The Statesmen Series

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STATESMEN SERIES
EDITED BY LLOYD 0. SANDEES.

H.E.H. THE
PRINCE CONSORT.

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STATESMEN SEBIES.
LIFE OF H.R.H.
THE PRINCE CONSORT.

BY
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.

LONDON:
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATEKLOO PLACE,
PALL MALL, S.W.
1890.

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FEINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
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I

PREFATORY NOTE.

This is an endeavour at a summary of the events of a
life and the developments of a character which have had
no small influence upon our century. Sir Theodore
Martin's Life is fuller in detail than is possible where
the view is of the individual chiefly as a statesman ; but
other memoirs have since come to light, more especially
those of the Duke of Coburg, giving fresh facts and
opinions illustrating the Prince's disposition, and therefore
valuable. It has been my attempt to put these together,
taking for granted a knowledge on the reader's part of
contemporary events and personages, and only endeavouring
to show how they affected the subject of this biography,
and how they were dealt with by him.
The authorities that have been consulted for the
purposes of this sketch are : —
Sir Theodore Martin's Life of the Prince Consort;
Grey's Early Years of the Prince Consort ; The Queens
Journal in the Highlands ; Charles Greville's Memoirs ;
Lady Blomfield's Memoirs; Lord Dalling's Life of Lord
P aimer ston ; Letters of Lord Beaconsfield ; Kinglake's
Crimean War; Count Vizthiim's Memoirs; Life of
Bishop Samuel Wilherforce; the Duke of Coburg's
Aus Meinen Leben ; Irving's Annals of our Time.
C. M. Yonge.

LIFE OF
H.K.H.
ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD.
1819-1835.
Consorts to female Sovereigns — The Saxe family— The first and
second Electors — Ernest and Albert — The lines of Saxony and
Coburg— Prince Leopold — Marriages of the Dukes of Clarence
and Kent — Birth of Ernest and Albert — Their mother and father
— Boyhood in the open air — Education — Death of their mother
and grandmother — Visit to Belgium — The Duke's second mar
riage — Practical jokes — Amusements — Confirmation — Visits to
Schwerin, Berlin and Vienna.
He, whose life is here sketched, stood in a remarkable,
almost an unique position, as a Statesman : holding no
nominal office, and yet being the guiding and influencing
spirit, in fact, the Queen's alter ego, but so unobtrusively
that it was only the loss that made the fact evident ;
and of him most truly it might be said, that when a
man is missed then he is mourned.
Queens regnant in the ruder ages were usually
married to the man preferred as their protector by the
B

2 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
family or the nation, and he usually became actually
king in title and in power, while they sank into mere
consorts. Here and there some Semiramis might assert
herself, but it was not till the times of more enlightened
education that a queen could, as a rule, be regarded as
a substantial power ; the supremacy of the husband
was felt to be mischievous in the case of the Maries of
England and Scotland, whose marriages might well make
the two queens, Elizabeth of England and Christina
of Sweden, shrink from wedlock. William of Orange
reigned by the will of the people : but Anne's husband
became almost a proverbial nonentity ; and, in spite of
the title of Emperor, and of his wife's ardent affection,
Maria Theresa's Francis was of little more importance
than George of Denmark. It was reserved for Albert
of Saxe-Coburg to show what was the ideal of a consort
to a female sovereign.
The Sachs, or Saxe family, with their simple shield
and noble motto, " Treu und Fest," were descended from
one of the most ancient stocks in Germany. Like the
House of Brunswick, they numbered among their fore
fathers the original Welf, or Guelf, whose name became
the designation of the Papal in distinction to the Secular
party in Germany. Some of the greatest emperors had
been of their line, before the Electors had invariably
elected members of the House of Hapsburg to the
Empire of Germany.

TEE SAXE FAMILY. 3
By marriage with heiresses, the beautiful mountainous
lands of Thuringen, or Thuringia, and of Coburg, were
acquired by the Counts of Saxony, and Frederick, the
first Elector, was a man of mark.
The second Elector, Frederick the Mild, who
reigned from 1428 to 1464, was father to the boys
who were the subject of the famous outrage called
the Prinzen-raub. He had offended a famous robber,
Konrad of Kaufungen, by refusing to repay the sum
given for ransom from captivity incurred in his service.
Konrad threatened vengeance, but the Elector coolly
answered : " It is hard to burn the fish in the lake."
Konrad (or Kunz), bribed the scullion of the
Castle of Altenburg, to open for him the window over
a steep precipice, and by means of ladders, climbed
at night into the castle, and stole the two children of
the Elector through the window of their chamber,
before the eyes of their mother, whom he had bolted
into her own apartment. He was somewhat delayed
in riding off with his troop, by having at first taken
a boy who was sleeping in the same room instead of
Albert, the younger brother, and thus was some dis
tance in the rear of the main body. At daybreak,
being not far from his own castle, he suffered the boy
to dismount and gather some wild strawberries. On
the approach of a stout charcoal-burner, Albert cried
out for help, and the man called his comrades to come
b2

4 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
to the rescue with their huge staves, so that the robber
was captured, and thus young Albert was saved and
brought back to his parents. The elder brother,
Ernest, was restored a week later, and a little chapel
marks the spot of Albert's rescue.
These two brothers became the parents of the lines
of Saxony and Coburg. Ernest's eldest son was
Frederick the Wise, the admirable Elector who protected
Luther, and whose heart was broken by disappointed
hope of a true reformation. His nephew, John Fre
derick, was deprived of the electorate and dukedom by
Charles V., for his share in the Lutheran rebellion, and
these were transferred to the grandson of Albert. This
younger line has been singularly half-hearted and
unfortunate, alike in the Thirty Years' War and the
Napoleonic struggle.
The elder, Ernestine branch, retained Coburg and
its dependencies, and gave one of the chief heroes to
the Thirty Years' War, Bernard, the champion of
Elizabeth of Bohemia. Subdivisions among the numerous
families broke up the possessions, and intermarriages
reunited them, in a manner bewildering to any save the
compilers of the Almanacs de Gotha.
At the close of the War of Liberation, the family of
Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld consisted of three brothers, Ernest,
Ferdinand, and Leopold ; and four sisters, Julia, Sophia,
Antoinette, and Victoria. The whole family were able

PBINCE LEOPOLD, 1817. 5
and intelligent, and held advanced opinions, in contrast
to those of most of the German princes, who had been
terrified into absolutism by the Great Revolution, and
almost compelled by poverty to become exacting. The
Duke was, in fact, the first German prince who gave
his subjects a liberal constitution.
The three brothers were all married about the same
time, in the years 1816 and 1817 — Duke Ernest to
Louisa of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg, Prince Ferdinand to
the Hungarian Princess Kohary, and Prince Leopold to
our English Charlotte.
Golden opinions were won in England by Leopold
during that fleeting year of bliss which ensued to crown
the poor Princess's hitherto sad and stormy life. Pro
bably the early death, that seems so piteous and was so
deeply lamented, was the greatest blessing that could
have befallen one in whom the hereditary insanity of the
House of Brunswick was only too likely to have been
renewed ; but in the universal sympathy and pity the
connection she had formed led to further results.
The hitherto unwedded members of the English
Royal Family were called on to marry and provide
heirs to the Crown, and the third and fourth sons of
George III. both chose members of the great Sachsen
House; the Duke of Clarence marrying Princess
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, and the Duke of Kent
Prince Leopold's youngest sister, Victoria, already the

6 ALBEBT, PBINCE CON SOB T OF ENGLAND.
widow of the Prince of Leiningen and mother of two
children. He had already shown a desire for this union,
but the Princess, being guardian to her children, there
had been difficulties in the way.
The second son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, Francis
Charles Albebt Augustus Emmanuel, and his sister's
daughter, Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, were born in the
same year, with three months between them, the former
being born at Rosenau on August the 19th, the latter
on May the 24th, so that she was slightly the elder.
Ernest, the eldest son, and at present the reigning
Duke, to whose memoirs much is owing in this narra
tive, preceded his brother by fourteen months. Their
names went back to the old times when the lines
parted. He says : —
"In our inmost family circle, the fact that I. and my younger
brother have the same names as the stolen sons of Frederick the
Mild, gave material for many memories to our grandparents and
relatives, and many kind hopes for our future.
" The charcoal-burner, George Schmidt, the Abbot Coborius, the
seizure by the Knight Kunz and his servant Schweinitz, the danger
of Prince Ernest in the Teufelskluft, the generous woodcutter of the
forest, the excellent Captain Frederic of Sohanberg, and finally, the
punishment and death of the robber — the whole, oft-repeated history
became an inexhaustible source of interest alike to the children
and to the narrators."
The two boys were both handsome, the younger with
a delicate, feminine beauty, "like a little angel with
his fair curls," as he is described. He was like his

PABENTS OF TEE PBINCE. 7
mother, and her especial darling, to such a degree
that she was fast spoiling him ; while his nurse, when he
was but three, had talked to him of his being the husband
of the future Queen of England.
Such influences were seen by the father to be perilous
to his sons' characters, and when they were only five
and four years old, he took them entirely out of the
nursery and from feminine attendance, and placed them
under a tutor, Herr Florschutz. Their mother, the
Duchess Louisa, naturally resented this, and there were
other differences caused by her wayward and uncertain
temper, which resulted in a separation and her retire
ment to Wendel. She' was the daughter of the last but
one of the line of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg, and on the
death of her uncle, Gotha passed to Duke Ernest,
Saalfeld being resigned to the Duke of Meiningen.
The boys were, however, still the darlings of a
grandmother, and a step-grandmother, the Dowager
Duchess of Coburg, who must have been a woman of
great ability and good sense, and the Duchess of Saxe-
Gotha Altenburg, step-mother to poor Duchess Louisa,
both of whom were devoted to the two children, and
were sensible women. The little grandsons visited
their own grandmother daily, and were regaled with
stories from the Waverley novels.
It is, however, on their father that Duke Ernest
dwells the most: —

8 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
"After the separation from our mother, he took an especially
deep and constant part in every detail of our education and instruc
tion. We were in daily, and almost exclusive intercourse with
him, in a beautiful connection between father and sons not easily
to be paralleled, and he was one of those personalities which, with
out didactic maxims, impress themselves by their very existence
upon young people. My father united to unusual external beauty
an excellent understanding and judgment, and a deep, thoughtful
spirit. Even if he had not been born in an age when the training
of young princes has become conducted on principle, he would have
unfolded a far greater importance in it than had been possible in
former circumstances. It cannot be said that he had himself
mastered much learning, for in those times Universities were not
visited by princes, and the tutors in the little Courts were of very
moderate quality. Yet my father was at home in many departments
of knowledge, and had formed himself, in whatever concerned his
work as a ruler, into a circumspect and clear-sighted man of business.
But what won all hearts was the grave gentleness with which he
treated everyone, the delicacy of his feeling, and the unstudied
observance of all the forms of politeness towards those with whom he
came in contact. I never heard a hard or discourteous word from him,
nor remarked in him a gesture that did not answer to the strictest
conception of good breeding. AVe children beheld in him, and
justly, our ideal of courtesy, and allhough he never said u harsh
word to us, we bore towards him, through all our love and con
fidence, a leveience bordering on fear.
"He never lectured, seldom blamed; praised unwillingly ; and yet
the effect of his individuality was so powerful that we accomplished
more than if we had been praised or blamed. When he was once
asked by a relation whether we were industrious and well-behaved, he
answered, ' My children cannot be naughty, and as they know well
that they must learn in order to be worthy men, so I do not trouble
myself about it.' "
There was an inherent delicacy of constitution in the
younger boy, and he was subject to attacks of croup
up to his tenth year. It is worth recording that while
treated for this with leeches, he used to indulge in

BOSENAU, 1822. 9
building his most magnificent philanthropical castles
for the future. There was a certain Spartan severity
in subjecting the delicate child of girlish slightness and
fragility of appearance to precisely the same regimen
as his much larger and stronger brother.
" And I cried," appears much too often in the journal
that the little fellow kept, even before he was six years
old ; but Herr Florschutz, the Rath, or Councillor, as he
was entitled, was very kind and tender to them, and often
carried the tired little Albert up to bed in the bare attic,
where the tutor slept in the same room with his pupils,
and was ready to attend when, as the little diary says,
"My cough was worse — I was so frightened that I
cried." Still it was a happy, wholesome life, spent as much
as possible in the open, and chiefly at Rosenau — the
Rose-mead — a country house about four miles from
Coburg, placed on a knoll which is the last space of a
range of wooded hills above the valley of the Itz. It
is a house of no pretension, with high gable ends, and
an entrance tower, but commanding a charming view
over the valley from the terraced garden, where in
summer weather the little princes used to breakfast.
The plantations and woods of fir trees and abeles
gave a large range of delightful walks and rides :
there was an artificial piece of water, a dairy farm, a
skittle ground, and all that could serve to afford healthy

10 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
and wholesome exercise and amusement to growing
lads. The day's routine was to rise between six and seven,
and breakfast between nine and ten — with the Duke
if he were in the same house — but dinner was at one
for the boys alone. When they were at Coburg, they
came down after their father's three o' clock meal, and
later visited his mother: they supped at seven, by
which time little Albert, who never could endure late
hours, was so tired that he was often picked up asleep
in a corner. Lessons were given in the intervals, very
short ones at first, so as to leave much time for out-of-
door exercise and amusement.
After Church every Sunday, twelve or thirteen boys
of their own age were invited to play with them, and
they were left to themselves entirely without restraint.
Their tutor lamented the irregularity and interruption
caused by the long out-of-door breakfasts ; but the
Duke evidently thought his own companionship an im
portant part of their education, and made them listen to
conversation and take interest in all literary and artistic
pursuits. If he saw their attention wandering, he gave
a look equivalent to a long reproof. All sorts of manly
exercises, riding, fishing, hunting, and driving, were
made familiar to the lads from nine years old ; nor
would their father suffer any complaints of discomfort or
slight hurts, in order to make them hardy.

BOYHOOD, 1823. 11
" I remember," says the elder brother " that we had, in a hard
winter, to ride across the mountains between Coburg and Gotha, and
to endure the most frightful cold. Thus did my father teach us the
self-command of adults, and made us behave in a manly fashion in
the most uncomfortable situations."
In spite of all this rigorous treatment, and severe
study, the two brothers had a thoroughly happy boyhood.
There was in the young Albert that best of all endow
ments, intense relish and eagerness for whatever might
be his employment. In the large party that frolicked
at Rosenau, little Albert was king of the sports, and
sometimes showed himself, as such kings are apt to do,
masterful and domineering, but always chivalrous and
generous. The child was already father to the man
when he wrote in his Journal, of January 17th : — " When
I woke this morning, the first thing I thought of was
the afternoon, when we expected our playfellows. The
tallest, and one of the cleverest, Emil Gilsa, was to be
an emperor ; Ernest was to be Duke of Saxony." The
chosen emperor was, however, unwell, and another was
chosen from the boys who took the part of dukes, the
lot falling on Albert.
The cousins often met at Rosenau, and Ferdinand and
Augustus, the sons of Prince Ferdinand, and Arthur,
son to the Princess Sophie, who had married Count
Mensdorff, were all playing with some other boys.
" Some of us," writes Count Arthur, " were to storm
the old ruined tower at the side of the Castle, which

12 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
the others were to defend. One of us suggested that
there was a place at the back where we could get in
without being seen, and thus capture it without difficulty.
Albert declared that
" ' this would be most unbecoming in a Saxon knight, who should
always attack the enemy in front,' and so we fought for the tower
so honestly and vigorously that Albert, by mistake, for I was on his
side, gave me a blow on the nose, of which I still bear the mark. I
need not say how sorry he was."
When the boys were about twelve years old their
time of study was extended, and four or five hours a
day were spent on them : — •
" The main strength of Florschutz lay in his extensive and thorough
study of history  Already in our boyhood we knew that (in
the early middle age) there had been a grand epoch of German life
and culture which had been little valued by our semi-French fore
fathers of the last century."
And the most lively interest was awakened in the
romance and poetry of the early Christian Germany.
Religiously, they were instructed by Herr Bret-
schneider, whose teachings of the Lutheran doctrine
had a deep and lasting influence, alike in devotion,
conduct, and principle, though there was a certain
vagueness of dogma.
It was in 1831 that the boys' mother died. They had
never seen her since their infancy, and she grieved much
in her last illness over the fear that they had forgotten
her; but the memory of her was cherished deeply in

THE VISIT TO BELGIUM, 1832. 13
their hearts, and one of the first gifts made by Prince
Albert to the Queen was a little pin which she had
given to him, and which he had treasured with a child's
reserve. Perhaps it was the lack of mother's tenderness
in his early years that rendered him shy and stiff in
manner. That same autumn, he lost his grandmother, the
Dowager Duchess of Coburg, who had been very wise
and affectionate towards the brothers, and had given
them the only womanly love that they enjoyed in their
early boyhood.
In 1832, the two princes, then fourteen and thirteen
years old, were taken by their father to visit Belgium,
where their uncle, Leopold, had, in the previous year,
been elected King, after the dissolution of the union
with Holland, so arbitrarily arranged by the Congress
of Vienna. It was the first opening of their minds to
contemporary political events. The present Duke
writes : —
" In Brussels, where every square and street still bore traces of
the great events which had taken place only two years previously,
I imbibed 1he first practical foreboding of what the modern world
seems to be striving for through all its convulsions. We accompanied
my father and uncle to the King's first review of a part of the
organised Belgian army at Alost, and had permission to visit the
Belgian outposts at Antwerp, where the citadel was still in the hands
of the Dutch under General Chasse'. The sight of the orderly and
independent people, and the conversation of their elders, taught the
lads much ; and they further heard many debates on politics, where
their father and uncle were censured in the other little Courts of

14 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
Germany for accepting the fruits of a Revolution in a, manner that
was thought unworthy of members of one of the oldest princely
families in Germany. For many years in certain circles the name
of our house was only mentioned with a sort of horror.'-
Soon after their return, the Duke, after the strange
German fashion, married his niece, Marie, daughter to
his sister, Antoinette, wife to Duke Alexander of Wur-
temburg. She was a kindly stepmother, and head of the
Court, which seems to have become more lively.
Practical jokes were rather too prevalent, and the
good Rath Florschutz solemnly narrates a serious scrape,
when Prince Albert beguiled his chemical instructor
into filling little glasses of the size of a pea with sulphu
retted hydrogen, with which he pelted the audience at
the theatre.
There was a warfare between him and his cousin,
Linette, as the Princess Caroline of Reuss Ebersdorff
was called. He filled the pockets of her opera-cloak
with soft cheese, and she retaliated by filling his bed
with frogs, creatures of which he had a strange horror
ever since ; as a little boy, he had triumphantly placed
a handsome green frog in the midst of a party of tea-
drinking ladies, and had been infected by their disgust
and dismay.
In general, he loved all sorts of animals and all natural
history, and a little museum, collected and kept in order
by the brothers, gave them infinite delight and amuse
ment — both out of doors and in — for the dusting and

THE MUSEUM. 15
arranging were left to them, and the collection was finally
expanded into a public museum. The elder brother
thinks this was very useful to them. " The natural
sciences," he says, " have something emancipating in
them;" and he adds, "we were educated with fewer
prejudices than other princes."
They shot birds for their collection, and shared in
field sports ; but Prince Albert never was devoted to
them, though he wras a good shot. He thought they
led to waste of time, and was too tender-hearted not to
be unhappy at the sight of a wounded animal. Indoors,
chess was a great amusement, and the brothers and their
cousins often played the four-sided game, and, as it is
confessed, disputed over it, And Prince Albert was a
formidable person in argument. His brother says : —
" A decidedly doctrinaire manner of treating everything was pecu
liar to him even at an earlier age. He possessed great dexterity in
logically arranging the most difficult themes under discussion, and in
enforcing his views, even if they were by no means always the most
correct. This mental gift and exercise often gave him, in later life,
a great superiority over others."
He was thinking out many things. Count Arthur
Mensdorff quotes this passage from one of his letters : —
" The poor soldiers always do their duty in the most brilliant
manner ; but as soon as matters come again into the hands of poli
ticians and diplomatists, everything is again spoiled and confused.
Oxenstiem's saying to his son may still be quoted : ' My son, when
you look at things more closely, you will be surprised to find with
how little wisdom the world is governed.' I should like to add, ' and
with how little morality.' "

16 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
In the spring of 1835, the two brothers were pre
pared for confirmation by a pastor named Jacoby, a
Court preacher at Coburg, of very wide knowledge of
Church history and power of imparting it, so that both
could acquit themselves excellently in the public ex
amination which precedes Lutheran Confirmation. "My
brother took the matter in its full weight," writes the
Duke, " for what Florschutz says is quite right, that he
was unusually grave and thoughtful."
The ceremony took place on Palm Sunday, and, as it
was considered a matter of national interest, invitations
were issued to all the authorities in the Duchies of
Coburg and Gotha, and to deputations from the clergy,
towns, and villages. These, with all the members of the
ducal family at hand, and a good many grandees and
people of Coburg besides, were all assembled in " The
Giant's Hall" of the Castle of Coburg, on the previous
day, to hear the preliminary examination. A sort of altar
was at one end, and in front of this Dr. Jacoby and
the Princes stood. The first verse of the hymn " Veni
Creator " was sung, and then followed the public exam
ination, a catechising on all the articles of faith of the
Confession of Augsburg. The youths answered all
correctly and reverently, and with evidence of thought
and feeling. The object of this remarkable examination
was to give the audience a clear insight into their
faith and principles, and it lasted an hour.

CONFIBMATION, 1835. 17
When the question came whether they would stead
fastly hold to the Evangelical Church, the elder answers
for both — " My brother and I firmly intend to abide
faithfully to the acknowledged truth."
Then there was a prayer, the second verse of the
hymn, the blessing, and the third verse. The next
day the actual Confirmation took place in the Castle
Chapel, by Dr. Gonzler, the Superintendent-General, the
Princes first repeating the creed. There was a sermon,
a celebration of the Holy Communion ; an afternoon
service at the Cathedral, to which all the Court went in
procession ; a public dinner afterwards, and a banquet
the next day. The City of Coburg presented Rath
Florschutz with a diamond ring in token of satisfaction
with his pupils, and certainly there is something very
touching in the participation of the whole little State
in the public religious profession of their future ruler.
This rite is reckoned in Germany as the close of
childhood. King Leopold sent his nephews a letter
on the occasion, in which he impressed on them this
special maxim : " A Christian is one who understands
the teachings of his religion, and makes them enter into
his daily life."
An expedition, which further opened the minds of
the two youths, followed soon after their confirmation,
when they were taken to Schwerin to visit the Grand
Duke of Mecklenberg Schwerin, their maternal great
c

18 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
grandfather. More than fifty near relations of this
patriarch were there collected, many of them des
tined to be highly distinguished. Among these the
brothers specially admired the Crown Prince of Prussia,
who, five years later, became Frederick William IV.
No one could then have guessed how disappointing a
person he would prove as King, for his ability, his
varied learning, his liberal opinions and his earnest
piety made him the object of many hopes. The Coburg
memoirs thus describes him : —
"He was then in his forty-first year, and already of a corpulence
unusual at his age. His refined, intellectual, lively countenance,
the animation of his narratives and of his sympathy, the sarcastic and
constant readiness of his remarks, could not fail to awaken in young
people like my brother and myself a kind of enthusiasm for the
versatile heir of Prussia. Added to this the Crown Prince took much
notice of us. He asked affectionately about our studies and pursuits,
and seemed pleased with the cheerful and confident way in which we
youths looked out upon life. In all those schemes that we, as German
princes, made of working out the improvement of the whole world,
and the condition of our fatherland, he promised us his friendly
protection. He semed convinced that the time was come for laying
the axe to the ovils of the time, and he could say beautiful things
about the needs of Germany ; and by his whole view of affairs was
entirely different from that of the rest of the princes."
It is plain how to the lads of sixteen and seventeen,
who had yet to learn how little that vacillating nature
could endure the shocks which his liberal sentiments
brought on him, these conversations with an elder man
were the greatest stimulus, and helped to form the

VISITS TO THE GEBMAN COUBTS. 19
designs to which both of them constantly adhered, for
the union and liberation of their country.
After the festival days at Schwerin, the two princes
were taken to Berlin to be presented to the King of
Prussia. They were kindly received and lodged in
the palace, and were much interested in the fatherly
old Frederick William III., who had weathered the
terrible storms of the early part of the century, and
who is now chiefly remembered as the vanquished at
Jena, and husband of the heroic Queen Louisa. At
Dresden, whither they afterwards went, King Anton and
Prince Max had recollections from the other side of
that great struggle.
Thence the Duke and his sons went to Vienna,
where they were the guests of his brother Ferdinand,
whose home was there. The death of the Emperor
Francis was approaching, and hopes were entertained
that his good-natured successor, Ferdinand, would be
less arbitrary and severe towards liberals, but these
were vain, and though Prince Metternich, with his
unfailing courtesy, treated the Duke as an old friend,
the reception by the rest of the Court was as cold as
at Berlin the welcome had been warm. The Coburgs
were marked as dangerous in those days when the
miseries of the revolution were not forgotten, and every
symptom of reaction was crushed out.
The liberal party in Portugal was inclining to the
c2

20 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
choice of Prince Ferdinand of Coburg's eldest son, as
the husband of the young queen, Maria de Gloria, and
the terms were decided on during this visit. Thus
this journey served to introduce Prince Albert and his
brother to the knowledge of actual politics, and open
their minds to the great world beyond their studies.
Altogether they enjoyed the journey very much,
while the ladies at home, the Dowager Duchess of
Gotha, and the Duchess of Coburg, were extremely
afraid of their being overdone with long journeys and
late hours, and indeed Prince Albert wrote to his
step-mother that : —
" it would require a giant's strength to endure all the fatigues we
have had to go through. Visits, parades, balls, dejeuners, dinners,
follow each other in quick succession, and we have not been allowed
to miss one of them."

( 21 )

CHAPTER II.
YOUTH.
1836-1840.
Question of the marriage of Princess Victoria — Influence of King
Leopold and Stockmar — The brothers visit England — Impressions
of Prince Albert — Visit to Paris — Society at Brussels — The
Univeisity of Bonn — Death of William IV. — Congratulation- s to
Queen Victoria — Tour in Switzerland and Northern Italy —
Second visit to Brussels — Negotiations for the marriage — Duke
Ernest's reminiscences — Departure from Bonn — Danger from fire
— Departure of Prince Ernest from Dresden — Second visit to
Italy.
The accomplishment of a marriage between the heiress
of England and the young cousin at Gotha had been
the vision of the family ever since both were born ; but
it had to be kept in the background, since William IV.
disliked the Coburg family, and was often absolutely
rude to the Duchess of Kent. His wish was that his
niece should be the wife of Prince Alexander of Holland,
a son of the Dutch sovereign whom, as Prince of Orange,
poor Princess Charlotte had found intolerable.
King Leopold was the active mover in the matter,
in council with his familiar, Stockmar, who played
throughout a curious part in the domestic affairs of the

22 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
family. A native of Coburg, he had become physician
to Prince Leopold, and had been with him during the
year of marriage in England, gradually growing into a
most confidential counsellor and go-between, though in
no official capacity, and no doubt, therefore, the more
available. He had a clear head, considerable foresight,
and that power of seeing his way through an entan
glement which constitutes a man of business ; and,
though he was less a favourite at Coburg than at Brussels,
the Duke leant much on King Leopold, so that the
Doctor became the moving influence.
Prince Albert and his brother, however, knew nothing
of these ultimate views when it was made known to
them that they were to pay a visit to their aunt in
England by themselves. Their father went to Holland
with them, and saw them off from Rotterdam, after an
expedition to the Hague. " We travelled incognito,"
says Prince Albert, " till the chamberlain of the Princess
of Orange, saluting us with a malicious smile, unmasked
us." King William, perhaps suspicious of the cause of
the visit he could not prevent, had invited his Dutch
prince to London at the same time, and showed them
as little attention as possible. Poor old William IV. !
Though he had a kindly heart, the coarse fibre of the
Brunswick family was in him, intensified by the bluffness
of naval life, and there was almost an affectation of the
unmannerliness of the conventional sailor. He was

INTRODUCTION AT KENSINGTON, 183G. 23
advanced in years, and out of health, and little inclined
to pay attention to the two princes, though he felt
obliged to invite them for a single day to Windsor,
where he fell asleep in the midst of the long dinner.
The brothers had no attendants, and were lodged as
guests at Kensington, where the Duchess of Kent was
kind and affectionate, but her daughter was still in
the schoolroom, under very careful supervision, and was
never to be seen except in the presence of her mother
or her governess, Baronness Lehzen. Prince Albert
was her junior by three months, and at seventeen was
in her eyes a mere boy. Besides, English was always
spoken at Kensington, and this was to the cousins as
yet only a book language ; nor had they as yet any
idea that the visit was more than an introduction to
their relations and to foreign lands.
Prince Albert wrote to his stepmother : —
" The climate of this country, the different way of living, and the
late hours, do not agree with me. I am, however, quite upon my legs.
My first appearance was at a leve'e of the King's, which was long and
fatiguing, but very interesting. The same evening we dined at Court,
and at night there was a beautiful concert, at which we had to stay
till two o'clock. The next day the King's birthday was kept. AVe
went in the middle of the day to St. James's Palace, at which about
three thousand people passed before the King and Queen and
the other high dignitaries to offer them congratulations. There
was a, great dinner in the evening, and a concert which lasted till
one o'clock. You can well imagine that I had many hard battles to
fight against sleepiness during these late entertainments. . . . Our
dear aunt is very kind to us, and does everything she can to please us,
and our cousiu also is very amiable."

24 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
The youths profited by the opportunity of seeing the
Duke of Wellington, the hero of Europe, and among
the lesser celebrities Lord Westminster, a friend of
their father's in the time of the great war. They saw
Captain Marryatt, whose sailor novels were in the height
of popularity ; and Disraeli, who was then in their esti
mation, " a vain young Jew with Radical opinions " —
wearing his left arm in a sling, as his enemies averred,
for the sake of making himself interesting.
Altogether, English society was cold, formal, and
oppressive in the eyes of the youths ; and when, at the
end of a month, they went on to Paris, they were much
happier, in spite of being lodged in the Hotel des
Princes, which, according to Prince Albert, was " a
most horrible place, with such a noise in the street that
there was no hearing one's own voice."
Though they were not the guests of the Court, Louis
Philippe treated them with great warmth and kindness,
and a sort of sympathy arose between him and Prince
Ernest such as is rarely possible between an elderly
and a very young man. His youthful adventures had
made him a perfect master of German in its various
dialects, and he was full of anecdote, and told much
of his strange experiences in the days of the Revolution.
The Duke of Orleans was in Africa, but the younger
brothers laid the foundation of enduring friendship with
their visitors, who were unaware that this sojourn was

STUDY AT BRUSSELS, 1836. 25
also intended as an experiment in the direction of
marriage, Princess Clementine being thought of for
Prince Ernest, though this was prevented by the dif
ference of religion. The easy family life of the Roi
Bourgeois and his admirable Queen Ame'lie was
altogether greatly enjoyed by the brothers.
In June they returned to Brussels, where King
Leopold and Dr. Stockmar had been discussing plans
for their education. They were settled for the time
under the King's eye, in a pleasant little villa with a
garden on the Boulevard de l'Observation at Brussels,
with the Rath Florschutz as their constant master, and
likewise Baron Weichmann, who had been in the German
legion in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, while they
were to study higher mathematics, astronomy, and phi
losophy with M. Quetelet, the author of " Le Sysfeme
Sociale et les lois qui le regissent," and a man of almost
universal acquirements. At the same time, King Leopold
by his conversation did his part towards leading their
views on politics from theory to practice, and gave them
the opportunity of meeting very remarkable personages
who appeared at his Court — even Poles and Carbonari.
The prisoners of Spielberg had been released after the
death of Francis II., and there were among them those
whose poetry and whose narratives did more, it was said,
to shake Austrian power in Italy than an army. Count
Arrivabene was a centre, and at his house the Princes

26 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
met Silvio Pellico, the object of their warm interest.
These men were mentioned with dread and horror at
almost all the European Courts, and there was no small
surprise in Germany, not only at King Leopold's
tolerating their presence, but at the Duke of Coburg
allowing his sons to have any intercourse with them.
" The diplomatic corps must certainly have written a good deal
about the royal nephews ; but we had not the least perception that
we were doing what might be taken amiss, though it was not long
before it was evident to us that our whole demeanour at Brussels had
made a very unfavourable impression among various German families."
On several occasions other German Princes treated the
two youths with an icy stiffness that roused great indig
nation in Prince Albert, and incited him to use that
talent for satire and ridicule which in after life was so
carefully suppressed. There was grave debate between
father, uncle, and adviser over the next step in life, and
it resulted in the two youths being placed at the Uni
versity of Bonn, where a small detached house was taken
for them to reside in with the Rath Florschutz and
Baron Weichmann. There they spent what they con
sidered as the pleasantest and most profitable eighteen
months of their lives.
There were several highly distinguished professors, in
especial, Schlegel the younger, Perthes, Lobell, and
Fichte, and there were students of all ranks from all
parts of Germany, several of them more or less related

BONN, 1836. 27
to the Princes of Coburg. In especial, a warm friendship
was formed by Prince Albert with Prince William of
Lovvenstein, who set down, among the recollections of
him asked for by the Queen, how in the long walks the
young men took together Prince Albert loved to discuss
metaphysics, jurisprudence, philosophy, and the like, till
Florschutz interfered to turn the conversation into more
commonplace channels.
At the same time, however, the Prince distinguished
himself in all sorts of manly exercises, and in a great
fencing match, where there were twenty-five or thirty
competitors, carried off the first prize. Fun and frolic
abounded. He was an excellent mimic, and some of the
Professors were such oddities as to afford standing jokes,
which Duke Ernest records with the tender glee
wherewith men look back to their student days, dwelling
with a smile on the distress of the stiff and stately
Colonel Weichmann, when their Serene Highnesses per
petrated student songs, and drew caricatures of the
Professors, who to the surprise of the youths were
infinitely more aristocratic in their ideas than themselves,
the descendants of one of the oldest stocks in Germany
or Europe.
There were delightful expeditions into the Siebenge-
birge, with their greyhounds, one of which, named Eos,
black, with a white chest and paws, was for many years
Prince Albert's beloved companion.

28 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
The death of William IV., on June the 20th, 1837,
removed the chief obstacle to the family designs. There
had been a little formal correspondence between the
cousins ever since the visit to England, and Albert
wrote his letter of congratulation in English.
" You are now Queen of the mightiest land in Europe. In your
hands lie the happiness of millions. May Heaven assist and
strengthen you with its strength in that high but difficult task. I
hope that your reign may be long, happy and glorious, and that your
efforts may bo rewarded by the thankfulness and love of your
subjects." There is nothing memorable here, except the pro
minence of the idea of duty and responsibility and the
tendency to be didactic.
The family began to be in agitation respecting the
desired match, and it was thought advisable to remove
the young men from any discussion that might reach
their ears by sending them to spend their vacation in
a walking tour in Switzerland and Northern Italy,
an expedition which they thoroughly enjoyed, with
that peculiar zest belonging to the sense that it would
probably be the last pleasure taken in the old insepar
able manner. "The parting," Prince Albert wrote to
the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha, " is ever before me, we
would therefore, as long as time allows us, do all we
can to gild the pill and soften the pain."
Flowers and relics collected on that journey were
sent to the royal cousin, a "rose des Alpes"from the

TOUR IN SWITZERLAND, 1837. 29
Righi Pass, views of all the noted scenery, a scrap of
Voltaire's writing, all arranged in a little book. The
tour extended as far as Venice, after which there was
a visit to the Duchess of Gotha, and a term of hard
study at Bonn.
The Christmas vacation was to have been spent at
Brussels, but this was prevented by a hurt which Prince
Albert received in the riding school from his horse re
fusing a leap, and swerving so as to jam his knee
against the wall. It made him lame for a week or two,
and left a permanent scar.
The intended visit was therefore not paid till March,
and then it was that King Leopold first seriously
broached to his younger nephew the possibility of the
marriage with the young Queen, though no doubt the
idea was not new to him. He had been encouraged to
begin a correspondence with his cousin after his visit to
England, and had forwarded to her on his travels the
little curiosities that he thought likely to interest her ;
but she had, since her accession, ceased to reply. The
possibility must have occurred to him, though England
on the whole was inclined to expect that the Queen's
husband would be one of her two English cousins, the
sons of the Dukes of Cumberland and Cambridge. King
Leopold was, however, the person on whom his niece
most relied, and after a conversation with his nephew
he wrote to Stockmar: —

30 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
" He looks at the question from the most elevated and honourable
point of view; he considers that troubles must be inseparable from
all human positions, and that, therefore, if one must be subject to
worries and annoyances, it is better to be so for some great and
worthy object than for contemptible trifles. I have told him that his
great youth would make it necessary to postpone the marriage for
some years. I found him very sensible on all these points. But one
thing he observed with truth, ' I am ready,' he said, ' to submit to the
delay if only I have some certain assurance to go upon. But if, after
waiting perhaps for three years, I should find that the Queen no
longer desired the marriage, it would place me in a very ridiculous
position, and would, to a certain extent, ruin all the prospects of my
life.' "
This was quite just, but womanly coyness, together
with the newly-acquired sense of power, made it a
difficult and delicate matter to press the Queen ; and
there is something very sweet and candid in her
own confession of regret at the suspense she caused by
her delay, making difficulties that she could not have
understood, though she still intended her ultimate
choice to fall on the Prince. Nor perhaps were her
subjects eager for her marriage. The tradition of
" good Queen Bess " was in favour of a virgin Queen,
and there was some impatience and some contempt of
petty German principalities, which seemed to exist for
the purpose of providing partners for royalty. The
Duke must here speak on this family matter.
" Victoria stood alone in her youth, in a solitude without a guide.
My aunt, the Duchess of Kent, though a woman of very excellent
qualities, had no great influence over her daughter. Thus, from the
vivacity and the development that could not fail soon to unfold them-

THE TIME OF SUSPENSE, 1838. 31
selves in tho rapidly matured heiress of England, the eighteen-year-
old ruler showed a decidedly unbroken will. In Prince Albert's book
there is a little note which betrays a circumstance that caused more
difficulty than is commonly believed. As is well known, Victoria's
governess was the (afterwards) Baroness Lehzen. The clever woman
shows herself in a letter upon a little incident, which must have been
very enticing to a governess, and in which she played a little on the
future aims of the Princess, then twelve years old. She laid before
her, behind her tutor's back, a pedigree in the history by which the
Princess might perceive that she was the true heiress to the English
throne. On this discovery, a conversation followed, in which we may
say with a certain humour, the governess' talent for rule may be per
ceived." This is a curious way of viewing the conversation,
which to other eyes looks so simple, and the tutor,
Dean Davys, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, cer
tainly was not ignorant that the genealogy was laid
before his pupil, but regarded as an exercise. Still,
Madame Lehzen had undoubtedly a strong influence,
and a year or two was needed to make the true and
noble nature of the Queen feel, through the education
of experience, the need of a perfectly confidential sup
porter, on whom she could lean, and who could supply
what even her mother could not afford her.
The time of waiting was to be spent first in com
pleting the course at Bonn, and then in a journey to
Italy. In the meantime, the Duke of Coburg went to England
to be present at the coronation, and received from the
Queen the Order of the Garter.
In August, the establishment at Bonn was broken up.

32 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Prince Albert compared the removal to the departure
of the Israelites from Egypt, and it involved great
changes ; for the faithful Florschutz, who had watched
over the brothers for fifteen or sixteen years, laid down
his charge, and remained at Bonn. Moreover, for the
first time the two princes were to begin on different
lines of life, for the hereditary prince was to enter
the army of the King of Saxony, the younger brother
to spend the winter in Italy under the charge of Stock
mar, and with a young English officer, Sir Francis
Seymour. Just before the parting, the brothers were in some
danger from a fire in the palace at Coburg, in a wing
where no one was sleeping but themselves and their
Swiss valet, Cart. Prince Albert was wakened by the
smell of burning, found the rooms full of smoke, and
in the fourth a burst of flame. After calling up his
two companions, they closed all the doors, and shut
themselves up with the fire.
¦' We had only two jugs of water and a jug of camomile-tea, of
which we made the most," writes Prince Albert. " Ernest took my
cloak and his own and threw them on the flames, while I dropped all
my bedding there, and pressed the mattresse3 against the burning
wall. Cart lifted a marble table with incredible strength, and threw
it against the bookcase enveloped in flames, causing it to fall down.
Having thus subdued the fire, we could think of calling for more
help. Ernest ran, just as he got out of bed, to the sentry, who gave
the alarm, whilst I and Cart were still working upstairs. The heat
and smoke were so powerful that all the windows had fallen out, even
the glasses of the framed pictures were cracked and the pictures

SEPARATION OF THE BBOTHEBS, 1838. 33
shrivelled, and the paint of the doors is quite charred. Help now came
in haste from all sides, a, number of workmen brought water up and
extinguished the now smouldering fire. A bookshelf with many
books, and all our prints, two chairs, a looking-glass, a table, have
been burnt. There is no other harm done, but that Cart and I have
burnt the soles of our feet as we trod barefooted among the ashes."
In another month, Prince Ernest left Bonn for
Dresden. " Now," writes the younger brother to the elder Duchess, " Ernest
has slept through his first night at Dresden. This day will also
bring to him the feeling that something is wanting. I wrote to him
to-day, and expect a few lines from him to-morrow, or the day after,
which I will send to you at once if you like it. I have not written to
you for some time, it was because during the last days we had so
much to talk and to care about. I am sure you will not be angry
with me. I must now give up the custom of saying ' we,' and use
the J, which seems so egotistical and cold. In we everything sounded
softer, for it expresses the harmony between different souls, the I,
rather the resistance of the individual against outward forces, though
also confidence in its own strength."
Shortly after, he set out on the Italian tour, and then
it was that Stockmar, now a Baron, established an in
fluence over him which almost amounted to ascendancy,
and lasted unbroken to the last hour of his life. It was
by no means through any form of adulation. The ex-
physician never scrupled to find fault and tell unpalatable
truths in the most uncompromising, heavy, and sententious
manner ; but this Telemachus never failed in gratitude
and affection to his Mentor, and accepted his counsel in
a manner really remarkable in one who had so strong and
substantial a nature as Prince Albert, and such decided
D

34 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
and original views. There must have been something
peculiarly congenial in the two minds which maintained
such a friendship, and that Stockmar enjoyed and never
abused the entire confidence of two such men as Leopold
and Albert of Coburg is a full proof that he merited it.
Florence, with all its resources, charmed the Prince, and
he resided there for nine months, studying much, and
availing himself of the opportunities of working up his
already remarkable knowledge of art and music. The
gallery, he said, intoxicated him with delight ; he often
played on the fine organ in the Church of La Badia, and
took long walks in the beautiful country around. He
usually rose at six, studied till noon, dined at two, and
went to bed at nine, unless obliged, somewhat against
his will, to go into society. The student life he had
always led made him shrink from gaieties. "Small
talk " was always an effort to him ; his self-controlled,
reserved nature began to show itself in this, his first
separation from all his home companions, and he was
more at ease with old scholars than with young ladies.
Nor could he be induced to care for politics, and never
willingly touched a newspaper.
In the ensuing spring he completed the tour in
Italy, but though he felt the great benefit of the actual
sight of all the wonders of Rome and Pompeii, he was
on the whole disappointed in Italy, alike in " climate,
scenery, artistic feeling, and skill."

BESIDENCE IN ITALY, 1839. 35
It was the time of Italy's chief depression, and no
doubt he felt the trodden down and restless state in
which she lived. Moreover, the Italian hatred of
Austria extended to all Germans, and no doubt rendered
the young prince less welcome.

d2

( 36 )

CHAPTER III.
MARRIAGE.
1839-1840.
Imminence of the marriage — Prince Albert's appearance and
character — Second visit of the Princes to England — King Leo
pold's letter — The Queen's intentions announced to Lord
Melbourne — The betrothal — Communications to Stockmar and
King Leopold — Announcement of the betrothal — Its reception by
the nation — The Duke of Wellington's amendment — Precedence
and income — Rejoicings in Coburg — Investiture of the Garter
— Farewells — The marriage ceremony.
The two brothers met again at Coburg, and the elder
having attained his twenty-first year, the younger was at
the same time declared to be of age.
The question of the marriage was becoming imminent.
Queen Victoria was reluctant, with much of maidenly
reserve, and something likewise of the enjoyment of
freedom and power; and, on the other hand, Prince
Albert could not but be anxious to know his fate in time
to embrace some other career if rejected. Moreover, the
failure of the Tory Ministry, on account of the misunder
standing with regard to Sir Robert Peel's intentions as
to the ladies of the Royal Household, had made it plain,

APPEARANCE OF PRINCE ALBERT, 1839. 37
alike to the foreign kindred and the English nation, that
the young Queen ought not to stand entirely alone, but
should be saved from her own mistakes ; and though she
wrote to her uncle that she was too young, and that she
still wished to defer the crisis for three years, it was
resolved to send the Prince to England, in the trust
that a decision might be made without a delay so un
suitable to the Prince's dignity and prospects.
Since his first visit, Prince Albert had outgrown his
boyhood during his residence in Italy, and was much
more manly looking and less entirely the lad who had
never been far from home. The perfectly moulded
features and classical profile had assumed their form,
the eyes were blue, the hair light-coloured, the com
plexion somewhat pale, and the figure, though tall and
graceful, rather slightly formed. There was a tendency
to look pale and exhausted after exertion, which made
Stockmar pronounce his constitution not strong, though
capable of being established by care and prudence. His
disposition this friend considered to be thoroughly kind
and amiable, with an ever-ruling desire to appear
pleasant, an inclination to espieglerie, and a habit of not
dwelling long on a subject. Stockmar also considered
him to be unwilling to use much exertion, and not
persevering enough in his excellent intentions and
noble resolutions, and to be more devoted to accomplish
ments than practical concerns. There was an entire

38 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
freedom from any low or coarse taste, or vicious inclina
tion, and the utmost refinement of mind and manners,
together with good sense, strong will, high principle of
duty, and a power of forbearance, which eminently fitted
him for the peculiar position destined to him. Still, all
was entirely uncertain and dependant on the young
Queen's inclination ; and there were several other suitors,
of whom the most formidable was the Duke of Nemours,
son to Louis Philippe. His sister, Louise, the second
wife of the King of the Belgians, was earnestly anxious
for his success, in spite of what to English eyes was the
decisive objection of his being of the Roman Communion.
In October, 1839, the two brothers went to England,
Prince Albert feeling the great difficulties of his posi
tion, and the need of fraternal support and confidence.
For, though Whig and Tory alike wished the Queen
to be married, German alliances were not popular.
Some would have preferred one of her English cousins,
and the Conservatives were prepared to distrust any
choice under the Melbourne Ministry, and especially of
a prince of the liberal tendencies of the House of
Coburg. The princes took with them the following letter from
their uncle : — "Lachen, October 26, 1839.
"My Dear Victoria, —
"Your cousins will be themselves the bearers of these lines. I
recommend them to your bienveillance. They are good and honest

ARRIVAL AT WINDSOR, 1839. 39
creatures, deserving your kindness, and not pedantic, but really
sensible and trustworthy. I have told them that your great wish
is that they should be quite unconstrained with you. I am sure that
if you have anything to recommend them, they will be quite glad to
learn it from you. " My dear Victoria, " Your most devoted uncle, "Leopold R."
They reached Windsor Castle on October 10th, at
half-past seven in the evening, and were met by then-
young hostess herself at the top of the staircase, when,
if there had been any inclination at the time of the
stiff and shy meeting of the boy and girl two years
previously, it was instantly renewed, and the young
hearts settled the matter as readily as if they had
belonged to a cottage youth and maiden.
The travellers' luggage was not come, so that they
could not appear at dinner, but came into the drawing-
room in the evening ; and the Queen immediately
decided, as she wrote to her uncle, that " Albert was
very fascinating."
Each morning, after her private breakfast, her cousins
paid her a visit in her private apartments and lunched
with her and her mother. Then all rode out together,
and in the evening there was a great dinner, and
three times a week dancing after it. By the 15th,
four days after the arrival, the Queen told Lord Mel
bourne that she had quite made up her mind to the
marriage. He had always been her kind protector, in

40 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
a fatherly manner, and his answer was : — " I think it
will be very well received, for I hear that there is an
anxiety now that it should be, and I am very glad of
it. You will be much more comfortable, for a woman
cannot stand alone for any time, in whatever position she
may be."
Then came what the Queen might well call, as she
did in conversation with Lady Blomfield, the most
awkward moment of her life. In her own words : —
"At half-past twelve I sent for Albert. He came to the closet,
where I was alone, and after a few minutes I said to him that I
thought he would be aware why I wished him to come, and that it
would make me happy if he would consent to what I wished, namely,
to marry me. There was no hesitation on his part, but the offer was
received with the greatest demonstrations of kindness and affection.
 I told him I was quite unworthy of him  He said he
would be very happy to spend his life with me  I then told
him to fetch Ernest, which he did, who congratulated us both and
seemed very happy."
The Prince wrote at once to Stockmar the next
day : — " I write to you on one of the happiest days of
my life, to give you the most welcome news possible.
 " And he ends with : — " More, or more
seriously, I cannot write, for at this moment I am too
much bewildered : —
" Das Auge sieht das Himmel often
Es schwimmt der Herz in Seligkeit."
At the same time the Queen announced her decision
to King Leopold : — ''¦ I love him more than I can say,

BETBOTHAL, 1839, 41
and shall do everything in my power to render this
sacrifice (for such it is in my opinion) as small as I can."
She further begged that the engagement might be
an absolute secret, except from his father, until the
announcement should be made to the Privy Council;
and this was deferred till the princes should have left
England. King Leopold declared that, like Simeon, he
could say, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace ! " and augured excellently, from the character of
his nephew, and the tokens that the young people were
thoroughly and heartily in love, and thus Prince Albert
was full of hope as to the capabilities of future position.
Fie tells his Mentor, Stockmar, that his ideal for himself
was : —
"A personality which shall win the respect, the love and the con
fidence of the Queen and of the nation, must be the groundwork of
my position. This personal character gives security for the motives
of our action, so that, if errors occur, they will more easily be pardoned
on this account, for even the noblest and fairest undertakings fail in
securing support to a man who is not capable of inspiring this con
fidence." Poor Prince Albert was destined to find this indeed
true, in an opposite sense from what he intended, though
he already knew, as he told his stepmother, "that the
sky will not always be blue and unclouded." The only
other person taken into confidence was the Duchess of
Gotha, who was so much attached to him that the loss
of him from her neighbourhood was a heavy trial.

42 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
In England, the state of things was an open secret,
and it must have been tolerably evident when the Queen
and Prince Albert appeared together to review the
second battalion of the Rifle Brigade in the Home
Park, the Hereditary Prince, who had been laid up by
an attack of jaundice, being only able to look from
his window.
He was well enough to return home on November
14th. On the 23rd, the Privy Council assembled, and
the Queen read aloud to them, with an effort, but feel
ing strengthened by the feeling of a bracelet with the
Prince's miniature on her wrist, the formal announce
ment of her betrothal ; and at the opening of Parliament
she had to go through the same ordeal.
Courtesy and respect were shown, and all were touched
by the maidenly modesty and sweetness of the young
betrothed girl who had to act and speak for herself;
but the feeling of the country was not enthusiastic.
There was an acquiescence in the fact that the Queen
had better be married, and that no much more satis
factory choice could have been made ; but at the same
time German connections were not much relished by the
insular mind, and the Prince was even younger than
the bride herself. Moreover, there was the further
disadvantage of the choice having been made at the
close of a Ministry which had become unpopular, and
was only retained in office in consequence of the

CHOICE OF ATTENDANTS, 1839. 43
mistake of the inexperienced Queen respecting then-
intentions towards her female friends. The Prince
himself was most anxious to avoid identification with
any party, and when Stockmar was sent to London to
arrange his household, wrote to the Queen : " I should
wish particularly that the selection should be made
without regard to politics, for if I am really to keep
myself free from all parties, my people must not belong
exclusively to one side. Above all, these appointments
should not be mere ' party rewards,', but they should
possess some other recommendation besides that of
political considerations. Let the men be either of very
high rank, or very accomplished, or very clever, or
persons who have performed important services for
England. It is very necessary they should be chosen
from both sides, the same number of Whigs and Tories,
and above all it is my wish that they should be men
of high character, who, as I have said, shall already
have distinguished themselves in their several positions,
whether it be in the army or navy, or in the
scientific world." Thus the Prince was annoyed that
Mr. Anson, who was appointed to his private secre
taryship, had fulfilled the same office towards Lord
Melbourne ; and though their intercourse ripened after
wards into friendship, the appointment was a mistake,
compromising the Prince in the eyes of the other
party, and giving him a secretary not favourably dis-

44 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
posed towards Germans, so that there was a danger of
isolation from old connections.
In England, distrust of the unknown naturally pre
vailed. It had not been thought needful to specify the
religion of the descendant of that Elector of Saxony,
who had been deprived by Charles V., on account of
the Lutheran insurrection, which broke up the Council
of Trent; nor had there ever been an inter-marriage
with Romanists in the line of succession. Thus a
report arose from the omission, on the one hand that
Prince Albert was a Romanist, on the other that
he was an atheist. To reassure the public, the Duke
of Wellington moved in the House of Lords, as what
Charles Greville calls " a sop to the silly," that the
word Protestant should be introduced into the con
gratulatory address, on which Lord Brougham observed
that " there is no prohibition as to marriage with a
Catholic. It is only attended with one penalty, and
that penalty is — the forfeiture of the Crown."
Lutherans are in the habit of considering that the
English Church only differs from theirs in episcopacy,
and they therefore feel no difficulty in conforming, so
that Stockmar readily gave the assurances required.
There were further difficulties. Was the future
Consort to be made a peer, as George of Denmark had
been ? The Prince himself desired that no such incon
venient privilege should be conferred on him. Was he

DEBATE ON THE PRINCE'S INCOME, 1839. 45
to take precedence of every one except the Queen ? Her
uncle, the King of Hanover, refused to waive his right,
and the Duke of Wellington opposed the consent of
the peers ; but the matter, which was really one of con
venience in every meeting of the royal family, was fixed
by an exertion of the royal prerogative.
The income of the bridegroom had to be fixed by
the Commons. Lord John Russell moved for a grant
of £50,000 annually out of the Consolidated Fund,
but Joseph Hume, after being with difficulty dissuaded
from leaving the Queen entirely to maintain her husband,
moved for cutting the grant down to £21,000, asking
if Lord John had considered the consequence of setting
so young a man down in London with so large a sum
in his pocket. Hume was defeated by 305 to 38, but
the Tory, Colonel Sibthorp, moved another amendment,
making the allowance £30,000 ; and this was carried
by 262 against 158, many of the Whigs not voting at
all, though Lord John Russell treated the matter as a
personal injury to the Queen. It is to be remembered
that it was a time of considerable distress and depression
in the country, that the Prince was absolutely unknown
and untried, and that partly from the cumbrous, tradi
tional requirements of the position, partly from their own
habits, moderate economy in royal personages was then
unexampled, and their heavy debts were almost a matter
of course.

46 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
The Queen was, however, naturally mortified, and
even less inclined than previously to the Tories ; but the
prudent Stockmar was very anxious to prevent the Prince
from owing any grudge to that party, and wrote to him
in full how Lord Melbourne attributed the reduction
quite as much to the Whigs as to the Tories or Radicals.
The Prince himself was resolved to retain no prejudices,
and declared afterwards that his chief disappointment
was that he should not be able to do as much as he
had hoped for the assistance of poor artists and struggling
men of genius. In fact, the idea of the dissipated forms
of extravagance, such as former examples had made the
English people dread, was absolutely alien to his refined
and disciplined character. However, these difficulties,
and apparent unwilling welcome, naturally added to the
pain of severance from the much loved home of his
youth, and the brother, father, and grandmother to
whom he was fervently attached.
In Coburg, meantime, there was a public and official
declaration of the betrothal, which the people received
with the affectionate participation of a people who looked
on their princes as part of their own family. There
was a service in the Chapel, a State banquet, a per
formance of Cherubini's opera, Les Deux Journees, and
the people exhibited their joy by firing off guns and
pistols all night! No wonder England seemed cold
after such exuberance !

INVESTITURE WITH THE GARTER, 1840. 47
In January arrived Lord Torrington and Colonel
Grey to fetch the bridegroom home, and to bring him
the Order of the Garter. The investiture took place
in full assembly in the Throne Room of the Castle at
Gotha, and is thus described by Perthes : —
" The winter months of the year have been made interesting and
exciting by the chapter of history which has been enacted here. For
the ducal papa bound the Garter round his boy's knee amid the roar
of one hundred and one cannon. The earnestness and gravity with
which the Prince has obeyed this early call to take a European
position gave him dignity and standing in spite of his youth, and
increased the charm of his aspect. Queen Victoria will find him the
right sort of man ; and unless some unlucky fatality interpose, he is
sure to become the idol of the English nation — silently to influence
the English aristocracy, and deeply to affect the destinies of Europe."
Perhaps Perthes Avas right in his latter prediction,
but certainly, as long as he lived, Prince Albert was
by no means the idol of the English nation. He came
bent on their improvement, and nobody likes it to be
assumed that improvement is needed. He did not like
English habits or English life, knew that he was leaving
all the freedom of the large family connection and easy,
friendly, familiar Court, for a place where he should have
no companion on absolutely equal terms with him, and
that he was condemned to a life of restraint, for which
the compensations would be the (as yet untried) affec
tion of his destined wife, and the power of usefulness.
The ceremony of investiture was succeeded by a
banquet to 180 persons, when all the appropriate toasts

48 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
were drunk, but which ended in an alarm ; for when
"The Knights of the Order of the Garter" were
announced, a window was opened that the signal might
be given for the artillery to salute. The light muslin
curtain was blown into the candles, the flame spread to
all the rest, and there was a general blaze ; but, happily,
the thin muslin burnt out very quickly, and the ladies'
winter dresses being of silk and velvet, no great harm
was done, and all the party went cheerfully off to the
theatre, to enjoy the performance of Der Freischutz
and the applause which greeted the young bridegroom ;
and, according to national German habits, all was over
before eleven o'clock.
There was the next day a chamois hunt, in defiance
of the weather ; and on the Sunday, when the English
gentlemen visited the Duchess of Gotha, they found
her in such grief at parting with her beloved grandson
that she could hardly speak, or keep back her tears ;
and at the reception in the evening, when there was a
farewell exchanged between the Prince and many old
friends, the emotion on both sides was such as to
astonish the English visitors, used to so much less
demonstration. When the final departure took place, the next morning,
the streets, the windows, the housetops, were densely
thronged with people, waving their handkerchiefs, and
shouting their blessings and good wishes.

FAREWELLS, 1840. .. 49
The Prince's carriage halted before the Duchess of
Gotha's door, while he ran in for a last embrace, and
the poor old lady was seen, as he drove away, at her
window, stretching out her arms, and crying, "Albert!
Albert ! " till she was carried away almost fainting by
her attendants.
Several cousins and princely friends accompanied the
travellers as far as an inn called the " Last Shilling,"
where the final parting took place, and the party went
on in six carriages, three being sent from England.
The Duke and his eldest son, of course, accompanied
the bridegroom, and he had with him his faithful but
independent Swiss valet, Cart, and the favourite Eos,
with a just confidence in the Queen's love of dogs. On
the frontier there was a triumphal arch of green fir
trees, a scattering of flowers, and a singing of a hymn
by a number of young maidens white-robed, in defiance
of the season. John Bull's contempt of German petty
principalities was meanwhile finding utterance in the
pleasing report that the Prince's luggage consisted of
a collection of empty boxes, to pass for extensive,
belongings, The father and brothers went together to Brussels^
where there was a festive reception of the chosen spouse
of the English Queen, and then travelled to Calais,
where an English fleet awaited them and the wedding
guests.

50 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
They crossed in the Ariel, not used very well by the
winds and waves, and all desperately sick; but the
resolution with which Prince Albert sat up to bow
to the crowds at Dover made the English augur
well of his determination. Through Kent there was a
cordial welcome and a triumphal progress, delightful
at the time, though, as we know, capable of being
surpassed, when well-earned affection, instead of future
hope, is the mainspring of English enthusiasm.
The party reached Buckingham Palace on the after
noon of February 8th, and were met at the hall-door
by the Queen and her mother with every token of joy
and affection. On the Monday, February 10th, 1840,
there was " Queen's weather " for the two processions to
the Chapel Royal, St. James's, where the wedding took
place. The bride and bridegroom immediately went to
Windsor for a few days, and on their return the look
of perfect peace, happiness, and confidence which had
settled on the face of the young Queen was at once
remarked by her ladies.

( 51 )

CHAPTER IV.
DOMESTIC LIFE.
1840.
Prince Albert's illusions — Impressions of his elder brother — His
departure — Confusion and extravagance in the royal household —
The Baroness Lehzen — The Prince's dislike of London — His
depression — The English Sunday — The Queen's affection for the
Whigs — The Prince becomes Keeper of the Privy Purse — His day
— His religious views.
The young bridegroom had come to England with
few illusions. He knew that duty destined him to a
laborious, restrained life, not for his own glory. He must
efface himself from the first, devoting himself in the
first flush of manhood to guarded habits of moderation,
and a tedious routine of business and representation,
sedulously renouncing all prominence and willingly em
bracing this irksome position with no hope of fame or
gratitude, but for the faithful love of one woman, and
for the higher purpose of effecting great and lasting

good.

E 2

52 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
His father returned to Coburg immediately after the
wedding, but Prince Ernest remained for three months
in England, and thus he says : —
" became a witness to the daily increasing mutual understanding of
the young couple, in both of whom the art of yielding the will to one
another was not easy, on account of the strongly marked individuality
of their characters. I could, however, already perceive the germ of the
perfect accordance which afterwards subsisted between them. In my
correspondence with my uncle at Brussels, I described the joys and
griefs of this process of the heart so intuitively and thoroughly, that
Baron Stockmar let himself be betrayed into the exclamation, after a
humorous description of this kind, ' All well and true ! ' In fact, I
was convinced that what my brother achieved as a bridegroom would
not fail him as a husband. ' Victoria,' I could write on the 2nd of
March, 'remains very consistent with herself. She is a loving,
attentive and especially tender wife to Albert, and tries to guess his
least wishes.'
"For my own part, my stay at the English Court afforded me
many experiences, so that I was able much better to understand
English life and character. Indeed, the peculiarities of English
society found from the first more sympathy in me than in my brother.
The passion of the high nobility for every kind of sport found more
echo and comprehension in me than in him, and thus I gained fuller
access to the Englishman's reserved heart. I will not decide whether
Prince Albert ever was able to strike the true chord in his dealings
with the nation. I had many an argument with him on the subject
in all affection, and always felt that his was a hard lot in having to
live in harmonious intelligence with the great island race.
" On the last day of our being together we were riding, and Albert
was making striking and clever remarks after his wont on all about
us, he suddenly gave a deep sigh, and said, ' When you are gone, I
shall have no one to exchange an unrestrained word with about
these things. An Englishman does not understand or enter into such
matters, and would only see the foreigner's love of fault-finding.' "
Mr. Anson's small liking for Germans as a class
perhaps added to the difficulty, and the Prince had

THE PARTING OF THE BBOTHEBS, 1840. 53
likewise a private secretary for his German correspon
dence. He was : —
" A certain Professor Schenk," says the Duke, " who once had
given us brothers instruction in English, and had afterwards been
Secretary to the Duchess of Kent, a worthy man, but with all the
failings of a German Philistine," and thus another mistake was mada
in the choice of attendants. ' Thus,' he adds, ' the situation of my
brother in England was a very difficult one, and I must fully declare
that, in a peculiar sense of the word, he was the framer of his own
good fortune.' " — (Seines Gluches Schmidt.)
Thus, with a somewhat heavy heart, Prince Ernest
quitted his brother to pay a visit to Lisbon, where his
cousin, Ferdinand, occupied the same position as Consort to
Queen Maria De Gloria. The two brothers sang together
a German poem called " Abschied " (parting), in which
the German students are wont to take leave of each
other at the break up of their University course ; and
after their last embrace, Prince Albert, his wife's journal
records, looked as white as a sheet, and presently said,
" Such things are hard to bear."
Not only was Prince Ernest his other self from his
infancy, but he was the only thorough intimate being
with whom he could speak with the mutual understanding
of perfect equality. And, with an ever- mastering love of
order, here was the Prince, as he said, " Husband but not
master, and in one of the most uncomfortable households
in existence, practically under no one's authority."
The domestic establishment was divided between great

54 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
officers of state, the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward,
and the Master of the Horse, one or other of whom hired
all the servants, gave the orders and provided for the
expenses ; but their duties were so curiously apportioned
that while the Lord Steward was answerable for the
laying of the fires and for their fuel, it was the Lord
Chamberlain who had the right of kindling them, and in
the same way the lamps were provided by the one and
lighted by the other. A cupboard door could not be
mended without so much red-tape that the preliminaries
lasted for months, and a broken window was worse, for
the outside of the palaces belonged to the department of
the Master of the Horse, and the grounds to the Woods
and Forests. The maids were under the Chamberlain,
the footmen under the Master of the Horse, the cooks
under the Lord Steward. Moreover, these higher offices
are the prescriptive right of adherents of the reigning
Ministry, who can be useful supporters though scarcely
statesmen. They appeared on great occasions, were
displaced on every change of Government, and were
never supposed to exert themselves practically in their
charges, nor to exercise any authority over the servants
hired in their names, and paid out of their salaries ; nor
did they authorise any deputy to represent them in the
household. The extravagance and confusion could not be otherwise
than dreadful, and therewith the discomfort. The ser-

THE PALACE ARRANGEMENTS, 1840. 55
vants went out and came in at their pleasure, and guests
sometimes had no one to announce them or usher them to
their rooms. They thus were left to wander about the
corridors in search of their bedrooms, and at Windsor it
ouce happened to M. Guizot to look in upon Her
Majesty herself in the midst of her toilette for the night !
That there might be actual danger to the Royal person
in such a state of things there could be no doubt, when a
year later the " boy Jones " (called by the wits In-I-go
Jones) was dragged out from under a sofa in the room
adjoining that of the Queen and her fortnight -old
daughter. He was unarmed and harmless, but what was
possible to him was likewise possible to the semi-lunatics
who had the strange mania of attempting the life of the
Sovereign. And the attempts of the Prince at remonstrance were
at first looked on as the mere meddlesomeness of a
foreigner, ignorant of British rights. Even in the
interior of his home there were difficulties. The Duchess
of Kent had prudently retired to Frogmore when no
longer needed as her daughter's chaperon, but the
Baroness Lehzen remained. She had been the Queen's
governess, and a very excellent and conscientious one she
was ; her pupil was warmly attached to her, and had made
her keeper of the privy purse, secretary in her own more
personal correspondence, and manager of the very few
domestic matters not absorbed by the Officers of State.

56 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
And thus the Prince found himself at first a mere
cypher, a sort of appendage to his wife, in the midst of
much that was painful to every sense, and without
authority to remedy matters. All the lively equal inter
course with his relations was at an end, and he felt
himself obliged to be so guarded and restrained in
manner that an impression of his haughtiness began to
prevail. Moreover, the smoke-laden atmosphere of
London was oppressive to his head and lungs.
" Now I am free ! now I can breathe ! " he used to exclaim, when
he could escape to Claremont or Windsor. " I feel as if in Paradise,"
he wrote to his stepmother, from Windsor, " in this fine, fresh air,
instead of the close, coal-laden smoke of London. The thick, heavy
atmosphere there quite weighs one down. The town is also so large,
that without a long ride or walk, you have no chance of getting out
of it. Besides this, whenever I show myself, I am still followed by
hundreds of people."
And at this period, though she was entirely weaned
from it afterwards, the Queen greatly preferred a residence
in London as more lively, in spite of the headaches the
air likewise gave her.
The Duke of Coburg allows us to see that his brother
was far from happy in these earlier days, though he
seems not to have allowed the Queen to perceive his
depression, and to have borne in mind that " all cometh
to him who knoweth how to wait."
"I endeavour to be of as much use to Victoria as I
can," he wrote, and this was the keynote of his life

ENGLISH SUNDAYS, 1840. 57
especially in these trying days, when Lady Lyttelton
writes : —
" From an open window below this floor began suddenly to sound
the Prince's organ, expressively played by his masterly hand. Such
a modulation! Minor and solemn, and ever changing, and never
ceasing. From a piano, like Jenny Lind's swelling note, up to the
fullest swell, and still the same fine vein of melancholy! And it
came on so exactly as an accompaniment to the sunset. How strange
he is ! He must have been pltfying while the Queen was finishing
her toilet. And then he went to cut jokes and eat dinner, and no
one but the organ knows what is in him ! "
The English Sunday was a trial to him. Three years
later, Bishop Samuel Wilherforce (then Archdeacon)
records in his diary of March 6th, 1843, after having
refused to play at chess with the Prince on Sunday : —
"After breakfast, with the Prince for three quarters of an hour.
Talk about Sunday. Told him that I thought the Boole of Sports
did more than almost anything to shock the English mind, &c.
He urged English want of amusements for common people of an
innocent class. No gardens. In Coburg, with 10,000 inhabitants,
thirty-two gardens frequented by different sorts of people, who meet
and associate in them. ' I never heard a real shout in England.
All my German servants marry because they say it is so dull here;
nothing to interest — good living, good wine, but there is nothing
to do but to turn rogue or marry.'"
Though a good deal of this weariness was the foreign
want of appreciation of "Merry England," yet it took
some principle not " to turn rogue." The English want
of outward demonstration, and of that genial sympathy
which was possible in a small population, with a paternal
court and a territory like an estate, could not but be

58 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
missed, and of course was hardly possible in a huge
capital of mixed population like London. Nor had
that affection been then won which has since been
gained. The respect and confidence of fifty years could
not be the same with the romance with which the young
maiden and bride was regarded. Her two predecessors
had lessened the loyalty her grandfather had well
merited, and she was besides in the hands of a
moribund Ministry, kept in office by a mistake on her
part. She had come to the throne under a Whig Govern
ment, and imbibing their views, was alienated from the
Conservatives. Prince Albert came with the determina
tion to stand free from all party politics, and Lord
Melbourne told him at once that this was the only right
course, and that the time was come "for a general
amnesty for the Tories." The old statesman, inevitably
retiring for the last time, really loved his young mistress,
saw that the pendulum must swing back, and tried to
prepare her by saying, " You must hold out the olive
branch a little."
However, for the present, politics continued in the
same condition, and in the meantime the Prince was
diligently preparing for future usefulness by reading law
with the distinguished barrister, Mr. Selwyn, and by
taking every opportunity of joining his regiment of
Life Guards on parade in the park at Windsor so as

REFORM OF THE HOUSEHOLD, 1843. 59
to learn the words of command, and understand military
manoeuvres. As his influence increased, he prevailed on the Queen
to give up the late hours which tried him so much. She
owns in her memoirs how much benefit she obtained
from the change. Another step in needful authority
was gained by the retirement of the Baroness Lehzen,
when the Prince assumed her functions as Keeper of
the Privy Purse, and assistant to the Queen in her corre
spondence. Not, however, till 1843, after the change
to a Conservative Government, was it thought practicable
to endeavour to put an end to the wasteful, uncomfortable
and demoralizing condition of the royal household.
Stockmar drew up a memorandum, humorous in its
gravity, but the difficulty remained great, for neither
party was willing to give up its patronage ; but finally,
after a few partial reforms had proved insufficient, the
various great officers of the service agreed to delegate
their powers to a single representative, who was amenable
to the Prince, and from that time forward all was well
ordered, and so economical as to be a marvel after the
habitual lavishness of royal households. Kindness and
conscientiousness towards dependents and servants were
deeply rooted in the nature of both the Queen and
Prince, and were rewarded by long and affectionate
service. It is remembered that, however busy the Prince
might be, he would always wait and give his whole

60 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
attention in the most friendly manner when a domestic
question was brought before him.
The economy thus exercised enabled the Queen to
entertain foreign Sovereigns as her guests without asking
assistance from the country, and in course of time to
purchase first Osborne and then Balmoral. The Prince,
out of his own income, established model farms at
Osborne and at Windsor, and actually made them
profitable; besides, the breeds of cattle which he intro
duced had an important effect in improving those of
the country in general.
The Prince's day at Buckingham Palace and at
Windsor was in general mapped out as follows during
the years of his married life. He rose between six and
seven, attended to his correspondence till nearly nine,
when he, who once had never willingly touched a news
paper, looked through all the principal papers, and gave
a summary of what was most important to the Queen.
As children were born to them, this became a time for
seeing and playing with the little ones, and through
out all their occupations both father and mother super
intended anxiously their education, alike religious and
secular. A Cabinet Council often succeeded, or at least a
conference with one or other of the Ministers, for the
despatch of business, overlooking of correspondence, or
consultation on foreign policy, memorandums on his views

SPOBT, 1840. 61
being often drawn up by the Prince. He then went out
riding — if in London, to see any public buildings that
were in hand ; at Windsor, in the season, for a couple of
hours shooting. He was wont to say that he could not
understand men devoting a whole day to sport, instead
of taking it as a brief recreation, not perhaps under
standing that those who are not princes can hardly call
out all the paraphernalia of " la chasse " except for a
full day. His want of sympathy for field sports was
one of the bars against perfect understanding with the
English aristocracy. He generally came home at a
great pace from his rides, passing through the Queen's
sitting-room with a bright word about his doings, and
then making himself ready for luncheon, after which
he accompanied the Queen in her walks, rides, or drives,
then read, wrote, or had interviews with various visitors
till dinner time, when there was either a social evening,
or a visit to one of the theatres.
At Osborne and Balmoral it was holiday time, more
hours were spent out of doors, and more given to his
children, on whose minds he left a deep impression, as
may be seen in the letters of Princess Alice. He was
always a deeply religious man, with the strongest sense
of principle and duty ; but, from his German education,
his views were naturally of the cast termed broad, and
from first to last he never really understood the English
Church, though he evidently loved and admired her

62 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Liturgy, and missed it in his own country. His turn
for art and music made him ready to enhance the beauty
of her services, and he was always deeply reverent and
full of personal devotion and conscientiousness; but he
was always inclined to fusion at the expense of dogma,
and resented any resistance to error as narrowness and
illiberality. It was unfortunate, too, that his confidence in Bishop
Samuel Wilherforce was overthrown by the Hampden
case. It is now known that the Bishop protested hastily
against Dr. Hampden's appointment, on the authority of
others, and withdrew his opposition on personally ex
amining the writings ; but the change naturally appeared
to have other motives, and was thus even more damaging
in Prince Albert's eyes than the first protest.

( 63 )

CHAPTER VI.
THE PEEL MINISTRY.
1841-1846.
The position of the Whig Ministry — The Regency Question — The
Syrian complication — Arrangement of the Bed chamber difficulty
— Fall of the Whigs — Lord Melbourne and Sir Robert Peel on
the Prince's abilities — The Fine Arts Commission — Birth and
baptism of the Prince of Wales — Marriage of the Duke of
Coburg — Fancy ball at Buckingham Palace — Abolition of the
duel — Attempts on the Queen's life — Visit to Louis Philippo — The
agreement of Eu — Death of the Prince's father — A sketch of the
Prince and Stockmar — The Czar's visit — Arrival of Louis Philippe
— The Royal Consort discussion — Visit to Coburg— The potato
famine and its consequences — The Ministerial crisis — Lord George
Bentinck's attack on the Prince — Fall of Peel's Ministry — Count
Vizthum's sketch of the Prince — Ecclesiastical affairs.
ONE of the disadvantages of the outset of Prince Albert's
position in England was, that the wedding had taken
place under the auspices of a Ministry whose position
had become untenable, and who were only holding their
position through a species of mistake. The Govern
ment, whom the Queen had, as it were, inherited from
her uncle, placed in opposition the party who were the

64 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
natural defenders of the Crown on principle ; and, at
the same time, Lord Melbourne, an elderly man, left
with no immediate family, had been so kind and fatherly
to the young maiden when initiating her into the first
duties of her office, that she looked up to him with
great trust and affection, and was unwilling to part
from him. There was, likewise, natural annoyance with
the Tories for the opposition to the Prince's position
and to his pension. However, when it became ex
pedient to contemplate the necessity of a Regency,
in the contingency of an infant Sovereign being left
motherless, no one attempted to prevent the designation
of Prince Albert, except the Duke of Sussex, who
thought it due to the House of Brunswick to assert
the claims of himself and his brothers as native-
born English princes. Happily, the Regent never was
required; the nine children of the Queen and Prince
were born in due season, in all safety, the eldest on
November 21st, 1840. The Queen had playfully said
the name ought to be Turko-Egypto, so full were the
minds of herself and the Prince of the vexed question
of Egypt, that servant of nations, which had become
all-important to England ever since the so-called Over
land Route had rendered it the highway to India.
Mehemet Ali Pasha, with the connivance of France,
was showing himself dangerous to the power of his
suzerain, Abdul Medjid, and the English fleet had been

CHANGE OF MINISTRY, 1841. 65
forced to interfere on behalf of the Sultan, and take
Beyrout from the Egyptians.
At this the French took great umbrage, and war was
threatened, but was averted by the courage and resource
of Lord Palmerston.
French vanity was gratified, and attention called
away from Egypt, by the translation of the remains of
Napoleon I. from his lonely grave beneath the willows
of St. Helena to the magnificent cenotaph in course of
preparation for him at the Church of the Invalides.
What was meant to foster national pride and patriotism
proved to be, in truth, an aliment to Bonapartism.
When the new Session of Parliament began, the fall
of the Ministry was plainly imminent. Lord Melbourne,
tired of his position, but truly attached to the Queen,
talked over the situation with the Prince, who had forced
himself out of his youthful distaste to politics, and was
gathering information impartially. One of his special
objects was, as he told Stockmar, that nothing uncon
stitutional should be done, and that the Queen should
come out of the crisis this time with more eclat than
she had done on a previous occasion. A husband could
say what no other man could say to his Sovereign, and
explain that private friendships must not interfere with
public interests. Moreover, as a wife, she was far less
dependent for happiness on her ladies than previously,
in the loneliness of her throne. Sir Robert Peel also
F

66 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
made known how much less were the changes he
desired than she had apprehended, when she fancied
all the familiar faces were to be expelled. Meantime,
a vote of want of confidence left the Government in a
majority of one. A Dissolution followed, and brought
in so distinctly Conservative a majority that the Ministry
had no alternative but resignation. And, as had been
already determined, three ladies— the Duchesses of
Bedford and Sutherland, and the Marchioness of Nor-
manby — gave up their posts at the same time, not without
tears on the part of their royal mistress, who could,
however, keep up her affectionate intercourse with them
in private.
Lord Melbourne, on his last interview as Premier with
the Queen, told her, " You will find great support in the
Prince, he is so able." And the day after he wrote to
her —
"Lord Melbourne has formed the highest opinion of his Royal
Highness's judgment, temper and discretion, and he cannot hut feel
a great consideration and security in the reflection that he is leaving
your Majesty in a situation in which your Majesty has the in
estimable advantage of such advice and assistance."
The Queen complained of Peel being so shy that it
made her shy, and Mr. Greville advised Sir Robert
to approach the Prince on the common ground of arts,
literature and tastes. Intimacy and mutual esteem soon
grew up. Sir Robert Peel said to Mr. Pemberton,
Attorney-General for the Duchy of Cornwall, that: —

THE FINE ARTS COMMISSION, 1841. 67
" I should find in him one of the most extraordinary young men
I had ever met. So it proved. His aptitude for business was
wonderful ; the dullest and most intricate matters did not escape
or weary his attention, his judgment was very good, his readiness
to listen to any suggestions, though against his own opinions,
was constant, and though I saw his temper often tried, yet in the
course of twenty years I never once saw it disturbed, nor witnessed
any signs of impatience."
Intercourse with a premier was never again so close
and intimate as it had been during the four years, during
which the young Queen regarded Lord Melbourne as her
chief director; but Sir Robert Peel, a highly-cultivated
man of great conscientiousness and courtesy, as well as of
artistic tastes, proved a congenial spirit to the royal pair.
He said afterwards, that recollecting his own share in the
curtailment of Prince Albert's income, he expected the
introduction with some embarrassment, but was instantly
set at ease by the frank and friendly manner with which
he was met.
One of his first measures was to propose to place the
Prince at the head of a Royal Commission, to enquire
whether the re-building of the Houses of Parliament did
not afford an opportunity for the encouragement of the
Fine Arts in England. The Prince was well pleased,
but stipulated that the appointment should be absolutely
unconnected with party views, and recommended that they
should exclude artists, so as to give greater freedom of
consideration. It was really the Prince's first initiation
into public life, bringing him into connection with the
f 2

68 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
leading men of the country, and he always declared it
taught him more than anything else had done. He
prepared his opening speech as chairman with great care,
though it was not his first English speech. That, more
than a year before, he had previously rehearsed in private
to the Queen, that she might correct any mistakes in
accent or idiom.
He threw himself into the whole work with the
thoroughness of one who seemed to have made his motto,
" Be not ignorant of anything, in a great matter or a
small." " He talked so naturally and argued so fairly,"
said Sir Charles Eastlake, " that two or three times I quite
forgot who he was."
And when it was proposed that Germans should be
employed on the frescoes, their work at Munich being
much admired, the Prince gratified his auditors by saying,
that in all that related to practical dexterity, the English
were particularly skilful. " Even to the varnish on
coaches, it is surprising how much more perfect the
English practice is than that which one sees on the
Continent." On November 9th, 1841, was born the heir of the
kingdom, by birth Duke of Cornwall, by creation Prince
of Wales. While the Queen was laid up, all the boxes
from the Foreign Office were sent with their keys, for the
Prince to deal with, as indeed the guidance of our foreign
policy was his special care, and on this one occasion, he

CHRISTENING OF PRINCE OF WALES, 1842. 69
began to show the hand that moved. It was decided to
request the King of Prussia, Frederick William IV, to
become sponsor, as the principal Protestant sovereign in
Europe, and likewise one who took an ardent interest
in religious subjects, though his measures, such as the
attempted fusion of Lutherans and Calvinists in his
dominions, were not always as well judged as they were
well intentioned. The choice was not quite popular.
English High Churchmen disapproved of a godfather not
belonging to the Anglican Church, and dreaded attempts
of the same kind as had been made in Prussia, and the
Prussians themselves feared an endeavour to introduce
Anglicanism. Baron Bunsen, the trusted minister and
ambassador of Prussia, had an English wife, and was on
friendly terms with both Royal Families, and this increased
the alarm.
The other Continental powers dreaded some intrigue,
but did not find their fears justified, though King Frederick
William came in person to England. His visit was
thoroughly enjoyed by both himself and his hosts, and the
christening which took place on January 25th, was con
ducted with much reverence. There was a full choral
service, and Prince Albert's good taste was shown, for
when a new anthem was offered to him for the conclusion
of the service, he said, " No. If the service ends with an
anthem, we shall all go out criticising the music. We
will have something we all know — something in which we

70 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
can all join, something devotional. The 'Hallelujah
Chorus,' we shall all join in that with all our hearts."
The King formed a strong friendship with both the
Queen and her husband. He remained long enough to
see her open Parliament, and as his Minister afterwards
wrote to Stockmar, always thought with pleasure "of
that never to be forgotten time."
Prince Albert's only brother was about to marry the
Princess Alexandrine of Baden, and it was a great
disappointment to both brothers, that in the anxious state
of affairs in England, with a terrible deficit in the revenue,
disturbances in the pottery and iron districts, and wars
impending in Afghanistan and China, Prince Albert felt
that he could not be absent from the Queen's side. As
a compensation, the bride and bridegroom were invited
to make their wedding trip to England, and accordingly
they came in July.
It was a trying moment, with such a deficiency of
revenue, that the income tax was for the first time im
posed since the war, the Queen and Prince endeavouring
to render it less unpalatable by subjecting their own
property to its operation. In all this, the Prince worked
heartily with the Ministry, and in order to stimulate
trade in its depressed condition, invitations were issued
for a magnificent fancy ball at Buckingham Palace,
where everyone was to appear in British manufactures,
the royal pair themselves as Edward III. and Philippa,

THE KHYBER PASS, 1842. 71
the first great promoters of the English loom — but
unluckily also the conquerors of France, so that a great
ferment arose at Paris at a report that King John
of France was to figure there in chains!
Indeed the entertainment was given with sorrowful
hearts, for just then had been received the tidings of
the massacre in the Khyber Pass, the first disaster to
British arms that had occurred since the American
War of Independence, and there were months of much
anxiety before the misfortune was in any way re
trieved ; but it drew the Prince's attention to military
matters, and in the great Duke of Wellington he
found one who, to a certain extent, would attend to
his suggestions. The first step taken, however, was
one which savoured more of principle than of ex
pediency, and which was doubly remarkable as coming
from a young man of foreign birth and breeding, namely
the putting an end to the system of avenging insulted
honour by a challenge to mortal combat ; a custom
which had perhaps been almost needful as a protection
in the ages of barbarism and violence, but which
had since become an abuse. The man who refused
or avoided a duel was branded as a coward, and the
unwritten code of every army forced him to resign his
commission, or, if a civilian, society turned its back on
him. The penalties of the law, which treated the death
or other injuries inflicted like any other act of violence,

72 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
were so eluded as to be of little effect ; and it was
virtually in the power of a bad man so to force a duel
on an inoffensive person as to leave him no alternative
between fighting and contumely. Moreover, the disuse
of the rapier, and adoption of pistols, had greatly added
to the chances of a fatal issue.
Monarchs and statesmen had endeavoured to prevent
the custom, but in vain ; though in England religious
opinions had done something, and a feeling among
the more reasonable part of the community had arisen
that there was true moral courage in avoiding the
possibility of becoming a murderer. The Prince felt
enabled to take the initiative, and consulted the Duke
of Wellington, who had thought over the question and
at first doubted the possibility of interference, though
he undertook to enquire into the working of the Courts
of Honour that existed in Bavaria.
Other old officers feared that quarrels might rankle
if there were no such mode of settlement, and there
would be no restraint on practical jokes, or on rude
nesses to ladies of which the law could not take
notice, but which their male relations were expected
to avenge. The Prince, after all this had been
brought before him, wrote an excellent letter to the
Duke :—
"Honour," said he, "abstractedly taken is invulnerable. It is a
treasure that nobody can take from us  But there is an honour

ABOLITION OF DUELLING, 1842. 73
based on the opinion of the world, and therefore dependant upon
others. The person whose honour (in this sense of the word) has
been injured must have a remedy by which he can recover the
treasure taken from him  It is therefore from a sense of justice
that it becomes necessary to consider what other remedy should be
granted if the only one at present acknowledged is to be prosecuted
with all severity."
The wish of the Prince was for a Court of Honour,
but this was finally decided to be impracticable, and
the following declaration was added to the Articles of
War, that it is " suitable to the character of honour
able men to apologise and offer redress for wrong or
insult committed, and equally so for the party aggrieved
to accept frankly and cordially explanation and apologies
for the same."
This practically extinguished the system, and though
some foolish and impudent acts are sometimes com
mitted by those who are base enough to take advantage
of their impunity, the cessation has proved to be a
most beneficial relief from the oppression of a barbarous
custom. It was also found that the treating of men possessed
of that mania for notoriety which made them threaten
the sovereign's life, as either crazy or guilty of treason,
only served to encourage others.
A deformed man actually attempted another personal
attack on the Queen that same summer. Sir Robert
Peel felt the horror of it so much that when, as he was
consulting with the Prince, the Queen suddenly entered

74 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
the room, he was overcome even to tears. It was
decided to make a good flogging and eighteen months'
imprisonment the punishment, and this almost put a
stop to these acts of violence.
The scheme for the summer had been to visit King
Leopold, and at his court meet some of the members
of the French royal family, the Duchess of Orleans
being a cousin of Prince Albert ; but this plan was
prevented by the melancholy accident which caused
the death of the Duke of Orleans, and a voyage to
Scotland was chosen instead, the first of many visits
which were the great delight and relaxation from the
tread-mill of cares and state. The scenery, the historical
traditions, the romance which seems crystallized in the
crags and castles — the hearty homely people — delighted
the Prince ; and at Edinburgh, all the time he could
spare from public ceremonies was devoted to visiting
the museums and other literary and scientific institu
tions, where his intelligence and knowledge were an
equal surprise and delight to professors, only too much
used to careless and weary visitors. Of the ornitho
logical collection he shewed an especial knowledge,
formed no doubt on his own little museum at Rosenau.
"The people," wrote Mr. Anson, "look on him as the
great patron of all arts and sciences." Testimonies of
appreciation were all the more welcome to him as he
always feared that he was considered as an alien. He

VISIT TO LOUIS PHILIPPE, 1843. 75
copied and sent to Mr. Anson the sentence in Hallam's
Constitutional History, where, with regard to William
III., the expression is used, " his foreign origin, always
a crime in English eyes," though he declared that he
had never personally met with anything but kindness.
The ministers knew by that time they might rely on
him. Lord Aberdeen told Stockmar how satisfactory
it was to see the Queen leaning on his judgment, and
how gently he exercised his authority, never giving a
decided opinion on any point without first consulting
the Queen. Stockmar's own description runs : " There
is in him a practical talent, by means of which he, in a
moment, seizes what is really important in any matter,
drives his talons into it, like a vulture into his prey,
and flies off with it to his nest."
While these consultations were pending, the Princess
Alice was born on April 25th, 1843, and in August
the long projected visit to the French royal family took
place, who received the Queen at the Chateau d'Eu.
Louis Philippe had been a great friend of the Duke of
Kent ; his daughter, the Queen of the Belgians, was
much beloved by Queen Victoria ; the widowed Duchess
of Orleans was a cousin of Prince Albert's, and there
was strong family feeling to make the meeting both
affectionate and joyous. The Foreign Secretary, the
Earl of Aberdeen, accompanied the Queen, but the
only political question touched upon was the marriage of

76 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
the two young Spanish princesses, Queen Isabella and
her sister Louisa. Prince Albert recorded in a letter
to Stockmar, " the declaration of Louis Philippe to
Aberdeen, that he would not give his son to Spain
even if he were asked : and Aberdeen's answer that, ex
cepting one of his sons, any aspirant whom Spain
might choose would be acceptable to England."
This related to Isabella herself, and the French were
equally afraid of her espousing one of the Coburg
princes, as the Portuguese Queen, Maria de Gloria,
had actually done. The bestowal of the Infanta was
also to be considered, and the conclusion was that the
two governments would approve of the Queen's marriage
to one of the princes of her own family, but that no
son of Louis Philippe should marry her sister, until
the chances of the Infanta's succession to the throne
were removed by heirs being born to the Queen. All
then seemed satisfactorily arranged so as to prevent
either power from acquiring too great a preponder
ance in the Peninsula. Louis Philippe told the Prince
that his family felt as if they had been placed under a
ban and treated like lepers by all Europe, and expelled
from the society of reigning houses ; and they there
fore rated very highly the visit of the most powerful
sovereign in Europe.
On the morning of January 29th, 1844, the Duke
of Saxe-Coburg died almost suddenly, at sixty years

DEATH OF D UKE OF SAXE-COB URG, 1 844. 77
of age. He had been greatly beloved and honoured
by both his sons, and the blow fell very heavily upon
them. It was an additional trouble in Prince Albert's
grief that no one in England outside his immediate
family could be expected to share in the sorrow for a
German Prince almost unknown.
"Here we sit together," he writes, "poor Mama, Victoria and
niyself, and weep, with a great, cold public around us, insensible as
stone. To have some sympathetic friends at hand would be a great
solace  With him it is well. I share your belief that his
would have been a dreary old age, and even were not my faith strong
in the Providence which shapes all things for our good, I should find
consolation in this. Still, for us the loss is terrible. The parent
stem has been levelled by the storm, and the branches which are
scattered all over the world must now strike separate roots for them
selves. May love, friendship, harmony, keep them all together."
The presence of the Prince was required in Gotha, and
leaving the Queen of the Belgians as a companion to his
wife in this their first separation, he went to his brother
during the Easter recess of Parliament. He arrived at
Gotha on March 31st, to be greeted by his brother and
their step-mother and grandmother. It was a time of
much and deep consideration, and the elder brother
takes the opportunity of drawing a portrait of his
brother, which we here translate : —
" When all are dead who knew Prince Albert, any person attempt
ing to depict him merely from his letters and official speeches and
writings, would be only able to give a one-sided representation of his
very superior but very peculiar nature. No one would — even from
the evidence now held as most conclusive — form an idea of the
almost marvellous contrasts that slumbered in his nature, or the

78 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
contradictions contending against each other in his upright spirit.
His gentle amiability was really coupled with such a critical sternness
as to be almost a psychological riddle. The great self-sacrificing
affection sometimes was changed into painful coldness, and he was
often on the borders of that dangerous temptation to those in powerful
and exalted positions, of imputing views and motives suggested by
contempt of mankind. Yet never in my life have I met with anyone
who had so pure a sympathy for humanity in the abstract. All that
is beautiful and noble which is expressed by the term ' a philanthropic
soul' was always at work in him. It wa? his perpetual thought how
to make men happy, and yet he could be very hard on an individual
man. Then his keen, logical understanding came into full play, and
with unmerciful argument he pulled to pieces other people's opinions
and actions. It was as if the whole rich music of his heart tones, like
that of an organ, had been shut up at a single touch. But if he was
a ruthless critic, alike in politics, art and science, no friend who
knew him well could fail to perceive the deep sources of his judg
ments formed by acute reflection.
" He was by nature the foe of all half-truths, a despiser of false
hoods, a persecutor of conventional phrases, and as the weakness of men
and their doings came more sharply and strongly before his judgment
than it did to others, the battle of life rendered him more severe and
opinionative in his conclusions. As he became more wrapped up in
his own doctrines, he lost much of his natural cheerfulness, and
pleasure in his own vocations.
"I am far from maintaining that it was by English life and
manners that my brother's nobly-framed nature became morbid with
' the pale cast of thought,' but u passage in a letter to King Leopold,
in connection with a different subject, and spoken generally, illus
trates what I mean. ' An Englishman does not know what to be
froh means. When they laugh, it is to see a fellow-citizen torn to
pieces. If there is a fete, it is so much trouble ; and if it turns out
tolerable, they always say, ' It went off very well,' as if a task was
over. In America it is said to be worse, for a mirthful man is
a rarity. It is a question whether a small portion of the aim of
life should not be afforded to avoid wasting this gift of Heaven in
needless unpleasantness."
Some of this impression is of course owing to that

STOCKMAR, 1844. 79
foreign incapacity for understanding us, which made
Commines long ago say, that the English enjoyed them
selves sadly, even while we knew our country as " merry
England ; " something also to the earnestness, good or
bad, which always underlies our playfulness, and a good
deal to the mutual action of the English on the Prince,
and of the Prince on the English, which froze up all
geniality and freedom in their intercourse. We must
confess this, even while we own that his influence did
much towards the institution of those more innocent
recreations that he desired for us. And the Duke
adds, while doing full justice to Stockmar's faithful
ness, wisdom and general excellence, that there was
something in the Baron's influence that assisted in
producing this tone of depression, and craving for
the sympathy of mutual comprehension. "He was a
faithful comrade, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy,
but he could never have been a responsible servant
to withstand any action of his master, or to combat for
the sake of his own ideas," and thus "with much
loftiness of thought in Stockmar's circle, there was also
engendered a narrowness of spirit (Kasten Qeist) almost
leading to claims of infallibility."
There is a key to a great deal in these shrewd observa
tions by one who thoroughly knew both Prince Albert
and Stockmar.
The stay in Germany was short, and the Prince

80 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
returned in time for the reception of a most unexpected
visit from the Tzar, Nicholas I., who came with only two
days' notice, at a very inopportune moment, when the
Court was in deep mourning, though there was plenty of
popular enthusiasm for so distinguished a guest, looking
as he did every inch a king, and with more inches than
most kings.
He had been in England a good many years before, as
Grand Duke, and his object in now coming thither was, no
doubt, to discover the intentions of England with regard
to Turkey. Ever since the Russian power had become an
Empire, there had been a longing to absorb Turkey.
This was ambitious and political, as regarded the
possession of the great ports communicating with the
Mediterranean Sea, and also religious in the desire to
drive Mahometanism out of Europe, and re-establish
Christianity at Constantinople. There can be little
doubt that Nicholas was bent on discovering what
would be the line likely to be taken by England in
case of any attack upon the Ottoman power, which he
conceived to be rapidly on the way to ruin. He was a
man with many elements of greatness, of magnificent
stature, and noble countenance, he and his sister being —
it was said — the handsomest man and woman in Europe,
but he was a thorough autocrat, keeping down discontent
and rebellion with an iron heel, and he could not brook
opposition. He expected to win over the English to his

VISIT OF NICHOLAS L, 1844. 81
interests by personal contact, and thus, when the oppor
tunity served, to induce them to join in the dismember
ment of Turkey ; but he could obtain no assurance such
as could induce him to detail the whole of his plans. The
Prince, Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, all answered
in the same sense, but very cautiously ; and Nicholas was
so much struck by the ability of the first mentioned, as to
tell Lord Aberdeen that he wished Prince Albert were
his own son. In conversation he paid the compliment
of hoping that they might meet on a battle-field on the
same side. The Prince was about to express a hope that
there would be no battle-fields, but checked himself lest
he should seem to imply condemnation of the Russian
policy. Windsor, Eton, a grand review, and the Ascot races,
were all admired by the visitor, and though a certain,
" almost savage " expression about the eyes was observed
at times, there remained much admiration and even
affectionate sympathy for him, a feeling that he acted from
principles of duty, that "his immense power weighed
heavily upon him," and that he thought himself extremely
just while he was kept in ignorance of the corruption,
oppression and misery under him.
The next sovereign who visited Windsor was Louis
Philippe, the first French King who had ever been in
England, except King John. He came as a friend, and
as one who already knew England well, having taken

82 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
refuge there during the Great Revolution. He enjoyed
going to Twickenham, where he had lived for five
years, and had much familiar conversation with his
hosts. His opinion of the Prince, given to the Queen,
must be recorded : —
" Oh ! he will do wonders ; he is so wise, he is not in a hurry, he
gains so much by being known. He will always give you good
advice. Do not think I say so in flattery. No ! no ! It is from my
heart. He will be like his uncle, equally wise and good. That is
what I have just been writing to my good Louise. He will be of the
greatest use to you, and will keep well at your side if a time of vicissi
tudes should come— such as I hope may never be — but, after all, no
one can tell."
This impression was always made on those who came
into close communication with the Prince. Many tes
timonies have since come to light Disraeli noted that
he had been highly educated, but not beyond his
capacity — a sagacious remark, since the cultivation of
those marked for a high position is not at all inapt to
be carried beyond the powers of their intellect and
character. But Prince Albert's native ability was fully
able to profit by and keep in due proportion to practical
life whatever he studied. Samuel Wilherforce (after
wards Bishop of Oxford and of Winchester), and Field-
Marshal Lord Seaton, both declared him one of the
cleverest men they had ever conversed with ; and Lord
Ashley (Earl of Shaftesbury) found him thoroughly able
to comprehend and sympathise with beneficent schemes

ECONOMY, 1844. 83
for diminishing the oppressions of labour. Few characters
could bear closer inspection, but publicity was a great
trial to him. Once, when driving with the Duke of
Bedford, to shoot at Bagshot, he complained much of
the manner in which all proceedings and motions of
the Court were publicly discussed, saying that on the
Continent the Government knew by its secret agents
what the people were about, but here they knew nothing
about other people's affairs, and everybody knew about
theirs ; that whatever they did or were about to do was
known. He might have complained with justice that people
thought they knew a good deal more than was true,
and grumbled accordingly. Yet the entertainment of
the Russian and French monarchs had been carried on,
as Sir Robert Peel said in his speech, " without adding
one tittle to the burdens of the country. And I am
not required," he continued, " on the part of her Majesty
to press for the extra expenditure of one single shilling
on account of these unforeseen causes of increased expen
diture. I think that to state this is only due to the
personal credit of her Majesty, who insists upon it that
there shall be every magnificence required by her station,
but without incurring a single debt."
The accomplishment of this noble economy was justly
attributable to the Prince as head, and to Stockmar as
hand. The year was most prosperous. The Income
G 2

84 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Tax had enabled many duties to be diminished or to
be taken off, and an increase in the naval and military
force to be made ; and it was hoped that in three
years' time it might be altogether taken off. The Prince
rejoiced, and while detailing the success to his friend,
adds : " What elasticity in the resources of this great
country, and of trade generally ! "
Just at this time a report obtained currency that the
Prince was to bear the title of King Consort. The
Queen wished for it. " He ought to be, and really is
above me in everything," were the words of this loving
wife; "and therefore I wish that he should be equal in
rank with me." Unknown to himself, she had discussed
the matter with Stockmar, and caused him to enter on
it, with Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen. All the
three thought it would be a highly unadvisable step, and
the idea was dropped ; but enough of the discussion
had leaked out to give grounds for a paragraph in the
Morning Chronicle intimating that the title would
probably be the preliminary to a demand for a larger
income. The question whether this were the case was
put to Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons, and
he declared the report to be wholly unfounded. Prince
Albert himself wrote to his confidant : —
" The Royal Consort discussion was excessively unpleasant 
The affair must have been a piece of Opposition tactics to squeeze
Peel between Victoria and the public. He, too, was startled and

ROYAL CONSORT DISCUSSION, 1845. 85
afraid the ' authority ' might have emanated from the Court. I seized
the opportunity to discuss the question with him thoroughly, and also
that of the Commandership-in-Chief.
" With regard to the title, the upshot was that it is not titles that
are esteemed here ; that the public are inclined to attach ridicule to
anything of the kind ; that there is a lack of good precedents ; that
there are great Constitutional difficulties.
" In regard to the Commandership-in-Chief, it was that the army
would be greatly pleased by it, that, politically, it would be the best
arrangement ; but that I should have to do the whole work myself,
and must not delegate it to anyone else, if I am to be a real gainer by
the appointment ; that this would absorb all my time and attention,
and it is a question whether it is right to sacrifice for such an offer
the duties which I owe to Victoria and the children.
" Peel regards my present position as extremely good, and thinks
that, all in all, the monarchy never stood so well. He says that,
despite the encroachments of democracy, there was something (con
sidering the sex of the Sovereign, the private character of the family,
&c.) in the position that marked strongly on the feelings of the
nation.'' It is curious to recollect that it was generally believed
that the old Duke only continued commander-in-chief to
keep the Prince from the office. A cap for the soldiers,
with a peak behind as well as in front, so as to keep the
rain from their necks, was said to be devised by the
Prince. It was not beautiful, and was much laughed at.
Sir Robert Peel had become an intimate personal friend,
as well as Lord Aberdeen, and it was with great pain
that the royal pair heard his forebodings, that his liberal
measures were dividing his own party, and that he should
not long retain his majorities.
There was a lull at the Prorogation, and the Prince had
the pleasure of taking his wife to see the haunts of his

86 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
childhood, and of showing her Germany for the first time.
They were joined by the King and Queen of the Belgians, '
and the King and Queen of Prussia, and all ascended
the Rhine together, from Cologne to Mayence, whence
they drove to Coburg.
It was a real delight to the Queen, to be here welcomed
as her Albert's wife, instead of his being only considered
as her appendage. Her mother had preceded her, " the
staircase was full of cousins," and all was joy except for
the sorely missing of the father, who had been so much
beloved. Many old friends were assembled in Coburg and Gotha,
such as the Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden, and their
son ; and the admiration Prince Albert felt for the King
of Prussia, Frederick William IV, was enhanced by all
he saw and heard. The dream of his life, the union of
Germany under Prussia as an Empire, began to develope
itself more and more, amid all his intercourse with his
relations, and the delight of introducing his wife to his
native home.
Rosenau wras especially d elightful to the Queen, because
the apartment which the two princes had occupied was
(and still is) entirely unaltered. " It is," she wrote,
quite in the roof, with a tiny little bed-room on each side,
in one of which they both used to sleep with Florshutz
their tutor. The view is beautiful, and the paper is full
of holes from their fencing ; and the very same table is

THE POTATO DISEASE, 1845. 87
there on which they were dressed when they were little."
Day after day went by in extreme enjoyment alike of
the family meetings, the affection of the people, the
unrestraint of the life, and the beautiful scenery, more
delightful to the Prince from long association, and doubly
charming to the Queen for his sake. That month of
August was probably one of the happiest they ever spent.
On the way home, there was a brief informal meeting at
Treport, with the French royal family, and the whole
expedition was a perfect success.
But there was trouble lying in wait at home. The
weather that had favoured the woodland drives and
village festivities at Coburg, was helping to foster the
disease that was destroying the potato crops, and bringing
on distress in England and famine in Ireland. Potatoes
had within the last century become the poor man's root.
The Irish lived almost wholly on the " pratie," and the
English labourer supplemented the bread, which was the
staple food of his family, with potatoes from his garden
or allotment ground. Poor soil was no drawback,
and the crop had hitherto been a certainty, so that
when the sickly smell of the plants was followed by
the withering of the haulm and the rotting of the tuber,
almost universally, it was, as it were, a proclamation of
famine. To lower the price of corn was the only means of
relieving distress; and thus was suddenly accomplished

88 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
that which had been the aim of the Liberal party for many
years back. The Anti Corn-Law League under the
guidance of Cobden and Bright, had been gaining strength
year after year, and louder and louder rang their denuncia
tion of the duties, which protected British agriculture
from being swamped by the importation of foreign-growrn
corn. Peel, though hitherto Conservative, believed that the
measure would have to be granted. All were agreed
that in the present emergency, the ports must be thrown
open, and corn admitted free of duty. Peel would have
done so by an order of Council, but he owned himself
convinced that the duty could never again be imposed,
and his Protectionest colleagues would not go along with
him ; and while this was under consideration, a letter
appeared from Lord John Russell, who, as a Whig,
had been in favour of a moderate duty, now taking the
entire repeal of the Corn Laws as part of the policy of
his own party.
It was a complication in which Peel felt bound to
resign, and accordingly Lord John Russell was summoned
to form an administration ; but there were unmanageable
elements to combine, and he gave up the attempt. Sir
Robert Peel then had to return to the helm, and carry
through the measure, supported by the warm admiration
and gratitude of the Queen and Prince, but knowing that
he was splitting up the party which had brought him into

MINISTERIAL CRISIS, 1845. 89
power, and incurring the strong indignation of his most
esteemed friends, as a recreant to their cause.
The Prince was much relieved. "We are in high
glee," he wrote, " having survived a Ministerial crisis
of fourteen days' duration, and are now standing exactly
where we did before, upon our feet ; whereas, during
the crisis, we were very nearly standing on our heads."
But for the sudden requirements of the famine, it
was believed by Peel and Aberdeen that they should
have carried their party gradually along with them;
and as it was, all the Cabinet was retained, except Lord
Stanley. In this crisis the Queen received credit from
all parties for impartiality and freedom from party
spirit, and the Prince, rejoicing in the testimony, observed :
" To my mind, the exaltation of Royalty is possible only
through the personal character of the Sovereign. When
a person enjoys complete confidence, we desire for him
more power and influence in the conduct of affairs ; but
confidence is of slow growth." The Duke of Wellington,
though greatly averse to the Repeal, decided that "he
must stick to the country and the Queen ; " but the
greater number of the old Tories were bitterly grieved
and incensed, full of forebodings which, though slow of
accomplishment, have been only too well fulfilled, of
the depreciation of English land, and the decay of her
food-producing powers.
So the year 1846 came in sadly. There was hardly

90 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
a sound potato in the English market, Ireland was
absolutely starving, every English cottager was straitened,
and wages were terribly low; so that the loss of the
food that had been grown without expense made the
cry loud and imperative for lowering the price of bread.
The Queen could hardly repress her agitation as she
made her speech at the opening of Parliament, and
came to the sentence : —
" I have to lament that in consequence of a failure of the potato
crop in many parts of the United Kingdom, there will be a deficient
supply of an article of food which forms the chief subsistence of great
numbers of my people. The disease by which the plant has been
affected has prevailed to the utmost extent in Ireland. I have
adopted all such precautions as it was in my power to take for the
purpose of alleviating the calamity, and I shall confidently rely on
your co-operation in devising such other means for effecting the same
benevolent purpose as may require the sanction of the Legislature."
Her heart was indeed bleeding for her people, and
though all mention of the Corn Laws had been carefully
omitted, all knew what was meant. Indeed, no one
doubted that immediate abolition of the duty was
required during the present distress; the question was,
as to its future imposition according to Peel's sliding-
scale. The debate on the Address was hot in both Houses,
but nothing to that which followed, when, on January
27th, 1846, Peel brought forward his resolutions, and
was hotly attacked as a traitor to his party by Disraeli,
who, next to Lord George Bentinck, had become the

REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS, 1846. 91
leader of the Protectionists. Prince Albert, very anxious
and interested, went to hear Sir Robert's speech, and
in the wrath of the crisis, Lord George Bentinck, on
the twelfth night of the debate, said : —
" I cannot but think he listened to ill advice when, on the first
night of this great discussion, he allowed himself to be seduced by
the First Minister of the Crown to come down to the House to usher
in and to give eclat, and, as it were, reflection from the Queen, to
give the semblance of a personal sanction of her Majesty to a measure
which, be it for good or for evil, a great majority at least of the
landed aristocracy of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, imagine
fraught with deep injury, if not ruin, to them."
There had, of course, been no seduction in the case ;
it had been a mere matter of desire to hear the speech
that was to bring in what all felt to be a gradual
revolution, and nobody was more penetrated than the
Prince with a sense of the expedience of his manifesting
no partiality. The attack was, therefore, very vexatious,
and was only excused by the irritation of what was felt
as treachery in the camp. It was true that Prince
Albert's heart was with Peel, but this was only mani
fested in private letters, and in public the endeavour
was not to show the least bias; so that, finding what
displeasure his appearance had given, he thenceforth
absented himself.
Peel's measure was carried in the Commons by a
majority chiefly composed of his opponents, against the
larger proportion of his original party, and in the

92 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Lords by the guidance of the Duke of Wellington.
Such a state of things made the tenure of the Ministry
most insecure, and there was already the opportunity
ready for fheir overthrow. Ireland had, even before
the famine, been working up into one of her periodical
states of lawless outrage and violence, and the efforts
made by the whole English people to send relief had no
effect in softening her demagogues or gaining the
slightest gratitude. A Bill was required to give power
for the repression of disorders, and in ordinary times
would have been readily passed. The Whig Lords
actually let it pass the Upper House, but in the Lower
there was a coalition of Protectionists and Liberals,
and on June 26th — the very day on which the Repeal
of the Corn Laws received the Assent of the Lords —
the Irish Coercion Bill was defeated by 392 against
219, and Sir Robert Peel felt it impossible to carry on
the Government. Both the Queen and Prince Albert
were much grieved, for they had learnt to consider
him and Lord Aberdeen as close friends ; their senti
ments of mixed Conservatism and Liberalism chimed
in with his, and they were warmly grateful to him
for the chivalrous spirit of self-devotion with which
he had broken with the traditions of his party,
ruptured old friendships, and incurred cruel accusa
tions of treachery for the sake of what he and they
believed to be needful for the country. Whether the

FALL OF THE PEEL MINISTRY, 1846. 93
policy was far-sighted or otherwise, there is no doubt
of the spirit that dictated it, in him as in the Queen
and Prince.
Up to the present century, the Sovereign would have
retained the Ministry he preferred, but the practice of
the Constitution had come to require absolute sub
mission in this respect to the dominant party in the
House. The outgoing Ministry had secured peace with
America on the frontier question, and was concluding
the Sikh war with three brilliant victories.
From the time of his full initiation into business and
assumption of his rightful authority, during the Peel
Ministry, Prince Albert was (as Count Vizthum des
cribes him) : —
" Complete master in his house, and the active centre of an empire
whose power extends to every quarter of the globe. It was a gigantic
task for a young German Prince to think and act for all these millions
of British subjects. All the threads were gathered together in his
hands. Not a single despatch was sent from the Foreign Office which
the Prince had not seen, studied, and, if necessary, altered. Not a
single report of any importance from an ambassador was allowed to be
kept from him. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Secretary
of War, the Home Secretary, the First Lord of the Admiralty, all
handed to him every day just as large bundles of papers as did
the Foreign Office. Everything was read, commented upon, and
discussed. In addition to all this, the Prince kept up private
correspondence with foreign sovereigns, with British ambassadors and
onvoys, with the Governor-General of India, and with the governors
of the various colonies. ... No British Cabinet Minister has ever
worked so hard during the session of parliament, and that is saying a
good deal, as the Prince Consort did for twenty-one years. And the

94 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Ministers come and go, or at any rate if they remain as long in Office
as Palmerston and Russell, they have four or five months' holiday
every year. The Prince had no holidays at all, he was always in
harness. . . If the Crown's game, as Prince Metternich expressed it,
has been well played, this result must be doubly creditable to (Prince
Albert) inasmuch as he could only direct the game and not play it
himself. With what tact and skill he did so, is proved that with the
exception of the British Ministers and a few intimate friends, no one
had any idea of the actual position of the Prince."
He endeavoured to watch over everything, and especi
ally perhaps in the affairs of the Church shewed some
thing of the spirit fostered by the peculiar influence of
the State over religious affairs in Germany, taking as
an instance his letter to Samuel Wilherforce on the
appointment to the See of Oxford, in the autumn of
1845, full of very sensible advice as to the duties of a
Bishop, but with a tone of authority rather inappropriate
as written by a young man of twenty-eight to a Dean
of forty-one years old : —
" Let him never forget the insufficiency of human knowledge and
wisdom, and the impossibility of any man or even any Church to say
'I am right, and I alone am right.' Let him, therefore, be meek,
and liberal, and tolerant to other confessions ; but let him never
forget that he is a representative of the Church of the land, the
maintenance of -which is as important to the country as that of its
Constitution or throne. Let him, therefore, always be conscious that
the Church has duties to fulfil, that it does not exist for itself but for
the people, for the country, and that it ought to have no higher aim
than to be the Church of the people. Let there be, therefore, no
calling for new rights, privileges, grants, &c, but show the zeal and
capacity of the Church to stretch her powers and capabilities to the
utmost for the fulfilment of her sacred duties to the people in minister
ing and teaching."

BISHOP WILBEBFOBCE, 184G. 95
The letter was in fact an essay on ministerial .duties
by one whose education naturally led him to look only
on that side of the Church's vocation ; and so Bishop
Wilherforce understood it. His relations with the
Prince were at this time most agreeable, and Wilherforce
felt that the selection of him as Bishop was a sacrifice,
for it had been planned to make him tutor to the Prince
of Wales. " But," he writes after a visit to Osborne,
in 1846 " they thought it unfair to me to let their
wish for a future and contingent appointment stand in
the way of my present position, and so they gave
me up as tutor, thinking that as friend and adviser
I might be perhaps in many ways as useful."

( 96 )

CHAPTER VII.
THE REVOLUTIONS.
1846-1848.
The Liberal Ministry ¦ — Relations of the Premier and Foreign
Secretary with the Court — The Spanish marriages — Letters of
Prince Albert and the Queen — Attempts to delay the marriage —
The Chancellorship of Cambridge University — The potato famine
— Intervention in Portugal —The Isle of Man and Ardverikie —
The Prince's memorandum on German union — Irish Coercion Bill
— Uneasiness in Europe — The February revolution— Reception
of the exiles — Birth of the Princess Louise — The Chartist pro
cession — The Prince and the working classes — The revolution in
Germany — The Prince's scheme — Meeting of the Frankfort
assembly — Anxiety of the Prince — Life at Balmoral — The
Hungarian rebellion and dissolution of the Frankfort Diet —
Science at Cambridge — The Prince and Bishop Wilherforce.
The new Ministry had Lord John Russell as Premier;
Lord Palmerston, already a veteran, at the Foreign
Office, much against the personal wishes of the Queen
and Prince ; Earl Grey as Colonial, and Sir George
Grey as Home Secretary. The Duke of Wellington,
in deference to the strongly expressed wishes of the
Queen, remained Commander-in-Chief.

THE RUSSELL MINISTRY, 1846. 97
There was less perhaps of intimate confidence and
intercourse, than there had been with the last two Prime
Ministers. Melbourne had been an almost fatherly
director, Peel an intimate friend, while in the words of
Lord Campbell (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster),
Lord John's " deportment to the Queen is most respectful,
but he always remembers that as she can do no wrong, he
is responsible for all measures of her Government. He is
enough at Court to show that he enjoys the constitutional
confidence of the sovereign without being domiciled there
as a favourite." Lord Palmerston, moreover, was ex
perienced, and unlike Lord Aberdeen, little disposed to
refer more than he could help to the Queen, and inclined
to avoid what he considered as interference from the
Prince. As an interlude in political affairs, came the Prince's
opening of the docks at Liverpool, and taking pos
session of the new buildings at Osborne. Endeavours
were made to relieve Irish destitution, by huge private
subscriptions, spent in rice and Indian meal, and jjby
Government works, chiefly on roads and bridges, but
unfortunately not on drainage or reclaiming waste land ;
and the distress and disaffection still continued.
In the midst of the autumn rest came the astounding
news that Louis Philippe had broken his royal word, given
to the Queen in person at Eu, and that at the very
same time, Queen Isabella of Spain, was to be married
H

98 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
to her cousin, the Duke of Cadiz, and her sister, the
Infanta Louisa Fernanda to the Duke of Montpensier,
third son to the King of the French.
The excuse for this was, that Leopold of Coburg, a
brother of the husband of the Queen of Portugal, had been
proposed for Queen Isabella. It seems that the Queen-
mother, Christina, had written a letter to the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg, who was then at Lisbon. She showed it
to Sir Henry Bulwer the British Envoy, afterwards Lord
Dalling, and though he told her his Government was
pledged not to support any such proposal, she asked
him to let it travel with his despatches, which, as a
matter of courtesy, he could not refuse.
The matter was further complicated by one of Lord
Palmerston's hasty despatches, never submitted to the
Queen or Prince, only sent to Lord John Russell, on a
Sunday morning just as he was going to Church, when
he read it hastily, without seeing the danger it raised
by the mere mention of Prince Leopold. In point of
fact, both the Spanish Queens, mother and daughter,
would have preferred that prince, but the Spanish
Government resented the notion of being dictated to
by England, still more by Portugal; and therefore
acceded to Louis Philippe's offers, which he justified by
declaring the Coburg proposal to be a breach of the
engagement between himself and England. He also
took the convenient opportunity of announcing the

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES, 1846. 99
marriage when Queen Victoria, her husband and Lord
Palmerston, were all out yachting together, so that
no immediate opinion could be expiessed.
Prince Albert wrote to his brother on September
17th:— " You have already been surprised at the suddeu and strange issue
of the Spanish affairs. Nothing can have been more faithless than
the whole course of the French policy. We have been led on and
triumphed over in the dark— a pitiful triumph to have deceived a
friend, almost an only one, and at the very moment when he was making
a sacrifice to friendship. For the poor Queens clung to Leopold to
the last, and only gave him up when Bulwer assured them that we
could not vote for him, and were bound to agree to Don Enrique, who,
as a Bourbon, had the support of France.
"Then Bresson profited by the displeasure of the ladies to press
Don Francisco on them, and concluded for Montpensier for the
Infanta. King Louis Philippe had given us his word of honour not
to think of this second marriage till the Queen was married and had
children et cela ne serait pas une affaire politique. Now he explains
that he was released from his word because Leopold was proposed,
contrary to Aberdeen's assurance. A fine invention ! The ' bonne
entente' is trampled on, it cannot be called ' not stirred — not cracked,'
for we are rightly greatly offended, and in Spain the people are in full
uproar. The proverb is true, 'Honesty is the best policy' (Ehrlich
wahrt am langesten)."
Certainly the offence against both political alliance
and private friendship might well be deeply felt by the
Queen and the Prince.
Truthful and honourable themselves, they grieved at
the flat breach of promise of the friend whom they
had esteemed, and resented the implication of similar
bad faith in themselves; they were disappointed at the
H 2

100 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
failure of such an apparently unsuccessful negotiation
as had been made at Cadiz, and Queen Victoria as a '
woman and a mother, felt deeply for the young Spanish
Queen, who was given to a man known to be distasteful
to her, and as it was thought, in the hope that she
would be childless. In every point of view it was a
shock, not diminished by the unmeaning letter that
Queen Marie Amelie was instructed to write to Queen
Victoria, announcing the marriage as if all were smooth
and no objections in the way.
Her Majesty's brief answer shewed grave and dignified
displeasure, and ended with the cutting sentence : " I
crave your pardon, madam, for speaking to you of poli
tics in a time like this ; but I am glad that I can say
for myself that I have always been sincere with you."
Well might Lord Palmerston write to Lord Normanby,
':The Queen has written the King of the French a
tickler." The King of the French was much mortified
by the tone of this " tickler," and sat up for three
nights till four in the morning, to compose his self-
justification, which he addressed to his daughter, the
Queen of the Belgians, to be sent on, of course, to
England, thus trying to shift the accusation of double
dealing to the English Foreign Office, and implying
that Queen Victoria saw through Lord Palmerston's
spectacles. This letter elicited a spirited but most careful reply,

BEMONSTBANCES, 1846. 101
likewise through the medium of Queen Louise, in which
the identity of the policy of Aberdeen and Palmerston
was vindicated, and after going through the whole
course of proceedings, the Queen adds : " I have then
thoroughly considered the whole matter by myself, and
looking at it with no eyes but my own, and I cannot
possibly admit that the King is released from his
pledge." V. R., as she signed this letter, alone appeared in
the matter, but every word was discussed with " her
dear master," as she loved to term her husband in her
familiar notes, and it was as much his as hers. The
hope was that Louis Philippe might be induced at
least to defer the marriage, the Infanta being only in
her sixteenth year, but some infatuation seemed to
possess Louis Philippe, and he persisted, through his
influence over the Spanish Court, in effecting both
marriages at the same time, on October 10th, 1846 ;
thus, as matters turned out, doing far more harm to
himself than to Spain or England, by causing himself
to be suspected by his jealous nation of personal un
scrupulous ambition for family aggrandisement. The
Queen, though much hurt, was ready to relent and
forgive as soon as the deed was done and could not
be undone ; but Prince Albert felt far more sternly.
He wrote to Stockmar that "the worship of truth and
reason had become every day more and more a matter

102 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
of conscience with him," and he felt the whole pro
ceeding as unrighteous in itself, and as a national
insult, all the worse because the French government
thought proper to pretend that it was England that
had been the deceiver.
Great self-command was, however, exercised to prevent
this strong sense of injury from leading to war and
bloodshed between the two nations, and the action was
left to work out its own consequences, though Metternich
said " one does not play tricks with impunity with great
countries." Nevertheless, the first effect of the affront thus put
upon England was that the Austrian, Russian and
Prussian Powers took the opportunity of effecting the
annexation to Austria the little Republic of Cracow,
the last remnant of Polish independence, which had
been guaranteed by the treaties of 1815. Each power
protested, but as they did not combine they were un
heeded. "Sooner would I have been burnt alive,"
wrote Prince Albert, "than have acted like these States.
He much wished a pamphlet to be written on the
subject, but it was thought inexpedient, and his views
were only put forth through an article in the Edinburgh
Review. It was a time of much care and anxiety, for the
keen eyes of statesmen presaged the tempest that was
brewing for the ensuing year, but at home fresh honours

INAUGURATION AT CAMBRIDGE, 1847. 103
were bestowed on the Prince, in the choice of him as
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. His elec
tion was not without opposition, for the Earl of Powis,
as champion of the Welsh Bishoprics, was put in
nomination, and 837 votes were given for him, 953
for the Prince. The minority was so large that there
was some hesitation as to accepting the office, but the
Prince was assured that a refusal would only lead to
a second contest and a more bitter one, and his
inauguration took place on March 25th, 1847, his
installation in the ensuing July. He was requested to
select the poet who was to write the installation ode,
and his choice was of the Laureate, the now aged
Wordsworth. Such compositions are proverbially try
ing, but Wordsworth spoke from his heart, and his
verses were such as to chime in with the general
enthusiasm while avoiding fulsomeness.
" Albert, in thy race we cherish
A nation's strength that will not perish,
While England's scepter'd line,
True to the King of Kings is found,
Like that wise ancestor of thine,
Who threw the Saxon shield o'er Luther's life,
When first above the yells of bigot strife
The trumpet of the living Word
Assumed a voice of deep portentous sound,
From gladdened Elbe to startled Tiber found."
Verses earlier in the poem spoke of the sages of
Cambridge having —

104 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
" Pondered here their country's weal,
Weigh'd the future by the past,
Learned how social frames may last,
And how a land may rule its fate
By constancy inviolate,
Though worlds to their foundations reel,
The sport of faction's hate and godless zeal."
These were words soon realised, and, indeed, at this
very time the kingdom was in a state of great suffering
from the potato famine. In England, in spite of the
opening of the ports, wheat was so scarce that even in
the royal household every one was restricted to a pound
a day, and secondary flour used in the kitchen ; and in
Ireland the sufferings were awful. Living skeletons
dragged themselves to the public works, and often died
on the first exertion. It was hard even to get the dead
buried ; pestilence followed famine, and the two millions
voted by Parliament, and the subscriptions of English
of all ranks and degrees, seemed but as drops in the
ocean of wretchedness.
There was at the same time great scarcity of money
in England, and severe commercial distress. Portugal
was in a state of civil war, between Queen Maria and the
Junta, and an English attempt at mediation, backed by
an English fleet, put an end to the conflict, and enabled
the Government to prevail. It was taken up by the
Opposition in Parliament as "a Coburg family affair."
It really was used as a cause for overthrowing the
already unstable Cabinet. Joseph Hume began the

VISIT TO THE ISLE OF MAN, 1847. 105
attack, but Peel defended the Government, and the
debate, after three days, ended in a count-out of the
Commons, and a majority of 20 in favour of the action
in the Lords.
A dissolution followed, and before the new Parlia
ment met a splendid harvest had relieved the want in
England, and thus, with freer minds, the royal party
yachted in the Hebrides, taking the two eldest children
with them, and on the way visiting the Isle of Man.
To their great amusement a Manx newspaper announced
that Prince Albert led the Prince Regent by the hand.
Another paper said : " The Prince looked pleased with
everything and everybody, and himself too." The Prince
confessed merrily, in a letter to the Duchess of Kent,
that this was true, adding, " Is not this a happy state ?"
Ardverikie, a hunting-lodge on the banks of Loch
Laggan was the resting-place of the travellers during
the mouth of August, in such bad weather as spoilt
most of the out-of-door enjoyment, and gave more time
than sufficient for study and letter-writing, as well as
conversation with Prince Charles of Leiningen, the
QueenJs half-brother. Prince Albert writes : —
" I am deep in German politics with Charles, who understands them
a fond, and we write memorandums with a view to the strengthening
of German unity by means of a living union, and keep pounding
away at Austria as the main obstruction.
" In European politics that power is likely to bring us into a fright
ful complication in Italy. We can see the storm brewing. I am
strongly of opinion that England should declare betimes that it will

106 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
not endure that independent States should be forcibly prevented from
setting about such internal reforms as they shall think for their
advantage. This appears to me the sound basis for us, vis-d-vis of
Germany, Switzerland and Italy. We are frequently inclined to
plunge States into Constitutional reforms towards which they have
no inclination. This I hold to be quite wrong (vide Spain, Portugal,
Greece), although it is Lord Palmerston's hobby ; but, on the other
hand, I maintain that England's true position is to be the defence and
support of States whose independent development is sought to be
impeded from without."
A few days later he says of Lord Grey, who had
just left Ardverikie : —
" There was not one principle contended for by him (and he has
principles, which is more than can be said of all the statesmen of the
day) to which I would not cheerfully subscribe. He is very positive
in his views, fond of discussion, and sticks very firmly to his opinions ;
but he is quite open to argument, and if worsted, is ready to own it at
once, and to adopt the argument by which he was overthrown. ' Yes,
I was wrong,' he will say, the moment he is shown to have been in
error. " Lord Palmerston acts less upon principle ; still, obstinate although
he is, he always gives in when he is driven into a corner by argument."
Lord Palmerston did not delight in being driven into
a corner, and was not disposed to bring more than he
could help to the Prince's notice. With much care
the Prince, acting rather as a German than as the
spokesman of the English throne, drew up a scheme
for German unity, of which it is not needful to enter
into the details ; but part of the last paragraph deserves
notice : —
" My own view is, that the political reformation of Germany lies
entirely in the hands of Prussia, and that Prussia has only to will to
accomplish this result. . . .If Prussia were really to adopt the
plan of reform here chalked out, and to carry it out steadily and

IRISH REPRESSION BILL, 1847. 107
fearlessly, she would become the leading and directing power in
tiermany, which other Governments and peoples would have to
follow, and in this way would come to be regarded as one of the most
important European powers, seeing that in the European scale she
would weigh as Prussia plus Germany. If, on the other hand, she
declines to undertake the guidance of a moderate and systematic
German development, then the vital forces of the nation, driven
onward by the pressure of the times, will find some irregular vent for
themselves and produce convulsions of all sorts, the final issue of
which no human power can foresee."
The first step towards this union was thought to be
taken by the Zollverein toll union, by which a large
proportion of the German States agreed in the customs
imposed on foreign goods, and caused English goods,
among others, to pay duty. Lord Palmerston, there
fore, while wishing for alliance between England and
Germany for mutual protection, strongly discouraged
the Zollverein ; and Stockmar himself thought the
Prince had left Germany too young fully to understand
the bearings of the case, or to be able to propound
what he called a "Regeneration Plan." With his
usual deference to his adviser, the Prince tried to
detain his memorandum till he could consult over it
with Stockmar, but he was too late; it was already
on the way to the King of Prussia, and very soon the
predicted convulsions began to carry matters beyond the
reach of theory.
The new Parliament was forced to meet in the
autumn, to pass a Bill for the control of violence in
Ireland. The rejection of the Conservative measure on

108 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
purely party grounds had caused a prolongation of the
lawless outrages which it was intended to suppress, and,
as Lord Stanley declared, with too much truth, "it
was safer in that island to violate than to obey the law."
The Bill was passed by overwhelming majorities in the
Commons, and without a division in the Lords ; and,
as usual, firmness gradually produced an interval in
the savage turbulence of Ireland.
Everywhere there was a sense of anxiety above and
upheaval below. The Duke of Coburg, who visited
Berlin early in January, 1848, found Frederick William
IV. indisposed to the course recommended alike by
Prince Albert and Bunsen, on account of the favour
with which the English Cabinet treated the revolutionary
tendencies of Italy. Pius IX. had shown a sympathy
with the national feeling against the alien despotism of
Austria which encouraged hope ; but, like Frederick
William, he was beginning to stand aghast at the mani
festations he had himself evoked. The Duke found the
Court of Berlin uneasy under the vague expectation of
a disaster, and when he passed on to Brussels he found
King Leopold full of gloomy forebodings as to the
condition of Paris. " My father-in-law," he said, " will
be driven away like Charles X. The catastrophe is
unavoidable in France, and, in consequence, in Ger
many." Thence the Duke and his suite proceeded to England,

FLIGHT OF LOUIS PHILIPPE, 1848. 109
arriving at Windsor on February 6th. After conver
sations with him, Prince Albert wrote : — ¦
" The Pope is the counterpart of the King of Prussia. Great im
pulsiveness, half-digested political ideas, little acutenesB of intellect,
with a great deal of cultivated intelligence and accessibility to
outward influences. The rock on which both split is the belief
that they can set their subjects in motion and keep the direction and
spread of the movement entirely in their own hands, nay, that they
alone possess the right to control the movement because it emanates
from themselves."
In the same letter he adds : —
" I may not conceal from you the fact that Paris at this moment is
causing us extreme anxiety. Louis Philippe and Guizot show great
political boldness, but they have taken their stand entirely on the old
Bourbon terrain. The beginning of the change, and it may be the
determining momentum, I still hold to have been the Spanish mar
riages." This was written on February 19th. Before a week
was over, Louis Philippe and his family had been ex
pelled from Paris, and were by twos and threes arriving
in England. The prohibition of the Reform banquets
was the last exciting cause, but there were no doubt far
deeper reasons, besides the fickle and excitable nature
of the French, who, when once their royal line had, by
tyranny, oppression, and vice, thrown away the loyalty
once the prime sentiment of the nation, have constantly
sought impossible ideals, and overthrown whatever
Government fell short of them. The Spanish marriages
bad shown a personal and family ambition, which caused

110 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
a distrust of the professions of the Citizen King; the
Duke of Praslin, after a horrible crime, committed
suicide in prison, and the jealous democratic temper
believed that this had been permitted to prevent the
public execution of the representative of one of the
oldest families in France. Much corruption had been
discovered, and, in short, the nation believed that the
Orleans dynasty was found wanting ; and, after their
usual habit, left the destinies of their country in the
hands of the mob of Paris.
The Royal Family in England were deeply affected.
Queen Victoria's generous spirit was profoundly stirred.
All the offence as to the Spanish marriages was forgotten.
Mr. Greville records in his diary : —
" Nothing but the extraordinary good sense of Prince Albert, with
the boundless influence he has over her, keeps her affectionate feelings
under due restraint."
The Duke of Coburg, who was at Windsor, says : —
"The arrival of Louis Philippe in England, and the melancholy
fate of a family so closely connected with our House, kept us daily as
breathless as if we had been directly afflicted by the Revolution. The
agitating circumstances with which nearly the whole Orleans family
had been driven away, and the piteous adventures of many single mem
bers in themselves made a painful impression. It is well known that
the poor Duchess of Montpensier, after many adventures, arrived in
England so entirely devoid of necessaries that the Queen had to send
her clothes before she could appear at Windsor. I myself received
Nemours on his landing at Dover. The Queen sent a special train
to bring him at once to London. It would be wearisome to record all
the scenes of which we were continually wituesses. From my own

THE CHARTIST MEETING, 1848. Ill
country repoits came compelling me to shorten my sojourn in
England. From the commencement of the year there had been signs
that a domestic disturbance might not be spared us in these days of
political agitation. On the 22nd of February, during our absence in
England, died at Gotha, my grandmother, the Duchrss Caroline, and
from that time Job's messengers pursued us."
The Duchess had been as a mother to the Princes,
and when his brother hurried away, on March 5th,
Prince Albert, in great depression, wrote to Stockmar : —
•' I have need of friends and counsellers in these heavy times,
Come, as you love me, as you love Victoria, as you love Uncle Leopold,
as you love your German Fatherland."
Unfortunately, Stockmar was seriously unwell, but
one anxiety was relieved by the birth of Princess Louise,
the fourth daughter and sixth child of the Royal Family,
on March 18th. There was wild disturbance every
where — every throne in Europe seemed to be quaking.
Even London had its mobs, and the disaffected announced
their intention of assembling, on April 10th, 1848, and
marchino- in procession to London, to present a monster
petition for the People's Charter.
There was great anxiety for the only partly-recovered
Queen, who was sent in haste to Osborne. Many
thought, like Lord Campbell, that there would soon be
a Provisional Government ; but the Duke of Wellington
was called upon to keep the troops in readiness, while
no less than 170,000 men of all ranks offered themselves
to be sworn in as special constables. To them all visible

112 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
defence was committed. Not a soldier was seen, but
the great Field-Marshal had every point so guarded that,
at the least sign that military support was required the
troops would have been at hand ready to act. There
is no need to say what an utter failure the Chartist
procession was, and how not a shot was fired ; but peace,
order, and loyalty triumphed. In the words of the
Prince : " What a glorious day was yesterday for
England ! How mightily this will tell all over the
world ! "
Still, anxiety was far from being over. The distress
in Ireland continued, and the disaffection seemed to be
coming to a head, and uniting with Chartism in England,
where physical force was talked off.
There were, however, quarrels among the leaders, and
after some arrests, and many dispersions of tumultuous
gatherings, the restlessness began to subside. The true
feeling of royalty for the troubles of the people was
shown by Prince Albert, who was already President of
the Society for Improving the Condition of the Working
Classes, insisting on taking the chair at a meeting on
May 18th, though some of the Ministry were averse to
his appearance, lest it should give occasion to disloyal
demonstrations. He regarded it, as he declared, as an
occasion for "expressing the sincere interest which the
Queen and myself feel for the welfare and comfort of
the working classes." His speech on the day itself

SCHEMES FOR THE UNITY OF GERMANY. 113
asserted that any real improvement must come from
the working people themselves, and likewise that it was
the duty of the rich to concur in helping those who
would help themselves. " But," said he : —
" Let them be careful to avoid any dictatorial interference with
labour and employment, which frightens away capital, destroys
that freedom of thought and independence of action which must
remain to every one if he is to work out his own happiness, and
impairs that confidence under which alone engagements for mutual
benefit are possible."
All the time the Prince's German heart was greatly
exercised on the plans for the reconstruction of his
Fatherland. Reconstruction it could hardly be called.
The old German Empire had claimed to continue that
of Augustus and Charles the Great, but the conquests
of Napoleon had entirely broken this up, the princes
becoming practically independent sovereigns, though
they were still held together in Confederation with a
Diet meeting at Frankfort. But there was a strong
craving for greater unity, and a certain sense that the
exceedingly small principalities were very undesirable,
their rulers being almost driven by poverty into ques
tionable means of supporting their position, such as
the licenses to gaming-tables at Baden.
Prince Albert had already been constructing schemes,
as has been shown, but his hopes rested on Prussia ;
and the reigning King, with many good qualities, had
not force of character to carry them out. The French
I

114 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
disturbances precipitated matters, and the people every
where broke out, and loudly demanded constitutional
government. In Vienna and in Berlin there were
insurrections on the same day, and while their sovereigns
were occupied, the other German States sent deputies
to Frankfort to arrange for the holding a general Diet
for a new Confederation.
In March, Prince Albert drew up a scheme, which
he sent to the Courts of Austria, Prussia, and Saxony,
explaining at full length his suggestions for the unity
and safety of Germany. He desired the election of an
Emperor for life, or a certain period of years, to deal
with external politics, leaving each State free for its own
home affairs. There should be a Diet of the Empire,
with three Chambers, so as to express the collective will
of the. whole German people, yet so arranged that the
representatives of each State and people should have
their place and standing as such.
His hopes were fixed on Prussia, but Frederick
William's answer and circular were indecisive, while the
Duke of Coburg wrote to him that his projects were
those of an Optimist. Neither of the brothers thought
well of Frankfort as a place of assembly. On April
19th, Prince Albert wrote : " Strive not to let Frankfort
remain the capital city of Germany. It is a bad place,
and easily overrun by fellows from Baden, Mainz,
Darmstadt, Mannheim, &c, as well as much too near

ASSEMBLY AT FRANKFORT, 1848. 115
the French frontier. Nuremberg is the centre of
Germany, and in suitable country."
Stockmar was to sit at Frankfort as one of the Coburo-
deputies, but his scheme for unity was not the same as
that of the Prince. It was an anxious time, in which
Prince Albert could not, but take a most earnest part,
as well from his heart being primarily German, as
because of his being the next heir to his childless
brother, whose Duchy was finally settled upon his
second son.
The assembly actually met, to the number of about
500 at Frankfort, and on March 21st, 1S48, constituted
themselves a Provisional Parliament, and further de
cided to convoke a National Assembly from all parts
of Germany, for the 18th of May, 1848. Schemes were
drawn up for the new German Constitution, on which
the Prince sent his comments, especially objecting to
the sovereign Princes being placed among the peers.
" Patriotism can resign itself to everything except change of principle.
That Sovereigns should sit among other counsellors of the Empire as
such, is not possible, indeed, it is not obedient to the German Emperor
and Parliament. But can it be expected that you should be at home
Duke, Grand Duke, Elector, or King, and at Frankfort one of two
hundred senators ? I cannot understand how such a shot can be
made. It is quite necessary that you Sovereigns should understand
one another on this point, and press for a removal of the Residence
from Frankfort. It is a dreadful place for a German central point."
Old memories and the unpractical theories of the
German politicians, however, turned on assembling at
i 2

116 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Frankfort. In the beginning, Prince Albert had a visit
from Prince Max von Gagern, who revealed to him a
good deal of the dessous des cartes. The result was
that in the ironical mood which he only permitted him
self with his brother, he remarks on " the acquisitions of
the new era."
" Mine consists in a pocket-handkerchief of the German colours,
that has been sent to me from Frankfort, the situation of Self-com
plete (Sich selbst Ich'sen) German Men, Brothers, Burghers, Represen
tatives, Fifty-ers, debating Counsellors, and I can now sneeze in
accordance with the times ! "
He had ceased to found many hopes on the National
Assembly, and though the choice of the Archduke
John of Austria, as head of the Provisional Central
Government was a good one, there was much useless
discussion and talk. Prince Albert looked on most
anxiously, writing both to his brother and to Prince
Charles von Leiningen, the Queen's half-brother. To
his brother he says on July 29th : —
" Charles writes again that the Princes cannot maintain themselves,
and he advises them to abdicate quickly, so as at least to secure good
treatment. But this is a poor comprehension of higher interests. I
believe more and more in union as a Federal Monarchy. Prussia's
being started will work well, only the Archduke must be surrounded
by deputies from single States. Whom do you send ? "
The Archduke chose seven members from the Assembly
to form a ministry, Prince Leiningen at their head. To
him Prince Albert wrote on August 21st : —

INSURRECTION AT FRANKFORT, 1848. 117
" The only thing which in the long run will hold together in
Germany is the relation which has grown up through sentiment and
history between the governing families and the countries hereditarily
appertaining to their Houses. The weakness is greatest in the
countries which, by the operation of injustice and crime, have become
united under certain reigning Houses (Baden, Wurtemberg, Darm
stadt, Rhenish Prussia, Rhenish Bavaria, &o), and the weakness will
attach to the German Central Government also, if, instead of being an
adequate expression of the States and Governments under it, it aims
and is bent on standing on the basis of the Revolution, and following
out some plan moulded on expediency, by certain popular, or rather
Revolutionary statesmen.
In this anxiety the Prince did not meet with much sym
pathy in England. Lord Aberdeen told Mr. Greville —
" that the Prince's views were generally sound and wise, with one
exception, which was his violent and incorrigible German Unionism.
He goes all lengths with Prussia, will not hear of a moderate plan — a
species of Federalism, based on the Treaty of Vienna and the old
relations of Germany, and insists on a new German Empire with
Prussia at its head."
Confusion began to prevail. The first Holstein war
had begun, and Prussia and the Diet attacked Den
mark, on the plea that Holstein belonged to the
Germanic Confederation. Prussia conducted the war,
and, by-and-by, decided on an armistice, which was
accepted by the majority of the National Assembly,
but the minority declared that this betrayed the
German cause. The seven ministers had already re
signed, and the Duke of Coburg had quitted Frankfort
on September 10th, full of gloomy forebodings, which
were realised on the 16th, when the mob were incited
to rise and barricade the streets. Two Prussian depu-

1 1 8 ALBER T, PRINCE CONS OR T OF ENGLAND.
ties, returning from a ride, were killed, and though
the insurrection was put down immediately by troops
from Prussia and Darmstadt, bitterness and hopeless
disputes prevailed, not only at Frankfort, but everywhere
in Germany.
Meantime, the threatened Irish rebellion had been ex
tinguished in ridicule, and a Chartist rising in England
was prevented by timely measures. Far from the
scholars in the colleges being ringleaders in riot, as
they were in almost every continental country, nowhere
was enthusiasm and loyalty warmer than in English
universities and public schools.
The farmers were gratified by the Prince's appearance
at the Grand Agricultural Show at York, and the
speech in which he identified himself with them ; while
the inventors and makers of machines were delighted
with his thorough appreciation of the work, by which
high farming had been enabled to enter into com
petition with the world. Holiday time was coming at
last. Scotland had always proved such a place of health
and refreshment to the Royal Family that the Prince
had decided on taking a lease of Balmoral from Lord
Aberdeen, and making it a delightful Highland home
of freedom from restraint, and enjoyment of sport. Deer
stalking was a great delight to the Prince, who took
pleasure in sport of all kinds, but always with sufficient
moderation to enable him to be the Queen's companion

BALMORAL, 1848. 119
for a largo proportion of the day, and to give by no
means nominal attention to his children. Mr. Greville
thus describes a visit to Balmoral : —
" The place is very pretty, the house very small. They live there
without any state whatever ; they live not merely like private gentle
folks, but like very small gentlefolks — small house, small rooms, small
establishment. There are no soldiers, and the whole guard of the
Sovereign consists of a single policeman, who walks about the grounds
to keep off impertinent intruders or improper characters. Their
attendants consisted of Lady Douro and Miss Dawson, Lady and
Maid of Honour, George Anson, and Gordon ; Birch, the Prince of
Wales's tutor, and Miss Hildyard, 'governess to the children. They
live with the greatest simplicity and ease. The Prince shoots every
morning, returns to luncheon, and then they walk or drive. The
Queen is running in and out of the house all day long, and often goes
about alone, walks into the cottages, and chats with the old women.
I never before was in society with the Prince, or had any conversation
with him. On Thursday morning, John Russell and I were sitting
with him three-quarters of an hour. I was greatly struck with him.
I saw at once that he is very intelligent and highly cultivated,
and, moreover, that he has a thoughtful mind, and thinks of subjects
worth thinking about. He seemed very much at his ease, very gay,
pleasant, and without the least stiffness or dignity. After luncheon,
we went to the Highland gathering at Braemar, the Queen, the
Prince, four children and two ladies in one carriage, John Russell,
Mr. Birch, Miss Hildyard and I in another, Anson and Gordon on
the box, one groom — no more. The gathering was at the old castle
of Braemar, and a pretty sight enough. We returned as we came,
and then everybody strolled about till dinner. We were only nine
people, and it was all very easy and really agreeable, the Queen in
very good humour and talkative, the Prince still more so, and talking
very well — no form, and everybody seemed at their ease. In the
evening we withdrew to the only room there is besides the dining-
room, which serves for billiards, library (hardly any books in it) and
drawing-room. The Queen and Prince, and her ladies and Gordon,
soon went back to the dining-room, where they had a Highland
dancing-master, who gave them lessons in reels."

mo ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
These peaceful scenes were in strong contrast to the
events of the summer and autumn on the Continent.
Hungary was in revolt against the dominion of Austria.
Vienna followed the example of revolution ; and though
the troops of Jellachich and Windischgratz prevailed,
and order was restored, the Emperor Ferdinand felt
himself unable to cope with such difficult times, and
resigned in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph.
Paris had undergone fresh tumults and another day of
barricades, and the calm produced by the election of
Louis Napoleon to the Presidency was welcome.
Well might Prince Albert sadly write " the world is
worse than ever."
What the Duke of Coburg calls the end of the
Frankfort dream drew on. In the March of 1849, it
was decided that the title of " Emperor of the Germans "
should be offered to the King of Prussia, but there was
a very considerable minority of States in opposition,
and King Frederick William declined what would
have been an almost empty honour. State after State
withdrew its deputies, and finally, after adjourning to
Stutgart, the remains of the Assembly was broken up
by the government of Wiirtemburg. So ended Prince
Albert's vision of German unity under Prussia — only to
be fulfilled after his death, under a more resolute king
and sagacious minister — after a long course of pre
paration, not without violence.

EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES. 121
A species of revolution in University studies was, in
these years of changes, commenced by the Prince him
self, as Chancellor of Cambridge. Flis desire, backed
by Dr. Whewell, was to extend and modernize the course
of education beyond the classical and mathematical
studies hitherto almost exclusively paramount, by es
tablishing professorships on other practical and scientific
subjects with courses of lectures, attendance at one series
being made a condition of a degree. Punch pronounced
that the Prince had taken the Pons Asinorum after the
manner of Napoleon taking the bridge of Areola.
For better for worse, this movement was the beginning
of that alteration in the course of education which used
to enforce the thorough learning of one or at most two
studies, and left the rest to cultivated powers and
natural taste. The Prince's hand was felt everywhere,
he volunteered advice in all departments at home ;
his influence on politics, and on the direction of English
charities was always valuable, and continually was found
to give an impulse in the right direction. Perhaps
this is the best place for mentioning the remarkable
manner in which the Duke of Coburg's character of
his brother as being prone to hard judgments of in
dividuals and dislike of what an Englishman would
call " humbug," was verified in his relations with Bishop
Samuel Wilherforce. He found that most able man and
most charming companion in high favour with the Queen,

122 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
and was far from insensible to the beauty of his
preaching or the delight of his conversation ; unbending
with him, and discussing many subjects, religious and
secular with him, so that indeed the Bishop always de
clared the Prince to have been one of the ablest
men he had ever seen. But gradually there was a
change. There was still intercourse, since Windsor
lies in the diocese of Oxford, and the Bishop is almoner
to the Order of the Garter, but there was coldness and
the full confidence was gone. This could be partly
accounted for by the "Hampden case," when Dr.
Wilherforce had begun by strong opposition to Dr.
Hampden's appointment to the See of Hereford, on
theological grounds, which the Prince could scarcely
be expected to understand, while the liberality and the
Erastianism alike of German Protestantism was sure to
render such resistance most distasteful at Court.
The Bishop had thus dared the displeasure of royalty,
doing so on the evidence of extracts taken from Hamp
den's publications, but when, as diocesan, he found
himself compelled personally to examine the entire work,
he could not discover that, taken with the context, the
portions selected were unorthodox. He, therefore, for
the sake of honesty and justice, conscientiously withdrew
his opposition, well knowing the obloquy that he should
incur, indeed the act was almost universally regarded
as a fall, for the sake of obtaining court favour, and

BISHOP WILBEBFORCE, 1849. 123
it is only since the publication of his private diaries
and letters that it has been fully known how well he
knew what he was incurring for the sake of right.
Prince Albert was one of those who could not
believe in his rectitude of purpose, and other matters
conduced to destroy the former confidence. In especial,
the Romanizing of near connections caused the idea
that preferment alone held Wilherforce to his own
Church. Lord Aberdeen, whom the Prince had once
pronounced to be "the most entirely virtuous man that
he knew," and who was a great friend of the Bishop,
endeavoured to ascertain the roots of this distrust. The
Prince said, among other things, "He has a motive for
all he does." " Yes, sir," said Lord Aberdeen, " but
when a bad motive?"
It seemed that the Prince had fancied that the Bishop
had schemed for the tutorship to the Prince of Wales.
It was an entire mistake, for the Bishop wrote privately
to his friend that such an offer had been his bete noir, as
it could not well be refused, and yet would be a serious
impediment to his diocesan work. The other point
adverted to by the Prince was a conversation after a
sermon on the legion entering into the herds of swine.
The Bishop said " it was best for us to believe in a
devil who suggested evil to us, otherwise we were
driven to make every man his own devil."
He did not then understand that the Prince actually

124 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND
disbelieved in the existence of evil spirits, and he was
answering the immediate argument; but the Prince
carried away the impression that his answer had been a
blinking of the view he really held to avoid flat contradic
tion, and this sort of courtliness, as he judged it, was
always despised by him. It was a very unfortunate im
pression, thus diminishing an influence that might have
drawn the Prince's mind to sounder opinions, rather than
the Broad church views to which the friendship with
Bunsen naturally led. There is, however, reason to think
that in the mind of the Prince, as in that of the nation,
Samuel Wilherforce entirely lived down those imputations
of time-serving and insincerity which were so grievous
a trial to him.

( 125 )

CHAPTER VIII.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION.
1849-1851.
Publication of the scheme — Visit to Ireland — The autumn at
Balmoral — Exertions of the Prince — His opening speech —
Indifference of the public — Peel's support and his death — Lord
Palmerston's independence — The Queen's reprimand — The
Haynau demonstration — The Duke of Wellington's project of
making the Prince Commander-in-Chief — The Ecclesiastical
Tithes Bill — Ministerial crisis — Completion of the Exhibition
Building — The opening day — The Duke of Coburg's account —
Jubilee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel — Closing
of the Exhibition — Lord Palmerston and Kossuth — The Coup
d'etat and Lord Palmerston's resignation — The Duke of Coburg's
evidence — The Militia Bill and resignation of the Ministry — The
Derby ministry — Death of the Duke of Wellington — Formation of
the Aberdeen ministry — The Prince's day — Visit of the Duke of
Coburg — Visitors to the Court.
It was in the summer of 1849, that Prince Albert's
favourite scheme of the Great Exhibition was first made
public. The great Frankfort fairs had perhaps been the
first suggestion of the idea, but those had grown up
spontaneously, and purely for traffic, and in France and
England there had been from time to time local exhibi-

126 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
tions of works of art or industry ; but it was Prince
Albert who first conceived the idea of taking advantage
of the subsidence of the Revolutions of 1848, to invite the
entire civilized world to compare their productions of
every kind under the same roof.
He first mooted the subject on July 30th, 1849, to four
members of the Society of Arts, by whom it was readily
accepted, and Somerset House was at first proposed for
the spot. Two days later, the Queen and Prince em
barked for Kingstown, since there was lull enough in
Ireland to warrant the hope that loyalty would be excited
by a royal visit.
Success at the time was great, Cork, Dublin, Bel
fast, vied with one another in enthusiasm, and no one
could have believed that Ireland was not the most
devotedly attached portion of the British Empire. Thus
the stay at Balmoral began cheerfully excepting for
German anxieties, and the wear and tear of diffi
culties in the stupendous undertaking of arranging for
the Exhibition, which soon was proved likely to exceed
the limits of Somerset House, and to require a new
building. The autumn was a sorrowful one, for it took away the
good Queen Adelaide, always a most affectionate aunt.
Moreover, Prince Albert suffered a heavy personal loss in
the sudden death of Mr. Anson, who had become Privy
Purse. All the coldness and shyness described by the

DEATH OF PEEL, 1850. 127

o

Duke of Coburg, had long since melted away, and stron
affection and confidence had grown up. " To me," wrote
the Prince, " the blow is very great, the loss immense in
a hundred ways." Colonel Phipps succeeded to the post
of Privy Purse, and Colonel Grey was appointed secretary,
both continuing in these offices for the remainder of the
Prince Consort's life.
The loss was especially great in the midst of the
business connected with the Exhibition Structure in
Hyde Park. The scheme was very coldly received
when first it became public, and it could only be
brought to bear by the most unremitting exertion on
the part of the Prince, Lord Granville, and Mr.
Northcote (afterwards Earl of Iddesleigh). " His
Royal Highness," wrote Lord Granville, "appears to
be almost the only person who has considered the subject
both as a whole and its details."
The worry and harass, as well as the constant atten
tion required, coming after the anxieties of the last two
years told upon the Prince in sleeplessness and exhausted
weariness in the evenings, and the Queen was anxious to
send him to Brussels to recruit, but he did not feel that
he could be spared, and indeed he would probably only
have plunged into the troubled sea of German politics in
which his brother was struggling. The first public
meeting was held on February 21st, 1850, and was
attended by the ambassadors of the foreign courts. The

128 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Prince made a powerful speech on the duty of improving
to the utmost the powers given by the Almighty, and of
training to the utmost account the resources of nature.
" Science discovers these laws of power, motion and transformation,
industry applies them to the raw matter which the earth yields us in
abundance, but which becomes valuable only by knowledge. Art
teaches us the immutable laws of beauty and symmetry, and gives to
our productions forms in accordance with them. Gentlemen, the
Exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a living picture of the
point of development at which the whole of mankind has arrived in
this great task, and a new starting-point from which all nations will
be able to direct their further exertions."
The actual audience fully agreed with the Prince, and
it was there that Bishop Wilherforce uttered a phrase
respecting which we may well quote the prediction
mentioned in Colonel Phipps' letter of thanks, " It is
believed, and the Prince fully concurs in the belief, that
' the dignity of labour ' will become a proud and a valuable
watch-word." The nation however, was taken by surprise, and was by
no means inclined to favour the scheme. The expense
and influx of strangers, as well as the importation of
foreign goods did not approve themselves to the mind
of John Bull. The future of Hyde Park was thought
to be threatened, and there was both serious opposition
and good humoured mockery of the scheme.
The Times led on the attack against the proposed site,
and the question was brought forward in Parliament.
There were still difficulties that seemed insurmountable

DESIGN FOR THE CRYSTAL PALACE, 1850. 129
in the estimate of the cost, and the slackness of sub
scription. Leech had a cartoon in Punch representing
the Prince cap in hand begging, with the parody
beneath : —
" Pity the sorrows of a poor young Prince,
Whose costly schemes have borne him to your door ;
Who's in a fix, the matter not to mince,
Oh ! help him out, and commerce swell your store ! "
Guarantees were, however, liberally offered by leading
firms, and Paxton's beautiful and original design facili
tated matters, so that the worst of the difficulties had
come to an end, after a full year of perseverance, dis
appointments, harass and forbearance which had for
the time considerably affected the Prince's health. Sir
Robert Peel was from the first a staunch and sympathis
ing supporter of the scheme, and likewise, of the more
important matter of the foreign policy in which there
was no question whose was the guiding though unseen
hand. His last speech in the House of Commons was an
enunciation of those principles on which the Prince had
always endeavoured to act. " Constitutional liberty," he
said, " will always be best worked out by those who aspire
to freedom by their efforts. You only overload it by
your help."
It was a conciliatory and excellent speech, and the
regret for this admirable statesman was enhanced when
on the very next day occurred the fatal fall that caused
K

130 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OFENGLASd.
his death on July 2nd. Sorrow was universal, and
was nowhere greater than in the Palace. The Prince
wrote : —
" Death has snatched from us Peel, the best of men, our truest
friend, the strongest bulwark of the throne, the greatest statesman i
his time."
And again : —
" The feeling in the country is not to be described. We have lost
our truest friend and trustiest counsellor, the throne its most valiant
defender, the country its most open-minded and greatest statesman."
And to his brother, on July 4th : —
" We are suffering the deepest grief, for we are stricken by a blow
under which we can hardly breathe. Peel is a loss to all Europe, a
dreadful one to England, and an incalculable one to the Crown and
ourselves personally. The manner of his death was so sorrowful!
Thus fails us now the support in Parliament and the influence on
opinion with which he guarded the Throne. Parties will again fall
into extremes  Now our Exhibition will be driven out of
London. The Protectionists, who are afraid of it; the Radicals, who
want to show their power over the Crown property (the Parks) ; the
Times, whose solicitor has bought a house close to^Hyde Park, bluster
and insult. The division should have been for this evening— Peel,
who had undertaken the defence, is no more J So we shall probably
be defeated, and the whole Exhibition given up ! You see we do not
lie on a bed of roses. God be our stay ! "
Although the results did not include the ruin of
this cherished plan, the loss was deeply felt. In truth,
of all the Prime Ministers with whom Prince Albert
was brought into contact, none so entirely accorded
with his feelings, or formed such a friendship with
him as Peel, who had the same rtone of high

LORD PALMERSTON, 1850. 131
principle and the same mixture of Liberalism and
Conservatism in his political sentiments.
On the other hand, in the Foreign Office, Lord
Palmerston was determined to act for himself, con
sidering himself more the servant of the nation than
of the Crown, and endeavouring to avoid the inter
position of the Queen, which he viewed as a cover to
that of her husband. Thus he always contrived to
take some decisive step before submitting a question
to Her Majesty, and this was doubly annoying to her,
because she had always taken a warm personal interest
in foreign politics, had acted thoroughly in unison with
Lord Aberdeen, and, on the contrary, was by no means
desirous of being pledged to all to which her present
minister committed her. And in point of fact, Prince
Albert absolutely distrusted Palmerston, who, as he told
Count Vizthum, sacrificed the policy of the country to
party ends.
Already, in February, both the Queen and Prince
had spoken very strongly to Lord Clarendon on their
feelings. The Prince said what he felt strongly was
"the humiliating position in which the Queen was
placed in the eyes of the whole world. The remon
strances and complaints of other sovereigns directly
affected her dignity, and, the consciousness that they
as well as all the world knew that she utterly dis
approved of what was done in her name, was mean
ly

132 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
ceivably mortifying and degrading." Nor were these
measures the wish of the nation, nor of the rest of the
ministry, yet by their weak compliance, Palmerston was
allowed to set at nought the Sovereign, Government,
and public opinion. Minutes which had been submitted
to her were sent away in an altered form, and the
Emperor of Austria had refused to send an ambassador
here because he could not transact business with the
Foreign Secretary. No appeal to Lord John Russell
was of any use, and Prince Albert's personal remon
strances had been always met with great good humour
and ease, but had not the smallest effect. The purpose
of the conversation was to induce Lord Clarendon to
see what could be done with either the Prime Minister
or the Foreign Secretary. " The Prince talked very
sensibly and very calmly, very strong, but without
excitement of manner."
Nothing having come of this attempt, the following
letter was sent in August by the Queen — of course a
joint production. She said that
" she requires (of the Foreign Secretary) that he will distinctly state
what he proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen may know
as distinctly to what she has given her Koyal sanction. Having
once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered
or modified by the Ministry. Such an act she must consider a failure
in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the
exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that Minister. She
expects to be kept informed of all that passes between him and the
Eoreign Ministers before important decisions are taken based upon

GENERAL HAYNAU, 1850. 133
that intercourse ; to receive the foreign despatches in good time ; and
to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time for
her to make herself acquainted with the contents before they are
sent off.''
To this communication, which was sent through the
Premier, Palmerston replied by a short note of excuse
as to hurry, and of promise for the future, and he re
quested an interview with the Prince.
Then, with tears in his eyes, he declared himself
greatly hurt at the accusation of having treated the
Queen with disrespect, saying that it was " an imputa
tion on his honour as a gentleman, and if he could
have made himself guilty of it, he was almost no
longer fit to be tolerated in society."
The Prince, after listening to him, reminded him of
the many previous complaints made by the Queen, and
explained that what she desired was to be put in full
possession of all the facts before any line of policy was
adopted. She would give way when convinced by her
Cabinet of the expedience of a measure, but she claimed
the right of having full information on what it was based.
The argument lasted full an hour, and no positive answer
was extracted from the Minister, though he seemed
very low and agitated ; but he did not resign, and
only the next month committed England again by a
hasty despatch unrevised by the Queen. It had been
reported that the Austrian General, Haynau, when
putting down the Hungarian insurrection had been

134 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
guilty of great barbarities, in especial of flogging
women. On his coming to make a visit to England,
he was taken to see Barclay and Perkins' brewery ;
and some person individually interested in the victims,
roused the workmen into mobbing him, so that his
life was almost in danger. He declined to identify the
men who assaulted him, so that there could be no
prosecution, but the Austrian Government demanded
an apology. Lord Palmerston submitted his answer
to the Queen and Lord John Russell, who both dis
approved of one paragraph in it, and were greatly
displeased to find that it had already gone to the
Austrian Ambassador before they had seen it. They
insisted on its revocation, upon which he threatened to
resign, but finally submitted and withdrew the note,
but Austria did not soon forget the affront, and would
not take part in the Great Exhibition.
As to the demonstration of the brewers, Prince Albert
wrote : —
" We in London have, in the Haynau demonstration, also had a
slight foretaste of what an unregulated mass of illiterate people is
capable — ' le peuple souverain,' which likes to be accuser, witness, judge,
and executioner, all in one. ' Qui est le peuple souverain ? ' asked the
great Lamartine, and then made answer, ' Le peuple souverain est le
peuple dont il est dit que la voix du peuple est la voix de Dieu' "
The adverse feeling of the nation towards that first
idea of the Crystal Palace was in a great degree caused
by a certain jealousy of the Prince's position, and a

BEFUSAL OF COMMAND OF THE ABMY. 135
rooted idea that he liked to interfere in everything.
No doubt this partly actuated Lord Palmerston in his
resistance to submitting despatches to the Queen. But
in marked contrast to this sentiment were the Prince's re
lations with the Duke of Wellington, whom both he and
the Queen always treated with reverence and affection,
making him godfather to their third son, who was born
on his birthday, May 1st, 1850. The Duke, who saw
better than most persons where real conscientious and
disinterested power lay, in view of his own great age,
was very desirous that Prince Albert should be appointed
Commander-in-Chief at once, but he wisely declined.
Want of military experience was his first objection, but
to this the Duke replied, that " honest hard work " would
suffice for what was required ; the next was, that in case
of insurrection, it would fall to the Commander-in-Chief
to repress it by force, and unpopularity thus incurred
would fall on the Queen ; and, moreover, the assistance
that, as private secretary, he afforded to the Queen,
could not be dispensed with, and would prevent his
giving the " honest hard work " that the Duke talked of.
The thing was not decided without full consultation,
and much against the old Field-Marshal's wishes, was
determined with the Queen's approval. As a wife, she
well knew that the Prince was so thorough in whatever
he undertook, that such an addition to his duties would
be absolutely overwhelming, unless the more important

136 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
private aid which he rendered to her were given up.
He would never be content to be a mere nominal
commander-in-chief, and the toil to be an actual one
would be beyond human power, when added to his
present occupations. The appointment would certainly
have been unwelcome to a larger portion of the nation
than either the Duke or the royal pair supposed, and any
changes, whether judicious or otherwise, that the Prince
might have made, would have been looked on with
prejudice ; so that the decision was in every way
prudent. The next anxiety was caused by the Roman appoint
ment of bishops to English Sees— not the original ones
held by the English hierarchy, but freshly-created ones,
giving title to those prelates of the Roman communion
who had hitherto ministered in England with dioceses
of strange names, "in partibu,s infidelium." It was a
more absolute disavowal of the English Church than
Rome had yet ventured on, and it created a sensation
now felt to have been disproportionate. High Church
men felt it as an insult, and Protestants imagined that
the aggression was the prelude to all the ills of the
Papacy overspreading England, while the self-gratulation
of some of the Roman Catholic clergy, and their auguries
of the future, added to the alarm. Lord John Russell,
in the midst of it, wrote and published his foolish
letter laying the blame of encouraging the advance of

PAPAL AGGRESSION, 1850. 137
Rome on the Tractarian party. Prince Albert himself
was impelled by the general excitement to write a
memorandum, proving how little his Lutheran education
had qualified him to understand the Church and her
position. Leave for introducing the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, as
it was called, was granted by a large majority from both
parties, but the two sides of the House were so evenly
balanced that the offence given to the Irish members as
Roman Catholics was fatal, and on the introduction of
a Government Bill for equalizing the franchise in town
and country the Ministry were left in such a minority
that they felt bound to resign, and great perplexities
ensued. Lord Aberdeen was sent for, as representative
of the Peelites, but he knew that he could not retain
a majority if he declined to deal with Papal aggression ;
and Lord Stanley, who was next called for, as the
head of the Conservatives, could not secure the co-operation
of the Peelite statesmen. The dilemma was great, and
the advice of the Duke of Wellington was thought
desirable. He was at Stratfieldsaye, and, while awaiting
his return, the Prince drew up a summary of the situation,
clearly dealing with the difficulties on either side.
The three questions were: —
1. Protection.
2. The extension of the franchise.
3. Papal aggression.

138 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
On the first and second, the Peelites and Whigs were
against the Conservatives; but on the third, Peelites
and Radicals, together with 60 Irish, were against the
Whigs and Conservatives. In this complication the
Queen and Prince wished for a coalition of Whigs and
Peelites in the Ministry, leaving the ecclesiastical titles
an open question, unconnected with party ; but this was
found to be impracticable, and the Duke would not
advise it, so that nothing could be done but for the
Whig Ministry to continue, softening down the Eccle
siastical Titles Bill into merely declaring their assumption
illegal, but attaching no penalty; so that it became a
dead letter.
In fact, every one's mind was too full of the Crystal
Palace to dwell much on politics, or, as a cartoon in
Punch put it, the shipwrecked Ministry were taken on
board the Great Exhibition steamer.
Yet, even in the debate on the Address, at the
opening of Parliament, Colonel Sibthorp had uttered a
prayer that some hail storm or visitation of lightning
might descend to defeat the ill-advised project in Hyde
Park. When the foreigners should come, he warned
the people to beware of thieves and pickpockets. " Take
care," he said, " of your wives and daughters ; take care
of your lives and property ! "
Nevertheless, the building had been finished in January,
and was a perfect success in beauty and grace, unrivalled

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXHIBITION. 139
by any of its successors, partly because they have been
so much more extensive, and therefore unwieldly, and
less admirably proportioned.
The Prince was toiling night and day at the pre
parations. On March 27th, he writes to his brother :
" Yesterday we came back from Osborne, where we
were nearly washed away by the rain. To-day begins
the unpacking in the Exhibition, and it is to be hoped
that at the same time ends the debate on the Papal
question, and the priestly rabble get a trump." Then
he tells him to prepare for a visit in May, " if he is not
afraid of the throng."
The Crystal Palace was being filled and arranged, but
the anxieties were far from ended. In a letter of April
15 th, the Prince says : —
" Just at present I am more dead than alive from overwork. The
opponents of the Exhibition work with might and main to throw all the
old women into panic, and to drive myself crazy. The strangers, they
give out, are certain to commence a thorough revolution here, to
murder Victoria and myself, and to proclaim the Red Republic in
England ; the plague is certain to ensue from the confluence of such
multitudes, and to swallow up those whom the increased price of
everything has not already swept away. For all this I am to be
responsible, and against all this I have to make efficient pro
vision." The diplomatists representing absolute powers likewise
nung back, their sovereigns fearing that their subjects
should become enamoured of English institutions ; and
thus they declined to combine in an address to the

140 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Queen. They, therefore, were only to be present at the
opening, bow, and stand aside.
There were days of incessant worry and trouble,
needing the utmost patience and good temper, and full
of harass from warnings of possible attacks on the Queen's
life, or popular outbreaks of the vast crowds assembled
in the park. But when the great May-day came, the
splendour of the opening, the beauty of the scene, the
enthusiasm of the people, made up for all that had gone
before. The success was brilliant beyond all anticipa
tions, and the joy, the good order, and loyalty of all
filled the royal couple with delight.
After leading in the Queen, with the two eldest of
their children, and joining in the dedicatory service, led
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Prince Albert, as the
head of the Commissioners, read their report, to which
the Queen replied. She afterwards called this the
happiest day of her happy life, and probably it was that
of glad triumph least mingled with anxiety or sorrow.
As she wrote in reply to Lady Lyttelton's congratu
lations : —
" To see this great conception of my beloved husband's mind, which
is always labouring for the good of others — to see this great thought
and work crowned with triumphant success, in spite of difficulties
and opposition of every imaginable kind, and of every effort which
jealousy and calumny could resort to cause its failure, has been an
immense happiness to us both. But to me, the glory of his dear
name linked with the glory of my dear country, which shone more
than she has ever done on that great day, is a source of pride, happi-

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION, 1851. 141
ness and thankfulness which none but a wife's heart can compre
hend." It was a work, which not only owed its origin to the
Prince, but which could never have been accomplished
without his constant patience, perseverance, good temper,
and vigilance, through disappointments and annoyances
which, as his brother tells us, went far beyond what
have been recorded. Here is the Duke of Coburg's
account of the impression it made : —
" None of all the innumerable similar undertakings which were
carried out, either in single countries or for the whole world, which
I have seen and visited, could in any way venture on a comparison
with that first London Exhibition. All and each that was to be seen
was new, and from the point of view of entire originality had a s'rong
effect on the spectators. It was, besides, the last great opportunity that
the English aristocracy have had of making an effort, and once again
to appear in all their grandeur. The high nobility undertook the
representation of England in a manner such as there has since been
no occasion for. All their splendour and pomp was displayed as if it
had been part of the Exhibition. Later Expositions have had a more
bourgeois, more industrial character — this first in London was pre-
ponderatingly aristocratic. At the opening, four thousand gala
carriages appeared, and almost daily the nobility were to be met in
all the departments. The Queen and her husband were at the zenith
of their fame.
" The more people had striven to prophesy the greatest dangers
from the collection of such masses of mankind, the more they had
dieaded and threatened revolutionary attempts : so much the moTe
striking was the tribute of honour paid to the royal pair by the
millions who visited London in the course of nearly six months. The
Court was extraordinarily hospitable, and showed itself on this
occasion both brilliant and large-hearted. Prince Albert was not
satisfied to guide the whole affair only from above ; he was, in the
fullest sense of the word, the soul of everything.
" Even his bitterest enemies, with unusual unreserve, acknowledged

142 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
the completeness of the execution of the scheme ; and I here take
up from the papers devoted from full hearts to his memory, a good
word on this subject from a German admirer of my brother, who
says, ' The prosperity and results of the enterprise, to which even a
financial profit was secured, and especially the establishment of future
general benefits therefrom, was always bound up with the thoughts
of the too early deceased Prince, and thus the monument erected to
him by his royal widow fitly stands in the neighbourhood of the spot
where he enjoyed the purest triumph of his life. A disciple of Peel
as a statesman of congenial spirit in practical ability and noble taste,
he was able to breathe his own idea into the work, whose effects have
truly been felt from New Zealand to California.'
" Indeed the great world's fair was not without political influence.
The countless princes who found themselves in London carried away
impressions diametrically opposed to the course of Absolutism, which
had lately been taken up on the Continent. Even in personal
reference, it was not unimportant, that so many of the German
powers should be convinced, that the liberal tendencies which my
brother had so energetically defended and unreservedly asserted
against every one, might lead to such very practical results.
" Nor must I forget to mention how especially the Prince of Prussia,
who had been present at the opening, spoke with enthusiasm of my
brother's success, and how he described the favourable impression
which this civilising movement had made. He said his feelings
were much moved to see the welfare of the working classes cared
for in the highest ranks of society."
And not only the opening, but the continuation of the
undertaking fully justified the design by proving successful
beyond all anticipation. The whole nation was carried
away by eagerness to behold the World's Fair, and to
become possessed of memorials of it, and so far from the
guarantees being called for, there was actually half a
million of profit ; and a precedent was established which
all considerable commercial countries have continued to
imitate.

CLOSING THE EXHIBITION, 1851. 143
The third jubilee of the Society of the Propagation of
the Gospel took place while the Exhibition was in its
prime. Prince Albert was requested to preside at the
Commemoration. Characteristically, he made it a con
dition that nothing should be said that could give offence
to any denomination of Christians. His own speech was
a matter of anxiety, and was very carefully framed ;
dwelling on the civilizing power of Christianity, and only
lamenting that the Church should be afflicted by internal
dissensions, and attacks from without. " I have no fear,
however," he said, " for her safety and ultimate welfare,
so long as she holds fast to what our ancestors gained
for us at the Reformation, the Gospel, and the unfettered
right of its use."
It was held that the speech had been a very prudent
and guarded one, Lord John Russell pronounced that
he had left "nothing unsaid that ought to be said, and
nothing said that ought to be avoided."
On October 17th the Exhibition was finally closed,
not without feelings of regret, as if the culminating point
of prosperity had been reached, and a fresh page about to
be turned. The proceeds were, under the Prince's
wish, employed in securing ground at South Kensington,
on which a great National Institute might be built.
This was not accomplished without great anxiety. The
agent employed for the purchase, being unaware of what
was designed, agreed to take the land on a building

144 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
lease, binding his clients to raise dwelling-houses on
it; and how in honour to be free from this clause was
a great perplexity, robbing the Prince of rest and
appetite. The Queen was so sympathising and en
couraging, that he quoted the verse from a German song
called " The Tear " :—
" When man has well-nigh lost his hope in life,
Upwards in trust and love still looks the wife,
Towards the starry world all bright with cheer,
Faint not nor fear, thus speaks her shining tear."
Ultimately the owner entered into a new covenant,
and the matter was settled.
The long annoyances with Lord Palmerston had
begun again. Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, had been
released from captivity in Austria, and visited England
on his way to America. He was really a brave and
honest man, and the Liberals of various places welcomed
him enthusiastically, Lord Palmerston proposed to receive
him as a guest, and this, coming upon the Haynau dis
turbance, so incensed the Austrian Government that it
was known, that if this were done, their ambassador
would be recalled. At first, Lord Palmerston stood
upon his rights to receive any guest he chose at his
private residence, and though he yielded this to strong
representation, he did consent to receive deputations with
addresses at the Foreign Office, thanking him for having
interfered on behalf of the illustrious exile, and speaking

THE COUP D'ETAT, 1851. 145
of the Emperors of Austria and Russia as odious
and detestable assassins, and merciless tyrants and
despots. The Queen was greatly displeased. As she said, it was
not the question " whether she pleases the Emperor of
Austria or not, but whether she gives him just cause of
complaint." All the Cabinet entirely concurred in her
feeling of the strange imprudence of an official mani
festing such sympathy with insurgents against a sovereign
with whom the country was at peace.
Upon this came the tidings of Louis Napoleon's Coup
d'etat at Paris, and even while the Queen was directing
that her ambassador, Lord Normanby, should remain
perfectly passive, and manifest no opinion on the
proceedings, Lord Palmerston personally assured the
French ambassador, Count Walewski, of the entire
approval of the English Government. Lord John Russell
was really indignant, and there was no choice but to
request Lord Palmerston's resignation. Lord Granville
was sworn into his office on December 27, 1851. It was
extremely annoying that this dismissal was ascribed by
the Liberals, and by Palmerston himself, to "a weak
truckling to the hostile intrigues " of the foreign Courts.
The Russian ambassador, Baron Brunnow, thought it
necessary to disavow having used any influence, and
this the Queen pronounced, in a note to Lord John
Russell, to have been "very presuming, as it insinuates L

146 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
the possibility of changes of Government in this country
taking place at the instigation of foreign ministers."
The old Duke, discussing the matter with the
Prince, entirely approved. " There never went a paper,"
he said, " which I had not brought to me first ; but
Lord Palmerston could at no time be trusted, as he
was always anxious to do things for himself."
This is the way in which the matter appeared to the
Duke of Coburg, at once an outsider as being a
foreigner, and, on the other side, as his brother's
confidant : —
" Prince Albert had, by the influence which he exercised in a very
yielding manner, not improved his position towards the self-willed
Minister for Foreign Affairs ; but it was a matter of conscience with
him, to defend the views of the Crown against any individual member
of the Cabinet. Thus came about the well-known dismissal of
Palmerston, which, in the history of the English Constitution, has
become an important proof, that a Minister, even in England, can
be overthrown by other influences than Parliamentary majorities or
minorities. " That in these circumstances my brother greatly rejoiced in Lord
Palmerston's resignation, is certain, but I can entirely prove from
his full correspondence, that nothing could be more false, as was
supposed on the Continent, than that the Prince in his opposition to
the fomenters of continental revolutions had at least given up his
objections to reactionary governments. Nothing could be more
untrue than such an asseveration, for if my brother's whole relations
with Lord Palmerston are pointed to, it must rather be said that
the only thing that had united them was their common dislike of
certain persons and institutions.
" ' I cannot,' wrote Albert at the end of the year, ' blame myself
for what has passed. The Great Exhibition which caused the endless
difficulties and cares has turned out fortunately and honourably
beyond belief without the smallest contre-temvs to lament. And the

RESIGNATION OF PALMERSTON, 1851. 147
year further closed happily for me, in that the man who has em
bittered our whole life, and often placed us in the disgraceful alterna
tives of either avowing his misdeeds in the face of all Europe, or of
raising or increasing the power of the Eadical party by his leadership
so as to occasion an open strife with the Crown, and thus to hurl the only
land in which freedom's order and law prevail into the general chaos,
has himself cut his own throat. ' Give a rogue rope enough and he
will hang himself,' is an old English proverb with which we have often
tried to console ourselves, and which has been verified in this case.
We shall still have various troubles with Palmerston (who rages),
and especially with the Eeform Bill, which is promised, and in the
judicious issue of which all Europe is concerned.' "
These were hard words spoken in irritation, and which
probably would have been retracted later ; but it was
quite true that Lord Palmerston had dabbled in foreign
revolution enough to make his name a by-word of hatred
to friends of foreign governments. Travellers have told
stories of being misused by petty officials, under the belief
that the title of Palmerston on their passports was their
own name, and Lady Georgiana Fullerton mentions the
extreme disapprobation of her Roman friends when
justice compelled her to state that their bete noir was a
kindly amiable man in private life.
No wonder Prince Albert felt bitterly that England
was held responsible for what the Queen strenuously
disapproved, but could not prevent. The Prince never
visibly interfered in this painful question, but through
out he was strengthening the resolution of the Queen
and Prime Minister : —
" Albert," wrote the Queen to her uncle shortly after, " grows daily
fonder and fonder of politics and business, and is wonderfully fit for
L 2

148 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
both, showing such perspicuity and courage, and I grow daily to
dislike them both more and more. We women are not made for
governing, and, if we are good women, we must dislike these masculine
occupations. But there are times which force one to take interest in
them bon gre~, mal gre~, and of course therefore I feel this interest now
intensely." The special anxiety at that moment was the state of
the national defences, with a view to a possible war with
France, since it was assumed that a Bonaparte was sure
to inherit the policy of hostility to England. A Militia
Bill was in hand, but the Prince was anxious to add to it
a reserve force, and wrote to the Duke proposing that a
seventh of each regiment should yearly retire, and remain
subject to being called out periodically for drill and
practice, recruits taking their place. The Duke did not
approve, because he was unwilling to lose elder men, on
whom he had been accustomed to rely for steady firmness
in all critical moments. The Duke would have recurred
to the old Militia, who had not been called out for many
years, but the Government brought in a Bill for a local
Militia, to be called out every year, but not taken beyond
their own counties.
This was strenuously opposed, especially by Palmerston.
Government was defeated by a majority of eleven, and
Lord John Russell's resignation followed. The Con
servatives came into power, with the Earl of Derby at
their head, and Disraeli as leader in the House of
Commons : —

THE MILITIA BILL, 1852. 149
" Lord Derby," wrote Prince Albert, on March 10th, " is a dis
tinguished man, but he calls his own ministry ' The Derbyshire
militia' fresh from the plough, ready to be disbanded immediately.
Not one of them has been in any public office, ' they are people
never heard of before,' said the old Duke. This phrase must only be
looked on as a passing one, and we are chiefly working that it may
produce something solid and strong, in the meantime conducing to
the bringing together political parties divided by the final and irre-
liable removal of Protection and the question of Free Trade. For
this a dissolution in June will be needful.
" In the meantime our defences will be regulated, and the militia of
120,000 men, which has existed from 1628 to 1853, will be brought
forward. Also a naval reserve, and the strengthening of the artillery,
and fortifications of the ports.
" The navy is in the best condition."
A Militia Bill was brought in accordingly, providing
for 80,000 men, on the lines of the old Militia, to be
enrolled for five years at a time, and annually assembled
for training. The Prince, meanwhile, showed his plan
for a reserve force, and it was kept in mind, and some
years after partially adopted.
The dissolution of Parliament followed, and the new
elections left the balance of parties much as it was
before. The recess gave a pleasant holiday-time, spent
in yachting, in a visit to King Leopold, and ending in
Scotland, whither came the tidings of the death of the
great man whom the Queen with the Prince had loved
and trusted above all her subjects. To Colonel Phipps
the Prince wrote : —
" That the old Duke should be no more, is one of those truths which
it will require a long time before one can believe. What the country
has lost in him, what we personally have lost, it is almost im-

150 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
possible to estimate. It is as if in a tissue, a particular thread, which
was worked into every pattern, was suddenly withdrawn. The Duke
was the link which kept us in connection with a century which has
passed before us."
A few days later, in answer to Stockmar, he says : —
" Your appeal to me to replace the Duke for the country and
the world shall stimulate me to fresh zeal in the fulfilment of my
duties. The position of being merely the wife's husband in the eyes
of the public, is naturally an unfavourable one, inasmuch as it pre
supposes inferiority, and makes it necessary to demonstrate, which can
only be done by deeds, that no such inferiority exists. Now, silent
influence is precisely that which operates to the greatest and wisest
good, and therefore much time must elapse before the value of that
influence is recognised by those who can take cognizance of it, while
by the mass of mankind it can scarcely be understood at all. I must
content myself with the fact that constitutional monarchy marches
unassailably on its beneficent course, and that the country prospers
and makes progress."
The Prince certainly showed his wisdom in feeling
that he could not take the place of the veteran warrior
and statesman whom he followed to the grave, at St.
Paul's, amidst the tears of the whole nation, represen
tatives of both the Services, and distinguished envoys
from all the European nations, excepting Austria, which
could not pardon the attack upon Haynau.
On the reassembling of Parliament, came the defeat
of the Government upon Disraeli's Budget, the resigna
tion of the short-lived Derby Ministry, and the coming-
in of the Coalition, with Lord Aberdeen at its head, and
Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord
Aberdeen was a personal friend at the palace, and this

CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE. 151
Government was hailed by the Prince with great hope
and satisfaction, though he always endeavoured to avoid
showing any personal bias. A German friend of the
Princess Hohenlohe thus described him : —
" Prince Albert is one of the few royal personages who can sacrifice
to any principle (as soon as it has become evident to them to be good
and noble) all those notions (as sentiments) to which others, owing to
their narrow-mindedness, as to the prejudices of their rank, are so
thoroughly strongly to cling. He knows right well that princes live
for the benefit of the people, and that the people must not be looked
upon as the hereditary property of the princes. And happy is he for
that conviction ! "
There can be no doubt that Prince Albert was one
of the most conscientious and virtuous, pure-minded men
who ever existed, and that the title of " Albert the
Good" was justly bestowed on him. That he was
thoroughly lovable is also plain, from the impression he
made on all in immediate contact with him, from his
own family outwards, as it may be said. He was
perfectly truthful, and all that he did, either personally
or in behalf of the nation, was on high principles of
right. No one repudiated more in heart and life the
old theory that the same honour and sincerity were not
required in a State affair as in private life. Moreover,
his beneficence and desire for improvement in all classes,
was unfailing. He attended to the interests of the
labourers on his estate, gave libraries to various insti
tutions — always selecting the books himself — and spared
neither time nor pains to make his work thorough.

152 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
The routine of his day at this time was to rise at seven,
read and answer letters, draw up memoranda, or drafts of
papers for the Queen or Council. He had from the
first insisted on early hours, for which the Queen has
since expressed her thankfulness, and by the nine o'clock
breakfast he had attended to much important business.
At breakfast, he mastered the contents of the leading
newspapers, communicating the pith of them to the
Queen. Then came a short walk with her, if he were
not going out shooting or hunting ; but he never stayed
out more than a couple of hours, or a little more, walking
very fast, and saying he could not understand making
it the business of the day. Cabinet Councils, or expe
ditions to attend to the many institutions with which
he was connected, varied the morning, but he always,
if possible, gave the time before luncheon to the Queen,
while she told him all she had heard, or showed him
letters. Luncheon followed, and he went out, generally
with the Queen. Then there were interviews with all
sorts of people till dinner time, when he made himself
lively and pleasant to his guests.
Visits were often made to the theatre in the evening,
but always ending early with a view to the morning
hours. Even in the country his days were full of oc
cupation. Public business could not be entirely laid
aside, but the model farms, the buildings and the
landscape gardening were a delight. Balmoral became

VISIT OF THE DUKE OF COBUBG, 1853. 153
a castle, with plantations around it, and at Osborne
the grounds were laid out by the Prince, and a farm
added to them, which he so managed as to be no play
thing but a success, and a real benefit to all around.
Work was found for labourers in time of need upon
improvements, but at harvest time the extra hands were
paid off, that they might work for others. And both
there and at Windsor, a good, though not unreason
ably high, standard of character was required. The
whole place was a delight to the Prince, who could
here be at perfect ease with his little children, enjoy
his gardens and plantations unhampered ; and listen
to the songs of the birds, challenging the nightingale
with his whistle, which was sure to evoke an answer.
In the June of 1853, the Duke and Duchess of
Coburg paid a visit to England on business connected
with the internal affairs and constitution of the Duchy
of Gotha. On the exact proposition there is no need
to dwell, but it was one on which the two brothers
differed. " The discussion, at which the Duke's Minister,
Seebach, assisted, took place in Stockmar's apartment.
The Baron listened silently to the argument, and
presently said to the Duke, " You are right, the Prince
is "wrong, and will soon yield."
The argument, however, continued till the arrival
of a messenger from the Queen, to whom the Prince
had to speak. All the time Stockmar, who had been

154 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
sitting with his eyes shut, apparently not attending, but
when Prince Albert before going away, turned and
said, " It is impossible to decide until I have well
considered the matter," the adviser rose and going up
to him said, " My Prince, you have considered the
matter already. I know you well enough to be certain
that you had already decided before the Minister's
statement on the position you would take up. There
fore say so, for you will say the same to-morrow."
The Prince smiled, gave the Baron his hand, and said,
So ! to-morrow — the Chamber." Which was in fact
the ministerial proposal, to which he gave his assent
the next day, founding it on a former memorandum
of the Minister.
The brothers had much besides to discuss. In
Portugal, Queen Maria de Gloria was dying, and their
cousin Ferdinand was appointed Regent for his young
son Pedro. There were many visitors to the Court
that summer, the Duke of Genoa, the King and
Queen of Hanover, and the Prince and Princess of
Prussia. The Duke, of Genoa (brother of Victor
Emanuel) was greatly liked and esteemed by the
Royal Family, who, though averse to revolution, had
strono; feelings in favour of the Italians under alien
dominion. When the Queen presented him with a
handsome charger, she said: "I hope you will ride
this horse when a battle is fought for Italian liberty."

( 135 )

CHAPTER VIII.
THE CRIMEAN WAR.
1853-1856.
The camp at Chobham — Imminence of war— Prince Albert's view of
the Vienna Note — Declaration of war by Turkey — Our position as
auxiliaries — A letter to the Duke of Coburg — The Czar's cor
respondence with the Queen — The Sinope disaster — Lord
Palmerston's resignation — Attacks on the Prince — His annoy
ance — Refutation of the calumnies against him — The indecision
of Russia — The Prince's estimate of English feeling — The vacil
lation of Prussia — Commencement of the war — Count Vizthuni
and Prince Albert — A visit to the Emperor — Records of the con
versations — The Emperor's impressions — Progress of the war —
The Prince presses on reinforcements — Fall of the Aberdeen
Ministry — Calumnies against the Prince — Death of the Czar —
The Emperor's visit to England — A letter to the Duke of Coburg
— The death of Lord Raglan — Fall of Sebastopol — Visit of Prince
Frederick William — The projected marriage — Its reception by the
press — The Prince's military arrangements — A letter to Prince
Frederick William — His character — The Prince on the prospects
of peace — The Treaty of Paris — Confirmation of the Princess
Royal.
Clouds were gathering over Europe which foretold war,
and the English army was so far in course of pre
paration, that for the first time for many years a camp
for exercise and training was assembled at Chobham.
Prince Albert was there on two of the first field days with

156 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
his brother and the King of Hanover, but then was laid
up with an attack of measles, which extended to the whole
family except the youngest children. It was not till
August that the Royal Family were able again to visit
the camp, which (on the Queen's authority), was the result
of the Prince's assiduous and unceasing representations
to the late and the existing government. The fleet, too,
had been greatly reinforced, and at a naval review in
the summer of 1853, was pronounced the finest that
England had ever fitted out, and for this, likewise, the
Prince had unofficially been working.
That war could not be averted was beginning to be
felt. To enter into the details is needless here, except so
far as they personally connect themselves with the sub
ject of this biography. The underlying gist of the matter
was the fixed determination of Russia, lasting through
many generations, to become mistress of Turkey. The
actual opening of the quarrel was regarding the custody
of the Holy places in Palestine, which the French de
manded on behalf of the Latin Church, the Russians on
behalf of the Greek ; and the Czar subsequently claimed
to be acknowledged as the protector of the fourteen
millions of Greek Christians, scattered throughout the
Turkish dominions.
Turkey had been an ally of England since the
great Napoleonic war, and it would have been dis
honourable to permit claims that would have been

THE VIENNA NOTE, 1853. 157
tantamount to her ruin, besides that to allow the huge
Empire of Russia to have the command of the Archi
pelago was felt to be most perilous to the balance of
power in Europe. A conference of the representatives
of the four Powers of Europe — England, France,
Austria, and Prussia — was held, and what was called
the Vienna Note was drawn up, and forwarded to
Russia and to Turkey for acceptance as an honourable
settlement. It was accepted by Russia but declined by
Turkey, on the ground that the Russian interpretation
of it was not that which was intended by the framers.
Prince Albert's view was : —
" We can, however, no longer urge the acceptance of the Vienna
Note, which has proved to be a trap set by Meyendorff through Buol.
We dare, moreover, no longer believe the protestations of the Emperor
Nicholas, that the question at issue is a point of honour, an ultimatum
which does not admit of change, a new acknowledgment of old rights.
All that is at an end.
" But now, how to avoid a European war ? For only with the most
dishonourable cowardice on the part of the Powers could the demands
be conceded by them which arc now set up. . . I cannot disguise
from you that the course of the whole affair has done Aberdeen infinite
injury with the public, and the outcry against him and Clarendon will
soon become loud, unjustly so, but the mass of mankind judges only
after the event. Aberdeen is quite right, and i3 to be honoured and
applauded for maintaining as ho does, that we must treat with our
enemies as honourable men, and deal honourably towards them ; but
that is no reason why we should think they are so in fact ; this is what
he does, and it is right to do so."
This was written on September 27th. On October
5th, another letter to Stockmar says : —

158 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
"The Turks have declared . war. What will the four Powers do ?
By this, our mediation policy is knocked on the head. We cannot look
on and see the Porte destroyed by Russia; active assistance is
European war — if it succeeds then fanatical oppression of the
Christians in the East becomes in the ascendant ! To leave the
Porte in the lurch is death to the Ministry, to declare war is not much
else ! "
In this perplexity, when every step was a difficulty, the
sending the English and French fleets into the .ZEgean
Sea was much censured, as being a step nearer war.
The Prince drew up one of his memorandums, weighing
the probabilities, and especially dwelling on this
caution : —
" In acting as auxiliaries to the Turks, wo ought to be quite sure
that they have no object in view foreign to our duty and interests; that
they do not drive at war whilst we aim at peace ; that they do not,
instead of merely resisting the attempt of Russia to obtain a Pro
tectorate over the Greek population incompatible with their own
independence, seek to obtain themselves the power of imposing a
more oppressive rule of two millions of fanatic Mussulmans over twelve
millions of Christians, that they do not try to turn the tables on the
weaker power, now that, backed by England and France, they have
themselves become the stronger. There can be little doubt, and it is
very natural, that the fanatical party at Constantinople, should have
such views, but to engage our fleet as an auxiliary force for such
purposes, would be fighting against our own interests, policy, and
feelings." The paper ended by declaring that if England took part in
the war, the peace concluding it should secure " arrangements con
sonant with the well-understood interests of Europe, of Christianity,
liberty, and civilisation."
To this Aberdeen, Clarendon, and Russell assented,
but Palmerston thought any improvement of Turkey a
chimerical idea, and disbelieved the stories of increased
fanaticism.

THE ENTENTE CORDIALE, 1853. 159
" You arc right," wrote Prince Albert on October 20th, 1853, to his
brother, " in anxiously enquiring into the state of European politics.
They look very bad and solely depend on whether the Emperor
Nicholas will have war or not. That he chooses the forbidden thing-
can be no longer doubtful after Nesselrode's explanation. But we do
not know whether he is ready to reckon on an European war. Much will
depend on how the Powers range themselves. And the recent unlucky
scene in Berlin is, in this respect, the most favourable thing that could
have happened for the preservation of pence. The Emperor wanted to
form an offensive and defensive alliance with Austria and Prussia
against England and Fiance. In other words, that Germany should
again pay the score for his coveted objects in the East. Austria
withstood, Prussia fell into the trap. The Emperor summoned the
King to Warsaw, he came, he had worked him up to extreme rage
against France (which was quite quiet and pacific through the whole
affair), but he was thwarted by the firmness of Manteufel, who
declared that neither now nor ever would he depart from the Prussian
policy of neutrality.
" We have often been constrained to an Entente cordiale* with Louis
Napoleon. It is useful to him, for at Paris there is much greed of
money-making. The Emperor is often passive — in short, over there
they are in an unusually quiet and yielding mood towards us. Here,
the nation is indignant with Russia, but determined to keep the peace
as long as possible. Our fleets (combined) Lave orders forcibly to
prevent any attack on the Turkish coast, but fresh attempts at
mediation will be made, based on the Treaty of 1841, including the
latest Russian declarations of Olmutz, avoiding the rocks which Reschid
Pasha has discovered in the Vienna Note with respect to the treaties of
Kainardji and Adrianople. It is further decided that the Porte shall
be threatened that, if it refuses an equitable adjustment, it shall be left
in the lurch. I am for this, because the mad fanatics, building upon
our help, play the most foolish tricks, so that the actual declaration of
war, acknowledged to be so grievous, may, whether right or wrong,
come in a moment, and probably their war will be one in which we
shall not act for love of them, but shall be forced to take their part for
our own interest, and that of all Europe. Especially we cannot let
Constantinople be taken by the Russians. The difficulties are enor
mous, not less with our present mixed Cabinet than with Russia.
* The "ancient cordial," as the soldiers called it.

100 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
. . . An honourable and manly demonstration by Austria would
make an equitable and peaceful settlement of the struggle possible in
a moment." There was a personal correspondence between the
Czar and the Queen, in which the former implored Her
Majesty's good faith and wisdom, to judge between him
and the English Government. As the Prince described
her answer — " Victoria has sat in judgment, but her
judgment must go against her Imperial brother ; " who,
meanwhile, was publishing war-like manifestoes to his own
subjects, making his intentions plain.
In the midst came the catastrophe at Sinope, when, on
November 30th, the Turkish fleet on the way to Batoum,
was utterly and savagely destroyed by a Russian squadron
from Sebastopol, under the impression that it was on
the way to excite an insurrection in Circassia. The
outrage filled England with wrath and indignation, not
DO O ?
only against the aggressor, but because Aberdeen was
supposed to have been bought over by Russia, and
Prince Albert to be no less devoted to Russian interest,
and paralyzing the Government. The fact seems to
have been that if an English fleet were to be sent
into the Turkish waters so as to irritate Russia it
ought to have been large enough to protect the Turks
ao-ainst such an attack, and that this had not been
done was on account of the desire to avoid war.
In this perplexity, Palmerston's resignation occurred.

GOSSIP ABOUT THE PRINCE, 1853. 1G1
" The state of politics," writes the Prince, " is quite
insane. No one will believe the true cause of his retire
ment, his dislike of Lord John's plan of reform, and
treachery is everywhere the cry."
Indeed treachery was freely imputed. It was even
whispered that Lord Palmerston had resigned because
he detected Prince Albert in betraying State secrets to
foreign Courts. Well might the Prince write — " The
stupidest trash is babbled to the public, so stupid that
(as they say in Coburg) you would not give it to the pigs
for litter."
On the 19th, the Prince wrote : —
" I do not yet give up the hope of enforcing peace, but the want of
sense in both Russians and Turks is incredible. One element of war
disappeared from the Cabinet yesterday in Palmerston, yet purely on
a home question. The great Liberal braggart, who wanted to press
free constitutions on every country, finds the Reform Measure which
Aberdeen approves too liberal. What mischief that man has done us !
A resignation naturally weakens the Ministry, and gives the Protec
tionists and Ultra-Tories a leader in the Lower House, from which
height it is probably his intention to force himself on us as Premier
one of these days."
However, as the Cabinet remained unshaken, and
Palmerston found that Lord Lansdowne would not follow
his example, he withdrew his resignation. The public
insisted on believing that it was Prince Albert's treason
to the country which had caused the retirement, and
there were a series of bitter and ignorant attacks upon
the Prince in the papers, which greatly grieved and
M

162 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
annoyed him, and affected his health. Just then the
Lord Mayor proposed to erect a statue of him in the
Park, in commemoration of the Great Exhibition, and
there were those who fancied that he had himself pro
posed it, whereas in his own words to Lord Granville : —
" I can say, with perfect absence of humbug, that I would much
rather not be made the prominent feature of such a monument, as it
would both disturb my quiet rides in Rotten Row to see my own face
staring at me, and if, as is very likely, it became an artistic monstrosity
like most of our monuments, it would upset my equanimity to be
permanently ridiculed and laughed at in effigy."
Iii the present state of feeling, everything the Prince
did or said was misunderstood by either Protectionists or
Radicals, and with very bitter feelings did the Prince
write to his brother: —
" Here the rage for war has reached a pitch that I should hardly
have thought possible. The public has kindly made me the scape-goat
for the war not having been begun, and logically says : ' The interests
of the Coburg, Russian, Belgium, and Orleans families are fused
together, and preferred to the alliance with Louis Napoleon. It i3
said that the Emperor rules England from Russia, he telegraphs to
Gotha, you to Brussels, Uncle Leopold to me, I whisper into Victoria's
ears, she openly drives old Aberdeen, and the voice of the only English
Minister, Palmerston, is not listened to, but instead, he has been
intrigued out of Court and Cabinet."
All this had to be borne in silence, unbroken except
by a letter of Mr. Greville, Clerk of the Privy Council,
explaining Prince Albert's position, and the effect of
the Act of Naturalization, until the meeting of Parlia
ment on January 31st, 1854, when Lord Aberdeen

DEFENCE OF THE PRINCE, 1854. 163
among the Peers, and Lord John Russell in the Lower
House undertook the defence, ably followed up by Lord
Derby and by Mr. Walpole.
The public were made to face the truth that the
Consort of a female sovereign could not be a mere cipher,
that he actually was a Privy Councillor and her private
secretary, and that his interests were naturally identical
with hers, so that while it was absurd to suppose that he
had no political influence, the ministry had it in their own
hands to resign, if it were exercised in an unconstitutional
manner. And the testimony of ex-ministers and actual
ministers entirely upheld his entire loyalty, while Lord
Campbell, from the legal point of view, proved his right
to advise. The whole affair was a success. The Queen
says to Stockmar : —
" I write to you in the fulness of joy at the triumphant refutation of
all the calumnies in the two Houses of Parliament last night. The
position of my beloved lord and master has been defined for once and
all, and his merits have been acknowledged on all sides most duly."
The Prince himself says : " The impression has been excellent, and my
political status and activity, which up to this time have been silently
assumed, have now been asserted in Parliament, and vindicated
without a dissentient voice."
The imputations had been patiently and cheerfully
borne, though both the husband and wife had suffered
from them in health ; and when it was found that
Royalty was by no means backward in thoroughly taking
up the defence of the weak and defiance of the strong,
m 2

164 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
the murmurs died away, though in point of fact the
Prince was never popular in his own lifetime—
" The Emperor Nicholas," he writes on February 23rd, " has by
his answer to Napoleon's letter, broken down the bridge, and recalled
1812. We are preparing. Whether Russia will undertake the war
under such circumstances the gods alone know ! The Emperor must
be insane if he does so. But whether he does or not, the magic wand
with which he ruled Mid-Europe is broken. The poor German kings
who made it their pride to be his, may be sincerely pitied."
But all through the early part of the year the inde
cisions of Prussia were giving great anxiety. Frederick
William was anxious not to break with his brother-in-
law, and was manifestly attracted by his absolutism.
His ambassador, Bunsen, the personal friend of Prince
Albert, was recalled in May; and there was also, on
grounds connected with the Government of Prussia
and the retractation of his liberal measures, a breach
with his brother William, the heir to the throne, faithful,
honest, and resolute. The recall of Bunsen was especially
alarming, as there was no doubt that it was on account
of his anti-Russian sympathies ; but for this there was
some consolation —
" Bunsen's overthrow is known to you," says Prince Albert to his
brother on May 2nd, " I can moreover completely partake your view
that it is for the best, Bunsen is the absolute reverse of a diplomate.
His best qualities are the most perilous in this respect ; especially his
incredible productiveness and imagination. In 1S4S, I saw at least five
complete constitutions for Germany, and as many for Prussia, worked
out by him to the smallest details, each one going on a different
principle. His conquest and partition of Russia was a similar
production. Thus I examined him as I happened to see it, with

INFLUENCE OF RUSSIA AT BERLIN. 165
regard to the Ernestine line and Poland, and asked him, ' Do not
you see how all this compromises us, and what mischief this patriotic
plan may do ? ' ' Ah ! that is true, I am very sorry I had not
thought of that,' was the answer. Bunsen will be much happier out
of diplomacy, where I well know that he has often done harm."
On the 16th he writes again : —
" The Russian faction at Berlin has gained a complete victory, and
thrown all good Germans and Prussians out of office. . . . Never
theless I believe that Austria has nothing to fear from Prussia, and
can go forward reassured. I understand that in Vienna they will not
entirely embrace the idea that there is a serious intention of war by
the Western Power3, since the Russians cleverly make profit of these
circumstances to bring German powers to this belief. In France,
the war is really not popular. Here, on the contrary, the English
are incredibly blood-thirsty again&t a power whose form of government
a,nd foreign policy they abhor. The opposition, which must always
be on the popular side, has no weapons against the Ministry except
a cry of lukewarmness with regard to the war, and especially to cast
suspicion on Lord Aberdeen, who alone holds the Coalition together.
" It might make the Russians think lightly of the matter if they were
to run over an article in the German press, to inform the Continental
public that the Government is not in earnest about the war. The fact
that ten millions of fresh taxes have been levied is a specimen of the
earnestness  They are to be raised in the year, not on loan as in
Prussia and France, and will be raised during the continuance of the
war. " Our necessity is caused by our prosperity. We can assemble no
soldiers, sailors, nor ships. So enormous is traffic, industry, and
export. It is frightful to look at the navy, as the men are all
.employed elsewhere. We have 40,000 sailors in America, 10,000 in
Australia, &c. The war may come faster if the German powers do not
join us. In a long struggle the fullest purse conquers, however the
numerical strength of the armies may appear at first. We have
already captured fifty ships, and destroyed twelve at Odessa. Russia
is not to conquer but to blow up financially, to which the million and
a half troops which she displays are conducing. If we could only get
possession of Sebastopol ! The Greek episode is dreadful, and shows
that even Russia can cause revolution when it is useful to her."

166 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Soon after the Prince writes : —
" Prussia, unhappy country ! The King is the tool of Russian
dictation, partly from fear of Russia, partly from an absurdly
sentimental feeling for the Emperor as representative of the Holy
Alliance. He believes himself to have shown great and dignified
independence in declining a Russian alliance that could only have
the one object of drawing Prussia into conflict with the Western
Powers." He clearly sums up the English feeling in a letter
to King Leopold : —
"Another mistake which people make abroad is to ascribe to
England a policy based upon material interests and cold calculation.
Her policy is one of pure feeling, and therefore most illogical. The
Government is a popular Government, and the masses upon whom
it rests only feel and do not think. In the present instance their ,
feeling is something of this sort : ' The Emperor of Russia is a tyrant,
the enemy of all liberty on the Continent, the oppressor of Poland.
He wanted to coerce the poor Turk. The Turk is a fine follow, he
has braved the rascal, let us rush to his assistance. The Emperor
is no gentleman, he has spoken a lie to our Queen. Down with the
Emperor of Russia ! Napoleon for ever ! He is the nephew of his
unele whom we defeated at Waterloo. We were afraid of his
invading us ? Quite the contrary. He has forgotten all that is past,
and is ready to fight with us for the glorious cause against the
oppressor of liberty. He may have played the French some tricks,
but they are an unruly set and don't deserve any better. Hang all
the German princes who won't go with us against the Russians,
because they think they want him to keep down their own people.
The worst of them is the King of Prussia, who ought to know
better.' "
This is a fair picture of the popular spirit. Tennyson's
poem, " Maude," shows the curious feeling that war would
be a correction of many home evils, and a generation
had grown up which recollected the glory of the former

PRELIMINARIES OF WAR, 1854. 167
great war, but did not recollect the sufferings which, in
those times of imperfect and scanty communication, had
been little brought to the knowledge of those " who
lived at home at ease." There was great inexperience,
too, in the needful preparations, and the few veterans
who were in an effective condition had a far lower
estimate of the needful comforts and appliances of a
soldier's life than later civilisation has produced.
Heartily did the Queen and Prince throw themselves
into the cause. As the former wrote to the vacillating
and compromising Frederick William IV. of Prussia,
in her English heart were deeply sunk the words : —
" Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in't,
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee."
In the letter where this quotation occurs Prince
Albert, no doubt, had his share. He was very indignant
with the inconstancy, unreliableness, and what he called
the " unverstand " of the King of Prussia, and the
doubts of Austria were almost equally harassing ; while
even Lord Aberdeen felt as if this were a civil war,
probably, as the Prince suggested, because in 1813-4
he was actually at Vienna, the head-quarters of the
Allies against France. But this did not prevent him
from (in the words of the Prince) " behaving in the
same high-minded, courageous, and conciliatory spirit
he has always shown " : —

168 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
"My principal work," wrote the Priuce, "is that our policy should
manifest its firmness in uprightness and honour, in the judgment
of others. This is the easier to attain in the first place as chiming
in with the national character, but the next is much more difficult
because of the character of an insular people to whom all knowledge
of the Continent is alien, but it has to be considered by me. The
Ministry gives us much trouble, Aberdeen is still in 1814, Palmerston
in 1848, Lord John in 1830. The Parliament and Press are, all and
sundry, at once born generals, and only require for the conquest
of Russia by the army, which (as they say), is good for nothing, that
the war ministry should be led by Palmerston, and the Court which
kept Palmerston therefrom obstructed.
" What makes us very anxious is Marshal St. Arnaud, who is
through and through a Chevalier d'lndustrie, and in the hands of a
certain T. The French themselves do not doubt that he is active
in taking silver and paper roubles. We cannot induce the French
army to advance till it has all its cavalry, which may last till the end
of July." The war had actually begun, the English and French
troops were at Varna, and the question of attacking
Russia in the Crimea was suggested by the French
Emperor and considered in the Cabinet, and was the
subject of a memorandum of the Prince, which was
finished on June 29th. On that very day orders had
been sent which made Lord Raglan feel that he had
no alternative but to attack Sebastopol, though the
Cabinet seems to have intended him to use his own
judgment. On July 16th, the Saxon ambassador, Count Vizthum,
records a long conversation with Prince Albert on the
attitude of the Courts of Vienna and Prussia after the
Conference held at Bamberg. " England and France,"

VISIT TO BOULOGNE, 1854. 169
he said, are to fight the battle alone, and leave to
Germany the fruits of victory, the freedom of the
Danube —
" All my attempts," says Vizthum, " to shake the false impression
that a feeling of animosity against England prevailed at the German
Courts was ineffectual. The answer 1 got was, that I had only to go
there, and my candour would be put to the test on my return. It was
not indeed denied that Lord Palmerston's vicious policy had been
responsible for the coolness at present manifested in Germany against
England, but on the other hand it must not bo forgotten that the
blunders committed by the German powers were now recoiling on
themselves. " The Prince showed himself very anxious as to the next day's
meeting of Parliament. 'The continuance,' he said, 'of the present
English Ministry — the best one, at any rate, now possible — depended
on the Cabinet at Vienna. If that dangerous Palmerston came to the
helm before Austria took action the latter would find in him the same
inexorable enemy as in 1848.'
'• Of Bonapartist France, the Prince spoke with a moderation and
absence of prejudice now rarely met with in the leading circles of
this country. In like manner he entertained no illusions about the
success of the fleet then operating against Cronstadt. If fortune
helped them, they would perhaps demolish some earthworks, but they
could never capture either Cronstadt or St. Petersburg. The Russian
men-of-war blockaded in those ports were, taken altogether, scarcely
worth two millions and a half, and it would hardly pay to make any
great sacrifice to destroy them. The capture of Sebastopol was the
great object of the war, which, as the Prince repeated more than once,
must be persevered in till attained."
Prince Albert decided on paying a visit in person to
the Emperor of the French, who was to meet him at
Boulogne, show him the army quartered there, and
discuss the situation. He started on September 3rd,
in the Fairy, with the Queen, whom he left at Spithead,

170 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
proceeding in the Victoria and Albert. The next day
his despatch to the Queen was as follows : —
" We have arrived safely as the telegraph will have told you. The
Emperor met me on the quay and brought me here in his carriage to
an hotel at the back of the town near the railway station, but which
looks more like an old French chateau, only two stories high, with
long wings, a paved courtyard, and a grillage in front.
" The Emperor has been very nervous, if we are to believe what is said
by those who stood near him and who know him best. He was kindly
and cordial, does not look so old or pale as his portraits make him, and
is much gayer than he is generally represented. This visit cannot fail
to be a source of great satisfaction to him. He asked me at once if I.
could stay here till the 9th, which is the earliest day he can get the troops
together for a great review. I assured him I must embark again on the
evening of the 8th, and that this was the latest moment I could give
him. You see, a shorter visit would have been a mistake. ... I have
had two long talks with the Emperor, in which he spoke very sensibly
about the war, and the question du jour. People here are far from
sanguine about the results of the expedition to the Crimea, very
sensitive about the behaviour of Sir Charles Napier, scantily satisfied
with Lord Stratford ; nevertheless, so far as the Emperor is concerned,
determined to consider the war and our alliance as the one thing
paramount to which all other considerations must give place. To all
complaints I have only replied that to carry public opinion with us in
England is the main point (so far as consequences go), and that this
is firmly rooted in support of the war, that Sir Charles Napier, Lord
Stratford, and Lord Palmerston are the three persons who alone could
carry on the war.
" September oth. — Before I go to bed I must wish you good-night
upon paper, even though the wish may be rather late in reaching your
dear hands. 1 have to go out to-morrow morning by six, so there will
be little time for writing. The Emperor thaws more and more. This
evening, after dinner, I withdrew with him to his sitting-room for half
an hour before rejoining his guests, in order that he might smoke his
cigarette, in which occupation, to his amazement, I could not keep
him company. He told me one of the deepest impressions ever made
upon him, was, when having gone from France to Rio Janeiro, and
thence to tho United States, and been recalled to Europe by the

THE PRINCE AND THE EMPEROR, 1654. 171
rumour of his mother's serious illness, he arrived in London shortly
after King William's death, and saw you at the age of eighteen going
to open Parliament for the first time."
Vizthum was at Boulogne at the time, and watched the
Emperor driving the Prince in a phaeton so close to the
sea that the breakers almost dashed into the carriage.
The Emperor was invited to England, and in return
expressed hopes of welcoming the Queen in France, to
see the Exhibition, with which the example of 1851
was being followed up.
The Prince, on his return, dictated a close account
of his observations and conversations to General Grey.
He thought the Emperor's " education very deficient,
even on subjects which are a first necessity to him ; I
mean the political history of modern times, and political
subjects generally. He appears to have thought much
and deeply on politics, yet more like an ' amateur
politician,' mixing many very sound and very crude
notions together."
A curious conversation is further recorded, when the
Emperor asked the cause of the Queen's objection to
Lord Palmerston, who, he said, had always been " tres
bon pour lui." Prince Albert suggested that this
might partly be caused by the Minister's hatred to the
Orleans family, and thence had to refer to the quarrel
between Lord Palmerston and Louis Philippe, on the
subject of intervention in the affairs of Spain, a meddle

172 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
with that country "had at all times brought ruin on
France and the dynasty which undertook it."
The Emperor agreed to the axiom, though he was
yet to add another example of its truth.
There was a discussion on finance, the Emperor
leaning to indirect taxation, the Prince condemning
indirect taxation as a principle, but acknowledging its
necessity as a sacrifice to the weakness of human nature,
which cannot bear to see the money go direct from the
pocket of the individual to the coffers of the State,
and particularly blaming the ever-recurring attempts of
the French Government to control the price of bread.
" The Emperor declared this a necessity, as when bread was dear
the people became ungovernable. The town of Paris had had to
sacrifice sixteen millions of francs last year for that object, which he
hoped to get back now after a plentiful harvest. I could not but
express my doubts whether he would find it practicable to g^t back
one shilling. As to the stability of the Government, nothing appeared
to me so dangerous as to establish and acknowledge an immediate
connection with it and the price of bread. He admitted this, but said
there was no help for it."
After mentioning many other subjects talked over,
the Prince thus sums up his account : —
" Upon the whole, the impression which my stay at Boulogne left
upon me was that the Emperor would neither in home nor in foreign
politics take any violent steps ; but that he appears in distress for
means of government, and obliged to look about for them from day to
day. Plaving deprived the people of every active participation in the
Government, and having reduced them to mere passive spectators, he
is bound to keep up the spectacle, and as at fireworks, whenever a
pause takes place between the different displays, the public imme
diately grows impatient, and forgets what it has just applauded."

BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 1854. 173
The impression on the Prince's mind was that the
Emperor was like a showman, the French spectators
always looking for a fresh exhibition from him.
Educated and trained as Prince Albert had been,
and with fourteen years of experience of actual govern
ment ; being, moreover (as Disraeli said of him), not
educated beyond his capacity, he could not but have
greatly the advantage of Napoleon III., the creature of
strange vicissitudes and chance education ; but it is
greatly to the credit of both that the Emperor was
delighted as well as impressed. He was grateful for
the manner in which the Prince had met him half way.
He told Count Walewski that he had never learnt so
much in a short time, and to the Duke of Coburg he
afterwards said of the Prince : " LI a I' esprit si juste
quon a toujours peur d'entrer en discussion avec lui.
II a toujours raison. One of the highest intelligences
of the time." This was no small tribute from such a
man as the Emperor, and the meeting did much to
consolidate the alliance between the two countries.
The Prince returned to keep the autumn holiday at
Balmoral, full of the anxieties and excitements of the
Crimean Expedition. It was there that the news of the
battle of the Alma was received, and there vvere hopes
of an immediate assault and the capture of Sebastopol ;
but there was much disappointment when, soon after
the return of the Court to Windsor, it was known that

174 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
the unwillingness of the French had prevented this,
and that the difficulties of a regular siege would be
great, giving time for the Russian army to arrive, and
stretching into the darkness and cold of winter.
Then came the startling news of the Balaclava chame,
showing as much blundering as daring, and anxiety
became very great. The Prince especially dreaded
that the length of the contest would bring on a general
European war, and on this he wrrote to King Leopold ;
while to the Ministers at home he urged the necessity
of increasing our own available force by completing the
Militia by ballot, and by enlisting a foreign legion.
In a letter to the Duke of Coburg, in the end of
November, the Prince writes : —
" I owe you an answer for your kind letter of the 10th, but I can
scarcely write, for I have only one thought of our heroes in the Crimea.
The poor fellows endure much and behave wonderfully well (bewunders-
wurdig). At Inkermann 6,000 Englishmen held out two hours, then
altogether 8,000 for four hours, and at last with a reinforcement of
French, 14,000. These 14,000 men endured an attack by 60,000
Russians for nine hours altogether, and drove them back.
" The Russian dead, whom we had to bury, were 4,500. Multiplied by
five as is the usual reckoning, so as to take an average of the wounded,
this would show that the 14,000 men had put from 15,000 to 20,000
of the enemy 7tors de combat, a unique fact in military history. Of
course we suffered enormously, for the Russians had brought sixty guns
against us and a steamer with mortars. George* behaved excellently,
poor Seymour is wounded in the hand, Sir George Cathcart is our
greatest loss. One cannot call our undertaking a siege, for we are
ourselves beleaguered by an army larger than our besieging force. The
city is quite open to the sea on the north, with a great fleet sunk in the
water, and the country to the east connects it with the army of relief."
* The Duke of Cambridge.

BATTLE OF INKEBMANN, 1854. 175
On December 26th :—
" The accounts from Sebastopol are full of the sufferings of our poor
troops. All communication is almost impossible from the break up of
the ground ; but it must be the same with the enemy, and distress
them still more. Since November 5th the Russians have given no
signs of life ; they have fallen back upon Tchernaya, and massed
themselves on the north side of the harbour. As soon as our new
batteries are in position the fire will begin again. In the meantime
the Russians expect huge reinforcements, have made fresh interior
fortifications, and have an immense number of guns."
The Ministry were unwilling to accept the Militia
and foreign legion scheme, but the course of events
rendered both measures necessary, when the terrible
loss by which the battle of Inkermann was gained had
further thinned the ranks of the brave men in the
Crimea. It was the Prince's work, under these circumstances,
to stimulate the sending out reinforcements, and pro
visions for the comfort of the troops, as well as to keep
up the spirits of the Ministry, who began to be very
doubtful of success. He proposed the establishment of
a depot at Malta for a reserve to supply the army, and
did his best for the supply of all those necessaries of
life in which the army was so sadly deficient, sending
fur coats to the officers and tobacco to the men of all
the three regiments with which he was personally
connected ; and giving all his influence to Florence
Nightingale's noble undertaking. Finding, too, that
the want of system in making reports of the condition

176 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
of the army put great difficulties in the way of attending
to their wants, he drew up a scheme of tabulated returns,
to be regularly filled up, such as should compel attention
to all the points which ought to be brought under the
wholesome influence of method.
It was a very careful arrangement, and was adopted
with good results, though probably it did not tend
to render the Prince more popular, since there is
nothing more irksome to the much occupied and un
methodical than filling up exact statistical information.
It was the previous lack of this system that occasioned
so much needless distress in the besieging army, and
the impatience and displeasure against the veteran Lord
Raglan. " The present administration of the army is
not to be defended ; my hearty bleeds to think of it,"
were Prince Albert's words to King^Leopold, and he
worked at a memorandum on the means of keeping
the organisation of the army in an efficient state in
the time of peace, with such commissariat as could be
depended upon. The matter was to be brought forward
in the next Session of Parliament, but by that time the
sufferings of the army, detailed in no measured terms
by newspaper correspondents, had^ raised a storm of
indignation throughout the country against those actually
in office, although, in point of fact, they were not by
any means as responsible as was the previous economy,
and likewise the lack of experience of military needs

THE SESSION OF 1855. 177
consequent upon a thirty years' peace. Those most
blamed were the very men who were struggling the hard
est against the almost insuperable difficulties caused by
former neglect.
When the Session of 1855 began, Roebuck's motion
for an inquiry into the condition of the army was carried
by a majority of 157, and necessarily caused a resignation
of the Coalition Ministry. Lord Derby was sent for, but
could not secure the co-operation at the War Office of
Lord Palmerston, for whom the whole country cried out,
though he himself declared that he should not manage
any better than the Duke of Newcastle.
Austria had, meantime, joined the alliance with
England and France, but General Janvier and General
Fevrier, as Punch called them, were well serving Russia.
The French were discontented, the English furious —
"Things have gone mad here," wrote Prince Albert, "the political
world is quite crazy, and the Court is the only institution which does
not lose its tranquil bearing. Nevertheless the people will soon come
to their senses again. The press, which, for its own ends, exaggerates
the sufferings of the troops in the Crimea, has made the nation quite
furious. It is bent upon punishing all and sundry, and cannot find
the right person because he does not exist."
The Ministry were victims, as those who knew the
facts understood, to the undiscerning indignation of
the nation at the sufferings caused by tardiness of
the military machinery of the country in getting into
motion. The brunt of the blame was naturally directed
N

178 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
against those who were in authority for the moment, and
Lord John Russell ought not to have tried to get
absolved from his share by resigning in the teeth of
the enquiry. " Everyone here took pains to prove that
we had no army, and to contrive that the Queen should
have no Government," was the way in which the Prince
described the situation.
It was necessary to offer Lord John Russell the
Premiership, and to call Lord Palmerston to the War
Office, but as most of the experienced ministers declined
to act with the former, Palmerston became the head of
the Administration, and thenceforth more on his guard
as to consultations with the Queen, so that his relations
with her became quite friendly to the end.
Still, Vizthum's comment is : —
"Prince Albert, who knew the noble lord pretty well, and who
said to me afterwards, ' I cannot respect that man, for he always
prefers his own interests to those of the nation,' was too good a
patriot not to see that Palmerston had become the man of the hour.
Thus, then, the Prince and Lord Palmerston, standing on the two
antipodes of politics, joined hands, and together saved the country
and the parhamentary system from dangers which threatened general
confusion, and had already compromised the reputation of all the
leading statesmen."
1 The change caused a great loss to the Prince, who
really loved Lord Aberdeen, and who, as he told the
Bishop of Oxford, considered him one of the most
virtuous of men ; but private feeling had to be laid
aside in the whirl of confusion.

ROEBUCK'S ENQUIRY, 1855. 179
Meanwhile the French Emperor was not ashamed to
write, on February 16th, to the King of Sardinia : —
" What has rendered the siege interminable has been the want ot
energy in the English Commander-in-chief. After four months' delay
they have not completed their siege operations against the more im
portant portion ; though we gave them all possible assistance by
opening our magazines to them, affording transport to their sick and
ammunition, and even giving them bread. Lord Stratford at Con
stantinople plays all sorts of tricks."

Perhaps the Emperor believed all this — but-

.!

The French before Sebastopol really were much worse
provided, but accounts of their miseries were carefully
suppressed, while those of the English were worked up ;
and the popular mind was in such a state that when
Mr. Roebuck began his inquiry he told the Duke
of Newcastle that the Committee believed they
should discover that there had been a determination
in high quarters that the expedition should not suc
ceed, and actually expected to have to impeach Prince
Albert. When the Duke declared that the most valuable
suo-oestions he had received had been from the much-
maligned Prince, Roebuck stood amazed. He be-
lieved in the Queen's extreme anxiety for her
soldiers, and had heard a story of one of the Royal
children telling Lord Cardigan that if Sebastopol
were not soon taken it would kill mamma ; and
yet he could suppose that her devoted husband was
n 2

180 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
ingeniously, and of set purpose, thwarting her wishes,
disgracing her country, and wasting the lives of her
subjects. The Duke, greatly shocked, told the Prince what had
passed, and consulted him whether anything could be
done. He replied, that "we cannot make people either
virtuous or wise, and must only regret the monstrous
degree to which their aberration extended. I must
rest mainly upon a good conscience, and the belief
that during the fifteen years of my connection with this
country I have not given a human soul the means of
imputing to me the want of sincerity or patriotism."
Deeply wounded as he was by these foolish and
outrageous calumnies, the Prince preserved his quiet and
dignified attitude, and the new Secretary at War, Lord
Panmure, soon found the value of his assistance, while
the preparations already made by those who were so
improperly abused were already improving the condition
of the besiegers.
Napoleon, of course, laid all the blame upon English
delay, for not having brought the war to a crisis ; but
a great change was about to take place. On February
16th, the Russian attack on Eupatoria was repulsed, and
the Emperor Nicholas, who was already, ailing, died
soon after receiving the news, on March 2nd. This
made a considerable difference in the. general hope of
peace, though the King of Prussia still would not throw

INTRIGUES OF THE EMPEROR, 1855. 131
his weight into the scale against Russia. Victor
Emmanuel heartily joined the Allies.
Napoleon took fresh heart, and began to think of a
personal coup at the seat of war ; but he resolved on
previously taking his Empress to visit Quee n Victoria.
They arrived on April 16th, when Prince Albert met
them at Dover.
There was a grand reception, of course, but not
without anxiety lest there should be an attempt on the
Emperor's life from some of his fanatical enemies.
Moreover, as Count Vizthum says, "the adventurer of
Strasburg and Boulogne thought of going in person to
the Crimea, to put an end to the miserable business by
a brilliant victory. The absurdity of the idea was
patent. The army itself, who considered the Emperor
no soldier, far less a commander, protested against it. A
disaster, or even only a prolonged absence of the Emperor
from Paris, might jeopardise his throne and the alliance
with England. That country, moreover, would never
have consented to put her soldiers under the supreme
command of the French Emperor. Lord Palmerston
seized the bull by the horns." He had already sent
Lord Clarendon to dissuade the Emperor, and in all
their conversations the Prince added his arguments.
The Emperor said, after one of these conversations, to
the Queen : " Le Prince voire epoux a I'esprit Men net —
always bringing people back to the point whence they

182 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
digressed." The visit was altogether much enjoyed.
" The line between Emperor and parvenu, was drawn,"
says Vizthum, "with singular skill;" and the charm of
the Empress's beauty and grace was felt by all, especially
her childish simplicity, which made her appear eighteen
instead of twenty-eight.
There was a Grand Chapter of the Garter to admit
the Emperor. The question arose whether he ought to
take the oath of allegiance to the Order. " Not only
to the Order," he said, " but to the Sovereign who
bestowed it upon me, and that now and for ever ! "
Yet, on his return to Paris, he had no scruple in
representing himself as forced to continue the war by the
English " qui out le didble au corps."
Just after the Imperial visit, on May 1st, Prince Albert
gave his brother this account of the state of affairs : —
" Since the arrival of our light drau ht steam flotilla in the Sea of
Azof, it has become possible to cut off the Russian communications on
the road from Perekop, and to capture or destroy their great arsenals.
Thus their mass of troops in the Crimea will be reduced by so much,
while ours are increased. In General Pelissier, the French at last
have a leader who is resolute and enterprising, and can raise the spirit
of the French army which had been depressed by Canrobert's weak
ness. The English troops are again 30,000 men under arms, and their
spirit is excellent.
" But it is as bad with diplomacy as it is well with the anny.
Austria will proclaim her shame before all Europe. The new French
policy is as inactive as might be expected, and the position of the
Emperor is not satisfactory. Here, there is such behaviour as if the
wish were to make all government impracticable. Lord Derby and the
Protectionists want to make common cause with Layard and his set for

DELAYS OF THE EMPEROR, 1S55. 183
the overthrow of the Palmerston ministry. From the mismanage
ment of Lord Ellenborougb, which ought to have raised the storm in
the Upper House, Disraeli has seized the opportunity again in the
Lower House — there Gladstone and the Peelites take up tho cry for
peace, they declare against all continuance of the war, and lay on
Aberdeen, and his late colleagues, all the blame of the former feeble
and bad management, for which the public has long sought a victim.
" Disraeli, who has chiefly undertaken to damage Lord John and his
peaceful policy in Vienna, and to increase the insecurity of the
Palmerstonian cabinet, is in a condition to bait the Peelites sup-
potted by all the liberal and patriotic party. Palmerston gets great
majorities, but is compelled to go beyond the extremest measures,
and is free from all the control that could force him to moderation in
his foreign policy. At the same time the Russian party in Europe
will be enabled to profit by the dictum of the most distinguished
English Statesmen, that England has undertaken a vain war of wild
passion against Russia. But Lord Grey went beyond all, when, in
reviling the complaisance of the whole House of Lords, he, perhaps in
contradiction to the whole world, went so far in a motion as to approve
the mission of Menzikoff and the invasion of the Principalities. The
Vienna Conferences, which would have been better open, must now
be closed, if it were only to give the Ministry peace in Parliament.
O Oxenstiern, Oxenstiern."
Everyone was more or less working in the dark, and,
indeed, only the light of later events have made it
evident how the Emperor had purposely impeded the
operations of the siege, in order that he might appear
with grand effect, and make one of those coups in which
he delighted ; how Marshal Niel was sent to keep his
Generals in check, leaving the English to bear the
brunt; and how Lord Raglan's wonderful forbearance
and courtesy were exerted to keep up a good understand
ing between the armies.
By that time the Duke of Coburg, after a visit to

184 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
Paris, was in London, where he was present at the
Queen's personal distribution of medals to her wounded
soldiers, which he calls such a noble [and touching cere
mony as he seldom saw equalled.
It was soon followed by the attacks on the Redan and
the Malakoff; and that check, received (of all days in
the year) on June 18th, and caused, as the historian
of the Crimea has proved, by] Lord Raglan's chivalrous
sense of honour towards his allies, broke the health and
spirit of the brave old soldier, so that] he sank under
cholera ten days later. In the pressure of the times it
was necessary that General Simpson, an officer whose
name was little known, should succeed to the diffi
cult post.
Political capital was made out of the disaster, the
Opposition clamouring for peace just as the army was
being better provided. In a letter to Stockmar, the
Prince says : —
"Since I last wrote to you we have added Lord Raglan to our losses,
in spite of all that has been said and written^against him an irreparable
loss to us. There is something tragic in the maimer of his death.
That he should survive the disaster of the bloody assault on Waterloo
day and then die of sickness ! The 18th was the nail in his coffin, for
he knew that his troops could do nothing under the circumstances
which Pelissier had created, and that to give them the order to attack
was to send them to certain death; and yet had he not done so, the
French army would have believed he was deserting them in the hour of
need, and ascribed their national losses to him alone. The choice must
have been infinitely hard for him. And yet the French insinuate,
and what is worse, the Times does so too, that Lord Raglan is alone
to blame."

FALL OF SEBASTOPOL, 1855. 185
After a stormy Session of Parliament, when the vote
of censure on the Aberdeen Ministry was proposed, but
defeated by a large majority, the intended visit to Paris
was paid, with great enjoyment and success. Paris, both
historical and modern, was fully appreciated, and public
affairs and military matters thoroughly discussed in a
friendly tone, each Sovereign frankly telling the other
the shortcomings of the armies. The Crimean news is
summarised in a letter from the Prince to the King of
the Belgians : —
" Little was said about politics beyond the strongest assurances of
persevering loyalty in the war, until it shall be brought to a
satisfactory close. The French are now within sixty yards of the
Malakoff, and we, within a hundred and twenty of the Redan ; the
new Russian army was beaten in the field on the 16th, and must have
lost 15,000 men on the occasion, for 3,200 dead were buried during the
truce. The Russian cavalry must be at its last gasp for want of
fodder, and the garrison of Sebastopol crippled by the numbers of sick
and wounded. God send a happy issue to it all ! And that would
soon come had we one General-in-Chief."
Balmoral Castle, nearly completed, was a welcome
change after the glare, bustle, and strain of the Parisian
sojourn, and thither came the welcome telegram an
nouncing the fall of Sebastopol, after perhaps the
longest siege of recent history. To Stockmar the
Prince sent the tidings : —
" I must write you a line as I cannot pay you a visit in your room,
to show my joy with you over the fall of Sebastopol. Our bonfire on
Craig Gowan, opposite the house, the setting up of which you
will remember when the false news of the untamed Tartar
arrived, one which to our sorrow we had to leave behind us when

186 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
we left Balmoral last year, which was moreover blown down by the
gale on November 5th, Inkermann day, and found by us on our
return, this year, in melancholy plight, blazed out magnificently
about eleven o'clock on the evening of the 10th. It illuminated all
the peaks round about ; and the whole scattered population of the
valleys understood the signal and made for the mountain, where we
performed towards midnight a veritable witches' dance, supported by
whiskey." The letter, after giving the details of the occupation of
the city, concludes with the intelligence : " Prince Fritz
Wilhelm comes here to-morrow evening. I have received
a very friendly letter from the Princess of Prussia."
The death of Nicholas and the prospect of peace had
calmed the resentments towards Prussia, and Prince
William, the heir to his childless brother, had always
been inclined to a manlier policy, and was highly esteemed
by Prince Albert. The idea of a marriage between their
children was far from unwelcome. The Duke writes : —
" My brother loved his eldest daughter far too much and too
tenderly to place political views decisively foremost in ber future
betrothal. For many years it had been his wish, as I had often
observed, to behold in high position this, his favourite child, in whose
education he had taken the largest personal share. With paternal
delight he thought of his promising, highly-gifted, early-ripening
daughter on a powerful throne, but I well knew that, above all
things, he wished her to be happy.
¦• Among the princes of royal houses, even since the beginning of the
fifties, the son of the Prince of Prussia, had, in reference to this
subject, attracted the highest expectation. . . . The parents of Prince
Frederick William had seen the Princess Victoria at home in the year
1853, during their stay in England, where at thirteen years old she
had made the most winning impression on the minds of all the guests
at the English Court. Before that time there could scarcely have

PROPOSALS FOR THE PRINCESS ROYAL. 187
been a serious intention of a betrothal between the future Crown
Prince and the daughter of my brother. In the year 1855, it was the
question whether Prince Frederick William should take the journey
with a view to the choice of his future bride. It was at the same time
as I had gone to the Great Exhibition at Paris, that he came to
England, and arrived on September 14th, at Balmoral, where the
Court then was. When on my return from Paris I visited the Prussian
princes at Coblentz, the arrangement of the betrothal, though con
fidently accepted, was a strict secret."
The Duke of Coburg thus describes the young-
couple : —
" They possessed in their youth nearly all the qualities which enable
persons to awaken enthusiasm both ready and lasting. The manly
appearance of the Prince, his frank manners, his unprejudiced percep
tion of affairs quickly gained him true friends among older men. In spite
of his great endowments, and his unusual knowledge and power (wissen
and honnen), there might be fears lest he should not go beyond the
narrow range of affairs and activity, thus not unfolding the full richness
of his spirit and lifting it higher. It was as if the powerful nature of
the young man, so highly endowed, physically and mentally, might
find in the present position no employment worthy of it, or which
could fully develop it.
"His far younger bride possessed an understanding enriched by
such intellectual and political interests as Frederick William could
bring before her. From the rich development of her natural qualities,
she was advanced both in knowledge and power, as befitted one matured
in a truly manly school. She fulfilled completely the scholastic and
ethical ideal which my brother had from his earliest age devised. In
reference to this, the Princess was, and is, completely Prince Albert's
pupil as well as his darling, and she remains in many respects his
likeness. In this respect, it was not of secondary importance that my
brother himself instructed her, in part, in positive information, and in
some points was her teacher in his own ways of thinking. Thus,
the point in which her youthful character was in a peculiar manner
different from that of her contemporaries, was in her early reception
of the fundamental principles which my brother himself possessed,
and in which he desired to rear his beloved daughter.
" My brother lost with the Princess a very favourite occupation as an

188 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
instructor, which had always been a refreshment to him. The boys of
the family were not of equal substance, the other girls were still too
small, and thus are explained the strong yearnings and grief which for
a long time the Prince's letters showed with regard to the separation
from the Princess. The time of the wedding was not fixed, and
my brother absolutely insisted that it should not be till after the
seventeenth birthday."
The Prince thus wrote : —
" Yesterday I received your letter of the 20th, according to which
you will have arrived at Coblentz to-day on the way back from
Paris. You perhaps know already what I write to you to-day, that
our guest has spoken out his wish for a union with Vicky, with the
King's permission. We willingly consent, but begged that the pro
posal should not be made to V. herself till after her confirmation
in the new year, and the marriage is not to be thought of beforo
her seventeenth birthday in November, 1857. You will know full
well the importance of this event to us and will rejoice with us. The
parents in Coblentz are much pleased, and the betrothal of the sister
with your brother-in-law, draw the links closer with you and Alex-
andrina. If I close here, my lame hand and bad shoulder are to
blame, only since yesterday have I used my pen and still somewhat
badly. Fritz Wilhelm leaves us to-morrow. Now one general
exhortation to keep the secret. All the world may talk of the event,
but as long as we do not it does not signify."
The lame arm was the consequence of rheumatism and
spasms, the reaction of the long tension of anxiety
during the war. We all know the sweet, simple story,
now recollected with a touch of gentle melancholy, of
how the white heather on the Highland hill was the
means of breaking all the staid injunctions of waiting
for the future, and how the parents, scarcely yet past
the first flush of youth themselves, were full of exultant
joy. To Stockmar Prince Albert wrote : —

ENGAGEMENT OF THE PRINCESS, 1855. 189
" Prince Fritz Wilhelm left us yesterday. Vicky has indeed behaved
quite admirably, as well during the closer explanation on Saturday as
in the self-command which she displayed subsequently at the parting.
She manifested towards Fritz and ourselves the most childlike sim
plicity and candour, and the best feeling. The young people are
ardently in love with one another, and the purity, innocence, and
unselfishness of the young man have been on his part equally touch
ing. . . . While deep visible revolutions in the emotional nature of
the two young people and of the mother were taking place, by which
they were powerfully agitated, my feeling was rather one of cheerful
satisfaction and gratitude to God, for bringing across our path so much
that is noble and good, where it may, nay must, conduce to the
happiness for life of those whom He has endowed with these qualities
and who are, in themselves, so dear to me."
It is strange to find with how much displeasure the
proposed union was regarded, when the secret oozed out,
in consequence of the dislike of Prince Albert's supposed
German proclivities, and no doubt, also, of the neutral
attitude of Prussia during the war. The Times called
the Hohenzollern a paltry German dynasty, and as
sumed that the Prince, though heir to the crown after
his father, was to enter the Russian service. It was
not then realised that the heir-apparent and his
son were of very different mould from the vacillating
Frederick William, and the murmurs did not at once
die away.
The war was not yet over, and difficulties as to the
command in the Crimea were pressing. General Simpson,
feeling himself unequal to the terrible responsibilities,
resigned ; and, though the general opinion was in favour
of Sir. William Codrington as his successor, there were

190 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
difficulties as to seniority. The Prince, to prevent
hurting the feelings of the generals of higher rank,
proposed to divide the army into two corps, with
equality of command, but subject to the general control
of the Commander-in-Chief.
This plan was accepted, and Lord Palmerston wrote
that he and all the members of the Cabinet " felt greatly
obliged for the suggestion of an arrangement which had
not occurred to any of them, but which, when proposed
and explained, at once obtained the assent of all whose
duty it was to take it into consideration."
While engaged in the details on this matter, and on
new rules for examination and admission to the diplo
matic service, the Prince made time to prepare his young
daughter for her probable position, by an hour's con
versation with her every evening, chiefly on historical
subjects. He also wrote to her future husband, to
whom he laid down grand principles in his comments on
the means employed in Prussia to secure that at the
elections members devoted to Government might be
returned : —
"The state of Prussia, as you described it, is most critical, and designs
such a s those contemplated by the reactionists, prosecuted by such means
as are at this moment practised in regard to the elections, may result
in extreme danger to the monarchy. For if the world be overruled by
a God, as I believe it is, vile and wicked actions must bear evil fruits,
which frequently do not show themselves at once, but long years
afterwards, as the Bible tells us in the words : ' The sins of the fathers
are visited on the children to the third and fourth generation." This

LETTER TO PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAM. 191
being so, I ask myself, what are the duties of those who are to come
after in reference to the sowing of such dragons' teeth ? And I am
constrained to answer to myself that they are enjoined by morality,
conscience, and patriotism, not to stand as indifferent spectators of the
destruction of a constitution that has been sworn to. And when I
consider what I should do in the present state of things, this much is
quite clear to me, that I would record a. solemn protest against such
proceedings, not by way of opposition to the Government, but in
defence of those whose rights I should regard as inseparable from
my own, those of my country and my people, and in order that
I might absolve my conscience from any suspicion of participa
tion in the unholy work. At the same time, that my conduct
might be divested of any semblance of being dictated by a spirit of
opposition or desire for popularity, and in order it may be to make the
step itself unnecessary, I should in all confidence make those who are
contemplating the wrong aware, that, if it were persisted in, I should
feel myself compelled to adopt this course. This done, I should
entertain no animosity towards my friends, but, on the contrary, should
live in peace with the reigning powers. I am satisfied that an
attitude of this kind would inspire the delinquents with a certain
measure of alarm, and help to keep the nation from losing all hope,
and there is no such solid basis for patience as hope.
" In your letter to Victoria, of the 3rd, which she received yesterday,
you speak of your new labours and studies in the different ministerial
departments. When you have worked in them for some time, the
truth will become obvious to you of Axel Oxenstierna's saying, 'My
son, you will be surprised to learn with how little wisdom the world
is governed.' I am only afraid that it will be nobody's interest to
explain essential principles to you, and that, on the contrary they will
try, perhaps not unintentionally, to overwhelm you with the multipli
city of details and of so-called work. But this good must, at any rate,
ensue, that you will become thoroughly acquainted with what is
making history. Most German bureaucrats cannot, and even will not,
see the wood for the trees ; they even regard the abstract idea of the
wood as something dangerous, and measure its value by the density
with which the trees are huddled together, not by the vigour of their
growth : added to which, the weight and number of German official
documents is something appalling."
There can be little doubt that the example and counsels

192 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
of Prince Albert, both directly and through his daughter,
had a great effect on the very noble character of the
Emperor whom Europe is still mourning.
The actual humbling of France, and the establish
ment of German unity, came to pass, the latter in fulfil
ment of the visions of the Prince's lifetime ; and though
to his son-in-law only a secondary share was possible,
yet the subsequent disclosures show how great that
share was in reality, and how much influence was
exerted. The deep religious principle, the noble unselfishness,
the power to act, with the wisdom and dutifulness of not
acting unseasonably, and, above all, the strength to " suffer
and be strong," were all destined to be developed in a
most remarkable manner in the younger man. There
was, too, the same earnest benevolence. Truly we feel it
one of those noble traits that are the very salt of life,
that after the triumphal procession in our capital, when
the Crown Prince, while already bearing the sentence of
death within himself, was the very grandest and most
stately figure in the scene, the notes he made in his
pocket-book were for the homeliest, humblest beneficence :
" Cabman's rest ; drinking-troughs for dogs."
In February, Vizthum records another conversation
on the prospects of peace. The Prince attributed Russia's
symptoms of yielding to the action that Austria was at
length taking: —

THE PEACE OF PARIS, 1856. 193
" In making peace," he said, " it is just like horse-dealing. People
are not yet agreed as to what is the best mode of setting about it when
a man wants to sell a horse. Ought ho to name a price and then
proceed to bargain, or to fix his last price at once ? When it came to
proposing the terms of peace, wo started here with the view that the
most advantageous and dignified course was to name a fixed price. If
peace is accepted on the terms which we consider necessary in the
interest of Europe, we will conclude peace with pleasure, otherwise
we will not. Our policy is simple, clear, and fairly intelligible, to
anyone who surveys the situation calmly and reasonably. What
we desire is either the prompt conclusion of a sound peace, or to
carry on the war under the most favourable circumstances to our
selves. We are now in an infinitely better position than before to
prosecute the war with energy, and, without wishing to ruin Russia,
to deal that Colossus the most damaging blows English indolence
has taken several years to get ready. Our preparations are now
complete, and we cm show that England is not made up of
spinners and shop-keepers as we are told  In a few weeks
we are bound to know all for certain. If, as I heartily desire, peace
is established, it will be an experience unique in history, and serve
to promote the progress of mankind, that two great nations should
have succeeded, by dint of tremendous sacrifice, in carrying on
and bringing to an end a war with clean hands, without deriving
from it any individual benefit to themselves, and with the self-
denying object of vindicating right and justice, and punishing past
and preventing future wrong."
Proposals of peace were being debated, and Victor
Emmanuel, il Re Galantuomo, was received at Windsor
for a brief visit. It was not, however, without many
more difficulties on all sides that the Peace of Paris was
finally concluded, in April of 1856.
It was no small triumph, after all the failures and the
murmurs, to find the French sending out to study our
system, as theirs had entirely broken down. At the
end of the war, out of 63,000 men, the English had only
o

194 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
5,000 sick, and the average of deaths three daily ; while
the French had 250 deaths a day, from 63,000 sick, out
of an army of 150,000.
The Prince writes : —
"Vicky's confirmation, and the conclusion of the Peace of Paris,
work together to open our lips, and to-day we announce to our re
lations what they may have taken the liberty of thinking, that Vicky
and Prince Fritz William of Prussia are an engaged pair."

( m )

CHAPTER IX.
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL.
1857-1858.
Deaths in the Royal Household — The Prince on the Working-men's
Clubs — Evidence of his general knowledge — Title of Prince
Consort — Outbreak of the Mutiny — The Emperor of the French
and the English alliance — The Orsini attempt — Preparation for
the royal wedding — Relief of Lucknow — The wedding — Cor
respondence with the Princess — The Conspiracy to Murder Bill
— Fall of Lord Palmerston's Ministry.
THE~year that followed the Peace of Paris was chiefly
remarkable for domestic events. A great shock was
the paralytic seizure of Lord Hardinge, while he was
actually in the presence of the Queen and Prince,
which was speedily followed by his death. The Bal
moral holiday was hardly ended before the Royal
Family were saddened by the death of the Queen's
half-brother, Prince Charles of Leiningen. As the
Prince wrote : " The autumn wind has wrenched away
another leaf from our family tree, and the love-united
band of our good grandmamma's grandchildren is
0 2

196 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
now poorer by one of its oldest and most vigorous
members. In this there lie for us Past, Present, and
Future." In the winter of 1856, Mr. Clabon, an anxious worker
for the benefit of the working classes, who had advocated
the establishment of coffee-rooms and clubs for their
wholesome recreation, obtained an interview with Prince
Albert at Windsor Castle. From his account some
extracts are given : —
" The Prince said that he had read my pamphlet ; that it was
important to consider the rules of political economy ; that any de
parture from them would tend to failure ; that these rules required the
commercial principle to be introduced ; that the institution must be
self-supporting, and that in fact people of good character must be
persuaded to open such a house as I had described with a licence from
the magistrates, and to conduct it so as to make it remunerative. I
thanked him for the suggestion, and said that I appreciated its value.
" The Prince then said that it should be a reformed public-house.
He quite agreed that there should be smoking, but did not agree that
it need be in a separate room. He said that it was important that the
wife and family should come there as well as the labourer himself.
The women of England were excellent wives and mothers. Now,
they had to do their best to keep their husbands from public-houses ;
with such an institution they might encourage them to go there and
go with them. As to the mingling of class with class, he said he
doubted whether it could be carried out. The lower classes would
always feel a restraint in the presence of the higher classes.
*****
" Returning to the commercial question, the Prince said that as the
building of lodging-houses for labourers had led to the reform of other
lodging-houses, so the establishment of ' leisure houses,' might lead to
the reform of the public-houses. . . . The Prince said that the first
'leisure house' must not be in too public a place; that the experiment
had better be made quietly, and the public made acquainted with the
results according to the success realised. The site must be in the

THE PBINCE'S GENERAL ABILITY, 1857. 197
middle of the cottages, the poor man would not go far to it. ... I
asked whether his Royal Highness had observed that I proposed to
have an occasional dance. He had. I said that our labouring popu
lation were far behind those of other countries in polish, and I thought
an attempt might be made to introduce dancing. He agreed, but
he doubted whether they would enjoy it or enter into it with spirit
unless they had something to drink. I said, let them have tea; coffee,
and lemonade. He said, that in Scotland they were fond of dancing,
but wanted to have whiskey; that at Osborne there was an entertain
ment to all persons employed there and the household once a year,
generally on his — the Prince's — birthday, that last year one or two had
too much, and that this year the beer given was not therefore so strong,
and there was dissatisfaction ; they did not seem to enter into the
dancing with spirit. But he agreed that spirituous liquor should be
excluded. . . .
"The Prince's English is not perfect; he speaks with a decidedly
foreign accent, and once or twice he hesitated for a word; Lord
Torrington said this was unusual, that he was generally very fluent,
and that he was a little nervous at seeing a stranger, as he generally
is." These extracts have been given at some length, partly
because in them is the germ of the institutions that have
since arisen in numerous places, and because they show
in a remarkable manner how Prince Albert was always
suggestive, and never ignorant, of either a great matter
or a small. Apropos, Sir Theodore Martin quotes Sir
Charles Phipps as saying that no one ever had an inter
view with the Prince without becoming persuaded that
his own business was the Prince's own speciality. A
great glass manufacturer, who came to see him about
some chandeliers, went away saying, "That man is
wonderful ! he knows more about glass than I do ; " and
then added, " That is a man one cannot like — one must

198 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
love him." A notable French author, after an interview
with him, wrote to Lady Theresa Lewis : —
"I have rarely met such a distinguished man, and never ap
proached a Prince who seemed to me so remarkable on"£all sides ;
and I can say without flattery, on leaving England, that of all the
memorable things I have witnessed there, nothing has struek^me so
much as the conversation I have just had. You are happy to have
such a man so near the throne."
This was the feeling of all who came into personal
contact with him, from the Premier to the labourers on
his farms, with whom he would converse most kindly,
watching over their welfare with parental care, and even
inspecting the copy-books of such as were willing to
learn. His unpopularity was among those who had no
intercourse with him, disliked his German birth, and
had a general idea that he had a love of interference
and of novelty.
His actual desire was to understand everything suffi
ciently to be able to appreciate, criticise, arrange, and
promote real excellence ; and this he carried out to the
best of his ability. He was in his element when opening
the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester, in 1858,
but it was such a hard day's work that he declared his
answer to the corporation to have been made " with a
frightful voice, quite cracked." His speeches on the
occasion were declared by the Spectator " to deposit
the seed for future thought," especially when on unveil
ing the statue of the Queen at Salford, he spoke of the

TITLE OF PRINCE CONSORT, 1857. 199
Sovereign as the representative of the institutions of the
country. Then, in the same summer, came the opening
of the South Kensington Museum — an especial child of
his — and where he would fain have seen the National
Gallery established, so as to be freer from smoke and dust.
On June 25th, 1857, by Royal Letters Patent, the
title of Prince Consort was conferred on him. The
reasons he thus explains in a letter to his stepmother : —
" I have not said a word about my change of title, and I now
present myself before you as an entire stranger, Prince Consort to wit.
The change had become necessary as our sons grew up, all sorts of
confusion having already arisen, especially as the names of all the
three begin, like my own, with an A ; and I was certain to appear to
them in the long run like a stranger in the land, as they alone were
English princes, and I merely a Coburg prince : now I have a legal
status in the English hierarchy. It was also a source of weakness for
the Crown that the Queen always appeared before the people with her
foreign husband."
There was a brilliant visit of the Queen, with her
husband, the elder children, and the Prussian Prince, to
the Manchester Exhibition ; but, meanwhile, anxieties
were working up respecting India, and the frightful
tidings of the massacre at Meerut led to an immediate
despatch of troops to the East. This was again an
opportunity of enforcing upon Government the necessity
of maintaining a reserve force —
" Very soon," writes the Prince, " we shall be entirely without
troops, India absorbs so many. It is very well that it has come to
this outbreak in India, as it shows the sore places which the Company
are constantly trying to smear over and conceal. The Times and

200 ALBERT, PRLNCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
the Press generally were constantly lavishing nothing but laudation
on the Indian and abuse on the Imperial army. . . Now the bubble
has burst. Our Ministry is, however, by no means up to the mark, as
little as it was in the last war, and, after that experience, still more to
blame.'' The Prince was likewise uneasy at the symptoms
manifested by Napoleon III. towards interference in
Italian affairs, and at his inclination towards an alliance
with Russia : —
" In politics," he wrote to his brother, " all is confusion. Russia
has manifestly suffered more than she can endure, and needs only a
couple of years to begin the same game again. In the meantime the
Western alliance is breaking up from the rascality of a French
ministry, and the good-natured indifference of the ruler towards things
which if well managed will serve as good material. We may easily
find ourselves with our backs driven against the wall, because we are
directed by fixed principles."
A little later, Prince Chimay said in a letter to the
Duke of Coburg : —
" The English alliance was accepted by necessity, and is still on
the lips but no longer in the heart. Not that the Emperor, who is
very English, is not personally attached to the Queen, but I am
speaking of the Cabinet, and the Emperor represents the national
sentiment. It seems impossible that if Lord Palmerston remains in
power, and continues everywhere to raise the demagogic sentiment,
this coldness should not soon degenerate into a complete rupture. . . .
It must not be forgotten that, with demagogues, the order of the day
towards all thrones is assassination."
Meantime, French feeling was gratified by the numerous
sovereigns who visited the Court ; and in the end of the
summer, just after the Prince Consort's return from
witnessing at Antwerp the wedding of that devoted

THE FORTS OF CHERBOURG, 1857. 201
but ill-starred couple, Maximilian of Austria and Charlotte
of Belgium, the Emperor of the French made a visit at
Osborne, partly for the sake of discussion on the vexed
question of the Danubian Provinces. The matter was
settled between the Ministers on either hand, Palmerston
and Clarendon, Walewski and Persigny ; but there was
free discussion between the Emperor and the Prince,
and, as Lord Palmerston afterwards said to the Queen :—
" The Prince can say many things to the Emperor
which we cannot;" and the effect upon Napoleon III.,
if we may trust his letter on his return, was " I believe
that after passing a few days with your Majesty one
comes away the better for it, even as, after appreciating
the various knowledge and lofty judgment of the Prince,
one comes away from him better informed and more
fitted to do good."
Perhaps the Prince himself was somewhat less sanguine,
for it was ironically that he wrote to his brother : " All
grievances and ill-temper went out of the way, and are
gone up the Alps ! It is to be hoped the glaciers will
not melt there before all affectionate assurances of the
reconciled Emperors ! "
An expedition to Cherbourg, and view of the forts
there, strengthened the urgent wish of the Queen and
Prince that more should be done for English defences ;
and the continued bad tidings from India made them
strenuously endeavour to induce the Ministry to raise

202 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
and send out larger reinforcements. " We are tortured
by the events in India," says the Prince to Stockmar,
" which are truly frightful. The distance, and the double
government of Crown and Company, make all remedial
measures extremely difficult and slow."
This anxiety occupied his mind through that autumn
at Balmoral, while sympathising with his daughter as
she took her leave of all the haunts of her childhood.
And in the winter, when the marriage was to take place,
an event happened which increased all the dangers and
perplexities, and in which his brother was involved, and
had a narrow escape. This was the well-known Orsini
attempt on the Emperor Napoleon, at which the Duke of
Coburg was present, while staying at Paris on his way to
his niece's wedding in England. General Rognet, who
had been in the Imperial carriage, and was struck in the
neck, declared that the Duke of Coburg owed his life to
his having driven separately, since his great height would
have been fatal to him had he been with the Emperor,
as all the splinters had flown over the heads of the
destined victims. So nearly had the wedding festivities
been turned into tears and mourning.
" The last year," wrote the Prince to the Dowager-
Duchess of Coburg, not long after the death of his
cousin, the Duchess of Nemours,
" has again brought so much trouble with it that one is quite glad to
leave it behind. The new year begins for us with the separation from

MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS, 1858. 203
a beloved daughter which will be especially painful to mc. I do not,
however, let any hint of this be seen, and I rejoice for her in the
prospect of a happy future. I hope she may soon be able to present
herself in person, and that you may judge her with indulgence. This
will be especially necessary for her in Germany, where everything is
so new to her, and in Berlin, where much will be so difficult. Heaven
will be her stay.
" We have innumerable visitors, and to find room for them all in a
very limited palace will be a real feat of dexterity. If I succeed in
doing this, I may take a professional tour as a conjuror, for the count
less bouquets from Herr Dobler's hat are not more remarkable than
the Princes without number in Buckingham Palace."
Just before the wedding took place the minds of the
royal parents were greatly relieved respecting India, by
tidings of the relief of Lucknow, after a defence which
Lord Canning compared with those of Numantia and
Zaragoza, though happily it ended differently.
On January 25th, the close packing of princes and
princesses having been accomplished, the Prince Consort
gave his daughter to her bridegroom, only eighteen
years after his own marriage. The Duchess Dowager
of Coburg was one of the few relatives absent, and to
her the Prince wrote on the 30th : —
" I have been unable until now to find one quiet moment to write
to you, and even now I must steal the time to do so from right and
left. We had thirty-five Royal personages to house, to fete, to show
England to, to exhibit the bride to the people, to society, &c, to
receive the bridegroom, to marry the young people, to prepare their
brief honeymoon at Windsor, to induct our son-in-law into the Order
of the Garter, to get back here, &c. To-day is devoted to receiving
addresses, and to a monster Drawing-room.
" I am now a real father-in-law, our child a real wife. That this
looks somewhat strange you will comprehend, not less will you feel

204 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
that the separation for ever of our dear daughter from the family
circle makes a frightful gap in our hearts. I do not trust myself to
think of Tuesday, on which day we are to lose her."
" I think it will kill me to take leave of dear Papa,"
were the words of the bride to her mother.
The Prince and the two eldest brothers went to see
the pair embark for Germany, at Gravesend, and came
home much impressed with the eager enthusiasm mani
fested by the crowds on their way. The Princess
became one of his most constant correspondents from
the moment of the parting. One of his earliest letters
to her, on hearing of her reception, strongly expresses
affection to her.
" Thank God, everything goes on to our wish, and you seem to
gain golden opinions in your favour ; which naturally gives us extreme
pleasure, both because we love you, and because this touches our
parental pride. But what has given us most pleasure of all was the
letter, so over-flowing with affection, which you wrote while yet on
board the yacht. Poor child, well did I feel the bitterness of your
sorrow, and would so fain have soothed it. But excepting my own
sorrow, I had nothing to give, and that would only have had the
effect of augmenting yours."
Again he writes to the daughter whom he had de
scribed as having the head of a man and the heart of
a child : —
"Let me express my fullest admiration of the way in which,
possessed exclusively by the duty which you had to fulfil, you have
kept down and overcome your own little personal troubles, perhaps
also many feelings of sorrow not yet healed. This is the way to
success, and the only way. If you have succeeded in winning people's

ARREST OF ORSINI, 1858. 205
hearts by friendliness, simplicity and courtesy, the secret lay in this,
that you were not thinking of yourself. Hold fast that mystic power.
It is a spark from Heaven."
A little later:—
" Your festival time, if not your honeymoon, comes to an end to-day,
and on this I take leave to congratulate you, unfeeling though it may
sound, for I wish for you the necessary time and tranquillity to digest the
many impressions you have received, and which otherwise, like a wild
revel, first inflame and then stupify, leaving a dull nerveless lassitude
behind. . . . The public, first, because it was rapturous and enthusi
astic will become minutely critical, and take you to pieces anatomi
cally. This is to be borne in mind, although it need cause you no
uneasiness, for you have only followed your natural bent, and have
made no external demonstration which did not answer to the truth of
your inner nature. It is only the man who presents an artificial
demeanour to the world who has to dread being unmasked."
In the meantime, the attempt upon the Emperor's
life had produced further ill consequences. Two men,
both Italians, had been arrested, Pierri in the street,
Orsini at his lodging ; and as England had been the
refuge of political fugitives, the French considered
themselves to have reason to complain that it was the
harbour of assassins, where plots were matured and
instruments prepared. The army was enthusiastically
Bonapartist, and regiments, by their addresses, vied
with one another in denunciation. One " demanded an
account from the land of impurity which contains the
haunts of the monsters who are sheltered by its laws."
Lord Palmerston, thinking there was some reason in
the Emperor's remonstrance, which was of course less

206 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
offensively expressed, introduced a Bill into Parliament
for the punishment of conspiracy ; but the National mind
had become inflamed by the furious invectives of the
French, which seemed to question the National right of
sheltering patriots in distress ; and the Bill was rejected
on the second reading, and in such a manner as to leave
the Ministry no option but resignation.
" For this," writes Prince Albert, " we have to thank the heedless
ness of Louis Napoleon, who ought to have known better than to suffer
England to be insulted by his lieutenants. The excitement in the
country is tremendous, and at this moment, Lord Palmerston is the
most unpopular of men. It is quite ludicrous to hear how his old
worshippers talk of him."
And certainly it was a curious reverse, that he should
fall for an anti-revolutionary measure.
Prince Albert wrote soon after taking leave of his
brother : —
" The folly of Walewski and the short-sightedness of the Emperor
have overthrown our Ministry, disgusted all his old friends, and
agitated the nation here to the highest degree. People in Paris must
be surprised at the effects of their own grenade. . . . We are going to
rest for a fortnight in Osborne, which we greatly need. The new
Ministry, with u. minority of 123 in the lower House, and 10 in the
Upper, has the Conspiracy Bill, the India Bill, and the promised
Reform Bill, on its hands. We mean to persist in all three, for it is
not well to give way."

207 )

CHAPTER X.
THE DERBY MINISTRY.
1858-1859.
The Derby Ministry — Irritation against the French — The India Bill
— Visit of Prince George of Saxony — Visits to Coburg and
Babelsberg — Visit to Cherbourg — A speech under critical con
ditions — Visit to the Princess Royal — Imminence of the Italian
war — Birth of a grandson — Advice to Prussia — Letters to his
daughter — Resignation of the Derby Ministry — The war of Italian
liberation.
The Earl of Derby was called to the head of affairs
with a cabinet in which all save the former Protectionists
declined to serve, much to the regret of the Prince.
" We have a repetition of the old patriotic (?) spirit,"
he writes, " and no prospect of getting a stable
ministry ! "
The new administration had to deal with the Orsini
difficulty, and the extreme irritation on both sides of
the Channel that threatened an outbreak of war. One
Simon Bernard, a refugee, was tried at the Central Criminal
Court as an accessory before the fact of the attempt on
the Emperor's life, while Orsini and Pierri were executed in

208 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
Paris. That he was a conspirator connected with them
was proved, but there was no evidence of his knowledge
of this individual plot ; and he was acquitted. The
populace manifested imprudent delight, which further
exasperated the French nation; and the Prince writes
to his brother : —
" We hear nothing good from Paris. The whole machine has
become insecure and unsteady. The Chief is attracted by Italy,
where he may cause a conflagation that we must try to hinder if all
Europe is not to be set on fire. People play with the most sacred
and perilous things, and lament Orsini. The feeling against England
at Paris is at its height, and the overt utterances of Bernard, and the
fiery speeches of Mr. James, the counsel for the defence, against
Emperor and Empress, with the vehement rejoicing of the public at
the declaration of the verdict must have angered them much. The
Government cannot venture to go further with the proceedings,
because a repetition of the result is certain, and would only do
further mischief.
" The public here is determined to set at nought the bailiffs,
catchpoles and hangmen of a foreign tjrant, and imputes to him
the taking such a part upon himself, and enforcing it with threats.
This is the cause of the overthrow of Palmerston, the failure of the
Refugee Bill and the trial, and there is something noble at the bottom
of it. A nation does not reason ; it only feels.
"We like the Duke of Malakoff, our new Ambassador. He is
simple, frank, and friendly, quite unused to les usages du monde, and
unhappy in society ; yet keen enough to find out its disposition. He
is very talkative and strong in his expressions; he leads the con
versation as a general in command would lead it with other officers,
especially a Frenchman, with a good deal of UgereU intermixed. On
the measures of his master he speaks openly and not very favourably.
In person he is unusually short and stout, but not so stout as had
been said, slow in movement, but quick with his sparkling black eyes,
and very susceptible to the approbation of ladies."
Matters were quieting down, and the mutiny in India

RELIEF OF LUCKNOW, 1858. 209
was being stamped out, and on March 22nd Lucknow
was finally mastered, while every mail brought tidings of
fresh victories and of terrible retribution. Already it had
been decided that the government of the vast domains
in Hindostan should be transferred from the East
India Company to the sovereign, but the details had
not yet been carried out.
Lord Palmerston had prepared a Bill vesting the
actual government in a council to be nominated by the
Crown, whose members were to have had ten years' ex
perience in Indian affairs ; but the Conservative Ministry
proposed thai the Council should be elected by holders
of East Indian Stock, persons who had served in India,
and the parliamentary constituents of the five chief towns
concerned in the commerce with India. The Queen
and Prince, on seeing the draft of the Bill, strongly
deprecated this latter element, as unjust to other towns,
and, moreover, admitting the votes of many people
entirely uninformed and uninterested in the subject.
Lord Ellenborough was, notwithstanding, persuaded
that the provision was necessary, but it was strongly
opposed in Parliament by Mr. Bright, and the Ministry-
was in danger. However, this was averted by a series
of resolutions being laid before the House and carried
one by one. Finally, Lord Ellenborough, whose love
of independent action had made the Prince pronounce
him from the first an element of weakness in the
P

210 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
Cabinet, resigned, and there were no serious difficulties
afterwards. On the whole, a peaceful and prosperous period had
set in, with a good deal of royal visiting. In the spring,
Prince George of Saxony was to go on a courting expe
dition to Portugal. Count Vizthum was to ascertain
whether he should pay a visit to the Queen on his way.
He went to Prince Albert, who said :—
" Tell me honestly, what brings Prince George here ?
Does he wish to see us in London ? "
" His wish is to wait upon the Queen and your Royal
Highness, and to know when it would be agreeable to
the Queen to receive him. If at the same time an
opportunity occurs of showing him something of London,
I will do so with pleasure."
The Prince rang and asked for an almanac.
" Then he will be in Paris at the end of March. On
the 2nd of April is the Confirmation of the Prince of
Wales. It is no use to invite a Roman Catholic prince
to that. On the 9th, you say, the Brazil steamer goes
to Lisbon. That suits admirably. Please telegraph
that we shall be glad to welcome the Prince at Windsor
from the 5th to the 9th of April. He can come to
London, if he likes, a few days earlier, when you will
be able to show him what you please."
All was therefore practically settled in three minutes.
The way and manner of doing it was characteristic of

JOURNEY TO COBURG, 1859. 211
the Queen's husband. He was completely master of the
house, however much he concealed it from the public.
Prince George accordingly came, and great pains
were taken to make him acquainted with the most
interesting persons of the day, and the Prince Consort
himself showed off the numerous treasures of Windsor
Castle, including his own beautiful collections of engravings,
etchings, and miniatures.
In May, the Prince Consort made an excursion to
Coburg, where he hoped to meet his daughter ; but he
was disappointed, as she was laid up by a bad strain of
her foot. It was, however, a pleasant renewal of old
associations, as told in a Sunday's letter to the Queen: —
" We went to the Palace, where a mediocre sermon, and a fine full
chanting of chorales, combined with the impressions of bygone days
constituted my devotions. A number of children were confirmed on
the same spot where Ernest and I pronounced our confession of faith.
After church Stockmar came to dine, and remained with me an
hour and a-half. After this I went with Ernest and Alexandrine to
the new burial-ground, and the mausoleum, which is indeed very
beautiful and appropriate, then to the museum, where I once more
hailed with delight all the birds, butterflies and shells, and called to
mind every circumstance connected with their acquisition ; thence to a
magnificent new brewery, opposite the meadow in the direction of the
new railway station which has been placed between the brewery and
Ernest Wurtemburg's garden, and so up to Ernest Wurtemburg's. We
did not find him at home, but we saw the beautiful familiar view. . . ."
A day or two later, here is this pleasant message in
a letter to one of the elder children : — " Thank mamma
and the children for their letters, and give them some
P 2

212 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
of the pansies that go to you in a tin case. They are
from the terrace at Rosenau, under your windows. The
cowslips I gathered at the Salswuzerei. Make tea of
them in honour of me, and give Bertie some."
He then went on to Babelsberg, where the Prussian
royal family then was : poor King Frederick William in
so failing a state, both in mind and body, that it was
becoming needful to appoint a regency —
" Here," writes the Prince " I found the young couple in the deepest
affection and unity, the father cheerful, though somewhat over
confident of the permanency of his isolated position and powers. The
King came in with the Queen, and was half an hour there, in which
he did not once speak as if astray, but his appearance is melancholy,
the ruin of what he once was. Yet still he moves as a King, feels
himself such, and hopes for improvement."
No improvement, however, was granted, and the poor
King was rapidly falling into imbecility. Meantime, the
French Emperor urgently invited English royalty to be
present at the great inauguration of his new docks at
Cherbourg. The invitation was not welcome. Prince Albert could
not like or esteem the Emperor, and was not disposed to
minister to French vainglory and combativeness ; but
the expediency of preserving peace put personal con
siderations aside, and the Ministry strongly advised that
the visit should be made. The Prince Consort wrote,
on July 10th, from Osborne : —
" We have been three days hero, pursued by the heaviest and most

THE DOCKS AT CHERBOURG, 1859. 213
disagreeable business as much as in London. A Tory ministry with a
Radical programme, a Republican measure with a Conservative majority,
against the regular Liberal opposition, is an infinite difficulty for the
Constitutional monarch. Wo have been pressed by the Emperor and
these Ministers to go to Cherbourg. That the festival is a glorifica
tion of tho sea and land armaments against England is certain at the
core, and we feel no pleasure in being harnessed again to the French
triumphal chariot, nor to kiss the rod, so we shall make it a private
visit and go away before the festival."
This intention was overruled, and, with the Prince of
Wales, the Queen and Prince Albert arrived at Cherbourg
on the day before the opening of the railway, and the
great basin called the Napoleon Docks. There was a
superb reception, but the civilities covered such thin ice
that the most careful tact was needed not to break
through it. At a dinner on board the Bretagne, the
French flag-ship, the Queen's diary says : — " We were
both made very nervous by my poor Albert having to
make a speech in answer to one which the Emperor was
going to make, and having to compose it." Then came
the time : — ¦" After the band had played came the
dreadful moment for my dear husband, which was terrible
to me, and which I should never wish to go through
again. He did it very well, though he hesitated once.
I sat shaking, with my eyes clones sur la table. How
ever, the speech did very well. This over, we got up,
and the Emperor in the cabin shook Albert by the hand,
and we all talked of the terrible emotion we had under
gone, the Emperor himself having changed colour, and

214 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
the Empress having been very nervous. I shook so that
I could not drink my cup of coffee."
Peace or war might turn on the cordiality of this
meeting, and the friendly conclusion was a great relief;
but the sight of the " cannons, cannons, cannons wherever
you turned," had made the visitors very anxious, and the
Prince strove to rouse the Government to equal prepara
tions. " The war preparations in the French marine are
immense ! Ours despicable 1 Our Ministers use fine
phrases, but they do nothing. My blood boils within
me." Then, after returning home for a short time, the
Queen and Prince proceeded to make their first visit to
their daughter. The journey was saddened by hearing of
the sudden death of Mr. Cart, for twenty-nine years valet
to the Prince. Kind love and friendship towards servants
had always been a characteristic of the royal couple, and
Cart was lamented as "the only link with the Prince's
childhood with whom he could talk over old times."
" We had to choke down our tears all day," the Queen
says, throughout the festal journey, which brought them
at dark to the Wildpark Station, where " stood our
darling child with a nosegay in her hand." Yet even
on that evening tears flowed for Cart. And in the midst
of the sight-seeing and festivities that ensued, there was
grave consideration and important recasting of the Pro
clamation to the people of India, on the close of the war,
and the change of Government.

REGENCY IN PRUSSIA, 1859. 215
The consequent arrangements, and the matters re
specting the command of the army in India, were con
tinually under consideration, and the Prince strongly and
decidedly pressed the necessity of unity of command, and
abandoning the old rule, which had resulted in mutiny.
The feebleness of the King of Prussia made it needful
that his brother William, the presumptive heir, should
become Regent, and therewith came a change of politics
very satisfactory to the Prince ; but France was in a
restless state, which kept Europe in anxiety lest the
Emperor should gratify the Bonapartist passion for war,
and the general liberalism of his people, by an attack on
the Austrian power still subsisting in Italy. In January,
1859, the Prince writes to Stockmar : —
" The state of Europe has become very perplexed since I last wrote
to you. Louis Napoleon thinks he has found the right moment for
making war, and the right field for it in Italy, and the people about
him, especially his cousin, have been constantly dinning into his ears :
" C'est une occasion qui ne se trouvera pas une seconde fois aussi belle.
The Bpeech on New Year's day seems to have set light to the train
before all was ready, and now all Europe is alarmed, and would fain
establish a fire brigade."
A few days later, he says to Lord Malmesbury of the
Emperor : —
"He has been born and bred a conspirator, and at his present age
will never get out of this turn of mind, scheming himself and sus
picious of others. For his schemes he wanted, and still wants, an
ally. England was the only one he could obtain after his assumption
of the Imperial Crown ; but as the English Alliance means mainten
ance of public law and treaties, and progress in civilisation, it was

216 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
frequently most irksome to him, and hence his constant complaints of
the restraints to which it subjected him. Now he has got Russia, and
is longing for revenge against Europe. He thinks himself safe in this
Alliance, and therefore comes forward with his schemes. Nothing
will arrest him but uncertainty about England and fear of Germany."
Again : —
" The Emperor attend un evenement, to use his own phrase. The
responsibility which he takes upon himself before God is frightful ! "
An event, however, that was truly delightful to the
Prince's warm heart was the birth of his eldest grandson,
drawing the bands that connected the Royal Family with
that of Prussia all the closer. Letters passed on the
occasion between the Queen and Emperor : in the hope
on her side of his availing himself of the remonstrance
of England to get out of his false position, and on his
of drawing England into a war with Austria on the
popular plea of Italian independence. And there was
much wavering on the Emperor's part as he watched
opinions in France and speeches in England, keeping
secret all the time that he had pledged himself to assist
Victor Emmanuel in driving the Austrians out of Italy.
The Prince Regent of Prussia wrote to Prince Albert,
and sent Count Perponcher to ascertain his opinion on
the part Prussia ought to take in case of a war between
Austria and France on the Italian question. Here are
some characteristic extracts from the reply : —
" When Frederick the Great asked old Ziethen what was to be done
under certain circumstances, Zietheu scratched his head and after
thinking for a while, answered his master : ' Set me face to face with

THE ITALIAN QUESTION, 1859. 217
the enemy, and I will tell you.' Well, although I cannot pretend to
compare myself to the old hero, I feel just as he did the difficulty
of coming to a decision about mere eventualities. For these eventuali
ties scarcely ever arise precisely in the way calculated upon ; and
even when they do arise, there is generally something to control the
judgment in the ' how ' and ' when,' 60 that the same eventuality
does not necessarily lead up to the same conclusion. The prudent
statesman will therefore find his strength in coming to a decision on
no more than one step, and that the one which the immediate occasion
demands, waiting to see the effect produced for his guidance in de
ciding what step to take next. . Should Austria prove victorious,
then I do not see how Prussia should be thereby forced into the
background in Germany. Prussia never had any Italian possessions,
and has not for the last forty years followed the perverse policy which
has brought that country into its present wretched state. By her
state of preparation, Prussia will have kept France in check, and set
a brilliant example by the prompt declaration of her readiness, if the
necessity arose, to fulfil her duty to a brother state without flinch
ing. Should Austria come to grief in the campaign, strong as
she is in her military position, this can scarcely result in a general
de~route, and Prussia and Germany, if they felt politically justified
in such a step, would always have time to take part in the
war with advantage, before France could have so cleared her
hands of the Austrians that she could launch all her forces against
Germany." When telling Stockmar of this correspondence, and
of the enquiry, through Perponcher, what the British
Government intended to do, the Prince adds : —
" All the secret stipulations in the world with this Court or that are
not to be compared with the security which is given by a frank under
standing with your own people and with public opinion. This,
moreover, gives confidence to the public opinion of other countries
when it is in union with your own, and inspires awe when it is at
variance with it."
Fluctuations between peace and war continued through
out the spring, and the Prince, always giving prime

218 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
attention to foreign affairs, and with the excitement
of the Reform Bill on his hands, called himself
fearfully overworked. Moreover, he was obliged to
consider of the preparations for the Exhibition of 1862
— that Exhibition which he was never to see.
He made time, however, for his letters to his daughter,
and very wise and sometimes amusing oues they were —
"You are now eighteen years old, and you will hold your own
against many a buffet in life ; still, you will encounter many for which
you were not prepared, and which you would fain have been spared.
You must arm yourself against these, like Austria against the chances
of war, otherwise you will break down, and drop into a sickly state,
which would be disastrous to yourself, and inflict a frightful burden
upon poor Fritz for life ; besides which," it would unfit you for fulfilling
all the duties of your Btation. ... I will get Alice to read to me the
article about Freemasons. It is not likely to contain the whole secret.
The circumstance which provokes you only into finding fault with the
Order, viz., that husbands dare not communicate the secret of it to
their wives, is just one of its best. To be able to be silent is one of
the chief virtues of the husband; then the test which puts him in
opposition to that being towards whom he constantly shows the
greatest weakness is the hardest of all, and therefore the most
compendious of virtues ; and the wife should not only rejoice to see
him capable of withstanding such a test, but should take occasion to
vie with him in virtue by taming the curiosity she inherits from
mother Eve. If the subject of the secret be nothing more important
than an apron, then every chance is given to virtue on both sides,
without disturbing the confidence of marriage, which should be
complete." Great was the anxiety during the uncertainties which
preceded the outbreak of war in Italy.
*' The telegraph drives one almost mad," wrote the Prince ; " two to
three an hour is the usual number, and they almost always contradict
one another."

RESIGN A TION OF THE DERB Y MINISTR Y. 2 1 9
Again : —
" I can remember no period of equal confusion and danger. The ill-
starred telegraph speaks incessantly from all quarters of the globe, and
from every quarter a different language (I mean, to a different pur
port). Suspicion, hatred, pride, cunning, intrigue, covetousness,
dissimulation, dictate the despatches, and in this state of things we
cast about to find a basis on which peace may be secured. At home,
we are now on the verge of a dissolution of Parliament, which is to
take place on Tuesday. Parties are broken up, and much embittered
against each other; and with things in this state we are to find »
sure basis for a Reform Bill which will satisfy the democrats
without driving monarchy and aristocracy to the wall. Also a pretty
business ! "
The general election, caused by the introduction of the
Derby Bill for an extended franchise, was followed by
the resignation of the Conservative Ministry, and the
return of the Liberals to power under Lord Palmerston.
While this crisis was passing at home, Austria had
actually begun the war against Sardinia and France, and
in very short space was beaten in four great battles ; but
with such loss to the French armies, that the Emperor
finding England, even under the Liberals, resolved not to
stir in his support, broke off the contest, leaving half
complete the liberation he had pledged himself to effect,
and Victor Emmanuel, as it were, in the lurch. It was
a disappointment in England, and did not inspire respect
or confidence in Napoleon III.; but the Queen and
Prince strengthened the Liberals in the resolution to
have nothing to do, one way or the other, with the
Congress of Villa Franca.

( 220

CHAPTER XI.
LAST SCENES.
1860-61.
The Prince's religious views — His influence on the English people —
Disappointments of his life — The annexation of Savoy — A letter
to Stockmar — The Star of India — The national defences — A
carriage accident — Betrothal of the Princess Alice — The last
Christmas — Death of Frederick William — Twenty-first anni
versary of the royal marriage — Letter to the King of Prussia —
Death of the Duchess of Kent — Worries and duties — Visit to
Ireland and Wales — Deaths in the family of Portugal — Last
letter to Stockmar — Symptoms of fever — Memorandum on the
Trent affair — Progress of the Prince's last illness — Death and
burial — Conclusion.
We have reached the closing events of the life cut off on
the threshold of middle age, a life which has left its mark.
There can be no doubt that a strong influence for good
was exercised on the country. The Prince was a
fervently religious man, always acting on principle,
though his actual creed seems to have been curiously
undefined, so far as can be judged from the conversations
with him recorded by Bishop Wilherforce, to whom he
seems to have drawn nearer as years gave the Bishop

VIEWS OF THE PRINCE. 221
time to live down the earlier suspicions of ambition
and time-serving. The last conversation they had is
thus recorded by Bishop Woodford from the lips of
Wilherforce : —
" The Bishop had been preaching in the private chapel at Windsor,
upon the subject of our Lord's Intercession in Heaven, His presenting
the prayers of His people to the Father, and enforcing them by the
presence of His human Body, still bearing the mark of the wounds of
His Passion. The Prince had sent a message inviting the Bishop to
walk with him in the afternoon, and turned the conversation to tho
sermon of the morning, saying that it had suggested to him an entirely
new view of the subject, that he must not be supposed to mean that
he accepted it, but that he should give it his most serious reflection ;
adding : ' Now, at any rate, I understand why the Church of England
is so careful to conclude every prayer with such words as ' through
Jesus Christ, our Lord.' ' "
It seems strange that twenty years of English church-
going should not have made this doctrine evident to him
before. But the German temper and training results in
devotion without definite dogma, and there is no doubt
that his tendencies, as well as his friends, notably Baron
Bunsen and Dean Stanley, were of the " Broad " descrip
tion, disliking definite doctrine as the parent of discussion
and narrowness, and viewing the Church as one of the
State departments, so that Churchmen could not but
distrust him.
Yet the genuine piety, respect and reverence for
religion, and absolute truth, purity, self-denial and noble
ness of his life, had a great effect for good on the nation.
His philanthropy, too, did much, and gave the impulse to

222 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
much more exertion for the relief of the distressed and
amelioration of evils. There can be little doubt, either,
that his attempts in the cause of recreation have done
much to promote innocent amusement among our people,
and to dispel the puritanism that left no choice between
dulness and dissipation. His influence on art, though his
taste was imperfect, was beneficial from the stimulus given
by his interest. Our defences, and the vigour of an
army, likewise owe much to him ; but though at home
his doings and benefits were often far too grudgingly
accepted, yet in his foreign policy he was in his special
field, and his vigilance was extremely valuable in main
taining to the utmost our national honour and probity,
and in taking care that the English name should be alike
trusted and feared. He knew how to put aside personal
dislikes and national predilections, and while guarding
our honour both in peace and war, his unseen hand con
tributed not a little to the glories of the reign.
Yet his was a worn and disappointed life. The
sovereigns whom he had tried to admire, nay, who had
gained his affection, each and all failed, and excited that
burning sense of indignation at injustice and grasping
ambition which was a part of his nature. Louis Philippe,
Napoleon III., and Frederick William of Prussia, all in
turn had shocked his sense of right, truth, and justice.
Nor had he at home been able to surmount the perpetual
prejudice against himself and his doings ; he was always

CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE. 223
the scapegoat of everything unpopular, and where his good
sense and moderation really prevailed, he never had the
credit. He did indeed win the love and confidence of
those in close contact with him, but they were necessarily
only a few, and the outside world always felt him to be a
foreigner, and resented his interference. Each outburst
of suspicion was a fresh wound, borne manfully and in
silence, but blunting his hopes, though not his activity.
He was too self-restrained to be understood, and never
showed himself genial enough to win the kind of popu
larity acquired by visible warmth. In fact, there was
scarcely common ground enough between him and John
Bull for full success, and though his real usefulness and
admirable speeches commanded sympathy at the moment,
it always died away again. His studied neutrality was
against him. Liberals thought him Conservative, Con
servatives Liberal ; and though he used scrupulous
courtesy, and won respect and confidence from each
ministry, it is plain that he personally acted most
happily and harmoniously with Conservatives. His
sympathies, though never with unjust oppression and
autocracy, became more and more against democratic
movements, and the progress of these grieved and
alarmed him for the future.
Altogether, while happy as a man must be whose
home is perfectly affectionate and full of unselfish devo
tion, and whose conscience is clear, he must have felt

224 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
that his career was a trying one, involving much un
deserved obloquy and vexation.
The summer's visit to Balmoral was made doubly
delightful by a short stay of the "dear Prussian chil
dren," as the Prince calls them in a letter to Baron
Stockmar. The Baron had grown so aged that he
seldom exerted himself to write, though the news of the
Prince's having had a sharp gastric attack made him so
uneasy that he sent a long letter of counsel on care of
health, and the difficulty of proper precautions in such
a position. Indeed, even in what should have been
holiday time, the Prince says, " I am overwhelmed
with papers, and can scarcely wade through them."
Matters were tranquil at home, but the real grievances
of Italy, coupled with the unjustifiable conduct of
France, rendered foreign affairs very unsatisfactory, and
English sympathy had to be held back from espousing
the Italian cause. "I am tired to death with work,
vexation and worry," again says the Prince, early in 1861.
Among causes of depression, one of the chief was dis
appointment in the French Emperor, after all his pro
fessions and apparent frankness at the time of the
Crimean war. And now, when he had talked of
making war " for an idea " in Italy, the idea was
proved to be the annexation of Savoy, the old here
ditary possession of the Sardinian kings, as the price
of his assistance, and of his consent to the consolidation

KINGDOM OF ITALY, 1860. 225
of a kingdom of Italy. Well might the Queen write
to Lord John Russell : " As to the claim itself, it is
wanting in all excuse, however ingenious the Emperor
may be." In spite, however, of indignation, inter
ference was impossible, and Savoy was unwillingly
yielded to France, which had always coveted it ; but
the acquisition was a death-blow to all respect for the
Emperor. "I found his Royal Highness in very low spirits," says Vizthum,
after dining at Buckingham Palace on May 1st. " Speaking of the
impression I had recently formed in Paris, I threw out the conjecture
that peace would not be disturbed till next spring."
The Prince shared the hope, but remarked, not with
out bitterness : —
"By that time the Piedmontese will have been able to gain u
sufficiently strong footing in Italy to venture an attack on Venctia.
By that time also the Franco-Danish Alliance will have ripened, the
object of which is to occupy a portion of the German part of Holstein.
Then, as anyone can foresee, will come the time for Napoleon to deal
his premeditated blow against the Rhine. England will be obliged
to look on. We shall be kept in check in the south by the Italian
sympathies of our ministers, and in the north by the London Treaty
of 1852, which guarantees the integrity of the kingdom of Denmark.
Even the French Treaty of commerce will be perverted into a means
of keeping down the warlike spirit of the nation. Our merchants and
manufacturers are promising themselves mountains of gold out of it.
As to the value of patriotism and loyalty nowadays, Bright gave us
lately a pretty edifying illustration on the occasion of the Savoy
affair." The predictions, though not immediately fulfilled, did
indeed show the remarkable foresight of the Prince.

226 ALBEBT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
The wedding day of the Queen and Prince had
come round, and the letter written on it to Stockmar
by both is deeply touching.
"I cannot let this day come to a close without sending you a Une.
It is twenty years to-day since our troth-plight took place in St.
James's. I see you still standing in the pew not far from the chancel,
as the negociator of the marriage treaty, when I made my entry into
the chapel between papa and Ernest. We have gone through much
since then, and tried hard after much that is good ; if we have not
always succeeded, the will at least was good, and we cannot be
sufficiently grateful to heaven for many a victory and many a success ;
you have been to me a true friend and wise counsellor, and if now we
are separated by distance, and old age and feeble health do not allow
you to lend the same active aid as in days of yore, we are still united
in feeling and in spirit, and shall continue the same as long as our
earthly garment shall hang together. We are quite well ; to-morrow
we make our way to town. The children are to give me a surprise
forthwith, which i3 to remain a profound secret to me till half-past six.
All good be with you. " Albert."
" One little word I must add ou this blessed day. Words cannot
express my gratitude or my happiness. I wish I could think I had
made one as happy as he has made me. But this is not for want of
love and devotion. Few possess so much. My kindest wishes to
you too. " Victoria."
The displeasure of England at the grasping of Savoy
irritated the French, but the Emperor was too wise to
risk a quarrel, and he contrived to pacify the other
Powers for the present, though the Prince Consort
says : —
Now, however, the weak and distracted state of Europe, and of
Germany in particular, which is simply due to the fact that the
Napoleonic policy has been allowed full swing, will be put forward by

THE STAR OF INDIA, 1860. 227
many as imposing it upon England as a duty not to engage in any
Continental struggle with France, as this would be to turn round upon
an approved ally. In Germany the state of things must be deplorable :
Austria in a state of decomposition, and Prussia without energetic
guidance and force of conviction, ' Benjamin est sans force et Juda sans
vertu,' as they say in Athalie."
The matters connected with art and literature at
home were a rest —in the sense of change of occupa
tion — to the Prince. He was especially delighted with
the " Idylls of the King," begged Tennyson to write
his name in the book, and marked passages of it for
his eldest daughter to illustrate. Another subject
taking more consideration than could have been ex-
pected was the new Order of Merit for services in
India. He wished to call it "The Eastern Star," with
the motto, " Glory to God, peace on earth, good will
to men." But this suggestion was answered by an ex
planation from Lord Canning that Eastern was a term
of hostility and reproach among the Hindoos. There
were such objections to each title proposed that the
Prince declared it ought to borrow the name and sign
of a house at Teblitz, the Golden Impossibility, with
men rowing against a rock. Finally the "Star of
India " was decided on, with the motto " Heaven's Light
our Guide."
" We have no leisure to be sick," said one of the
Prince's letters, but there were often slight ailments
during the trying cold wet spring and summer of 1860.
q2

228 ALBERT, PBINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
The Balmoral holiday, as usual, was most refresh
ing ; and in Scotland, as already in England, the grand
muster of volunteers was most gratifying. National
defence was always a matter of great anxiety with the
Prince, and he was urgently pressing on the Admiralty
the system of training boys for the Royal Navy, as
well as watching anxiously the progress of the Bill for
the fortification of our harbours. No man understood
better than he that the way to secure peace is to be
prepared for war, but whatever the pressure on his
mind he was always bright and kind to those about
him. "It's very pleasant to walk with a person who
is always content," was the observation of one of his
servants. The death of his much-loved stepmother,
the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, came to sadden the
expedition to Germany, and made the arrival at Coburg
sorrowful, although there awaited them the joy of meet
ing their daughter with her husband and little son.
During their stay Prince Albert met with a accident
that had nearly been serious. Fie was driving alone in
a carriage with four horses, when on some alarm they
dashed off at a gallop. He sat still until they came
to a crossing of a railway, where a waggon was waiting
in the road to have the bar in front removed. Then,
seeing a collision inevitable, he jumped out, not escaping
cuts and bruises, but able to go to the help of the coach
man, who was seriously hurt, One of the horses was

ACCIDENT AT COBURG, 1860. 229
killed, and the other three came headlong into the
town, where Colonel Ponsonby and a doctor hurried
off with a carriage to bring assistance. The Prince
insisted on the doctor's attending only to the coachman,
and sent Colonel Ponsonby to tell the Queen what
had happened. His face, elbows, and one knee had
been cut, and he had to keep his room for a couple
of days, but there were no worse consequences, and
his old friend Baron Stockmar had the satisfaction of
attending him, and afterwards of receiving the Queen
and Princess Alice in his own house.
During this journey the preliminaries of Princess
Alice's marriage with Prince Louis of Hesse were under
consideration, and a visit to England was proposed to
enable the young people to become acquainted with
one another. " The whole stay at Coburg has done
my heart much good," wrote the Prince Consort to his
daughter after they had parted at Aix la Chapelle.
In memory of her husband's preservation the Queen
founded at her own private expense an institution called
the Victoria Stift at Coburg, for aiding deserving young
men and women in the lower ranks in obtaining a
livelihood. The two young sons, the Prince of Wales and Prince
Alfred, were welcomed at home, the one from America,
the other from the Cape, where each had been received
with enthusiasm. Prince Louis of Hesse likewis3

230 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
arrived for his betrothal, and the party was complete
that spent the Prince's last Christmas at Windsor. Only
one member of the family was lacking, and here are
her father's Christmas greetings to her : —
" Again we have missed you greatly at our Christinas table.
" Our dearest heads were counted o'er
A dearest one is here no more ! "
" Oh, if you with Fritz and the children were only with us !
Louis was an accession. He is a very dear good fellow, who pleases
us better and better daily. In my abstraction I call him Fritz.
Your Fritz must not take it amiss, for it. is only the personification of
a beloved, newly-bestowed, full-grown son. . . . Prejudice walking to
and fro in flesh and blood is my horror, and alas I a phenomenon so
common, and people plume themselves so much on their prejudices as
signs of decision of character and greatness of mind, nay, of true
patriotism, and all the while they are simply the product of narrow
ness of intellect, and narrowness of heart."
At that very time, Frederick William was ending a
life always amiable and religious, but weak and vacil
lating, and latterly incapable. His brother, William,
destined to raise the country to a far more important
position than it had yet occupied, had been in fact ruler
for two years, but could not take the decisive part of
exercising the power of the actual sovereign.
The answer of Prince Albert to his daughter's descrip
tion of the impression made upon her by the death and
the sight of the body was : —
" The more frequently you look upon the corpse, the stronger will
be your conviction that yonder husk is not the man, yet that it is
scarcely conceivable how it can have been. Iu seeing and observing

THE LAST WEDDING DAY, 1801. 231
the approach of death as you have been called upon to do, you have
become older in experience than myself. I have never seen anyone
die." The Prince rejoiced over the conduct of his daughter
during the trying scenes in which she was engaged.
Soon after came February 10th, when, as he said, "his
wedding came of age." Knowing as we do that it was
the last kept together in this world, the utterances of the
day are the more touching. To the Duchess of Kent,
the husband writes — " We have faithfully kept our
pledge for better and for worse, and can only thank God
that He has conceded so much happiness to us. May
He have us in His keeping for the days to come." To
Stockmar the words are — "How many a storm has swept
over it (the marriage), and yet it continues green and
fresh, and throws out vigorous roots, from which I can
with gratitude acknowledge that much good will yet be
engendered for this world ! It is now with these twenty-
one years, as with the four score years of the Bible, if
they have been precious (Jcostlich, in Luther's version)
they have also been labour and toil." The Queen's
words to her uncle are : —
"On Sunday we celebrated, with feelings of deep gratitude and
love, the twenty-first anniversary of our blessed marriage, a day which
has brought to us, and, I may say, to the world at large, such incal
culable blessings. Very few can say with me that their husband at
the end of twenty-one years is not only full of the friendship, kindness,
and affection which a tndy happy marriage brings with it, but of the
same tender love as in the first days of our marriage."

232 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
There was already some failing in strength on the
Prince's part. His sufferings from toothache, and the
weakening effect of pain and sleeplessness, indicated
that " labour and toil " had strained his nerves, and tried
a constitution never robust ; and there was no possibility
of rest from the cares and toil of public life, or the
private and semi-private questions that had accumulated
upon him.
The revolution in the Kingdom of Naples, and the
flight of the king, gave much cause for anxiety, though
England abstained from any share in the matter; and
there was much restlessness in Germany, which the
Prince always felt deeply, both as concerning his father
land, and as affecting the future of his daughters : —
" My hope," he wrote to the new king of Prussia, " like that of most
German patriots, rests on you. ... It rests on you as you have
succeeded to the throne without being entangled or fettered by the
miserable policy of reaction, to which indeed you were often yourself
a victim, and because your known loyalty of character makes you
regarded by the Germans as the type of their chief saying, " Ein
Wort, ein Mann." With the national feelings once fairly roused
through reliance on a Prince who is prepared to take the lead, the
German people will suffice for itself, and needs to fear neither Italians,
French, Hungarians nor Poles ; nay, it will even become a power
which its neighbours, the Times included, will regard with respect."
A most true prediction, though the Prince did not live
to see it realised. A grief touching him nearly was at
hand, in the illness and death of the Duchess of Kent,
with whom he had been on the most filial and affectionate

DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT, 1861. 233
terms, and whose death was the beginning of sorrows to
her most loving daughter.
" Dear Albert is dreadfully overcome ; well he may
be, for she adored him," says the Queen. And, again,
" He was so tender and kind, so pained to have to ask
me distressing questions, but spared me so much."
The personal grief was great, and the endeavour to
support the Queen, and shield her from unnecessary
trouble and distraction, as well as the answering endless
condolences, were no slight additions to the work of one
already almost overtasked. A brief visit from the Crown
Princess was a great help and comfort, but a month
later the Prince tells Stockmar that the Queen, though
well,"is terribly nervous, and the children are a disturbance to her. You
may conceive it was and is no easy task for me to comfort and support
her, and to keep others at a distance, and yet at the same time not to
throw away the opportunity which a time like the present affords of
binding the family together in a closer bond of unity.
"By business I am well nigh overwhelmed, as I do my utmost to
save Victoria all trouble, while at the same time I am mama's sole
executor. As Sir G. Cowper died just fourteen days before mama,
and was not able to hand over her complicated affairs to anyone, I am
wholly without advice or assistance, and have to puzzle out everything
bit by bit, and to hunt up whatever is necessary for their com
prehension. To add to which, Lady Phipps had a nervous seizure
the day after mama's death, and Sir Charles has not been able to leave
her side since, and is detained in London powerless to help me."
To add to all this harass, the Times thought proper
to imply that the influence of the Government as to the

234 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
liberation of Italy was impeded by the predilections of
the Court, meaning, of course, the Prince, and he could
not choose but be disappointed to find that all these
years had not so established confidence in him as to
spare him from such insinuations.
Arrangements for the studies of the Prince of Wales
at Cambridge had to be made, and though the Queen
recovered spirits enough for the Court ceremonies in
London during the Season, there was a weight on
everything, and the heat of the summer was unusual and
oppressive. However, at Osborne there was the delight
of a visit from the Prussian children and grandchildren,
and later of numerous royal visitors : the King of Sweden,
and the Archduke Maximilian, with his Archduchess
Charlotte. An expedition to Ireland and Wales followed, and
there was real refreshment in the sojourn in the High
lands, where the excursions to fine scenery hitherto
unexplored greatly refreshed both the Queen and Prince,
though the attendants on the latter observed that he was
more easily fatigued when out shooting or deer-stalking
than before. Anxieties were very heavy on account of
the War of Secession in America, and the necessity of
showing impartiality on the part of Government without
undue restraint on the people.
The Court returned to Windsor on October 23rd
to receive a great number of guests; but there was

DEATH OF KING PEDRO, 1861. 235
still a heavy sense of grief. The death of Sir James
Graham, with whom there had been much intercourse,
was a blow. Little Prince Leopold was in delicate
health, and the Crown Princess was very unwell from a
cold caught at the coronation of her father-in-law at
Konigsberg ; and just then came tidings of an outbreak
of typhoid fever in the royal family at Lisbon. The
father of this family was Ferdinand of Coburg, first
cousin to both Queen and Prince, and the young king
and his brothers had visited England several times,
and were regarded with warm affection. Two of the
brothers, the Dukes of Oporto and Beja, had been at the
Prussian coronation, and came to Windsor on their way
home on November 7th, the very day after news had
been there received that their brother Ferdinand had
died of the fever, and that the King himself was in a
dangerous state, which was aggravated by the recent loss
of his young wife, Queen Stephanie. They went on
their way, but before they reached Lisbon the young
King Pedro was dead, and the Duke of Beja soon after
sickened and died before the end of the year.
The grief was deeply felt in England. The Queen's
diary says of the King : — -
"Highly gifted and most able, pure, virtuous, excellent, hard
working to a degree, and only devoted to duty, he was one in a
thousand. My Albert was very fond of him, loved him as a son (as I
did too), while he had unbounded confidence in Albert, and was
worthy of him."

236 ALBEBT, PBINCE CONSOBT OF ENGLAND.
To his daughter the Prince writes : —
" I cannot realise the fact of dear Pedro being snatched from this
enrth, and Louis in his place. What a terrible blow for the unhappy
country and for poor Ferdinand ! With the good Pedro it is well.
What with the wounds which the loss of his Stephanie left in his
heart, the mournful cast of thought which was peculiar to his nature,
and the great conscientiousness which made him feel so deeply every
thing that affected his own duty and the welfare of his country, he
would never have been entirely happy here below, and now he is
united to the angel who went before him ; but he was qualified to
effect infinite good for a. degraded country and people, and also to
uphold with integrity the monarchial principle, and to strengthen
the faith in its blessings which is unfortunately so frequently shaken
to its foundation by those who are its representatives."
To Baron Stockmar the Prince wrote in the same
strain, adding in reference to other troubles of a more
private nature, " I am fearfully in want of a true friend
and counsellor, and that you are the friend and counsellor
I want you will readily understand."
This sentence is the more affecting, because this was
the last letter that Prince Albert ever wrote to the friend
and adviser of his entire public life. The death of King
Pedro weighed on his spirits, and to add to the strain
came the beginning of the fatal illness of Sir Edward
Bowater, who had been sent in charge of the little Prince
Leopold to Cannes. Business of all kinds told upon a
state of mind and body unfit to cope with harassment,
though nothing would induce him to spare himself.
On November 22nd, he went to inspect the buildings
of the new Staff College at Sandhurst, on a miserable

FAILING HEALTH, 1861. 237
day of pouring rain, when he was thoroughly chilled and
tired out ; and the sleeplessness which always ensued on
extra excitement, together with rheumatic pains, pre
vented any repair of forces. Still, he went out shooting
the next day, for the last time, and on the next he felt
himself compelled to take a hurried journey to Cambridge
for one night, to see his eldest son. He came back,
suffering from pain in the back and legs — "recht elend,"
as he noted in his diary. His old valet repeated,
" Living here will kill your Royal Highness. You must
leave Windsor and go to Germany to recover strength."
Unfortunately the physician who had attended him and
knew his constitution, Dr. Baily, had been killed in a
railway accident a few months previously, and he himself
was unable to sleep or eat, and in the strange, listless,
indifferent condition that is often one of the first
symptoms of typhoid fever. None of the immediate
family had any experience of serious illness, so that no
alarm was taken.
On the 29th, the Prince made the last entry in his
Journal, before attending an inspection of the Eton
College Volunteers. He was also considering and ad
vising on the affair of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, envoys
from the Southern States, who had been captured on
board the English steamer Trent, by the captain of a
Northern man-of-war. It was one of those questions
which might have led to a serious misunderstanding

238 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
between the Governments, but is now chiefly interesting in
that it called forth the last memorandum written by him
for the assistance of the Cabinet. He wrote it between
seven and eight on the morning of December 1st, and as
he gave it to the Queen said in his native tongue — " I am
so weak, I could hardly hold the pen." The weakness
may be traced in his handwriting, yet the suggestions
were so good and dignified that Lord Palmerston and
Lord John Russell were most grateful for them. They
guarded the honour of the country, yet giving the
Americans no reason to complain of a dictatorial or
menacing spirit.
This was on the Sunday morning, and the Prince kept
up all day, going to church, kneeling and standing
there as usual, and joining the family at their meals
though unable to eat, but still talking and telling anec
dotes. Two or three days passed in the same manner,
during one of which he saw two gentlemen who had been
on a message of condolence to Lisbon, and who told him
all the details of King Pedro's death. He said to one of
them that he thought his own illness likely to turn to
fever, and if so, he should scarcely live through it. He
had long before told the Queen — " I am sure, if I had a
severe illness, I should give up at once, I should not
struggle for life. I have no tenacity of life." He had
also said to her — " I do not cling to life ; you do,
but I set no store by it. If I knew that those I love

TYPHOID FEVER, 1861. 239
were well cared for, I should be quite ready to die
to-morrow." On the 3rd or 4th, he desired Princess Alice to write
that he could not recover, to her sister at Berlin, and the
next day begged to know whether she had done so, yet
he never spoke of his forebodings to her mother.
When, on December 6th, the doctors had no remain
ing doubt of the nature of the illness, they refrained
from declaring it to him, considering him to have a
horror of fever. But from all the minute accounts pre
served, it seems likely that he perceived the nature of
the case, though with his constant habit of silence and
consideration for others, he held his peace until Dr.
Jenner pronounced the sickness to be fever, dating from
the drive to Sandhurst on November 22nd, and likely
to take its course for a month. The fever did not run
very high, and he was daily moved into an adjoining
room where was a beautiful picture of the Madonna on
china, upon which he liked to gaze. " It helps me
through half the day," he said. The Queen and Princess
Alice read to him, chiefly Scott's novels, the familiar sound
of which suited the weary ear better than newer books.
There was a wistful tenderness in his manner towards
the Queen, when he held her hand, and stroked her
face, calling her Gutes Weibchen, or Armes Weibehen,
and trying to gather his thoughts. Once he pressed
the sending a message to the Duke of Nemours, that

240 ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND.
in case of an American war with England, the French
Princes ought to leave the Northern army in which they
were serving. There was latterly a tendency to wander,
but pressing alarm did not begin till December 13th,
when difficulty of breathing was thought a symptom of
congestion of the lungs.
The Prince of Wales was sent for by Princess Alice
on her own responsibility, and arrived at 3 A.m., but after
this there was a decided rally, which made the morning
so hopeful that cheering telegrams were sent to the Crown
Princess and the King of Portugal. But a dusky tint
came over the face, and there were those gestures of
arranging the hair that so often are the prelude to
departure. The breathing became more quick and
laboured, hope faded away, and with wife and children
kneeling round, the pure and true spirit passed away
at 10.45 a.m. on December 14th, 1861. The shock
was almost like that caused by a sudden death. The
Queen was absolutely stunned, and Princess Alice
had to think and act for her. Lord Palmerston, on
being informed by the Duke of Cambridge, fainted
away several times, and the whole court and country
seemed to be paralyzed.
All who saw the corpse spoke of its wonderful
beauty, and the glorified look that rested on those
fine features, which no evil had ever stained. On
December 23rd the state funeral took place in St.

THE DEATH, 1861. 241
George's Chapel, but the vault there was only a tem
porary resting-place. A mausoleum was erected at
Frogmore, whither the remains were the next year
removed, and where tender affection has never ceased
to dwell on that fair memory. Like Tennyson's
" Arthur," the Prince Consort was a selfless man, and
England has come to know and mourn for her loss.

INDEX.

Alma, 173.
Alost, 13.
Amelie, Queen of the French, 25,
100.
America, 92, 165, 229, 239.
Anne, Queen, 2, 74, 119.
Anson, Mr. G., 43, 53, 74, 119, 126.
Anti Corn-Law League, 88.
Antoinette of Coburg, Duchess of
Saxony, 14.
Anton, King of Saxony, 19.
Antwerp, 13, 200.
April 10th, 1848, 111.
Archipelago, 157.
Ardverikie, 104, 106.
Ariel, the, 50.
Arrivabene, Count, 25.
Augustus, Csesar, 113.
Australia, 165.
Austria, 102, 105, 114, 120, 144,
145, 149, 177, 192, 217.

B.
Baeelsbbrg, 212.
Baden, 86, 113, 114, 127.
Baily, Dr., 236.
Balaclava, 174.
Balmoral, 60, US, 152, 173, 185,
202, 221, 227.
Batoum, 60.

Beja, Duke of, 235.
Belfast, 126.
Belgium, 16.
Bentinck, Lord George, 90-91.
Berlin, 19, 108, ] 14, 165, 203, 240.
Bernard of Saxe Weimar, 4.
Bernard, Simon, 207.
Beyrout, 65.
Birch, Mr., 119.
Blomfield, Lady, 36.
Bonn, 26,29, 31,32,33.
Boulogne, 169, 180.
Bowater, Sir Edward, 126.
Braemar, 119, 180.
Brazil, 210.
Bretagne, 213.
Bretschneider, 12.
Bright, John, 86, 209, 224.
Brougham, Lord, 44.
Brunnow, Baron, 145.
Brussels, 13, 25, 29, 49.
Buckingham Palace, 50, 60, 70,
203.
Bulwer, Sir Henry, 98.
Bunsen, Baron, 69, 103, 124, 164,
221, 225.
Buol, Count, 157.

C.
Cadiz, Duke of, 98.
Calais, 49.
Cambridge, 103,121, 237.
Cambridge, Chancellorship of, 106,
126.

INDEX.

213

Cambridge, Duke of, 174, 240.
Campbell, Lord, 97, 111, 162.
Cannes, 236.
Canning, Lord, 203.
Canrobert, General, 182.
Canterbury. Archbishop of, 140.
Cape of Good Hope, 229.
Cardigan, Earl of, 179.
Caroline, Princess of Eeuss Ebers
dorff, 14.
Caroline, Duchess of Gotha, 20, 29,
41,48, 111.
Cart (Valet), 32,49, 213.
Cathcart, Sir George, 174.
Chapel Eoyal, 50.
Charles V., 4.
Charles X. of France, 108.
Charles, Prince of Leiningen, 105,
195.
Charlotte, Princess, 5.
Charlotte, Princess of Belgium, 201,
234.
Chartist Procession, 42.
Chateau d'Eu, 76, 97.
Cherbourg, 201, 212.
Chobham (Camp), 155.
Christina, Queen of Spain, 98.
Christina, Queen of Sweden, 2.
Circassia, 160.
Clabon, Mr., 196.
Clarence, Duke of, 3.
Clarendon, Earl of, 131, 132, 157,
181, 201.
Clementine, Princess of Orleans, 25.
Coalition Ministry, 150, 177.
Cobden, Richard, 88.
Coblentz, 187-88.
Coburg, 3, 4, 10, 20, 32, 36, 46, 57,
104,161,211.
Coburg, Duchess Dowager, 13.
Coburg, Duchess Dowager Marie,
212 213 227
Coburg, Duke Ernest of, 98, 108,
110, 114, 117, 120, 145, 116, 173,
187, 200, 202, 211.
Coburg, Duke Ernest of Gotha
Saalfeld, 4, 5, 8, 49, 73.
Codrington, Sir William, 189.
Command of the Armv, 85, 96, 13o.
Committee on the State of the
Armv, 179.

Conference of Four Powers, 150.
Confirmation of Princes Ernest and
Albert, 16.
Confirmation of Princess Koyal,
194.
Confirmation of Prince of Wales,
210.
Conspiracy of Murder Bill, 206.
Constantinople, 158.
Cork, 126.
Corn Laws, 83.
Cracow, 102.
Craig Gowan, 185.
Crimea, 168, 170, 177, 181, 184, 187.
Cronstadt, 169.
Crystal Palace, 134, 139, 140.

D.
Danube, 168.
Darmstadt, 114, 117.
Davys, Bishop of Peterborough,
31.
Dawson, Miss, 119.
Denmark, 225.
Derby, Earl of, 148, 162, 177, 182,
207, 218.
Diet, 114.
Disraeli, 24, 82, 148, 149.
Distribution of Medals, 184.
Douro, Marchioness of, 110.
Dover, 50.
Dresden, 19, 33.
Dublin, 126.
Duelling, 71.

E.
East Ixdia Company, 209.
Eastlake, Sir Charles, 68.
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 137.
Edward III., 70.
Egypt, 64.
Elbe, 103.
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, 4.
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 2.
Ellenborough, Lord, 188, 209.

244

INDEX.

English Feeling on American War,
165.
Entente cordiale, 159.
Eos, 27, 42.
Ernest, Hereditary Prince of Co
burg, 6, 11, 24, 27, 32, 49, 54, 70,
120, 122.
Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg Saal-
feldt, 4, 5, 8, 49, 73.
Ernest of Saxony, 4, 6.
Ernestine branch, 4, 165.
Eton, 83, 236.
Eu, 97.
Eupatoria, 189.
Exhibition, Gi eat, 125, 127, 139, 140.

Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria,
19, 120.
Ferdinand, Prince, of Coburg, 5, 11,
19.
Ferdinand, King Consort of Portu
gal, 11, 20, 235, 236.
Fichte, 26, 34.
Florence, 34.
Florschutz, Herr Path, 7, 9, 15, 17,
25, 32, SO.
France, 165, 191, 215, 219.
Francis II., Emperor of Austria,
19, 25.
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Aus
tria, 120.
Frankfort, 43, 84. 115.
Frederick, first Elector of Saxony,
3.
Frederick, Elector, the Mild, 3.
Frederick, Elector, the "Wise, 4.
Frederick II. of Prussia, 217.
Frederick William III., King of
Prussia, 19.
Frederick William IV., King of
Prussia, 18, 6P, 86, 108,114, 120,
159, 164, 167, 176, 212, 230.
Frederick William, Prince of
Prussia, 135, 187, 199, 203, 212,
215, 231.
Freemasonry, 218.
Frogmore, 55, 241.
Ftillerton, Lady Georgiana, 147.

G.
Gagern, Prince Max von, 116.
Garter, Order of, 31, 41, 121, 182.
Genoa, Duke of, 154.
George III., 4.
George, Prince of Saxony, 210.
German Unity, 106, 113, 116, 117,
120.
Germany, 2, 106, 108.
Gilsa, Emil, 11.
Gordon, 111.
Gotha, 11,47,86,152.
Gotha, Duchess Caroline of, 20, 29,
41, 48, 111.
Granville, Earl, 127, 149.
Greece, 100.
Greville, Charles, 44, 66, 117, 119.
Grey, Colonel, 47, 127.
Grey, Earl, 96, 106.
Grey, Sir George, 96.
Guelf, 2.
Guizot, 55, 109.

H.
Hague, the, 22.
Hallam's Constitutional History, 75.
Hampden Case, 62, 122.
Hanover, King Ernest of, 45.
Hanover, King George V. of, 154.
Hapsburg, House of, 2.
Haynau, General, 133, 149.
Hebrides, 105.
Hildyard, Miss, 119.
Hohenlohc, Princess, 151.
Holland, 13.
Holstein, 1 17.
Hume, Joseph, 45.
Hungary, 126.
Hyde Park, 127, 128, 138.

Income Tax, 70, 83.
Ireland, 90, 92, 104, 107, 112, 126.
Isabella II., Queen of Spain, 76, 97.
Italy, 34, 102, 106.
Itz, river, 9.

INDEX.

245

J.
Jacoby, Hcrr, 16,
Jellachich (Ban of Croatia), 120.
John, Archduke of Austria, 115.
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony,
Jones, the boy, 55.
Junta of Portugal, 104.

E.
Kensington, 23, 143.
Kent, 50.
Kent, Duchess of, 4, 5, 21, 22, 23,
55, 105, 231, 232.
Kent, Edward, Duke of, 5, 6.
Khyber Pass, 71.
King Consort, title of, S4.
Kingstown, 121.
Kohary, Princess of, 5.
Konrad of Kaufungen, 3.
Kossuth, 144.
Kunz, 3.

Lanseowne, Lord, 161.
Layard, Sir Austin, 182.
Leech, 128.
Lehzen, Baroness, 28, 31, 55, 59.
Leiningen, Prince of, 6.
Leiningen, Prince Charles of, 105,
116, 194.
Leopold I. (Prince of Coburg) King
of the Belgians, 5, 12. 17, 21, 25,
29, 108, 149, 165, 174, 176, 1S5.
Leopold, Prince (of Coburg), 98.
Leopold, Prince (of England), 235.
Lewis, Lady Theresa, 198.
Linette, 14.
Lisbon, 98, 210, 235.
Liverpool, 97.
Lobell, 26
London, 5, 6, 111, 184.
Louisa, Infanta of Spain, 76,98, 110.
Louisa of Saxe-Coburg Altenburg,
Duchess of Coburg, 5, 7, 12.
Louisa,- Queen of Prussia, 19.

Louise, Princess of England, 111.
Louise of Orleans, Queen of the
Belgians, 38, 101.
Louis Napoleon, 120, 20S.
Louis Philippe, King of the French,
24, 76, 81, 97, 101, 109, 221.
Lowensteiu, Prince William of, 27.
Lucknow, 203, 209.
Luther, 4, 103.

M.
Mainz, 114.
Malakoff, 184, 185.
Malakoff, Duke of, 208.
Malmesbury, Earl of, 215.
Malta, 174.
Man, Isle of, 105.
Manchester, Art Exhibition, 198.
Mannheim, 114.
Manteufel, Count, 159.
Maria, Queen of Portugal, 20, 76,
104, 154.
Marie, Duchess of Coburg, 14, 202.
203, 227.
Marriage, Queen and Prince Albert,
50.
Marriage, Princess Boyal, 203.
Marryatt, Captain, 24.
Martin, Sir Theodore, 197.
Mason and Slidell, 237.
" Maude, " the puem, 166.
Max, Prince of Saxony, 19.
Maximilian, Aichduke, 201, 234.
Mecklenberg Schwerin, Grand
Duke of, 17.
Meerut, 199.
Mehemet Ali, 64.
Melbourne, Lord, 39, 43, 46, 58, 64,
66, 96.
Mensdorff, Count Arthur, 11, 15.
Menzikoff, 183.
Metternich, Prince, 19.
Meyendorff, 157.
Militia, 148.
Montpensier, Duchess of, 78, 79,
110.
Montpensier, Duke of, 98.
Munich, 08.
Museum at Coburg, 14, 211.

21(5

INDEX.

N.
Napier, Sir Charles, 170.
Naples, 232.
Napoleon I., 80, 113, 121.
Napoleon III. (Louis), 120, 145, 164,
170, 173, 179, 181, 182, 201, 202,
203, 213, 215, 221.
Napoleon Docks, 213.
National Assembly of Germany, 1 16.
Naval Review, 156.
Nemours, Duchess of, 202.
Nemours, Duke of, 110, 239.
Nesselrode, 159.
Newcastle, Duke of, 177, 179.
Nicholas I., Tzar, 80, 137, 164, 180,
186.
Nightingale, Florence, 175.
Normanby, Marchioness of, 66.
Normanby, Marquis, 100, 145.
Northoote, Sir Stafford, 127.
Numantia, 203.
Nuremberg, 115.

0.
Odessa, 165.
Olmutz, 159.
Oporto, Duke of, 235.
Orange, Prince of, 22.
Orleans, Duchess of, 74.
Orleans, Duke of, 24.
Orleans Dynasty, 74, 171.
Orsini, 202, 205, 207.
Osborne, 60, 95, 97, 109, 111, 139,
152, 206, 234.
Oxenstierna, 15, 183, 191.
Oxford, 95.
Oxford, Bishop of, 122, 178.

Palestine, 156.
Palmerston, Lord, 65, 94, 96, 97,
98, 100, 106, 131, 132, 134, 144,
146, 160, 170, 171 177, 181, 190,
204, 205, 206, 238, 240.
Panmure, Lord, 137.

Papal Aggression, 179, 205.
Paris, 2, 108, 110,^182, 184.
Parliament, 65, S3, S5, 107, 176,
177, 185, 207.
Paxton, Sir Joseph, 126.
Peace of Paris, 193, 194.
Pedro, King of Portugal, 235.
Peel, Sir Robert, 36, 65, 73, 85, 88,
91, 92, 95, 105.
Peelites, 177, 181.
Pelissier, General, 189.
Pemberton, 67.
People's Charter, 111.
Perponcher, 216.
Persigny, 201.
Perthes, 26, 27.
Philippa, Queen, 70.
Phipps, Lady, 233.
Phipps, Sir Charles, 126, 128, 149,
197.
Pierri, 205, 207.
Pius IX., 108.
Poland, 165.
Ponsonby, Col. (Sir Henrv), 229.
Portugal, 19, 98, 106.
Potato Famine, 87.
Powis, Earl of, 103.
Praslin, Duke of, 110.
Principalities, Danubian, 183.
Prince Consort, Title of, 199.
Prinzen raub, 3.
Propagation of the Gospel, 143.
Protection, 88, 137.
Protectionists, 182.
Prussia, 86, 106, 114, 159, 179, 190,
215, 216, 217, 232.
Prussian Deputies, 118.
Punch, 121, 12S, 138, 177.
Q.
Queen's Regnant, 1.
Queen's Speech, 90.
Que'telet, 25. K.
Radicals, 130.
Raglan, Lord, 168, 176, 184.

INDEX.

247

Redan, 1S4, 1S5.
Refugee Bill, 201.
Regeneration of Germany Plan, 107.
Repeal of Corn Laws, 88, 92.
Rhenish Bavaria, 117.
Rhenish Prussia, 117.
Rhine, The, 86, 225.
Roebuck, 177, 179.
Rognet, General, 202.
Rome, 34.
Rosenau, 6, 9, 86, 212.
Rotterdam, 22.
Royal Commission for Fine Arts,
67.
Russell, Lord John, 45, 48, 94, 96,
97, 98, 119, 132, 135, 140, 162,
177, 183, 224, 238.
Russia, 145, 156, 164, 177, 192, 200.

s.

Saalfeld, 7.
Sachs, House of, 2.
Saint Arnaud, 168.
Saint Petersburg, 169.
Salswuzerei, 212.
Sandhurst, 236.
Sardinia, 219.
Sardinia, Victor Emanuel, King of,
154, 177, 178.
Savoy, 224.
Saxe, 2.
Saxe-Coburg Altenburg, 7.
Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld, 9.
Saxony, Counts of, 3, 4.
Saxony, Electors of, 3.
Saxony, Anton, King of, 19.
Saxony, John, King of, 114.
Saxony, George, Prince of, 210.
Schenk, 53.
Schlegel, 26.
Schmidt, George, 6.
Schweidnitz, 26.
Schwerin, 17.
Scotland, 74.
Scott's Novels, 7, 239.
Seaton, Field Marshal Lord, 81.
Sebastopol, 160, 168, 169, 175, 178,
179, 185.

Soebach, 152.
Seymour, Sir Francis, 32.
Seymour, 174.
Shaftesbury, Earl of, SI.
Sibthorp, Colonel, 45, 138.
Siebengebirge, 27.
Sikh War, 93.
Silvio Pellico, 26.
Simpson, General, 183.
Sinope, 160.
Slidell, 237.
Society for improving condition of
AVorking Class, 112.
Society for Propagation of the
Gospel, 145.
Somerset House, 126.
South Kensington, 143.
Spain, 106, 171.
Spanish Marriages, 97.
Spielberg, prisoners of, 25.
Spithead, 169.
Stanley, Dean of Westminster, 221.
Stanley, Lord (Earl of Derby), 89,
108, 137.
Star of India, 226.
Stephanie, Queen of Portugal, 236.
Stockmar, Baron, 79, 83, 84, 101,
111, 115, 149, 152, 157, 182, 184,
187, 201, 211, 215, 217, 226, 229.
Strasburg, 187.
Stratfieldsaye, 137.
Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, 170.
Stuttgart, 120.
Sussex, Duke of, 64.
Sutherland, Duchess of, 66.
Switzerland, 24, 106.

T.

Tohebnaya, 175.
Teblitz, 227.
Tennyson, 166, 240.
Teufelskluft, 6.
Thuringen, 3.
Thuringia, 3.
Tiber, the, 103.
Times, the, 184, 232, 239.
Treport, Trent, the, 237.

248

INDEX.

Turkey, 80, 156, 158.
Twickenham, 81.

u.
University Studies, 121.

V.
Varna, 168.
Venetia, 225.
Venice, 29.
Victor Emanuel, King of Sardinia,
154, 178, 190, 193, 219.
Victoria, Queen, 6, 30, 37, 39, 41,
43, 51, 54, 84, 86, 98, 100, 110,
111, 130, 140, 145, 160, 162, 170,
179, 184, 213, 214, 218, 221, 224,
226, 230, 232, 233, 235, 240.
Victoria, Princess Royal, 186, 187,
203, 236, 240.
Victoria of Coburg, Duchess of
Kent, 4, 5, 21, 22.
Vienna, 13, 19, 114, 120, 165, 167,
182.
Vienna Note, 157.
Villa Franca, 219.
Vizthum, Count, 93, 131, 168, 171,
173, 182, 192, 225, 240.

w.
Wales, 234.
Wales, Prince of, 68, 95, 103, 123,
229, 234, 240.
Walewski, Count, 145, 173, 216.

Walpole, Spence, 162.
War of Secession, 234.
Warsaw, 159.
Weichmann, General, 25, 26, 27.
Welf, House of, 2.
Wellington, Duke of, 24, 45, 71, 89,
92, 96, 111, 136, 137, 149.
Wendel, 7.
Westminster, Duke of, 24.
Whewell, Dr., 121.
Wilherforce, Bishop Samuel, 56, 62,
94, 121, 124, 128, 178, 221.
William III., 75.
Wildpark Station, 214.
William IV., 21, 23, 28.
William, Prince of Prussia, 162, 186,
214, 230.
William, Prince of Prussia, 210.
Windischgr'atz, 120.
Windsor, 22, 56, 57, 83, 109, 110,
121, 152, 203, 210, 221, 229, 234,
237.
Woodford, Bishop, 221.
Wordsworth, 103.
Wurtemburg, 117.
Wurtemburg, Ernest, Prince of,
211.

York Agricultural Show. 118.

Zaragoza, 203.
Ziethen, 217.
Zollverein, 107.

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