Читать книгу Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 - King of Great Britain Edward VII - Страница 2

As the record of Public Speeches in the following pages does not begin till 1863, it may be well to give a few dates and incidents of previous years in the life of the Prince of Wales.

He was born on the 9th of November, 1841, at Buckingham Palace. From Windsor, to which the Court removed on the 6th of December, the Queen wrote next day to King Leopold, "We arrived here safe and sound, with our awfully large nursery establishment, yesterday morning… I wonder very much whom our little boy will be like. You will understand how fervent are my prayers, and I am sure everybody's must be, to see him resemble his father in every respect, both in body and mind."

The Prince, named Albert Edward, was baptized in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the 25th of January, 1842. King Frederick William of Prussia was invited to be the boy's Godfather, and he came over personally to undertake the office. The other Sponsors, six in number, were members of the Houses of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, and of the English Royal family. There was a full choral service at the christening. A special anthem had been composed by Sir George Elvey. On the Prince Consort being told of this, and asked when it should be sung, he answered, "Not at all; no anthem. If the service ends by an anthem we shall all go out criticising the music. We will have something we all know – something in which we can all join – something devotional. The Hallelujah Chorus; we shall all join in that, with our hearts." The Hallelujah Chorus ended the service accordingly. The incident is noteworthy, as showing how the infant Prince was committed, at his baptism, not in outward form only, but in devout spirit, to the care of the Heavenly Father.

When the Queen told King Leopold of the removal of the Court to Windsor, she had made special mention of "the nursery establishment." No mother in any rank of life ever paid greater attention to this part of the home, wherever the Court might be. In Memoirs and Recollections of the Queen, by those who have belonged to her household, many anecdotes are found which show the watchful care and the personal superintendence of the Royal Mother.

It is only this year, in the autumn of 1888, that Mrs. Hull, who entered Her Majesty's service as nurse to the Prince of Wales, died, in her seventy-ninth year. She was a kind and conscientious attendant to every one of the Royal children, and the Queen ever retained great regard for the faithful nurse – "Dear old May," as she used to call her. When she retired from the Royal service, and lived in recent years in Windsor, she was always welcome at the Castle. The Queen herself and the Princesses often saw her, and the Prince of Wales frequently brought her handsome presents. In reading the account of her funeral, it is pleasant to see that on the card attached to one of the many wreaths laid on her coffin were the words: "A mark of affection and gratitude from Victoria R. I." A beautiful wreath sent by the Prince and Princess of Wales bore the inscription: "In remembrance of dear old May."

When the Royal children came to be under governesses and teachers, they were taught well the usual branches of early education, and were also trained in practical ways, the boys in the use of tools, and the girls in household work, especially when the Swiss Cottage at Osborne was occupied by the young folk.

In the story of the 'Early Years of the Prince Consort' there is an amusing reference to the interruptions of the schoolroom studies by the old Duke of Saxe-Coburg, who loved to carry off the two boys, and take them on excursions. The Prince himself did this sometimes, as when the two elder children, in the autumn of 1846, were taken with their parents in the Victoria and Albert to Portland, Weymouth, Guernsey, Dartmouth, and Plymouth, between August 8th and 25th; and to Jersey, Falmouth, St. Michael's Mount, and the Duchy of Cornwall, between September 2nd and 9th. Of these excursions details are given in the Queen's 'Leaves from a Journal.' The Queen tells how, at several places off the Cornish coast, "boats crowded round us in all directions, and when Bertie showed himself the people shouted, 'Three cheers for the Duke of Cornwall!'" … In the Journal, under date September 7th, Prince Albert having that day landed to visit some mines, the Queen has this entry, "The Corporation of Penryn were on board, and very anxious to see the Duke of Cornwall, so I stepped out of the pavilion with Bertie, and Lord Palmerston told them that that was the Duke of Cornwall; and the old Mayor of Penryn said that 'he hoped he would grow up to be a blessing to his parents, and to his country.'"

On September the 2nd, on the evening of the day when the Royal yacht left Osborne for the Channel Islands, "Bertie put on his sailor's dress, which was beautifully made by the man on board who makes for our sailors. When he appeared, the officers and sailors, who were all assembled on deck to see him, cheered, and seemed delighted with him."

In 1847 there was another holiday journey, this time to Scotland, the Queen and the Prince taking with them, as before, the two eldest children, with Miss Hildyard, their governess. They embarked at Osborne, in the Royal yacht, on the 11th of August. On the 14th they were at Pembroke, when the dockyard and the castle were inspected: thence along the coast of Wales, landing at Bangor, from whence there was an expedition to Penryn Castle, and thence past the Isle of Man to the Scottish coast. Of this journey a detailed account is given in a letter to Baron Stockmar. At Rothesay in the Isle of Bute, the Prince Consort says, "The people were as much rejoiced to see the Duke of Rothesay as the Welsh were to salute the Prince of Wales on their native ground." It was this enthusiasm about local associations that led the Queen, after the first visit to Ireland, to desire for the Prince the title of Earl of Dublin.

During 1848 and the following year there was much in the state of public affairs, at home and abroad, to occupy the attention of the Queen and the Prince Consort, but they were anxiously considering the plans for the future education of the Prince of Wales. In May 1848 negociations had been opened with Mr. Birch, who had been highly recommended as tutor. In the spring of 1849 the appointment was made, and Prince Albert, in a letter to the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, dated Windsor Castle, 10th April, thus wrote, "The children grow more than well. Bertie will be given over in a few weeks into the hands of a tutor, whom we have found in Mr. Birch, a young, good-looking, amiable man, who was a tutor at Eton, and who not only himself took the highest honours at Cambridge, but whose pupils have won especial distinction. It is an important step, and God's blessing be upon it, for upon the good education of Princes, and especially of those who are destined to govern, the welfare of the world in these days very greatly depends."

Of the course and conduct of the studies of the Prince, under Mr. Birch, from 1849-1851, and under his successor, Mr. Gibbs, from 1851-1858, it is not necessary to speak. His other teachers were efficient in their departments, such as Mr. Corbould, who taught drawing to all the Royal children; and M. Brasseur, the French teacher, to whom the Prince paid a visit when in Paris in 1888. As in the earlier years, so when he was under tutors, the real education for public life was less in study than in the companionship and the example of his parents. A man of wide knowledge and of varied accomplishments like the Prince Consort had higher views of education than mere scholastic routine. He took his son to all places where a love of arts and sciences might be encouraged and fostered, and hence the Prince obtained knowledge and acquired tastes not universal among young Englishmen, in times before the subjects of academic training and honours had been enlarged, mainly through the influence of the Prince Consort, as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. From his father also he inherited the taste for music which has been since turned to national benefit. But above all, he was often taken to meetings and festivals connected with charitable institutions, a Princely duty in which the son has been proud to follow the example of his lamented father.

The extra-scholastic education of the Prince was continued throughout the time that Mr. Gibbs, his classical tutor, remained with him. He was also gradually introduced to public life, and initiated in affairs of modern as well as ancient history, – events reported in the newspapers of the day, as well as those recorded by the historians of antiquity. As early as the 3rd of April, 1854, when the Addresses from both Houses of Parliament were presented to the Queen, in answer to Her Majesty's message announcing the opening of war with Russia, we are told that "the Prince of Wales took his place, for the first time, beside the Queen and Prince Albert upon the throne." In the succeeding years these appearances in public were frequent, and in 1857 he accompanied the Queen and the Prince on their memorable visit to the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester. The Princess Royal, the Princess Alice, Prince George, and Prince Frederick William of Prussia, were also guests at Worsley Hall during this visit. In Manchester, as recorded by the Queen in her Diary, "The crowd was enormous, greater than ever witnessed before, and enthusiastic beyond belief – nothing but kind and friendly faces." Upwards of a million people were computed to have been in the streets that day. Not only were the treasures of the Exhibition carefully inspected, but visits were paid to some of the great manufacturing works of the town. On the day that the Queen drove to see the statue of herself recently erected in the Peel Park, the Prince Consort, with his two eldest sons, and Prince Frederick William, went to the Manchester Town Hall, to receive the address which the Corporation presented to the Prussian Prince on his approaching marriage with the Princess Royal.

In July of that year, 1857, the Prince of Wales went to Königswinter, for the purposes of study. He was accompanied by General Grey, Sir Henry Ponsonby, and several companions, among whom were Mr. C. Wood, son of Lord Halifax, Lord Cadogan, and Mr. F. Stanley, son of Lord Derby. With Mr. Gibbs was now associated the Rev. Canon Tarver, who, on the retirement of Mr. Gibbs in 1858, was appointed Director of Studies and Chaplain. In this capacity he accompanied the Prince to Rome, Spain, and Portugal, and afterwards went with him to Edinburgh, remaining with the Prince till the autumn of 1859, when his education ceased to be conducted at home.

Of the principal events of the year 1858 as regards the Prince, a most interesting statement is given in a letter of his father to his old friend Stockmar. It is dated Windsor Castle, April 2nd. "Yesterday the Confirmation of the Prince of Wales went off with great solemnity, and I hope with lasting impression on his mind. The previous day his examination took place before the Archbishop and ourselves. Wellesley (Dean of Windsor) prolonged it a full hour, and Bertie acquitted himself extremely well. To-day we take the sacrament with him." In a Memorandum by Her Majesty, it is said that the Prince Consort "had a very strong feeling about the solemnity of this act, and did not like to appear in company either the evening before or on the day on which he took the sacrament; and he and the Queen almost always dined alone on these occasions." With such habitual feelings about the solemnity of the service, the "First Communion" of his eldest son must have deeply touched his heart.

In the letter to Stockmar the Prince continues his statement about the educational plans for his son. "Next week he is to make a run for fourteen days to the South of Ireland, with Mr. Gibbs, Captain de Ros, and Dr. Minter, for recreation. When he returns to London he is to take up his residence at the White Lodge, in Richmond Park, so as to be away from the world, and devote himself exclusively to study, and prepare for a military examination. As companions for him we have appointed three very distinguished young men, of from 23 to 26 years of age, who are to occupy in monthly rotation a kind of equerry's place about him, and from whose more intimate intercourse I anticipate no small benefit to Bertie." These companions were Lord Valletort, eldest son of Lord Mount-Edgecombe, Major Teesdale, R.A., of Kars celebrity, and Major Loyd-Lindsay, V.C., of all of whom the Prince expresses to Stockmar his high opinion. "Besides these three, only Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Tarver will go with him to Richmond. As future Governor I have as yet been able to think of no one as likely to suit, except Colonel Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, and his military secretary in Canada, who now commands one of the battalions of Grenadier Guards. He has all the amiability of his sister (Lady Augusta Bruce, afterwards Lady Augusta Stanley), with great mildness of expression, and is full of ability."

Fortunately for the Prince, the wish to obtain the services of Colonel Bruce was successful. On the 9th of November, 1858, writing from Windsor Castle to the King of Prussia on political affairs, which in Prussia were then in troubled condition, the Prince adds: "I ought not to tease you just now with family trifles, still I will let you know that Bertie, who to-day solemnizes his eighteenth birthday, proposes to pay a fortnight's visit to his sister, and asks leave to present himself to you. It will not be a State, but purely a family visit; and we, therefore, beg you only to show him such slender courtesies as are suitable to a member, and a very young one, of the family. To-day he becomes a Colonel in the Army, unattached, and will receive the Garter. Colonel Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, has become his Governor."

The Prince speaks of family events as trifles, compared with great political affairs, but he felt deeply every change in the home life. A few weeks earlier, he had taken his son, Alfred, to his ship at Spithead, from which he went to sea at once. On the day before, the father wrote, "His departure will be another great trial to us: the second child lost to our family circle in one year."

On the 10th of January, 1859, the Prince of Wales started on his Italian tour. He had previously been hard at study. He had opportunities of seeing much that was interesting in his continental journey, but the stay at Rome, which was greatly enjoyed, had to be abruptly ended. The restless ambition of the Emperor of the French had brought about war with Austria, and a French descent on Sardinia. Orders were sent to the Prince of Wales to leave Rome and repair to Gibraltar, which he reached on the 7th of May. The plan now arranged was that he was to visit the south of Spain and Lisbon, to return to England in the middle of June, and in July and August to take up his head-quarters in Edinburgh for study.

All this was well carried out, and on the 11th of September the Prince joined his parents at Balmoral. The Court had left Osborne on the 29th of August for the Highlands, and reached Balmoral on the 31st, after spending a day and a night in Edinburgh. Writing to Stockmar a few days after, the Prince Consort says they had "travelled for the first time by night, straight through from London to Edinburgh, in order to gain a day for that place. The experiment proved a complete success, and the Queen was not at all tired. When in Edinburgh I had an educational conference with all the persons who are taking part in the education of the Prince of Wales. They all speak highly of him, and he seems to have shown zeal and good will. Dr. Lyon Playfair is giving him lectures on Chemistry in relation to Manufactures, and at the close of each special course he visits the appropriate manufactory with him, so as to explain its practical application. Dr. Schmitz, the Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, a German, gives him lectures on Roman History. Italian, German, and French are advanced at the same time; and three times a week the Prince exercises with the 16th Hussars, who are stationed near the city. Mr. Fisher, who is to be tutor at Oxford, was also in Holyrood. Law and History are to be the subjects on which he is to prepare the Prince."

All this shows the care taken in regard to the education of the Prince. The Royal pupil had rather a stiff course of study in these days, but he stuck manfully to all his work, which had been carefully planned by his good father, who held that little relaxation should be allowed even during holiday time. In a letter of 17th September, 1859, to Mr. Tarver, who was still Director of Studies, he wrote, "I should be very sorry that he" (the Prince of Wales) "should look upon the reading of a novel, even by Sir Walter Scott, as a day's work." Fond as he was himself of high-class works of fiction, the Prince held they should be sparingly laid open to young people during years which should be devoted to study.

In December 1859 the Prince Consort wrote to the old Duchess of Coburg, who ever retained lively interest in all the family affairs, "The visit of Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his Princess came to a close on the 3rd. He has delighted us much. Vicky has developed greatly of late, and yet remained quite a child, – of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." With sad interest we recall this, after recent events. Also it is written about the same time, "The Prince of Wales is working hard at Oxford."

The year closed, and the new year dawned very peaceably and happily, the Queen saying in her Diary, "I never remember spending a pleasanter New Year's Day, surrounded by our children and dear Mama. It is really extraordinary how much our good children did for the day, in reading, reciting, and music."

In the early spring arrangements were being made for the proposed visit of the Prince of Wales to America. A promise of this visit had been given to the Canadians during the Crimean War for which Her Majesty's loyal subjects in the Dominion had levied and equipped a regiment. A request was then made that Her Majesty would visit her American possessions. On this being pronounced inexpedient, the Canadians asked that one of the Queen's sons might be Governor-General. Their youth made this impossible, and then the promise was made that the Prince of Wales, as soon as he was old enough, should visit Canada. It was now announced that this visit should be early in the autumn of 1860, and that it should be signalised by laying the foundation stone of the new Canadian Parliament House at Ottawa. It was also arranged that the Prince should be accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary Of State for the Colonies.

This no sooner became known on the other side of the water than the President of the United States, James Buchanan, addressed a letter to the Queen, dated on June 4th (Independence Day), offering a cordial welcome to the States, and assuring Her Majesty that the Prince would be everywhere greeted in a manner that could not fail to be gratifying to the Queen. A reply was sent, in the same friendly spirit, informing the President that the Prince would return from Canada through the United States, and that it would give him pleasure to have an opportunity of testifying in person to the President that the feelings which prompted his invitation were fully reciprocated on this side of the Atlantic.

After a short visit to Coburg in the early summer, the Prince started for the New World on the 10th of July, and on the 25th landed at St. John's, Newfoundland. His arrival caused a fever of excitement. "If all the Colonies feel towards the Prince as Newfoundland does," wrote one who witnessed the scenes, "it was a most politic step to have sent him on this tour." The rough fishermen and their wives were delighted, and were full of admiration. "God bless his pretty face, and send him a good wife!" was their most frequent exclamation. The manner of the Prince to the venerable Bishop of Newfoundland was "very beautiful, so gentle, and quite reverential," that all were touched, and the old man said, "God bless my dear young Prince! I hope he will carry away a favourable impression of this almost unknown rugged island."

The same enthusiasm was shown everywhere in Canada, and the Duke of Newcastle writing to the Queen on the 23rd of September, from Dwight in Illinois, after he had crossed into the United States, thus summed up the results of the visit: "Now that the Canadian visit is concluded, the Duke of Newcastle may pronounce it eminently successful, and may venture to offer Her Majesty his humble but very hearty congratulations. He does not doubt that future years will clearly demonstrate the good that has been done. The attachment to the Crown has been greatly cemented… The Duke of Newcastle is rejoiced to think that this is not the only good that has sprung out of this visit. It has done much good to the Prince of Wales himself, and the development of his mind and habit of thought is very perceptible. The Duke of Newcastle will be much disappointed if your Majesty and the Prince Consort are not pleased with the change that has been brought about by this practical school, in which so many of the future duties of life have been forced upon the Prince's daily attention. He has certainly left a very favourable impression behind him."

Besides laying the foundation stone of the buildings for the Parliament House at Ottawa, the Prince performed another memorable action in driving home the last rivet of the magnificent Victoria Bridge at Montreal.

The enthusiasm caused by the visit to the States was immense. Chicago was the first great town reached after leaving Niagara, and here the reception was remarkable. It was the same at Cincinnati, and at St. Louis. In fact everywhere the friendly spirit of the people was the same, and the courtesy of the civic authorities, and of the educated classes, most marked. A pleasant record of the prevailing feeling is given in a letter from a well-known American author. "The Prince is decidedly a popular character with us, and he may consider himself a lucky lad if he escapes nomination for President before he reaches his home-bound fleet. The funny part of the whole affair is to note the unwillingness of people to be shabbed off with a sham title (Baron Renfrew, under which name he travelled in the States), instead of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, a real up and down and out and out Prince, and of the right stuff too; coupled with a hope he may long remain so; for there is not a living being more sincerely beloved by our people than his Royal mother."

Washington was reached on the 3rd of October. The most memorable incident of his stay at the capital was an excursion, on the 5th, in company with the President to Mount Vernon, the home and the burial-place of George Washington. The reporter of the Times thus speaks of the event, "Before this humble tomb the Prince, the President, and all the party stood uncovered. It is easy moralizing on this visit, for there is something grandly suggestive of historical retribution in the reverential awe of the Prince of Wales, the great-grandson of George III., standing bare-headed at the foot of the coffin of Washington. For a few moments the party stood mute and motionless, and the Prince then proceeded to plant a chestnut by the side of the tomb. It seemed when the Royal youth closed in the earth around the little germ, that he was burying the last faint trace of discord between us and our great brethren in the West."

The Prince left Washington for Richmond on the following day, and closed his American tour at Boston, after having had a magnificent welcome at New York from the vast population of that city. In an American paper of the day it was said, "All our reminiscences, the history, the poetry, the romance of England for ten centuries, are concentrated in the huzzahs with which we greet the Prince of Wales."

The Prince landed at Plymouth on the 13th of November and the same evening arrived at Windsor. On the 18th of January he went to Cambridge for his first term, and resumed his studies, under his preceptors, at Madingley Hall. At the end of his second term he went to the camp of the Curragh of Kildare during the summer vacation.

In the autumn of 1861 he went to Germany, with the intention of meeting the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, with the view to marriage, if the meeting should result in mutual attachment. The meeting, which took place at Speier and at Heidelberg, led to their engagement. The Prince returned to Madingley Hall, from whence he was summoned to Windsor on the day before his beloved father's death, on the 14th of December, 1861.

It is not our purpose to encroach further on the office of the future biographer of the Prince of Wales. In the 'Life of the Prince Consort' the sad incidents of that December are described with touching pathos. Neither do we propose to narrate the events that occurred between the death of the Prince Consort and the marriage of the Prince of Wales, to the Princess Alexandra, on the 10th of March, 1863. These events are fresh in the recollection of many to whom the incidents of the earlier life of the Prince are less known. It is enough to say as to these years, that he continued to be diligent in the acquirement of varied knowledge; that he carefully attended to his military duties; that he took active part in the volunteer movement; and in town and country was alike popular, from his love of manly sport as well as of the pursuits of art.

The coming of age of the Prince was not celebrated with great ceremony, for he was abroad at the time, and the shadow of sorrow was still over the Royal household. But when the Prince brought his bride to England the joy of the nation was unbounded. The passage of the Prince and Princess through the streets of London was a scene of popular enthusiasm such as has seldom been witnessed, so tumultuous was the outburst of joy. The magnificent splendour of the marriage itself was as nothing compared with that national demonstration. In the following pages it will be seen how the Prince and Princess were one in public life, as they were in heart and home.

When the Prince and Princess were returning from Osborne, where they spent the honeymoon, on arriving at Portsmouth, en route to Windsor, the Mayor and Corporation presented an address, upon the deck of the Royal yacht Fairy. This was the first of a succession of "addresses," which were merely marriage congratulations, couched in complimentary strains, and responded to in a few grateful and gracious words. These addresses were so numerous that they came to be merely mentioned in list, and in that early time might have been troublesome, but for the courtesy and good nature of the Prince. These demonstrations continued throughout the summer, the last being at Edinburgh, where their Royal Highnesses remained for a night on the way to Abergeldie, their Highland home near Balmoral. They did not go to Holyrood Palace, but to Douglas' private hotel, in St. Andrew's Square. Here a vast crowd assembled, and the Prince and Princess had to appear and bow their acknowledgments from the open window, till the multitude dispersed. But before going to the North, the Prince had already made public appearances, and his voice had been heard, in the City of London. The words were few, but the occasions were so important that with them may be commenced the record of the Speeches of His Royal Highness. The earliest appearance in a public assembly was at the banquet of the Royal Academy of Arts, on the 2nd of May, 1863.