince. Here his love of art was stimulated by the study of art treasnres, and the period i)assed with hisnncle Leopold had its effect in the future. In the early years of til e Prince, Mr. Florschutz was his oidy instructor in every study save music and draw- ing. From him the Prince received his tuition in re- ligion, in history, geography, philosoi)hy, and Latin, having, from his tenth year, masters besides in German and mathematics. When Prince Albert was fourteen years obi, he had himself made a programme of his studies as follows: " Monday: Translations from the French, repetition and preparation in history. Modern history. Ovid, English mathematics, French, exercises in Latin Com- position. Tuesday: Exercises in music; preparation in religion; religious instruction; Ovid, logic, geography, English exercises, written translation of Sallust. Wednesday: Beading, riding, exercises in German composition, music, Cicero, English exercises, mathe- matics. Friday: Exercises in music, exercises in memory, ancient history, exercises in Latin composition, natural history-, logic, French, Latin exercises in Sallust. Saturda}^: Correspondence, riding, exercises in Ger- man, music, English, French, drawing, geography, cor- respondence." The Prince greatly admired fine scenery, and the ex- cursions that afforded him oi:)])ortunit3^ for its enjoyment X)articularl 3^ pleased him. The beauties of the Bosenau —his birthplace— delighted him, and his great attach- ment to it grew with his years. Reinhardstrunn, another FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 49 country-place belonging to the Duke of Coburg, was a favorite haunt of Prince Alberts. With his brother he used to make explorations through its hills and valleys; and in such pedestrian tours they collected together the si)ecimens of many kinds that formed finally tbe " Ernest and Albert Museum", which has become a noted one in Coburg. Deer-stalking in tbe i)icturesque wilds of Eeinhard- strunn was one of Prince Albert's great jdeasures, and that amusement was benefical largely to the mental and physical health of the industrious student devoted to his books. In 1885, the solemn ceremony of the Confirmation of the Princes took i)lace iu the chapel of the castle of Coburg. A very impressive ceremony this was made, the examination before it being conducted in the pres- ence of the Duke of Coburg, the Dowager Duchess of Gotha-Altenberg, the Princes Alexander and Ernest of Wurtemberg, Prince Leiningen, the half-brother of the Princess Victoria, the Princess Hohenlohe-Langenburg, her half-sister, Fedore, the household of the Duke of Coburg, the ministry, the members of the goverment of- fices, and deputations from other branches. After the Confirmation, the Princes, then respectively in their seventeenth and sixteenth year, made visits to Mecklenburg and to Berlin, where they joined their father, the Duke of Coburg, and with him they visited Dresden, Prague, Vienna, and Pesth. This travel was preparatory to their study in Brussels, ui^on which both entered on the year following, (183G). In later years, when the Prince was to become the husband of the Queen of England, and was leaving Ger- many for ever, he i)ledged himself to remain a "true German," and he was faithful to that promise. In 1830, Avriting from P-russels, he said with regard to German literature : 50 ' FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. " Here, where one is only surronnded by foreii^n. literature, lives only in foreign literature, one learus to appreciate onr own at its true value. But it is i)ainful to see the mean idea which the French and Belgians, and even the English have of our German literature. It con- soles one, however, to find that this undervaluing pro- ceeds from an utter incapacit^^ to understand our Ger- man works. To give you a sliglit idea of this incapacity, I add to this letter a French translation of Goethe's 'Faust,' which, in the most literal sense of the word, makes one's hair stand on end. Certainly, from such productions, foreigners cannot understand the profound genius of our literature, and they explain why so much in it appears to them weak and ridiculous." In the same year, (1836), Prince Albert went to Eng- land for the first time accompanied by his father and brother; and at that time saw first the Princess Victoria, in whom he had even then a very deep interest. Al- though a very handsome boy, and a manly one for his years, he Avas then but a boy of seventeen, and to the Princess, three months his senior, he undoubtedly ap- peared the callow youth he was — the true explanation of her resolve later expressed not to marry for some years to come. The Prince's first ai)pearance in public was at a levee, held by William lY., on the same evening the German royalties dined at court, and at night attended a "beauti- ful concert." Next day they were present at tlie draw- ing-room held at St. James Palace, in honor of the King's birthday, where nearly four thousand of Enghmd's beauty and chivalry offered congratulations to his majesty, who was never to see another birth-day. On tlie same evening the prince and his party were present at the State dinner, and witnessed the distressing scene already mentioned, wherein the Princess Victoria wept because of the Kiug'sr discourtesy to her mother. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIT. 51 It was tlie poor old King's last l)irtli-day, and was finished with a concert that lasted nntil one o'clock in tlie morning*, before whicli time perhaps most of the grand company present had forgotten, in recent i)leasures, the ill manners of their host. Evidentlj^ the Dnchess of Kent had not allowed the circumstance to trouble seriously her well-poise mind, as a few evenings afterwards, Prince Albert wrote to his step-mother: "Our aunt gave a brilliant ball at Kensing- ton Palace at which the gentlemen apx^earedin uniform, and the ladies in so-called fancy dresses. We remained till four o'clock. Duke William of Brunswick, the Prince of Orange and his two sons, and the Duke of Welling- ton, were the only guests that you will care to hear about. Yesterday we spent with the Duke of North- umberland at Siou, and now we are going to Claremont. Prom this account you will see how constantly engaged we are, and that we must make the most of our time to see at least some of the sights of London. Dear aunt is very kind to us, and does everything she can to please us, and our cousin (Princess Victoria) also is very amiable. We have not a great deal of room in our department, but are nevertheless very comfortably lodged." A bilious fever of some days duration, with which the l)rince was just attacked when he came to England, did not conspire to show him at his best to the Princess, who no doubt examined him witb critical eyes, aware as she was, of the desire that had been formed in the family for their future union. As she then saw him he was not probably all her fancy painted him, and she certainly was not greatly disposed towards the marriage with him, which three years afterwards she pressed for herself with ardent desire. / On leaving England, the prince went to Paris with his brother, and after a short stay there, proceeded to Brussels, where for ten months they were industriously 52 mVTY YEARS A QUEEN". engaged in study preparatory to their entrance into tlie University of Bonn iu 1837. In tlie fall of 1836, tlie Prince was writing from Brus- sels to his father, thanking him for an invitation to spend the coming holidays at the "dear home" in Coburg; but at the same time denying himself that pleasure, because, as he sagely said, " such an expedition would require four or five weeks, and our course of study would be quite disturbed b}^ such an interruption. We told dear uncle the puri^ort of your letters, and he said he woxild write to you on the subject." From many things it was evident that " dear uncle" (King Leopold) frequently had need to admonish his elder brother, the Duke of Coburg, for the purpose of imi^ressing upon him some discreet consideration which he had lost sight of, or perhaps never perceived at all. Just at this time the dear uncle had other projects in view for his favorite nephew. Prince Albert, than wast- ing precious time on holidays to be spent at Coburg. I CHAPTER VII. THE PRINCESS VICTORIA COMES OF AGE.— REJOICINQ THROUaHOUT THE KINaDOM.— DEATH OF WILLIAM IV.— VICTORIA WAKENED FROM A SOUND SLEEP TO BE IN- FORMED THAT SHE IS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND.— HER MAJESTY HOLDS HER FIRST COURT AT KENSINGTON PAL- ACE.— THE YOUNG QUEEN RECEIVES THE HOMAGE OF HER SUBJECTS. On the morning of May 24th, 1837, the Princess Vic- toria was wakened from sleep by strains of music l)roclaimiug that her eighteenth birthday had dawned, and that the heiress to the crown of England had come of age ! Very different had been the birthday and coming of age of her young cousin, the Princess Charlotte, on a like anniversary, which she had ]3assed in loneliness and in sorrow induced by the troubles that compassed her. All Loudon was j)ouring out a greeting to the Princess Victoria when she opened her eyes that May morning, for music and joyous sounds were heard everywhere as she answered her mother's congratulations as affection- ately as they were offered. It was high holiday in England, where all were making merry in honor of the coming of age of the adored Princess and future Queen, upon whom and on her royal mother i^resents and con- gratulations poured in throughout the day. For the better celebration of the event the houses of Parliament adjourned; and so did the schools, in order 53 54 FIFTY YFARS A QUEEIT. tliat the cliildreii miglit add tlieir liuzza's to tliose of larger growth. The vast city of London, and other cities and towns of England, were illnminated, nnd a magnificent State Ball w^as given at Sfc. James's Palace, at which, for the first time in her life, the Princess Victoria took precedence of her mother. As neither the King or Queen were present, the young i)rincess was the chief royalty there. The event which the King had prayed for on the even- ing of his last birthday had come to pass. He had lived to see the princess come of age, and he could now "leave the royal authority in her hands, not in those of a Ee- gent." But then his Majesty showed exceeding reluct- ance to delegate that authority to the princess or to any one else. On the morning of this auspicious day the King sick- ened with ha^^-fever, and the Queen — most devoted of wives — remained by his side assiduously attentive to him. Congratulations from the cousin princes in Germany were not omitted, and since their visit to England in the year past, there was a general belief that a marriage between Prince Albert and the Princess Victoria w^as a coming event which was anxiousl}^ looked forward to. With regard to such a marriage, nothing had been set- tled, although it had long been the ardent desire of the Duchess, the princess's mother, and no less so of "Uncle Leopold," the King of the Belgians; but they wisely forebore urging ui)on the two most concerned, who were well aware of the wishes entertained on the subject, its premature consideration. Various were the projects in England for finding a husband for the heiress to the Crown that should not be the German Prince Albert, and meantime King William was gradually but surely drawing towards his end. This came before three o'clock in the morning of June 20th, FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 65 1837, less than one month after the coming of age of the Princess, now Queen of Enghmd. While the last King of the Brunswick line was lying dead in Windsor Castle that summer morning, *'The English who liked Queens," were hastening to hail the Queen that was to reign over them in the person of the Princess Victoria, at that moment wrapped in slumber in her mother's chamber in Kensington Palace ! After the breath had left the royal body of William IV. the Archbishop of Oanterburj^, Dr. Howley, and the Lord Chamberlain, the Marquis of Oonyngham, hastened from his death-bed in Eoyal Windsor to inform the Princess Victoria at Kensington Palace that she was Queen. After two hours travel the distinguished messengers reached Kensington Palace at five o'clock in the morn- ing when every one was buried in sleep; and the bearers of the important tidings had hard work to awake any person who would listen to them. According to Miss Wynn's account, often quoted, the envoys " knocked, rang and thumped for a considerable time before they could rouse the i)orter at the gate; the^^ were again kept waiting in the court-yard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where they seemed forgotten by every- body. They rang the bell, and desired that the attend- ant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to inform her Eoyal Highness that they requested an audience on business of importance After another delay, and an- other ringing to enquire the cause, the attendant was summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a sweet sleep that she could not venture to disturb her. Then they said : " We are come on business of State to the Queen, and even her sleep must give way to that!" Without waiting to arrange a toilet, the young Queen came hastily into the room; " A shawl thrown over her night-dress, her hair falling loose on her shoulders, her 66 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. feet iu slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected and diguilied." Without loss of time, Lord Melbourne was summoned, and a meeting of the Privy Council called for eleven o'clock. The Lord Chancellor administered the usual oaths to the Queen, and Her Majesty received the oaths of allegiance of the Cabinet Ministers and Privy Coun- cilors present. It was almost as a stranger that those high and mighty dignitaries met their young Queen, who had hitherto been kept in a retirement so close by her mother, that no one could tell what manner of person she was, or judge of the x)romise there might be in her. Most ex- cellent reason had that good mother for closely guarding her royal daughter from intercourse in the courts of her uncles, the two i^revious kings. Through the wise dis- cretion of the mother, her beloved daughter now came to the throne free from comidications to which an indis- criminate acquaintance, had she not been spared it, might have subjected her. "She was well brought up," Justin McCarthy says, " both as regards her intellect and lier character — her training was excellent. She was taught to be self-reli- ant, brave and systematical. Prudence and economy were inculcated on her as though she had been born to be poor. One is not generally inclined to attach much importance to what historians tell us of the education of contemporary princes and princesses, but it cannot be doubted that the Princess Victoria was trained for intel- ligence and for goodness." The character and intellect of the youthful Queen were certainly manifested in the manner of encountering tlie dignity and responsibilities of her sovereign station. Every inch a Queen in demeanor; her first words to the Archbishop of Canterbury were : " I beg your Grace to l)ray for me;" a testimony of the reverent feeling in that FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 67 young heart; and her first queenly act was, the writing of a letter of condolence to her Aunt, Queen Adelaide, in which she expressed for her the tenderest spmpathy, begging her to remain at Windsor as long as slie should desire. "Her Majesty, the Queen," the young Queen ad- dressed her letter, u^^on wliich some one reminded her that the widow of William lY. was Queen Dowager. " That I am aware of," Queen Victoria replied, " but I will not be the first person to remind her of it. " With the same grave sweet dignity, the Queen re- ceived the officers of the various high departments of Church and State, accepting their vows of fealty. In the great saloon of Kensington Palace, in which she was christened, June 24th, 1819, when an infant, one month old, the Queen was holding her first Court on the twentieth of June, 1837, four days less than eighteen years from the first ceremonial to the present one, in which an imj^rovised throne had taken the place of the golden baptismal font used at the former. While the big bell of St. Paul's tolled for the dead Majesty at Windsor Castle alone, the new sovereign en- tered the room in Kensington Palace, where were as- sembled princes and peers, spiritual and temporal, clad in mourning-garb for the dead King. The Queen kissed her royal uncles, the Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex, advancing some distance to the latter, who was infirm of health, and with a dignity all her own, she proceeded to accept the allegiance of her faithful subjects, to whom she delivered her first speech from the throne. According to their rank. Her Majesty's uncles were the first to swear allegiance to her. That vivacious chronicler, Greville, said: "As they knelt before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between 58 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. their civil and natural relations; and this was the only sign of emotion which she evinced." By the death of William lY., his eldest surviving- brother, the Duke of Cumberland, became King of Han- over. The Hanoverian Kings of Eu gland were by lawful succession Kings of Hanover, but as that crown Avas limited strictly to the male succession, the Duke of Cumberland was now the sovereign of Hanover. Yery well pleased indeed were the English people that so un- l^opular a Prince as his Highness of Cumberland should go over to Hanover as its King. Where he went, so long as he did go, scarcely concerned them at all. They were only too pleased to have tlieir girl-Queen, to whom they were manifesting the warmest enthusiasm and loy- alty. According to Greville, after the emotion betrayed by the Queen upon seeing her uncles kneeling before her, she was i>erfectly comj)osed Avbile receiving the homage of her subjects, except, he says, that, " she seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of men who came to kiss her hand and to kneel to her — among them the Great Duke of Wellington. But neither for him nor for Lord Melbourne did she show the least alteration of manner. After her old uncles, to all persons she was the same— a gracious sovereign. An oath for the security of the Church of Scotland was exacted from Her Majesty. She put Lord Melburne in mind of the precedent which decreed that she should be proclaimed on the following morning at ten o'clock from a particular window of St. James's Palace, and that, for that purpose, an escort and conveyance must be in readi- ness for her. Then, leaving these cares in his Lordship's hands, the business of the first day of her regal state being over, she retired from the room. CHAPTER YIII. VICTORIA PROCLAIMED QUEEN AT ST. JAMES'S PALACE —DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN ON HER PROCLAMATION — PRINCE ALBERT'S LETTER TO THE QUEEN ON HER ACCESSION TO THE THRONE— HER MAJESTY'S HOUSE- HOLD—THE QUEEN'S FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS— CHARLES SUMNER HEA.RS THE QUEEN'S FIRST SPEECH FROM THE THRONE -THE QUEEN CONFERS THE ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIRST JEW, SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE — DISREALI IN THE FIRST PARLIAMENT PRESIDED OYER BY THE QUEEN. At teu o'clock ou the morning of June 21st, 1837, Queen Victoria was proclaimed from the window of the Presence Chamber of St. James's Palace, surrounded by a great retinue of lords and ladies. Her Majesty appeared dressed in black, as Miss Martineau said, "a young crea- ture who stood in simplest mourning, her sleek bands of brown hair as plain as her dress. The tears running down her cheeks as Lord Melbourne, standing by her side, presented her to the people as their sovereign." " God save the Queen," rang in her ears for the first time, and after a period employed in returning the greet- ing of her subjects, her Majesty retired, accompanied by her mother, to appear again at a Privy Council which was to be held at noon. 59 60 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJS^. At twelve o'clock the young Queen presided at this council, and at one o'clock slie returned to Kensington Palace witli lier mother, wliere she was to remain until after the funeral of William lY. Much was said of the Queen's deportment on the day of the proclamation. Greville wrote that she appeared to act with every sort of good taste and good feeling as well as good sense. She behaved, he says, Avith a decorum and propriet^^ far beyond her years, and was neither dazzled nor confounded with the grandeur and novelt}^ of her situation. Sir Eobert Peel expressed himself as amazed at her manner and behavior, at her api)arent deei^ sense of her situation, her modesty and firmness. " She ax)peared," he says, " to be awed, but not daunted." To the courage of the girl-queen, the Duke of Wellington, who had I)roved his own on many a battle-field, i>aid a glowing tribute; and many others besides had warm praise and admiration for the young girl come to a condition of such responsibility, and who had stood the test so well. The hearts of the peoi)le who saw her were won to her as she stood the central figure of august assemblages. The expressions of gratitude were deei) and fervent that a sovereign promising so well in manner and conduct had been given to rule the nation; and this gratitude was greater in i>roportion to the memory of the people that dwell upon former reigns, and recalling them, turn- ed to this dawning one with hope and thankfulness. In all the multitudes proud of and sympathetic towards the young Queen one heart certainly more than anj^ other rejoiced with her and beat high with pride for her — the mother triumi)hant in the regal state of her beloved daughter. Outside of the general throng hanging on her move- ments and heeding all that she said or did at this period, there was another sympathic personage attentive to FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 61 every proceeding of the young Queen just entered upon her regnant state, in the person of the Prince over the water, who without loss of .time signified that he had her in his thoughts. A few days after she was proclaimed Queen, Prince Albert wrote to her from Bonn: "My dearest cousin, — I must write you a few lines to present to you m}^ sincerest felicitations on the great change which has taken place in your life. I^Tow you are Queen of til e mightiest land of Europe; in your hand lies th* happiness of millions. May Heaven assist you and strengtlien j^ou with its strength in that high and difii- ciilt task. I hoi>e that your reign may be long, hnppy, and glorious, and that your efforts may he rewarded by the thankfulness and love of your subjects. May I pray you to think likewise sometimes of 3'Our cousins in Bonn and to continue to them that kindness you favored them with till now? Be assured that our minds are always with you. I will not be indiscreet and abuse your time. Believe me always, j^our Majesty's most obedient and faithful servant, Albert." In the midst of the general rejoicings over the new reign, there was a tender and sorrowful heart at Windsor Castle mourning sincerely the dead king, who was yet lying there unburied— Queen Adelaide, the widow of William lY. From her closet in St. George's Chapel, the faithful wife heard the many eulogies pronounced over tlie remains of her royal husband, and loving him well, her heart echoed every one of them. Through her tears she witnessed the lowering of the casket containing all tiiat was earthly of King William into the royal vault, where this last King of the Bruns- wick line was to mingle his ashes in that sepulcher with the royalty gone before him; and. she then went her way, loyally grieving for the dead and gone sovereign, already forgotten by all but herself. 62 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. The Duke of Cumberland, uow King Ernest of Hanover, took his leave of his niece the Queen at Kensington Palace after the funeral of the late king, and departed for his own kingdom. He had not been friendly — this Uncle Ernest — to his or^^han niece, when she was the Princess Victoria. He had indeed been hostile to her and her mother, nevertheless, upon this occasion she kissed him affectionately on bidding him " God speed " on his journey. Her Majesty's Household was formed, and the Queen and the Duchess, her mother, left Kensington for Buck- ingham Palace and its glories. A contrast to her modest mourning dress, in which she appears the day of her i:)roclamation, was the regal attire in which she is next seen on her w^ay to Westminster to oi)en Parliament. "At twenty minutes to tliree precisely, her Majesty, preceded by heralds, and attended by the great officers of State, entered the House of Lords — all the Peers and Peeresses, who had risen at the flourish of tbe trumi^ets, remained standing. Her Majesty was attired in a splen- did, white satin robe, with the ribbon of the Garter cross- ing her shoulder and a magnificent tiara of diamonds on her head, and wore a neckhice and a stomacher of large and costly brilliants. Having ascended the throne, the royal mantle of crimson velvet was i^laced on her Majesty^s shoulders by the Lords in waiting, and upon taking her seat, her Majesty a^^peared to be dee])ly moved at the novel and imi)ortant i)osition in which she ' was placed, the eyes of the assembled nobility, botli male and female, being riveted on her j)erson. Her emotion was plainly discernible in the heaviiigs of her bosom, and the brillianc}^ of her diamond stomacher, which sparkled out like the sun on the swell of the smooth ocean as the billows rise and fall, she had regained her self-possession when she came to read the speech, and her voice also, for it was heard all over the FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 63 <,''retit cliamber, and lier deiueaiior was characterized by mucli grace and modest self-i)ossession." To tlie foregoing account from a London antliority Charles Sumner who was present at that time, wrote: " I was astonished and delighted. Her voice is sweet and finely modulated, and she pronounced every word distinctly, and with a just regard to its meaning. I think I never heard anything better read in my life than her speech, and I could not but respond to Lord Fitz- Williara's remark to me when the ceremon3'^ w^as over, *How beautifully she performs!'" William TV. on his accession to the throne, said to the Bishop of Ely: "My lord, I do not wish to interfere in any way with your vote in Parliament, except on the subject of the Jews. I trust I may depend on your al- ways voting against them!" On the question of Jewish preferment, her Majesty, Queen Victoria appeared to have different views, which she speedily manifested, for she conferred the dignity of Knighthood on Sir Moses Montefiore on the Lord Mayor's day following her com- ing to the crown, while visiting the city of London. Mr. Montefiore had been elected Sheriff of London a few days after her Majesty was proclaimed Queen, and he was the first Jew that had ever been chosen for that office. Her royal hand opened the door of preferment to the Jewish race, wdio remained grateful to her for that act, and one of whom, Benjamin Disraeli, rewarded her by the title of Empress of India, conferred mainly through Ms effort in after years. "This remarkable man," says that charming writer Justin McOarth}^ "entered the House of Commons as Conservative member from Maidstone in 1837. He was then about thirty-two years of age. He had previously made repeated and unsuccessful attempts to get a seat in Parliament. He began his political career as an ad- vanced liberal, and he described himself as one who 64 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. desired to figlittlie battle of the people, and who was supported bj^ neither of tlie aristocratic parties." Coiitemporaneoiisl}' with the beginning of Queen Vic- toria's sovereignity was the career of Disraeli. He was a member of the first Parliament in the House of Com- mons before which she appeared on her accession to the throne. Tlirongh many x>eculiarities that for a while invited slighting or invidious treatment from his fellow- members his great ability, was manifest, nnd it conquered for him in time the place of leader in that body and in the English nation. CHAPTER IX. THE QUEEN TAKES POSSESSION OF BUCKINGHAM PAL- ACE—HER MAJESTY'^ NEW THRONE — PRINCE ALBERT WRITES OF THE QUEEN -HOW THE DUKE OF WELLING- TON MANAGED GEORGE IV. — QUEEN VICTORIA'S MAN AGEMENT OF THE DUKE— PRINCE ALBERT SENDS THE QUEEN TOKENS FKOM ABROAD - GIFTS TREASURED BY THE QUEEN -THE QIEEN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS AT WIND- SOR CASTLE— TROUBLES IN VICTORIA'S EARLY REIGN— THE SOVEREIGN DISCHA^RGLS HER FATHERS DEBTS. Biickingliiim Palace, in addition to other changes made to accommodate the better, the new sovereign of England come to reside tliere, had a brand new throne of elegant design and workmanship set u\) in the throne-room, which was made especially for the girl-queen. One enthnsiastic writer had discovered her close re- semblance to George 111., which important facts was immediately set forth together with the declaration that she was " excessively like the Brunswicks, and not at all like till. Oobnrgs." Tiiis was judged to be an esi)ecial X)oint /n her favor, since as the writer said: "The memy^iy of George III. is not yet passed away, and the peo^/le are glad to see his calm, honest, and Englisii physiognomy renewed in his granddaughter. It might indeed have gratified the national love of the English people to perceive " the calm, honest, and English 65 66 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. physiognomy" reflected iu tiie young queen, but it is a resently made to feel by the opposition. In the great i^olitical duel which Parliament then was, with Lords Brougham and Lyndhurst foremost in the opposing ranks, these two men of consi)icuously large ability confronting the ministerial party, notoriously weak, made the position of the ministry (as some one said) " like a water-logged wreck, into which enemies from all quarters were pouring broadsides." This flattering picture of the condition of the govern- ment at the beginning of the young queens reign was moreover suj^plemented by hard times. Unusual distress prevailed among the manufacturing and working classes. Without knowing exactly where to lay tlie blame for the state of affairs prevailing, and since it was desirable to put it somewhere, it was by some charged to the frivol- ity of Lord Melbourne, who was accused of leading the youthful queen into like trivial practices. Delighted as were the English people that the Duke of Cumberland had gone to reign over the Hanoverians, that i)rovidential circumstance had assumed the aspect of a blessing that brightened as it took flight, aud the design took on tlie form of expression that " the all but infant queen" be deposed, and the King of Hanover be brought back to reign in England. Probably this heroic remedy in the situation was not considered in quarters where authorit^^ rested. O'Con- nell, the great Irish leader, came gallantly to the championship of the queen in the House of CommonSj FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 71 wlieii liis great voice rolled tlirongli the ball iu tlie fol- lowing declaration: " If necessar}', I can get five hun- dred thousand brave Irishmen to defend the life, the honor, and the i^ersou of the beloved young lady by whom England's throne is now filled." As Prince Albert had written, " there was a network of cabals and intrigues and i)arties arrayed against each other in tbe most inexplicable manner." But Mr. OCon- nell did not find it necessary to bring forward his forces for the purpose of defending the queen, nor did the malcontents succeed in recalling the King of Hanover to take her place on the throne. One of the first acts of Queen Victoria after she came to the crown, was to i)rovide for the discharge of such indebtedness as still remained against the Duke of Kent, her father. To her Prime Minister, Lord Mel- bourne, she said : " I rmist do it, I consider it a sacred duty." And not only did the queen discharge the debt in full, but she sent besides valuable ])ieces of plate to the largest creditors — a testimonial from herself which she considered due to the kindness which they had shown by their long patience in waiting. It was eighteen years after his death that the Duke of Kent, who scarcely ever in his lifetime felt the luxury of being out of debt, had, by the filial love of his daughter, his memory relieved of a responsibility that had been a corroding care of liis existence. To the Duchess, the faithful wife, the gratification was great, since it afforded her an opportunity to wit- ness the result of the integrity of principle inculcated upon her royal child, and, at the same time, a duty fin- ished, to the accomplishment of which much of her own life had been dedicated. CHAPTER X. THE CORONATION OF VICTORIA.— SPLENDORS OF THE CORONATION CEREMONY. — PRINCE ALBERT DECLARED OF AaE.— THE PRINCES ALBERT AND ERNEST ARRIVE IN ENGLAND —THE QUEEN OFFERS HER HA?s^D AND HEART TO PRINCE ALBERT. — ENGAGEMENT OP THE QUEEN AND PRINCE. — HER MAJESTY INFORMS HER PRIVY COUNCIL OF HER APPROACHING MARRIAGE TO PRINCE ALBERT OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA. May 23, 1838, PriDce Albert wrote to Lis father from Bonn: "So you go to Eiighiud for the corouation, aud afterwards we shall have the happiness of seeing you with us. Inconvenient and tiring as the doings will be in London, they will still be very interesting. It is a great pity that mamma " (the Duke of Cobiirg's second wife) "should not be going also; it would have been more uatural, and I am sure the Qaeen will be very sorry not to see lier." Her Majesty had been Queen exactly one year and a week before her coronation, which took i)lace ou the twenty-eight day of June, 1838. The day was ushered in with exceeding pomp and ceremony. Guns roared forth their joy and so did the people. From the Tower of London tiie cannon ex- changed salutes with those in St. James's Park, while the vast multitudes of people from ever^^ i^ortion of 72 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJS^. 73 England and tlie Continent were greeting and exchang- ing congratulations in the streets. A magnificent new crown Lad been made for the youthful sovereign. Into its formation all the jewels of the crown of the Georges and of William had been mas- sed. The jeweler's best skill had been taxed to make this creation one of splendor and of beauty. This day it was to rest on the head of her Majesty Queen Victoria. Escorted by squadrons of the Blues, the Life Guards, the Scots Fusiliers, and other military bodies, and by the great lords and ladies of her kingdom, the girl -sovereign liroceeded to Westminster Abbey, where she was to be invested with the crown. "The great procession," said the London Times of that date, " started from Buckingham Palace at ten o'clock in the morning. The first two State carriages, each drawn by six horses, hold the Duchess of Kent and her attendants. The Queen's motlier, regally attired, was enthusiastically cheered all along the way. The Queen, in the grand State coach drawn by eight magnificent cream-colored horses, with flowing manes and tails, followed. "Along the line from Buckingham Palace to Westmin- sterAbbey, military bands and battalions were stationed, playing the national airs and presenting arms; and along the route swarms of people were scattering flowers, wav- ing handkerchiefs, or making other joyous demonstra- tion. "A scene of the utmost grandeur was displayed in Westminster Abbey on the entrance of the Queen and her train. On each side of the nave, reaching from the western door to the organ screen, were the galleries erected for the spectators. These were all covered with crimson cloth fringed with gold, and below were lines of footguards. The old stone floor, impressed by footsteps of kings who had been crowned, was covered with purple 74 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. and crimson, and under the center tower of the Abbey, inside the choir, a few steps from the floor, was a carpet of purple and gold, upon which was a platform covered with cloth of gold, on which was the golden * Chair of Homage." The old chair in which all the sovereigns of England since Edward the Confessor had been crowned stood within the chancel, and the " Stone of Scone," on which the ancient Scottish kings luid been crowned, was drai3ed with a cloth of gold. The galleries, in which were seated foreign Princes, Embassadors, and Members of Parliament, were ui^holstered in crimson cloth and regal tapestries. In the organ loft, the singers were dressed in white, and the instrumental performers in scarlet; and far above was a band of trumpeters whose music, pealing over the heads of the assembly, produced a fine effect. The foreign Princes and Embassadors were resplend- ent in the dazzling costumes of their orders. Prince Esterhazy surpassing all by an exhibition of i)recious stones sparkling on his person from head to foot. In her royal robe of crimson velvet, furred with ermine and trimmed with gold lace, her Majesty entered, wear- ing the collars of her orders and on her head a golden circlet, her long train held by eight young ladies of noble birth, looking regal. As she entered the Abbey the choir and orchestra broke out into " God save the Queen;" then, as she advanced slowly towards the choir amid deafening cheers, the anthem, " I was glad, " was sung; and after that the choir-boys of Westminster chanted " Yivat Victoria Regina ! " The Queen moved slowly to a chair between the Chair of Homage and the altar, before which she knelt in prayer. On the conclusion of tbe anthem, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the high officers of State moved to the east side of the " theatre, " when the Primate said in a loud voice, " I here present to you Queen Victoria, the FlFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 75 undoubled Queen of this realm, wherefore all of you who are come this day to your homage, are you willing to do the same ? " The "recognition," "Glod save Queen Victoria, " was cried by the i^eople and repeated from every side of the " theatre" amid the pealing of trumpets and the heating of drums, tlie Queen standing through the ceremony and each time turning her head towards the point from which the " recognition " came. This was followed by the receiving and presenting of offerings, the reading of prayers, and by the sermon; then followed the administration of the oath, and the catechism by the Archbishoi) in regard to the Estab- lished Church. The Queen was conducted to the altar, where, kneel- ing with her hand upon the great Bible, she said in a clear, solemn voice : " The things which I have here be- fore promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God ! " She then kissed the book; and the hymn, " Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," was sung by the choir, the Queen still kneeling. Her Majesty seated herself in St. Edward's chair; a gorgeous cloth of gold was held over her head; and tbe Archbishop anointed her with holy oil, in the form of a cross. Prayers were offered, the sword and spurs were presented, her Majesty was invested with the Imi)erial robe, the sceptre, and the ring, the new crown was con- secrated and blessed, and the Queen crowned. The moment the Queen was crowned by the Primate, and the Peers and Peeresses lifted to their own heads their coronets, and the Queen was conducted to the chair of homage. The Lords spiritual, headed by the Primate, performed the first homage to the Queen, kneeling and kissing her hand. Then came the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge 76 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. her majesty's uncles, who, removing their coronets, and touching them to the crown, solemnly pledged their al- legiance and kissed the Queen on the left cheek. Then the other Peers did homage by kneeling, touching coro- net to crown, and kissing her majesty's hands. When the sacrament was administered to the Queen, she laid aside her crown wliile partaking, and again as- suming it, received the final benediction. In King Edward's Ohapel, the Queen changed tbe im- j)erial robe for the royal robe of purple velvet, and passed out of the Abbey wearing her crown, bearing the scepter in her right band, and the orb in lier left. She entered lier State carriage and was driven back to Buck- ingham Palace, amid the plaudits of the people, frantic in their demonstrations of loyalty. At the time of the coronation, her Majesty conferred the order of the Garter on the Dake of Ooburg. The time was fast approaching when Prince Albert and his brother Ernest were to part in pursuit of their several destinies. These brothers had been inseparable com- l)anions and loyal friends, loving each other more ten- derly than brothers often do. After the parting had taken place, the Prince wrote to his grandmother: "^ow I am quite alone. Ernest is far off, and I am left behind, surrounded by so many things which keep up the con- stant illusion that he is in tbe next room. To whom could I turn, to whom pour out my heart better than to you, dear grandmr.mma, who always take such interest in everything that happen to us; who also know and understand us both so well ?" The projected journey of Prince Albert through Italy, by the advice of the King of the Belgians, in order that he might become more mature and self-reliant, was be- gun, with Mr. Seymour for a companion. He had re- turned to Ooburg, in June, 1839, when the coming of age FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJf. 77 of li is brother Ernest, tlie Lereditary Prince of Saxe- Coburg, was to be celebrated. By a si)ecial act of Legislature, Prince Albert was to be declared of age nt tlie same time, and be says: "I appreciate this proof of papa's affection aud confidence as I ought. And this assurance is what makes this step so agreeable to me; for without it, the thought that I had ceased to be a child of the house would have been rather a source of sorrow than of pleasure. I shall do my best to show myself in all things deserving of his confidence." From the dear uncle LeoiJold tlie first intimation of a marriage with her cousin Prince Albert came to the Queen when she was the Princess Victoria. The Prince used to say that, when he thought of marrying at all, he thought of marrying her and no other. When he was three years old, his nurse used to tell him that he was to marry the Queen of England; and the Dowa- ger Duchess of Ooburg~the grandmother whom he very sincerely loved — impressed it upon his young mind that such was the destiny she ardently desired for him. His loved uncle Leopold was also anxious for the union of his niece and nei)hew, and it appears that he was con- fidential with both on the subject. Most strenuously had King William opposed the mar- riage, and he had arranged as many as six other mar- riages for the Princess, or contemi^lated their arrange- ment,without, however, mentioning the subject to her at any time. Her mother's desire was strongly for the marriage of the cousins, and the time was now drawing near when a definite settlement was to be made Avith re- gard to it. The first step towards this was declaring the Prince of age. To the proposition ontbe part of the Queen to wait some years the Prince objected on the score that if he waited a few years, and tben the Queen should change 78 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. her mind, it would be to the detriment of his career in life; and it was with the settled determination of inform- ing her that it must he "now or never" that he went over to England with his brother Prince Ernest, and with the following letter from the King of the Belgians to the Queen of England, dated at Lacken, Oct. 8th, 1839: " My Dearest Yictoria, — Your cousins will be them- selves the bearers of these lines. I recommend them to your * bienveillance.' They are good honest creatures, deserving your kindness, and not pedantic, but really sensible and trustworthy. I have told them that your great wish is that tiiey should be quite at tlieir ease with you. I am sure that if you have anything to recommend to them they will be most happy to learn of it from you." Thursday, Oct. 10th, 1839, at half-past seven o'clock in the evening, the Princes arrived at Windsor Castle, and were very cordially received by the young Queen, who herself conducted them to her mother, the Duchess of Kent. In the three years since the Queen had last seen Prince Albert, he had grown very handsome and manh^, facts at once noted by her gracious majesty". They had arrived in advance of their wardrobes, and were on that account obliged to absent themselves from the royal dinner-table, although they made their appearance after- wards for a while. Five days after their arrival — on the 15th— the Qneen told Lord Melbourne that she had made np her mind to the marriage, a communication which pleased him greatly, and which he thought " would be well received," for " there was anxiety now that it should be so;" and he told her that she would be far more comfortable, " for a woman cannot stand alone for any time, in whatever position she may be." That must have been Carlyle's opinion too, for he had said, after looking at her: "Poor little Queen ! She is FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN 79 at an age at which a girl can hardly be trusted to choose a bonnet for herself, yet a task is laid ni)on her from which an archangel might shrink. '^ On the same day the Prince was informed tbat the Queen particuhirly desired to speak with him the next day. What the Queen tohl him was, that she loved him with lier whole heart, and that she wished to be his wife. In her position she was obliged to do the proi:>osing herself, which it ai)pears she got through with in a straightforward manner; and she was accepted without hesitation. To the King of Belgium she wrote on the same day (Oct. 15th): " My dearest Uncle, — This letter will I am sure give you pleasure, for you have always showu and taken so warm an interest in all that concerns me. My mind is quite made up, and I told Albert this morning of it. The warm affection he showed me on learning this gave me great pleasure. He seems per- fection, and I think that I have the prospect of great happiness before me. I love him more than I can say, and shall do everything in mj i)ower to render this sacrifice (for such in my opinion it is) as small as I can. lie seemed to have great tact, a very necessary thing in his i)osition. These la^t few days have i)assed like a dream to me, and I am so much bewildered by it all that I know hardly how to write; but I do feel very happy. It is absolutely necessary that this determination of mine should be known to no one but yourself and to uncle Ernest until after the meeting of Parliament, as it would be considered, otherwise, neglectful on my part not to have assembled Parliament at once to inform them of it. Lord Melbourne, whom I have of course consulted about the whole affair, quite approves my choice, and exx)resses great satisfaction at this event, which he thinks in every way highly desirable. Lord Melbourne has acted in this business, as he has always done to- wards me, with the greatest kindness and affection. Wa 80 FIFTY YEAKS A QUEE^N^. also tLink it better, tiud Albert quite approves of it, that we should be married very soon after Parliament meets, about the beginning of February. " Pray, dearest uncle, forward tliese two letters to uncle Ernest, to whom I beg you will enjoin strict secrecy, and exx>lain these details, which I have not time to do, and to faithful Stockmar. I think you might tell Louise of it, but none of ber familj^ I wish to keep tiie dear young gentleman here till the end of next mouth. Ernest's sincere pleasure gives me great delight. He does so adore dearest Albert." The dear uncle Leopold's joy was great indeed upon this hax^py conclusion to what had been his great desire. He had, he said, when he learned the Queen's decision, almost the feeling of old Simeon: "jN'ow lettestthou thy servant dei)art in pence." On farther consideration, as Parliament could neither help nor hinder the marriage, it was decided to assemble the Privy Council and announce it to them on the de- parture of the princes, which was at hand. Secretly the Prince had written to his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, that the Queen iiad sent for him alone to her room, and h^j^d declared, in a genu- ine outburst of love and affection, that he had gained her whole heart, and that it would make her intensely happy if he would make her the sacrifice of sharing his life with her, enjoining silence, however, on the Duchess for tlie present regarding the event. Meantime, the royal lovers were enjoying the time very fnlly. Both fond of riding, they were much on horseback together. From the Queen's journal the fol- lowing is gleaned: " At ten minutes to twelve I set off in my Windsor uniform and cap, on my old charger * Leopold,' with my beloved Albert, looking so handsome in his uniform (the green uniform of the Coburg trooi)s), on my right, and FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 81 ^ir Jolin Macdoiiakl, the adjutant general, on mj^ left * * ^ * * I rode down the rankw, and tlien took my place as nSiial, witb dearest Albert on my riglit, and Sir JoLn Macdonald on my left, and saw the tioo])S march past. They afterwards manoenvered. The riiies looked beauti- ful. It was piercing cold, and I had my cape on, which dearest Albert settled comfortably for me. He was so cold, being 'en grande teuue,' with high boots. We cantered home again, and went in to show ourselves to l)Oor Ernest, who had seen all from a window." November 14th, 1839, the princes left Windsor Castle for Ooburg, and had stopped at Wiesbaden to visit their uncle Leopold, then staying there. Six days later, No- vember 20th, the Qneen left Windsor for Buckingham Palace, with her mother, and that day Lord Melbourne submitted to her a copy of the notification of the mar- riage to be made to the Privy Council on the 23rd. Meantime her Majesty had written to the Queen Dowager, (her aunt Adelaide,) and to the other mem- bers of the royal family of England, informing them of her intended marriage, receiving in every case kind re- i:)lies. Precisely at 2 o'clock, November 23rd, the Queen en- tered the bow-room on the ground floor of Buckingham Palace, where eighty members of the Privy Council were assembled to hear from the Queen's own lips the declara- tion of her purpose to marry Prince Albert. In her owii words: " The room was full, but I hardly knew who was there. Lord Melbourne I saw looking kindly at me, with tears in his eyes, but he was not near me. I then read my short declaration. I felt my hands shake, but I did not make one mistake. I felt most happy and thankful when it was over. Lord Lansdowne then rose, and iii the name of the Privy Council, asked that 'this most gracious and tnost welcome communication might be printed.' I then left the room, the whole thing' not last- 82 FIFTY YEARS A QLEEIV. ing above two or three minutes. Tlie Duke of Cam- bridge came into the small library where I was standing, and wished me joy. " Tlins was the ordeal over, and t!ie secret hitherto kept made known to the world. CHAPTER XI. JOY IN ENGLAND OVER THE COMINO MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN.— OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF THE MARRIAGE IN COBURG. — THE QUEEN IS CONGRATULATED BY PARLIA- MENT ON HER HAPPY ENGAGEMENT.— ENVOYS LEAVE ENGLAND TO CONDUCT THE PRINCE FROM COBURG. — PRINCE ALBERT RECEIVED BY THE QUEEN AT BUCKING- HAM PALACE.— MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE. — THE ROYAL MARRIED PAIR GO TO WINDSOR CASTLE FOR THEIR HONEYMOON. Ou the evening of the day of the declaration, tlie Queen returned to Windsor witli tbe Duchess of Kent. Tliat which caused her so much trepidation to read be- fore the council, appeared in the Gazette of the same date, and was: "I have caused you to be summoned at the present time in order that I may acquaint you with my resolution in a matter which deeply concerns the welfare of my people, and the happiness of my future life. " It is my intention to ally myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Ooburg and Gotha. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the engagement which I am about to contract, I have not come to this decision without mature consideration, nor without feeling a strong assurance that, with the blessing of Almighty God, it will at once secure my domestic felicity, and serve the interests of my country. 83 81: FIFTY YEARS A QUEEI?'. " I have tlioiiglit fit to make this resoliitiou kuown to you iit the earliest period, in order that 3^011 may be ap- prised of a matter so highly important to me and to my kingdom, and which, I x^ersiiade myself, will be most acceptable to all my loving subjects.'" For the great and very general rejoicing manifested throughout England at the intelligence of the Queen's contemplated marriage, there were two causes promi nent, first: there was alwa^^s the fear before the English people, to whom he was repugnant, that the Duke of Cumberland— his Majesty of Hanover— might, under certain circumstances, return to England as King; for should the Queen die without issue, the King of Han- over would become King of England, too; and, second: the healthy English mind sympathized heartily with "love's young dream;" x)articularly in the love dream of their girlisli queen and the beautiful young x>i'iiice who had won all hearts by his grace and comeliness. Vexed questions, however, came before the marriage. The statement had been omitted in the aunonncement of the marriage that the Prince was a Protestant, and while the fact was a pretty plain one, still the omission caused a good deal of heated discussion. The subjects of income, of household, of precedence, and of the title to be accor- ded the Queen's husband also involved much debate, to the great discomfort of the Queen. Since the time of Queen Anne there had been no reign- ing Queen of England whose husband's position had been settled, and her case would, therefore, serve as a precedent in the present instance — if Prince George, of Denmark, one of the most stupid of men, could be used profitably as a i)recedent in any case. He had been Lord High Admiral of England, and had enjoyed other distinctions of which lie never made any i^articular use; therefore, in the case of Prince Albert, there was as good as no x>recedent at all to guide those endeavoring FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 85* to settle his status. Could tlie legislators of Eu gland have only known at that time that Prince Albert liad resolved to be " Prince Albert," and nothing else, when lie ciinie to live in England, it wonld have saved them considerable wear and tear mentally, and they conld then have devoted Liie whole of their time to the other points at issue. To Prince Leopold, on his marriage with the Princess Charlotte of Wales, Parliament had voted for his house- hold fifty thousand pounds a year. The same sum had been asked for the household of Prince Albert in tlie entire confidence of its being accorded. It was, how- ever, cut down to thirty thousand i^ounds, after much bitter discussion — more to be attributed to the English system of government by party than to any feeling of dislike to tlie Queen or to the Prince, which in fact did not exist. On December 8th, 1839, the official declaration of tlie intended marriage was made in Ooburg, and on Januar^^ 16th, 1840, the Queen opened Parliament, and announced to that body her intended marriage, adding that it Avould be a source of the most lively satisfaction to find the resolution approved b}^ them. In both Houses of Parliament the language of con- gratulation was warm and cordial. Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, said that he entered entirely into the hopes for the happiness of her Majesty in her approaching marriage, " who had the singular good fortune to be able to gratify her x>ri- vate feelings while she performed her public duty, and to obtain the best guarantee for hapi)iness by contracting an alliance founded on affection." Two days before the assembling of Parliament,- Lord Torrinfton and Colonel Grey left Buckingham Palace for Gotha, for the i)ariJ0se of escorting Prince Albert to 86 FIFTY YEJlRS A QUEEIf. Eugland, where liis marriage with the Queen was to be celebrated on the 10th of February, 1840. On January 28th, the Prince set out on his journey, and on the 6th of February he arrived at Dover, an ex- ceedingly sea-sick prince indeed. From the moment he arrived in Eugland an ovation was tendered him at every stage of his journey to London. At Buckiugham Palace, which he reached at half-past four in the afternoon of February 8th, the Queen and the Duchess of Kent, at- tended by the whole household, gave him a right royal welcome— Her Majesty the warmest of all. The following day (Sunday), the Queen and Prince at- teuded Divine service in the bow-room of the palace, in which she had made her declaration to the Privy Council. On this day, as the Queen mentions in her journal, the Priuce gave her, as his weddiug gift, a beautiful sap- phire and diamond brooch, and she gave him the star and badge of the Garter, and the Garter itself set in diamonds. February 10th the marriage hour was fixed at one o'clock at the Chapel Eoyal, and something after eleven that morning, the Prince was writing to his grand- mother at Gotha: " Dear Grandmamma, in less than three hours I shall stand before the altar with my dear bride ! In these solemn moments 1 must ouce more ask your blessing, which I am well assured I shall receive, and which will be my safeguard and my future joy !" Since the marriage of the " young hope of England " in the days of the Georges— the Princess Charlotte of Wales — nothing had so excited the enthusiasm and interest of the people as the marriage of the young Queen of the realm now did. Thousands upon thousands ot* people thronged St. James's Park hours before the cortege left Buckingham Palace for St. James'^. The back of Carlton Terrace to the foot of Constitution hill FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. g7 was a dense mass of hiimauity, and tLe brancLes of tlie trees along tlie ronte swarmed with iieople. At half-past teu o'clock the first arrivals appeared at Buckingham Palace. These were members of her Majesty's snite. An hour later, gentlemen composing tlie foreign suites of his Eoyal Highness Prince Albert and the Duke of Saxe-Ooburg-Gotha mustered in the grand hall. Prince Albert, dressed in the uniform of a British Field Marshal, the collar of the Order of the Garter, with the George, set in x)recious stones, the star of the order in diamonds, and the Garter embroidered in diamonds around the knee, appeared with his father the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his brother the heredi- tary Prince, both wearing orders and decorations. Pre- ceeding Prince Albert was the Lord Chamberlain, Yice- Chamberlain, the Treasurer, and Comx^troller of the Household, the Clerk Marshal, Equerries, and a portion of the foreign suite. The Prince entered the carriage amid the sound of trumpets and all the honors to her Majesty. A squadron of Life Guards escorted the Prince to St. James's, together with his father and brother, who occu- pied the same carriage with him. The Queen left her apartment leaning on the arm of the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Uxbridge. She was accompanied by her mother, and followed by a i3age of honor. Her Majesty was preceded by the Earl of Belfast, the Earl of Surrey, Lord Torrington, the Earl of Albermarle, Colonel Caven- dish, Sir George Anson, Lord Alfred Paget, and others. On reaching the grand hall, the royal bride was greeted on all sides with loud acclamations. She wore no dia- monds on her head. She wore a wreath of orange-blos- soms and a magnificent veil. A pair of very large dia- mond earrings, a diamond necklace, and the collar of the order of the Garter were among the jewels she wore. 88 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJST. The Bucliess of Kent and the Diicliess of Siitlierland rotle in the same carriage with lier Majesty; and the royal cortege left the palace at a slow pace, under a strong escort of the Household Cavalry. The court in front of Buckingham Palace was occux)ied by the bantl of the Eegiment of tlie Blues and one or two com])anies of the Grenadier Guards, and the whole of the line tlience to the garden entrance of St. James's Palace was lined with Horse Guards and a strong corx)s of the i^olice. At a quarter i^ast twelve o'clock, the band in front of Buckingham Palace pealed forth " God save the Queen," the signal that her Majesty had entered her carriage and was then proceeding to St. James's. Cheers rent the air as the Queen passed along the line. Six carriages preceded that of the Queen, in which, seated with her, was the Duchess of Kent, her mother, and the Duchess of S other] and , Mistress of the Eobes. On her arrival at St. James's Palace, the Queen was conducted to her closet behind the throne-room, where she remained, attended by the maids-of-honor and train-bear- ers, until the summons was received from the Lord Chamberlain that every thing was in order for the sovereign's approach to the Chapel. In the Presence Chamber the procession was arranged, and it x>roceeded to the Chapel Royal, the principal en- trances to. whicli were from tlie Ambassador's Court and the color quadrangle opposite St. James's Street. Two galleries sux)ported by pillars stretched east and west the entire length of the chapel. On the floor were two pews set apart for the chief nobility and those who took part in the procession. The galleries, east and west from both sides of the altar to the royal closet, were occupied — the ui)i)er end on the right by the cabinet ministers and tiieir ladies, on the left by tlie ladies and officers of her Majesty's household. Below the choir on FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 89 the right, and in the galleries opposite, usually appro- priated as royal closets, the walls of the building were thrown out, and six benches on each side were fitted u^) for the accommodation of peers and peeresses and other distinguished spectators. The royal closet was assigned to the Ambassadors and their ladies, and the whole of the seats in the chapel were stuffed, covered with crim- son cloth, and elegantly oruamented with gold fiinge. On the communion-table was displayed a vast quantity of golden plate, including six salvers, one of gigantic dimensions, two ponderous and rich vases, four flagons, four communion cups, and two magnificent and lofty candelabra. Within the railing, which was covered with crimson velvet, stools were placed on the right of the altar for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and on the left for the Bishop of London, Dean of the Chapel Royal. In front of the communion table were i)laced four chairs of state, gilt, and covered with crimson silk velvet, each of different construction, and varying in elevation ac- cording to the dignity of their intended occupants. The highest, largest in size, and most costly in workmanship was of course appropriated to the Queen, and was placed somewhat to the right of the center; that on the oppos- ite side, immediately on her Majesty's right hand, being- set apart for Prince Albert. On her Majesty's left a chair was placed for the Duchess of Kent; and on the opposite side, on Prince Albert's right, one for the Queen Dowager. On the Queen's extreme left were seats for tlie Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, and on Prince Albert's extreme right for the reigning Duke of Saxe- Ooburg, the hereditary Duke, and Princess Augusta, and Princess Mary of Cambridge. The floor of the cliapel was covered with rich purple and gold carpeting, the prominent figure being the N^orman rose. 90 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. About half-past-eleven o'clock the Arclibisliops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London took their places within the altar. A few minutes before twelve the Queen Dowager entered the chapel royal through the Dean's vestry door, and took her seat near the altar. Her Majesty wore a robe of rich purple silk velvet trimmed with ermine. The Archbishops of Can- terbury and York and the Bishop of London immediately rose OD the entrance of her Majesty. At twenty-five minutes past twelve o'clock, a flourish of trumx)ets and drums gave intimation that the i^roces- sion of the bridegroom was approaching. On reaching the chai)el ro^^al, the drums and trumpets filed off with- out the doors, and, the procession advancing, his royal Highness was conducted to a seat provided for him on the left of the altar. Having reached tbe haut pas, he respectfully kissed the hand of the Queen Dowager, bowed to the Arclibisliops and Dean, and then entered into a close conversation with the Queen Dowager, until the trumpets and drums announced the coming of tiie Queen. Attended by her brilliant train of royal highnesses and the highest of England's nobility, the Queen entered, wearing the collars of her orders, her train borne by twelve unmarried ladies. These were Lady Adelaide Paget, Lad}^ Sarah Frederica Caroline Yilliers, Lady Frances Elizabeth Cowj^er, Lady Elizabeth West, Lady Mary Augusta Frederica Grimston, Lady Eleanor Caro- line Paget, Lady Caroline Amelia Cordon Lennox, Lady Elizabeth Anne Georgiana Dorothea Howard, Lady Ida Hay, Lady Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Stanhope, Lady Jane Harriet Bouverie, and Lady Mary Charlotte Howard. The royal bride approached the altar looking, the chronicler (London Times, Feb. Uth, 1840) sets forth, " anxious and excited." Her dress was a rich white FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 91 satin, trimmed witli orange blossoms, lier snperb veil of Honiton lace falliDg over it. The bridesmaids, in white satin and roses, followed her Majesty; and the mistress of the robes, the Duchess of Sutherland, followed them. Together the royal bride and groom advanced to the communion-table, where the Archbishop of Canterbury began reading the service. To the question, " Albert, wilt tliou have this woman to be thy wedded wife," etc , his Eoyal Highness, in a firm tone answered, " I will." And when the Archbishop said, " Victoria, wilt thou have Albert to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony ? Wilt thou obey him and serve him, love, honor, and keep in sickness and in health, and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?" the " I will" of her Majesty was heard in every part of the house. The Duke of Sussex gave away the bride, and the ceremony was completed, upon which the Queen affec- tionately kissed the Queen Dowager, her aunt Ade- laide. Firing of guns at one o'clock signified to the waiting multitudes outside that the ring had been put on the finger of the Queen, a circumstance that fired them with great enthusiasm. At twenty minutes to " two the Duchess of Kent returned to Buckingham Palace with her brother, the Duke of Coburg, and Prince Ernest, her nephew— the father and brother of the bridegroom; and at ten minutes to two o'clock the Queen and Prince re- turned in the same carriage looking radiant with joy. Seven royal highnesses of England, and two serene highnesses of Ooburg, besides several lords and ladies of lofty station, were guests nt the wedding breakfast, and at a quarter to four o'clock the bride and groom left Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle for their honey- 92 FIFTY YEARS A QUEENo moon. The iiewly made husband and wife were iu tlie first carriage of tLe four tbat formed tbe cortege — her Majesty wearing a white satin i)elisse, trimmed witli swansdown, and a white satin bonnet and feather, and Prince Albert wearing a plain dark traveling dress. Every house in Windsor blazed with light on the ar- rival of the bridal party, and many of them were hand- somely decorated as well as illuminated. The poi)ula- tion of Windsor was largely increased by numbers from other localities that greatly augumented the crowds there gathered. At half-past-six the crowd on the castle hill had be- come so dense that a passage-way for the royal carriages was made with difficulty. The whole street was one living mass, while the walls of the liouses glowed with crowns, stars, and all the brilliant devices which gas and oil could supply. Rockets were sent up to illuminate the air, and bells pealed their welcome as the Majesty of England and her royal husband entered Windsor, es- corted by a body of Life Guards; and at a quarter to seven o'clock the Queen, leaning on the arm of Prince Al- bert, passed in at the grand entrance of Windsor Castle. A right royal feasting and a general one closed the wedding day of the Queen at Windsor, at which the toast, " Health and happiness to Victoria and Albert," was drunk times innumerable. OHAPTFE XII. EEJOlCINa OVER THE MABRlAaE OF THE QUEEN— THE PEOPLE OHEER ;THE QUEEN'S MOTHER— THE QUEEN'S FIRST LEVEE AFTER HER MARRIAGE AT WHICH THE PRINCE APPEARS — FORMATION OF PRINCE ALBERT'S HOUSEHOLD - THE ENGLISH AND SAXON ARMS QUARTERED —AFFECTING PARTINGS— WHIGS VERSUS TORIES— THE QUEENS TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY-HE R MAJESTY IS SHOT AT FOR THE FIRST TIME -PRINCE ALBERT IS MADE RE- GENT IN CONTINGENT CIRCUMSTANCES BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL. In all Eugiand uo otlier ueart was so proud and satis- fied as that of the Queen's mother, on the night that dosed her daughter's wedding-day. Slie saw accom- l)lished the realization of her dearest earthly wish in this marriage of her daughter — one that liad been a chief nini almost from the time of that daughter's birth. In the exalted station to wliich her child had attained, her mother lov^e and ambition were satisfied, as well tliey might be. In the unbounded love by which her own was returned, the mother felt more tlian repaid for the watchful care of almost twenty-one years bestowed upon her child. The filial regard at all times manifest was another joy of the royal mother's life, and to all was added now the crowning one of this marriage, which 93 94 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. X)romise(l abundantly to secure and confirm the liai^pi- ness of her daughter's future life. The x^landits of multitudes had to-day broken upon her ear. She was cheered to the echo by the people — every cheer signifying " well done, good and faithful mother," for so she was regarded, and as such admired, respected, and beloved. The Duchess, with the Duke of Coburg and Prince Ernest, joined the royal pair at Windsor Castle two days after their marriage. On the 14tii the Court returned to London, where awaited the royal bride and groom congratulations, addresses, and the state visits incidental tliereto. I^ine days after the marriage the Queen held her first Levee with her husband on her left hand. The Duke of Coburg soon after departed for his own dominions — a l)arting acutely felt by Prince Albert. When the Queen tried to console him for the loss of his father, he told her, she says, that she had never known a father, and could not therefore feel what lie did, and that his brother yet in England was now the only remaining one of all his earliest ties and recollections, but that if she continued to love him as she then did, she could make up for all. Most anxiously did her Majesty desire to "make up for all." The fond wife fervently desired to make her "dearest precious husband" happy and contented, and she said, "What is in my power to make him happy I will do" — a promise which she certainly kept very faithfully. Parliament had failed to settle the question of prece- dence in the case of Prince Albert — an important one from a family standpoint, as if his status was not defined, his own sons might in the future take the pas of their father. PIPTY YEARS A QUEEN. 95 From a position so undignified to the natural Lead of a household the letters patent issued b}^ her Majesty in- terposed, securing to the Prince the right of precedence next to herself. The Prince's household was another matter to be ad- justed. At the beginning it consisted of a groom of the stole, two lord s-in- waiting, two equerries, two grooms-in- Avaiting, and a private secretary. The Prince was not consulted with regard to these appointments, to none of which, however, he made objection, except that, in the last case, where close and necessarily confidential relations were involved, he desired to choose anotlier than Mr. Anson, who proved subsequently to the satisfaction of Prince Albert his high character for honor and delicacy of tact. The reason of the Prince's objection to Mr. Anson at tliat time was that for long he had filled a like position to Lord Melbourne, a circumstance which might. Prince Albert feared, interfere with a line of conduct which he had marked out for himself — a thorough avoidance of I)olitical partizanship. In his own mind he had defined the position which it would be best for the Queen to occupy relative to con- flicting political i)arties, as well as that most fitting for him to observe in the circumstances; and he resolved "to sink," as he said, "his own individual existence in that of his wife — to aim at no power by himself or for himself — to shun all ostentation— to assume no separate responsibility before the public " — to be in fact and in deed the bosom friend of the Queen and the head of her family, who should be before every other her closest friend, confidential adviser, and guide in all matters. To this end he had written x^reviouslj' with regard to the formation of his household: "I should wish particu- larly that the selection should be made without regard to politics; for if lam really to keep myself free from 96 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN, all parties, my i^eople mast not belong exclusively to one side. Above all, these appointments sLionld not be mere ' party rewards,' but tlie^^ slionld possess other recommendations besides those of i^arty. Let them be either of very high rank, or very rich, or very clever, or persons who have performed important services to England." Not so gnarded had been the young Queen with re- gard to i^olitical partizanship. With her whole heart she leaned to the side in which her feelings were for the time interested; but under guidance so discreet as that of her i^rudent husband, the Queen's impulse was ruled in the strict direction that he deemed right, she heeding his counsel unreservedl}' as she loved him. and trusting to him wholl^^ in all things. The right of the Prince to quarter the Queen's arms with his own was another i)oint involving considerable questioning. His high mightiness the G-arter King-at- . Arms had overlooked the last precedent when Prince Leopold had quartered the Princess Charlotte's arms with his own. Prince Albert, however, discovered that X>recedent, and by it established his own right to the quartering of the Queen's arms with those of his own famil}^ It is just possible that her Majesty's i3olitical bias at a former period now operated in the delay and confusion of settlements being made for the Prince. The Tories had not forgotten the little episode upon which was founded the toast, "The Sovereign who would not let her belles be Peeled," and they may have been inclined (o punish vjcariously her inclination to AVhigism then. The toast had been founded upon a laughable contro- versy between the Queen and Sir Eobert Peel, upon the resignation of Lord Melbourne from the ministry in 1839, when Sir Kobert was sent for b}^ her Majesty to form a new ministry. He particularly desired the dismissal FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 97 from the Qiieen'^i service of the Duchess of Sutherland, the Mistress of the Eobes, because she was the sister of Lord Mori)etli, who was prominent in the opposition; and that of tlie Marcliioness of Kormanby, one of tlie principal bed-chamber ladies, the wife of the Marquis of !N"ormanby, wlio was simihirly situated. The Sovereign refused to dismiss lier ladies, as to do so "would," she said, "be repugnant to her feelings." For the same reason undoubtedly^, that it was repugnant to his feelings to have tliese ladies in close and confiden- tial attendance on the Queen, with special opportunities to prejudice the mind of lier Majesty against his side, Sir Robert refused to form a new government; hence the toast, widely circulated, and possibly a good share of the hostility displayed in the arrangements for the "dearest precious husband" of the Queen that were now in i^rogress. In April, 1840, the Duchess of Kent moved to a house in Belgrave Square, separating for the first time from her royal daughter Never, since she came to England before the birth of the Queen, had the Duchess lived by herself; and never since her birth had the daughter been from under the roof that sheltered her mother, ex- cept on the occasion of her wedding trip to Windsor. The parting now decreed by expediency moved them both very deeply. In less than a month it was followed by another — the parting of the greatly attached brothers. Prince Ernest left England for Coburg. The loving brothers sang together, "Abschied," a song which Ger- man students sing at parting. Prijice Albert, in his passionate attachment to everything belonging to father- land,, and to this brother above all else there, no doubt felt the separation very x)ainfully. The Queen went to her husband immediately after his brother had left him, and she found him "as pale as a sheet, with eyes full of tears. " 9g FIFTY YEARS A QUEElSf. At Claremont the Queen aiicL lier liusbaiid i^assed her Majesty's twenty-first birthday alone in the seclusion of that charming place. They made it a i)ractice in suc- ceeding years to retire to Claremont for the observance of the Queen's birthday, when they indulged in the de- light of pastoral rambles, and in being alone together. The taste of the Prince for fine scener^^ and country landscape soon came to be shared by the Queen, who gratified her husband by the information that "formerly she was too happy to go to London, and wretched to leave it; and now, since the blessed hour of her marriage, she disliked and was unhappy to leave the country, and could be hapxjy and contented never to go to town." How the Prince loved the country may be judged from a paragraph in one of his letters to his stepmother, the Duchess of Coburg: "We came here the day before yes- terday to spend a week at stately Windsor, and I feel as if in Paradise in this fine fresh air instead of the dense smoke of London. The thick heavy atmosphere there quite weighs one down." "London particular" had few charms for him, it would seem, though he assiduously encouraged tlie Queen to be as much in London as possi- ble, because he thought it right she should be there. The royal family bad received the Prince with much kindness, the Dowager Queen Adelaide very warmly. The people were won by his affability, and by his evident desire to do well in all things. He had l>een seen much in i)ublic and admired generally by the masses, and he had created a favorable impression by his replies to ad- dresses and upon such occasions as he had made oral ad- dresses before congregations of people. June 10th, exactly four months after the marriage of the Queen and the Prince, they started on their after- noon ride, when there was made the first of those at- tempts on her Majesty's life, that became in after years so many. Prince Albert, in his account of it to the FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 99 Duchess of Gotha, his gTandmother, says: "We drove out yesterda}^ afteruoou about six o'clock to pay Aunt Keut a visit, and to take a turn around Hyde Park. We drove in a small phaeton. I sat on tlie right, Victoria on the left. We had hardly proceeded a hundred yards from the palace when I noticed, on tbe footpath on my side, a little mean-looking man, holding something to- wards lis, and before I could distinguish what it was :i shot was fired, which almost stunned us both, it was so loud, and barely six i)aces from us. Victoria had just turned to the left to look at a horse, and could not there- fore understand why lier ears were ringing, as from its being so very near she could hardly distinguish that it proceeded from a shot being fired. The horses started and the carriage slopped. I seized Victoria's hands, and asked if the fright had not shaken her, but she laughed at the thing. . . .■" The name of the man (or rather boy, for he was only seventeen years old) was Edward Oxford. He was a waiter in an inn, and the act was one of mere bravado on the part of a poor wretch craving notoriet3\ For long afterward the Qneen and Prince were heartily cheered b^^ the i)eople when they a])peared abroad. Oxford had fired twice at the Queen on that occasion, and when brought to trial he refused to have a lawyer, saying that he was guilty and should plead so. He was X)ronounced insane and sent to a lunatic asylum. Early in July, 1840, the situation of the Queen rendered it expedient to provide for a Eegency in the case of her death, leaving an heir to the crown. By this time the Prince had made so favorable an impression on the English mind, that, by both i^arties «ind by almost unani* mous vote of both Houses of Parliament, he was named Regent in the contingency. The one dissenting vote was that of the Duke of Sussex in the House of Lords, who 100 FIFT-Y YEARS A QUEEN. explained tbat he "opposed the bill, as he must not al- low the rights of liis family to be passed over." The Duke of WelliDgton and Sir Eobert Peel, both prominent in tlie controversy of "Tory lords versus AVhig ladies," were lieartily concurrent in this measure. The Duke declared tliat tlie Regent ought to be Prince Albert and no one else; nx)on which Lord Melbourne told the Queen that the Prince's merit had won the day, and that " three mouths ago they would not have done it for him. " During the next month, when it had been arranged that the Queen in person was to prorogue Parliament, excitement was caused by a whisper that the Duke of Sussex intended on that occasion to dispute Prince Al- bert's right of precedence before himself and other mem- bers of the royal famil^^ Although nothing of the kind happened, there had evidently been something to disturb the mind of the Queen, who said that "not only the Duke of Sussex but other persons who should be nameless had pretended that the Prince could not drive with the Queen in the state carriage, or sit next to her in the House of Lords." The loj^al affection of the Queen, however, most out- spoken and positive as it was, warned all persons very fully that her wifely devotion to her husband was too comi)lete to be infringed in the smallest degree, and that she intended to uphold him in all circumstances. The first birthday of Prince Albert in England (August 26, 1840) was passed at Windsor, where the court had gone on the adjournment of Parliament. A German chorale woke him in the early morning, and at breakfast the children of the Queen's sister, Fedore, api^eared in the costume of Coburg peasants, affording him glimpses of his loved fatherland. The presence of the King and Queen of the Belgians, three German Princesj who had been his fellow students FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. IQl at BouD, tbe Diicliess Kent, Princess Holieulolie, and the Dowager Queen Adelaide contributed to tlie liapi:)iuess of the Prince's birthday at Windsor; while London, from one end to the other, blazed with illuminations in honor of the event. In the following" month (September) the Prince was made a member of the Privy Council, Lords Melbourne, John Russell, Clarendon, Minto, and Holland being present. "Tlie thing in itself is an empty form, but from a distance it seems very grand," wrote the Prince re- garding the event. There was another event near at hand, the confinement of tbe Queen, that was creating much anxiety. The sad fate of tiie Princess Charlotte had not been forgotten, and that memory had served to make people apprehen- sive for the young Queen in similar circumstances. There was hurry and excitement in Buckingham Palace, November 21st. Gathered there were the Duke of Sussex, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, Lord Palmerston, Lord Melbourne, Lord Albe- marle, Lord Errol, the Lord Chancellor, Lord John Rus- sell, and as many others of the Privy Council as could be gotten together to witness the advent of an heir to the English crown. The Duchess of Kent had preceded all the others, and was at her daughter's side when the glad news was heralded, that the Queen had safely passed through the crowning trial of woman's life, whither peas- ant or Queen, and that a Princess royal had been born to England. Tohisfather the Prince wrote on the 23rd: "Victoria is as well as if nothing had happened. She sleeps well, has a good appetite, and is extremely quiet and cheerful. .... I should certainly have liked it better if she had been a son, as would Victoria also, but at the same time, we must be equally satisfied and thankful as it is." 102 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. The Queen was safe, there was an heir to the throne barring the succession of the King of Hanover, and all England therefore rejoiced and was exceeding glad. CHAPTER Xin. BAPTISM OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL— THE QUEEN OPEN- ING- PARLIAMENT— INCIDENTS OF THE MELBOURNE MIN- ISTRY—PARLIAMENT PROROaUED— THE QUEEN HOLDS THE LAST DRAWIN&-ROOM OF THE SEASON— SIR ROBERT PEEL SUCCEEDS LORD MELBOURNE AS PRIME MINISTER — PRINCE ALBERT BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE FINE ARTS COMMISSION— DISCOVERY OF YOUNO JONES IN HER MAJES- TY'S PRIVATE ROOMS IN BUCKINGHAM PALACE— ROYAL HOUSEKEEPING. " I caiinot express how happy I am to know you dear- est, dearest Yickel safe in your bed with a little one," wrote the mother of the Duchess of Kent on the birth of the "mayblossom;" and it is the "mayblossom" that is now the dearest, dearest Yickel over whicb her mother is pouring out her heart in thankfulness in a like situation. The Crown Princess was baptized at Buckingham Palace on the first anniversary of the marriage of hei parents, February 10th, 1841, receiving the names Vic- toria Adelaide Mary Louisa, the first in honor of her mother and grandmother, and the second of the Queen Dowager, the beloved Aunt Adelaide. The sponsors were Leopold, King of the Belgians, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg (represented by the Dnke of Well- ington), the Queen Dowasrer, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Sussex, and the Duchess of Gloucester. 103 104 FIP^TY YEARS A QUEEK. The proud young father rei)orted the christening as going off well, telling his grandmother that "her little great-grandchild behaved with great propriet^^ and like a Oliristian. " As all first babies are — no matter in what condition born — a royalty in themselves to their parents, this wonderful baby, still lacking eleven days of being- three months old, was, so her father thought, "crowiug with immense satisfaction at the lights and brilliant uni- forms on the evening of her baptism." The baby in arms had at that tender age arms of her own, as became a young Princess — the Saxon arms in the middle of the English, which her royal x)apa said, "looked A^ery i)retty," and on contemplating his i)aternity, he " could scarcely realize that he had been married a year and two days. " Loyally did England rejoice over the birth of a Crown Princess, although deep in its secret heart there was a pang of disappointment that the heir to the throne \Yas "only a girl." Perhaps, however, it was, as the Queen said of Prince Albert, "for a moment only;" ])articularly as at that time England had gloomy questions to i)onder — quite grave enough to demand her best reflection. January 26th, 1841, the Queen opened Parliament in person. The Melbourne ministry, long in an unsafe con- dition, was in May so insecure as to decide the Prince to confer confidentially as to the best method of helping the situation and extricating the Queen with credit to herself in the coming crisis. Eor the "divine right of kings," the wise Prince Al- bert had substituted the national constitution, which he very carefully studied, and as carefully i)ointed out to his wife the scoi)e and limit of. He desired that all things should be done constitutionall}^, and, when a new ministry should be called, that the Queen should have so arranged that the Whig ladies of her household would have gracefully retired "of their own accord," thus sav- FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 105 iug a repetition of the so-called "bed-cliamber i)lot." The retirement of tlie ladies was decided upon and ef- fected, thus leaving her Majesty's mind in a condition to be impressed by Sir Robert Peel as to his views of state affairs without lot or hindrance, when he should take the helm for the purpose of steering the ship of state through the breakers in which she was floundering. The Melbourne government had not been one of vigor or success, consequently not of satisfaction. Under it the clieap postage bill had been passed and had gone into effect, and under it also Chartism, a fruitful element of disturbance, appeared. The Canadian rebellion, the Jamaica bill, and the Opium War were vexed questions which, added to the general distress x>revailing at home, made still greater the total dissatisfaction. A clamor for reforms went up from the people, and many proposi- tions as to the nature of those desired were named, while the government failed to produce any reform or in any way to help the condition of the countiy. In a condition so critical the young Queen had her anx- ieties, to all of which she was fully and conscientiously alive. It has been universally conceded that it was the hai)piest circumstance for her, first, that her husband Avas a man of great ability and i^erception, with an earnest desire to be just, and with a tact so fine, temper so sweet, and moderation so great in all things; and, second, that the closest confidence existed between them, and that she, i:)erceiving the wisdom of her young husband, trusted him entirely. The sagacious Uncle Leopold had commended to the Queen the judgment of the Prince, telling her that it Avas "good and calm"— good for her to follow, as it was. She had the advantage besides of King Leopold's best counsel in the critical situation. Baron Stockmar, another keen-sighted and faithful ally of the Queen and Prince, was called to council witii 106 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. tlie King of tlie Belgians on the situation of tlie Englisli government about the middle of May, 1841. The Baron expressed the opinion that " Lord Mel- bourne's rapid change in his i)rofessions on the subject of the Corn Laws, into which he had no doubt been per- suaded by his colleagues out of mere good-nature and easiness of disposition, had an ugly look." It was this very "good-nature and easiness of disposi- tion" that among other amiable qualities endeared Lord Melbourne to the Qnaen. With such ijower as he was endowed with by nature, he made undoubtedly an honest effort to do as best he could for the government; and he betrayed clearly a degree of magnanimity towards the l^arty in opposition to him that was at any rate credita- ble to his kindness of heart. "A weak man of a sweet disposition and agreeable personality," he had won the favor of the Queen, to whom it was painful to part with him as her Prime Minister; and also of the Prince, who had come to recognize the necessity of the change, and who was ready to accept it, because it was a necessity and a duty also. "To support frankly and honorably, and with all its might, the ministry of the time, whatever it might be, so long as it commanded a majority and governed with in- tegrity for the welfare and advancement of the country," Avas, in the Prince's estimation, plainly the duty of the Crown. To do this on constitutional principles was the effort inculcated upon the Queen by her thoughtful husband, who sui^iDorted her in its i)erformance. In all the turmoil of politics the Queen and Prince snatched short i^eriods of recreation. The Duchess of Kent had gone for a visit to her German home for the first time sinces he had come toEngland before the birth of the Queen ; and to her Prince Albert is giving an account of the manner in which time is passing. The life of the SHIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 107 Queen and himself is unsettled. They have paid visits to the Archbishop of York at Nuneham, and to Oxford for the commemoration. They went to Chiswick to visit the Dnke oi Devonshire; to Woolwich to witness the launch of the T.rafalgar; to Woburn Abbey the seat of tlie Duke of Bedford; to Panshanger and Brocket Hall, Lord Melbourne's residence; and to Hatfield, where once lived Queen Elizabeth before her brother Edward died, and before Mary became Queen, winning the title of "bloody Mary" — poor wronged and wronging wretched creature, and when the young mind of Elizabeth had an abundance to occupy it as to what her own outcome might be. Parliament was prorogued; the last drawing-room of the season was held, and London was deserted by the great political lights, who had adjourned to the hustings the conflict waged in the Houses of Lords and Commons. The api)roaching fall of the ministry was the subject engrossing all minds. "It emptied purses," Prince Al- bert said, "set families by the ears, demoralized the lower classes, and perverted many of the upper, whose characters wanted strength to keep them straight" — a capital picture of political procedure on this side of the water, from which perhaps our people have been copying. Lord Melbourne reported to the Queen as the result of recent elections that the Conservatives would Lave a majority of seventy, a warning to her that the new minis- try, which she by no means liked to think of, must be accepted. It was accepted by Sir Eobert Peel as Premier, who had learned very thoroughly to like and respect Prince Albert— a certain recommendation to the favor of the Queen, who, probably on that account, found her new Prime Minister much more agreeable than she had sup- posed possible. 108 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIf. The Prince had been made chief of the Eine Arts Com- mission, fortunately for the movement (a most valuable one to the countr^^), and to Sir Eobert, who proposed the commission, Prince Albert, as the chairman, felt him- self indebted. To the Queen he said that he owed Sir Eobert Peel his first initiation into public life, for that this commission was tlie commencement of his connection with the leading public and literary men of the country;" and he considered that it had been as advantageous to him as it was pleasurable. Just before the dissolution of the last Parliament King Leopold and his Queen came to England for a visit. The political situation had been anxiously discussed in the Queen's private apartments at Buckingliam Palace; but these consultations were not so private as the Royal Majesties of England and Belgium supposed, for hidden in their midst was a "chiel taking notes," and though he did not print them, printed the}^ were, and pretty thoroughly too. It was an astounding fact that a small boy had been found hidden behind a sofa in the Queen's private rooms — a boy named Jones, who had been making himself very much at home in the royal apartments of Buckingham Palace for quite a period. He had a great desire to wit- ness high life in a palace, and with the audaciousness of youth proceeded to gratify his curiosity. Brought be- fore a magistrate, he stated with the utmost frankness that "he had been in the palace for days at a time ; that he hid behind the furniture or up chimneys in the day time, and sauntered from room to room at night, helping him- self to food and washing his clothes in the kitchen. ITe had peeped at the Queen and her ministers in council, to which he listened; he lay under the sofa nj^on which the Queen and Prince sat, and heard every word they said; and he knew every room in the Palace; and said the Queen was very fond of i:)olitics." FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 109 The liousekeepiDg' of the Piilace must have beeo, to say the least, peculiar, when such an incursion into it could be made without discovery. That it was peculiar, and that such a thing was possible, may be deduced, how- ever, from the plan on which it was carried out — "a how- not-to-do-it" principle admirable for the design of young- Master Jones or any i)erson inquisitive to witness the in- ner workings of the royal abode. The Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberhiin, and the Master of the House were three head housekeepers who did each as he x)leased and at his own time, and never allowed any one to interfere in the smallest degree with his view of housekeeping, nor had he any consultation with any one — housekeeper or otherwise, as to how it might be done. The Lord Steward provided the fuel and liad the tires laid; he also provided the lamps, but it was the Lord Chamber- lain's business to light them. The windows were washed on the inside by the Lord Chamberlain's orders, who would on no consideration hav^e anything to do with the windows on the outside, because that belonged to an en- tirely different department. Before the least repairs could be made all the heads had to be consulted, and it was sometimes months before a pane of glass could be restored because of the miles of red tape to be first measured. Tliere were no regular deputies of the great house- keepers residing in the i^alace, therefore the servants, feeling directly resi)onsible to no one, followed their own sweet will, and did exactly as tliey pleased and when they pleased, affording an opportunity for such en- terprising persons as the Jones boy to examine the in- terior at leisure. After that discovery, Prince Albert consulted the Prime Minister as to methods ensuring her Majesty from visits of that nature, and found that Sir Eobert Peel was timid about suggesting any change in the present system 110 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEK. of lioTise-keeping, on tlie score tbat if aiiytliiug sliould be done tliat wonld "seem to impair the antUority of tlie great officers of State, or make tliem subordinate to any' new control;" sucli offices, "might be less an object of ambition tlian tliey then were to very distinguished members of the House of Peers." So the royal house- keeping progressed in the old channel for some time longer, notwithstanding the Piince's entreaty for Sir Eobert's assistance in " combating the existing and cry- ing nuisances." The antiquity of the household machine the Prince confessed a sort of reverence for; bnt " it worked so ill," he said, " that as long as its wheels were not mended, there could be neither order nor regularity, comfort or security, nor outward dignity in the Queen's Palace." But notwithstanding the })erplexities of housekeeping and State affairs, the Queen, it would seem, enjoyed much happiness, as about this time she wrote her uncle Leopold: " We must all have trials and vexations; but if one's home is happy then the rest is comparatively^ nothing. I assure jon, dear uncle, that no one feels this more than I do. I had this Autumn one of the severest trials I could have in parting with my Government, and particularly from our kind and valued friend; and I feel even now this last very much; but my ha])piness at home; the love of my husband; his kindness, his advice, his support, and his company make uj) for all and make me forget it. " OHAPTEE Xiy. THE BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF WALES — THE BAPTISM OF THE PRINCE — SPONSORS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES— THEIR FUTURE KING SHOWN TO THE PEOPLE -THE KINO OF PRUSSIA WITNESSING THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY THE QUEEN— TROUBLES ABROAD AND UNEASINESS AT HOME— A LARGE DEFICIT AND NATIONAL DISTRESS— THE DISASTER AT CABUL — GAIETIES INSTITUTED AT COURT TO STIMULATE COMMERCE— A SECOND ATTEMPT ON THE queen's life — THE THIRD EFFORT TO SHOOT HER MAJESTY. It was au event of national importance when on tlie ninth of November, 1841, the Prince of Wales was born in Buckingham Palace in tlie presence of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury and other great dignitaries of Church and State. Until now no Prince of Wales had been born since the twelfth of August, 1762, a lapse of 79 years, when George the Fourth came into the world amidst general demon- strations of joy— a pleasure nearly as great as when he left it sixty- seven years afterwards — detested and des- pised by the English nation. Born Electoral Prince of Brunswick-Lunenburg, Duke of Cornwall and Eothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Eenfrew, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland, he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by letters patent, a few duys after his birth; and it was at that time regarded a happy 111 112 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. omen, that miugling' with the roar of artillery was the rumble of a tumbrel traiu laden with treasure that had beed captured from a Spanish ship, and which was then passing St. James's Palace, where the infant prince was, on its way to the Tower. ISTo such triumph marked the entrance of the present Prince of Wales into the world. Far from being vic- torious, England was then exceedingly depressed. It was menaced abroad and harassed at home. The Mel- bourne Ministry had leffc that of Peel confronting an annual deficit of over two million pounds, soon to be increased to double the amount. Commerce was in a deplorable state, the crops were wretched, and many of the i)eople were suffering for want of the necessaries of life. Yet the rejoicing was great and general; that in this case it was a boy — a Prince of Wales — a future king, notwithstanding that the memory of the last Prince of Wales who had been King-, was not fragrant in the peo- ple's nostrils, and that it was by no means a pride or a pleasure to remember him either in his age or in his youth. The Princess Royal had been christened in Bucking- ham Palace where she was born; but in this case — that of a future King — St. George's Cliapel, Windsor, w^as chosen, w'here, with the greatest pomp and splendor, the young Prince was bai)tizetl, January 25, 1842. As the first child Avas only a girl, her royal parents were not x>erplexed very greatly bj^ offers from i)ersous in high station to stand sponsor for her; but for the boy it was quite another affair. To get peaceably out of the difficulty, the King of Prussia was invited over to be chief sponsor. The others were the Duchess of Saxe. Ooburg, represented by the Duchess of Kent; tlio Duchess of Gotlia, represented by the Duchess of Cam^ bridge; the Princess Sophia, represented b^^ the Princess Augusta of Cambridge; Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Co- FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 113 burg; and the Duke of Cambridge. As a biickgrouud to tbe public pageantry dispbiyed abroad, the happy lionie picture of the royal parents suggests the "one touch of nature that makes the whole world kin." The young mother, writing to her favorite uncle, the King of the Belgians, about her baby, says: "I wonder very mnch whom our little bo}^ will be like. You will understand how fervent are my praj^ers, and I am sure every bod}^ must be, to see him resemble his fiither in every, every respect, both in body and mind ! Oh, my dearest uncle, I am sure if you knew how hai)py, how blessed I feel, :ind liow proud in possessing such a perfect being as my husband; and if you think you have been instrumental in bringing about this union, it must gladden your heart !" When her baby was twelve days old her jour- nal tells of a home scene in the chamber at Buckingham Palace that is eloquent of the home joy there was in that sumptuous abode. It was the first anniversary of lier first child's birthday, the little Princess Eoyal, of which she wrote: "Albert brought in dearest little Pussy, in such a smart, white merino dress, trimmed Avitli blue, which Mamma had given her, and a pretty cap, and i)laced her on my bed, seating himself next to her, and she was very dear and good. And as my precious, invaluable Albert sat there, and our little Love between us, I felt quite moved with hai^piness and gratitude to God." Simple loving wife and mother, all the grandeur of tlie world at her feet, her heart overflowing with wifely and moth- erly devotion — the crown of these dear and sacred rela- tions to which her whole being went out, far above and beyond tlie Eegal Crown tliat flashed its jeweled radi- ance over her brow, and before whicli a world bent down ; while here her very soul bowed in Avorshii) at her do- mestic altar and lier woman's heart made its homage to what woman holds most dear ! 114 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. In the fiilluess of lier own ]iai)piness the thought of that of others presented itself at this period to her mind, for she ordered many prisoners to be set free, who were serving out sentences of confinement under rigorous cir- cumstances; and where this could not be done in justice to the State, such clemency as was possible she caused to be extended to them. George lY., when the baby Prince of Wales, used to be exhibited to the people as a precious hope of the nation. Before he was two weeks old, the ])ul)lic were invited to come and see him on certain days and at cer- tain hours at St. James's Palace, where tlie}^ not only saw their future King, but Avere besides hospitably re- galed with cake and wine, the cake alone costing "forty l)Ounds a day," while tlie consumption of wine was " quite unexpected," and the amount of it or the cost of that item is prudently withheld. So too Avas Albert Edward, the i^resent Prince of Wales, shown to the IDublic in his babyhood, with this difference, however, that it was from an upper window of one of the palaces, and cake and wine were not handed to the average spectator. When the first gentleman in Europe " was under three years of age, he replied to an address i)resented to him by the Ancient Briton Society, saying very gnice- fully: " I thank you for this mark of your duty to the King, and I wish i)rosperity to the charity." At about the same age the historian Tytler j) resents the little Prince of AVales, the son of Queen Victoria, whom he saw " happy and merry trotting at her side," his small hand in her own in the corridor of Windsor Castle. Her Majesty, bowing herself to JNFr. Tytler, said to her son, " make a bow, sir !" which he immediately did, " politely holding out his hand and smiling" at the de- lighted historian, who "bowed low and kissed it, " ob- serving the while the Queen's loving pride of the "little FIFT5 "TEARS A QUEEN. Il5 Prince, for tlie gracious way in wliicli he deported him- self." On the 3rdof February, 1842, when the infant heir to the crown of England lacked yet six days of being three months old, the Queen was opening Parliament surround- ed by unusal splendor. The King of Prussia was pre- sent and to be honored, and her Majesty felt an increased dignity in her own iDcrson as tlie mother of a Prince of Wales, now appearing for the first time before Parlia- ment with that distinction upon her. Escorted by the magnificent corj^s of Horse and Grena- dier Guards and the Yeomen of the Body Gnard, she rode that day through streets that were thronged with rejoicing multitudes, accomi)anied by her husband to Westminster, where she was to announce to her Lords and faithful Commons the birth of a future king. In her robes of State, with the bloom and beauty of less than twenty- three years upon her, and as full and happy a heart as that of any beloved and loving wife and mother within the kingdom, " she looked worthy and fit to be the converging point of so many raj's of grandeur," as she sat ui>on her throne in the House of Lords, waiting for the apx)earance of the Commons, who were to listen to her opening speech, an arbiter of destinies, holding- life and death in her hands. Charles Sumner has told us of the perfection of her manner of speaking from the throne. This day she "felt herself to be chief among grand national realities," and, she looked every inch a Queen ! One ghastly reality was then Impending, the terrible disaster in Cabul, and around this chief horror were several anxieties clustered that taxed severly the minds directing the fortunes of Great Britain, its sovereign, and her confidential advisers, ^ot yet had the massacre in Afghanistan been heard of; but abroad the condi- tion of Si)ain, and circumstances pointing to the inten- 116 E'IFTY YEARS A QUEEjS". tious of Frauce were disquieting. Irelaud was on the verge of iusurrectiou; aud America was pressing on tlie one Iiand for a settlement of tlie question of the frontier of Maine, and on the other, x^rotesting against the inva- sion of its sea-going craft by English cruisers investigat ing the transport of slaves. At open war with Cliina, and obliged to maintain armies at the cape and in the West Indies, and a tleet to avert a revolt in Portugal, the Government was straining every available resource to meet and master the necessities abroad. At home the situation was also one of trial. Money must be procured for needful expenses, and at a time when the country had been i)articularly borne down by a palsy of its mercantile, manufacturing and agricultur- al resources. Tlie ministry were obliged to come for- ward with a proposition of an Income Tax in addition to the plain statement that the deficit for the past year of 2,500,000 pounds, had been increased to 5,000,000 pounds by expenses which had been embarked in the expedition sent out to Afghanistan, that exi)edition which dwindled to one man, under the long knives of a savage x)eople, and in the x^asses of a savage wilderness where death re- leased a life of torture. Overburdened as the people were, and although there were outbreaks in many i)arts of the United Kingdom, tiiey responded loyally to the exigencies of the Government by which means the country was tided over a national bankruptcy, and the Peel ministry encouraged to i^ush its way througli the difficulties that beset it. Upon such a state of affairs the Parliament opened in the early days of February, 1842, the young Queen on her throne, surrounded by Peers in their robes, and ladies radiant in beaut}^ and costly adornments, who was delivering her opening speech in an even voice charm- ingly modulated, comprehended thoroughly the whole situation and appreciated every critical point of it; but ) FIFTY YEARS A QUEfiN. 117 it was not until a week later tliat sbe learned from Sir Robert Peel the fate of the British forces at Oabul. Meantime pleasure as well as care demanded atten- tion. The Baroness Bunsen described a ball at Windsor Castle which took place during the visit of the KiDg of Prussia to England at that time. " As soon as the King with Prince Albert came, the ball began, the Queen making the King dance in a quadrille with herselt, wliich he did with suitable grace and dignit}", though he had long given up dancing, and though his figure was not good. The Queen conversed eagerly with the King, laughing heartily (no company laugh) at things he said to entertain her." It was during the visit of King Frederick William that the news of the ai)proaching marriage of Prince Ernest of Saxe-Coburg to a Princess of Baden reached the Queen and his brother Prince Albert. Because of the anxieties of the Queen with regard to national affairs Prince Albert declined to absent himself from his wife's side long enough to be present at his brother's marriage at Carlsruhe, but both of them urged most earnestly, Prince Ernest to bring his bride to England to visit them. The Queen wrote to her uncle Leopold that her heart was full of the marriage because it brought back so many memories of her own, Ernest being present at that time and longing for a similiar happiness. For this reason she entreated her brother-in-law to spend his honeymoon with them, desiring earnestly that tlieir uncle would urge him to do so, " for, " she saj^s, " he witnessed our first hapi^iness and we must therefore witness his." A round of gaiety was entered upon b^^ the Queen and court as a matter of State polic}^ for the purpose of giv- ing an impetus to trade. Balls, parties, and receptions prevailed in royal and high circles of society; and two days after her birthday in May, 1842, the Queen and the lis FI^TY YEARS A QUEEi^f. Prince attended a ball at Coveiit Garden Theatre, given for the relief of the Spitalfields weavers. All of these entertainments were stately affairs, it being judged best to make them as grand and fashionable as possible; and the Queen gave a sui)erb costume ball at Buckingham Palace, at which she represented Queen Philippa, and the Prince, Edward III., tlie whole court being in cos- tumes of that period. France, Italy, and Si)aiu were represented in a stately procession of one hundred and twenty persons, lieaded by the Duchess of Cambridge. While this was being done for tlie benefit of those who " liad most of the toil and least of the enjoyments of the world," France took advantage of the circumstances of the " Bal Costum^^^ to consider lierself aggrieved and af- fronted at au idle report that in the procession, " King John of France was represented as a prisoner and in chains." On the following Suuvlay, while her Majesty and the Prince were returning from church services at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, an attempt was made on the Queen's life by John Francis, when the royal pair were nearly opposite Stafford House. Prince Albert saw the man distinctly as he stepped out from the crowd and presented the pistol, the trigger of which he heard snax3, but it was not followed by a discharge. The Queen at that moment was turned in another direction, bowing to the people, who cheered her as slie i)assetl, and neither saw nor heard anything of the pistol prac- tice. The footmen at the back of the carriage saw noth- ing of it, and upon consultation it was deemed best to say no more about it, but to watch the crowd on coming occasions when it was presumed that the would-be assassin would rei)eat the attempt. This theory was perfectly correct, as was x) roved next day, for returning from a long drive, when the Queen and Prince reached the spot where Edw^ard Oxford had FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 119 shot at lier two years before, there was Frauds, and he fired wlieii the carriage was about five paces off. The s])ot passed uuder tlie carriage, aud the man was im- mediately iu the liands of the police, restrained from firiug a second time. An anxious family circle had dis- cussed tbe first attempt on her Majesty's life on the evening- of the day on which it took place, and the de- cision was that the Queen should take her usual drives, as to desist from them would alarm tbe man who had re- solved to shoot her; and failing in the first attempt, he was certain to repeat it. The Queen said that she fully expected to be shot at, and would rather run an immedi- ate risk at any time than have a i^resentiment of danger hanging over her. In that spirit she went for a drive the next day, her husband seated by her side, and her mother, with Count Mensdorff following- in another carriage close behind her, and two equerries riding on either side of the Queen's carriage, and as near to it as possible. Carefully the royal p:irty scanned every face on their route, taking heed of every movement, and they had reached the identical spot on Constitution Hill, where she was shot at June 10th, 184(;, by Edward Ox- ford, when the report of a pistol verified the prediction of a farther attempt being made. The aim was not a true one, the shot passed under tlie carriage. The would-be assassin was John Francis, aged twenty-two, the son of a carpenter employed in one of the theatres. In a moment he was iu the hands of the police and safe from the per- petration of farther mischief. Next day the Queen wrote to her uncle King Leopold, that " she was not at all frightened, had not been when she heard the report of the pistol, though the man who fired stood within five paces of her; and the safety of her husband formed her chief concern, for which she was fervently grateful." She certainly showed wonder- ful nerve. Her whole mind must have been possessed 120 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEH^. with the subject when she entered upon the drive upon which she might have lost her life. It was a subject that had been considered so thoroughl^^ the night before, and Count Meiisdorff (an uncle of the Prince and a dis- tinguished oflacer) had told her then that if she heard the report when the shot was fired, to remember she was not hit, because no one hit by a shot heard the report of it. She declined to be accompanied by her lady-in-wait- ing, who did not then know why she was excused, but to whom the Queen explained afterwards, that, as she expected to be shot at, she did not wish to put another life in peril which could be avoided. On his trial, Francis like Oxford at the time of his, was full of mock heroism. Something of the bold "x^nn tic" order of "Sim Tapertit," he swaggered considerably until he was found guilty of the charge of high treason, and sentenced to deatli, when he colla^jsed, and fell fainting in the arms of one of the officers guarding him, and was carried insensible from the room. Francis's sentence— mainly through the offices of the Queen— was commuted to transportation for life, and the very next day after this became known, July 3rd, 1842, another attempt upon her life was made by a hunchback named Bean, a chemist's assistant. This youth had used pieces of cla^^ pipe instead of lead to load his pistol with; so, while there was no great danger from his marksmanship, it was at the same time an uncomfortable sensation for the Majesty of England to find herself selected as a target by so many of her subjects. Bean had been in low spirits and in an unhealthy state of mind, before the peri)etration of the outrage, for he wrote to his father a week before that time, that he intended to do something desperate, and signed himself an " un- hapx)y and disobedient son." It was while on her way to St. James's Chapel, Sun- day, July 3rd, accomx)anied by the Prince, and the King FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 121 of the Belguius, that tliis attempt was made. Bean's pistol missed fire, and the Queen, not having noticed his attempt to shoot, ^yas kept in ignorance of it until she had returned to Buckingliam Pahice, after iiaving at- tended divine service at the Oliapel Eoyal of St. James's. Parliament now took measures to punish as high misde- menors such attemi)ts, b^^ transportation for seven years or by imprisonment for tliree years, and by private or public whippings administered besides. Under this law Bean was tried and sentenced to be confined in Mill- bank Prison for eighteen months. It is to be hoped he got his whii)ping and a good sound one as he deserved. For seven years after he attempted to shoot his queen, none of her subjects tried it until 1849, when we shall hear of another attemx)t. A bright relief to the situation of the Queen and court after Bean's attempt, was tlie arrival in England of Prince Ernest and his bride, about ten days after that event. To the safe and charming retreat Ciaremont, the Queen and her husband carried the bridal pair, for a portion of tbeir visit where life could be enjoyed tran- quilly in this favorite resort of royalty. To her uncle Leopold she once wrote from there: "This place has a particular charm for us both, and to me it brings back reccollections of the happiest days of my otherAvise dull childhood, when I experienced such kindness from you, dearest uncle, kindness which has ever since continued. Victoria (the Princess royal) plays with my old bricks, and I see her running and jumping in the flower garden as old, tho I fear still little, Victoria of former days used to do." August 11th, 1842, the Queen made the closing speech in Parliament when she prorogued it, expressing her confidence in everything being done in the interest of " good order and submission to the law, without ^hich there could be no enjoyment of the fruits of peaceful in- 122 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. dustry, and no advance in tlie course of social improve- ment," a confidence not at all realized, since immediately afterwards the troops had to be called out to subdue the people in several portions of England, who had broken out in open riot. In the West of Scotland the people were also in wild tumult on the score of hard times and low wages. OHAPTEE Xy. TROUBLE WITH THE AF&HANS— ENOLISH AND AFOHAN SITUATION— DILEMMA FORCED UPON SIR ALEXANDER BURNS — ALTERED DESPATCHES — MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH FORCES AT CABUL— FETES AND FESTIVALS IN- STITUTED BY THE QUEEN — THE QUEEN AND COURT IN COSTUME— THE PEEL MINISTRY DISMAYED AND ENGLAND APPALLED. The massacre of the British forces at Cabul was, the Duke of Wellington told the Queen, " the first calamity that had befallen England in arms since 1780. " It was a prodigious calamity, and one for which the responsibility must have rested somewhere that ought to have been reckoned for. The statement has been often made and repeated that Prince Albert, since his marriage with tbe Queen, had been kept completely informed as to the nature of for- eign affairs, and that all despatches on that subject were communicated to him. Judging, however, from the high character which he won for probity in all things, it is natural to infer that all tbe despatches from Afghanistan were not received by him, or if they were, that some of them must have been altered from the original text before they fell under his eye at this time, 123 124 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Charges were made tliat the despatches had been tam- X^ered with, and that would seem likely, considering' that Sir Alexander Burns was represented to have recommen- ded measures that he must have protested against, since to have done otherwise would have been to deliberately arrange for the sacrifice of his own life and the lives of the Englishmen with him, as afterwards came to i)ass. ibul had long been a point of much importance. It was, so to speak, the gatewaj^ to India from Persia, hence the saying, " that no one could be King of Hindostan without first becoming Lord of Cabul." In 1836, the year before Queen Victoria came to the throne. Dost Mohammed was the reigning i:>ower at Oabul. He was a man of much ability, and although lie was a usurper, he was beloved by his people, who put the greatest trust in him. The empire had been founded by Ahmed Shah. It extended south to the mouths of the Indus and to the Arabian sea, north from Oxus and Cashmere, and from Shirhend on the east to Herat on the west. When England went to war with Afghanistan, the latter x)rincipality (Herat) was all that remained to the descendants of Ahmed Shah, Dost Mohammed and his brothers having wrested from them all the remainder which they held. Eunjeet Singh had taken up the province of Cashmere and annexed it to his own dominions. He was an ally of England and a bitter foe of Dost Mohammed, whom he was then menacing. The Shah of Persia and the ruler of Herat were at variance, and it was the belief of the English Government that Persia was playing into the hands of Russia, and tbat an assault upon Herat was only a preliminary stej) towards gaining dominion in India by the Russians, Dost Mohammed, the powerful ruler of Cabul, was being conciliated by both Russia and England. On behalf of England Sir Alexander Burns FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 125 Lad won marked favor. Dost Moliammed desired to be ail ally of Eiigiaiid, and lie offered to Bums to dismiss without eveu an audience, the Russian envoy, if lie could be assured of the friendship of Eugland; but an alliance with either power he must have, for the purpose of strengthening his hands against Runjeet Singh, A strong attachment existed between Dosfc Mohammed and Burns. In him the English Envoy had implicit faith; while for some reason (perhaps through the repre- sentations of Runjeet Singh, his enemy), the Peel Government profoundly distrusted him, and Burns was ordered to regard him as an enem}^ who was treacherously favoring Persia and through her Russia. In this delem- ma the luckless envoy was obliged to carry out a policy from which he differed m toto, and which afterwards cost him his life, together with thousands of others. Whilst Burns was laboring with all his might to con- vince his government of Dost Mohammed's sincerity to- wards the English people, a treaty was entered into with Runjeet Singh, to dethrone him and to set up in his place Soojah-ool-Moolk, under the i^retense that he was the legitimate rnler, as he Avas a descendant of Ahmed Shah, the original founder of the Empire. The new potentate was an unambitious, dull sort of person, fished out from some obscure corner to fill the place made for him. In about the same fashion as Napoleon III. seated Maximilian of Austria upon the throne of the Montezu- mas, so entered into Cabul, Soojah-ool-Moolk, supported by British troops; and like Maximilian, when deserted by the power that upheld him, a bloody grave soon re- ceived him. It seemed entirely beyond the calculation of the English Government that Dost Mohammed would dare resist their action. All the troops save about four thousand under the command of JMajor General Elphing- stone, were withdrawn Irom Cabul, and these were re- 126 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. garded merely as precautionary rather tliau as a necessity there. Soon, however, a change came over the aspect of affairs. A son of Dost Mohammed, (Akbar Kahn) ap- peared ni)on the scene. He led the people in rebellion, and they broke out into open insurrection against the ruler imi)osed upon them by the English. A convenient ditch received the body (stripped of jewels and other trappings) of Soojah-ool-Moolk; and Sir Alexander Burns, who rushed among the populace at the beginning of the tumult was hacked to pieces by Afghan knives while endeavoring to talk of pacific measures. At the time of his death x>oor Burns was thirty-six years of age; and though he was the first, he was by no means the last victim of a policy adopted against his strenuous x)rotest- ations and most x^ositive objections. Sir Walter MclSTaghten and his officers were next mur- dered. The Euglish were routed from their cantone- ments and were obliged to surrender and agree to leave Afghanistan immediately, leaving behind all their treas- ure, and also agreeing to have Dost Mohammed and his family returned without delay to Oabul. For the per- formance of these obligations six of the i)rincipal officers were retained as hostages in the hands of the Afghans, and the whole of the English forces, swelled by camp followers to twelve thousand, began, in the very depths of a rigorous winter, their march for Jellalabad. Officers wives and children were with the English army. One^ officer's wife had seven childreu with her, and tlie widow of Sir Walter MclJ^aghten, lately slain by Akbar Khan, was obliged to travel under the escort of her husband's murderer. Soon he demanded that the women and children should be delivered to him as hostages too; only six guns were allowed the whole British forces to protect themselves with on the march, so that resistance to the demand, if dreamed of, was abandoned, and the Afghan Prince had his way. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEI^. 127 The marcli from Oabiil to Jellalabad led tlirougii fear- ful passes. The Afghans rushed ui)on the English and stabbed them with their long knives, pursuing them from* place to i)lace, till tlie snow over which they traveled seemed a pathway stained with blood. Of the whole twelve thousand who left Cabul, onl^^ oue solitary man reached Jellalabad to tell the tale of horrors of that hideous journey, wliich when told in England caused a thrill of horror. TLe situation proved an ambush for the British forces, resulting from the action of the British Government. Burns had not only been forced into the devious course of action which ended in the carnage, while he was protesting against it; but the very move- ment which he tried most earnestl}' to resist was set forth as one of his devisement, a measure advised by him and specially entered into npon his rex^resentations. The Peel Ministrj^ were hard pushed both at home and abroad. The great revenue demanded from the i)eople on the very verge of a national bankrui)tcy for the pur- pose of carrying on this war against the Afghans, and the frightful termination of it were not encouraging- subjects for the ministry to present to a distressed and disturbed country. At any rate Sir Alexander Burns's despatches were presented to the House of Commons by the Government in a form that made him to appear as commending the policy which he i:)articularl3^ warned them against; and it was made to seem that Burns's own hand had pointed the knife to his own heart and to that of his companions in misery caught in a trap and killed like rats in a hole. Upon the very day that Sir Eobert Peel was elo- quently urging in the House of Commons the passage of the Income Tax Bill, the news one day old of the annihi- lation of the English forces at Cabul was in his knowl- edge. He knew that, in addition to the murder of the men, English women and children were in the hands and 128 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. at the mercy of savages infuriated by a seuse of wrong for wliich bis Government was directly responsible, and that tbose defenceless creatures were exi)osed to a fate to which death itself was mercy. It is said " his heart was heavy," as it well might be at these tidings; and the Queen and the Priuce were later giving themselves an encouraging a series of " concerts, dinners, and balls for the x>rirx)ose of giving a stimulus to trade in London." It is good to have to tell in this cliapter of horrors, that the women and children left behind in Cabul were restored afterwards to their friends uninjured, save in the suffering incipient to the situation through which they passed. Akbar Kahn protected them honorably from such a fate as English women suffered during the Sepoy War. He killed with his own hand Sir AV alter Mcl^raghten, and afterwards told his widow that he " would have given his right hand to undo that deed." There was generosity in his nature as well as natural ferocity, and he had been provoked exceedingly. Hav- ing shared with his father, Dost Mohammed, his faith in and his love for Sir Alexander Burns, which was fol- lowed by the ruin of their family by England whom Burns represented, he had entered into a secret treaty with Mcl^aghten. This finally took the shape of the be- trayal of all the other Afghan chiefs into the hands of Akbar Kahn, proposed by him, and consented to by the English commander. That, in his estimation, proved the treacherous charac- ter of Mc^aghten. The Afghan Prince was but trying him when he made the proposition, and he had invited him to a lonely situation for the ostensible purpose of having the consultation secret. Akbar Kahn was sur- rounded by chiefs of his nation, McNaghten had with him but one or two English officers. The moment he acceded to the whispered proposition of the Afghan, Akbar killed him; and the offlcers with him were also FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 129 dispatched, after which the body of the English com- mander was dragged through the streets and exposed iu the great Bazaar of Oabul, with every circumstance of indignity possible to surround it. ISIot for a month or so after the Peel Government were aware of this disaster did the general public become ap- prised of it, and then they knew it in the form kindly permitted by the ministry. CHAPTER XVI- PRINCE ALBERT'S BROTHER COMES TO SPEND HIS HONEYMOON IN ENOLAND— DEATH OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS— THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO SCOTLAND— EN- THUSIASTIC WELCOME FROM THE SCOTS TO THEIR SOVEREIGN— QUEEN VICTORIA IN HOLYROOD PALACE — ROOMS IN HOLYROOD ONCE OCCUPIED BY MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS— ROOM IN WHICH QUEEN MARY'S SON WAS BORN IN EDINBURGH CASTLE— THE QUEEN'S RETURN TO ENGLAND— SOME COMPLICATIONS ACCOMMODATED — HOSTILITY TO PRINCE ALBERT - BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS ALICE — REFORM IN THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. The honeymoon visit of Prince Ernest of Saxe-Cobnrg and his bride to the Queen and Prince at Olaremont was saddened for the bridal pair and their royal hostess; first by the situation of affairs in England, and then by the news which they received at that time of the death of the Duke of Orleans, who had been killed while jumping from a carriage that had been run away with while he was riding in it. The Duke of Orleans was the son of Louis Philippe and the favorite brother of the Queen of the Belgians, with whom the royal family of England and Ooburg sympathised in the calamity that had befallen her. FIFTI YEARS A QUEEN. 131 The Queeu wrote to her uncle, Kiug Leopold; "I can easily imagine your horror and astonishment. My poor dearest Louise, how my heart bleeds for ber !" In return, Kind Leopold wrote the Queen of England that the grief of his wife, when she knew that it was the Duke of Orleans she Lad lost, was astounding, as she felt that with him the star of her family had set, as indeed i^roved to be true. A visit to tlie Belgian capital and a meeting with some members of the royal family of France had been contemplated this year by the Queen and Prince, which this circumstance decided them to abandon, and instead tliey arranged to go to Scotland. This was her Majesty's first visit to that part of her dominions, where once reigned her lovely ancestress, Mary Queen of Scots, wheu she was as j-oung as Victoria was now, and far more beautiful of form and face. The whole heart of Scotland was roused in enthusiastic welcome of its Queen. The clannishness attributed to the people of that country had manifestation in tlie liurrying of the great southern Lords and Highland Chiefs with their followers to greet their Sovereign, who was the linealdecendantof the old race of Scottish Kings — the royal Stuarts. "The heart of the nation Avas stirred to its depths," Prince Albert wrote," and those who were accustomed to think of its people as cold and undemon- strative, must have seen with surprise the passionate ardor with which their devotion to their young Queen Avas exi)ressed." In addition to this very warm welcome of the Scotcli people, grateful to the Queen, the bracing air of the Scottish hills, blooming with heather, and the highland scenery, grand ami wild, formed extremely pleasing features to lier Majesty and the Prince. They visited Lochleven Castle, where Mary had once been a prisoner under the stern guardian shij) of Lady ISH FIFTY YEARS A t^UEEJ^-. Douglas — the mother of Queeu Mary's lialf-brother,tlie Begeiit Miirniy — aud out of wliicb, tlirougli the kiud offices of George Douglas, she was helped to make her way to her "good sister Elizabeth," who hually disposed of her. The^' visited Scone, from whence came the his- torical old coronation stone which Victoria saw on her coronation day, resplendent in its covering of crimson and cloth of gold — a relic of old Scottish kings who were monarchs of Scotland nges before the Stnarts began to reign there. The3' visited Sterling and its strongholds; also Linlithgow aud Drummond Castle among other interesting i)laces. A million of people gathered in Edinburgh to see George lY. land there on his first visit to that city about twenty years before the visit of Queen Victoria, and Sir Walter Scott, one of those wlio received him, wrote for the occassion : '' The news has flown frae mou^h to mouth, The North for ance has bang'd tlie South; The dell a Scotinan's die o' drouth, Carl, now the Khig's come !" It was the Queen that had now come, and vast were the preparations made to receive her. A million of i)eople might have been there to welcome her too, as they did her uncle George,only that she came so early in the morn- ing, that the people, who did not then expect her, were for the most part fast asleep as she stole into Edin- bnrgh. The wildly passionate welcome was not wanting, however. When their Queen showed herself to the peox^le in a x)rogress which she made through the cit3', the demonstration of joy of her subjects w^as full and satisfactory. Holyrood Abbey and Palace greatly interested the young Queen, especially, it may be imagined, that portion of the i)alace that had formed tlie residence of Queen FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 133 Mary, more tliau two hundred and fifty years before. She had not been as happy here as the beloved wife of Prince Albert was now; but had Darnley been as loyal and lov- ing to Mary as Albert to Victoria, the fortunes and history of Mary might have been entirely different; for, as some one said, "it is all in all to a woman to have lier heart mellowed in love's sunshine." Here in Holyrood happy Queen Victoria looked upon patheticrelicsof unhappy Queen Mary. Her bed, with the dust of centuries on its faded hangings; the dressing- room where toilet articles of hers were preserved; the presence chamber with its carved oak roof embellished with ciphers of kings and queens— their mutual ancestors; and the little room where Mary sat at supper with her four Marys when Rizzio was killed before her eyes, his blood pouring over her hands and dress. When George IV. was in Edinburgh in 1822, he held court in the long room in the modernized portion of Holy- rood Palace— that in which the election of Scottish Peers of the House of Lords takes place. Contiguous to this a suite of rooms was fitted ui) for the Queen's use, and they were made as splendid as possible that the Queen might be suitably lodged in the ancient palace of her ancestors. One room in the Castle of Edinburgh must, more than any other, have moved the heart of the young Queen — happy in her wife and motherhood — the little room, light- ed by a solitary window^ with an outlook on the frowning rocks seventy feet below, where Mary gave birth to her son James, June 19, 1566, about two months after tlie horror of Kizzio's murder in her presence. To this room Darn- ley came to see his wife and child after the birth of tlie latter, Mary saying as she showed him their baby, "My Lord, God has given us a fair son; but had not the murderous sword of Euthven been warded from my bosom that night, where would he and 1 be now." 134 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIf. At the time tluit Mary was pro;^)onn(ling that question to her " lord" (who had led Euthven and the other as- sassins to her presence to commit the murder) she was about the age of Victoria on her first visit to Scotland, twenty-three years. In such trials Queen Victoria hadl)eside her a husband whose "care and devotion were quite beyond expression. " Here she must surely have considered the young Avife and mother, who was a queen, yet so pitifully alone and wretched at such a time ! Surely she did recall the situation, and sympathize with the forlorn woman who so suffered. On several occasions Queen Victoria ex- X)ressed her pride that Mary Avas her ancestress. She told Sir Archibald Alison " she was glad she was de- scended from Mary, and had nothing to do with Eliza- beth." Their trip to Scotland was one gratifying in many re- spects to the Queen and Prince. They returned to England with health and spirits mucli improved, and were cheered by the intelligence there awaiting them. Cabul and Ghuznee had been conquered by the British forces, and Akbar Kahn and his army had been totally routed. The Crown and the Government were much elated by this condition of things. The present triumph covered the past disaster to an extent that almost oblit- erated it; and, save by the immediate friends of those slain in the passes of Afghanistan, who held them in memory and mourned their fate, it was rapidly forgotten. Lord Auckland had been Governor-General of India during the trouble at Cabul, and had sustained by proc- lamation the succession of Soojah-ool-Moolk to the throne from which Dost Mohammed had been driven. Lord Auckland was succeeded by Lord EUenborough, who was now revoking the policy of his luckless predecessor, which was declared to be an utter failure. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN". 135 A proclamation issued by tlie new Goveruor-Genernl (Lord Elleiihorongli) set forth tbat, "to force a sovereign upon a reluctant people would be as inconsistent with the policj^ as it was svith the principles of the British Government; and therefore he would recognize any g-overnment apjiroved by the Afghans themselves, and that the Government of India would be content with the limit nature appeared to have assigned to its emj)ire." The pleasing intelligence of a peace concluded with China followed speedily upon that of the re-conquest of Afghanistan. In the case of China the news was en- hanced by the terms npon which it was concluded — " idemnification for expenses of the war, a favorable tariff, and an open trade with five of the principal Chinese ports. " On the opening of Parliament, February 2nd, 1843, the condition of the Queen prevented her presence at that ceremony. It would have been a pleasing duty to her to inform Parliament of the settlement, not only of the dif&culties with China and India, but also of those with the United States, which the " Ashburton Treaty" had composed. So much good news did not, however, create harmony in that august body, as Mr. Cobden directly charged Sir Kobert Peel with being responsible ])ersonally for the dangerous state in which the country was; and Prince Albert was writing Baron Stockmar six days after the opening of Parliament that " the |)arty-men were already firing broadsides into each other." Less than a month had ela])sed since Sir Robert PeePs secretary had been shot and killed. He had been mis- taken for Peel, and that gentleman therefore severely censured Mr. Cobden for ntterances that might induce other attacks upon his life. The wife of Sir Eobert fell ill in consequence of concern for her husband; and the Queen, heartily sympathizing with the man whom she 136 FIB'TY YEARS A QUUlSrf. had learned to like — liaviug the stronger feeling perhaps of one who could appreciate from experience the horror of being shot at— expressed tlie hope that" it might have the beneficial effect of making people feel the difference between complete madness, which deprives a man of all sense, and madness which does not prevent a man from knowing right from wrong." The man, however (Mc- Naghten), was acquitted on the ground of insanity, although it was known that he had deliberately planned the murder of Peel, whose secretary (Drummond) he had mistaken for him and killed. According to custom, numerous levees and drawing- rooms were held, from which, however, the Queen was obliged to be absent. It was a grievance to certain i)or- tions of the royal family that the Prince appeared in her stead to receive; and the malcontents absented them- selves, resolved not to encourage a " presumptuous foreigner." The poor old Duke of Sussex never could bear to see " the younger son of the ^Duke of Coburg " taking on authority in England. That always put him in a passion, and although he was very nearly done with England and its honors and precedences, he was at this time leading the dissatisfied ones. Buckingham Palace was again a scene of interest on the morning of April 25th, 1843, when another princess was born there; and as she Avas born on " aunt Gloucester's birthday," she was called Alice Maud Mary, the latter name after the Duchess of Gloucester. Her sponsors were the King of Hanover, Prince Ernest of Ooburg, the Princess Sophia Matilda, and the Queen's sister Feodore. As usual her Majesty made a speedy recoverj^, and she reports the baby's conduct at her christening to her uncle Leopold: " Little Alice behaved extremely well, and all went off' brilliantly." The housekeeping in the palaces had long been a can- kering care in the mind of methodical order-loving FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. I3l Prince Albert. The reigu of disorder and extravagance there established through custom and maintained through the agenc^^ of i)ersons interested, had been talked over time and again with bis close confidiints, "uncle Leopold" and the good old Baron Stocliniar, order-loving, methodical, and economical as himself. On the subject of that housekeeping they bad a com- munity of feeling, and many were the devices considered as to how the besom of order might be there introduced without touching any of the old forms planted by tradi- tion upon which the sacred structure rested, and bringing down upon their beads the denunciation of the lords of misrule who had it in charge, and who might be backed by the whole nation did they notice any innovation in one of their old customs handed down from generation to generation. The Ooburgs appear to have been as faithful to tradi- tions in their way as were the English in their's; and that they formed enduring attachments for those who served them is proved by the number of persons retained in their service from youth to age. The Baroness Lehzen came into the service of the Duchess of Kent as governess to her eldest daughter, the Princess Feodore, before the birth of her youngest daughter the queen. She was the governess of the Princess Victoria; remained in the household of the Duchess of Kent until the Princess's accession to the crown, when she became one of the royal household and continued to be the director of her Majesty's Privy Purse until Prince Albert carried out his long contem- plated change in the household. So it was in the case of Carte and others. Carte became the Prince's valet when the Prince was a boy, and he came to England with him in the same capacity, remaining in his service until he died. 138 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN". When Prince Leopold had been the husband of the Princess Charlotte, and destined to a position similar to that now occui^ied by Prince Albert, the Baron Stock- mar had been his fidus Achates^ with whom he had con- sidered every point in the situation; and when the uncle's star of hope set in the death of the future queen, and that of his nephew rose in becoming the husband of the present queen, all the knowledge in his experience, as well as his good services, he transferred to Prince Albert. Under tlie uncle's guidance, and somewhat under Stockmar's, the Prince had been trained from boyhood to be the husband of the queeu, and to conduct the affairs of her and their future children's kingdom with the same method, and upon the same inflexible x)rinci- ples that Leopold would have done had he been in the I)lace of Albert; and as both were of the same order of man — almost identical in tastes, habits, and acquire- ments — the task of modelling the young prince after the pattern of the elder was entirely successful. Two such mentors, so well-informed on all points,were of incalculable benefit to the Prince and to the Queen whom he guided. Temperate in all things and exceed- ingly polite, '"'' festi7ia lenie " had been their motto. They knew how to wait, and when to take the advantage of circumstances— elements of success which the Prince too became familiar with. The astute Baron had long considered all the points embraced in the question of the household. In the words of Sir Theodore Martin, " he knew England and its ways too well not to be sensible of the dauger of any inuovittions either upon the dignity of offices so highly prized, or upon usages, however inconvenient or extrav- agant, which had the sanction of time at their back." Still, by perseverance and deft handling of the British lion, the creature was managed so skillfully as to allow FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 139 order to take tbe place of disorder in tlie lioiisebold; and Prince Albert took the place of head of the estab- lishmeut, and under his steady rule all went well. In whatever he undertook the Qneen supported him with all her heart. She yielded him obedience as well as fervent wifely love. As she told him when she asked liim to marry her," be had won her whole heart;" and be held her affection wholly and without diminution. Her more impetuous disposition bad yielded to his evenly balanced one. Through her great love and respect for him she had been won completely; and at his sugges- tion tbe grave affairs of national importance which, with her heritage— tbe throne— came into the bands of tbe young Queen, were considered by her carefully and im- partially, without special party bias, from which be held himself scrupulously free. In less than a year Prince Leopold had won over merry romp-loving Princess Charlotte to a degree of dignified propriety that she had adopted for his sake. Merry dance-loving and pleasure-loving Victoria bad turned her face from many of the gaieties upon which her heart used to be set for the sake of her "dear master," so much power had these men over the women whose hearts they possessed entirely— a power happily employed for good under every circumstance. CHAPTER XYII. QUEEN YICTORIA'S PIRST VISIT TO THE KING OF THE rHENCH AT THE CHATEAXT d'EU— THE PRENCH ROYAL FAMILY REOEIYETHE QUEEN A.ND PRINCE AT TREPORT — THE QUEEN AND PRINCE IN BELGIUM— "POOR CARLOTTA" — THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA ON A YISIT TO THE QUEEN — PECULIARITIES OF THE CZAR— THE KING OF SAXONY AT THE COURT OF ENGLAND— ROYAL VICISSITUDES - JEAL- OUSY OF KINGS AND NATIONS— INCIDENTS OF THE RUS- SIAN EMPEROR'S VISIT TO ENGLAND— DEATH OF THE DUKE OF COBURG— A ROYAL LOVE LETTER. The Queen i)rorogiied Parliament, Aiig-iist 2Ttli, 1843, and on the day following sailed with tlie Prince in her new yacht Victoria mid Albert. Her destination was Treport, where she was to pay Louise Pliilippe a visit. The family of Cohurg and that of Orleans had fre- quently intermarried. Louise of Orleans was the sec- ond wife of the Queen's favorite uncle, King Leopold of Belgium. This marriage had taken i)lace eight years previous to her own with Prince Albert, and three other unions since that time had taken place, drawing the members of those royal houses closer together. King Louis Philippe, when Duke of Orleans, had made friendly visits to England, and had been closely asso- ciated Avitli members of the Queen of England's family. 140 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJf. 141 Therefore it was uot with the feeling of a stranger that her Majest}' of England set out for a visit to Lis Majesty of France, although the proceeding was one for which there was then no precedent. The King of the French and family were at the Cba- teau d'Eii, near Treport, within a few liours sail of South- ampton, where the Queen and her husband embarked, August 28th, to cruise for a few days along the beauti- ful coasts of Devon and tlie Isle of Wiglit, and then to cross to Treport. This place they readied on September 2nd, and they were received by the King of the Fiench, who was there awaiting them iu his yacht with the Dukes d'Aumale and Montpensier and other distinguished per- sons. To render the feeling of the royal guests more home- like. Prince Augustus of Saxe-Ooburg-Gotha was one of the receiving party. He was a first-cousin of the Queen and Prince, and was the husband of Clementine of Or- leans. The barge of Louis Philippe, "gay with decora- tion and made still more i^icturesque by many rowers in white with red sashes and red ribbons floating from their hats," had barely touched the English royal yacht, before his majesty was aboard of it, embracing the Sovereign of England and exx)ressing his pleasure in welcoming her on French soil. Under the ro^^al standards of France and England the royal party made tlie shore in tiie French barge, where the Queen of the French received them amid shouts of *' Vive la Reine " and Yive le BoV from the i)eople. With ^.Le French Queen were "dearest Louise," Queen Victoria's aunt of Belgium, Clementine, the wife of her cousin Augustus, Helene, the Duchess of Orleans, who was in deep mourning for her husband, lately killelicate matters) given out that he should not come to England before the following year. The Czar arrived in London early in June, and was conducted by Prince Albert to Buckingham Palace, where her Majesty received him. Very agreeably, the Queen did not find him nearly as formidable as she had supposed she should. " The burden of his power and x>osition, " she thought, " weighed heavily and painfully upon him. " " He was not happy and seldom, smiled. " He, however, greatly admired the Queen's husband^, and fondled her children, circumstances that probably induced a different view from that of Lady Lyttleton, who said, "he has x)ale eyelashes, and his enormous and very brilliant eyes have no shade; besides which they have the awful look given by occasional glimpses of white above the eyeball, which comes from his father Paul, I suppose, and gives a savage wildness for a moment pretty often. " To the Queen he appeared " a very striking man, still very handsome; his i^rofile hesi4 tiful, and his manners dignified and graceful; extremely civil, quite alarmingly so, as he is so full of attentions 146 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIS". and politenesses." The Russian Emperor told the Queen very frankly that "it was an excellent thing to see now and then with one's own eyes, as it did not do always to trust to dii^lomatists only. " Evidentlj^ it was by this principle that he was actuated in coming to England at this time. He wished to judge for himself what that French visit might mean, and he had besides an abiding faith in i^resence and speech, which were far more potent in his estimation than "messages and letters." To the young Queen, gallant nnin that he was, he x>re- ferred to make compliments rather than talk i^olitics; though he looked carefully and closely into the political situation, and exchanged views ui^on it with Prince Al- bert, Lord Aberdeen, and Sir Robert Peel. There was a growl of the " Russian bear " in his declaration to Peel, " that he did not covet one inch of Turkish soil for him- self, but that neither would he allow any one else to have one; " to Ayhicli the English Premier answered, " that England had but one thing to keep in view, which was, that there should be no government in Egypt too l)owerful to close the passage across that country to its commerce or its mails." As to English views with regard to France, the Em- X^eror also learned that it was the intention of England "to see that the throne of that kingdom descended without convulsion to the next legitimate heir of the Orleans dynasty when Louis Philippe died, "which, how- ever, England did not do. Louis Philipi:)e died a half-a- dozen years after that time at Claremont, and England did not see seated on the throne of France one of the Orleans dynasty. In fact, when the Queen of England visited France some years afterwards, it was to do honor to her " good brother " Louis ]S'ai)oleon, who had been doing duty as a. special constable in London when " Mr. and Mrs. John Smith " arrived there in 1848, flying from France, where FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 147 they liad been king and queen, before the "convulsion " of that year, which England had not the power to hinder. Strange changes indeed, imssing strange, a few years worked in the condition of the royal people of Europe. The Eussian Emperor had first visited England in 1816, iu the train of his elder brother Alexander, the then Czar. He was then one of tlie allies rejoicing over the fall of the first Napoleon, whom they had conquered. Until the present time, he had not seen England again, when in his concern as to what Louis Phiiii)i)e might be about, he was looking into the state of things. Windsor Castle, the most splendid palace in England, he admired. The magniticent guest-rooms of tiiat palace lodged him royally. Precisely so did those identical apartments receive Louis ]S^ai>ol eon a little later, when affairs had taken a turn, and Louis Napoleon had become an ally of the Queen of England in conquering the Emperor of Eussia. Only a few days before Louis Nai)oleon came in im- perial state to pay his first visit to the Queen of Eng- land at ro3 al Windsor, to be received with imx)ressive courtesy and conducted to the royal ai>artmeuts " re- served for sovereigns of the first class," her Majesty had another visitor, one whose condition had been strangely changed. The ex-Queen of the French, Marie Amelie, came to pay her respects to the Queen. Meekly the poor soul departed in her fallen state, upon which Queen Victoria said, " It made us both so sad to see her drive away in a plain coach with miserable post-horses, and to think that this was the queen of the French, and that six years ago her husband was surrounded by the same pomp and grandeur which three days hence would surround his successor.'' That ])omp and grandeur did surround Louis Napoleon, Emperor of France, when he stopped before the portal of Windsor Castle in one of the finest state coaches of 148 FIFTY "YEARS A QUEEN. the Queen drawn by superb liorses. It now surrounded the greiit llussiau Emperor, whose " humble pie " was yet to be offered him. For the i^resent he is the imperial guest occupying the most sumptuous apartments in Windsor Oastle. It is a day of power and adulation. England feels honored by his visit. The Queen is charmed with him. She discerns good in him^ and his amiable traits — not so clear to the eyes of others, she at til is time also perceives. His sterness and severity of look and mood she attributed to severe and strict prin- cii)les of duty, and she judged him sincere even in his most despotic acts, which she credited to his conviction that it was the only way to govern. Incautious frankness the Queen acknowledged to be one of the Emperor's inconvenient peculiarities. In the discussion of i)olitical affairs he raised his voice to such a pitch that the windows had to be shut down; and npon more than one occasion he was cautioned to speak less loudly. The Czar told the Queen " that princes were obliged nowadays to strive to make themselves worthy of their positions, so as to reconcile people to the fact of their being princes" — a significant utterance when the fate of his son and successor is considered. Notwithstanding the " savage look" in his eyes, the Emperor of Russia appears to have made an agreeable impression on many of t!ie English court ladies. When he visited England in 1816 he was a very fine looking young man of "grand stature, elegant form, and hand- some face, with a decided talent for saying pretty things to women." This talent, it would seem, he had pre- served well, as he was now said to be devoted to beauti- ful women, and particularly so to his "old English flames," who joyfully received his attentions. At the end of his visit to Queen Victoria, the Czar kissed the children of her Majesty most affectionately, FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 149 luid kissed the Queen's l!aiid,aud she, as she says, kissed him. He then drove away with Prince Albert, who ac- companied him as fnr as Woolwich, never to visit the Queen again. During the stay of the mighty Eussian there was also nnother king on a visit to the English court and its sovereign. His Majest^^ of Saxony had come to pay a visit to Queen Victoria. He had. arrived in advance of the Eussian Emi)eror, and being an unohstrusive per- sonage, was i)ut quite in the background by the other conspicuous royalty. The King of Saxony remained a week after the de- parture of the Czar, and finished tranquilly his visit to the Queen and Prince. 'Eo sooner had the Eussian Emperor departed from England, with his mind made easy on the subject of France, than France became agitated on the score of the Emperor's visit to England. It had been arranged that the King of the French should return her Miijesty's visit to him at the Chateau d' En, and the time had been named when he should come to England. That arrangement was now jeopar- dized by the jealousy of the French lest some movement prejudicial to their interests might arise from the visit of the Eussian. In her natural feeling of family interest, the Queen begged her uncle of Belgium to persuade his father-in- law of France to come in September, as agreed, as she says, " our motives and i^olicies are not to be exclusive, but to be on good terms with all, and why should we not." Prince Albert lost his father this year, and the Queen sympathized in his grief very sincerely. The Duke of Coburg had died after a few hour's illness, and the tidings of his death fell upon the Prince with a stunning force that fairly prostrated him. " Not to see him, not 150 mVTY YEARS A QUEEN. to be present to close bis eyes, not to help comfort those he leaves behind hira," was a grief to the filial son. " Here we sit together," he said, when his sorrow wys fresh ni>on liira, "poor mamma, Victoria, and myself,an(l weep, with a great cold public around us insensible as stone." In his suffering he resented the conviction which lie felt, that there were but few in England wbo cared anything for the fatber wliora he was so bitterly mourning. Very few in England, either living or dead, did care for the Duke of Coburg, outside of the weeping grouj) who were his near relatives and who therefore loved him. Lady Lyttelton said tbe Queen was affecting in her grief, wbicb was "all on the Prince's account." Per- haps it was a more dreadful calamity in her Majesty's mind that she must spare her husband for a few days, while he went over to Coburg; but that being his desire she resolved to bear it. On the same day that he left her for his journey to Cobnrg, he wrote to his wife from Dover, on board the Princess Alice: " I have been here about an hour, and regret tbe lost time which I might have spent with you. Poor child ! you will, while I write, be getting ready for luncheon, and you will find a place vacant where I sat yesterday. In your heart, however, I hope my place will not be vacant. I, at least, have you on board with me in spirit. I reiterate my entreaty, *bear up!' and do not give way to low spirits, but try to occupy yourself as much as pos- sible. You are even now half a day nearer to seeing me again; by the time you get this letter, you will be a wbole one,— thirteen more, and I am again within youi From every point on the road tbe Prince wrote to hi? wife; and when the thirteen days had g^one by he wa? back at Windsor by her side. I CHAPTER XYIII. THE QUEEN RECEIVES THE KINO OF THE FRENCH AT WINDSOR CASTLE— THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA AT THE ENOLISH COURT — FAMILIAR SCENES — LONDON REVISITED BY THE FRENCH KING— M. GUIZOT'S MENTION OF THE QUEEN — BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH — COMPLI- CATIONS—BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND— POINTED LETTERS FROM THE QUEEN TO THE KING OF THE BELGIANS — SPANISH MARRIAGES — THE QUEEN'S SECOND VISIT TO SCOTLAND. In October, i844, the King of the French arrived at Windsor Castle on his promised visit to the Queen. He came a month later than the time originally intended, and was received by the Queen with great kindness and ceremony. His presence in England evidently impressed her Majesty much, as she says: "What numbers of emotions and thoughts must have filled his breast on coming here ! He is the first King of France who comes on a visit to a sovereign of this country." At luncheon Louis Philix^pe sat at table exactly where the Em])eror of Eussia had been placed during his re- cent visit; and the same suite of rooms in the castle as- signed the Czar, during his stay there were now to be occupied by the King of the French. 151 152 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Prince Albert, accompanied by the D ake of Wellington, had gone to Portsmouth to receive his Majesty there on •his arrival, although it had been doubtful whether the Tahiti complication might not have involved a different and less peaceable attention a few months earlier to the French and their Kin a". The Queen invested his Majesty with the Order of the G-arter. It was made quite a ceremony, at which the Duke of Cambridge aided the Queen in putting on the ribbon, and the Prince assisted her in x>utting on the Garter. The Queen also gave him an elaborate gold cup, with St. George and the Dragon depicted upon it. The people were enthusiastic in their reception and demon- strative in good- will towards him. Many scenes in England had been familiar to him in years gone by. As the Duke of Orleans he had made ac- quaintance with those of one order, when he was here in exile; he now had knowledge of a kind entirely different. Then his name was "Ohabot," and four years from his presnt visit he was to come again as "John Smith," fly- ing from the wrath of his "good people" in France. ]N"ow, however, he is the King; and in all the splendors about him there is no sign of that coming storm. With characteristic French vivacit^^ he re-visited all the places which he had known — pointed out houses where he had resided while in exile, and when he was eking out an existence by such means as he could find. Of these matters he talked with the ease that he might have done had they concerned others than himself. For the present the king's mind was occupied with arrange- ments that should be favorable to France, and that would be forwarded by the friendshii) of England. On i^arting with the Queen, Louis Philippe made her pleasant speeches. He praised the beauties of Windsor and complimented her children; but what pleased and touched her most was, that the King of France had FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN, 153 joined in the same opinion with the Emperor of Eussia from whom he differed so much, about her "beloved Albert. It would appear that all the royalties of Europe had decided to drop iu for friendly visits to the young Queen of England. Shortly before the arrival of Louis Phili])pe came the Prince of Prussia, now tlie Emperor of Ger- many. Him the Queen liked. "He was," she said, "extremely agreeable and sensible, cheerful and easy to get on with." These valuable qualifications in a father-in-law, her Majesty's daughter realized probably after she be- came the wife of his son Frederick William, the Impe- rial Prince of Germany. At the time of his visit (September, 1844), the future daughter-in-law, "our Pussette," was in her fourth year, a happy, healthy little maiden, "her cheeks on the point of bursting, so red and plump" were they. Although she was learning Gaelic and verses of LamaTtine— so her father and mother said — she was indifferent to the quali- fications of a father-in-law. On August 6th, 1844, Windsor Castle was for a while a i)lace of excitement, when a second son was born to her Majesty and Prince Albert. The sound constitution of the Queen made her confinements speedy affairs, from which she rapidly recovered. On September 6th the young Prince was christened in the chapel at Windsor. The names given him were Al fred Ernest Albert, and his sponsors were Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Charles of Leiningen, represented respectively by the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Wellington ; and the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg,represented by the Duchess of Kent. The Crown Princess and the Prince of Wales were present at the ceremony, a touching sight to the royal mother, who said of it, "To see those two children there, 154 I'IFTS YEARS A QUEfiJT. seemed sucli a dream to me. May God bless them all, poor little tliiugs." That this baby might be as good as his father — the Queen's standard of perfection — was a fervently expressed desire. The young Prince now born (the present Duke of Edinburgli) came at a j^eriod of anxiety in England. Not- withstanding that the commerce of the country was re- viving after a depression of years, that agriculture also was in a promising condition, and tliat former deficits in the revenue were now replaced by a surplus of over 4,000,000 pounds which left a net balance of nearly 1,500,000 pounds in the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a great discontent was manifested with re- gard to the Premier by a portion of the people. The satisfactory financial state of the country was due to the policy of Sir Robert Peel. The results were more than accei)table, tiiey were gratifying; but the means of their accomplislimeut— the repeal of protective duties — was condemned very generally by others, and by a large percentage of the government party itself. The French had taken possession of the Island of Tahiti, and for a while the English government and the Queen were much exercised over that proceeding. A move- ment on the part of the French offtcials on the Island resulted in a collision with others of the English nation. Very hotly Sir Robert Peel denonnced in Parliament "the gross insult, accompanied by a gross indignity," oifered to England by the French, and, as he asserted,b3^ the direction of the Frencli government. In France and in England the people were excited, the press of both countries adding fuel to flame by the outlook which they contributed of the situation, and their recommenda- tion to either country to proceed to war. Back of the people and the press were the Queen of England and the King of the French, well disposed toward each other. Bv the side of the King of the FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 155 French was bis son-in-law, the King of the Belgians, who possessed an Influence over him more potent than that of any other; and he was also the nncle of lier Ma- jesty of England, to whose counsel she attended more than to that of any one else in the world except her hns band. With King Leopold's knowledge of England and its affairs and people, and his understanding with tbe French King and his Ministers, his good of&ces, put forth with his usual address, led to more congenial measures than a war between the two nations. Negotiations dis- l)osed of the diffiiculty, which at one time had an aspect so serious as to cause the Queen to write to her uncle : "The whole nation here are very angry. God grant that all may come right, and I am still of good cheer; but the French keep us constantly in hot water." A little later she was speaking her mind ))retty plainly, saying to King Leopold, "I think it very unwise in Guizot not to have at once disavowed d'Aubigny for what you your- self call an * outrage,' instead of allowing it to drag on for four weeks, and let onr people get excited." After the matter had been peaceably composed, the queen wrote to her uncle again: "The good ending of onr difficulties with France is an immense blessing; but it is really and truly necessary that you and those in Paris should know that the danger was imminent. We must try and i^revent these difficulties for the future." It was after the " good ending of these difficulties" that Louis Philippe paid his visit (already mentioned) to the Queen at Windsor. M. Guizot accompanied him, and it was during his stay at Windsor that he wrote to his son of a State dinner-party there respecting the Queen: " On my left sat the young Queen, whom they tried to assassinate the other day, in gay spirits, talking a great deal, and laughing verj^ often, and long- ing to laugh still more; and filling with her gaiety, which contrasted with the alreadv trafiical elements of 156 FIE^TY YEARS A QUEEIf. lier history, this ancient castle, which has witnessed the career of all her predecessors^ " It was certainly very usefnl and convenient for the Queen of England, who, warned by several surprises on the part of her neighbors of France, was obliged to keep a watchful eye on their movements, to have a friend at court, in the person of her uncle, whom she could not onl}^ trust but rely on for good and wise counsel. A few years before the present difficulty — that grow- ing out of Tahiti affairs — France was talking of an in- creased army, which much disturbed other nations, England among them. As the surest way and also the most effectual of informing Louis Philippe of Great Britain's views on the subject, King Leopold was told that the Queen would assemble Parliament, when a vote would be taken for forty additional sail of the line, Avhich would very shortly sweep everything hostile from the face of the seas. This was in the event of augment- ing the French army, which did not occur, however, the king and government evidently reconsidering their avowed determination. Yet another complication occurred between the English Queen and the French King, on the question of the Spanish marriages. The Queen thought it by no means desirable that two of her neighbors, France and Spain, should be united by the close tie of a marriage between a son of the King of the French and the young Queen of Spain or her sister the Infanta, who might, in the event of the Queen's death or default of other heirs, ascend the throne of Spain. The expressions of England upon that subject were l)laiu and positive. While visiting Louis Philippe at Treport, Victoria told him frankly and plainly that "Eng- land did not object to any Prince in Ohrister dom assum- FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 157 iug marital relations with Spain, excepting only one of France, wliich she would be at the pains to hinder." The King assured her most earnestly that not only was he disinclined to such an alliance, but that he would not give one of his sons to Spain were he solicited to do so. That " clever, unwise, grand, mean old man," as Jus- tin McOarthj^ calls him, did, however, the very thing he 1^ remised not to do, and not only did he give his son, the Due de Montpensier, to Spain in marriage, but he assist- ed to cheat into a union with her cousin, Don Francisco d' Assis, the young Queen Isabella. This arrangement was one peculiarly dastardly. It was dishonest and dishonorable. The husband given to tlie Queen against her will was an imbecile creature, repugnant to her. The intention had been to arrange a marriage for Isabella from which no issue could spring, in Avhich event the Infanta, who was the wife of Louis Philippe's son, and her children would inherit the crown of Spain. The " unwise, mean" old king, who deemed his meanness a clever move for his own family aggrand- isement, was disappointed in his calculation He reaped no benetit whatever from his action, and it brought with it afterwards much trouble and vexation. He had in fact contemplated the marriage of Queen Isabella and her sister to his two sons, the Due d' Aum- jile and theDuc de Montpensier. Between himself and his facile minister, M. Guizot, he finally arranged tlie marriage of Isabella with the Duke of Cadiz, and that of her sister with his son, both of which took place at the same time. The marriages accomplished, Louis Philippe turned to conciliate England. Under his instruction, his wife. Queen Marie Amelie, wrote to Queen Victoria, with whom she was a favorite, a touching, motherly lettei', about the future happiness of her son in his recent union, etc.; and he also induced his daughter, the Queen of 158 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIf. the Belgians, to write to her niece, of England, on the same subject. Queen "Victoria wrote to the Queen of the French and to " dearest Louise" in a manner perfectly courteous but also unmistakably plain, intimating England's views and her own on the stej) which the French King bad taken. In her own hapi)y union her sympathies were with the young Queen of Spain, circumvented into a marriage odious to her; and ui)on that score, and from a standpoint of state policy, her disapi)roval was em- phatically voiced. Without having compassed bis views, as after-events proved, Louis Philippe had refined away the foundations of his throne without securing that of Spain. Isabella gave heirs to the Spanish Crown, and the nearest ap- proach to its i)ossession by the descendants of the "clever, unwise, grand, mean old man," was in the union of his granddaughter Mercedes, a daughter of the Due and Duchess of Montpensier, with Ali)honso X., the son of Queen Isabella. For a brief period after her love- marriage with her cousin, King Alphonso, Mercedes was Queen of Spain ; but on her death she left no heirs to tbe Spanish succession. In the Fall of 1844, it had been the design of the queen to visit Ireland. That country, however, was then in an unsettled state. Tbe trial and imprisonment of the great Irish leader, Daniel O'Connell, had taken place, and also his release by the action of the House of Lords. In the circumstance her Majesty went to the High- lands of Scotland. Blair Castle was chosen as a resi- dence, from which the Queen wrote to her uncle Leopold, that " the place possessed every attraction that could be desired— shooting, fishing, great liberty and retirement, and delicious air," CHAPTEE XIX. DUELLING ABOLISHED IN ENGLAND— PRINCE ALBERT BECOMES THE CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIYERSITY OF Cx\.MBRIDGE— THE QX^EEN RESIDES AT THE CHANCELLOR'S INSTALLATION AND RECEIVES HIS SPEECH— THE INTER- NATIONAL EXPOSITION— ORIGIN OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE— SCHOOLS OF DESIGN INSTITUTED IN ENGLAND — IMPORTANCE OF ART INDUSTRY IN COMMERCE— THE QUEEN PURCHASES OSBORNE IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT- PETITION TO THE QUEEN TO YISIT IRELAND —THE QUEEN IN GERMANY — GERMANS HONORING THE QXTIEN AND PRINCE— THE PRINCE KEEPS HIS BIRTHDAY IN FATHER- LAND. Before this time "the good old custom" of duelliug bad beeu abolished by a law framed agaiust it at the t^uggestiou of Priuee Albert, aud passed through his ageucy combined with that of the Duke of AVellingtou. A duel had taken place between two persons who were brothers-in-law. Both were officers in the English army. The survivor had been reluctantly goaded into the con- flict, after having been repeatedly insulted, and finally compelled to the meeting through a force of public opinion which, had he persisted in his refusal to shoot and be shot at, would have have broken up his connection with 159 160 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIT. the army, destroyed all his future i^rospects of a career, aud put him outside the pale of good society, with the brand of coward iix)on him. After much discussion the subject was brought before the Cabinet by the Secretary of War. That body re- ported upon it to the Queen, who was quite ready to ac- cept her husband's view of the question; but English customs were not to be tampered with lightly even by the Sovereign. The Articles of War had to be amended before the problem could be safely solved; and it was finally de- clared "snitable to the character of honorable -men to apologize and offer redress for wrong or insult committed, and equally so for the party aggrieved to accept frankly and cordially explanation and ai^ologies for the same." At a later period Prince Albert was made Chancellor of tlie University of Cambridge, and the Queen was present at his Installation aud, there x)residing, received his sx)eech, which he delivered in his robes of office. Her Majesty approved heartily the choice the University had made in its Chancellor. Aud she says afterwards, "I can- not say how it agitated and embarrassed me to have to receive this address, and hear it read by my beloved Albert, who walked in at the head of the University, and looked dear and beantiful in his robes." The Academy of Fine Arts, of which the Prince was made President when first originated, was one imi)ortant in results. At its first Exhibition in Westminster Hall cartoons illustrative of English Poetry and History were put on view; and the success of the enterprise in this instance was sufficient to denote the lo\e of art in the people, which later bronght to the nation extremely gra- tifying results. Sir Charles Kastlake, whose name is associated with art progress in interiors. Sir Edward Landseer, Sir William Ross, Maclise, Uwins, and others familiar in FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 161 art movemeuts were associated with Prince Albert in the Academy. At first a fear existed tbat Prince Albert would de- sire to introduce too niucli German sentiment to the exclusion of Englisli, and so perhaps graft upon the nation an art that, however desirable, must, if foreign, be rejected. No such idea had the discreet Prince. Ever^^hing Englisli ha 1 to be fostered, and by-and-by, differing with his associates, he was telling them "that the purposes of decoration might be combined with a patriotic and moral aim, and that although many would give but a passing glance to works, the i)ainter was not therefore to forget that others might view them with more thoughtful eyes." With this institution began an art movement in Eng- land that has been one of vast importance. It was the foundation of the International Exposition of 1851. When first talked of, that project had been opposed greatly. It was set forth that a gathering of people from different countries would be made an occasion for the disconten- ted and rough element of all to combine in all sorts of outrages. The sovereigns of other nations than Eng- land, and their ambassadors in London, took this view, and added much to the general clamor against it, and much to the delay in carrying it forward. Hyde Park as a situation for the exposition had been opposed strenuously. By the persistent effort of the Prince, back- ed by the Queen, this point was finally carried; but the time consumed made that of the Prince and his col- leagues exceedingly brief in which to carry out their arrangements. The Crystal Palace, in which tbe exposition was held, was due mainly to the hindrances that bad consumed time, when it became necessary to consider a building that should be speedily erected, and that sliould be cap- able of accommodating the vast amount of matter sent for 162 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. exhibition and the people who should come to see it. The glass and iron structure was the inspiration of Sir Josex^h Paxton. Between seven and eight hundred thousand people were in London streets on tbe opening day, and over thirty thousand witnessed the opening ceremonies with- in the Crystal Palace, which was as much of a curiosity to the spectators as anything which it covered. It was that exposition which made England sensible of her own ignorance of art as applied to industries; and in seeing the displays of other countries she realized the commercial loss which that ignorance entailed. With a grave sense of the importance of the subject she proceeded to repair her mistake. From researches made with that end in view, the bureau devoted to art and science education was established. Her Majesty's con- suls were requested by circular letter to signify the condition of industrial education among the nations where their mission was, with results that showed that France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia were far in advance of Great Britain. Schools of design were tiien established throughout the kingdom. The ]!:^ational school for the training of Art masters and Art mistresses connected with tlie Soutli Kensington Museum was one most effectual. From 1847 to 1856, French exportation s reached the sum of 1,174,000,000 francs, 418,000,000 of wliich were for art industries. So large a percentage induced Eng- land to put forth efforts in the same direction. After a time she stripi>ed France of lialf of her commerce in art industries; and that nation was forced to redouble her endeavor to recover the position which she had held as a leader in industrial arts and their products. To the Queen it was a particular delight to be away from bustling London, and, if possible, hedged away in FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 163 some calm retreat where affairs of State were not claim- ing constant attention. With all tlie palaces in England in lier possession, it wonld seem that slie bad an ambition to possess proper- ties that slionld be ber own exclusively, not the domain of the nation. In 1855 her Majesty purchased Osborne in the Isle of AVight. At first it had an area of 800 acres, which was increased by other purchases to 2300. She was charmed with her new estate. She wrote to her nncle, the King of the Belgians, " that it was a great gratification to have a place of one's own, quiet and retired, and free from all Woods and Forests' and other charming departments, which really are the ])lague of one's life" It was im- l)ossible, she said, "to see a prettier place, with woods and vdllejs iuid poi?its de vue which, would be beautiful any- where; but when these are combined with the sea (to which the woods grow down), and a beach which is quite private, it is really everything one could wish.'* After her Majesty's experience at Brighton, where siie was crowded on to such an extent, when abroad there, that she was obliged to invoke the protection of the police, this last consideration was not without its im- portance. This lovely place had a great stretch of sea-shore around it; Portsmouth and Spithead were in view; and it affor.'ledthe"beloved Albert" the pleasure of laying out tlje grounds after his own plans. With regard to the labor- ers he employed there. Lady Lyttelton said his plan was "to give work to as man^^ as i)0ssible, but not making any haste, so as to make it last and keep at a steady, useful i)itcb, not to over-excite the market." At the harvest-time tlie men were dismissed that they might work for others; but the moment any man failed of em- ])loyment elsewhere, he was at liberty to return and again go to work on the Queen's estate. 164 "fifty years a queej?. Her Majesty opened Paiiiameut in February, 1845. She meutioued the visits to the country of the Emperor of Russia and the King of the French, and she spoke of a fiscal reform Nvliich should have for its object a continu- ation of the income tax for a i)eriod longer than originally ordered; of the establishment of colleges at different points in Ireland that should be open to i)ersons of all denominations; and of a grant to the Catholic college of Maynooth of £30,000 a year in the place of £9,000 which it then received. There was a good fiscal showing this year at the opening of Parliament in a surplus fnnd of £5,800,000; and the Queen was so well pleased with her Premier, Sir Eobert Peel, thatslie signified her desire to be sj^onsor for his grandchild, born to Lord and Lady Villiers. On August 9th, the Queen prorogued Parlia- ment. Ireland petitioned her to visit that portion of her possessions, promising at the same time a loyal aud hearty welcome. But Ireland was not yet in a state of tranquillity, so that the Queen felt justified in post- poning her visit there for the present. A trip to Germany was decided upon instead. Before her departure the Queen wrote: "Both Yicky and dar- ling Alice were witli me while I dressed. Poor dear Puss would much have wished to go with us, and often pro- l)oseil how she miglit go, and said, 'Why am I not going to Germany?' * * * All four of the children were with us at the breakfast, after which I gave Lady Lyttel- ton my last instructions, and then, with a heavy heart, we bade them all adieu in the hall. Poor little Vicky seemed very sorry, but did not cr}^ It was a very painful moment to drive away with the three poor little things standing at the door. God bless them and pro- tect them, which he will ! And they are in excellent hands." With these feelings the royal mother, very much like other mothers leaving home and babies be- FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 165 hind, faced her journey to Germany, the home of her "dearest Albert." At Mali lies tlie Queen and Prince were joined by the King and Queen of the Belgians, who went with them to Verviers. The King of Prussia came to Aix-la-Chapelle accom- panied by many princes to receive the Queen of Eng- land and her husband. From Cologne they went to the Brulil station, and thence to the pahice, where the Queen, the Princess of Prussia, and the whole court had assembled to receive them. The Queen's visit to the former little house at Bonn in which the Prince had lived when a student at the University there, was one of her dear delights. Every place that he had resided in was explored by the fond wife, who perceived something sacred and dear in each, merely because they were hal- lowed, in her estimation, by liis presence; and the people that he had known, as well as the places, when he was here at school were precious in the eyes of his wife. A great banquet was given at the palace in honor of her Majesty and the Prince, at which were present German royalties and distinguished persons of Cologne and Bonn. Very gallantly the King gave the toast, "Victoria." He said "it was a word of inexpressible sweetness to German as well as to British hearts. It had echoed on the heights of Waterloo thirty years ago from British and from German tongues, after days of hot and desperate fighting, to mark the glorious triumph of a brotherhood in arms. Now it was resounding on the banks of fair Bhine, amid the blessings of that peace which was the hollowed fruit of that great conflict." The Prince was also toasted, and when the king was taking his seat after the compliment. Queen Victoria bent forward and kissed his cheek. 166 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN-. The Cathedral of Cologne and raauy of tlie houses were illuminated in honor of the Queen and Prince; and the waters of the Rhine, reflecting the lights shining on them, gave the appearance of a river on fire. The Pro- fessors at Bonn who had been the Prince's instructors were presented to the Queen, and were graciously re- ceived by her. "Many of them spoke with pleasure and pride of (my all-in-all,)" a theme that did not tire her. The dear uncle Leopold and aunt Louise again joined the English royal party at Bruhl, and here a grand concert was given in honor of the Queen, at which Meyerbeer conducted in person; Liszt also performed there, and Jenny Lind sang. Three queens (of England, Prussia, and of Belgium), the Kings of Prussia and Belgium, Prince Albert, the Prince and Princess of Prussia (now the Emperor Wil- liam and Empress Augusta of Germany), an Archduke Baron Yon Humboldt, and the suites of their Majesty s' and Royal tys sailed u^) the Rhine amid the cannonading of the forts and a musketry fire of 20,000 troops, to the King of Prussia's castle, Schloss Stolzenfels. From this point to Bingen,"fair Biugen on the Rhine," they journeyed, and then on to Mayence, where another deputation of German Royalties were in waiting. At this point the Queen and Prince met one with w^hom their first acquaintance with this world had been made, in the person of Madame Heidenreich,whohad been Madame Siebold, the accoucheuse that had assisted at their births. Here also the Queen for the first time made the acquaintance of Prince Louis of Hesse, her future son-in law. "He was a fine boy of eight— nice and full of intellis'eiice." That was her Majesty's opi- nion of him at tliat time,one she has since changed vastly, it may be supposed, considering passages in his life since good and sweet Princess Alice died. FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 167 Aloug the liiieof tlieir route princes and i)eople came forth to do them honor. They were in danger of being deafened by artillery and buried under addresses and flowerSjSO loud and frequent was the former performance and so profuse the latter. On Hearing the Ooburg frontier the Queeu and Prince discerned the flags flying in their honor, "the peoi)le drawn up in lines, and Ernest (the Duke of Ooburg) in full uniform coming to welcome them." Passing under triumphal arches, dignitaries were bowing and welcom- ing, and the streets were alive with cordial peox)le. The first stop made in Ooburg was at the cottage of the grandmother who had so much loved these two, and so greatly desired their union. Here Albert had often been, Victoria never until now. Here, at the home of his mother, were uncle Leopold and his wife, waiting to join the Queen and her husband on their way to the palace, where were waiting to receive them the Duchess of Kent, the Dowager Duchess, and the Duchess of Ooburg. "The staircase was full of cousins, it was an affecting but exquisite moment," which the Queen said she would never forget. The Rev. Mr. Oenzler, the court chaplain, who had married the father and mother of the Queen twenty- seven years before, and who had con Mimed the princes, Earnest and Albert, made them an impressive address, and suri)rised the Queen by his still youthful look. Ti]e Rosenau was to be the residence of the Queen and Prince while in Ooburg. Here she awoke, August 20th, 1845, and afterwards she wrote about it: "How hai)py, how joyful we were on awaking to feel ourselves here at the dear Eosenau, my Albert's birthplace, the place he loves most. He was so happy to be here with me. It w^as like a beautiful dream. Music, concerts, festi- vals, balls, and receptions followed rapidly." "God save the Queen" liad been arranged to German words, and 168 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJf. was sai]g with German heartiness. The Qneen and Prince held a reception at the pahice of Ooburg,where not onl3^ great personages were presented, but "deputations of citizens, merchants, and artisans." These, tlie Queen found, "made better bows than many of the Englisli people at the levees," and their conduct was admirable. The Prince's birthda3' in his birthiilace was a great event. It was celebrated with all the ceremonies fami- liar and dear to him, and tbe Queen says: "To celebrate this dear day in my beloved husband's conntry and birthiDlace is more than I ever hoped for, and I am so thankful for it. I wished him joy so warmly when the singers sang. The day was the finest and warmest and brightest summer's day imaginable, which is of good omen to dearest Albert." Like a good wife and a fond one, the Queen was eagerly assisting the Duke and Duchess of Coburg in arranging the birthday gifts on "a table dressed with flowers." This was a f^te day in Coburg. The people came out in gala dress. They loved the Prince, and delighted to honor him, and tbe Queen loved them for the love they gave her husband. With the Prince the Queen strolled among the hay- makers after the f^te was over. The women drew near and said "Guten abend," a usual salutation among the Germans; and one who had two cliildren with her en- tered into conversation. To her the Queen gave some pieces of money, and, says her Majesty, "She shook my hand for it." She also says that the people were good-natured and simple. "The relation between them and their superiors so pleasant." On August 27th, the next after the birthday, the Qiieen and Prince left Coburg — his loved home, to the Queen a place endeared on that account, and for other causes. Coburg was the possession of the brother-in- law Earnest, Duke of Coburg, to whom she was sincerel^^ attached; and this palace of Coburg had been her E*IFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 169 mother's home. Here the manin«^e of her father and motlier had taken place; and she who was lierself half Coburg felt almost wliolly so in heart, so much was she drawn to it from associations with others most dear to her. Witli saddened hearts adiens were said; and the Queen of England departed from the Saxon home of her forefathers. CHAPTER XX. HER MAJESTY MEETS OLD ACQUAINTANCES IN OER- M ANY— THE QUEEN AND PRINCE VISIT BELGIUM, AND MAKE A SHORT YISIT TO LOUIS PHILIPPE AT TREPORT — THE GALERIE VICTORIA IN THE CHATEAU DEU — A MINISTERIAL CRISIS— BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS HELENA — THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS — REVOLUTION IN EUROPE— LOUIS PHILIPPE AND FAMILY FLY TO ENGLAND, AND RECEIVE AN ASYLUM FROM THE QUEEN — THE QUEEN AND PRINCE IN GREAT ANXIETY. The Duke of Meiningen took occasion tojoiu tlie Qiieeu iiutl Piiuce oil their homeward journey, aiid to entertain them at his court for tlie brief i)eriod they could stay. They visited the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, the Prin- ce's grandmother, who called him her "Angel Albert," which his wife thought an appropriate ai)pellation. At every point in Germany the royal English ])arty met a perfect ovation. All the sovereigns oftered them signal courtesies and honors, and the people were spoutaneous in a hearty outi)ouring of good-will. The Baroness Lehzen, now living in Germany, came to [)ay her duty to the Queen whom she had known " since she was six months old/' and to whom she had been tlie close companion and governess from her pupil's "fifth 170 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 171 to lier eigliteentli year, dining wliicli time she never took one day's holida}^," so said Victoria. The Queen reached Antwerp, September 6th, and was received at the railway station by the King and Queen of the Belgians. The visit of the Queen to Germany seemed to demand, for the proper preservation of his Majesty's dignity, that the Sovereign of England should make a passing call on the King of the French at Tre- port, where he then was. This she did, and again the two royal standards of France and England were floating over the heads of the monarch s of those countries as together they were rowed to the shore at Treport in the barge of the King of the French. The Queen of the French, Madame Adelaide, and tlie Prince and Princess of Salerno waited on the shore to receive the Queen of England and Prince Albert, and with Louis Philippe, gave them a royal welcome and led them to the Chateau d'Eu. A very grand room, called the "Gralerie Victoria," had here been fitted up in honor of her Majesty's former visit. Full-length portraits of the Queen and Prince, by Winterhalter, were conspicuous among others commem- orative of that event, and of the King's visit to her at Windsor Castle. The Queen remained at Treport but one day, and on her departure was accompanied on board her yacht by the King and others of his household. During the ab- sence of Prince Albert with one of the Orleans Princes, Louis Philippe conversed with the Queen and Lord Aberdeen, who was one of her suite, in relation to t lie Spanish marriages, whicli had not then taken place. It was then that he told her in the presence of Lord Aber- deen that " he never would hear of Montpensier's mar- riage with the Infanta of Spam (which they were in a great fright about in England) until it was no longer a political question, which would be when the Queen is lT2 FIFTY YEARS A QlJEElS". married and lias cliildreu. "To the Queen this was very satisfactory. She trusted tbe professions of the French King, who, while he made them, was plotting the accom- plishment of what he afterwards carried into effect. For the present Victoria sees in him a king who has been disparaged by other crowned heads of Europe, to whom for that reason she would like to lend countenance for the sake of her uncle and aunt, wlio are his relatives, and for the amiability his family and himself have mani- fested towards herself and her husband. In a little while Louis Philippe will have a different aspect in her eyes — in a little while, and the time is drawing near. Over a sea like a lake, so still and smooth it was, the royal yacht Victoria mid Albert bore tlie Queen and Prince to the beach at Osborne, " where, " says the Queen, " the dearest of welcomes greeted us as we drove up straight to the liouse, where, looking like roses, so well and so fat, stood the four children," overjoy ed at their return. The Queen wrote to her uncle Leopold — her confidant — ■ after her return home: " I have a feeling for our dear little Germany which I cannot describe. I felt it at the Eosenau so much; it is something which touches me so, and which goes to my heart and makes me inclined to cry. I never felt at any other place that sort of pen- sive pleasure and peace which I felt there. The recol- lection of the times spent in Saxony are engraven on my heart. " In England the Queen found anxieties awaiting her after that charming holiday trix). Rain had been con- stant and profuse, and there were serious fears of a failure of the crops at home; while in Ireland the first symptoms of the potato-rot had appeared. On this sub- ject the minds of the people were disturbed; and the Government was exercised upon the consideration of the consequences that might arise in circumstances of the FIFTY YEARS A QUEE2^. 173 situation. Soon tlie fear of tlie famine that afterwards fell upon Ireland was a starl^ling question, demanding' consideration. England and Scotland were suffering severely from tbe failure of crops, and sometliing must be done for the relief of the people The Premier saw a remedy in the abolition of the protective tariff, a measure wbicli Le would liave advised hj an order from the Privy Council while Parliament, was not in session, had it not been for the fear that the protective duties, ouce abolish- ed, would be practically impossible of restoration. Sir Robert Peel's cabinet had been specially pledged to u])hold i)r<)tection, a pledge upon which his ministry had been formed. Sir John Eussell had been particular- ly active in denouncing Peel's procedure in upholding the duties under the circumstances, when unable himself to accede to a proposition which his own views justified. Sir liobert Peel resigned, and Lord John Eussell was summoned by the Queen to form a new cabinet. This he found himself unable to do, and Peel was recalled. After fourteen daj^s of anxiety, the Queen rejoices in having withstood a ministerial crisis, and is now stand- ing exactly where she stood before — "on her feet; where- as during the pinch she was very nearly standing on her head." Peel's resignation had been regarded by the people as a calamity. He had taken office when the country had been sunk in debt, and he had brought it triumphantly to a solvent and satisfactory^ condition. This they remembered, and they were only too delighted Avhen again he accei)ted the office of Premier. It was considered a safeguard to have him in that position. jNIore even than usual the i^eople had x^i'itle in their Queen. So much had she been honored abroad that their respect was heightened, and their confidence in her power to maiutaiu amicable relations with the po- tentates of other ('<)untvi(\s wa.s gratifying and great. Even the newspapers hitherto in opposition to the 174 FIFTY YEARS A QUEE]^^. Goverumeut (lisceriiedtliat," in the pranks andbunglings of the last tbreo weeks there is one i)art whicli, accor- ding to all report, has been pla3'ed most faultlessly — that of a constitutional sovereign. In the pages of history the directness, the sincerity, the scrupulous ob- servance of constitutional rules which liave marked her Majesty's conduct in circumstances the most trying will have their i^lace of honor. Unused as we are to deal in homage to royalty, we must add that never, we believe, was the heart of a monarch so warmly devoted to the interests of a i^eople, and with so enlightened a sense of their interests." So one of them said. Sir Robert Peel has written of that time: "I resume l)Ower with greater means of rendering x)ubiic service than I should have had if I had not relinquished it. But it is a strange dream. I feel like a man restored to life after his funeral service had been preached." The repeal of the Corn Laws became an accomplished fact, passed to a successful issue by Sir Eobert Peel in the face of his friends and all difficulties. The Customs Bill was another measure passed at the same time. It had been strenuously^ opposed w^hen the Peel ministry had been voted out of power, and that which so much grieved the Queen — a change of ministry — had stood confronting her. The Coercion Bill for Ireland had been a measure before Parliament which, together with the Corn and Customs Bills, had been productive ofintem- l)erate discussion. The Irish peoxde would not starve l)eaceably ; they were guilty of transgressions against law and order. The English also proceeded to rioting, breaking the windows of Apsley House belonging to tho Duke of AVellington, who was fighting against the pas sage of the Corn Laws and for the passage of the Coercion Bill. The houses of others engaged on the same side as the Duke were as roughly handled as his own. i FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 175 Ou tlie 29th June, 1846, Peel, having been defeated on tbe Irish Coercion Bill, resigned, and Lord John Rus- sell was selected to replace him as Premier. The Queen wrote to the King of the Belgians on the next day after l):irting with Peel: " Yesterday was a ver}^ hard day for me. I had to part with Sir Eohert Peel and Lord Aber- deen, who are irreparable losses to us and the country." With America, the complication arising out of the Oregon boundary was finally settled. On the very day thnt Sir Eobert Peel was announcing to the House of Com- mons the resignation of the Government, this news ar- rived. Peel counted this a great event, " as it assured to England the quiet possession of a magnificent tract of territory, and closed up the question that had more tluni once brought G-reat Britain to the verge of hostilities with America. " May 25th, 1846, added another Princess to the royal family. The Queen writes to her uncle King Leo- pold, July 14th, that she " longs for him to be with her," and urges him to be present at " our christening" on the 25th. She desired greatly that "Louise," her uncle's wife, should be present, as the royal baby was to bear the name of Helena, after the Duchess of Orleans, whose godchild she was to be. At Buckingham Palace the baptism took place ou August 25th, 1846. The young Princess received the name of Helena Augusta Victoria. The sponsors were the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Duchess of Orleans (represented by the Duchess of Kent), and the Duchess of Cambridge. In September of this year. Queen Victoria with her family took posses- sion of Osborne House; and Lady Lyttelton wrote that on the first night " nobody smelt paint or caught cold," and that at one part of the ceremony of taking posses- sion, " Lucy Kerr, one of the maids-of-honor, insisted 173 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. ou tlirowing an old shoe into the house after the Queen as she entered," that being a Scotch superstition. On such tranquil scenes broke tbe tidings of the " Si)anish marriages." On September 8th, 1846, the Queen of tlie French wrote to Queen Victoria: " Relying on that friendship which your Majesty has given us so many proofs of, and on the kind interest which you liave always shown towards our children, I hasten to announce to you that a marriage has been concluded between our son Montpensier and the Infanta Louise Fernanda. This event overwhelms us with joy, because we hope that it will ensure the happiness of our dear son, and that we shall find in the Infanta one daughter the more, as good and amiable as those who have in'eceded her." Europe was in a ferment upon this question. The middle classes took home the case of two young prin- cesses injured in their affections (the Queen of Spain was but sixteen), and they protested against it. That this should be so, Sir Eobert Peel thought natural, " un- less indeed Queens and Princesses are disentitled to the sympathy and consideration which the meanest of their subjects have the right to claim." "Tell M. Guizot from me," said Prince Metternich, " that one does not with impunity play little tricks with great countries. The English Government have done their best to estab- lish Louis Philippe in public opinion. They can with- draw what they gave, and I have always said that the moment he loses that, he is on the verge of a war." "The transaction," Baron Stockmar said, "would ap- l^ear to the eyes of Europe a piece of selfish and wicked l^olicy, from the scandal of which the King's fame would never recover." The Queen writes her uncle Leopold: " There is but one voice here on the subject, and I am, alas, unable to say a word in defence of one whom I had esteemed and respected. You may imagine what the whole of this makes me suffer. You cannot represent FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 177 too strongly to the King and Queen my indignation and my sorrow at what has been done." England and France disunited concerning the mar- riages of tbe Queen and Infanta of Spain showed speedily the consequence of that disunion by sundry in dications all pointing to the coming storm. Other countries bad proceeded to ally themselves in action without consulting either, and the Kiug of the French found himself fallen iu the esteem of other X)otentates. Tbe Queen opened Parliament, February 19th, 1847. In her speech tbe famiue in Ireland, now fully devel- oped, was a principal feature. On the same day Lord Brougham said in the House of Lords, that "nothing is to be found" exceeding tbe scenes of hardship in Ire- land " in tbe page of Josephus, or on the canvas of Pous- sin, or in the dismal chant of Dante." In Scotland and England widesx)read distress prevailed, and matters were daily growing worse. Prince Albert wrote Baron Stockmar in tbe latter days of April: " We are all well despite the miserable weather and tbe unintermitting miserable news from all quarters. Belgium is the only pleasant spot iu Europe, for which God be j^raised. Here difficulties are brooding for a future i)eriod; still tbe peace of the country will remain unbroken » In Ire- land we are daily expecting rebellion and civil war." On the dissolution of Parliament tbe Queen left for Scotland with the Prince, the Princess Royal, and tbe Prince of Wales and their suite, tbe Prince of Leiuingen, her Majesty's half-brother, being one of tbe party. Tbeir stay was principally at Ardverikie iu the Highlands. The twenty-eighth birthday of the Prince was here ob- served after a sort of Highland fashion quite unique. Her Majesty was treated not to " Scotch mists," but to good substantial rains, and, a part of the time, to snow — the rains nearly continuously. With the lowering wea- 178 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. tlier the political horizon bad its clouds. Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal were disturbed. In her Higliland retreat the Queen was intent upon the situation, and making suggestions as to the i^olicy wliich England should i)ursue in the circumstances. Her "notion was," wrote Lord John Russell, that "England had, by her own energies and the fortunate circumstances in which she had been placed, acquired a start in civilization, liberty, and prosperity over all other countries. Her popular institutions were the most developed and perfected, and she had run through a development which the otlier countries will yet in succession have to pass tli rough. England's mission, duty, and interest was to put herself at the head of the diffusion of civilization and the attain, ment of liberty. Her mode of acting should, however, be that of fostering and i)rotecting every effort made by a State to advance in that direction, but not of pressing on any State an advance which is not the result of its own impulse." About the middle of September the Queen began her homeward journey to England in wretched weather tliat continued the whole way. Her Majesty regretted, as she always did, leaving a scene of seclusion where retirement and independence of movement were possible, and returning to one of State affairs — which were just now far from pleasing to contemi)Iate. The Queen's half-sister, Feodore, wrote to her at this time : " I well understand your having been sorry to leave the High- lands. Not only that style of country, but the Avay of living there was agreeable to you. I know that well from experience, coming home after a time of deliglitful independence one feels so shut in on all sides, so tame." In this letter the Princess Hohenlohe says of herself: "I am becoming very resigned to what gives me pain or pleasure. Kot that I feel it less, but I am not FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 179 afraid of things that give me pain; I have become so accustomed to it of late." Germany also had its indications of approaching con- vulsion. "United Germany" had begun to dawn. With lier anxiety for other friends affected by the movement there, the Queen was much concerned for her half- brother, the Prince of Leiningen, and her half-sister, the Princess of Hohenlohe, both of whom were ruined when the storm came. On February 16th, 1848, the con- dition of Paris was causing the Queen and the nation great uneasiness. Louis Philippe and his minister M. Guizot had taken "their stand entirely upon the old Bourbon i)rinciples, " the rotten foundation sinking beneath their feet. Ten days later France was in a blaze of insurrection; a Republic was proclaimed, and tlie King of the French with his Queen, under the name ot Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, were making their way to Eng- land. The Queen was at that time about to be confined of her sixth child. There was a money crisis in England, followed by a miuisterial crisis. Ireland was in a com- motion — soon in an ux)rising. O'Connell had died in the X)revlous year while on his way to Eome, and such hot young s])irits as Meagher, Mitch el, and Smith O'Brien were leading the people -"their souls in arms and eager for the fray." Belgium also was in danger. At this juncture came the news of the death of the Prince's grandmother of Goth a, which was an added grief for the Queen and him to bear. At this period the Prince wrote to Baron Stockmar; "The posture of European affairs is bad. European war is at our doors; France is ablaze in every quarter; Louis Philippe is wandering about in disguise; so is the Queen; Kemours and Clementine have found their way to Dover; of Augustus, Victoria, Alexander, Wurtem- berg, and the others, ail we know is, that the Duchess of ,J80 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Montpensier" (the Infanta of Spain) " is at Treport under another name; Giiizot is a prisoner, tlie Eepublic declared, the army ordered to the frontier, the incor- poration of Belgium and the Ehenish provinces pro- claimed. Here tliey refuse to pay the income-tax, and attack tlie ministry, and Victoria will be confined in a few days." CHAPTER XXL BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS LOUISE— THE CHARTIST DE- MONSTRATION IN LONDON —LOUIS NAPOLEON SWORN IN AS SPECIAL CONSTABLE— THE UPRISING IN IRELAND- FAMINE IN IRELAND— A FOURTH ATTACK MADE UPON THE LIFE OF THE QUEEN— PATE'S ASSAULT UPON HER MAJESTY— DEATH OF LOUIS PHILIPPE AT CLAREMONT— LOUIS NAPOLEON BECOMES EMPEROR OF FRANCE— THE QUEEN VISITS IRELAND— BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF CON- NAUGHT— BALMORAL — PRINCE ALBERT VISITS NAPOLEON HI.— BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY — THE CRIMEAN WAR IN WHICH FRANCE AND ENGLAND ARE ALLIES- DEATH OF THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA— THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF FRANCE ARE GUESTS OF QEEEN VIC- TORIA AT WINDSOR CASTLE. Marcli 18tlj, 1848, Queen Yictoria brought forth a prin- cess in Buckingham Palace, now the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome. Ax)ril 10th, a movement was on foot that had filled London with fear, namely the Chartist meeting which was to assemble, so rumor said, on Ken- niiigton Common, and from which was expected dreadful results. For the protection of life and x)ropert.v two hundred thousand si)ecial constables were sworn into service, one of whom was Louis Napoleon, soon to be Emperor of the French. The Duke of Wellington was in command of the troops massed and put in order for 181 182 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. the occasion, which, however, turned out to be a mere scare — all talk and little action. V Six days before that of the projected meeting of the Chartists, the Queen wrote to her nncle Leopold: "From the first I heard all that passed, and my only thoughts and talk were i)olitics. But I never was calm- er aud quieter, or less nervous. Great events make me %ilm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves. " The King of the Belgians, like his niece of England, could be calm in the face of great events. When his kingdom was threatened with subversion, he turned confidently to his subjects and told them fairly that if they desired him not to reign over them, he was perfectly ready to withdraw, upon which thej^ one aud all declared for their king, completely won by his manly frankness. England had still Ireland to deal with, the "Young Ireland" urged forward by Smith O'Brien (who, Mr. Mc- Carthy says, was undoubtedly a descendant of Brian Boru, the famous ancient King of Ireland) and by Mr. Mengher. O'Brien's distinction of descent, his fam- ily prestige us the brother of Lord Inchinquin, in whose family was the Marquisate of Thomond, an(^. his years were counterbalanced by the fiery eloquence oi Meagher, which, poured into people's ears, inspired tl^^IlJ to furious action. But a people who had just been f:Vjpj3ted by a famine were not in good form to proce/^d to war with a nation of immense power and resource. *'Ko''«3 a county in Ireland," says Justin McCarthy," wholly escaped the potato disease, and many of the sou'LOo^.n and western counties were soon in actual famine. A jieculiar form of fever — famine fever, it was called— beg^an to show itself -very where. A terrible dysentery (j:et in as well. In some districts the people died m hur^drods daily from fever, dysentery, or sheer ^UiTV^tiov.. It wMild liave been impossible that in such a cciintry as Ii e^^i^^c^ a fam- FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 183 ine of that gigautic kind should set in without bringing crimes of violence along \vij:li it." It would have also been imi^ossible for a people lately come through a gigantic famine to carry out successfully a gigantic war. The Irisli rebellion proved but a flash in the pan, and Smith O'Brien, Mitchel, Meagher, and the other leaders were soon on their way to Australia and otlier points under sentence of transportation. The Chartist leaders were tried for sedition, and were sent to prison for a period. Louis Philippe and his fam- ily were at Claremont, Louis Kapoleon had slipped over to France to lielp on the Eepublic, and the Queen had purchased Balmoral and had gone there with her family for a season of rest in its solitudes. Of this the Prince wrote: "We have withdrawn for a short period into complete mountain solitude, where one rarely sees a human face, wliere the snow already (September) covers the mountain-tops, and the wild deer come creeping stealthily around the house. The castle is of granite,with numerous small turrets, and is situated on a rising- ground, surrounded by birchwood, and close to the river Dee. The air is glorious and clear, but icy cold." Her Majesty had need of her high courage. May l9th, 1849, when she was again shot at by an Irish laborer named Hamilton. The Queen had reached Constitution Hill (where twice before she was fired at), accompanied by her chidren, in an open carriage, when the attack was made. She was perfectly self-possessed, and very calml}^ she tranquillized her children's fears, ordering the carriage to be driven on. Investigation proved that the pistol was charged only with powder. The cul- prit was sentenced to transportation for seven years. This attack seemed to revive the mania for assailing the Queen. Kext year. May 27th, Eobert Pate, who had been a Lieutenant of Hussars, struck her in the face while she was at the door of the Duke of Cambridge's house. 184 FIFTY YEARS A QUEElS". This mau was also transported for seven years. Three months later Louis Philipi:>e. died at Olaremont. More than fifty years before, during the vicissitudes of his life while in exile, he had lived at another Claremont on the Bloomingdale road in the viciuit}^ of 'New York. Tlie American Olaremont was named after the English x^lace where he closed his checkered life. He had known the English Olaremont well when it was the residence of Prince Leopold and his wife the Princess Oharlotte of Wales. It was a i)lace celebrated for its beauty; and very charming too was its namesake in Bloomingdale, with noble wide-spreading trees and fine grounds extending down to the Hudson river. It was still a lovely spot long after Louis Philipi)e left it when it becaone a "road- side house" (which it still is) and many have forgotten why it was called Olaremont. Outside of his own fam- ily, there were few to mourn the ex-King of the French. One, at any rate rejoiced over it, as Lord Palmerston wrote: "The death of Louis Philii)pe delivers me from my most artful and inveterate enemy, whose position gave him in many ways the power to injure me," Oardiual Wiseman's ai)pointment by the Pope as Arch- bishop of Westminster created some stir. It furnished an ox)portunity for a small tumult on the question of Popery or no Popery, and as certain acts were per- formed on "Ouy Faux's" day, the time was deemed fit- ting for burning in effigy both the Pope and Oardinal Wiseman. The new Parliament undertook to pass cer- tain laws relative to tlie taking of titles by Boman Oatho- lics from an 3^ j^lace within the United Kingdom. This movement was characterized as, "one of the meanest, pettiest, and most futile measures that ever disgraced even bigotry itself." Disraeli called it "a mere piece of petty persecution." The Queen had a grievance on the subject of Lord Pal- merston, who at times was minded to take his own way FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 185 without heeding her; upon this point, while directiug foreign affairs, it was displeasing to her. The question came up in Parliament. Lord John Eussell made a powerful speech that seemed to dispose of Palmerston. Disraeli said, "there was a Palmerston." But Palmer- ston seemed quite content, and promised Kussell.a "tit for his tat." lu December, 1851, Lord Joliu Eussell had forced Lord Palmerston to leaA^e the foreign office. In February, 1852, Palmerston compelled llussell's resig- nation as Prime Minister, thus redeeming his promise. Louis l^apoleou, who had put down the baton of a spe- cial constable in England, had done famously in France. So well had he progressed that on the second of Decem- ber, 1851, having gained power enough to sustain the movement, " he sized and imprisoned all his political opponents. Tiie next day he bore down with the most savage violence all possible oppositions. Paris was in the hands of his soldiers; hundreds of helpless people were slaughtered, the streets of Paris ran with Wood, Louis E^apoleon, proclaimed himself Prince President. This was the coup d'etat."" So says McCarthy. With the way prepared, the coup d'etat was followed by the Plebiscite, and that was followed again by the Empire restored; and Louis E"apoleon was Napoleon III., seated on the throne of France. At the head of his twenty legions he might have invaded England; might have carried out the policy of his great uncle and humiliated that proud nation ; might indeed have wreaked revenge on her for the ruin she brought Napoleon I. But Napoleon 111. had other views. He was not fighting for dead men or dead issues. He was fighting for a living man and for such advantages as could be gotten for him —himself. England was more valuable as an ally than as an opponent, and an ally he resolved she should be. While Louis Napoleon was going through the several stages that finally brought him to the French throne, 186 FIB'TY YEARS A QUEElf. Euglaud was alarmed and troubled. The Queen, how- ever, cautioned her ministers to remain perfectly neutral. ^N'othing therefore was done to impair the harmony of England toward France, a most convenient condition in- deed when the Eastern question came up, and the interest of France and England became one against Eussia. When the Turkish fleet at Si nope was destroyed by the Russians, France and England confronted Eussia with the declaration that they were resolved to x^revent another such catastrophe, upon whi(^h the Emperor Nicholas recalled his ministers from Paris and London, and the Crimean War was as good as begun, with France and England as allies. For many years, except at christenings, etc., little had been seen of the Duchess of Kent. It is quite probable that one of lier sterling good sense iiad resolved to be as impersonal as x)ossible, and give to the percentage of people ever ready to cavil, the least possible oi^portunitj^ to condemn "Coburgers" on the score of interfering with affciirs strictly Englisli. With tlie Queen downger, Good Qneen Adehiide, the Duchess of Kent liad an attached and faithful friend- sliip. They had been fast friends from their first meet- ing in England. Tiiey were married on the same day. The children of Adelaide had died. Tiie daughter of the Dnchess of Kent liad lived and ascended the throne. But so far from exhibiting petty jealousy was this sweet- tempered, good-hearted woman, that she loved the Duchess, her sister in-law, and the niece, who gained the crown that a child of her own might have worn, loved them very fondly. At the death of the Queen Dowager the royal family were greatly grieved She was a favor- ite of the Prince, and had always been loved b}^ the Queen who wrote : "She was truly motherly in her kindness to us and to our children. Pool FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 187 mamma is very much cut uj) by this sad eveut. To her the Queen is a great and serious loss. The Duke of Sussex had died previous to this time, very unwillingly, poor old man; while in the case of the Queen Dowager, she was hapi)y to he released from her long suffering. She had never particularly cared for state and station, and now, at her death, she desired that her funeral should be a private one, and that her cof&n should be borne by sailors, as her husband had been a sailor. The Queen made her long-delayed and frequently- deferred visits to Ireland in 1849, accompanied by the Prince, Princess Eoyal, Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred. From the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert they landed at Cork Harbor , w^hich has ever since been known as Queenstown, in honor of her Majesty's visit, and were received with every demonstration of loyalty by the people. In every part of Ireland visited by the Queen the same loyal devotion was evinced, and she re- turned from her visit to that portion of her possessions greatly i)leased with the warm reception given her by the peoide. It was somewhat of a surprise to many who had predicted danger to tlie Queen in venturing into that disturbed country and among its risky inhabitants. They had looked for something entirely different. As a compliment to Ireland the Prince of Wales was created Earl of Dublin; and a sou born to the Queen and Prince on the first of May following received among other names that of Patrick, a greater comi)liment still. Prince Albert announced the birth of this child to the Dowager Duchess of Ooburg with much wit. "This morning," he says, "after a rather restless night (being Walpurgis night, that was very appropriate), and while the witches were careering on the Blocksberg, under Ernest Augustus mild sceptre, a little boy glided into the light of day, and has been received by the sisters 188 FIFTY YEARS A QUEBN. witli jubilates. * Now we are just as many as the days of the week !' was the cry; and a bit of a struggle arose as to who was to he Sunday. Out of well-hred courtesy the honor was conceded to the new-comer. Victoria is well and so is the child." The four names given tlie young Prince were respect- ively, Arthur in honor of the Duke of Wellington, Wil- liam, after the present Emi^eror of Germany, at that time Prince of Prussia, Patrick after Ireland's patron saint," and Albert after the Queen's "angel of goodness,'* the father whom she fervently prayed that every child of hers might resemble. The following Autumn was passed by the Queen and royal family in Scotland. After the birth of the Prince of Wales, her Majesty had written to the King of the Belgians announcing their arrival at Windsor, with" their awfully large nursery." Now indeed the nursery was large. Young voices woke the echoes ia old Holyrood Palace, where for a while the Queen ttfi-ried before pro- ceeding to Balmoral, wliere "they were trying to streng- tiien their hearts amid the stillness an^l solemnity of the mountains." Balmoral and Osborne yielded to tlie Queen and Prince the greatest enjoj^meutj both places were entirely their own i)ossessions. B(>ytli were charming in their different ways of sea and mowitain landscape. Each afforded rest and retirement In the most agreeable manner. Their beauties were mainly of the Prince's creation, in the way of embelli;v/;ment— adear delight to him, and a still greater one to //is wife, to whom every charm added was one multii)lie''} because tAey were of his devising. In April, 1853, another son was born adding to the royal family groui3 the Duke of Albauj^ —now deceased. He was named Leopold George Duncan Albert. En- couraged by her former visit, the idexy was assigned as the cause of tbe death, which oc- curred on tbe 2rid of March, 1855. Tbe generals upon whom Nicbolas bad relied to deal witb tbe Freucli inid English forces, " General Janvier and General Fevrier" — January and February — would seem to have dealt with him. Most extraordinary hardsliips tbe forces of the Western powers suffered, and thousands sunk and died under them. Justin McCarthy's representation of tbe condition of the soldiers and sailors is terrible in its vividness. Equally appalling is his account of the con- dition of the wounded in the hospitals of Scutari before Florence ^Nightingale and lier band of high-born women and tbeir women assistants took charge, bringing order out of chaos, and saving thousands upon thousands of lives, besides comforting the last moments of the thous- ands who died. Queen Victoria received the tidings of the Emperor of Eussia's death with manifestations of sorrow. It was a great shock to all England. But there was an excitement too in receiving tbe Emperor of tbe French, who had come w^ith bis lovely Empress to visit tbe Queen. Queen Victoria gives this discription of her reception of the French Emperor and his bride: " I stepped out, the children close behind me; the band struck up * Partant pour la Syne' " (the favorite air of Queen Hortensee, the Emperor's mother), " the trumpets sounded, and the open carriage, with tbe Emperor and Empress, Albert sitting opposite to them, drove up and 192 I^IFTY YEARS A QUEE^N^. they got out. I advanced and embraced the Emperor, who received two salutes on either cheek from me — hav- ing first kissed my hand." I then embraced the Em- press, who was gentle and graceful, hut evidently nervous, Yicky, with alarmed eyes, making very low courtesies, and Bertie receiving an embrace from the Emperor. " The Prince Consort conducted the Empress up stairs, the Queen following, on the arm of the Em- peror. At Windsor Castle the suite of rooms Avhich awhile ago had been set ax)art for the use of the Em- X^eror of Eussia and of Louis Philippe, when he was King of the French, while visiting the Queen, now re- ceiv^ed the Emperor, who has taken the idace of one, and assisted in conquering the other. The Queen found Napoleon III., " civil, well-bred, and full of tact," and the Empress " full of courage and spirit, and yet so gentle and with such innocence." At the State ball given in honor of the Emperor and Em- press, the Queen danced with the Emperor, of which she wrote afterwards: " How strange to think tliat 1, the granddaughter of George III , should dance with tbe Emi)eror JN'apoleon III. — Kepbew of England's greatest enemy, now my dearest and most intimate ally — in the Waterloo Boom, and this ally onl^^ six years ago living in this country an exile, i)Oor and unthought-of !" At the opera the Queen i)resented Louis Napoleon to the audience, as she liad done the Emperor of Eussia when he attended with her at the time of his last visit to England, and as the Emperor Nicholas and Louis Philippe had received the Order of the Garter at her Majesty's hands, so now did the Emi)eror Napoleon III. The Empress Eugene was also presented to the audi- ence by the Prince Consort. She was very beautiful, arid they were enthusiastic. London received with great cordiality the ally of England, who had helped her to win victory. Tlie Era^ FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 193 peror ami Empress of tlie Freucli were banquetted at Guildliall. The Lord Mayor, in his robes of office, re- ceived tbem; tbej^ were loyally toasted; and the streets of London were illuminated in tbeir honor. After he reached France Napoleon wrote to Queen Victoria: " Your Majesty has touched me to the heart by the delicacy of the consideration shown to the Em- l^ress; for nothing- pleases us more than to see the person one loves become the object of such flattering at- tentions." CHAPTER XXII. THE QUEEN IS INFORMED OF THE FALL OF SEBASTO- POL — BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL TO PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA.— HER MAJESTY'S FIRST VISIT TO NAPOLEON III.— QUEEN VICTORIA MAKES HER TOILET FOR A BALL AT VERSAILLES IN MARIE ANTOINETTE'S BOUDOIR —THE EMPRESS EUGENIE DRESSED FOR A BALL— BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS BEA- TRICE —MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL— THE SEPOY REBELLION —THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF BELGIUM — A MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA AT THE ENGLISH COURT — THE QUEEN'S FIRST GRANDCHILD— BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ALICE TO PRINCE LOUIS OF HESSE-DARM- STADT. After Laving taken possession of lier new castle at Balmoral, the Queen received there tlie tidings of the fall of Sebastopol. The Russian's said: "It is not Se- l)astoi)ol which we leave to them, but the burning ruins of the town which we ourselves set fire to, having main- tained the honor of the defence in such a manner that our great-grandcliildren may recall with pride tlie re- membrance of it, and send it on to posterity." The de- fence was a gallant one, long and stubbornly maintained, but the citadel had fallen, and the great war was virtu- ally ended. The Emperor of Germany, when Prince of Eussin, had been frequently a guest at the Court of England. Be- 194 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEJf. 195 tween the Queen, the Prince, and him there was a very cordial feeling of friendship, now to be made closer by the betrothal of his son, Prince Frederick William of Prussia, to the Queen's eldest daughter, the Princess lloyal of Englaud. The royal mother gives tliis account of the betrothnl. " Our dear Victoria was this day engaged to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. He had already s2)ol< en to us of his wishes, but we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her or wait till he should come back again. However, we felt it was better that he sliould do so, and during our ride np Craig na-Bau this afternoon, he picked a piece of white heather (the emblem of good luck) which he gave her." The Prince's offer was accepted, and it was de- cided that the wedding should take place after the seventeenth birthday of the Princess. Before that event, however, the Queen, the Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Eoyal went over to France on a visit to the Emperor and Em- press of tlie French. The visits of the English Queen to Louis Philippe had been made at Treport. This one was to be made at Paris, which on this occasion she en- tered for the first time. At the Palace of St. Cloud, Queen Victoria was re- ceived by the Emi)ress Eugenie, who was then in the pride of her young beauty, assisted by the Princess Mathilde and others of her suite, and conducted upstairs, " feeling quite bewildered," as she said, " but encliant- ed." Paris was illuminated on her arrival, in honor of the Queen of England. All its charms ATcre enhanced by decoration, done in the exquisite manner peculiar to the French; and it was made more gay by the vast crowds thronging the streets bent upon obtaining a glimpse of the great Quoen come to visit them. Paris was exhibit- ed to her Majesty in all its int(Mesting points. She was 196 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEjN-. sliown tlie Palais de Justice, tlie dreadful Conciergerie, where poor Marie Antoiuette passed lier last miserable hours on earth, aud other scenes of the reign of terror, as well as the beautiful spots in Paris, with which she was delighted. A State ball was given the English royalties in the Palace of Versailles, upon which occasion Queen Victoria "made her toilet in Marie Antoinette's boudoir," so Prince Albert wrote the King of Belgium. In the same mirrors that had reflected back that hapless queen's beauty when she was dressing to appear at n fete at Ver- sailles, Victoria was now looking while adorning lier own person for a similar i)urpose. To have occupied that room under such circumstances was surel^^ more creditable to her Majesty's strength of nerve than to the delicacy of her sensibilities. Her j)resence there could scarcely be pleasing to the uncle Leopold to whom the Prince wrote of it — if royal persons were supposed to consult their feelings. The last occupants of the Eoyal Palaces of France before the present dynasty came in had been the family of Louise of Orleans, his wife, whom Victoria had so loved. At this time she was dead, and could not be pained by the changes which had made her husband's favorite niece the guest of the successors to the Orleau's line in the palaces that had belonged to her family. The ball was a superb affair, quite worthy of roy;ilty. To make it a triumph every accessor}^ that Parisian re- source could lend had been called into requisition. In the best bloom of her wonderful loveliness, the Empress was passing beautiful. For this grand ball in honor of so august a guest as the Queen of England, every one of her charms had been hightened to the extent possible. Queen Victoria says; "The Em[)ress met us at the top of the staircase, looking like a fairy queen, or nympli in a white dress, trimmed with grass and diamonds, a FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN^. 19? beautiful tour de corsage of diamouds round the top of lier dress, the same round her waist, and a correspond- ing coift'ure, with lier Spanish and Portuguese Orders." At ])arting tlie Empress gave the Queen a " beautiful fan, and a rose and heliotrope from the garden, and to *Yicky' a bracelet set with rubies and diamonds, con- taining her liair, witli which Yicky was deliglited." The birth of the Prince Imperial at the Tuileries later on was an event regarded important in London, as well as in Paris. In England this young Prince was yet to find an asylum together with his father and mother, as the Orleans family had done; and from it an outlet that carried him to his death at the hands of the Zulus. Prince Albert has another announcement to make to his stepmother in Coburg, of the advent of a baby in his family. This baby is now the Princess Henry of Batten- berg, and the mother of a baby herself. She was born in Buckingham Palace, April l4th, 1857. Of her the Prince Consort wrote: " The baby is thriving famously, and is prettier than babies usually are. Mamma, aunt Vicky, and her bridegroom are to be the little one's sponsors, and slie is to receive the historical, romantic, euphonious, and melodious names of Beatrice Marj^ Vic- toria Feodora." The Queen's family circle was now^ to be broken by the marriage and loss from it of her eldest child. Al- ready the Queen had the sorrow of losing by death, her only brother the Prince of Leiningen— The Duchess of Kent, her only son. The young Princess, however, was but following the dictates of nature and of her own heart in her marriage now approaching. Soon the time would arrive when she must go to her home away from Eng- land; but she was to find another in a x)rosperous and powerful country — welcomed by a people whose Empress she will probably be. 198 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEK. As the (la3M)f her weddiijg (Jan luiry 25fch, 1858) drew near, her father says: " Yicky siiifers iiuder tlie feeling that ever}' spot she visits slie has greeted for the last time as home." The royal family were then at Balmoral, of which the Prince wrote: " The departure from here will be a great trinl to ns all, especially to Yicky, who leaves it for good and all; and the good simple High- landers, who are fond of us, are constantly saying to her, and often with tears, *I suppose we shall never see you again?' which naturally makes her feel more keenly." The Queen says of the bridegroom's arrival: "I met Mm at the bottom of the staircase very warmly; he was pale and nervous. At the top of the staircase, Vicky received him, with Alice." Feeling very closely with her daughter the royal mother says: "It was the sec- ond most eventful day of my life as regards feelings; I felt as if I were being married over again myself. While dressing, dearest Vicky came in to see me, looking well and composed." In the royal bridal cortege to the Ciiapel Royal, of St. James's Palace were numerous royal tys and Serene Highness's. The Prince Consort rode with King Leo- pold of Belgium, followed by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. Three sisters of the bride, the Princes Alice, Helena, and Louise, followed. Eight highborn maidens in white tulle were the brides maids. They wore white roses and white heather — the betrothal flovver presented by the Prince on Craig ua-Bau to the Princess. As her mother had accompanied the Queen on her Avedding day, she is now with her daughter on the way to the altar. Her Majesty is resplendent in her royal robes, and the Princess very sweet in her magnificent bridal dress. The lace had been wrought for the occas- sion with the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock (emble- matic of the three kingdoms) appearing in the delicate ^FTY YEARS A QUEKN. 199 wel). Tlie Ducliess of Kent "looked 1 mud some," so tbe Queen said, "in violet velvet trinjmed with ermiue." The first kiss ^iveii hy the bride after the ceremony was to her grandmother, as the Queen had kissed the dow- ager Queen Adelaide after she was married. The Prince and Princess went to Windsor Castle to pass their honeymoon, and were there joined after a few days by the Queen, the Court, and many of the guests present at the wedding. A series ot^ fetes were given in honor of the event, both at Windsor and in London ; and the royal mother is fond, in a way peculiar to mothers, engaged with tlie concernsof her child in the circumstan- ces. *' We took a short walk," the Queen says, "with Yicky, who was dreadfully upset at this real break in her life; the real separation from her childhood." "Ernest (the Duke of Coburg) said it seemed like a dream to see Yicky dance as a bride, just as I did eighteen years ago, and still (so he said) looking very young. In 1840, poor dear papa danced with me, as Ernest danced with Vicky now." With motherly interest her Majesty inspected the rooms prepared for "Vicky's" honeymoon and pro- nounced them "very pretty." On the day before that on which the Princess was to leave England for Prussia, her home in tlie future, the Queen says: "The last day of our dear child being with us, which is incredible, and makes me feel at times quite sick at heart Vicky came with a very sad face to my room. Here we embraced each other tenderly and our tears flowed fast." Of the final parting the Queen says. "A dreadful moment and a dreadful day ! Such sickness came over me— real heart-ache, when I thought of our dearest child being gone and for so long. It began to 200 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEiS". snow before tliey went, and continued to do so without intermission all da^^" The dear little bride, though going nwny with a heart filled with love in her new relations, felt the parting from her home and family keenly; the loved sisters, and brothers, grandmother, fatlier and mother, and friends. Of the father, to whom she Avas devotedly attached, she said to her mother: "I tliink it will kill me to take leave of dear papa." From the otlierside came the cheering telegram from Prince Frederick William. "The whole royal family is enchanted with my wife; " and those in England who loved lier knew that it was well with the Princess Avho bad received the sprig of white heather on Oraig-na-Bau "for good luck." But while there is marrying and giving in marriage in England, there is carnage and death in India. It is the year of the terrible Sepoy rebellion; of the diabolical acts of E"ana Sahib, of the horrors of Oawnpore; and of the relief of Lucknow — the relief after untold atroci- ties had been committed upon English men, women, and children — the mere thouglit of which makes the blood run cold — the heart turn sick with awe. It is the year in which the Italian Orsini attempted the assassination of the Emperor and Empress of the French by throwing a li and- grenade under the carriage in which they were riding, as it approached the entrance to the Italian oj)era. Many persons were killed by Orsini's act undesignedly, while the Emi)eror whom he intended to kill escaped with slight injury. The courage which Queen Victoria had discerned the Empress to be possessed of,was that night i)roved. With the Emperor she entered the Opera House, proceeded to the royal box, and sat out the performance, her white dress spotted with the blood of the people who had been killed near her, by the missile intended to deal death to FIFTY YEARS A QUfilEiy. 201 lier hnsbaiid and to Lerself. Tliat courage was i)roved again after the disaster of Sedan and pronounced heroic ! It was before the marriage of the Princess Royal that their cousin the Princess Charlotte of Belgium, the daughter of "Uncle Leopold," paid a visit tolier cousins, the Queen of England, and the Prince consort. With lier came her betrothed husband, Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and an exceedingly happy pair of royal lovers they were, poor souls, without a thought of the dreadful future in store of them. The Queen and Prince were delighted with their visitors. It Avas said by the Prince: "Charlotte's whole being seems tome to have been warmed and unfolded by the love which is kindled in herhenrt;" and he wished his uncle Leopold "joy at having got such a husband for dear Charlotte, as I am quite sure he is worthy of her, and will make her happy. " The Queen could not be present at the wedding of Maximilian and Charlotte, so the Prince Consort went without his wife who writes to her Uncle King Leopold: "You cannot think how completely forlorn I feel when he is away, or how I count the hours till he returns, all the children are as nothing when he is away. It seems as if the whole life of the house and home were gone." The Queen had made other friendly" calls upon her good brother and ally, the Emperor I^apoleon III. The visit to Paris and the result of their alliance against Russia had been pleasant things in her mind, the Em- press had been so sweet and so very charming, the Em- peror so polite. "Nothing," the Queen said, "can be more civil and well-bred, than the Emperor's manner — so full of tact." After Napoleon's alliance with King Yictor Emmanuel in the war against Austria came to light, her "good brother of France" assumed a different aspect in the 202 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEI^. eyes of Queen Victoria. She bad had faith in him . The Prince distrusted him. To the Queen the fate of her cousin Charlotte was a great affliction. When lier young husband Maximilian had been lured by ambition and the counsel of Napoleon in. (supposed then to li old in the hollow of his hand the destines of Europe), to wear the fatal crown of the Montezumas for a brief time, she was tlie Empress of Mexico — Emperor and Empress for a little while, hold- ing their new court with its splendors. Then followed the recall of the French troops that upheld the new dynasty, Maximilian's danger, and the frantic efforts of his wife to aid him. Charlotte's visits to France — to Rome — to Belgium. Suing to Napoleon — to the Pope — to her own brother for the money which, although it was lier own, he could not give her. As each of her brave efforts failed, what must she not have endured of agony? Inspired by the holiest love and haunted 1)}^ killing fears, the knowledge of the ghastly ending was mercifully spared her. Of that last act she remained happily unconsious. Though living, she is unconscious of it still. The time has not come when the priest that attended Maximilian in the hour of his death could carry out his last message to his wife. It was his watch, with "j^oor Charlotte's" likeness set in its case, that he entrusted for transmission to her, saying,"carry this souvenir to my dear wife in Europe, and if she ever be able to understand you, say that my eyes closed with the impression of her image which I shall carry with me above." Queen Victoria says with regard to the daughter married and gone from her: "Her heart often yearns for home and those she loves dearl}^ — above all, her dear i)apa, for whom she has a worship which is touching and delightful to see. " Four months after her marriage her father paid her a visit in her German home and FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 203 found lier liappy tlieie. Then the Queen aud Prince l)aid together a visit, of which the Queen says: "There on the platform stood our darling child, with a nosegaj- in lierhand. She stei)ped in, and long and warm was the embrace, so much to Siiy nnd to tell and ask. yet so unaltered— looking well -quite the old Vicky still." Aud later she says: "Yicky came and sat with me. I felt as if she were my own again." The birth of a grandson to the Queen and Prince was flashed in due course of time over the wires, and "Vicky and the baby were doing well ;" and on May 24th, follow- ing that happy event the young mother had come to England to join in the celebration of her mother's birthday. "Dear Vicky," the Queen wrote, "is a charm- ing companion." Again, in November, Prince Frederick William visited England with his wife. The Princess's father said: "Vicky has developed greatly of late — and yet remains quite a child;" and her husband, "quite delighted us." On July 24th, 1860, a telegram from the Crown Prince announcing that "Vicky had got a daughter at 8.10, and both doing well." "What joy I Children jumping about, everyone delighted, so thankful and relieved," said the Queen. The Prince Consort wrote to his daughter and son-in- law: "The little girl must be a darling. Little girls are much x>rettier than boys. I advise her to model herself after her aunt Beatrice. That excellent lady has now not a moment to spare. *I have no time,' she says, when asked for anything, *I must write letters to my niece.' " In September of that year the Queen accompanied by the Prince and Princess Alice went to German}^ to see her children and grandchildren. She found her grand- son "Such a little love, a fine fat child, with a beiUitiful soft, white skin, very fine shoulders and limbs, and a very dear face." He had, she said, "Fritz's eyes and 204 FIFTY YEARS A QUEKK. Vicky's moutli, and fair cuiliDg liair." She found liiin a darling and very intelligent, and lie came to see her every morning. As a fruit of this German visit her Majesty was in a fair way to acquire another son-in-law. At Mayence the royal i)arty were visited by the Prince and Princess of Hesse-Dramstadt, and between these parents and them- selves it was agreed that their son, Prince Louis of riesse, shonld come over to England and see more of the Princess Alice, as he greatly desired. He did visit Windsor in November, with the following result as given by the Queen: "After dinner, while talking to the gentleman, I perceived 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 'certainl3",' and that we should see him in my room later. Got through the evening working as well as we could. Alice came to onr room. Albert sent for Louis to his room, then called Alice and me in. Louis has a warm, noble heart. We embraced our dear Alice, and praised her much to him. lie press- ed and kissed m^^ hand, and I embraced him." The betrothal was made, and the Princess Alice was to reign in Germany in the near future, like her sister the Crown Princess, though not prospectively on so grand a scale. \ CHAPTER XXm. THE TWENTY-FIRST ANNIVEBSA.RY OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE'S MARRIAGE— DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT — INCIDENTS IN HER MAJESTY'S HOME LIFE— A MERRY SCENE AT THE SWISS COTTAGE —THE ROYAL CHILDREN MENTIONED BY THE PRINCE— THE PRINCE OF WALES IN AMERICA — CIVIL WAR IN THE UNITED STATES— DEATH OF PRINCE ALBERT -SCENES AT THE TIME OF HIS SICK- NESS AND DEATH— FEARS FOR THE QUEEN— NORMAN MCLEOD VISITS THE QUEEN AT BALMORAL — MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES — HER MAJESTY'S FIRST AP. PEARANCE AT FESTIVITIES SINCE HER WIDOWHOOD — MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS LOUISE AND THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. The day previous to the tweuty-first auuiversary of tbe marriage of the Queen and Prince, the latter wrote the Duchess of Kent: "To-morrow our marriage will be twenty-one years old. How many storms have swept over it, and yet it continues green and fresli." Tlie next da^', Sunday, February 10th, he saj's to the Duchess: "To-day our marriage comes of age according to law. We have faithfully kept our pledge, * for better and for worse,' and have only to thank God that He has vouch- safed so much happiness to us. May He have us iu His keei)ing for days to come ! You have, I trust, found good and loving children in us, and we have exi>erienced nuthiiig but Ionc and kindness from yon." 205 206 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Ill a few days more tliaii a montli from tliat time the Queen was liastil^^ summoned toFrogmore, the residence of her mother, to see that motlier for tlie last time alive. With the Prince she harried from Backingliam Palace, tlie way " seeming long to her." Arrived at Frogmore, the Queen says: " Albert went up first, and when he returned Avith tears in his eyes I saw what awaited me." With a trembling heart I went ux) the staircase and entered the bed-room, and here on a sofa supported by cusliions sat leaning back my beloved mamma, breathing rather heavily, but in her silk dressing-gown with her cap on looking quite herself. I knelt before her, kissed her dear hand, and placed it next m^^ cheek ; but though she opened her eyes she did not, I think, know me. She brushed my hand off, and the dreadful reality was before me that for the first time she did not know the child she had ever received with such tender smiles." The end was at hand and soon passed. In her first grief the Queen says : "But I — I, wretched chihl, who had lost the mother I so tenderly loved, from whom for these fort3"-one years I had never been parted except for a few weeks. What was my case? Mj childhood, everytliing seemed to crowd upon me at once. What I had dreaded and fouglit off the idea of for years, had come and must be borne. Oh, if I could have been with her these last weeks ! How I grudge every hour I did not si^end wn'tli her ! What a blessing — we went on Tuesday. The remembrance of her parting blessing, of her dear sweet smile, will ever remain engraven on my memory." The Crown Princess came at once from Ger- many to console and grieve with her mother. The Queen's sister came also to indulge with her the sorrow felt in their mutual loss of a loving mother. Her hus- band and children were in tender sympathy with the Queen doing what could be done to comfort her. Tlie whole country mourned the death of the Diu-hess of FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 207 Kent. She had been a power for good, the i)eople appre- ciated that, and they had respected her. In the grief of the Queen, the people respectively and sincerely sympathized, and this feeling followed her to Osborne, to which i)lace she had gone to pass the early period of the orphanage which she felt so keenly. This loss was a sharp blow upon the heart of Queen Victoria, but the year was to close leaving a sorrow still greater for lier to bear. A grief awaited her to which this in comparison was as nothing. The Queen loved the happy home scenes in which she indulged when possible with her husband and children. Both herself and the Prince delighted in domestic life. When the family of children were young and still un- broken, the "Swiss Cottage" at Osborne had been given them by their father to commemorate a birthday of their motlier. This fairy mansion had in it a model kitchen, where the young princesses indulged -in culinary and other domestic performances. In the grounds surrounding it, all the royal children had gardens where each one w^orked industriously, in his or her garden, at certain times. The proceedings Avere directed by a gardener, who gave all instructions in flower-raising or agriculture; and he also gave each a certificate of the nmount of work done, which the Prince redeemed on presentation to him paying a stipulated sum according to the amount of labor I)erformed. One of the prett^^ domestic scenes at this place is told of by the Queen: "At twenty minutes past five," she says, "We landed at our peaceful Osborne, The evening was very warm and calm. Dear AfiQe was on the pier, and we found all the other children, including baby, standing at the door. We went with the children, Alice and I driving, to the Swiss Cottage, which was decked 208 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEiS". out ^Yitll flags in liouor of Affie's birthday, I sat at diinier between Albert and Affie. The two little boys appeared. A baud i^layed, and after dinner we danced, with the three boys and three girls, a merr}^ country dance on tlie terrace." The Prince described tlieir youngest daughter as an extremely attractive, pretty, intelligent child; " indeed, t!ie most amusing IvAhy we have had. " On her first birthday " she looked charming, with a new light blue cap. Her table of birthday gifts has given her the greatest pleasure, especially a lamb. " His eldest daughter, the Prince said, had " a man's head and a child's heart. " He said, "Alfred," (the Duke of Edin- burgh) " looks ver}^ nice and handsome in his new naval cadet's uniform — the round jacket and the long-tailed coat, with the broad knife by his side. The Princess Alice he pronounced a handsome young woman of grace- ful form and presence, a help and a stay to us all in the house, and the Princess Helena, *Lenchen, ' is very dis- tinguished." " Little Arthur, " the Duke of Connaught, his father thought amiable and full of promise; but the h'dhj evi- dently amused him greatly. Of her he wrote many quaint things. At one time: "The little aunt makes daily i)rogress, and is really too comical. When she tumbles, she calls out in bewilderment, she doesn't like it and when she came into breakfast a short time ago, with her eyes full of tears, moaning, ^Baby has been so naughty, — i)oor baby so naughty ! ' as one might com- plain of being ill or having slept badly." The Prince of Wales had come to America to be wel- comed by the people. Besides the possessions belonging now the English Crown on the Western Continent, he also saw that Avhich George IH. had lost to it. The Duke of Edinburgh had become a sailor, aiul had gone on a two years' cruise. The Princess Eovnl was Crown FIFTY YEARS A QUEERS'. 209 Princess of Germany, and the Princess Alice destined to be the Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, when the great trouble of her life was casting closer its shadow on the Queen of England. The autumn of 1861 the Queen and her family i3assed at Balmoral. The Crown Prince and Princess of Ger- many, with their children, had paid tbem a Summer visit; and on the Prince s birtday the Queen wrote to her uncle of Belgium: " This is the dearest of days, and one which tills my lieart with love and gratitude." Balmoral, like Osborne, was a place of delight to the Queen and Prince, From it she wrote that year: " Be- ing out a good deal here and seeing new and fine scenery does me good;" and of an excursion in the Higblands she says: " I have enjoyed nothing so much, or felt so much cheered bj' anything since my great sorrow." Meantime the civil war was begun in the United States. In the early days of May, 1861, it was the opinion of Lord John Eussell, formed after having con- sulted the law officers of the Government, and expressed in the House of Commons, that the Southern Confederacy must be recognized b}^ England as a belligerent power. In the middle of the same month, the Government de- cided to remain neutral, and issued a proclamation to that effect, and " warning all subjects of her Majesty from enlisting on land or sea in the service of Federals or Confederates, or in any way affording assistance to either." IS'otwith Stan ding this prohibition, i^rivateers were constructed in England for the Confederate Navy, the most famous of these being the Alabama, which was known as " 290", until launclied, when she steamed out to sea and hoisted the Confederate flag with Captain Eaphael Semmes in command. She was, however, x)ro- vided with a British flag also, which was used as a decoy 210 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. in capturing mercliant vessels, and of tbese sne captured about severity belonging to northern men. Very earnestlj^ Louis I^^apoleon desired to recognize tke Sontb, and nsed every effort to induce England to join with him in that measnre. It was in the plan of Kapoleon III. to establish the Empire of Mexico at that time, which he finally did, with Maximilian of Austria as Emperor, Him lie had jiursuaded to accept the throne of Mexico, and " deluded liim to his doom." England did not at any rate join with ^N'apoleon. Tlie Prince Consort, a peaceful as well as a just man, opposed the i)roject of meddling between the Korth and the South; and when the complication of the Trent affair came up, the Prince declared for pacific measures, which were finally effectual. With President Lincoln on one side of the water, and the Prince Consort on the other, each of them just men, slow to auger, the Hotspurs on either side were thrust out of the way, and the difficulty was tided over. Cai^tain Wilkes' interi^osition, though voted injudi- cious, was after all a providential one, for had Mr. Slidell reached the French Court and Mr. Mason that of Eng- land direct, instead of making their enforced st;iy in a fort in New York harbor for a period long enough to give the Federals an opportunity to show that there was danger in receiving them as envoys from the Con- federacy, there is no telling what might have happened in the then condition of the popular mind in those countries. It was January 1st, 1862, before the envoys of the Confederacy sailed for Europe after being released by the American Government. On Saturday night, Decem- ber 14Lh, 1861, the great bell of St. Paul rung about midnight a knell that struck consternation upon the heart of London. It had fallen upon the heart of Hie Queen with killing force. The Prince Consort wh,s FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 211 (lead; and that event, coming n])on the nation with stun- ning power, banished out of the minds of the peo^de otlier considerntions save tlie exceeding loss which the Queen and the country had sustained. Even when the bell began to toll, few of the outside world knew its meaning, so short had been the illness of the Prince, and so few were aware of his serious illness outside of the royal household. The Queen refused to believe that there was danger of death for the husband who was the life of her life — " soul of her soul. " The Prince appears to have realized his condition, for to the Princess Alice, he said: " Your mother cannot benr to hear me speak of it yet." Six days before the Prince's death, the Court Circular men- tioned a feverish cold contracted by him, which confined him to his room. Then it was given out, three days be- fore lie died, that the Prince was " suffering from fever, unattended by unfavorable symptons, but likely from its symi)toms to continue for some time." The Queen was constantly with him, her heart torn with anxiety, but still refusing to believe the worst. She " found him looking very wretched" one morning, and she says, " He did not smile, or take much notice of me. His manner all along was so unlike himself, and he had at times such a strange wild look." On the same evening there was a change, when the Queen says: "I found my Albert most dear and affectionate, and quite himself, when I went in with little Beatrice, whom he kissed. He laughed at some of her Fiench verses, which 1 made her rei)eat, tljen he held her little hand in his for some time, and she stood looking at him. T!ie Princess Alice read to him, and played for him the German airs he loved. He was fanciful, and used to look at a picture of the Madonna, saying that * it helped him through the day.' " 212 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. The day before liis deatli, December 13tli, liis fever began to be fierce and wasting. Exhaustion induced congestion of the lungs. He was able to tell the Queen on the day he died, that the singing of the birds outside his window in Windsor Castle reminded him of those he used to hear in his childhood in Germany. lie knew the Queen to the last. She bent over him saying: "Tis your own little wife," he bowed his head and answered by a kiss— his hist ! With wonderful courage the loving wife kept her place by his side — kept it calmly that sob or tear of hers should not disturb the tranquility of his last moments. His eyes turned to hers until the lids dropped over them and the spirit that had animated him had lied. At exactly ten minutes before eleven o'clock at night, December 14th, 1861, the spirit of Prince Albert depart- ed in the presence of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Princesses Alice and Helena, the Dean of Windsor, Prince Ernest of Leiningen, and the i^hysicians and others in attendance. The Queen rose up when all was over and said she knew that all that could be done had been done. She then passed out of the death chamber into the x)rivacy of her own, where she was alone with her grief — alone forever more. Her sorrow she must herself bear. No one could bear it for her in the smallest measure. Great as her love had been, so was her sorrow, and the wail from the deso- late heart, " there is no one living now to call me Vic- toria," was eloquent of her feeling of desolation. The worst was feared for the Queen when it became known that the Prince was no more. How close her life had been knit to his was so well understood, that it was an immense relief in the general gloom when from Windsor came the tidings, " The Queen has had some hours sleep. " FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 213 Four days after the death of her husband, the Queeu, accompauied by the Princess Alice, drove to Frogmore. Here she selected the site where now stands the Mauso- leum erected to the memory of Prince Albert, and where his remains were laid. It is a lovely spot, one she liked better as the resting-place for her beloved dead, than the gloomy royal vaults to which her line had been con- signed. Could the Prince see the monument erected to his memory in this beautiful place, which in life he loved to look on, his art-loving, beauty -loving soul must be satis- fied that just Avhat he would desire had been done in the situation. Soon after her husband's death, the Qneen said to one near her, " I have had God's teaching, and learned to bear all He lays upon me." The poignant grief had to be endured, but how sharp it was and how fixed, the years of retirement passed by the stricken Queen must testif}^ The world moves on though persons die; and duties so great as those devolving ux^on a sovereign must be performed. With God's teaching the afflicted Queen had the teachings of her good mother to guide her, at whose knee she had been taught her duty to others and to herself; and all her years of married life had been daily lessons in the same direction, in which her beloved husband had been her teacher. Lord Baconsfield testified x>ublicl3^: "There is not a desi)atch received from abroad, nor sent from this country abroad, which is not submitted to the Queen. The w^hole of the internal administration of this country greatly depends ui)on the sign-manual of our sovereign, and it may be said that her signature has never been placed to any x)ublic document of which she did not know the purx)ose, and of which she did not approve. Those Cabinet Councils of which you all hear, and 214 IIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. which are necessarily the scene of' anxious and import- ant deliberation, are reported, on tlieir termination, by the Minister to the Sovereign, and tbej^ often call for her critical remarks, requiring considerable attention; and I will venture to say that no person likely to ad- minister the affairs of this country would be likely to treat the suggestions of her Majesty with indifference, for at this moment there is probably no person living wlio has such complete control over the political con- dition of England as the Sovereign herself." On her first return to Balmoral after her bereavement slie was called upon by the Eev. Korman McLeod, who offered her advice about the resignation which she was bound to accept. Tiie Queen afterward sent for him. "She was," he says, "alone. She met me with an un- utterly sad expression, which filled my eyes with tears, and at once began to speak of the Prince. She spoke of his excellences — his love, his cheerfulness; how he was everything to her. She said she never shut her eyes to trials, but liked to look them in the face; how she would never shrink from duty, but that all was at present done mechanically ; that her highest ideas of purity and love were obtained from him, and that God could not be displeased with her love." It was a dear, sad duty imposed on the widowed Queen to see completed by marriage the betrothal of the Princess Alice, at which her father had been present and pleased. At Osborne this very quiet wedding was celebrated, after which the Princess went with her hus- band to her German home. The Queen's half-sister, Feodore, has said that the greatest comfort now enjoyed by the Queen was in be- .ieving that her husband's spirit was ever present with her, because he had promised her that so it should be; and undoubtedly the consolation in that faith was very great to her, since, in some measure, it filled the void FIFTX YEARS A QUEEN. 215 made by his absence everywhere about her. Whatever she thought he would do at such or such an hour, were he present, she did, and just as he would do it. Thus did she visit his dogs, his cows, or a horse, which he was in the habit of looking after, and at the exact hours that he used to do it. The offering of English widows to the Queen in token of their sympathy with her was a Bible very handsomely bound, presented by the Duchess of Sutherland, who had been Mistress of the Eobes when the Queen first came to the throne. On the receipt of this gift her Majesty wrote: " My dearest Duchess: I am deeply touched by the gift of a Bible *from many widows,' and by the kind and affectionate address that accomi)anied it. Pray express to all those kind sister widows the deep and heartfelt gratitude of their widowed Queen, who can never feel grateful enough for the universal sympathy she has received and continues to receive from her loyal and devoted subjects. But what she values far more is their appreciation of her adored and perfect husband. To her the only sort of consolation she experiences is in the constant sense of his unseen presence, and the blessed thought of an Eternal union hereafter, which will make the bitter anguish of the present appear as naught. That our Heavenly Father may imi)art to many widows these sources of conso- lation and support is their broken-hearted Queen's earnest prayer." For the last time the Duchess of Sutherland appeared in attendance on the Queen, on the occasion of the mar- riage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandra of Denmnrk, which took place in St. George's Chapel, March 10th, 1863. It was more than two years since the death of the Prince; yet the Queen was unable, even on so important an occurrence as the marriage of a 216 E^lFTY YEARS A QUEEN. Prince of Wales, to take other part in tlie ceremony than her appearance there. From the royal gallery she looked down upon the splendid scene in her widow's weeds, with doubtless the "unseen presence" of her husband in her heart and consciousness; and if for a moment her mind could have turned from tliouglit of him, here at the marriage of his eldest son, the heir to the crown, her whole being was awakened into grievously active remembrance of lier own, his children's, and the country's loss in him. At her coronation and marriage, tlie Duchess of Sutherland had been in attendance on her Majesty — the principal lady of her household. Life then was at its brightest for the young Sovereign and for the lovely Duchess. 1:^0 w both are sister-widows, contemplating from a distance a like scene of impressive grandeur as that in which Victoria the girl-queen had then partici- pated in herself, the radiant central figure. She bad then been in the dawn of her womanhood, her life re- plete witii full promise of happiness, and she cannot now behold too near scenes that recall them — they touch the wound in lier heart and pierce afresh its soreness. It was five years after the death of Prince Albert before her Majesty again appeared on her throne in the House of Lords to open Parliament in person. A new ministry had been formed, with Lord John Russell as Premier, and the Jamaica complication was a prominent question at that time to which the Queen gave attention. Henceforth at intervals the Queen left her seclusion at Osborne, Balmoral, or Windsor to appear on State oc- casions, to the gratification of her people. The Princess Helena had been married to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein without the demonstra- tion that usually accompanies a royal marriage. At FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 21 7 that time lier Majesty's grief was still too great to permit of lier apijeariug at festivities. It was more than teu years after her father's death that the Princess Louise was married to the Marquis of Lome at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The ceremony was observed with royal pomp and splendor of circum- stance. As tlie Queen had done at the marriage of the Princess Eoynl, her eldest daughter, slie now stood by the side of the Princess Louise, smiling graciously. Under a shower of rice and white satin slippers the bride and groom departed for Claremont, where their honeymoon was i3assed. Tliese bridal festivities were the first that the Queen had participated in since the death of her husbaud ten years and three months before. CHAPTER XXIV. THE QUEEN'S CONGRATULATION OVER THE ATLANTIC CABLE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES — FRIENDLY FEELING TO AMERICA - SYMPATHY TO AMER- ICA ON THE LOSS OF ITS GREAT MEN— THE SULTAN OF TURKEY AND THE SHAH OF PERSIA IN ENGLAND- DISRAELI BECOMES PRIME MINISTER— THE CONQUEST OF ABYSSINIA — CAPTURE OF THE ZULU KING— SERIOUS ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES —AFTER TWELVE YEARS OF WIDOWHOOD HER MAJESTY WEARS A WHITE FLOWER IN HER BONNET —TALE OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE— THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF FRANCE IN EXILE —THE QUEEN MADE EMPRESS OF INDIA — DISRAELI CREATED EARL OF BEACONSFIELD. On the completion of tlie Atlantic cable in July, 1866, the Queen telegraphed congTatulations over it to tlie President of tlie United States. The enterprise was hailed on either side of the Atlantic as one of vast importance; and since it was the conceptlon,worked out to completion, of an enterprising American (Mr. Cyrus W. Field), it was regarded as a strictly American adven- ture. Prince Albert had been friendly to the United States. His policy towards the nation had been one strictly just. The sophistry of Napoleon III., who had earnestly conn selled taking advantage of its critical position during the Civil War, was not potent to move him from the 2J8 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 219 l)OSition on whicli he liad taken liis staud; and the order from the English government of strict neutrality, and for- bidding the fitting out of privateers for the confederate service in England, was in accordance with the policy which he had marked ont,and which the Queen afterwards followed. Naturally, perhaps, peopie in England like Mr. Laird, whose interest it was to keep his ship-yards active,were in favor of feeding the flames of our Civil War. Or men like Carlyle, whose philosophy was in that current, were in favor of the recommendation which he made: "Its a dirty chimney" (the United States); "let it burn itself out." But the Queen was fair in her treat- ment of America, as her husband had been ; and she had continued to be friendly. When the nation was mourning the death by assassi- nation of President Lincoln, and afterwards that of President Garfield, the Queen of England's sympathy was expressed warmly; and on the death of the nation's great General (Ulysses S. Grant), her sympathy was again manifest. At periods between the year 1840, when the first attempt was made upon her Majesty's life,and 1882, when the last was made, she had been six times assailed by pistols presented at her person — sometimes being shot at; and she once received a blow in the face. In such cir- cumstances, while the shock to her nervous system must have been great, and the fear of such occurrences con- stantly present to her mind, it is a remarkable fact that no shot so fired ever hit her, the blow in the face given by Pate inflicting the only bodily injury which she ever received Perhai^s it is worthy of comment too, that, while the Queen travelled in many countries — visited Scotland frequently and Ireland(her most turbulent possession) on more than one occasion, she encountered not the slightest molestation outside of England, where every one of those ^20 FIFTY YEARS A QUEElvr. outrages were perpetrated— tlie last two in 1872 and 1882, during her widowhood, by persons proved to be imbecile or insane. Tlie Alabama, the Florida, and the Shenandoah, sent out from English ship-yards without the consent of the Queen or her ministers, finally cost the Englisli Government three millions and a quarter sterling, tlie award made the United States for the destruction of property hj those vessels. With this settlement the chapter of Civil War record in this direction has been closed, its conclusion leaving England and Americ i on terms of friendship. As other potentates had visited her Majesty of Eng- land, the Sultan of Turkey, Abdul-Aziz, arrived to pay his respects in 1867. The Queen received him with the cordiality characteristic on such occasions. He was conducted in State to the opera; entertained by the city of London, and accompanied to a review of the fleet at Spitheadby the Queen. After him came the Shah of Persia, who was also re- ceived, entertained, and amused. In 1868, on the retire- ment of Lord Derby, Disraeli was called by the Sovereign to form a ministry^ and he then for the first time became Prime Minister of England. About that time there were reports of what seemed an absurd rumor, of the Emperor of Abyssinia proposing marriage to the Queen, and having become very angry because his x>roposition had not received an answer. Theodore had in his possession many captives, both English and German. These included women and children as well as men. Some of them were missionaries who had ventured into Theodore's dominion for the l^urpose of converting to Christianity the people and him- self. All, however, were seized and detained. Although a savage, Theodore was a i)roud sovereign, who traced his descent back to the Queen of Sheba, and who believed that his Abyssinian warriors were capable of FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 221 defeating any power who would oppose them. He there- fore paid little heed to England's demand for the release of the captives in his hands; and when an English army appeared before his capital, Magdala, in April, 1808, Le was not a bit daunted until his forces were defeated. He then delivered up the captives -some of whom he had held for years, but he would not surrender. An- other engagement with his forces occurred, Magdala was captured by the English, and Theodore was found dead within the fortress, having taken his own life. England's difficulty with the Zulu KingCetewayo was an aft'air more recent, and with a termination differing only in the particular that the Zulu King was captured alive. One feature of the Zulu War has made it memor- able—the death of Prince Louis Napoleon (the Prince Imperial of France) at the hands of the Zulus. An excitment had been created in England in 1872, by Sir Charles Dilke's motion in the House of Commons to inquire into the manner in which the revenues of the Crow^n were expended. Previous to that time Dilke had been making speeches throughout the north of England on this subject, and on the introduction of this motion in the House of Commons a scene of confusion was presented that beggared discription. It was regarded as a republi- can movement that met vociferous opposition. There were very few Eepublicans to support it. In a certain sense the movement was regarded as a covert attack upon some of the princes, particularly the Prince of AVales; and when his Eoyal Highness became ill of a fever resembling that of which the Prince Consort died, the whole nation rallied as one in pouring out sympathy on the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the whole royjil family. For days the life of the Prince hung in the balance between life and death, and w^hen life won in the conflict, there was such an outpouring of thankfulness 223 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEi^-. from every beart as assured the Queen of tlie love and loyalty of her subjects. By tbe bedside of ber sou tbe Queen bad watebed unremittingly. Tbe sorrow tbat bad so long beld ber in bonds gave way before tbis new one tbat claimed all of bertbougbts, attention, and feeling; and tbe first speck of wbite tbat bad appeared in ber dress since ber widow- hood was tbe wbite flower wbicb sbe wore in ber bonnet as sbe sat by bis side in St. Paul's, wbere sbe went witb bim to return tbanks for tbe mercy of bis re- covery. Tbe tide of loyal affection tbat bad set in towards tbe Queen and tbe royal family by reason of tbe sympathies of the people, aroused by the touching con- dition of tbe Prince of Wales in his illness, disposed effectually of Sir Charles Dilke's motion. It was no more heard of. Tbe Emperor of France felt deeply bis failure to establish in Mexico a monarchial form of govern- ment. The pitiful and fearful ending of his effort in that direction chagrined bim. His pride was wounded by tbe humiliating consciousness tbat be did not dare to attempt to maintain his forces there in the face of tlie mandate of the American Government to either witb draw them, or accept the consequences of a refusal; and he conceived the idea that his popularity as a mili- tary ruler was thereby put in peril. To restore himself in his own esteem and in tbat of others became bis great desire. To this end be endea- vored to induce England to unite with France in an intervention between Eussia and Poland while these countries were at war, but without success. The opin- ion formed ofbiraby tbe Prince Consort years before, when, as Justin McCarthy says, "tbe Prince Consort appears to have judged tbe Emperor almost exactly as impartial opinion has judged him everywhere in Europe FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 223 since that time," was now shared by the Queen and her Prime Minister. Looking about him for the desired opportunity, it seemed to be presented in the fact that on the flight of Queen Isabella, Spain had invited to become its king-, Prince Leopold of Hohenzolleru-Sigmaringen, a member of the royal family of Prussia, but distantly related to the king. That a candidate for the throne of Spain should be chosen without previous consultation with him, he held to be an iudignity to France; and as the Prince so chosen was of Prussia, he demanded that the King of Prussia should forbid Prince Leopold's accej)t- ance of the offered crown. King William put forth a declaration that Prussia had no part in the selection of Prince Leopold. The Spanish government sent the Emperor the assurance that the choice had been made without consultation with Prussia or any foreign power. Prince Leopold also declined to be a candidate for the Spanish crown; yet the French Emperor persisted in the demand that the King of Prussia should, in an auto- graph letter, pledge himself that no prince of the house of Hohenzollern should ever at any future time become a candidate for the Spanish crown. Bismarck refused to lay this proposition before his sovereign, when the French minister at the Prussian Court addressed the demand to the king in person, whom he encountered in a public walk at Ems. The king made no answer; but he presently sent word that he would receive no com- munications on that subject. On July 19th, 1870, France declared war against Prussia because of the insult offered to the French Am- bassador, the refusal of the king to compel Prince Leo- pold to withdraw from the candidature of the Spanish crown, and because the Prince was left at liberty to accept the crown if it should be formally offered to him. 224 FIFT^ YEARS A QUEEN. On August 31st, the Frencli were beaten at Sedan. Napoleon gave np Ms sword, saying: "My brother, since it has not been vouchsafed me to meet death in the midst of my troops, I lay my sword at the feet of your Majesty." The Empress fled to Eugland, and was received by Queen Victoria with kindness and sympathy; and as soon afterwards as circumstances permitted, she was joined there by her husband,who had been the Emperor of France when she had last seen him, but who was now a fugitive and exile. On January 9th, 1873, Louis Nai^oleon closed his life at Chiselhurst, Kent. Since he had been a special con- stable in London he had filled a position in the world's history almost fabulous in its sidendor and power. In England his position when doing duty as a constable, and that which he occui)ied when he died, were not materially different, so far as importance attaching to his presence; but Eugenie, the ex-Empress, had retained the affection of the Queen and of the nation, who re- spected her, and who love and resx)ect her still. In 1876, Queen Victoria received the title of Empress of Lidia. This was announced early in the Parliamentary session of that year by Disraeli, and fiercely opposed by some members, who held that any other title than Queen of Great Britain and Ireland was superfluous and wholly without meaning, except in the sense of detracting by an unworthy addition from the ])iiYe luster of the crown of her Majesty. The keen wit of the great statesman discovered a way of not only reconciling the English mind to the inno- vation, but of making it desired. It was, Disraeli declar- ed, "necessary to assert the position of the sovereign as supreme ruler over the whole empire of India;" and conq^uest-loving England saw in the distance the " Eus^ FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 225 sian specter" and acquiesced. The imperial title was confirmed, and her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland became Empress of India besides. With the close of the debates on the Eastern question in that Parliament, it became known that Disraeli had been created Earl of Beaconsfield by the Queen. He be- gan liis political career as a member of the House of Com- mons in the first Parliament that was opened by the Queen after she came to the throne. He had made his way against tremendous odds. By his talent and invincible perseverance he had raised himself to a high station in the estimation of his col- leagues and of the people. I^ow he was ennobled by the Sovereign whom he had so faithfully served. CHAPTEE XXy. THE PRINCESS OF W^LES— THE DUCHESS OF EDIN- BURaH AND THE WIVES OF THE OTHER PRINCES -THE QUEEN'S DOMINIONS— COURTS OF OTHER TIMES— MORAL ASPECTS— DOMESTIC LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA— THE DAUGHTERS OF THE QUEEN — THE CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY AND THE PRINCESS ALICE OF HESSE-DARMs STADT— WOMEN'S INDUSTRIES IN GERMANY— TEACHING WOMEN TO WORK AND OPENING AVENUES OF LABOR — THE QUEEN ENCOURAGING INDUSTRIAL AND DOMESTIC ART IN ENGLAND— FIFTY YEARS' REIGN AND RESULTS DURING IT. From the moment of lier coming into England the affection of the English people went out to the Princess of Wales. Her beauty of person, sweetness of disposi- tioD, and charm of manner won for her the hearts of the Queen, the royal family, and the people of England. The Duchess of Edinburgh has perhaps been less hax)py in this respect. A daughter of the Czar of Eussia — a great power, frequently found in opposition to the interests of England or in the way of her ambi- tions — the Euglish people have not too warmly regard- ed this Princess, avIio is probably to them in some measure a living representative of Russia. The Duchess of Connaught and the Duchess of Al- bany, the wives of the two younger sons of the Queen, 226 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 227 being German Princesses, unlike the royal daughter of the Eussian Emperor, brought with them to England no traditional disability calculated to lessen the warmth of the i)eople's affectionate interest in the wives of their native princes. Tbe widowhood of the Duchess of Al- bany, added to her youth and the touching circumstan- ces of the brief period in which her husband was spared to her before a sudden death snatched him away, incline all hearts towards her very warmly. More than a half a century ago, at the close of the reign of George lY., Ireland and its concerns formed a vexed question that perplexed greatly the later years of his life. O'Oonnell was so distasteful to him that he detested his very presence. Once, on noticing him at a gathering where bis majesty appeared, the King hastily turned his back on the great agitator, and said to some one near him, "What brings that d d fellow here ? " During the brief reign of William lY., Ireland con- tinued to be an anxious subject; and throughout the fifty years of Queen Yictoria's reign it has been, and it still is, a disquieting one. Ireland, however, forms the sole exception to a tranquil and harmonious rule throughout her dominions. Her possessions in North America, stretching from sea to sea, and in Australia, of enormous extent and of prodigious value, constantly increasing, have systems of government satisfactory to themselves and to the home Government. In India she is " supreme ruler"— its Empress. Her reign has ex- tended England's dominion. It has brought it the re- cognition of the world as a nation conspicuously pros- perous, powerful, and progressive. " The English like queens," the Duchess Dowager of Coburg said, when Queen Yictoria was in her early in- fancy and the " dangerous grandeur" of the crown was an exceedingly remote contingency. Politically and morally the partiality of the English people for queens 228 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEIT. must find a powerful support in the contemplation of the fifty years' reign of Victoria, particularly when the court of England, as she has made it, is compared with the courts of the Georges, with that of William, or with those of other kings that came before. The first George came to England bringing with him his two mistresses from Hanover. George IL, although he had a Qaeen whom he professed to love, and who certainly did love him, was an unfaithful husband, with- out disguise a libertine. George III., while not inconti- nent himself, had sons who disgraced his court by theirs. In every moral aspect these princes were contrasts, and not agreeable ones, to the royal sons of Queen Victoria. The fourth George was a wonderfully dissolute creature; and at William's court were the Fitz-Olarences and other similar features. Victoria's reign began at a time when immorality, if not the rule, was at any rate well-established. During her reign, however, among the unclean elements of pre- vious reigns moral seeds have been planted that have borne good fruit; and while the political fortunes of the nation have been administered with wisdom and ability, the morality of it has been nurtured and has grown far and wide. From the first the Queen was specially favored in be- ing the child of a good and wise mother, who reared her with judicious care, and in being the wife of an excel- lent Prince, who was both sagacious and righteous. By her mother she was trained for " intelligence and good- ness," as Justin McCarthy says. She placed the most implicit trust in her mother, and yielded her, in her youth, entire and affectionate obedience. Upon her marriage with Prince Albert — a complete marriage of heart, soul, and intellect— the " goodness and intelli- gence" previously developed in her were made more abundant and positive by companioushii) and friction FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. 220 with a refined and lofty nature, that became one with her own. The influence of her husband, readily and tenderly responded to by the royal wife, was all for good. From childhood to womanbood forces for good had environed her. At that point she placed her hand in that of another who led her carefully in the same course. The Prince Consort's views as to the fitness of one who rules were expressed by him. " To my mind," he says, " the exaltation of royalty is only possible through the personal character of the sovereign;" and that the Queen coincided in that view her conduct of life bears testimony. The fifty years of Victoria's sovereignty have passed onto history's i^age. The world reads of and sees its results politically. In the personal relations of wife, mother, daughter, and sister, history portrays her too. In the first dazzling splendor of her i^osition as Queen " of the mightiest nation of the earth," when she was in her girlhood, it occurred to her that it was her " sacred duty" to pay her father's debts; and that was one of the first sovereign acts which she performed. At the time of her mother's death, more than twenty years later, and when she herself had become a grandmother, her filial grief burst forth in the cry, " But I— I, wretched child who had lost the mother I so tenderly loved, from whom these forty-one years I have never been parted except for a few weeks, what was my case ?" As a wife she had been loving and entirely devoted. In her august station, she accorded her " adored and perfect husband" an obedience as complete and tender, while he lived, as wife could do; and after he died she found his " unseen presence, of which she had a con- stant sense, and the blessed thought of an eternal union hereafter," her highest joy. 230 FIFTY YEARS A QUEEN. The manner of lier cbildren's nurture may be deduced from the useful activity of their lives. When the Prin- cess Royal was but four years old, the Queen said, "It is a hard case for me that my occupations prevent me from being with her when she says her prayers." And later she said with regard to this child: " I am quite clear tliat she should be taught to have a great reverence for God and for religion, but that she should have the feel- ing of devotion and love which our heavenly Father en- courages His earthly children to have for Him, and not one of fear and trembling; and that the thoughts of death and an after-life should not be represented in an alarming and forbidding view; and that she should be made to know as yet no difference of creeds, and not think that she can only pray on her knees, or that those who do not kneel are less fervent or devout in their prayers." Whenever it was practical and x>ossible the Queen indulged her own tastes, and encouraged those of her children, in the simple ways of life. She had been reared in great simplicity. Her inclinations were in that direction; and Scotland, more than any of her dwelling-places, afforded the opportunity to indulge her tastes in this way. The Eev. Korman McLeod has given glimpses of her Majesty's domestic life at Balmoral, from which one is given here. " After dinner the Queen invited me to her room, where I found the Princess Helena and the Mar- chioness of Ely. The Queen sat down to spin on a fine Scotch wheel, while I read Burns to her, ily changed in England by the sovereign. Each of the Queen's daughters she has been at X)ains to make accomplished in this particular. The Crown Princess of Germany — who will be its Empress — and who, her father said, had " a man's head and the heart of a child," is adored by the Germans. Her ability, simplicity, and goodness have entirely won their love and respect. So was the Grand Duchess of Hesse- Darmstadt beloved in her husband's dominions, where her death is mourned; and the good works whicli she there imj)! anted represent " the flowers scattered after the footsteps." The Princess Alice and Prince Leopold, of scholastic attainments, are gone from among the living. Those who are left of her Majesty's children are certainly better specimens of royalty — more comely and useful in the world — than those who preceded them, as history de- X)icts them. They are rei:)resentative personages, from the Prince of Wales, upon whom many social duties of state de- volve, down to the Princess Beatrice, " the most amusing baby we have had," who has been her mother's devoted t FIFTY YEARS A QUEBN-. 233 compauion tlirougli the years since her father's death ; and who continues to be such, notwithstanding that her marriage imposes upon her the additional duties of wife and mother. Her Majesty Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, having reigned fifty years (and who may rule as long or longer than her grandfather George III. did), has now been Queen of England for five years longer than Queen Elizabeth had been when she died. The reign of Elizabeth was called glorious because she contributed to the material pros- perity and dignity of England, and to England's x>ower among the nations of the earth; therefore are the Eliza- bethan days stilled 'recalled with i)ride among the English i)eople. But should Victoria do no more than she has done in the fifty years of her reign, she would be remembered now and in the coming time for her wise administration, for her beneficent disposition, for the condition to which her reign has brought England and her whole posses- sions, save Ireland, which may yet in her time be rendered x^eaceful and satisfied. There will still be something else, however, for which she will be remembered — the moral i3ower which she has exercised, and the moral elements which that power has evolved and si)read abroad, not only in her own dominions, but to the extent of her great station through- out the world. That is a power that makes emjiires safe, nations pros- l^erous, and the people happy; and because of it this Queen of England will hereafter be known as " Victoria the Good!" THE END. .-^1^, .p , '' i V ^^ "°^, %. A^ oi'- . ^ G^ ^''"^; ^ G^ '• V - ,. <^ V- ^ ^ * " / ^ G^' - ^^0^ ^v