Читать книгу The Life and Times of Queen Victoria (Vol. 1-4) - Robert Thomas Wilson - Страница 20

Table of Contents

Prince Albert and the Home Farm—Royalty and the Windsor Vestry—The New Home at Osborne—The Birth of the Princess Helena—The Visit of Ibrahim Pasha—A Royal Christening—The Queen’s Loneliness—Visitors at Osborne—A Cruise in Summer Seas—The “Lop” of the Channel—In the Channel Islands—The Duke of Cornwall in his Duchy—Exploring the South Coast—The Queen Acts as the Family Tutor—Her Majesty among the Iron-miners—The House-warming at Osborne—Baron Stockmar’s Impressions of the Queen—Some German Visitors—A Dinner-Party at Windsor—The Baroness Bunsen’s Picture of the Scene—The Royal Visits to Hatfield and Arundel—Social Movements in 1846—Dr. Hook’s Pamphlet on Education—Origin of Secularism—The Triumphs of Science—Faraday’s Researches—Laying of the First Submarine Cable at Portsmouth—The Use of Ether in Surgery—Evil Tidings from Starving Ireland.

Early in 1846 the Royal Family became involved in a little local dispute that gave the Queen some slight annoyance, and afforded busybodies a great deal of material for gossip. It was one of those incidents which serve to remind Royalty that in a free country even the most exalted station affords no protection from the tyranny of Bumbledom. The history of the affair is briefly as follows. The parochial rating authorities of Windsor had long cast hungry eyes on the Flemish Farm occupied by Prince Albert. It was a good subject for rating if it could be rated. Thinking that the Prince would be afraid of exposing himself to public odium, and would therefore contribute submissively to the support of the poor of the parish, a rate was levied on him by the local officials. But his Royal Highness resisted the claim, and pleaded, at the request of the Queen, that the farm was Royal property, which, being in Royal occupation, was exempt from rates. The most celebrated legal authorities were consulted, and agreed with his Royal Highness. Hence the following letter was sent to the official who represented the parish:—

“Windsor Castle, 14th January, 1846.

“Sir,—I am commanded by his Royal Highness Prince Albert to acknowledge the receipt of the memorial which you have forwarded to me from the parish officers of Windsor, and in reply to state, that when a claim was preferred for the payment of rates by the Prince on account of the Flemish Farm, and when the legal liability of the Prince was insisted upon by the Vestry, his Royal Highness felt himself precluded from admitting such a claim without previous consultation with the highest legal authorities.

“His Royal Highness submitted the whole facts of the case to the Attorney- and Solicitor-General of her Majesty, and subsequently to Sir Thomas Wilde. Their opinion was, that his Royal Highness was not liable, in point of law, to the payment of rates, and that the admission by him of such liability might constitute a dangerous precedent, affecting the prerogatives of the Crown.

“In the letter which I addressed to you on the 15th of December, I informed you ‘that his Royal Highness had no disposition to resist any claim that could in fairness be made upon him, whatever might be the legal obligations.’ I have now to inform you, on the part of his Royal Highness, that if the parochial authorities had continued to insist on the payment of the demand, made as a matter of legal right, his Royal Highness would have felt himself compelled, by a sense of the duty which he owes to her Majesty, to resist the claim.

“You have informed his Royal Highness that the Vestry of Windsor has passed resolutions of which the following are copies:—

‘That the Vestry extremely regrets that the resolutions in reference to the rating of his Royal Highness Prince Albert passed at the Vestry Meeting held on the 18th September last, should have been so carried, inasmuch as this meeting is now fully aware that his Royal Highness is not in any way liable to be rated for Flemish Farm; and that this Vestry deprecates the garbled statements set forth in the public journals on this subject.’

“Again—

‘That inasmuch as the maintenance of the poor presses heavily on the parishioners, a respectful memorial be now presented to his Royal Highness, praying him to take the state of the parish into his gracious consideration, and that such memorial be prepared and presented by the parish officers.’

“His Royal Highness infers from these resolutions that the Vestry distinctly admits that his Royal Highness is not in any way liable to be rated for the Flemish Farm; and his Royal Highness feels himself at liberty to take the course which is most satisfactory to his own feelings, and to pay as a voluntary contribution, a sum equal to the rate which would have been annually due had the legal liability of his Royal Highness been established.

“It is also his Royal Highness’s intention that the payment of the sum referred to should commence from the year 1841.

“I have the honour to be, your faithful and obedient servant,

“G. E. Anson. “Henry Darvell, Esq.”

This untoward dispute seemed as if it had been created for the purpose of worrying the Royal Family by putting Prince Albert in a false position, and its termination in so satisfactory a manner was deemed most creditable to the Prince at the time. It, indeed, helped to render the Prince popular with the middle classes. They saw in him a typical British ratepayer, who had fought with rating authorities, even as “with beasts at Ephesus,” and yet survived the strife to enjoy his victory.

The political atmosphere of London became so highly charged with party passion that her Majesty and Prince Albert, early in February, determined to migrate to the country. Accordingly, they proceeded to the Isle of Wight, where they were building a new country-house at Osborne, and where the

WINDSOR CASTLE.

Queen herself said, in one of her letters, it was “a relief to be away from all the bitterness which people create for themselves in London.” Here her Majesty and her family led a simple, happy, peaceful life, enjoying to the fullest extent all the innocent delight of planning and laying out the grounds round their new home. But in March they had to return to town, and again plunge into the excitement and agitation of political strife. This period was peculiarly trying for the Queen, because on the 25th of May she gave birth to a daughter—the Princess Helena—whose advent into a troubled world was heralded by salvoes of cannon from the Tower. The event rendered her Majesty unable to receive personally his Highness Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, who was one of the “lions” of the London season in 1846, and who had been entertained with sumptuous hospitality at the Court of France. Prince Albert, however, did what lay in his power to make his Highness’s visit pleasant, and on the 11th of June her Majesty was able to meet him. He dined with the Queen on the evening of that day, and left our shores expressing the utmost satisfaction with the welcome he had received from the Sovereign and the country whose diplomacy had checked his conquering march in Syria.

When the elections, which Lord John Russell’s assumption of office rendered necessary, had been held, her Majesty and the Court again left town, and migrated to their seaside retreat in the Isle of Wight. The balmy air and the peaceful life revived the Queen, who had been greatly depressed in spirits at parting with her Ministers, and she was further cheered by the promise of her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium, to pay her a visit in time for the christening of the baby Princess. His Majesty and Queen Louise were unable to arrive, however, till a few days after the ceremony, which took place at Buckingham Palace on the 25th of July. The little lady received the names of Helena Augusta Victoria, her godmother being Hélène, Duchess of Orleans, who, as sponsor, was represented by the Duchess of Kent. The other sponsors—the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and H.R.H. the Duchess of Cambridge—were happily able to attend in person. At the end of the month the Queen again found her cherished home circle broken, for Prince Albert was summoned away to Liverpool to open the magnificent Albert Dock in that city, on the 30th of July. The reports of his speeches, and the enthusiastic reception with which he was met, brought brightness to the life of the Queen; but in spite of all that, she evidently could not conceal her sadness of heart when the head of her family was absent. “As I write,” said the Prince, with a touch of playful but affectionate sarcasm, in a letter to the Queen, dated Liverpool, the 30th of July, “you will be making your evening toilette, and not be in time for dinner.” Her Majesty, however, had apparently very little thought of the ceremonial part of her life in her mind at the time, for she was writing to their old friend, Baron Stockmar, a pretty touching letter, saying, “I feel very lonely without my dear Master; and though I know other people are often separated for a few days, I feel habit could not get me accustomed to it. This, I am sure, you cannot blame. Without him everything loses its interest.... It will always be a terrible pang to separate from him, even for two days; and I pray God never to let me survive him.” In the last words there is indeed a note of pathos which, in view of the long and lonely widowhood of the Queen, cannot fail to touch the hearts of her home-loving people.

At the beginning of August the Court circle was again happily reunited at Osborne, the King and Queen of the Belgians being of the company. The Queen then decided to proceed on a quiet yachting cruise along the south coast of England, and accordingly the Royal yacht, with the Royal Family, and accompanied by the Fairy and the Eagle, on the 18th of August left the island and steamed westward. The weather, however, was far from propitious, for it blew more than half a gale when, on the 19th, the little pleasure squadron rode out the storm in Portland Roads. Prince Albert cannot have enjoyed this part of the trip, for the “lop” in the Channel was not at all to his liking. In a letter, replying evidently to some allusions to the disagreeableness of the voyage, Lord Aberdeen, writing from Haddo House, says to the Prince, though content with life in that far-off northern solitude, “I confess that in reading of her Majesty’s progress, I have sometimes wished to find myself on the Royal yacht, even off the Race of Portland.”60 When the Royal party arrived at Portland Roads the sea was so rough, and the wind was blowing so hard, that at first it was feared they could not land. Ultimately, they did get ashore, and a salute from the Nothe battery warned the town of their arrival. There was great excitement among the people, who gave their visitors a warm welcome. Her Majesty is reported to have looked fresh and well, but the poor Prince, her consort, bore traces in his pale face of having suffered a good deal. On the 19th, however, the party, including Lord Spencer, Lord Alfred Paget, Baron Stockmar, the Hon. Ann Napier, and Lady Jocelyn, sailed away in fair weather to Devonport. They drove to Astonbury, the seat of the Earl of Ilchester—then absent in the south of France—to see his lovely grounds and curious swannery, and subsequently went on to Weymouth, the Queen again giving orders that she desired as little fuss as possible to be made about her visit. She landed at the steps which had always been used for that purpose by George III. The country folk, through whose villages they passed, despite Lord Alfred Paget’s assurances, refused to believe that such a quiet and unassuming party of tourists included the Queen and her Court. A pleasant time was passed as they skimmed over the sunlit waters of the Tamar, and examined the ancient and picturesque mansion of the Mount-Edgecumbe family. They next sailed up the Plym to Lord Morley’s seat at Saltram. Then, when Sunday came round, they stood out to sea and steered for the Channel Islands.

This was an exceptionally interesting incident in the tour, for, since the days of King John, no English sovereign had till then set foot in the old Norman fief of the Crown. Little wonder that Guernsey was all excitement when they landed. Loyal cheers and addresses greeted the Queen and her family wherever they went; and the young Prince of Wales, by reason of his dress, which was that of a miniature seaman, attracted universal attention. Bands played and guns fired salutes, and pretty girls in white strewed the path of their young Queen with flowers. A brief visit to Jersey threw St. Helier into a frenzy of loyalty; after which the Royal yacht steamed for Falmouth, carrying the little Prince of Wales to see his Duchy of Cornwall for the first time. “A beautiful day again,” writes the Queen in her Diary, on the 4th of September—a Diary which is full of charming descriptions, in her own vivid but artless style, of this excursion—“a beautiful day again, with the same brilliantly blue sea. At a quarter to eight o’clock we got under weigh. There was a great deal of motion at first, and for the greater part of the day the ship pitched, but getting up the sails steadied her. From

THE QUEEN VISITING A CORNISH IRON MINE. (See p. 266.)

five o’clock it became quite smooth; at half-past five we saw land; and at seven we entered Falmouth Harbour, where we were immediately surrounded by boats. The calmest night possible, with a beautiful moon, when we went on deck; every now and then the splashing of oars and the hum of voices were heard, but they were the only sounds, unlike the constant dashing of the sea against the vessel which we heard all the time we were at Jersey.” At eight o’clock next morning (September 5th) the Royal party left Falmouth, rounded the Lizard, and skirted the bold and rugged coast that leads to Land’s End. Here, much to the delight of Prince Albert, the sea was

ON THE CORNISH COAST: PRADANACK POINT.

smooth. “A little before two,” writes the Queen, “we landed in the beautiful Mount’s Bay, close below St. Michael’s Mount, which is very fine. When the bay first opened to our view the sun was lighting up this beautiful castle, so peculiarly built on a rock which forms an island at high water.” The sun shone out gloriously as the Queen passed Penzance, and the smooth sea spread itself like an azure plain under a cloudless sky. “Soon after our arrival,” she says, “we anchored, and the crowd of boats was beyond everything; numbers of Cornish pilchard fishermen, in their curious large boats, kept going round and round, and then anchored, besides many boats full of people.” “They are,” says her Majesty, “a very noisy, talkative race, and speak a kind of English hardly to be understood.” “During the voyage,” adds the Queen, with maternal satisfaction, “I was able to give Vicky (H.I.H. the Empress Frederick) her lessons;” indeed, all through these yachting cruises the Queen insisted, in true English fashion, on acting personally as her children’s teacher. In fact, it was only when the pressure of public and social duty became too severe for such labours that her Majesty would ever consent to delegate the tuition of her children to others; and even then, she and Prince Albert bestowed on it most vigilant personal superintendence. In the afternoon, the Royal party, “including the children,” rowed to the Fairy, and steamed round the bay. They visited St. Michael’s Mount and the smelting works at Penzance, which monopolised the attention of Prince Albert. “We remained here,” her Majesty writes, “a little while to sketch, and returned to the Victoria and Albert by half-past four, the boats crowding round us in all directions; and when ‘Bertie’ (the Prince of Wales) showed himself the people shouted, ‘Three cheers for the Duke of Cornwall.’”

Next day they visited the quaint little town of Marazion, or Market Jew, which lies behind the Mount where the Jews used to traffic in old times. They inspected the castle, and Prince Albert played on the organ in the chapel, to the great delight of the Queen and “the children;” after which he made what the Queen describes as “a beautiful little sketch” of St. Michael’s Mount itself. On the following day (the 7th) the municipal dignitaries of Penryn invaded the Royal yacht, and begged to be introduced to “the Duke of Cornwall.” “So,” writes the Queen, “I stepped out of the pavilion on deck with Bertie, and Lord Palmerston told them that that was the Duke of Cornwall; and the old Mayor of Penryn said ‘he hoped he would grow up a blessing to his parents and to his country.’” The Fal, winding between wooded banks of dwarfed oaks, and the beautiful Ruan, with its shores clad with foliage to the water’s edge, were explored; and at the city of Truro, says the Queen, the whole population turned out on the banks to give her a welcome, “and were enchanted when Bertie was held up for them to see.” On the following day the Royal tourists visited Fowey, “driving,” writes the Queen, “through some of the narrowest streets I ever saw in England,” and proceeding to the ivy-clad ruins of Restormel, a castle which belonged to “Bertie” as Duke of Cornwall.

Here her Majesty was bold enough to explore the iron mines. “You go in on a level,” she writes. “Albert and I got into one of the trucks and we were dragged in by the miners, Mr. Taylor” (mineral agent to the Duchy) “walking behind us. The miners wore a curious woollen dress with a cap, and they generally have a candlestick in front of the cap. This time candlesticks were stuck along the sides of the mine, and those who did not drag or push carried lights. The gentlemen wore miners’ hats. There was no room to pass between the trucks and the rock, and only just room enough to hold up one’s head, and not always that. It had a most curious effect, and there was something unearthly about this lit-up cavern-like place. We got out and scrambled a little way to see the veins of ore, and Albert knocked off some pieces.” On the way back they visited Lostwithiel; and then they returned to Osborne, vastly delighted and refreshed by their tour.

The Queen’s new house at Osborne was now ready for occupation, and she and her husband held a “house-warming” ceremony on the 16th of September,

THE MUNICIPAL DIGNITARIES OF PENRYN INTRODUCED TO THE PRINCE OF WALES.

“Our first night,” writes Lady Lyttelton in one of her letters, “in this house is well spent. Nobody smelt paint or caught cold, and the worst is over.... After dinner we were to drink to the Queen and the Prince’s health as a house-warming. And after it the Prince said, very naturally and simply, ‘We have a hymn’ (he called it a psalm) ‘in Germany for such occasions. It begins,’ and then he repeated two lines in German which I could not quote right—meaning a prayer to bless our going out and coming in.”61 Miss Lucy Kerr, one of the Maids of Honour, insisted in her Scottish fashion on throwing an old shoe after the Queen as she crossed the threshold for the first time, and she further diverted the company by her desire to procure molten lead and sundry other charms of Scottish witchcraft to bring luck to the Royal pair.

During the yachting cruise round the south coast, Baron Stockmar appears to have used his opportunities of close and intimate companionship with the Queen and her consort to note the changes that time had wrought in their characters. In his “Memorabilia” he records his impressions. “The Prince,” he writes, “has made great strides of late.... He has also gained much in self-reliance. His natural vivacity leads him at times to jump too rapidly to a conclusion; and he occasionally acts too hastily; but he has grown too clear-sighted to commit any great mistake.” “And the Queen also,” writes the same keen and watchful critic, “improves greatly. She makes daily advances in discernment and experience; the candour, the love of truth, the fairness, the considerateness with which she judges men and things, are truly delightful; and the ingenuous self-knowledge with which she speaks about herself is simply charming.”62

In the autumn, too, some other German friends cheered the Queen with a visit. The Princess of Prussia, afterwards the Empress Augusta, came on a visit to her aunt, the Queen Dowager Adelaide, and in September her Royal Highness went to Windsor. The Baroness Bunsen, who was in her suite, has given us a charming picture of the happy family circle round the Queen into which she then found herself introduced. In a letter to her mother from Windsor Castle, the Baroness writes:—“I arrived here at six, and at eight went to dinner in the Great Hall, hung round with the Waterloo pictures. The band played exquisitely, so placed as to be invisible; so that, what with the large proportions of the hall, and the well-subdued lights, and the splendours of plate and decoration, the scene was such as fairy tales present; and Lady Canning, Miss Stanley, and Miss Dawson were beautiful enough to represent an ideal Queen’s ideal attendants. The Queen looked well and rayonnante, with that pleased expression of countenance which she has when pleased with what surrounds her, and which, you know, I like to see.”63

In October the Queen and Prince Albert paid another round of visits. They left Windsor on the 19th and drove to the Queen Dowager’s place at Cashiobury, where they spent three days in strict privacy. After that they drove to Lord Clarendon’s seat near Watford, and went on to the Marquis of Abercorn’s at Stanmore Abbey. Taking a circuitous route by Reading, they drove to Hatfield, where they visited the Marquis of Salisbury. But the weather was most disagreeable, and even St. Albans failed to put up the usual arches of welcome, and bedeck itself in congratulatory bunting. Four miles from Hatfield they were met by Lord Salisbury and the

ARUNDEL. (After the Picture by Vicat Cole, R.A.)

Duke of Wellington. There was a pleasant party of friends at Hatfield waiting to welcome the Royal guests, including Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell, the latter brooding over the growing uneasiness of the country and the painful dispute with the Court of France, the former gay and debonair, as if he had never known what it was to face the storms and strife of State. The Queen, it seems, was greatly interested in the treasures of the library, and spent much time poring over the Cecil papers. Her visit was long talked of in the district, for, in true baronial style, five hundred labourers were feasted in commemoration of the event at Hatfield, a great ox being roasted for the banquet, at which home-brewed ale flowed generously in hogsheads. In December her Majesty visited the Duke of Norfolk, Master of the Horse, at Arundel. At Portsmouth and Chichester she was welcomed with cordial demonstrations of affection, and not only was Arundel illuminated, but, what pleased her still more, a substantial dinner was given in her honour to every poor person in the town. Prince Albert, Lord John Russell, and the Earl of Arundel amused themselves with field sports; but the Queen,

PROFESSOR FARADAY.

attended by her host, the Duke of Norfolk, and the old Duke of Wellington, explored objects of interest in the neighbourhood. She held a formal reception in the great drawing-room of the Castle, and charmed all the “country people” with her simple, winning ways and sweet courtesies. It is recorded that at the ball held after this reception her Majesty distinguished herself by the hearty manner in which she joined in the dancing, an amusement which was ever a favourite one with her in those happy days of her golden youth.

But life in the Royal circle was not all amusement. Baron Stockmar bears testimony to the zeal with which both the Prince and the Queen devoted themselves at this time to business and graver studies. And many events were happening, many intellectual and social movements beginning to develop, which keenly interested them. The unsatisfactory position of British art—emphasised by the fate of Haydon, who committed suicide in despair of ever interesting the English people in the higher forms of art—the development of the great movement in favour of popular education, and the rise of what afterwards came to be known as the Party of Secularism, were keenly canvassed during the latter part of this eventful year in every circle where thoughtful men and women met.

Among the many remarkable movements that arose when the country was liberated from the strain of the Free Trade agitation, was that which originated the strife between parties as to the share which the Church and the State should take in the work of education. A crude and rudimentary scheme of national education was part of Lord John Russell’s programme, and the attention of the country had been excited by a pamphlet published by the late Dr. Hook, then Vicar of Leeds, afterwards Dean of Chichester, in which he proposed a plan which very much resembles that which the late Mr. W. E. Forster induced Parliament to accept in 1870. Her Majesty and Prince Albert were deeply interested in Dr. Hook’s plan, the leading points of which were: (1) Schools to be universally supported by the State; (2) Education to be secular, but one day in the week to be set apart for religious instruction, which should be given by each denomination to the children of its own members.

The Secularist Party owed their origin to Mr. Holyoake, who at this time began to propagate the system of ethics known as Secularism, a system which aimed at promoting the welfare of mankind by human means, and measuring it by utilitarian standards. The service of others he held to be the highest duty of life. Secularism rejoiced in life as the sphere of exalting duties. It was a religion of doubt, neither affirming nor denying the existence of a Deity. Ultimately it came to be termed Agnosticism, and the working classes seemed to be considerably influenced by Mr. Holyoake’s teaching during this year and a few of the years that followed.

In the year 1846 the scientific world was greatly interested by the publication of a most extraordinary series of experimental researches in electricity conducted by Faraday, illustrating alike the genius of the man and the spirit and methods of scientific investigation during the early part of the Victorian epoch. That spirit was, in the main, antagonistic to vacuous speculation or unprofitable theorising. It was daring enough in its utilitarianism to track by direct experiment the subtle elements of, or prove by tangible demonstration what were the occult relations which subsisted between, forms of matter and modes of force. “I have long held the opinion,” wrote Faraday, “that the various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest have one common origin, or, in other words, are so directly related and mutually dependent, that they are convertible, as it were, into one another, and possess equivalents of power in their action.... I recently resumed the inquiry by experiment in a most strict and searching manner, and have at last succeeded in magnetising and electrifying a ray of light and in illuminating a magnetic line of force.”64 The phrase is not a felicitous one to express the idea of the transformation and transmutation of the forces, but it is worth citing as the original expression used. The paper from which it is taken simply proved that a ray of polarised light sent through certain transparent substances in the line of action connecting the two poles of a magnet, became visible or invisible just as the current was flowing or was stopped. In another paper “On New Magnetic Actions,” Faraday proved that a non-magnetic body suspended freely in the line of a magnetic current is repelled by either pole, and takes up a position at right angles to the line, and, therefore, at right angles to the line a magnetic body would assume in similar circumstances.

But perhaps one of the most interesting events, to Prince Albert at least, was the laying of the first submarine telegraph cable at Portsmouth on the 13th of December, 1846. In the year 1843 telegraphic communication from the Nine Elms terminus at Portsmouth to Gosport had been established. Then the wires were continued to the Clarence Victualling Yard. The harbour, however, still intervened between the end of the wire and the Port Admiral’s house, and it was supposed to be impossible to connect the two points electrically under water. The first plan suggested was to lay the wires in metal cases, to be fixed in position by divers with diving-bells. But it was finally agreed to lay the wires in a stout cable, and this was done without the use of a return wire. The first message sent over it thus demonstrated that water would act as a ready conductor in completing the electrical circuit, and almost immediately projectors were developing a plan for laying a submarine cable to France. This and the discovery of the use of ether as an anæsthetic in surgery—the first painless operation being performed on a patient under its influence by Mr. Liston in University College Hospital—were the chief practical achievements in science during a year which closed with anxious forebodings from Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, where the scourge of famine was again smiting the people.

THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY.