The Project Gutenberg eBook, Sixty Years a Queen, by Sir Herbert Maxwell
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Title: Sixty Years a Queen
The Story of Her Majesty's Reign
Author: Sir Herbert Maxwell
Release Date: March 22, 2013 [eBook #42386]
Language: English
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Many of the images in the book have multi-line captions, and
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J. A. Vinter.} {National Portrait Gallery.
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Inverted asterisms are indicated by three asterisks ***.
Table of Contents added by transcriber.
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface iii
PART ONE: SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN
CHAPTER I.
1837-1838.
Death of William IV.--Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to
the Throne--Ignorance of the Public about the young Queen--Her
early training--Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and
Hanover--Prorogation of Parliament--Early Railways--Electric
Telegraph--The Coronation--Popular Reception of Wellington and
Soult--State of Parties--Result of General Election--Rebellion
in Canada--The Earl of Durham--Debate on Vote by Ballot. 3
CHAPTER II.
1837-1842.
Lord Melbourne's services and character--Prevailing discontent
of the Working Classes--Its Causes--The Chartists--Riots at
Newport and elsewhere--Fall of the Ministry--Sir Robert Peel
sent for--The "Bedchamber Question"--Melbourne recalled to
Office--The Penny Post--Its remarkable Success--Betrothal of the
Queen--Character of Prince Albert--Announcement to
Parliament--Debates--Marriage of the Queen and Prince
Albert--War declared with China--Capture of Chusan--Bombardment
of the Bogue Forts--Peace concluded under the Walls of Nankin. 18
CHAPTER III.
1841-1846.
Unpopularity of the Whigs--Fall of the Melbourne
Ministry--Peel's Cabinet--The Afghan War--Murder of Sir A.
Burnes and Sir W. Macnaghten--The Retreat from
Cabul--Annihilation of the British Force--The Corn Duties--The
Pioneers of Free Trade--Failure of Potato Crop in Ireland--Lord
John Russell's conversion to Free Trade--Peel and Repeal--Rupture
of the Tory Party--The Corn Duties repealed--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Review of Peel's Administration. 30
CHAPTER IV.
1833-1849.
The Churches of England and Scotland--"Tracts for the
Times"--Newman, Keble, and Pusey--"Ten Years' Conflict" in
Scotland--Disruption of the Church--Dr. Chalmers--Rise of the
Free Church--Affairs of British India--First Sikh War--Battles
of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon--Second Sikh
War--Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson--Battle of
Ramnuggur--Siege and Fall of Mooltan--Battles of Chilianwalla
and Goojerat--Annexation of the Punjab. 41
CHAPTER V.
1846-1850.
The Irish Famine--Smith O'Brien's Rebellion--Widow Cormack's
Cabbages--The Special Commission--Revival of the Chartist
Movement--The Monster Petition--Its Exposure and Collapse of the
Movement--Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those
in other Countries--Growing Affection for the Queen--Its
Causes--Royal Visit to Ireland--The Pacifico Imbroglio--Rupture
with France Imminent--_Civis Romanus Sum_--Lord Palmerston's
Rise--Sir Robert Peel's Death--The Invention of Chloroform. 47
CHAPTER VI.
1849-1851.
Prince Albert's Industry--His proposal for a Great
Exhibition--Adoption of the Scheme--Competing Designs--Mr.
Paxton's selected--Erection of the Crystal Palace--Colonel
Sibthorp denounces the Scheme--Papal Titles in Great
Britain--Popular Indignation--The Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill--Defeat of Ministers on the Question of the
Franchise--Difficulty in finding a Successor to Russell--He
resumes Office--Opening of the Great Exhibition--Its success and
close. 55
CHAPTER VII.
1851-1853.
Louis Napoleon's Coup d'État--Condemned in the English
Press--Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion Rebuked by the Queen--He
Repeats it and is Removed from Office--Opening of the New Houses
of Parliament--French Invasion Apprehended--Russell's Militia
Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The "Who? Who?"
Cabinet--Death of the Duke of Wellington--His Funeral--The
Haynau Incident--General Election--Disraeli's First
Budget--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The Coalition
Cabinet--Expansion of the British Colonies--Repeal of the
Transportation Act. 63
CHAPTER VIII.
1853-1854.
The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of
the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince
Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The
Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the
Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and
France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments. 73
CHAPTER IX.
1854-1856.
Mr. Gladstone's War Budget--Humiliation and Prayer--The Invasion
of the Crimea--The Battle of Alma--A Fruitless Victory--Effect
in England--War Correspondents--Balaklava--Cavalry Charges by
the Heavy and Light Brigades--"Our's Not to Reason Why"--Russian
Sortie--Battle of Inkermann--Breakdown of Transport and
Commissariat--Hurricane in the Black Sea--Florence
Nightingale--Fall of the Coalition Cabinet--Lord Palmerston
Forms a Ministry--Victory of the Turks at
Eupatoria--Unsuccessful Attack by the Allies--Death of Lord
Raglan--His Character--Battle of Tchernaya--Evacuation of
Sebastopol--Surrender of Kars--Conclusion of Peace. 79
CHAPTER X.
1857-1858.
The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the
Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to
Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The
Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of
Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at
Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Massacre--Siege of
Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's
Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia
Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the
Princess Royal. 92
CHAPTER XI.
1858-1860.
Commercial Panic in London--Suspension of the Bank Charter
Act--The Orsini Plot--The Conspiracy to Murder Bill--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Lord Derby's Second
Administration--Disraeli's Reform Bill--Vote of No
Confidence--Defeat and Resignation of the Government--Lord
Palmerston's Second Administration--Threatened French
Invasion--The Volunteers--The Paper Duty Repealed by the Commons
and Restored by the Lords--A Constitutional Problem--Its
Solution--War with China--British and French Defeat at
Pei-ho--Return of Lord Elgin to China--Wreck of the
_Malabar_--Capture of the Tangku and Taku Forts--Occupation of
Tien-tsin--Murder of British Officers and others--Capitulation
of Pekin--Destruction of the Summer Palace--Treaty with China. 108
CHAPTER XII.
1861-1865.
The American Civil War--Recognition of Confederate States as
Belligerents--English Opinion in Favour of the Confederates--The
_Trent_ Affair--Dispatch of Troops to Canada--Death of the
Prince Consort--His Last Memorandum--The Cruiser
_Alabama_--Claims against Great Britain--Arbitration--Award
Unfavourable to Great Britain--Public Indignation--Marriage of
the Prince of Wales--The Schleswig-Holstein
Difficulty--Neutrality Observed by Great Britain--Popular
Sympathy with Denmark--Dissolution of Parliament--Result of the
Elections--Death of Lord Palmerston. 117
CHAPTER XIII.
1866-1872.
Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill--The Cave of Adullam--Defeat and
Resignation of the Ministry--Retirement of Earl Russell--Lord
Derby's Last Administration--Disturbance in Hyde
Park--Commercial Panic--Completion of the Atlantic Cable--Mr.
Disraeli's Reform Bill--Secessions from the Cabinet--The
Fenians--War with Abyssinia--Retirement of Lord Derby--The Irish
State Church--Dissolution of Parliament--Liberal Triumph--Mr.
Gladstone's Cabinet--Disestablishment of the Irish Church--Death
of Lord Derby--Irish Land Legislation--National Education--Army
Purchase--The Ballot Bill--Adoption of Secret Voting. 127
CHAPTER XIV.
1870-1880.
The Franco-German War--Russia seizes her Opportunity--The Irish
University Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--Mr.
Gladstone resumes Office--Dissolution of
Parliament--Conservative Victory--The Ashanti War--Mr.
Disraeli's Third Administration--Mr. Gladstone Retires from the
Leadership--Annexation of the Fiji Islands--Purchase of Suez
Canal Shares--Visit of the Prince of Wales to India--The Queen's
New Title--Threatening Action of Russia--The Bulgarian
Massacres--Disraeli becomes Earl of Beaconsfield--The
Russo-Turkish War--Great Britain Prepares to Defend
Constantinople--Secession of Lord Carnarvon and Lord Derby--The
"Jingo" Party--The Berlin Congress and Treaty--"Peace with
Honour"--Massacre at Cabul--War with Afghanistan--The Zulu
War--Disaster of Isandhlana. 138
CHAPTER XV.
1879-1881.
The Condition of Egypt--Mr. Goschen's Commission--Ismail's _Coup
d'état_--His Deposition by the Sultan--Establishment of the Dual
Control--The First Midlothian Campaign--Commercial and
Agricultural Depression--Sudden Dissolution of Parliament--Lord
Derby joins the Liberals--Second Midlothian Campaign--Great
Liberal Victory--Mr. Gladstone's Second Administration--Charles
Stuart Parnell and the Irish Home Rule Party--War with
Afghanistan--Battle of Maiwand--General Roberts's March--Defeat
of Ayub Khan and Evacuation of Cabul and Candahar--Revolt of the
Transvaal--Battles of Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill--Establishment
of the Boer Republic--Weakness of the Conservative
Opposition--The Fourth Party--Irish Affairs--Boycotting--A New
Coercion Bill--The Irish Land Bill--Resignation of the Duke of
Argyll--Death of Lord Beaconsfield--Military Revolt in
Egypt--Bombardment of Alexandria--Expedition against
Arabi--Battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir--Overthrow of
Arabi. 150
CHAPTER XVI.
1881-1887.
Imprisonment of Irish Members of Parliament--Assassination of
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke--Prevalence of Outrages
in Ireland--A New Coercion Bill--Trial and Execution of the
Phoenix Park Murderers--The Dynamite Conspiracy--Corrupt
Practices Act--The Affairs of Egypt--General Gordon sent to
Khartoum--Gordon Besieged--Inaction of the Government--Relief of
Khartoum Undertaken--Too Late!--Death of Gordon--Lord Wolseley's
Campaign--Abandonment of the Soudan--Mr. Gladstone's Reform
Bill--The Question of Redistribution of Seats--The Frontier
Question in Afghanistan--Defeat of Ministers on the Budget and
their Resignation--Lord Salisbury's First
Administration--Dissolution of Parliament--The Irish Party and
the Balance of Power--Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration--His
Conversion to Home Rule--Rupture of the Liberal Party--The Home
Rule Bill Rejected--Dissolution of Parliament--Unionist
Victory--Lord Salisbury's Second Administration--Lord Randolph
Churchill Resigns--The Round Table Conference. 161
CHAPTER XVII.
1887-1897.
Adoption of the Closure by the House of Commons--The Queen's
Jubilee--Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey--The Imperial
Institute--"Parnellism and Crime"--Appointment of Special
Commission of Judges--Their Report--Fall of Parnell--Disruption
of the Irish Party--Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith--The
Baring Crisis--The Local Government Bill--Establishment of
County Councils--Free Education--Death of the Duke of
Clarence--General Election--Mr. Gladstone's Fourth Midlothian
Campaign--The Newcastle Programme--Victory of Home Rulers--The
Second Home Rule Bill--Its Rejection by the Lords--Parish
Councils and Employers' Liability Acts--Mr. Gladstone Resigns
the Leadership--Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister--Disunion
of Ministerialists--Defeat and Resignation of the
Government--Lord Salisbury's Third Administration--General
Election--Unionist Triumph--The Eastern Question--Massacres in
Armenia--Lord Rosebery Resigns the Leadership--Trouble in the
Transvaal--Dr. Jameson's Raid--The German Emperor's Message--The
Venezuelan Dispute--President Cleveland's Message. 172
CHAPTER XVIII.
Material Progress during the Reign--Modern Locomotion--The
Bicycle--Motor Carriages--The Proposed Channel Tunnel--Steam
Navigation--Ironclads--The Telephone--The
Phonograph--Electricity as an Illuminant--Photography--Its
Effect on Painting and Engraving--Victorian
Architecture--Absence of Principle in Design--Universal
Education--Its Effect on Moral Character and Literary
Habits--The Predominance of Fiction--The Growth and Character of
British Journalism--The Advance of Natural Science--Surgery and
Medicine--Vaccination--Antiseptic and Aseptic
Treatment--Bacteriology--The Röntgen Rays--Sanitary
Legislation--Conclusion. 184
PART TWO: THE DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
The Central Idea of the Celebrations--The Imperial Character of
the Pageant--The Colonial Premiers Invited--The
Decorations--Influx of Visitors--Grand Stands--Precautions
against Accidents--Thanksgiving Services on Accession Day--The
Queen's Arrival in London--Night in the Streets. 193
CHAPTER II.
The Weather--A brilliant day for a brilliant pageant--The
Queen's Message to her people--The Colonial Procession--The
Royal Procession--Loyal enthusiasm--The Queen's reception at the
City boundary--The Service at the steps of St. Paul's--The halt
at the Mansion House--In the Borough--Return to the
Palace--Presents to the Queen--Congratulations from abroad--The
Royal Dinner. 202
CHAPTER III.
Illuminations in London--Festivities in the Provinces and the
Colonies--Addresses of Congratulation from the Lords and
Commons--Gathering of School Children on Constitution
Hill--State Performance at the Opera--The Princess of Wales's
Dinners to the Poor--State Reception--Special Performance at the
Lyceum--Torchlight Evolutions by Etonians at Windsor--Naval
Review at Spithead--The Fleet Illuminated--The Colonial Troops
at the Naval Review. 219
CHAPTER IV.
The Queen's Visit to Kensington--Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace--Review at Aldershot--Gift of a Battleship--The Prince of
Wales's Hospital Fund--The Jubilee Medals--Conclusion. 232
THE JUBILEE HYMN. 240
INDEX.
ERRATA.
FOOTNOTES.
Transcriber's Notes.
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.
[Illustration: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN HER ROBES OF STATE
From the
Painting by F. WINTERHALTER
Graciously lent by Her Majesty specially for "Sixty Years a Queen."]
[Illustration:
Sixty Years
a Queen
The Story of her Majesty's Reign
TOLD BY
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART, M.P.
ILLUSTRATED--Chiefly from the Royal Collections
by Special Permission.
ARRANGED & PRINTED BY EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE,
HER MAJESTY'S PRINTERS, LONDON.
PUBLISHED BY HARMSWORTH BROS. LIMITED,
24, TUDOR STREET, E.C.]
[Illustration]
PREFACE
An attempt has been made in the following pages to give a general view
of the principal events in the reign of Queen Victoria and the changes
resulting from the development of the means of travel and communication,
the accumulation of wealth, the acquirement of political power by the
people, and the spread of education among them. In making this attempt
the author had to choose between compiling a dry chronicle, and placing
before his readers the salient points in a period of rapid and
successful progress. He chose the latter; but, in order to carry his
purpose into effect within the limits assigned to him, he had to pass in
silence over the names of many persons distinguished in politics,
science, literature, art, and warfare. Those, or the descendants of
them, whose achievements entitle them to an honoured place in the annals
of their age, will understand that it was possible only to find room for
mention of a few of the illustrious band who have contributed to the
great work of empire and civilisation.
Especially in regard to literature, it may be felt that the reference to
that department is out of all proportion to its importance. But the
subject is so vast that it is almost hopeless to deal with, to any good
purpose, in two or three pages. Attention has, however, been drawn in
the concluding chapter to the effects of universal compulsory education
on our national prosperity, moral character, and intellectual life. In
respect of its action on the material well-being of the population, it
is not unreasonable to attribute to its influence part of the marked
decrease in pauperism in the last quarter of a century, even if the more
equable diffusion of wealth be reckoned the principal factor in that
process. If the results quoted cannot be proved to be the direct outcome
of universal education, at all events they synchronise in a remarkable
manner with the period of its existence.
Turning next to the literary habits of the people, it is not possible to
doubt the important bearing which recreative reading has upon the
national character. We are not, and probably never shall be, a nation of
students, but we have become within the limits of the present reign a
nation of readers. The press of the country is free--free in a sense
that has never been tolerated in any other State. Public men and
measures are submitted to searching criticism in a degree that would be
wholly intolerable but for the general high tone maintained in British
journalism. There are few things more remarkable in our civilisation
than the abundance of excellent writing supplied to the daily and weekly
press, and the sound morality which pervades it.
Next to the newspaper press, and hardly inferior to it in influence, is
the mass of fiction produced year after year in ever-increasing volume.
To ascertain how vastly its attractions prevail over those of
historical, poetic, philosophic, or scientific works, it is only
necessary to consult the returns of any free library. For good or for
ill, the thoughts of countless readers, old and young, are continually
engaged on the fictitious fortunes, dilemmas, and vicissitudes of
imaginary individuals. On the whole, the influence of this literature is
harmless and in some degree salutary, though it is true that within
recent years a school of novelists has arisen, containing some skilful
and attractive writers, who rely on winning popularity by going as near
as they dare to the worst kind of realism pursued by certain French
authors. It will do incalculable damage, not only to English literature,
but to the English character, if the public, in whose hands is the
verdict, encourage perseverance in this line. Hitherto, in the present
century, fiction has been maintained in Great Britain at a higher level
than it has ever touched before. The most popular writers of
romance--Scott, Marryat, Thackeray, Dickens (not to mention any living
authors)--dealt, indeed, with the foibles, crimes, and misfortunes of
men and women, but they never failed to keep a high ideal before their
readers. Their favourite characters were depicted as at war with evil:
not always successful, not without frailty, and even folly; but no
religion ever preached a purer morality than did these masters in the
story-teller's craft. It will be deplorable if people learn to employ
their leisure, not in narratives of heroism, self-denial, and innocent
love, but in studies of degradation and despair, and restless stirring
of sexual problems.
Some of the most striking and valuable discoveries in physical science
receive mention in the course of this narrative, as being among the more
memorable features of the reign, but it has been impossible even to
allude to countless others, almost as important to the welfare and
progress of humanity. Less obvious to the general public, but not less
remarkable, has been the application of the exact and comparative method
to intellectual research, so that, although students still differ, and
are likely to continue to the end of time to differ on some of the
conclusions at which they arrive, for the first time in the world's
history they are of one mind about the right system of enquiry.
There are still to be witnessed in the Queen's realm those violent
contrasts between vast wealth and grinding poverty, which must ever
arise in every civilised State in periods of great commercial and
productive activity. They are a standing perplexity and distress to
philanthropists; but one of the brightest features in the reign of Queen
Victoria, of infinitely deeper significance than the accumulation of
riches by the nation and by individuals, is the degree to which that
wealth has penetrated the middle and industrial classes.
The effect of the application of steam to machinery, which coincided so
nearly with the beginning of the present reign, was, indeed, injurious
to certain limited industries, but the general result has been a
continuous rise in the wages paid to artisans. The first few years of
the factory system, coupled with a lamentable ignorance of, and
indifference to, sanitary principles, brought a terrible increase of
disease, squalor, and suffering in their train. This soon attracted the
attention of philanthropists, among whom the leading place must be
assigned to the Earl of Shaftesbury; and year by year the two rival
political parties have vied with each other in applying remedial and
protective legislation to the evils of overcrowding, insanitary
dwellings, and other dangers besetting extraordinary industrial
activity. There are slums still, but they must be hunted for, instead of
forcing themselves on attention as was the case not long ago in almost
every large town. Artisans' dwellings, far exceeding in comfort, in
solidity, and in sanitation anything that our forefathers may have
dreamt of, are now the rule and not the exception.
Mere quotation of figures will not make clear the increased share of the
national wealth which now finds its way into the pockets of the working
classes, because the unprecedented cheapness of all the necessaries and
many of the luxuries of life (intoxicants alone excepted) has raised the
buying power of wages in a degree which cannot be estimated. Mr. W. H.
Mallock, a well-known writer on this subject, has recently devoted some
close enquiry to it, and has brought out some remarkable results. He
quotes the calculation of statisticians upon the income of the nation in
1851, when it was estimated at £600,000,000, and in 1881, when it was
reckoned at £1,200,000,000, having doubled itself in thirty years. He
then deducts from these totals the amounts assessed to income-tax,
arriving by this process at the total paid in wages (or the total of all
incomes under £150), which was £340,000,000 in 1851, and £660,000,000 in
1881. In those thirty years the wage-earning class had increased in
number from 26,000,000 to 30,000,000, or 16 per cent., while the wages
paid to them had increased by nearly 100 per cent. In fact the income of
the working classes in 1881 was about equal to that of the whole nation
in 1851, with largely increased purchasing power, owing to reduction in
prices.
But this does not exhaust the evidence of the diffusion of wealth which
has been going on, a process which is apt to be overlooked in the
attention attracted to the building up of a few colossal fortunes. Mr.
Mallock shows, by taking the increase in the number of incomes between
£150 and £1,000 a year, how greatly the middle classes have increased in
numbers. Persons assessed for taxation on incomes between these limits
have increased in number during the period under consideration from
300,000 to 990,000, that is, in a ratio of nearly 250 per cent. It is
hardly possible to over-estimate the importance of these figures in
their bearing on the prospects of the stability of the present social
system in Great Britain. Had this enormous increase in wealth been
accumulated in a few hands, it must have given a great impetus to the
revolutionary agencies always present under settled governments. But its
dispersal among a multitude of owners broadens the foundations of
authority, and at the same time acts as a powerful check upon
legislation for a limited class.
It must be admitted that, side by side with the advance in general
welfare, certain less desirable incidents of our civilisation claim
attention. One of these is the recurrence of disputes on a large scale
between employers and workmen, resulting in industrial strikes far
exceeding in extent and intensity anything of the sort that could be
organised before the legislature relaxed the laws against conspiracy and
combination. Although labour disputes are conducted now with a general
absence of the violence which almost invariably accompanied them in
earlier days, they are not without deplorable results in the losses
entailed on the working classes during their continuance, and in the
damaging effect they sometimes bring upon the industries affected. But
the principle of arbitration is gradually winning its way, and the fact
that on several recent occasions recourse to this reasonable method has
proved successful in averting a prolonged struggle, encourages the hope
that employers and employed are beginning to recognise their common
advantage in conciliation.
It is less easy to prescribe a remedy for the admitted evil of the
excessive aggregation of the people in centres of industry, and the
corresponding depletion of the rural districts. This tendency has been
at work ever since Virgil wrote his--
"O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,
Agricolas"--
and perhaps from long before. Increased facilities of locomotion, and
the stimulus lent by education to intellectual energy, have intensified
the movement; but at all events the worst effects of it on the national
physique are being mitigated by the attention directed to sanitary
engineering.
One of the results of general education has been to give greater breadth
and accuracy to the popular aspirations for the Empire. Five and twenty
years ago the British Colonies were regarded, even by experienced
statesmen, with a degree of indifference, which it is difficult for the
present generation to realize. It seemed to be assumed that, sooner or
later, each of them would throw off the bond attaching it to the Mother
country, and that nothing was to be gained by maintaining a union of
which the value could not be shown in a profit and loss account. A
complete change has come over public opinion in this respect. Imperial
federation is in the air; the precise means by which it is to be secured
have not been formulated, but the sentiment is as strong in the general
mind of the natives of these islands as it seems to be in that of the
Queen's subjects in India, in Canada, and in Australasia. Although the
presence of a large proportion of the Dutch race in our South African
Colonies renders the feeling in that land less pronounced, it is not
unreasonable to hope that even there just laws, wise administration, and
the prestige of a mighty empire will prevail to dispel suspicion and
establish a lasting harmony.
The example of good government, which has been set forth at home during
the present reign, is one in which every Briton may take a just pride.
Party politics are as vehement as ever, and sometimes descend into
acrimony; but the last traces of corruption have disappeared from public
life, and all the acts of administration are open to the most searching
scrutiny.
Not less remarkable is the change which has come over the habits of all
classes in regard to alcoholic indulgence, which, throughout the last
century and a considerable portion of the present one, remained as a
reproach on our social life. Formerly, though intemperance was looked on
as undesirable, it was not thought discreditable, or, at least, not
incompatible with the discharge of the most important offices. But at
the present time indulgence in drink is regarded as a bar to all except
ordinary manual labour, and even in that department the working man is
steadily emancipating himself from the thraldom which, at no distant
date, lay so heavily upon all classes.
These, and many others such as these, are some of the features which
distinguish the longest reign in our annals. So important are they,
regarded as affecting the happiness of millions of human beings, that
the remarkable length of the reign sinks into secondary moment compared
with its character. It has been an age of material progress more swift
and political change more permanent than any which preceded it, and
there have not been wanting those who viewed each successive step in the
movement with apprehension, predicting disaster to cherished
institutions--to the monarchy itself. The result, so far, has been to
falsify those predictions. The British monarchy reposes at present on
surer foundations than military prowess or legislative sagacity can
supply; it rests on the genuine affection of the people. Power has been
committed to them during these sixty years in no illiberal measure; in a
very practical sense they are masters, under the Almighty, of the
destiny of the empire, for they can, by their votes, put those Ministers
in power who shall do their pleasure. How comes it that this power has
been exercised with a moderation very different from that which there is
plenty of historical precedent for anticipating? There are doubtless
many contributory causes--an abundant employment owing to the expansion
of industry, cheap food, the diffusion of wealth, the readiness of the
British people to avail themselves of new lands, the hold which
religious principles keep upon them, and the instinctive conservatism
which affects, often unconsciously to themselves, all but those who
adopt extreme views in politics. All these, and many more, must be taken
into account in considering what has taken place; but there is one which
a watchful observer will reckon more direct in its effect than any of
them--namely, the personal character of the Monarch. Vigilant as she is
known to have been in attention to public affairs, conscientious as she
has shown herself in complying with the limitations of our Constitution,
Queen Victoria has set before her people a perfect Court and a model
home. Not by design has this been done, not by laborious compliance with
irksome rules or straining for public approval, but by the action of a
true nature, guided by a vigorous intellect and resolute will.
What might have been the result of the enormous development of popular
power if the Monarch had been one whose character had attracted no
affection or respect, it is idle to speculate. It is enough that every
true Briton is able to say, with heartfelt gratitude: "Thank Heaven that
throughout this critical period of change we have remained the subjects
of Victoria the Great and Good!"
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN:
THE STORY OF VICTORIA'S REIGN
TOLD BY
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART., M.P.
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA IN CORONATION ROBES.]
[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE.]
SIXTY YEARS
A QUEEN.
CHAPTER I.
1837-1838.
Death of William IV.--Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to
the Throne--Ignorance of the Public about the young Queen--Her
early training--Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and
Hanover--Prorogation of Parliament--Early Railways--Electric
Telegraph--The Coronation--Popular Reception of Wellington and
Soult--State of Parties--Result of General Election--Rebellion
in Canada--The Earl of Durham--Debate on Vote by Ballot.
At the present day, tidings, however fateful or momentous, flash
silently over unconscious fells and floods to the uttermost limits of
Empire; but it was otherwise sixty years ago. Throughout the brief night
of June 19, 1837, the land echoed to the furious galloping of horses and
the ceaseless rattle of flying wheels; for William the King lay dying at
Windsor Castle.
[Sidenote: Death of William IV.]
[Sidenote: Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to Throne.]
He drew his last breath before dawn on the 20th, and mounted messengers
thronged the highways yet more thickly than before in the early hours of
morning. Among them were two of very high degree--Dr. Howley, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and the Marquis of Conyngham, Lord Chamberlain--charged
to proceed post haste to Kensington Palace in order to summon the
Princess Victoria to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. Leaving
Windsor shortly after two in the morning, they did not reach Kensington
till five o'clock. The Palace was wrapped in silence; it was with great
difficulty that even the gate-porter could be roused, and there was
further delay inside the courtyard. At last the Archbishop and the Lord
Chamberlain obtained admission, were shown into a room, and left to
themselves. After waiting some time they rang the bell, and desired the
sleepy servant who answered it to convey to the Princess their request
for an immediate audience, on business of extreme urgency. Again the
impatient dignitaries were left alone, and once more they pealed the
bell. This time they were informed by the Princess's attendant that Her
Royal Highness was asleep, and must on no account be disturbed.
"We are come," was their reply, "on business of State to the Queen, and
even _her_ sleep must give way to that."
The attendant yielded, and then, to quote the simple but vivid
description by Miss Wynn, "in a few minutes she (the Queen) came into
the room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off,
and her hair falling on her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in
her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified."
[Illustration: _Sir W. Beechy, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. VICTORIA MARIA LOUISA, DUCHESS OF KENT, AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
AT THE AGE OF THREE.]
Next, the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, was summoned, and Charles
Greville has described in his diary how the young Queen met the Privy
Council at eleven o'clock.
[Sidenote: Ignorance of Public about the young Queen.]
"Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the
chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and
behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was very extraordinary,
and something far beyond what was looked for. Her extreme youth and
inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concerning her, naturally
excited great curiosity to see how she would act on this trying
occasion, and there was a considerable assemblage at the palace,
notwithstanding the short notice that was given."
[Illustration: _R. Westall, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.]
Bowing to the lords present, Queen Victoria, quite simply dressed in
black, took her seat, and proceeded to read her speech in clear, calm
accents. Then, having taken the oath for the security of the Church of
Scotland, she received the allegiance of the Privy Councillors present,
the two Royal Dukes having precedence of the others.
"As these two old men," wrote Greville, "her uncles, knelt before her
... I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between
their civil and natural relations."
At noon the Queen held a Council, at which the excellent impression she
had made already was confirmed. Throughout the trying ceremonies of the
first day of her reign she bore herself with a dignity and composure
which amazed, as much as it delighted, her Ministers.
Princess Alexandrina Victoria, upon whose young shoulders the weight of
the Empire had been laid so suddenly, was the only child of Edward, Duke
of Kent, fourth son of George III., by her Serene Highness Victoria
Maria Louisa, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and widow of
the Prince of Leiningen. William IV., third son of George III., had left
no children born in wedlock; on his death, therefore, the succession
devolved on his niece, who was born on May 24, 1819, and was therefore
just over eighteen at her accession. Nothing would have been more
natural than that the character of the Princess, as heiress to the
Crown, and the qualifications for rule of which she might have given
promise even at that tender age, should have been widely and eagerly
discussed, or, at least, that the late King's Ministers should have
formed some opinion of them; but this was not the case. The gossiping
Greville repeatedly lays stress on the seclusion in which Her Royal
Highness had been brought up, her inexperience, and the complete
ignorance of the public about her character and even her appearance; so
much so, that "not one of her acquaintance, none of the attendants at
Kensington, not even the Duchess of Northumberland, her governess, have
any idea of what she is or promises to be." It may easily be imagined,
therefore, how greatly the severity of the sudden ordeal to which the
girl-Queen was exposed was intensified by the anxious and curious
interest of those who were present at her first Council.
[Illustration: _Sir D. Wilkie, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY'S FIRST COUNCIL, AT KENSINGTON PALACE, June 20, 1837.]
[Illustration:
1. HER MAJESTY.
2. Duke of Argyll, Lord Steward.
3. Earl of Albemarle, Master of the Horse.
4. The Right Honourable G. Byng, Comptroller.
5. C. C. Greville, Esq., Clerk of the Council.
6. Marquess of Anglesea.
7. Marquess of Lansdowne, President of the Council.
8. Lord Cottenham, Lord High Chancellor.
9. Lord Howick, Secretary at War.
10. Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Home Department.
11. The Right Honourable T. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
12. Viscount Melbourne, First Lord of the Treasury.
13. Lord Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
14. The Right Honourable J. Abercrombey, Speaker of the House of
Commons.
15. Earl Grey.
16. The Earl of Carlisle.
17. Lord Denman, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench.
18. The Right Honourable F. Erskine, Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy
Court.
19. Lord Morpeth, Chief Secretary for Ireland.
20. The Earl of Aberdeen.
21. Lord Lyndhurst.
22. The Archbishop of Canterbury.
23. His Majesty the King of Hanover.
24. The Duke of Wellington.
25. The Earl of Jersey.
26. The Right Honourable J. W. Croker.
27. The Right Honourable Sir R. Peel, Bart.
28. H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex.
29. Lord Holland, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
30. Sir J. Campbell, Her Majesty's Attorney-General.
31. Marquess of Salisbury.
32. Lord Burghersh.
33. The Right Honourable T. Kelly, Lord Mayor of London.
Of all the illustrious personages here represented, Her Majesty is now
the sole survivor.]
[Sidenote: Her early training.]
For the seclusion in which the Princess Victoria had been brought up,
sufficient cause will be apparent to those who have studied the domestic
annals of the Court during the reigns of her uncles George IV. and
William IV., which were, in truth, in accord with the worst traditions
of Royalty. The Duke of Kent had died shortly after the birth of his
daughter, and his widow, over-anxious, perhaps, to screen the young life
from contagion of evil, sought to protect the Princess Victoria by a
training which, in most modern families, would be regarded as
unnecessarily severe. But deep-rooted custom requires drastic treatment
to remove it. On weak or light natures such discipline is too often seen
to work disastrous reaction; happily, the young Queen was inspired by an
intellect of such fibre, and a spirit of such temper, that she responded
to her early training by establishing and maintaining in her Court such
a high moral ideal as has never been known since the days of the
mythical Round Table.
[Illustration: KENSINGTON PALACE.
Her Majesty the Queen was born in the ground-floor room occupying the
farthest angle of the building on the extreme right of the picture. A
tablet within the room records the fact.]
[Illustration: _S. P. Denning._} {_From the Dulwich Gallery._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT THE AGE OF FOUR.]
[Sidenote: Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and Hanover.]
Queen Victoria's accession was the cause of the departure from England
of a Prince deservedly unpopular, whose signature stands first among
those appended to the Act of Allegiance executed at Kensington Palace.
Hitherto, for more than one hundred and twenty years, succession to the
throne of Great Britain had carried with it the crown of Hanover; but,
inasmuch as that crown was limited to the male line, it passed, on the
death of King William, to his eldest surviving brother, the Duke of
Cumberland. It is not necessary to discuss here the character of that
Prince--it is enough to say that his departure to take up his
inheritance in Hanover was probably cause of regret to very few persons
in this country and reason for rejoicing to a great many. Nor, in
looking back over the history of the past sixty years, can any
thoughtful person fail to recognise advantage in the severance of the
monarchies of Great Britain and Hanover. Any loss of prestige or dignity
which might have been anticipated has been amply outweighed by the
freedom enjoyed by this country from continental complications. England,
while she has forfeited no weight in the Councils of Europe, is in a far
stronger position to enforce her will when necessary, and the
development of rapid and easy transit have protected Englishmen from any
disadvantage that might have been apprehended from an exclusively
insular Court.
[Illustration: _W. Fowler._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AS PRINCESS VICTORIA.]
One of the incidents of the ceremony of accession commented on with most
interest was the fact that, in signing the Oath for the security of the
Church of Scotland, the Queen wrote only "Victoria," instead of her full
name "Alexandrina Victoria." Surely it was a happy inspiration which
prompted the choice of the single name--prophetic, as it has turned out,
of the character of the coming reign. Probably not one in a thousand of
her subjects are aware that Her Majesty has two baptismal names, though
there is historic interest attached to their origin. The Duke of Kent
gave his daughter the name of Alexandrina in compliment to the Empress
of Russia, intending her second name should be Georgiana. The Regent,
however, objected to the name Georgiana being second to any other in
this country; so, as the Princess's father was determined that
Alexandrina should be the first name, it was decided she should not bear
the other one at all.
[Sidenote: Prorogation of Parliament.]
On July 17 the Queen went in State to the House of Lords to prorogue
Parliament. After listening to an Address made by the Speaker on behalf
of the House of Commons, and giving her consent to certain bills, Her
Majesty proceeded to read her speech to Parliament in clear and
unfaltering accents. The concluding paragraph, viewed in the light of
subsequent events, must be admitted to have been more amply fulfilled
than most human promises, however sincerely spoken:--
"I ascend the throne with a deep sense of the responsibility imposed on
me; but I am supported by the consciousness of my own right intentions,
and by my dependence on the protection of Almighty God. It will be my
care to strengthen our institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, by
discreet improvement wherever improvement is required, and to do all in
my power to compose and allay animosity and discord. Acting upon these
principles, I shall, upon all occasions, look with confidence to the
wisdom of Parliament and the affection of my people, which form the true
support of the dignity of the Crown and ensure the stability of the
Constitution."
[Illustration: _W. Behnes._} {_From the Royal Collection._
BUST OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AS PRINCESS VICTORIA.]
Every opportunity which was afforded to Parliament and the public of
passing judgment on the Queen's demeanour tended to deepen the
favourable impression already created. Greville--the "Man in the Street"
of those days--he of whom Lowe afterwards wrote--
"For forty years he listened at the door,
He heard some secrets and invented more,"
is not an authority on which too much reliance should be placed, yet his
diary is useful as a reflection of passing events. It is full of
enthusiastic praise of the new Monarch.
"All that I hear of the young Queen leads to the conclusion that she
will some day play a conspicuous part, and that she has a great deal of
character.... Melbourne thinks highly of her sense, discretion, and good
feeling; but what seems to distinguish her above everything are caution
and prudence, the former in a degree which is almost unnatural in one so
young, and unpleasing because it suppresses the youthful impulses which
are so graceful and attractive.... With all her prudence and discretion
she has great animal spirits, and enters into the magnificent novelties
of her position with the zest and curiosity of a child.... The smallness
of her stature is quite forgotten in the majesty and gracefulness of her
demeanour."
Sixty years ago! It is the second and third generation from that time
which now cries "God save the Queen! Long live Victoria!" Never before
in the history of our nation has it fallen to the lot of any historian
to tell the story of such a long reign, to chronicle such unbroken
national progress, to trace such a series of peaceful changes, to record
such accumulation of wealth and diffusion of comfort in a like period.
[Sidenote: Early Railways.]
Sixty years ago! The population of these islands was then some
twenty-five millions; it amounts now to upwards of thirty-eight
millions. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, about thirty miles long,
had been open for eight years, causing far-sighted folk to predict an
important change in the mode of travelling. The Liverpool and Birmingham
Railway was opened in the year of the Queen's accession. In 1838 the
line between London and Birmingham was finished, and trains were timed
to do the distance--112-1/4 miles--at the average speed of twenty miles
an hour. The London and Croydon Railway began running in 1839, and in
1840 there were 838 miles of railway open in the United Kingdom. At the
present time there are 20,000 miles open, owned by companies which in
1894 had an authorised capital of £1,099,013,785, earning a gross
revenue of £84,310,831, and a net profit of £37,102,518.
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter, R.A._} {_From the Print published by
Messrs. Graves._
HER MAJESTY TAKING THE OATH ON HER ACCESSION.]
In order to convey the impressions of an educated traveller by the new
mode of transit, the temptation to quote once more from the lively
Greville is irresistible. In July 1837 he became tired of hearing
nothing in London except about the Queen and the coming elections, so he
resolved to see the new Birmingham and Liverpool Railway. Reaching
Birmingham in 12-1/2 hours by coach, he "got upon the railroad at
half-past seven in the morning. Nothing can be more comfortable than the
vehicle in which I was put, a sort of chariot with two places, and there
is nothing disagreeable about it but the occasional whiffs of stinking
air which it is impossible to exclude altogether. The first sensation
is a slight degree of nervousness and a feeling of being run away with,
but a sense of security soon supervenes, and the velocity is
delightful."
[Illustration: STEPHENSON'S LOCOMOTIVE, "THE ROCKET."
This engine was constructed by Messrs. Stephenson & Co. in 1829, to
compete in the trial of locomotive engines held at Rainhill, on the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway in October of that year, where it
gained the prize of £500. The "Rocket" worked on the Liverpool and
Manchester line till 1837, when it was removed to the Midgeholm Railway,
near Carlisle. It ceased running in 1843-4, and was presented to the
South Kensington Museum in 1862.]
[Illustration: A MODERN EXPRESS PASSENGER ENGINE.
This engine, No. 1870 of the North Eastern Railway, was built in 1896 by
the Gateshead works. It is a "non-compound" engine, with the largest
coupled driving wheels hitherto known, viz., 7 ft. 7 in. The diameter of
the cylinders inside is 20 in. A sister engine (No. 1869) was
constructed at the same time, and the weight of each of them with tender
fully loaded is over 90 tons.]
The "velocity" referred to was regulated to an average of about twenty
miles an hour; but the diarist makes mention of a foolhardy driver who
ventured to run forty miles an hour, and was promptly dismissed by the
directors.
[Illustration: THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY BROAD GAUGE ENGINE "NORTH
STAR."
This engine was designed by Sir Daniel Gooch in 1836 and built by Robert
Stephenson & Co. in 1837. It was one of the first engines belonging to
the Great Western Railway Company, and continued at work until 1870,
running a total distance of 429,000 miles.]
[Sidenote: Electric Telegraph.]
The application of another of the forces of Nature to the service of
human intercourse has brought about a change in political, military,
social, and commercial relations even more complete than that wrought by
steam. The invention of the electric telegraph coincided very nearly
with the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1835 Mr. Morse, an
American citizen, produced a working model of an instrument designed to
communicate alphabetical symbols by the interruption of the electric
current, but he failed to persuade Congress to furnish him with the
funds necessary to the practical application of his discovery. Next year
he tried to take out a patent for it in this country; but, meanwhile,
Cooke and Wheatstone had anticipated him with one instrument, and the
brothers Highton with another, both of which were soon in use on
railways. The growth of this means of communication may be seen in the
"Post Office Annual," which shows that in the year 1895-96 about
seventy-nine million telegrams were delivered through the Post Office,
besides those dealt with by certain public companies.
[Sidenote: The Coronation.]
The Queen's Coronation was deferred till June 1838. It would be tedious
to dwell on the splendour of the ceremonial. Perhaps the most readable,
and not the least truthful, account has been preserved in one of
Barham's _Ingoldsby Legends--Mr. Barney Maguire's Account of the
Coronation_, set to the tune of _The Groves of Blarney_, and beginning--
"Och! the Coronation, what celebration
For emulation with it can compare?
When to Westminster the Royal Spinster
And the Duke of Leinster all in order did repair.
'Twas there ye'd see the new Polishemen,[A]
Making a skrimmage at half afther four;
And the Lords and Ladies, and the Miss O'Gradys
All standing round before the Abbey door."
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_"Political Sketches," 1838._
LA BELLE ALLIANCE.
This sketch represents Marshal Soult meeting his old antagonist, Lord
Hill, at the Duke of Wellington's. "At last," he says, "I meet you, I,
who have run after you so long!" "La Belle Alliance" is well known as
the name of a particular spot, which was one of the points of attack at
the Battle of Waterloo.]
[Illustration: _C. R. Leslie, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
A. Lord Willoughby de Eresby.
B. The Duke of Norfolk.
C. The Marquis of Conyngham.
D. The Archbishop of Canterbury.
E. Her Majesty the Queen.
F. Lord Melbourne.
G. The Bishop of London.
H. The Duke of Wellington.
J. The Duchess of Sutherland.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT AFTER HER CORONATION IN
WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
June 28, 1838.
Lord Willoughby de Eresby, as Hereditary Lord High Chamberlain, held the
Crown, and Lord Melbourne as First Lord of the Treasury, the Sword of
State. The Duke of Norfolk was Earl Marshal, the Marquis of Conyngham
Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Wellington Lord High Constable of England,
and the Duchess of Sutherland Mistress of the Robes.]
[Sidenote: Popular Reception of Wellington and Soult.]
Two personages in the procession, who had met under far different
circumstances in earlier years, met with a tremendous ovation wherever
they moved. One of these was the Duke of Wellington--our Great Duke--and
the other was the veteran Duke of Dalmatia--the puissant Maréchal Soult
of the Peninsula and Waterloo--once the redoubtable foe of England. Mr.
Justin McCarthy has suggested that "the cheers of a London crowd on the
day of the Queen's coronation did something genuine and substantial to
restore the good feeling between this country and France, and efface the
bitter memories of Waterloo." On the other hand, the anti-monarchical
party in France attributed the popular reception of Soult in London to
the prevalence of sympathy with Republican views. Certain it is that
when, in later years, Soult championed the English alliance in the
French Assembly he referred with feeling to his reception at Queen
Victoria's coronation: "I fought the English," he said, "down to
Toulouse, when I fired the last shot in defence of national
independence; in the meantime I have been in London, and France knows
how I was received. The English themselves cried 'Vive Soult!' They
cried 'Soult for ever!'" One may formulate rules of diplomacy and
international courtesy, but who shall weigh the effect of sympathy
between a generous people and a former gallant foe?
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE CORONATION OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, June 28,
1838.
The moment depicted is when the Archbishop, having placed the Crown on
the head of the Queen, and the emblems of sovereignty in her hands, has
returned to the altar. It was at this time that the members of the Royal
Family, the peers and the peeresses assumed their coronets. The whole
Abbey rang with cheers and cries of "God save the Queen," and the
animation of the scene reached its climax.]
Parliament had voted £243,000 for the expenses of George IV.'s
coronation--perhaps the effect of a newly-extended franchise may be
traced in the more economical figure of £70,000, which sufficed for that
of our present Queen.
[Illustration: LORD JOHN RUSSELL, AFTERWARDS EARL RUSSELL (1792-1878).
Sat in the House of Commons for forty-seven years. He introduced the
great Reform Bill in 1831 and was twice Prime Minister (1846-52, and
1865-6). He was raised to the Peerage in 1861.]
[Sidenote: State of Parties.]
The battle of Reform had been fought out in the country and in
Parliament five years before the accession, and there were, as yet, no
signs--to quote Sir Robert Peel's famous expression at Tamworth--of the
Constitution being "trampled under the hoof of a ruthless democracy." On
the whole, life--its business and pleasures--seemed to be going forward
on much the same lines as before the great Act, dreaded, as it had been,
as intensely by one party, as it had been pressed forward and welcomed
by the other. Lord Melbourne was the head of a Whig Administration, of
which, as everybody knows, the late King had waited impatiently for the
first decent opportunity to get rid. But Melbourne and Lord John Russell
(who, with the office of Home Secretary, was leader of the House of
Commons) had to reckon with an advance wing of their own party, already
known as Radicals, and were at least as profoundly averse from their
projects as they were from the Tory policy. Melbourne and Russell
desired to put down Radicalism and proceed with moderate and safe
reforms, above all in Ireland, where the chronic discontent was being
fanned to eruption by the exertions of Daniel O'Connell. The King's
death had relieved the Whig Cabinet from the adverse influence of the
Court; moreover, the reliance placed from the first by the young Queen
upon Lord Melbourne, and the intimate relations between them, brought
about by the circumstances of the case, enabled the Whigs to assume the
peculiar rôle of their opponents--that of the special supporters of the
throne.
[Illustration: _M. Noble._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
SIR ROBERT PEEL (1788-1850).
Was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1812, Home Secretary in
1822, and again in 1828-30 under the Duke of Wellington. In 1830 he
reconstructed the Metropolitan Police. He was Prime Minister in 1834-5,
and again from 1841 to 1846. His second Administration was distinguished
by the total abolition of the Duty on Corn.]
The Tories,[B] on the other hand, approached with much misgiving the
General Election, which, according to the law as it then stood, followed
of necessity on the demise of the monarch. They knew that the Duchess of
Kent had favoured Whig principles in the education of the Queen; they
saw that Melbourne's personal charm had secured for him complete
ascendancy in the councils of the new Sovereign, and they had nothing to
expect in the country but reverse.
[Sidenote: Result of General Election.]
However, the unpopularity of the new Poor Law told against Ministers in
the rural constituencies, and the elections left parties almost
unchanged. When the first Parliament of Queen Victoria assembled on
November 20, 1837, the Whig Government reckoned a majority of about
thirty in the House of Commons. "Of power," wrote the contemporary
compiler of the _Annual Register_, "in a political sense, they had none.
They could carry no measure of any kind but by the sufferance of Sir
Robert Peel."
One incident in the short winter session of 1837, often as it has been
recorded, retains a lasting interest because of the subsequent celebrity
of the individual who gave rise to it. Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, the son of
a distinguished man of letters, had just entered Parliament for the
first time as Member for Maidstone. He chose a debate on Irish Election
Petitions as the opportunity for his maiden speech. "A bottle-green
frock coat," writes an eye-witness, "and a waistcoat of white, of the
Dick Swiveller pattern, the front of which exhibited a network of
glittering chains; large, fancy pattern pantaloons, and a black tie,
above which no shirt-collar was visible, completed the outward man. A
countenance lividly pale, set out by a pair of intensely black eyes, and
a broad but not very high forehead, overhung by clustering ringlets of
coal-black hair, which, combed away from the right temple, fell in
bunches of well-oiled ringlets over his left cheek."
[Illustration: AN EARLY SIGNAL CABIN.]
[Illustration: A MODERN SIGNAL CABIN.
The Cabin here represented is that at Crow West Junction, Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway.]
Not a prepossessing personality in the eyes of the British House of
Commons, and when the young orator proceeded to launch into profuse and
florid metaphor, accompanied by exaggerated theatrical gestures, the
forbearance usually shown towards a new member's first appearance was
overborne by impatience at Disraeli's ludicrous affectation. He spoke
amid incessant interruption and laughter. "At last, losing his temper,
which until now he had preserved in a wonderful manner, he paused in the
midst of a sentence, and looking the Liberals indignantly in the face,
raised his hands, and opening his mouth as widely as its dimensions
would admit, said in a remarkably loud and almost terrific tone, 'I have
begun several times many things, and I have often succeeded at last; ay,
sir, and though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear
me.'" The contrast between the early manner of this statesman, and his
peculiarly quiet and leisurely bearing in the debates of later years,
betrays the close study which he devoted to outward effect.
The Prime Minister, William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne, was a
typical Whig, genuinely disposed to moderate reform, but in the habit of
meeting Radical suggestions with the discouraging question, "Why not
leave it alone?" Of similar political temperament was his lieutenant in
the Commons, Lord John Russell. It very soon became evident that the
Radicals, though diminished in numbers by the result of the elections,
were likely to give Ministers trouble in the new Parliament. In the
Upper Chamber, Lord Brougham, who had conceived a violent dislike to
Melbourne, began to employ his fiery energy and power of acrid invective
against the Government, and showed himself ready to place himself at the
head of the Radicals. In his first serious attack on Ministers he allied
himself with the Tory Lord Lyndhurst. The opportunity arose out of
events in Canada, to which it is necessary briefly to refer.
[Illustration: {_From the "G.W.R. Magazine."_
THE FIRST TELEGRAPH STATION (SLOUGH STATION, G.W.R., 1844).]
[Illustration: HER MAJESTY'S STATE COACH.
This Coach, used at Her Majesty's Coronation, was designed by Sir
William Chambers, and finished in the year 1761. The paintings, of which
the following are the most important, were executed by Cipriani. _The
Front Panel_:--Britannia seated on a throne holding a Staff of Liberty,
attended by Religion, Justice, Wisdom, Valour, Fortitude, Commerce,
Plenty, and Victory, presenting her with a Garland of Laurel; in the
background a view of St. Paul's and the River Thames. _The Right
Door_:--Industry and Ingenuity giving a Cornucopia to the Genius of
England, and on each side History recording the Reports of Fame, and
Peace burning the Implements of War. _The Back Panel_:--Neptune and
Amphitrite issuing from their palace in a triumphant car, drawn by
sea-horses, attended by the Winds, Rivers, Tritons, and Naiads, bringing
the tribute of the world to the British shore. _Upper part of Back
Panel_:--The Royal Arms, ornamented with the Order of St. George; the
Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle entwined. _The Left Door_:--Mars, Minerva,
and Mercury supporting the Imperial Crown of Great Britain, and on each
side the Liberal Arts and Sciences protected. The design of the Coach
itself is in keeping with the above ideas. The length of the Carriage is
24 feet; width, 8 feet 3 inches; height, 12 feet; length of pole, 12
feet 4 inches; weight, 4 tons. The harness is made of red morocco
leather. On State occasions eight cream-coloured horses, as here
represented, are used.]
[Sidenote: Rebellion in Canada.]
By the Constitution of 1791 Canada had been divided into two Provinces,
Upper and Lower Canada, each with its separate Governor, Executive
Council (corresponding to a Privy Council), Legislative Council,
appointed by the Crown for life, and Representative Assembly. The bulk
of the people of Lower Canada were of French descent, Catholics, and
intensely conservative of the mode of life and habits of France before
the Revolution. English law had been established there by proclamation
in 1763, but by the wise Act of 1774 French civil law was restored, and
free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion guaranteed. Probably all
would have gone tranquilly with the Province had its French population
been left to themselves. But they had restless neighbours in Upper
Canada. Englishmen, and especially Scots and Ulstermen, had settled
there in large numbers, busy, pushing men of business, traders, and
farmers, developing their land with energy, overflowing, as their
children multiplied, into the territory of their French fellow-subjects,
and there forming a British party, impatient of the antique legal
procedure, the foreign law of land tenure, and the sleepy,
unbusiness-like ways of the Lower Province. Hence arose friction which
soon became chronic. The Legislative Council, nominees of the Crown,
naturally favoured the British section, thereby finding themselves at
issue with the Representative Assembly. Discontent had been smouldering
for many years, and at last matters came to a crisis. The Representative
Assembly resolved to resist further encroachment. Headed by Louis
Papineau, a militia officer and Member for Montreal, they drew up a
protest and laid their grievances before the Governor, Lord Gosford.
They complained of arbitrary infringement of the Constitution and other
matters, demanded that the Legislative Council should be made elective,
and ended by refusing to vote supplies. Public meetings were held, and
addressed in inflammatory language by Papineau, who dwelt on the example
set by the United States in resisting tyranny. Lord Gosford met matters
with a high hand. Warrants were issued for the arrest of certain
representatives; resistance to their execution resulted in violence, and
the transition to rebellion was as speedy as probably it was
involuntary. _Proximus ardet_--the flame spread to Upper Canada, of
which the people had grievances of their own, though of a different kind
from those of their French neighbours, and a rising took place under the
leadership of one McKenzie, a revolutionary journalist. But the chief
danger arose from the sympathetic action of certain American citizens,
who, to the number of several hundreds, assembled under a person named
Van Rensselaer, and took possession of Navy Island in the Niagara
River, forming part of Canadian territory. At the present day, with the
dense population of the United States and rapid means of transit, such a
position of affairs would undoubtedly prove extremely critical; happily
the British authorities proved able to deal with it successfully. The
rebels being ill-prepared for impromptu war, Lord Gosford put down the
rising in Lower Canada, though not without considerable bloodshed. In
Upper Canada, the Governor, Major Head, better known afterwards as Sir
Francis Head, an amusing writer, sent every regular soldier at his
command to the assistance of Lord Gosford, and, declaring he would rely
on the loyal Canadians to suppress the rebellion, handed over 6,000
stand of arms to the Mayor of Toronto. The people responded gallantly,
delighted by this mark of confidence; ten or twelve thousand men
assembled under arms, and a single encounter with McKenzie's force was
enough to decide the fate of the revolt. Desultory skirmishing took
place with bodies of American "sympathisers" at various points along the
frontier before the affair could be said to be over, and there can be no
doubt that, had the United States Government adopted a less friendly
attitude, British rule in Canada might have stood in very great
jeopardy.
[Illustration: EARLY TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT, FROM PADDINGTON STATION.
On January 1, 1844, the following message was received from Slough by
this instrument:--"A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill, and
the suspected murderer was seen to take a first-class ticket for London
by the train which left Slough at 7.42 p.m. He is in the garb of a
Quaker, with a brown great coat on, which reaches nearly down to his
feet. He is in the last compartment of the second first-class carriage."
The murderer, Tawell, was identified, apprehended, and convicted. This
was the first occasion on which a telegraphic message overtaking a
criminal led to his arrest.]
[Illustration: COOKE AND WHEATSTONE'S EARLIEST NEEDLE TELEGRAPH,
REQUIRING FIVE WIRES (1837).]
[Illustration: _From an old Print_} {_at the South Kensington Museum._
TRAINS ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, RUNNING AT THE TIME OF
HER MAJESTY'S ACCESSION.
The upper figure represents a first-class train, carrying Her Majesty's
Mails, and the lower one a second-class train with open carriages.]
[Illustration: OLD GREAT WESTERN PASSENGER CARRIAGE.]
The Imperial Parliament was summoned to meet on January 16, 1838, to
consider the Canadian situation. A Bill was introduced suspending the
Constitution of Lower Canada, and empowering the Queen to appoint a
Governor and Special Council, who should assume for the time all the
functions of the legislature in that Province. The Duke of Wellington,
as leader of the Opposition in the Lords, and Sir Robert Peel in the
Commons, supported the Government, and the only opposition was offered
by the Radicals. Brougham attacked the Bill in a speech of which
Melbourne complained as "a most laboured and extreme concentration of
bitterness." In the other House the chief point of interest to readers
of the debate at this day lies in a speech by Mr. W. E. Gladstone, the
Tory Member for Newark, who taunted Mr. Joseph Hume and the Radicals
with their failure to perform in session their boastful promises during
the recess.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN'S SALOON CARRIAGE ON THE LONDON AND
NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
This is the carriage which has been used by Her Majesty for many years
on her journeys to and from Scotland. It contains sitting and sleeping
compartments (the former having padded walls and ceiling, lined with
watered silk), and accommodation for Her Majesty's personal attendants.
It is about 60 feet long.]
[Sidenote: The Earl of Durham.]
The Governor appointed under the Act was the Earl of Durham, a man of
remarkable ability, who had embraced Radical principles with great
ardour. This, however, did not prevent him interpreting his office as
that of a practical dictator--he far exceeded the powers vested in him
by the Act. In dealing with offenders he would not stoop to the only way
of obtaining convictions--that of packing juries--and adopted the
arbitrary course of ordering into exile those connected with the late
rebellion, on pain of death if they returned. Looking back to the
existing state of things, it is impossible to question the real clemency
and wisdom of the new Governor's ordinances; nevertheless, they were at
once attacked in the Imperial Parliament, and vigorously denounced as
tyrannical and unconstitutional. Lord Durham had made many enemies in
both Houses. Lord Lyndhurst and the Tories joined forces with Lord
Brougham and the Radicals in pressing Ministers to disallow the
ordinances of which they had already approved. Brougham perceived the
opportunity of discomfiting the hated Melbourne, and he pressed it. The
Ministry were not strong enough to resist. Lord Durham was recalled,
and, though his recommendations were ultimately carried into effect by
making Canada a self-governing colony, he never recovered the unmerited
disgrace he had suffered. Proud, impetuous, and sensitive, he fell into
ill-health, and died in 1840 at the age of forty-eight. His end must
ever be regarded as one of those misfortunes arising out of Party
government, for his policy has been amply vindicated since, lying as it
does at the foundation of the whole modern scheme of Colonial
government.
[Illustration: _Photo by_} {_Elliott & Fry._
THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES PELHAM VILLIERS.
Born 1802. Is a grandson of the First Earl of Clarendon, and has
represented Wolverhampton in Parliament continuously from 1835 to the
present day. He took part, with Cobden and Bright, in the Free Trade
movement, and in the passing of the Ballot Act. He and Mr. Gladstone are
the only survivors of those who sat in Queen Victoria's first
Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Debate on Vote by Ballot.]
One other debate in the Commons during this session must be referred to,
if it be only to mark the wide interval which separates the Liberal
Party of the present day from the Whig leaders at the beginning of the
reign. On February 15 Mr. Grote brought forward his annual motion in
favour of the Ballot in Parliamentary elections. Hitherto little
interest had been attached to the project, owing to the disfavour with
which it was regarded by all but extreme Radicals. On this occasion,
however, several Ministers and many supporters of the Government were
known to have pledged themselves at the polls to the principle of secret
voting. Lord John Russell had declared that to carry such a measure
would be tantamount to a repeal of the Reform Act of 1832; that for the
Government to promote it would be a breach of faith to those who had
supported the extension of the franchise, and he refused to be any party
to "what neither his sense of prudence nor of honour would justify." Sir
Robert Peel supported the Government in resisting the motion, and it was
rejected by a majority of 117 in a House of 513 Members. This was hailed
as a moral victory by the supporters of the Ballot. Brougham was
jubilant, and told the Lords they must make up their minds to this fresh
reform. A few days later he declared in Greville's room that it would
become law in five years from that time, and many people regarded it as
paving the way to Republican government. On the other hand Greville
quotes Charles Villiers, "one of the Radicals with whom I sometimes
converse," as declaring that it would prove a Conservative measure, and
that better men would be chosen. In effect, it took, not five years, but
thirty-four, to reconcile Englishmen to the practice of secret voting;
and Mr. Villiers has lived to see that the protection thereby afforded
to the voter has certainly not operated to the exclusion of
Conservatives from office. But it would be unphilosophic to argue that
what was conceded in 1872 to an experienced and educated electorate,
without evil consequences, might have been bestowed with equal safety in
1838, only five years after the great measure of enfranchisement.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._")} {_Political Sketches_, 1838.
THE THREE SINGLES.
Lord Brougham in 1837 had opposed the Government measures relating to
Canada. For some time he stood alone, and it was not until the Bill for
Abolishing the Canadian Legislature had made considerable progress, that
he found himself supported by the Earl of Mansfield and Lord
Ellenborough. But though acting together on this occasion, each had his
own separate motive and argument, and perhaps there were not three
members of the House of Peers who better deserved to be acting singly
and without party connection. Lord Brougham is here represented with the
Earl of Mansfield on his right arm and Lord Ellenborough on his left.]
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN 1839,
Attended by Viscount Melbourne, the Marquis of Conyngham, who raises his
hat, the Hon. George S. Byng, the Earl of Uxbridge, and Sir George
Quinton.]
CHAPTER II.
1837-1842
Lord Melbourne's services and character--Prevailing discontent
of the Working Classes--Its Causes--The Chartists--Riots at
Newport and elsewhere--Fall of the Ministry--Sir Robert Peel
sent for--The "Bedchamber Question"--Melbourne recalled to
Office--The Penny Post--Its remarkable Success--Betrothal of the
Queen--Character of Prince Albert--Announcement to
Parliament--Debates--Marriage of the Queen and Prince
Albert--War declared with China--Capture of Chusan--Bombardment
of the Bogue Forts--Peace concluded under the Walls of Nankin.
The ardour and intelligence with which the Queen applied herself to
master the details of ceremony and business incident to her position at
the head of a great Empire, did not protect her from censorious and even
malicious criticism. It was natural, perhaps, that the exclusive
confidence reposed by Her Majesty in Lord Melbourne should excite the
jealousy of others, whose exalted rank gave them what they considered a
superior claim to access to the presence.
[Sidenote: Lord Melbourne's services and character.]
Lord Melbourne's constant attendance at Court had compelled him to
change his demeanour in a very remarkable degree. Hitherto, his
affectation had been to conceal all traces of seriousness in transacting
business; he would sprawl on a sofa, blow a feather about the room,
balance a chair, or dandle a cushion while receiving deputations--the
very incarnation of indolence--to the despair of those who anxiously
desired to engage his attention, and who could scarcely be persuaded by
those who knew him best that he had spent strenuous hours in getting up
the subject under discussion, was perfectly acquainted with all its
details, and was, besides, listening most attentively to all that was
said. His physician, Dr. Copeland, knew how really hard the Prime
Minister worked, and told Bishop Wilberforce that he (Melbourne) used to
transact business all day in his bedroom with his secretaries in order
that bores might be dismissed with the information that "my lord had not
yet left his bedroom."
[Illustration: THE THRONE ROOM AT WINDSOR CASTLE.]
But besides this tiresome frivolity of manner, there was another habit
in regard to which Melbourne had to put severe restraint on himself in
the Royal presence. It had been his custom to season his conversation
with a multitude of indecorous oaths. Mr. Denison (afterwards Speaker,
and subsequently Viscount Ossington) spoke to him one day about some
points in the Poor Law Bill, then under consideration. Melbourne was
just going out for a ride, and referred Denison to his brother George.
"I have been with him," replied Denison, "but he damned me, and damned
the Bill, and damned the paupers." "Well, damn it! what more could he
do?" quoth Melbourne, and rode off.
In spite of all his affectation and a degree of underlying weakness,
this Minister performed a singularly valuable public service to his
country in the support and advice he afforded the Queen at the most
critical time of her life; a service that was explicitly and handsomely
acknowledged in the House of Lords by his chief opponent there, the Duke
of Wellington, in 1841.
[Illustration: _Sir David Wilkie, R.A._} {_By permission of the
Corporation of Glasgow._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN 1839.]
[Sidenote: Prevailing discontent of the Working Classes.]
[Sidenote: Its causes.]
There was a great deal of brooding discontent in the country at the
opening of Queen Victoria's reign, which soon passed into a phase
calling for active measures of repression. Some have recognised in the
Chartist movement the chagrin of the working classes, who having
imparted to the mills of State the impetus necessary to grind out
political rights for their employers--the merchants, farmers, and middle
class generally--found themselves no better equipped for political
action than they were before. But such a suggestion finds no reflection
in actual experience of popular movements. Agitators might declaim in
vain against the injustice of a restricted franchise if their hearers
had no other cause for discontent. The real root of bitterness lay in
the suffering and distress caused by the severe winter of 1837-8, the
high price of bread,[C] and, on the top of all, detestation of the new
Poor Law. It is genuine grievances such as these which, from time to
time, force on the attention of those who suffer from them the glaring
contrast between the privations of the many and the superfluities of the
few. So, in 1838, hungry crowds were easily persuaded to listen to
denunciations of the privileged classes; to believe that the Queen and a
dilettante Prime Minister were insensible to their sufferings so long as
their own tables were abundantly supplied; and that Government was no
more than a machine for enriching the classes at the expense of the
masses.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_, "_H. B._"} {_Political Sketches_, 1837.
DANIEL O'CONNELL, M.P.,
1775-1847.
Known as "The Liberator." Was an Irish barrister. Elected to the House
of Commons in 1828, he was the principal advocate of Catholic
Emancipation, and founder of the "Loyal National Repeal Association."
The sketch represents him on the watch for an opportunity to attack the
Government with the weapon of "Repeal."]
It has to be remembered, also, that during the development of crowded
centres of population, consequent on the rapid increase in various
industries, the artizan and mining classes found themselves at a great
disadvantage in negotiating with their employers, owing to the stringent
laws regulating trades unions. A whole generation was to pass away
before, in 1875, Mr. (now Viscount) Cross should pass a measure
abolishing criminal proceedings in cases of breach of engagement,
placing employer and workman on equal terms before the law, and enacting
that nothing which it was legal for a single workman to do should be
illegal when done by a combination of workmen or a trades union.
[Sidenote: The Chartists.]
The Whig leaders having declined to re-open the question of electoral
reform, a document was drawn up at a conference between a few Radical
members of Parliament and the representatives of the Working Men's
Association, formulating the demands made on behalf of the proletariate.
Universal male suffrage, annual Parliaments, vote by ballot, abolition
of the property qualification required at that time from a member of
Parliament, payment of members, and equal electoral districts, were the
six points insisted on; of which three, it will be seen, have since been
practically carried into effect. "There is your Charter!" exclaimed
O'Connell, handing it to the secretary of the Working Men's Association;
"agitate for it, and never be content with anything less." The term took
the popular fancy; the programme became known as the Charter, and those
who supported it were hereafter known as Chartists.
Not a very formidable programme after all, nor one that might not be
advanced by constitutional means, but one that, like many other popular
agitations, fell into dangerous paths by the imprudent zeal of some of
its advocates, and still more, by the violence of the discontented,
unfortunate, or predatory waifs of civilisation, ever ready to promote
any social change for the sake of what plunder it may bring within their
reach.
[Sidenote: Riots at Newport and elsewhere.]
In November 1839 the miners of the Newport district of Monmouthshire
assembled to the number of 10,000 under a tradesman called Frost and
attempted to release from gaol one Vincent, who had been imprisoned for
using seditious language. The mayor and magistrates of Newport, with a
handful of soldiers, offered a gallant resistance; the rioters were
dispersed with a loss of ten killed and fifty wounded, the mayor, Mr.
Phillips, receiving two gunshot wounds. Frost and two others were
afterwards convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. But the
dawn of milder methods of government had begun: the death sentence was
commuted by the Royal mercy to one of transportation for life: even that
was subsequently relaxed, and Frost was allowed to return to England
some years later to find himself and the Chartists an unquiet memory of
the past.
[Illustration: STEAMER POINT, ADEN.
The Peninsula of Aden was added to Her Majesty's dominions by conquest
in 1839. Its situation at the mouth of the Red Sea, on the direct route
to India and the East, makes it invaluable as a coaling-station both for
naval and mercantile purposes. In this district rain falls only about
once in three years. The town is supplied with wells and storage tanks
cut in the solid rock, the construction of which cost over £1,000,000.]
But in spite of the punishment of the Newport rioters, and hundreds of
others in different places, Chartism continued to spread until it
became merged in the more intelligent and fruitful agitation for the
repeal of the Corn Laws.
This great question was brought under the consideration of Parliament,
in the session of 1839, by Lord Brougham in the Lords on February 18,
and the following day by Mr. Charles Villiers in the Commons; but the
motion for inquiry was negatived without a division in the former and by
a majority of 189 in the latter. Both Parliament and country, however,
were to hear plenty about the Corn Duties in the next few years.
The Whig Ministry were now approaching the end of their second year of
office, and steadily losing favour in the country. They had earned the
enmity of the Chartists by their apathy to further reform; and the novel
advantage of Royal confidence in and affection for a Whig Prime Minister
did not affect the general drift of middle-class opinion. Meanwhile,
Peel was indefatigable on the platform securing popular support for the
new Conservatism.
[Illustration: _Hume Nisbet._}
"WILLIAM FAWCETT," THE FIRST P. & O. STEAMSHIP, IN THE GUT OF GIBRALTAR,
1837.
This was the first steamer employed in carrying mails to the Peninsular
ports in 1837. Tonnage, 206; horse-power, 60.]
[Sidenote: Fall of the Ministry.]
Drifting thus helplessly in the doldrums of unpopularity the Government
suddenly foundered on April 9, the immediate cause being a Bill for the
suspension of the Constitution of Jamaica. The second reading was
carried, indeed, by a majority of five; but the resignation of the
Ministry was immediately placed in Her Majesty's hands and accepted. It
put an end to an intolerable situation. Three days before the division
Greville wrote in his diary: "The Government is at its last gasp: the
result of the debate next week may possibly prolong its existence, as a
cordial does that of a dying man, but it cannot go on. They are
disunited, dissatisfied, and disgusted in the Cabinet."
[Illustration: _W. W. Lloyd._}
A MODERN LINER COMING UP THE THAMES.
The Royal Mail Steamer "Caledonia," belonging to the P. & O. Company, is
given as a contrast to the "William Fawcett." Tonnage, 7,758,
horse-power, 11,000.]
[Sidenote: Sir Robert Peel sent for.]
[Sidenote: The "Bedchamber Question."]
The Queen sent first for the Duke of Wellington, but he, having probably
little relish for leading a Government without a majority in the House
of Commons, excused himself on the grounds of his age and deafness, and
advised Her Majesty to lay the task on Sir Robert Peel. That statesman
replied, that having been party to a vote of the House which brought
about the situation, nothing should make him recoil from the obvious
difficulty of it, and he formed a Cabinet without delay. Then arose a
peculiar and unforeseen difficulty, known as "The Bedchamber Question."
Peel found no difficulty in filling up the important posts in the
Government, until it was explained to him that the Court Offices were
vacated with the Administrative ones, and that they also must be
supplied. He took up a Red Book, as he afterwards explained in
Parliament, learnt from it for the first time what were the different
appointments, and submitted to the Queen a list of names to replace all
except those below the rank of Lady of the Bedchamber. But Her Majesty
had other views, and the reader will more readily understand her
reluctance to part with those personal attendants, of whom she had grown
fond, by remembering the singular isolation of her youth, and the very
few acquaintances she possessed at the beginning of her reign.
[Sidenote: Melbourne recalled to Office.]
A difficulty of such slender proportions seems one that might have been
got round, but it was not to be. The Queen was inflexible, and Peel, on
principle, resigned his office. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues were
recalled; explanations followed in both Houses, and the incident
disappeared in a cloud of angry gossip. Peel was relieved from a
position the reverse of enviable, and Melbourne had to stand the brunt
of a tirade from the relentless Brougham and resume the reins which he
had allowed to slip from a somewhat reluctant hand.
[Illustration: EARLY TRAVELLING POSTAL VAN, LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM
RAILWAY.]
As for the cause of dispute, it was not finally disposed of till after
the Queen's marriage, when, on the suggestion of Prince Albert, it was
settled that on a change of Ministry the Queen should arrange for the
voluntary resignation of any ladies whom, being relations or very
intimate friends of leaders in opposition, it might, in the opinion of
the Prime Minister, be inconvenient to retain in office.
[Illustration: TRAVELLING POSTAL VAN ON THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN
RAILWAY.
Interior, showing sorters at work, and exterior with net extended for
taking in mails, and bag hung ready for delivery while the train is in
motion.]
[Sidenote: The Penny Post.]
It sometimes happens that Ministries which are least conspicuous by the
brilliancy of their career or the talents of those who compose them,
nevertheless confer the most lasting benefits on the nation. The
crowning achievement of the Melbourne administration originated neither
with a Minister, nor with one of those permanent officials upon whom
Ministers rely to make up for their own inexperience of departmental
work, but with a humble school teacher. Nobody at this day connects
penny postage with the name of Mr. Spring Rice, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, who paved the way for it in the Budget of 1839, but it is
inseparably associated with the memory of its inventor, Sir Rowland
Hill. The son of a schoolmaster, Rowland had an extraordinary inborn
love for arithmetic, and became mathematical master in his father's
school. This natural talent, it is said, was directed to the study of
Post Office statistics by an anecdote told of Coleridge, who happened to
see a poor woman in the Lake district refuse to accept delivery of a
letter from a postman because she could not afford to pay the
postage--one shilling. Coleridge, hearing that the letter was from her
brother, good-naturedly insisted on paying the fee, notwithstanding the
woman's reluctance; but no sooner was the postman's back turned than she
showed him that the letter consisted of nothing but a blank sheet. It
had been agreed between her and her brother that he should send her such
a blank sheet once a quarter so long as things went well with him,
marking the cover so that she should not require to accept delivery, and
that in this way she should get his mute message without need to pay
postage. Hill detected the economic fallacy which opened the way to such
innocent roguery, and rested not till he had devised means to remedy it.
He published his design in pamphlet form in 1837, advancing the bold
proposition that the smaller the fee charged for carrying letters the
greater would be the multiplication of correspondence, and the larger
the profit to the Department. He proposed an uniform charge upon letters
of one penny a half ounce, irrespective of distance. It was the
application to the public service of a commercial principle by which
large fortunes have been repeatedly realised in private business, but
the plan was unhesitatingly condemned by the Post Office authorities.
The Postmaster-General, Lord Lichfield, spoke of it in the House of
Lords as the wildest and most extravagant scheme of all the wild and
extravagant ones he had ever listened to. Colonel Maberley, Secretary to
the Post Office, declared the experiment was certain to fail, though he
was of opinion that no obstruction should be placed in the way of it,
lest the Government should afterwards be blamed for not giving it a
trial. Lastly, Sydney Smith may be quoted as representing educated
public opinion: "A million of revenue is given up," he said, "to the
nonsensical Penny Post Scheme, to please my old, excellent, and
universally dissentient friend, Noah Warburton. I admire the Whig
Ministry, and think they have done more good things than all the
Ministries since the Revolution; but these concessions are sad and
unworthy marks of weakness, and fill reasonable men with alarm."
[Illustration: _J. A. Vinter._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
SIR ROWLAND HILL, 1795-1879.
Originator of the system of uniform Penny Postage with prepayment by
stamps.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE GENERAL POST OFFICE AT THE TIME OF THE
INTRODUCTION OF PENNY POSTAGE.]
Mr. Warburton and Mr. Wallace were the two members of Parliament who
most warmly advocated the project of Rowland Hill. But credit is due to
the courage shown by Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who,
in the face of a deficit of three-quarters of a million, was bold enough
to adopt the scheme and make provision for it in his Budget. Sir Robert
Peel and Mr. Goulbourn criticised the proposal mainly on the ground that
it involved a risk of loss to the revenue which ought not to be incurred
in the existing state of the finances; but on a division the resolution
was carried by a majority of 102, and the Bill carrying it into effect
subsequently passed without a division. This reform, the offspring of
the genius of an obscure mathematical teacher, and so modestly brought
to light, has since been adopted by every civilised community in the
world. To realise the boon thereby conferred on commercial and general
intercourse it is only necessary to recall the postal regulations in
force in Great Britain previous to 1839. Letters could not be prepaid;
the charge for postage varied according to distance, and also according
to the weight, shape, and size of letters. Thus, a letter posted in
London for Brighton cost the recipient a fee of eightpence; the rate
from London to Aberdeen was 1_s._ 3-1/2_d._, and to Belfast 1_s._ 4_d._
No wonder, then, that, in a time of expanding trade, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer found himself supported in his proposal by countless
petitions from commercial centres in favour of cheaper postage. But
there was more than this: there was the flagrant injustice of the
system of official franks. Members of the Government and of Parliament
had the privilege of free postage, not only for their own letters but
for those of their friends by simply writing their names on the cover.
This privilege had grown to the dimensions of a gross abuse; people who
enjoyed the friendship of a Minister were not the least shy of pestering
him for franks; the revenue was defrauded, and those who were least able
to bear the cost had to pay a high fee in order to recoup the Department
for the loss on letters written by wealthy people.
[Illustration: GENERAL POST OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LE-GRAND, IN 1837.
This building, erected in the reign of George IV., is still used as the
central office for sorting and forwarding the mails.]
[Illustration: MAIL COACHES LEAVING THE GENERAL POST OFFICE, 1837.
_From a print of that date._]
Such being the case for reform from a popular point of view, it was
hardly less urgent from a departmental one. The Post Office had then, as
it has now, a monopoly of conveying correspondence; but the high rates
charged had driven people to various means of infringing that monopoly.
There had arisen all sorts of illegal and clandestine enterprises for
carrying letters at cheap rates. It had been proved before the Committee
which considered Mr. Hill's scheme that five-sixths of the
correspondence between London and Manchester had been smuggled for many
years; one great firm having despatched sixty-seven letters by unlawful
agency for every one that went through the Post Office. Between 1815 and
1835 the population had increased by thirty per cent., and the
stage-coach duty by 128 per cent., yet the revenue of the Post Office
had remained stationary.
The proposed reduction from an average rate of sixpence farthing to one
penny was certainly a startling one. The Committee above referred to had
recommended an uniform twopenny rate, but Spring Rice told the House of
Commons that he had become convinced that the loss to the revenue (for
no practical man, except, perhaps, Rowland Hill himself, doubted that
loss there must be) would be less from a penny rate. He estimated in his
Budget the sacrifice at about £700,000.
[Sidenote: Its remarkable Success.]
The wildest enthusiasts can never have contemplated what have been the
actual results as revealed by the Post Office returns of 1895-6. In 1837
there were 80,000 letters and 44,000 newspapers delivered through the
Post Office in the United Kingdom--a total of 124,000 deliveries. In the
twelve months of 1895-6 the returns show that the deliveries (exclusive
of telegrams) amounted to the stupendous figure of 3,031,553,196,
representing 2,248 times the volume of business transacted in 1837, and
producing a nett profit of £3,632,122. Certain races of primitive
savages, it is said, have never acquired the art of counting beyond two;
everything beyond a pair being reckoned as "plenty." Such figures as
those quoted above baffle even ordinary civilised powers of calculation;
very few persons are able to apprehend the idea of a million; much less
can they grasp the reality of growth represented in thousands of
millions. Perhaps, the magnitude of the Post Office business at the
present day can be best illustrated by its miscarriages. The value of
property found in letters opened in the Returned Letter Offices in 1896
amounted to £580,000.
[Illustration: GENERAL POST OFFICE--NEW NORTH BUILDING.
This building, completed in 1895, is occupied by the official,
financial, and clerical staffs of the Post Office.]
[Illustration: {_From an Engraving._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN LEAVING WINDSOR CASTLE FOR THE REVIEW,
September 28, 1837.
The Queen, who is in semi-military habit and rides a white horse, is
attended by her uncle, the King of the Belgians, on her right, with Lord
Hill, Commander of the Forces, on her left, and the Duke of Wellington
behind.]
The Penny Post, then, endures as the single masterpiece of the Melbourne
Ministry, affording another example, if one were wanting, how men become
famous for the achievements on which they pride themselves least.
Macaulay, having returned from India at this time, had re-entered
Parliament as member for Edinburgh, and joined the Cabinet as Secretary
for War. Greville quotes him as having declared that he wished he could
destroy all that he had written up to that date, for he thought "his
time had been thrown away upon _opuscula_ unworthy of his talents." He
had resolved to apply himself to serious work--the History of England.
But much of his literary renown rests on these _opuscula_: most people
esteem Macaulay the essayist far more highly than Macaulay the historian
or Macaulay the Minister. Greville himself, in relating this anecdote,
unconsciously illustrates the inability of men to judge of their own
performances. Speculating what Macaulay might have been "if he had
wasted his time and frittered away his intellect as I have done mine,"
the diarist proceeds, "if I had been carefully trained and subjected to
moral discipline, I might have acted a creditable and useful part."
Possibly; but in that case the journal, by which alone Greville is
remembered, had never been written.
[Illustration: CENTRAL POSTAL TELEGRAPH OFFICE.
This large building, officially known as the "G.P.O. West," occupies the
corner of Newgate Street opposite to the General Post Office at St.
Martin's-le-Grand. It was erected in 1870-74, and is entirely devoted to
telegraphic business. The uppermost three floors are operating rooms, of
the interior of one of which we give a view on page 31.]
[Sidenote: Betrothal of the Queen.]
Before the close of the year announcement was made of an event of the
highest importance, which was to affect in a very large degree the
material progress of the nation as well as the character and happiness
of the monarch. On November 23 the Queen held a Privy Council at
Buckingham Palace, and made known her intention to marry her cousin, the
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
"About eighty Privy Councillors were present," writes Greville, "the
folding doors were thrown open and the Queen came in, attired in a plain
morning gown, but wearing a bracelet containing Prince Albert's picture.
She read the declaration in a clear, sonorous, sweet-toned voice, but
her hands trembled so excessively that I wonder she was able to read the
paper which she held."
[Illustration: _W. C. Ross, A.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT AT THE TIME OF HIS MARRIAGE.]
[Sidenote: Character of Prince Albert.]
Prince Albert, the second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,
by Louisa, daughter of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Attenburg, was very
nearly the same age as the Queen, having been born on August 26, 1819.
Royal alliances are so often the outcome of purely political or
prudential calculation that people are apt to assume that the deeper
personal feelings are not allowed to weigh with the persons most
concerned; but young men and women are not the less human because they
are born in the purple, and Queen Victoria's marriage was as much a love
match as that of any village maid. But she had set her affections on one
of a disposition and habits not commonly to be found in any station of
life. Not only was Prince Albert remarkably handsome and amiable, but he
had sedulously cultivated natural gifts of a very high order. He had
made himself a good musician, he had penetrated far in natural science,
made a special study of social politics, and was well read in general
literature. He was known to have steered a clear course among the
temptations which peculiarly beset a young man of princely rank and
fortune. All this he might have been, and yet, had there not been
something to balance it, he might have proved no fitting consort of the
young Queen of the English. But there was another side to his character.
Erudite, he was completely without the fastidious or shy manner which
sometimes imparts a blemish to learning, for his manner in society was
extremely fascinating; of artistic tastes, he was soon to prove himself
capable in business. Last, but not least, in view of an English public,
he was an accomplished horseman, and devoted to field sports.
[Illustration: _W. A. Knell._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE LANDING OF PRINCE ALBERT AT DOVER, February 6, 1840.
His Royal Highness experienced very bad weather in crossing the
Channel.]
[Sidenote: Announcement to Parliament.]
The Queen opened Parliament in person on January 16, 1840, and her
speech included the formal announcement of her betrothal to Prince
Albert. Strangely enough the first criticism came from the Duke of
Wellington, of all her subjects the least likely to question Her
Majesty's decision. He complained that it ought to have been officially
declared that Prince Albert was a Protestant, and he moved to insert the
word "Protestant" in the Address in reply to the speech from the throne.
Lord Melbourne thought the amendment was superfluous, but it was agreed
to without a division.
[Sidenote: Debates.]
Less harmonious were the proceedings of the following week in the other
House, when Lord John Russell moved for a grant of £50,000 a year to the
Queen's consort, to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. Colonel
Sibthorpe, a Tory member, well-known for his eccentricity, moved an
amendment to substitute £30,000, which was supported by Sir Robert Peel
and the Opposition. Lord John resisted it with great warmth, declaring
that "no Sovereign of this country had been insulted in such a manner as
her present Majesty had been"; but the Government were badly defeated by
a combination of Tories and Radicals, and Colonel Sibthorpe's amendment
was carried by a majority of 104.
[Illustration: _W. Drummond._} {_From an Engraving in the British
Museum._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN HER BRIDAL DRESS.]
[Sidenote: A famous duel.]
The fact is that people who have grown up familiar only with the present
relations of the Royal family with the public can hardly realise how
prevalently censorious opinions were held regarding the Queen, and how
much prejudice Prince Albert had to live down. On the 17th of the very
month in which these debates took place, a duel was fought between Mr.
Horsman, Whig member for Cockermouth, and Mr. Bradshaw, who had used
discourteous and disloyal language about the Queen in a speech made at
Canterbury. Horsman had said that Bradshaw had the tongue of a traitor
and the heart of a coward. After an exchange of shots, the seconds
induced Bradshaw to retract and apologise. It may be mentioned here that
the abolition of duelling was one of the first objects to which Prince
Albert devoted his efforts after his naturalisation. He proposed the
substitution of Courts of Honour to arbitrate in quarrels between
gentlemen, and though he did not prevail on the Commander-in-Chief to
establish these, there can be no doubt that the Prince's personal
influence was greatly the cause of suppressing a system which was in
full force during the early years of the reign.
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection_ (_by
permission of Messrs. Graves, Publishers of the Engraving_).
A. Prince George of Cambridge.
B. Duchess of Cambridge.
C. Princess Mary.
D. Prince Ernest.
E. Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
F. Queen Adelaide.
G. Prince Albert.
H. The Queen.
J. Duke of Sussex.
K. Archbishop of Canterbury.
L. Duchess of Kent.
M. Princess Augusta of Cambridge.
N. Duke of Cambridge.
P. Princess Sophia Matilda.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT AT THE CHAPEL ROYAL, ST.
JAMES'S, February 10, 1840.]
[Sidenote: The Queen fired at.]
The Queen's marriage to Prince Albert was celebrated on February 10,
1840. During the summer of that year the Queen was fired at by a lunatic
potboy as she drove up Constitution Hill with the Prince, but happily
escaped all injury. One sometimes hears doubts expressed about the
necessity for the elaborate precautions taken for the safety of Royal
personages, who, it is supposed by some people, might safely trust
themselves more freely to the goodwill of their subjects. But there is
nothing more certain than this--that, however popular or deserving a
monarch may be, there are always crazed or desperate individuals with
schemes of insult or violence, waiting an opportunity to carry them out.
[Sidenote: War declared with China.]
The relations of Great Britain and the East India Company with China had
for some years been drifting into very unfriendly conditions, arising
out of the opium trade. The Chinese Government had strictly prohibited
the importation of opium--a measure commanding the sincere sympathy of
those in this country who condemned all use of opium as an unmitigated
physical and moral evil. But India derived enormous profits from the
opium trade, and her traders used every device to evade the
restrictions. It was suspected, and the Foreign Secretary, Lord
Palmerston, endorsed the suspicion, that the policy of the Chinese
Government had nothing to do with the morality of the trade, but was
concerned only to protect the native opium industry. The wheels of
diplomacy ran heavily between the "Heavenly Dynasty" and the British
Foreign Office for many years, till at last they were brought to a stand
by the sudden outbreak of war. Lord Palmerston had appointed three
superintendents to look after the interests of British traders in
Chinese ports, and invested them with a semi-diplomatic character. Thus
it came to pass that when, after months of procrastination, Her
Majesty's Government at last announced that "they could not interfere
for the purpose of enabling British subjects to violate the laws of the
country with which they traded," thus practically forbidding the opium
trade, Captain Elliott, the chief superintendent, read between the lines
of the despatch, and, on the Chinese authorities seizing a large
quantity of opium in British vessels, requested the Governor of India to
send warships for the protection of Englishmen trading in China. The
request was promptly complied with by the despatch of two frigates, the
_Volage_ and the _Hyacinth_, which attacked a Chinese fleet of
twenty-nine junks below Hong Kong, blew up one of them, sunk three, and
knocked the rest about in fine style.
[Illustration: _W. H. Overend._} {_From Contemporary Sketches._
THE "VOLAGE" AND "HYACINTH" ENGAGING TWENTY-NINE CHINESE JUNKS.]
[Sidenote: Capture of Chusan.]
[Sidenote: Bombardment of the Bogue Forts.]
A strong armament of fourteen warships and several transports was
assembled at Singapore, the command of which was given to Admiral
Elliott. Before his arrival, however, in the _Melville_, 74, the second
in command, Commodore Sir J. Gordon Bremer, captured the island of
Chusan, on July 5, with its capital--a walled city six miles in
circumference. Negotiations for peace were then opened, but the Chinese
authorities prolonged them on so many various pretexts, while busily
erecting batteries at the Bogue, near Canton, that Commodore Bremer
broke off the proceedings and prepared for action. The Bogue Forts were
bombarded, and two of them were captured on January 7, 1841; after
further fruitless parleying the bombardment was re-opened on February
19, and the whole chain of defences were taken. After each successive
engagement, Captain Elliott, the civil superintendent, attempted to
obtain a pacific settlement with the enemy; but forbearance was
invariably interpreted by the Mandarin as a sign of weakness, and it was
not till the troops under Sir Hugh Gough, had fought their way to the
walls of Canton that Captain Elliott was able to announce that terms of
peace had been agreed to, just forty-five minutes before a general
attack on Canton was to have taken place.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches, 1840._
CHINESE JUGGLERS.
Sir J. Graham, who attacked the Government with a Motion in regard to
the conduct of the Chinese War in 1840 and nearly defeated them, is here
represented as drawing forth reels of Chinese Papers and Blue Books from
Lord Palmerston. John Bull, in the background, is remarking, "What an
enormous quantity of paper for any man to swallow!"]
[Illustration: SIGNATURES OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT IN 1840.]
[Sidenote: Peace concluded under the Walls of Nankin.]
Once more peace negotiations broke down: hostilities were resumed;
Chusan was re-occupied; Amoy, believed by the Chinese to be impregnable,
was taken by assault on August 25, 1842; the capture of Chinghai and
Ningpo followed; and when Sir H. Gough appeared before Nankin the
Chinese Government finally agreed to accept the terms imposed as the
conditions of peace. Five millions and three-quarters sterling were
exacted as an indemnity; the island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great
Britain, and five principal Chinese ports were thrown open to British
trade.
[Illustration: _C. R. Leslie, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
A. Duchess of Gloucester.
B. Duchess of Kent.
C. Duke of Sussex.
D. Queen Adelaide.
E. Archbishop of Canterbury christening
F. the Royal Infant.
G. Archbishop of York.
H. The Queen.
J. Prince Consort.
THE CHRISTENING OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE, February 10,
1841.
Her Majesty's eldest child, the Princess Royal, was born November
21, 1840, and christened Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa.]
CHAPTER III.
1841-1846.
Unpopularity of the Whigs--Fall of the Melbourne
Ministry--Peel's Cabinet--The Afghan War--Murder of Sir A.
Burnes and Sir W. Macnaghten--The Retreat from
Cabul--Annihilation of the British Force--The Corn Duties--The
Pioneers of Free Trade--Failure of Potato Crop in Ireland--Lord
John Russell's conversion to Free Trade--Peel and Repeal--Rupture
of the Tory Party--The Corn Duties repealed--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Review of Peel's Administration.
[Sidenote: Unpopularity of the Whigs]
The closing months of the Melbourne Ministry afford melancholy matter
for chronicle. The Government went on steadily losing popularity in the
country and forfeiting respect in Parliament. The sword, long impending,
descended at last. Mr. Baring, who had succeeded Spring Rice as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, had to confess to a deficiency in his
Budget of nearly two millions, which he proposed to meet by a
re-adjustment of the sugar and timber duties, which brought about the
defeat of the Government by a majority of thirty-six. Still, Ministers
did not resign. Russell had determined at length to make a bid for the
Free Trade vote, and gave notice of his intention to propose a permanent
reduction in the duty on corn. But the announcement fell flatly; people
only saw in this sudden conversion another desperate effort to retain
office, for the Whigs hitherto had been inflexible in resistance to Free
Trade demands. Melbourne had sworn roundly that of all the mad projects
he had ever heard of the surrender of duties was the maddest; and
Russell had been equally explicit, though employing fewer expletives.
The duty on imported corn had been established by legislation in 1815,
and was on a sliding scale according to current prices. The impost was
27_s._ on each quarter of wheat when the price fell below 60_s._, and
diminished in proportion as the price rose till it stood at 1_s._ when
the price of the quarter was 73_s._ and upwards.
[Illustration: TELEGRAPH CABLE SHIP "MONARCH."
This ship was built and is maintained by the Post Office specially for
the laying and repairing of submarine telegraph cables. She is fitted
with sheaves in the bows, over which the cables are led. The "Alert" is
another ship employed for the same purpose.]
[Illustration: A PORTION OF A TELEGRAPHIC OPERATING ROOM AT THE GENERAL
POST OFFICE, LONDON.
The number of telegraphic messages transmitted from the various London
offices in the year 1895-6 was 27,025,193, and the total for the United
Kingdom, 78,839,610. As many as six messages--three in each
direction--are now transmitted along a single wire at the same time.]
[Sidenote: Fall of the Melbourne Ministry.]
The next move in Parliament was a vote of no confidence, moved by Sir
Robert Peel, and then at last Lord John Russell announced that Her
Majesty had been advised to dissolve Parliament immediately. Writs were
made returnable on August 19, by which date the political tables had
been completely turned. The Conservatives who went to the country in a
minority of thirty returned with a majority of seventy-six. It is
notable that in recording this result the _Annual Register_ for the
first time exchanges the title of Whigs for that of Liberals.
[Sidenote: Peel's Cabinet.]
[Sidenote: The Afghan War.]
Before following the fortunes of the Administration formed by Sir Robert
Peel, reference must be made to mournful news which, while people at
home were crowding round the hustings and polling booths, were slowly
approaching this country from Central Asia. The most serious reverse to
British policy and the greatest disaster to British arms which have
happened in the present century were the outcome of events which may
thus briefly be recapitulated. In 1837 Captain Alexander Burnes,
Orientalist and traveller, arrived as British agent at Cabul, capital of
the province of that name, in the north of Afghanistan. The Prince of
that fragment of the ancient Empire of Ahmed Shah was Dost Mahomed Khan,
an usurper, it is true, but a popular hero, a soldier of remarkable
ability, and a sagacious and bold ruler. Dost professed the friendliest
feelings towards England, but, for some reasons now unknown, was
profoundly distrusted by the Foreign Office. Captain Burnes thoroughly
trusted Dost, but his repeated assurance failed to convince his
employers that in his disputes with neighbouring States, Dost greatly
preferred relying on English influence to accepting the advances
continually made to him by Russia and Persia. Burnes was instructed to
regard Dost as dangerously treacherous, and at last Lord Auckland,
Governor-General of India, made a treaty with Runjeet Singh, hostile to
Dost, and with the purpose of restoring Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk, whom Dost
had deposed from the throne of Cabul. A British force invaded Cabul,
overthrew the brave Dost, and enthroned Soojah, whom nobody wanted. But
Dost Mahomed was a foe of no ordinary mettle. On November 2, 1840, he
encountered the allied force of the English and Shah Sooja at
Purwandurrah, and if he did not actually win the battle, the gallantry
of his Afghan cavalry caused it to be drawn. Dost, however, was too wise
to believe that he could resist for long the force of England. On the
evening after the battle he rode into his enemy's camp and placed his
sword in the hand of Sir W. Macnaghten, the British Envoy at Soojah's
Court. Dost was honourably treated, his sword was returned to him, he
was sent to India and provided with a residence and pension.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").
LORD AUCKLAND,
1784-1849.
Governor-General of India, 1835-1841.]
[Sidenote: Murder of Sir A. Burnes and Sir W. Macnaghten.]
But Dost was the darling of his people. They hated Soojah, whom the
English had forced on them, and they rose in revolt against him. Burnes
was the earliest victim, for although, in truth, he had all along stood
stoutly for Dost, the insurgents believed him to have betrayed their
ruler. He and his brother and all their party, man, woman, and child,
were hacked to pieces. Akbar Khan, second and favourite son of Dost
Mahomed, now put himself at the head of the insurrection, and the
shameful part of the story began. Hitherto, there had been blunders
enough in English dealings with this brave people: but there is nothing
to blush for in blunders provided they are clear of disgrace; one
cannot, however, ignore the truth that, after a few weeks' fighting,
British troops, having been repeatedly beaten, became so demoralised
that their officers could not get them to stand before the fierce
Afghans. General Elphinstone, the chief in command, was an experienced,
able soldier; but his health had broken down before the insurrection
began, and he had written to the Governor-General begging to be relieved
of his command, which he felt he was physically unfit to continue.
Unfortunately there was some delay in appointing his successor, and the
trouble came before Elphinstone could be relieved. Against the personal
courage of Brigadier Shelton, the second in command, no reflections have
ever been made, but he proved lamentably supine at moments when prompt
action was most required. Affairs went from bad to worse with the
British force in cantonments outside Cabul, until at last Elphinstone,
grievously weakened by disease, could be brought to contemplate no
course but abject surrender. Abject surrender! not quite unconditional,
it is true, but on most humiliating terms, including the release of Dost
Mahomed and the immediate evacuation of Cabul by the British.
[Illustration: _Sir Keith A. Jackson._} {_From "Sketches in
Afghanistan."_
CABUL IN 1839.
Cabul, the seat of government of the Ameer of Afghanistan, is at the
present time (1897) an open town, though it was formerly surrounded by
walls of brick and mud. The only building of any importance is the Bala
Hissar, or Citadel, containing the apartments of the Ameer. Besides
being a place of great strategic importance, Cabul is the centre of the
trade of Central Asia.]
Bad as this was there was darker disgrace to come. The evacuation was
delayed--on the part of the British from a foolish "Micawber" hope that
"something would turn up"--on the part of the Afghans, no doubt, in
order that the advent of winter should make the passes impracticable.
Macnaghten, the British Envoy, seems to have been infected by the
prevailing demoralisation, and fell into a trap prepared for him by
Akbar Khan. At the very moment when he (Macnaghten) was negotiating
openly with the chiefs in Cabul he entered into a conspiracy with Akbar
to destroy them, to establish Shah Soojah as nominal monarch, and to
secure the appointment of Akbar as Vizier. Macnaghten's punishment made
no long tarrying, for Akbar was acting a subtle part. Macnaghten,
accompanied by three officers, rode out one morning to a conference with
Akbar on the west bank of the Cabul river. It was a solitary place, as
befitted the discussion of the contemplated treachery, but they had not
been conferring long before they were surrounded by a crowd of armed
country people. The British officers remonstrated with Akbar; at that
moment Macnaghten and his companions were seized from behind; a scuffle
took place; Akbar drew a pistol, a gift from the Envoy himself, and shot
him in the body. Macnaghten fell from his horse and was instantly hewn
in pieces; Captain Trevor was killed also, and the other two officers,
Mackenzie and Laurence, were carried off to the town.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").}
LORD ELLENBOROUGH,
1790-1871.
Governor-General of India, 1841-1844.]
[Illustration: _W. Simpson, R.I._} {_From Sketches and Descriptions
obtained on the spot._
THE REMNANT OF AN ARMY.
The gate shown is the Cabul Gate of Jellalabad. It was from the top of
that gate that the sentry on duty first caught sight of the solitary
figure, clad in sheepskin coat and riding a bay pony, lean, hungry, and
tired, who alone survived the massacres in the Khyber and Jugdulluck
Passes. Dr. Brydon's form was bent from weakness, and he was so worn out
with fatigue that he could scarcely cling to the saddle. The
snow-covered mountain in the background is the Ram Koond.]
[Sidenote: The Retreat from Cabul.]
[Sidenote: Annihilation of the British Force.]
Deeper and deeper grows the horror--more profound the shame--as the
story proceeds. General Elphinstone and Brigadier Shelton lay in their
cantonments with 4,500 fighting men, with guns, and camp followers to
the number of 12,000. Macnaghten's bloody remains were dragged in
triumph through the streets of Cabul, yet not an arm was raised to
avenge him. Major Eldred Pottinger was for cutting their way out and
dying on the field, but no one would listen to him: negotiations were
opened with Akbar Khan, and the British force were allowed to march out,
leaving all their guns except six, all their treasure and six officers
as hostages. They started, upwards of 16,000 souls, to march through the
stupendous Khyber Pass to Jellalabad in the very depth of winter. Akbar
Khan's safe-conduct proved the shadow of a shade; either he would not,
or, as seems to have been the case, he could not, protect them from
hordes of fanatic Ghilzies, who hovered along the route--shooting,
stabbing, mutilating the wretched fugitives. Akbar, indeed rode with
Elphinstone, and probably it was true, as he declared, that he could do
nothing with his handful of horse to keep off the infuriated hillmen. At
last it became evident that a choice must be made of a few who might be
saved either from a bloody death or from perishing of cold in the snow
and searching wind. Akbar proposed to take all the women and children
into his own custody and convey them to Peshawur. The awful nature of
the dilemma may be imagined when such a proposal was agreed to. Lady
Macnaghten was placed in charge of the assassin of her husband: with her
went Lady Sale, Mrs. Trevor, and eight other Englishwomen; and, as an
extreme favour, a few married men were allowed to accompany their wives.
General Elphinstone and two other officers were also taken as hostages.
The rest struggled on as far as the Jugdulluck Pass. Then came the end:
the hillsides were crowded with fierce mountaineers; the 44th Regiment
were ordered to the front; they mutinied and threatened to shoot their
officers, broke their ranks, and were cut down in detail by the Afghans.
A general massacre followed. Out of more than 16,000 souls who marched
out of Cabul, a sorry score of fugitives were all that left that
horrible defile alive. Sixteen miles from Jellalabad, only six remained:
still the murdering knife was plied, until, at last, one solitary
haggard man, Dr. Brydon, rode into Jellalabad to tell of the literal
annihilation of the army of Cabul, and announce to General Sale,
commanding in that place, that his wife was in the hands of Akbar Khan.
There is little more to add. It had been part of Elphinstone's shameful
bargain with Akbar Khan that Jellalabad and Candahar should be evacuated
before the army of Cabul should reach the former place, and orders had
been sent to General Sale in Jellalabad and General Nott in Candahar to
abandon these towns. Luckily, these officers were of the right British
stamp, and they refused to obey. Akbar Khan besieged Sale in Jellalabad;
Sale not only held that place but gave battle to the Afghans outside the
fort, routed them, and made ready to co-operate with General Nott at
Candahar for a forward movement on Cabul. But the faculties of Lord
Auckland, the Governor-General, seemed paralysed. Regardless of British
prestige, the very keystone of our rule in India, he ordered the
precipitate recall of all the troops in Afghanistan. Luckily, again, his
term of office was just drawing to a close, and Lord Ellenborough came
out to take the reins of government. At first he issued a proclamation
endorsing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but more spirited counsel
prevailed in the end. The re-conquest of Cabul was accomplished by the
entry of General Pollock into the capital on September 15, 1842, when it
was found that the unfortunate Shah Soojah had paid the penalty of the
greatness thrust on him by English diplomacy, and had been assassinated
by the people he had been set to rule. Of the English ladies and
children who had been taken under the protection of Akbar Khan the story
has been written in a once famous book, Lady Sale's _Journal_. The
husband of that lady, General Sir Robert Sale, was sent to recover the
captives, who had suffered innumerable hardships. General Elphinstone
had died--the best thing that could happen for his fame; the rest were
found in a hill fort in the Indian Caucasus, in charge of a chief, who,
having heard of Akbar Khan's defeat, was easily bribed to surrender his
trust. The retreat from Cabul had begun on January 6, but the news did
not reach England till March 7.
[Illustration: _Thomas Sully._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN 1838.
This portrait was painted from life at Buckingham Palace by Mr. Sully,
an American Artist, whose daughter, about the same age as Her Majesty,
took the Queen's place and wore the jewels while these were being
painted into the picture. Her Majesty came in while the young lady was
thus attired and conversed with her.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, ABOUT 1845.
This illustration is from a very beautiful coloured lithograph prepared
in 1851 in compliance with Her Majesty's kind suggestion that a portrait
should be prepared which, in those days of expensive prints, might be
sold at a price within the reach of her less well-to-do subjects.]
[Sidenote: The Corn Duties.]
The Tories--or, as they must in future be called, the Conservatives--had
been carried to power by a strong wave of reaction in 1841, but it was
the destiny of their leader, Sir Robert Peel, to shake the fabric of the
Party to its base. There was a story current, of dubious authenticity,
about this statesman, how that in his early days his father, also Sir
Robert, warned Lord Liverpool that if the young man did not get office
immediately he would go over to the Whigs and be lost to his party,
whereupon Liverpool immediately appointed him Irish Secretary. No doubt
Peel was far more disposed for progress and reform than the average
Whig, and there was something paradoxical in the fate that made him
leader of the Tories. At first all went smoothly; the leader of the
House of Commons was chief of the Ministerial forces and master of the
Opposition also. But the first note of approaching storm was sounded on
the eve of the meeting of Parliament in February, 1842. The Duke of
Buckingham, Lord Privy Seal, resigned his office and seat in the Cabinet
on January 31. The reason for this, as the Duke afterwards announced in
Parliament, lay in the following expression in the Queen's Speech:--"I
recommend to your consideration the state of the laws which affect the
importation of corn, and of other articles, the produce of foreign
countries." This little sentence, wedged in among the usual ceremonial
or occasional paragraphs, contained the kernel of the Ministerial
programme, and at once excited extraordinary interest in the country. On
February 9, when Peel was to propound his scheme, the delegates of the
Anti-Corn Law League marched down in procession to Westminster, and it
required all the force of the police on duty to keep them from taking
possession of the lobby of the House of Commons.
[Illustration: _Lowes Dickinson._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
RICHARD COBDEN, 1804-1865.
The son of a yeoman farmer in Sussex. Entered Parliament as Member for
Stockport in 1841 and immediately took the lead in the House of Commons
of the party identified with the cause of Free Trade, a cause he had
already done much to strengthen. He opposed the Crimean War, and brought
about the fall of the Palmerston Government in 1857, by carrying a vote
condemning their action in regard to the Chinese War. He negotiated the
commercial treaty with France in 1860.]
[Illustration: _Frank Holl, R.A._} {_By permission of the Birmingham
Liberal Association._
JOHN BRIGHT, 1811-1889.
He was the son of a Rochdale cotton spinner; entered Parliament as M.P.
for Durham in 1843, and represented Manchester 1847-54, and Birmingham
from that date to his death. He was appointed President of the Board of
Trade in 1868, and in 1873 and again in 1881 Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and one of the
most eloquent and convincing speakers of the century. He is principally
remembered for his advocacy of the Repeal of the Corn Laws.]
[Sidenote: The Pioneers of Free Trade.]
[Sidenote: Failure of Potato Crop in Ireland.]
This League was a remarkable organisation under a no less remarkable
leader. Richard Cobden, the son of a yeoman farmer, was employed in his
youth in a London warehouse, and then became partner in a Manchester
cotton factory. He first attracted notice as a pamphleteer, attacking
some of the most cherished traditions of British statesmanship. He
travelled far and wide on the business of his firm, and in every country
he visited his thoughtful mind gathered material for the doctrines
inseparably associated with his name. He first entered Parliament in
1841, being recognised at that time as the leader of the movement in
the country against the corn duties. Mr. Charles Villiers had won for
himself the position of parliamentary head of the Free Trade party;
to him Cobden came not as a rival but as a wise, resourceful ally. A
third figure was soon to be added to this famous group in the person
of John Bright, a Quaker manufacturer in Rochdale. A notable trio,
each supplying the complement of the other's qualities; Villiers, of
aristocratic birth and connections, well acquainted with the rules and
peculiar temperament of the House of Commons, ardent, industrious,
and well informed; Cobden, a man of the people, temperate, just,
"the apostle of common-sense," and singularly persuasive; Bright,
intensely--sternly in earnest, possessing gifts of oratory denied to
his colleagues, but exercising them with a discretion rare among fluent
speakers. Lastly, one attribute shared equally by each of the three
men--absolute integrity and complete disinterestedness. They were
Radicals, but they dissociated themselves from all ties of political
party, looking for no reward from either side, but ready to support any
Minister who would carry out their views. Their appeal was addressed
to the understanding, not to the passions, of men: their aim was to
secure cheap food for the masses, but they never stooped to inflammatory
tirades against the classes. Hence the steady, rapid growth of the
League, and its irresistible influence on the Queen's Ministers. Mr.
Villiers had advocated for many years the total abolition of the corn
duties, and nothing less would now satisfy the League. Russell, who
scouted the very idea of absolutely free imports, had yielded so far as
to propose, in 1841, a fixed duty on foreign corn, greatly less than
the existing rate, which varied between 27_s._ and 1_s._ per quarter,
according to the market price. Peel came forward in 1842 with a more
liberal remission of duty, but although his Bill was passed by a very
large majority, all it did was to make the country party behind him
uneasy without conciliating the Anti-Corn Law people. No one but men
of the Manchester school--"Cobdenites," as they afterwards came to be
called--no one, either Whig or Tory, dreamt of denying that protection
was desirable, even necessary, for agriculture. Peel's first measure
was framed to protect wheat growers against a fall in the average
price below 56_s._ a quarter, and also to protect the consumer against
a higher price. But the corn duties had been fixed in 1815: a whole
generation had grown up under them: their outworks could not be tampered
with without risking the stability of the whole structure. It required
a momentum of extraordinary force to carry the movement against them
to success. That impetus came, in the autumn of 1845, from two sources
equally unforeseen. First arrived news of a destructive disease, wasting
the potato crop in Ireland. Potatoes had grown to be to the Irish
peasant what wheat is to English, what oats still were to Scottish
labourers. The Government were informed that one-third of the food of
the people was already destroyed, that the disease was still spreading,
and no estimate could be formed of how much of the crop could be saved.
Deadly disaster was imminent, and the Cabinet was summoned to many
anxious deliberations. The Prime Minister advocated that in order to
avert famine all ports should be thrown open to corn ships. He coupled
this advice with the warning that, once the duties were suspended,
he did not think it would be possible to re-establish them. The
warning weighed more with the Cabinet than the advice. Three Ministers
only--Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Sidney Herbert--supported
Peel's proposal. It was set aside, and a Commission was appointed
instead to take measures to mitigate the immediate necessity in Ireland.
[Illustration: _Designed by J. Flaxman, R.A._} {_In the Royal
Collection._
SILVER GILT BOWL.
This beautiful specimen of art workmanship was made for King George IV.
when Prince of Wales; the gilding alone cost £2,000. The ladle was made
for the baptism of the present Prince of Wales.]
[Illustration: _H. G. Hine._} {_From "Punch."_
GENUINE AGITATION.
_A Scene from "Julius Cæsar," with Wellington as Ghost._
In reply to questions drawing attention to the Repeal Agitation in
Ireland, the Duke of Wellington in the Lords, and Sir Robert Peel in the
Commons, expressed (May 9, 1843) the resolution of the Government to
uphold the Union at all costs, and hinted at the probable adoption of
coercive measures. The artist has made O'Connell himself the victim of
agitation at this implied threat.]
[Illustration: _R. Doyle._} {_From "Punch."_
PAPA COBDEN TAKING MASTER ROBERT A FREE TRADE WALK.
The reference is to Sir Robert Peel's gradual conversion to the views of
the "Manchester School."]
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
1. Her Majesty the Queen.
2. Prince Consort.
3. Duke of Cambridge.
4. Duke Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
5. Princess Augusta of Cambridge.
6. Duchess of Cambridge.
7. Duchess of Kent.
8. King of Prussia.
9. Earl Delawarr, Lord Chamberlain.
10. Earl of Liverpool, Lord Steward.
11. Duke of Sussex.
12. Duchess of Buccleuch, Mistress of the Robes.
13. Bishop of London.
14. Archbishop of Canterbury.
15. Prince George of Cambridge.
THE CHRISTENING OF THE PRINCE OF WALES IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR,
January 25, 1842.]
[Sidenote: Lord John Russell's conversion to Free Trade.]
The other source of impetus referred to was Lord John Russell's
declaration at this juncture of his total conversion to the principle of
free trade in corn. His proposed modification in 1841 of the duties had
been less liberal than that of Peel in 1842. It had been a fixed duty
instead of a sliding scale. But there is no reason to doubt the
sincerity of his conversion or to suspect him of merely desiring to gain
a party advantage. The circumstances of the Anti-Corn Law party at the
moment were not such as to tempt the leader of the Opposition to embrace
their programme out of a mere desire to steal a march on his opponents.
[Illustration: 1837. 1897.
456,000 1,065,487
Tonnage of Colonial Shipping. Same scale as larger diagram.]
[Illustration: 1837.--2,335,000 tons. 1897.--12,293,539 tons.
THE GROWTH OF BRITISH COMMERCE, AS INDICATED BY THE TONNAGE OF BRITISH
SHIPS IN 1837 AND IN 1897.
The diagram illustrates at once the difference in type between the ships
of the two dates, and the increase in tonnage of the whole mercantile
marine, the latter being indicated by the comparative lengths of the
ships. Each dotted square represents a million tons.]
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE "GREAT EASTERN," THE LARGEST SHIP EVER
BUILT.
The "Great Eastern" was designed by Mr. Isambard K. Brunel, and built by
Mr. Scott Russell of Millwall, at a cost of £732,000. Her keel was laid
in May 1854 and she was launched on January 31, 1858. Her length was 692
feet; width between bulwarks, 83 feet; height, 60 feet; tonnage, 22,500;
displacement when loaded, 27,384 tons; horse-power, 11,000. 30,000
wrought-iron plates were used in her hulk. She was built on the
"cellular" principle, with two skins 2 feet apart, and driven by both
paddle wheels and screw. As a passenger steamer she did not succeed; but
she laid the first successful Atlantic cable (1866) and picked up and
repaired the earlier one which had parted in mid-ocean. She was
afterwards purchased for public exhibition and finally broken up in
1891.]
[Sidenote: Peel and Repeal.]
[Sidenote: Rupture of the Tory Party.]
The immediate effect of Russell's conversion, coming on the top of
alarming news from Ireland, was to send Peel forward on a course he had
been contemplating for years. He read a memorandum to the Cabinet on
December 2 recommending that Parliament should be summoned early in
January, and that he should submit a Bill for the practical and
immediate repeal of the Corn Laws. Lord Stanley and the Duke of
Buccleuch refused their support to this policy. The Duke of Wellington
said he was still in favour of maintaining the Corn Laws, but that if
Peel considered that their repeal was necessary for the maintenance of
his position "in Parliament and in the public view," he would support
the measure. The Cabinet adjourned till next day. By some accident--it
was said that a lady was the means of it--the _Times_ became possessed
of the secret, and on December 4 the startling announcement appeared in
its columns that the Cabinet had resolved on the Repeal of the Corn
Laws. The only modern parallel to the consternation ensuing in the clubs
and the country may be found in that which took place when, in 1886, it
was made known that Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet had decided to give Home
Rule to Ireland. Many refused to believe the statement in the _Times_,
alleging that it was impossible that a Cabinet secret could have leaked
out in this way. The _Standard_ published an emphatic, though not
authoritative, contradiction of the story. Excitement and dismay,
delight and disgust, contended for mastery wheresoever a few men
gathered together: in a few days all was known. Lord Stanley--the
"Rupert of debate," as Disraeli afterwards called him--and the Duke of
Buccleuch resigned their seats in the Cabinet. Peel would not consent to
proceed without the unanimous consent of his colleagues; on December 5
he went to Osborne and tendered his resignation to the Queen. Lord John
Russell was at once sent for to form a Ministry: he attempted to do so,
but failed: Lord Grey's distrust of Lord Palmerston's foreign policy
proving a fatal obstacle to it. Peel, on being required to do so by the
Queen, withdrew his resignation and resumed the duties of office. The
Duke of Buccleuch returned as Privy Seal, but Lord Stanley was not to be
reconciled, and Mr. Gladstone entered the Cabinet for the first time as
Colonial Secretary.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches._
A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE CARES OF OFFICE AND THE EASE OF OPPOSITION.
Lord Aberdeen. Lord Palmerston.]
[Sidenote: The Corn Duties repealed.]
Parliament met on January 22, 1846. Expectation was at the boiling
point; it was one of those rare occasions, happening not more than once
or twice in an ordinary reign, when the ears of the whole country await
an announcement of interest to every class in it. Adopting an unusual,
almost unprecedented, course, the Prime Minister rose immediately after
the speeches of the mover and seconder of the Address: he entered into
no details of the measure foreshadowed in the Queen's Speech, but he
removed all shadow of doubt that the Ministry had resolved on the total
repeal of the corn duties. Those who know the ways of the House of
Commons will best understand the significance of a comment made by one
who was present. "He did not get a solitary cheer from the people behind
him except when he said that Stanley had always been against him ... and
then the whole of those benches rung with cheers." Perhaps nothing in
his speech gave deeper offence to his Party than the concluding
sentence, in which he declared that he found it "no easy task to ensure
the harmonious and united action of an ancient monarchy, a proud
aristocracy, and a reformed House of Commons."
[Illustration: _J. Doyle._ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches, 1846._
AN AWKWARD SITUATION.
The Irish Famine of 1845 caused Sir Robert Peel to embrace the principle
of Free Trade; and his party, incensed at what they considered his
"treason," rejected his Coercion Bill, and brought about the fall of his
ministry.]
[Illustration: THE GROWTH OF MAIL STEAMERS REPRESENTED BY THE CUNARD
LINE FLEET FROM 1840 TO THE PRESENT DAY.
The year 1838 was the starting point of Atlantic Ocean racing. In that
year the _Great Western_ and the _Sirius_ crossed in 18 days and 15 days
respectively. The first Cunarder, the _Britannia_, appeared in 1840, and
made the westward passage in 14 days. The following year she crossed
eastward in 10 days. In 1851 the record was reduced to 9 days 18 hours
westward by the _Baltic_, and 9 days 20 hours 16 min. eastward by the
_Pacific_. In 1863 the _Scotia_, of the Cunard line, crossed eastward in
8 days 3 hours, and in the following year returned in 8 days 15 hours 45
min. Five years later the _City of Brussels_, of the Inman Line,
travelled between New York and Liverpool in 7 days 22 hours 3 min., but
the _Baltic_, of the White Star Line, lowered this by 2 hours four years
later. The _Arizona_ and _Alaska_ improved the speed between 1880 and
1885, the latter making the passage eastward in 6 days 22 hours. The
ill-fated _Oregon_ came eastward in 6 days 11 hours 9 min. in 1884,
while the _Etruria_ went westward in 6 days 1 hour 55 min. In 1889 the
_City of Paris_ lowered the eastward and westward journeys to 5 days 22
hours 50 min., and 5 days 19 hours 18 min., respectively, while two
years later the _Teutonic_ reduced this still further by 3 hours each
way. Finally the _Campania_ and _Lucania_ appeared in 1893, the latter
establishing the record eastwards of 5 days 8 hours 38 min. and
westwards of 5 days 7 hours 23 min. Mails have been carried per the
_Lucania_ between New York Post Office and the London Central Office in
156·7 hours.]
The spokesman of the angry Tories was one of whom much was to be heard
in coming years. Benjamin Disraeli had done nothing as yet to redeem the
apparently hopeless failure of his maiden speech in 1837. Outwardly, a
remarkable figure enough, in a Parliamentary sense he was no more than
obscure when he rose from his seat on the Government benches to lead the
first attack on the new policy. He was bitter, he was personal, but he
was adroitly opportune; and his fame as a statesman dates from that
day.
[Sidenote: Defeat and Resignation of the Government.]
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts, R.A._} {_In the National Portrait Gallery._
THE SEVENTH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY,
1801-1885.
The Rt. Hon. Anthony Ashley-Cooper entered Parliament, as M.P. for
Woodstock, in 1826. He was then known as Lord Ashley. In 1842 he secured
the exclusion of women and children from mines, and in 1844 the passing
of the Ten Hours Bill. He succeeded to the Earldom in 1851. His life was
devoted to practical philanthropy.]
The immediate result was a split--a secession. The House of Commons
ratified Peel's policy by a majority of ninety-seven, but Disraeli
himself has put on record the feelings which animated Peel's ancient
supporters. "Vengeance had succeeded in most breasts to the more
sanguine sentiment: the field was lost, but at any rate there should be
retribution for those who had betrayed it."
The opportunity for vengeance was not long delayed. The Corn Bill left
the House of Commons on May 15. On June 25 it passed the third reading
in the House of Lords, and the most momentous measure of Queen
Victoria's reign awaited only the Royal Assent to complete it. On that
very night the House of Commons were to divide on one of those Bills
conferring extraordinary powers on the Executive in Ireland which it has
been the fate of successive Governments to introduce--Coercion Bills, as
they are called for short. The Protectionists perceived what lay in
their power: if they threw their weight in with the regular Opposition
and O'Connell's Irish Catholics, they could defeat their lost leader.
About eighty of them did so: the rest stayed away and Ministers were
left in a minority of seventy-three.
Peel resigned: "he had lost a party but won a nation." He never returned
to office, but, though he did not live to see it, the principles for
which he fought and fell became those of the Conservative party.
[Sidenote: Review of Peel's Administration.]
During the five years of his last Administration he had restored
equilibrium to the national finances. He turned the deficit of two
millions to which he succeeded to a surplus of five millions in 1845. He
carried the grant to the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth against the
votes of half his own party, though it cost him the loss of his
colleague, Mr. W. E. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone himself lived to abolish
the grant, for it was he who ruled the whirlwind that swept away the
Irish State Church in 1866, and the Maynooth grants disappeared with it.
Peel's Administration must also be credited with a marked advance in
legislation for the working classes. Lord Ashley (better known in later
years as Earl of Shaftesbury) had obtained the appointment of a
Commission to inquire into the employment of women in collieries: the
horrible evils thereby brought to light, the infamous degradation of
women and girls, harnessed like beasts of draught with a girdle round
their waist--unclothed, unwashed, and sometimes hopelessly
crippled--deeply moved the public mind, and the Act of 1842, prohibiting
the employment of females in mines, passed almost without opposition.
More prolonged was the resistance to the Factory Act of 1844, regulating
the hours of labour of youthful persons. This beneficent legislation
should not be overlooked in the glare of conflict over the Corn Laws.
[Illustration: _Sir E. Landseer, R.A._} {_In the Royal Collection (by
permission of Messrs. Graves)._
THE QUEEN, PRINCE CONSORT, AND PRINCESS ROYAL, AT WINDSOR CASTLE,
1843.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY RECEIVING KING LOUIS PHILIPPE AT WINDSOR CASTLE, October 8,
1844.
Louis Philippe was the first French Monarch who ever set foot in the
British Islands on a visit of peace. The Prince Consort met him at
Portsmouth and accompanied him to Windsor, where the Queen awaited him.
At the banquet "he talked to me," writes the Queen, "of the time when he
was in a school in the Grisons, a teacher merely, receiving twenty pence
a day, having to brush his own boots, and under the name of Chabot." On
the following day he was installed Knight of the Garter. He left England
on the 13th.]
CHAPTER IV.
1833-1849.
The Churches of England and Scotland--"Tracts for the
Times"--Newman, Keble, and Pusey--"Ten Years' Conflict" in
Scotland--Disruption of the Church--Dr. Chalmers--Rise of the
Free Church--Affairs of British India--First Sikh War--Battles
of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon--Second Sikh
War--Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson--Battle of
Ramnuggur--Siege and Fall of Mooltan--Battles of Chilianwalla
and Goojerat--Annexation of the Punjab.
[Sidenote: The Churches of England and Scotland.]
The upheavals which took place simultaneously in the Established
Churches of England and Scotland, during the early years of Victoria's
reign, and so profoundly stirred religious sentiment in both countries,
can scarcely have arisen from independent centres of disturbance, though
the connection between them is not easy to trace. They were the outcome
of an awaking from the condition of inactivity and routine into which
both these Protestant Churches had passed after the agitating events of
the seventeenth century, and an attempt on the part of the more active
intellects, both in clergy and people, to restore ecclesiastical
authority and discipline.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._} {_By permission of Mr. McLean._
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, 1801-1890.
Cardinal-Deacon of the Church of Rome. Was the son of a London Banker.
Took orders in the Anglican Church in 1824; was appointed Incumbent of
St. Mary's, Oxford, in 1828, and held that appointment until 1842. He
seceded to the Church of Rome in 1845, and was created a Cardinal in
1879 by Leo XIII.]
[Illustration: _Miss Rosa Corder._} {_In the Pusey House, Oxford._
Dr. E. B. PUSEY, 1800-1882.
Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church College, Oxford, 1828. He
wrote several of the "Tracts for the Times." On the secession of Newman
he became the virtual leader of the Tractarian movement.]
[Sidenote: "Tracts for the Times." Newman, Keble, and Pusey.]
The movement in England has been reckoned by the late Cardinal Newman,
himself one of the leading spirits in it before his secession to Rome,
as beginning with a sermon preached by John Keble in the University
pulpit, Oxford, on July 14, 1833, afterwards published under the title
"National Apostasy." About the same time began the publication of
"Tracts for the Times," conducted by a group of earnest, active men,
including Newman, Keble, Pusey, and others, advocating a revival of High
Church observances as a means of quickening spiritual life and a
restoration of the patristic doctrines and practice in Church government
and services. From these tracts the movement became known as
"Tractarian," till in 1841 their publication came to a sudden end by
reason of the famous Tract No. 90, written by Newman, and deeply
offensive to Protestant feeling in England. Newman joined the Church of
Rome in 1845, and thereafter the term "Puseyite" was popularly used to
designate this party.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._}
THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, 1792-1866.
One of the leaders of the Tractarian movement. He is best known by his
hymns published under the titles of "The Christian Year" (1827) and
"Lyra Innocentium" (1847). He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1831,
and Vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, 1835-1866. Keble College, Oxford,
was erected to his memory.]
[Illustration: _J. Faed._}
DR. THOS. CHALMERS, 1780-1847.
As minister of the Tron Church, Glasgow (1815), he obtained a great
reputation. He was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at St.
Andrew's, 1823, of Theology at Edinburgh in 1828, and led the great
secession in 1843. He was the first Moderator of, and was elected
Principal and Primarius Professor of Theology in, the Free Church of
Scotland.]
[Sidenote: The "Ten Years' Conflict" in Scotland.]
[Sidenote: Disruption of the Church.]
[Sidenote: Dr. Chalmers.]
[Sidenote: Rise of the Free Church.]
The corresponding movement in the Established Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, commonly referred to as the Ten Years' Conflict, arose out of
a question of Church government rather than one of theology. Lay
patronage had been imposed on the Church of Scotland by the Act of 1712.
The revival of spiritual activity, which in England took the shape of
the Tractarian movement, was equally perceptible in Scotland, and
resulted in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passing the
Veto Act in 1834, by which it was declared to be a fundamental law of
the Church that no pastor could be appointed to a parish against the
will of the majority of the congregation. It was not long before this
led to appeals from the Ecclesiastical to the Civil Courts. In 1842 the
General Assembly presented to the Queen a "claim, declaration, and
protest," accompanied by an address praying for the abolition of
patronage, to which the Home Secretary made reply that the Government
could not interfere. In March 1843, the House of Commons decided by 211
votes to 76 against attempting to redress the grievance, and on May 18
following, the non-intrusion party withdrew from the General Assembly
and constituted the first Assembly of the Free Church, under the
leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers. The action was all the more
significant because Chalmers, the most powerful and popular preacher in
the Scottish Church of that day, and a distinguished leader of
ecclesiastical thought, had hitherto been a powerful champion of the
connection of Church and State. But he had thrown himself with great
earnestness into the work of reclaiming the masses and bringing them
into direct relations with the Church, and he felt convinced that this
great work could not be carried to success unless the Church were free
to choose her own instruments. Four hundred and seventy parish ministers
resigned their livings and joined the Free Church. A sustentation fund
was set up, based on a calculation made by Chalmers that a penny a week
from each member of a congregation would produce a stipend of £150 a
year for 500 ministers. It amounted to no less than £367,000 in the
first year of disruption.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches._
AN OLD SO'GER IN MARCHING ORDER.
General Sir Charles Napier, 1782-1853.]
[Illustration: _H. Martens._} {_From a Coloured Engraving._
THE BATTLE OF SOBRAON, February 10, 1846.
This illustration is reduced from a popular, but somewhat quaint,
coloured print representing the 31st Regiment, with Major-General Sir
Henry Smith's division, in action at Sobraon. It forms an instructive
contrast with the military prints of the present day.]
[Sidenote: Affairs of British India.]
[Sidenote: The First Sikh War.]
[Sidenote: Battles of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon.]
The existence of British territory in India, side by side with territory
under British protection and States wholly under native rule, was a
condition of things neither conducive to peace nor likely to be of a
permanent nature. A single spark dropped among the warlike races
inhabiting that vast peninsula was often enough to cause wide-spreading
conflagration; and, however agreeable it might be to British
consciences, it would be unphilosophic in the highest degree to
attribute the blame for such outbreaks exclusively to the native rulers
and people. Trouble broke out early in 1843 which led to the annexation
by the British of Scinde, a fine territory lying between the Indian
Ocean and the Cutch on the south, and southern Afghanistan and
the Punjab on the north. Scinde had been divided into three
provinces--Hyderabad, Khyrpore, and Meerpore--each ruled by a group of
Ameers or hereditary chiefs, descended from Beloochee conquerors, who,
it was said, most cruelly oppressed the people under them. Successive
treaties had been effected with these rulers by the Indian Government,
but the disaster which fell on the British arms in Cabul seems to have
encouraged them to withhold some of the tribute due by them under the
latest treaty, and they began warlike preparations. In 1842 Lord
Ellenborough appointed Sir Charles Napier Commander-in-Chief of the
British troops in Scinde, with instructions to inflict signal punishment
on any chiefs detected in treachery, at the same time empowering him to
make a fresh treaty, relieving the Ameers from the payment of any
subsidy for the support of British troops. This treaty was at length
signed, though it must be confessed that the Ameers were only induced
to consent to it by the threatening display of Napier's force. On
February 15, 1843, the British Residency at Hyderabad was attacked by
8,000 troops with six guns, led by one or more of the Ameers, and the
garrison of 100 men under Major Outram was driven out after a gallant
resistance. Napier marched to Muttaree the following day with a force of
3,000, attacked the Ameers, who had an army of 22,000 Beloochees, on the
morning of the 17th at Meeanee, six miles from Hyderabad, defeated them,
and captured their whole artillery, ammunition, baggage, and
considerable treasure. The British loss amounted to 256 killed and
wounded. Hyderabad was occupied, but the Ameer of Meerpore was still
under arms, holding a strong position at Dubba, about four miles from
Hyderabad, with 20,000 men. Napier attacked him, and a battle lasting
for three hours ended in the complete defeat of Shere Mahomed and the
occupation of Meerpore by the British. Sir Charles Napier continued
warlike operations at intervals against the hill tribes north of
Shikarpore, and there can be but one opinion of the masterly way in
which he handled the troops under his command. But the policy of the
Governor-General was open to some difference of opinion. He had carried
things with a high hand in dealing with the Ameers, and early in 1844 he
was recalled by the unanimous vote of the Court of Directors of the East
India Company, and Sir Henry Hardinge was appointed in his place.
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves, Pall Mall._
SIR HENRY, AFTERWARDS VISCOUNT, HARDINGE AND HIS STAFF AT FEROZESHAH.]
Hardinge applied himself to the peaceful preparation of railroad schemes
for the development of India, but at the close of 1845 events again
forced the Government forward on the path of fresh conquest. At that
time the Punjab, a kingdom consisting both of independent Sikh States
and those under British protection, was under nominal rule of the
boy-king, Dhuleep Singh, and his mother, the Ranee; but his government
at Lahore was distracted by faction and lay at the mercy of his own
powerful army. In December 1845, the Sikh forces, for some reason which
has never been clearly explained, began massing on the British frontier,
and crossed the Sutlej, 15,000 or 20,000 strong, on the 13th. Sir Hugh
Gough advanced by forced marches to meet them, attacked them at Moodkee
and defeated them, capturing seventeen guns. The Sikhs retired to a
strongly-entrenched camp at Ferozeshah, whither Gough, reinforced by Sir
John Littler's division from Ferozepore, followed them on the 21st. The
Sikh army was now upwards of 50,000 strong, with 108 heavy guns in fixed
batteries. The British force consisted of 16,700 men and sixty-nine
guns, chiefly horse artillery. There ensued one of the severest
conflicts in the history of our Indian Empire. Beginning on the 21st it
lasted through part of the 22nd, and ended in the gallant Sikhs being
driven across the Sutlej with the loss of many killed and wounded, and
no less than seventy guns. The Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge,
acted as a volunteer, second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, in this
memorable action.
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves._
FIELD MARSHAL HUGH, VISCOUNT GOUGH, 1779-1869.
Entered the Army in 1794 and served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the
Peninsular War. He commanded at the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and
Sobraon, and was raised to the Peerage as a reward for these great
victories. In the second Sikh War in 1848 he commanded in the actions at
Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]
[Sidenote: The Second Sikh War.]
Early in January 1846, Sirdar Runjoor Singh, again advancing towards the
frontier, took up a strong position on the British side of the Sutlej,
threatening Gough's line of communications with Loodiana. Major-General
Sir Harry Smith attacked him at Aliwal on January 28, and,
notwithstanding the great superiority in numbers of the enemy, obtained
a brilliant victory over the Sikhs, capturing their camp and fifty-two
guns. But more fighting had to be done before the army of the Punjab
could be finally subdued. The Sikhs still lay at Sobraon with 30,000 of
their best troops, defended by a triple line of breastworks, flanked by
redoubts, and armed with seventy guns. Here Sir Hugh Gough attacked them
on the morning of February 10, the Governor-General again being present
as second in command. At nine o'clock, after an hour's cannonade,
Brigadier Stacey advanced to storm the entrenchments with four
battalions, which behaved with splendid gallantry under a very heavy and
well-directed fire. They stormed the position, and, being well
supported, forced their way into the fortress. By eleven o'clock all was
over. The Sikhs were in full flight across the Sutlej, leaving behind
them piles of dead and wounded, sixty-seven guns, 200 camel swivels, and
all their baggage and ammunition. The British loss consisted of 320
killed, including seventeen officers (among whom were Major-General Sir
Robert Dick, General McLaren, and Brigadier Taylor), and 2,063 wounded,
including 139 officers. But the carnage among the Sikhs was far more
terrible. It is supposed that not less than eight or ten thousand of
them perished in action or were drowned in crossing the river under the
fire of the British artillery. On February 22 Gough occupied the citadel
of Lahore; the Governor-General issued a proclamation from that place,
and a treaty was subsequently concluded establishing Dhuleep Singh as
Maharajah, tributary to the British Government.
[Sidenote: Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson. Battle of Ramnuggur.]
War broke out again in the Punjab in 1848. On April 17 Mr. Vans Agnew
and Lieutenant Anderson, British Agents at Mooltan, were murdered. On
August 18 General Whish besieged Mooltan with 28,000 men. Lord Gough
arrived on November 21, and took command of the entire British force.
Next day he advanced to attack the enemy at Ramnuggur, where both banks
of the river were held by the Sikhs. By a most unfortunate piece of
strategy the cavalry division, consisting of the 3rd Dragoons and the
5th, 8th, and 14th Light Horse, supported by Horse Artillery, were
ordered forward under General Cureton to dislodge the enemy from the
left bank of the river. This they accomplished with admirable
gallantry, but not without suffering terrible loss, owing to the
difficult nature of the ground. Colonel Havelock fell at the head of the
14th Light Dragoons; General Cureton and Captain Fitzgerald were also
killed. On December 2 Lord Gough crossed the Chenab, and the enemy,
after exchanging a cannonade for several hours, retired towards the
north-west.
[Sidenote: Siege and Fall of Mooltan.]
Meantime, General Whish was carrying on the siege of Mooltan with an
army of 32,000 men and 150 guns. It is impossible to speak too highly of
the splendid defence made by the Sikhs under Moolraj. By December 29 the
British siege guns were bombarding the city walls at eighty yards range.
On the 30th the principal magazine in the citadel blew up with a
terrific explosion, and the town was in flames. Still the brave garrison
fought on. The bombardment continued without intermission for fifty
hours. On January 2, 1849, the town, or the wreck of what had once been
a town, was taken by assault; but the citadel still held out. From the
4th to the 18th it was incessantly bombarded, and mines were exploded at
intervals under the walls, till at last, on the 21st, two wide breaches
had been made, and a general assault was ordered for the following day.
Moolraj anticipated this by unconditional surrender. His garrison, less
than 4,000 men, marched into the British lines to lay down their arms;
the last man to leave the fort, in the heroic defence of which he had
won undying glory, was Moolraj, dressed in gorgeous silks, splendidly
armed, riding a superb Arab with a scarlet saddle-cloth.
[Sidenote: Battles of Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]
After the fall of Mooltan General Whish joined forces with Lord Gough,
who, as described above, had driven the enemy from their encampment at
Ramnuggur on November 22. It was believed that the rebellion was broken,
and that the Sikhs would not again meet our army in the field. But our
generals had still to learn the extraordinary resolution and resources
of this fine race. Chuttur Singh and his son Shere Singh still commanded
nearly 40,000 men with sixty-two guns, and had captured Attock, a fort
defended by Major Herbert. Gough advanced to attack the chiefs on
January 13, 1849, in their position on the Upper Jhelum near the village
of Chilianwalla, a name of melancholy associations in British annals.
The Sikhs, indeed, withdrew, but they carried with them four British
guns and five stand of colours. The British loss was terrible, amounting
to twenty-six officers and 731 men killed, and sixty-six officers and
1,446 men wounded. Lord Gough was blamed for bad generalship in this
action: he was recalled from his command, and Sir Charles Napier was
appointed in his place. But fortune was kind to a brave soldier. Before
the orders from home could reach him, Gough, having followed the enemy,
retrieved the disaster of Chilianwalla by inflicting on Shere Singh a
crushing defeat at Goojerat on February 21, pursuing him into the Khoree
Pass. On March 6 Shere Singh surrendered unconditionally, and on the
29th a proclamation was issued by the Governor-General permanently
annexing the Punjab to the British Empire.
[Illustration: _D. Maclise, R.A._} {_From the Original Sketch in the
South Kensington Museum._
CHARLES DICKENS, 1812-1870. WITH HIS WIFE AND WIFE'S SISTER.
While the events recorded in these chapters were enacting, those books
were appearing in rapid succession which have made Dickens's name a
household word. Dickens was born at Portsmouth, where his father held an
appointment in the Navy Pay Office. In early life he learned by
experience what poverty meant; but his earliest writings, the "Sketches
by Boz" (1836), brought him immediate celebrity. The "Pickwick Papers"
appeared in 1837, then in succession, "Oliver Twist," "Nicholas
Nickleby," "The Old Curiosity Shop," and "Barnaby Rudge." "David
Copperfield" appeared in 1850, and "Edwin Drood" was in course of
publication (1870) when its author died. He is buried in Poet's Corner,
Westminster Abbey.]
[Illustration: _T. Phillips, R.A._} {_In the National Portrait Gallery._
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, 1786-1847.
Entered the Navy in 1801, and was present at the Battles of Copenhagen
and Trafalgar. He conducted several Expeditions to the Arctic regions.
In March 1845 he sailed in command of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ in
search of the "North-West Passage." Nothing was heard of them for years,
but in 1859 the _Fox_, fitted out by Lady Franklin and commanded by Sir
Leopold McClintock, found relics, now in Greenwich Hospital, which left
no doubt of the total loss of the ships and all lives.]
[Illustration: _G. R. Gilbert._} {_In the Royal Collection._
NAVAL REVIEW OF 1845.
Her Majesty and the Prince Consort in the Royal Yacht reviewing the
Experimental Squadron at Spithead, July 15, 1845.]
CHAPTER V.
1846-1850.
The Irish Famine--Smith O'Brien's Rebellion--Widow Cormack's
Cabbages--The Special Commission--Revival of the Chartist
Movement--The Monster Petition--Its Exposure and Collapse of the
Movement--Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those
in other Countries--Growing Affection for the Queen--Its
Causes--Royal Visit to Ireland--The Pacifico Imbroglio--Rupture
with France Imminent--_Civis Romanus Sum_--Lord Palmerston's
Rise--Sir Robert Peel's Death--The Invention of Chloroform.
[Sidenote: The Irish Famine.]
The condition of affairs in Ireland, with which it had fallen to the
Russell Ministry to deal on entering office in 1846, had become truly
appalling. Nearly a million of money had been expended by Peel's
Government in relief of the distress caused by the failure of the potato
crop in 1845, and the disease had reappeared with greater intensity in
the following season. Further measures of relief were brought forward by
the Prime Minister; charitable subscriptions poured in from every town
in England and Scotland; nearly every country in Europe, including even
Turkey, contributed help in the hour of need, and the United States
Government freighted some of their war vessels with grain for their
starving cousins.
[Illustration: THE FIRST CLOSED DIVING HELMET.
Invented by A. Siebe, 1839. Now in the Patents Museum. South
Kensington.]
Nevertheless, the situation was one of extraordinary perplexity. In the
footprints of famine stalked sedition. Agrarian murders rose to a
frightful figure; secret societies grew apace; midnight drilling went on
in almost every county; and that very peasantry whose destitution had
touched the hearts of the whole civilised world, proved themselves able
to buy enormous quantities of arms and ammunition. In Clonmel alone,
1,138 stand of arms were sold in a few days, and everywhere, to quote a
letter written at the time, "the peasantry are armed or are arming
almost to a man. The stores of the armourer are more frequently
exhausted than the provision stores." So brisk was the demand as to
cause a revival of the gun trade in Birmingham, where the existing stock
of small arms was entirely cleared out. But there could be no doubt of
the reality and severity of the distress. It was worst in the south and
west; famine and famine-fever carried off thousands, and the population
of Ireland, which had stood at eight millions in 1845, could only be
reckoned at six millions in 1848. The difference, however, was not
entirely due to deaths by starvation or disease. The westward stream of
emigration had set in, and tens of thousands of Irish families sought
and found the means of better existence in the land of plenty beyond the
Atlantic.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches, 1847._
AN INTERESTING GROUP; OR, "MISFORTUNE MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS."
Lord Lincoln, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Goulbourne, Mr. Disraeli, Lord George
Bentinck, and Mr. O'Brien.
Lord George Bentinck's plan of relief works for Ireland, which mainly
took the form of railway extension, was at first opposed by the
Government, but afterwards adopted by them, thus bringing this
"interesting group" of men into line.]
But the ferment of rebellion was spreading swiftly among those who
remained. All the misery of the famine was laid at the door of the land
system; not unfrequently coroners' juries returned verdicts of wilful
murder against the Prime Minister or Lord Lieutenant, holding them
directly responsible for not averting the disasters of the country. Once
more the Government had to undertake the hateful task of bringing
forward a Coercion Bill, for the people seemed on the brink of civil
war. Technically that limit was actually transgressed, though the means
were ludicrously inadequate to the end--repeal of the Union. The "Young
Ireland" party, inflamed by the successful revolution in France,
separated from and plunged ahead of O'Connor's Repealers. O'Connor had
precipitated the rupture by endeavouring to induce his party to pledge
themselves against any except constitutional means. His proposal was
laughed to scorn. William Smith O'Brien, brother of Lord Inchiquin,
claiming descent from Brian Boruibh, placed himself at the head of the
"Confederates," as the new party was called, with Meagher, Dillon, and
others as his lieutenants; the _United Irishman_ newspaper was started
in opposition to the less inflammatory _Nation_, the organ of the older
party. It was managed by John Mitchell, who filled its columns week by
week with the most violent and acrid sedition.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES Christmas 1846.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT WITH THE ROYAL CHILDREN, 1846.
The Princess Royal (born 1840), Prince of Wales (1841), Princess Alice
(1843), Prince Alfred (1844), and Princess Helena (1846).]
[Sidenote: Smith O'Brien's Rebellion.]
[Sidenote: Widow Cormack's Cabbages.]
[Sidenote: The Special Commission.]
It was impossible for the Government to allow this sort of stuff to be
circulated among an excitable peasantry, smarting under imaginary wrongs
and real distress and armed to the teeth; but the existing law contained
no provisions framed to stop it. The Prime Minister, therefore,
introduced and passed what is known as the Treason Felony Act, making
written incitement to insurrection a crime punishable with
transportation, and enabling the Executive to imprison persons charged
with contravention of it. Mitchell was arrested at once, but Smith
O'Brien continued to hold armed meetings in various parts of Ireland:
matters looked threatening, and there was grave apprehension in England
as to the result. On the morning of August 7 it was turned into mirth by
the arrival in London from Liverpool of one of the first telegraphic
despatches of importance ever published in this country. Rebellion had
actually broken out: Smith O'Brien in person had led a considerable
force to attack a body of fifty or sixty police, who defended themselves
in the house of one Widow Cormack, near Ballingarry, in Tipperary. A
good deal of firing took place but very little bloodshed; thanks, on the
one hand, to the indifferent arms carried by the rebels, and, on the
other, to the forbearance of the police, who could easily have shot
O'Brien, so theatrically did he expose himself during the brief contest.
The chief damage was done to the poor widow's cabbages, which the
Confederates trampled to pieces in the garden adjoining the house. The
affair was soon over: the patriots, not relishing a few rounds from the
muskets of the police, melted quickly away, and the heroic O'Brien was
arrested in the act of taking his railway ticket at Thurles station. It
is unlucky for any cause--it is worse, it is fatal to it--when it
becomes ridiculous, and people have never since been able to mention
Smith O'Brien's cabbage garden without a grin. But the general state of
Ireland had grown to be no laughing matter. The number of persons
arrested for complicity in seditions, or for the frequent murders of
landlords, agents, and policemen far exceeded what the ordinary
tribunals of the country could deal with, and a special Commission of
judges was appointed to try them.
[Illustration: THE "SPURN" LIGHTSHIP.
The first light-vessel was moored at the Nore in 1732. Since that date,
to the untechnical eye, the change in the outward appearance of a
lightship has not been great; but the efficiency of the light has been
increased, since 1837, from about 1,500 candles to about 20,000 candles.
The _Spurn_ Lightship shows a light of the power just named, and in
foggy weather sounds a powerful siren in place of the old-fashioned
gong.]
[Illustration: THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
The present Lighthouse was erected in 1881, when Smeaton's celebrated
tower was removed to the Hoe at Plymouth, except the lowermost courses,
which are shown in the picture and still remain on the rock. The lantern
sends out a series of flashes of 79,000 candle-power.]
[Illustration: THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE IN 1837.
With the exception of Smeaton's tower at the Eddystone and that on the
Bell Rock, this was the only rock Lighthouse on the coast of Great
Britain in 1837. It was built on oak piles, and in stormy weather rocked
like a ship. Its lantern was furnished with twenty-seven argand lamps
with reflectors, giving a light of about 3,000 candle-power. It was
superseded by the present granite tower in 1861.]
[Sidenote: Revival of the Chartist Movement.]
The spirit of revolution was astir in many lands besides Ireland in the
year when Louis Philippe was forced from the throne of France. In
England the Chartist movement was sympathetically inflamed into renewed
activity. A Chartist convention assembled in London in spring and made
arrangements for a monster demonstration to be held on Kennington Common
on April 10. But the Convention had hardly begun deliberating before
disunion appeared in its councils. There were two parties among the
Chartists--the constitutional Radicals and the physical force party. The
latter were for assembling on Kennington Common under arms; but the
venerable leader of the whole movement, Feargus O'Connor, would have
nothing to do with unconstitutional or violent proceedings. The
consequence of this was a rupture in the camp. Every preparation was
made by the authorities to protect London from the ravages of a mob: the
troops were under arms: the police mustered in great force: thousands of
special constables were sworn in, and the Chartist procession was
prohibited. But about 20,000 Chartists did assemble on the Common to
listen to harangues by O'Connor and others. O'Connor then went to the
Home Office, interviewed Sir George Grey, and told him the meeting had
taken place without disorder. "Are you going back to it?" asked Grey.
"No," replied O'Connor, "I've had my toes trodden on till I'm lame: my
pocket has been picked, and I'll have no more to do with them."
[Illustration: DIOPTRIC LANTERN.
The series of circular glass prisms collects the rays from the
lamp--usually an oil lamp with several concentric wicks--and
concentrates them into a horizontal beam of great power. The Lantern
illustrated is that of the Lighthouse at Spurn Point, and is the most
powerful oil Lantern yet made; it has a maximum intensity of 179,000
candles. But this power is greatly exceeded by the electric lights at
St. Catherine's, the Lizard, and elsewhere.]
[Sidenote: The Monster Petition.]
[Sidenote: Its Exposure, and Collapse of the Movement.]
It was ridicule--that universal solvent--which finally shattered this
once formidable Chartist League. A monster petition to Parliament had
been in course of signature for some months. Feargus O'Connor, in
presenting it, declared that 5,700,000 names were attached to it. It was
remitted in the ordinary course to the Committee on Public Petitions,
who employed a number of clerks to examine the signatures. The result
was speedily made known. Instead of nearly six million names, less than
two million were appended to it. Whole sheets of these were found to
have been written by the same hand. But the crowning exposure, which
convulsed the whole nation with laughter, appeared from the analysis of
the names themselves. Those of the Queen and Prince Albert, of Ministers
and leaders of Opposition were of frequent occurrence; noted names in
fiction, especially that of "Cheeks the Marine," a familiar character in
Marryat's novels, then very popular, appeared in every sheet, besides
all sorts of ribaldries, indecencies, and buffooneries. Chartism was a
genuine and an earnest movement: it was an upheaval against class
privileges, a revolt against class grievances. But these privileges and
grievances were in course of removal; the extension of the franchise had
brought about repeal of the corn laws, laid the foundation of free
trade, and redressed some, at least, of the evils prevalent in factories
and mines. Much remained to be done, which has been done since, but
Chartism was to have no hand in the doing of it. As a political force it
collapsed; as a social movement it crumbled away under the intolerable
ridicule of the Monster Petition.
[Illustration: SECTIONS OF THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE,
Shewing the interior, and the method of morticing the stones for greater
security. The Lantern is a double dioptric one, and consists of two such
arrangements as that shewn on the left of this page placed one above the
other. The fog-signal is an explosive one of gun-cotton.]
[Sidenote: Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those in
other Countries.]
It will be long before English statesmen forget the lessons of 1848-9.
During these years the whole of Europe was convulsed by violent popular
conflicts with authority. In France the Bourbon dynasty collapsed with
the abdication of Louis Philippe, and then, to repeat Mr. Justin
McCarthy's happy phrase, "came a Red Republican rising against a
Republic that strove not to be red," to be drowned in blood by
Cavaignac. The Pope was chased from Rome, the Emperor of Austria from
Vienna, the Italian princes from their duchies, the German rulers from
their principalities; there were sanguinary struggles in Poland, in
Naples, in Sardinia; while Great Britain had only to blush for Widow
Cormack's cabbages and the picking of Feargus O'Connor's pocket at
Kennington. Yet there was no doubt of the earnestness of the leaders of
agitation and insurrection in England: no question about the reality of
the grievances.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, no ineffective safety valves
in times of discontent, were tolerated in the United Kingdom--then, as
now--far beyond the limits of public security, as these were reckoned by
every other European State. But the chief safety of England lay in the
faith of the masses in the power of Parliament to devise measures of
redress, and their confidence that the Sovereign would interpose no bar
to remedial legislation. Nor have that faith and confidence been
betrayed. Throughout all the years that have elapsed since the
dissolution of the Chartist League, Parliament has been diligent in
devising measures to meet the ever-changing and growing wants of the
people, and the Royal Assent has always been cordially given to them.
The Queen and her Consort do not appear very prominently or very often
in the chronicles of these early years, but all the time there had been
growing silently that popular affection for the Sovereign which
disappeared entirely from practical politics with the active reign of
George III. The qualities of Prince Albert, his industry, his untiring
anxiety for the welfare of the people, his unobtrusive influence in
favour of freedom, were becoming known: the Crown was becoming more than
the decorative centre of the Court--the mere frontispiece of the
aristocracy--it was becoming recognised as the actual head of the
British people.
[Illustration: _J. D. Francis._} {_From an Engraving._
HER MAJESTY IN THE WALKING COSTUME OF 1846.]
[Sidenote: Growing Affection for the Queen. Its Causes.]
[Sidenote: Royal Visit to Ireland.]
The growing affection of the people for their Queen was stimulated about
this time by the act of a harebrained scamp who, on May 17, discharged a
rusty pistol, loaded, it is believed, with no deadly missile, at Her
Majesty as she was driving in Constitution Hill with three of her
children. The fact that the wretch was an Irishman was regarded rightly
as being of no political significance, and it was a happy--it was more,
it was a wise--project which was carried into effect by the visit of the
Queen and Prince Albert, with the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal, to
Ireland in August 1849. The Royal yacht was escorted by four warships,
but the reception they met with at Cork, at Dublin, and at Belfast
proved that to be but a formal precaution. Perhaps, had it been possible
in later years that the Monarch and her family should become more
familiar to the warm-hearted Irish, many subsequent misfortunes and
misunderstandings might never have taken place.
[Illustration: A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM IN 1837 AND 1897.]
[Sidenote: The Pacifico Imbroglio.]
The Parliamentary session of 1850 must ever be memorable for two
events--the sudden rise of Lord Palmerston into fame and popularity, and
the equally sudden removal of the most illustrious figure in the House
of Commons. The debate, which was the occasion of the first, and
immediately preceded the second of these events, arose out of one of the
most trivial and least creditable matters that ever agitated the
Councils and menaced the peace of a great nation. Certain British
subjects had suffered loss in the destruction of their property during
the disturbances at Athens in 1847, and had lodged claims for
compensation against the Greek Government. The principal sufferer was a
Portuguese Jew, named Pacifico, a British subject in virtue of having
been born in Gibraltar. The Greeks were needy and delayed a settlement.
Then there was Mr. Finlay, too, the historian of Greece, long resident
at Athens, who had a grievance of a different sort, arising out of a
demand made by the Greek Government that he should surrender a piece of
land at less than he considered its value. The strange thing was that
Palmerston took up these private claims as an international question,
although neither of the claimants had tried the experiment of litigation
in the Greek courts. A British squadron was ordered to the Piræus, all
the Greek vessels in that harbour were seized, and Athens was blockaded.
The Greeks appealed to the governments of France and Russia, who
remonstrated with Great Britain touching this high-handed dealing with a
weak State. Russia was rudely outspoken and menacing: she was told
bluntly by Lord Palmerston that it was none of her business. France was
more conciliatory, and by her aid a convention in regard to the disputed
claims was arranged in London. But there was so much delay in
communicating the result to the British Ambassador in Athens, Mr. Wyse,
that he was left in ignorance that a modified payment had been agreed
on, and continued to press for payment of the full claims. Thereupon
arose serious misunderstanding between the British and French
Governments, England being accused of breach of faith. Appearances were
certainly against her; the French Ambassador was recalled from London,
and two great nations seemed on the brink of war.
[Illustration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
THE GRECIAN DIFFICULTY.
Mr. Punch: "Why don't you hit one of your own size?"]
[Illustration: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF YE ENGLYSHE IN 1849. No. 8.
YE COMMONS RESSOLVED INTO A COMMYTTEE OF YE WHOLE HOUSE.
_Richard Doyle._} {_From "Punch."_]
[Sidenote: Rupture with France Imminent.]
[Sidenote: Civis Romanus Sum.]
The Government had a wretchedly bad case to defend in Parliament; a
case, too, which had been damaged by the introduction of that element
which had told with such fatal effect against the Chartists and Smith
O'Brien's Confederates--the element of ridicule. For the grasping Jew
Pacifico had specified in his bill against the Greek Government various
possessions strangely out of keeping with what had always been his
modest household. Among the articles alleged to have been destroyed by
fire were a bedstead, valued at £150, sheets for the same at £30, and a
pillow-case at £10. Ministers already beaten in the Upper House stood in
a critical position in the Lower. But Lord Palmerston rose to the
occasion, and exhibited eloquence which hitherto he had not been
suspected of possessing. He spoke with great vigour for nearly five
hours, and wound up with a peroration which, spoken by a man of other
mould than "Old Pam," might have savoured of claptrap, and read in cold
blood at this day, seems to rise no higher than what Americans call
"spread-eagleism." "If," he asked, "a subject of ancient Rome could hold
himself free from indignity by saying _Civis Romanus sum_, shall not a
British subject also, in whatever land he may be, feel confident that
the watchful eye and strong arm of England will protect him against
injustice and wrong?" _Civis Romanus_ carried the House and the country
with the speaker: Palmerston's appeal saved the Government.
[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's Rise.]
[Sidenote: Sir Robert Peel's Death.]
Sir Robert Peel made his last speech in opposition to the vote of
confidence: though, in referring to Palmerston's defence of the
Government, he declared that "his speech made us all proud of the man
who made it." He delivered his last vote on the fourth day of the
debate, about four o'clock in the morning of June 29. Next day at noon
he attended a meeting of the Royal Commissioners of the Great Exhibition
which was to be held the following year. After the meeting he mounted
his horse, went to write his name in the Queen's book at Buckingham
Palace, and then rode up Constitution Hill. He stopped to talk to the
Hon. Miss Ellis, whom he met riding down from Hyde Park: something
frightened his horse, which, by a sudden bound, unseated him. Peel in
falling kept hold of the reins and pulled the horse on the top of him.
He was internally and fatally injured, one of his ribs having been
broken and forced into the lung. He died on July 2, after terrible
suffering. The doctors were unable to deal with the injuries owing to
the intense agony caused by the slightest movement. It brings to one's
apprehension what an incalculable boon to suffering humanity has since
that time been discovered in the use of anæsthetics. Chloroform had
already been invented, it is true, in 1850; but its employment was
little understood. Three years earlier Charles Greville had witnessed
one of the first operations under chloroform in St. George's Hospital.
How many suffering ones and friends of suffering ones have had cause to
echo the feeling expressed in his journal: "I have no words to express
my admiration for this invention, which is the greatest blessing ever
bestowed on mankind, and the inventor of it the greatest of benefactors,
whose memory ought to be venerated by countless millions for ages yet to
come." In spite of this, it is greatly to be feared that the names of
Guthrie the American and Soubeiran the Frenchman, who simultaneously
discovered chloroform in 1831, and Lawrence of London and Simpson of
Edinburgh, who first employed it in our hospitals, have been almost
forgotten by the many.
[Illustration: _C. J. Staniland, R.I._}
THE LIFEBOAT OF 1837.
The form of Lifeboat introduced by Henry Greathead in 1789, having a
curved keel, and rendered additionally buoyant by means of cork, was
still the recognised form in 1837, and boats built by him have been in
use until quite recently. The Lifeboat crews on the north and east
coasts still prefer, and use, a boat of very similar shape.]
[Illustration: _From a Photo by_} {_Bennetto, Newquay._
THE LIFEBOAT OF 1897.
This is the standard self-righting boat of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution, and is the outcome of innumerable experiments. The
Institution has a fleet of 298 Lifeboats, and has been the means of
saving, since 1824, no fewer than 39,815 lives. The Illustration shews
the Newquay boat entering the water by means of the slip way.]
[Illustration: THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851, IN HYDE PARK.]
CHAPTER VI.
1849-1851.
Prince Albert's Industry--His proposal for a Great
Exhibition--Adoption of the Scheme--Competing Designs--Mr.
Paxton's selected--Erection of the Crystal Palace--Colonel
Sibthorp denounces the Scheme--Papal Titles in Great
Britain--Popular Indignation--The Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill--Defeat of Ministers on the Question of the
Franchise--Difficulty in finding a Successor to Russell--He
resumes Office--Opening of the Great Exhibition--Its success and
close.
[Sidenote: Prince Albert's Industry.]
Reference has been made already to the wise restraint which Prince
Albert imposed upon himself in respect to politics and legislation; but
those would greatly misinterpret the motives and impulses of that active
intellect who should attribute this reserve either to apathy or
constitutional indolence. Prince Albert did not admit that, because he
was withheld by recent developments of representative government from
personal interference in legislation and diplomacy, it was the less
incumbent upon him, as Consort of the Head of the State, to make himself
thoroughly informed on all the leading political questions of the day,
as well as on the special work of the public departments. Added to this
was the active part he took in schemes of social and commercial
improvement, and in scientific and artistic progress. An early riser at
all times, it was his custom, summer and winter, to dispose of a couple
of hours' work before breakfast, and it is no figure of speech to say
that few of the Queen's subjects can have been more constantly or more
laboriously employed than her husband. The Prince had lived down any
popular prejudice which he had to encounter in the early years of his
married life; people had come to understand and appreciate his abilities
and disposition, and the time had come when his genius and industry were
to bear remarkable fruit.
[Illustration: _R. T. Pritchett, F.S.A._} {_By permission of J. F.
Green, Esq._
THE FIRST STEAM LIFEBOAT, "DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND."
Built in 1890; is propelled by a turbine, driven by powerful steam
engines, and is capable of being steered by means of the jets of water
from the turbine, even if the rudder is disabled. She is 50 feet long,
14 feet 4 inches extreme breadth, 3 feet 6 inches deep, and is built of
steel in fifteen watertight compartments. She is stationed at New
Brighton, Cheshire; a similar boat is at Harwich; and a third is now
being built.]
[Sidenote: His Proposal for a Great Exhibition.]
[Sidenote: Adoption of the Scheme.]
Prince Albert was President of the Society of Arts, a body which, dating
from the middle of the eighteenth century, had, from time to time,
offered prizes for specimens of British textile, ceramic, and other
manufactures; but the project of holding a competitive Exhibition on an
international scale originated with the Prince himself. In the course of
July 1849 he had laid his proposals before some of the members of the
Society, and means were at once adopted to arouse the interest of
manufacturers at home, abroad, and in the colonies, and to open
negotiations with foreign governments. The idea caught on at once; the
States of Europe were at peace, and nothing could more surely tend to
obliterate the recollection of recent disturbances than to join in
friendly rivalry in the arts of peace. A Royal Commission was appointed
to carry out the preparations, and the scheme was formally inaugurated
on March 21, 1850, at a banquet given by the Lord Mayor to the Chief
Magistrates of all the towns in the United Kingdom, to which Prince
Albert and the foreign Ambassadors were also invited.
[Illustration: _C. J. Staniland, R.I._} {_From Contemporary Prints._
A. Master. B. Purser. C. Clerk. D. Midshipman. E. Rear-Admiral.
F. Petty Officer. G. Boatswain. H. Carpenter. J. Seaman.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH NAVY, 1837.
In the early part of the reign there was no regulation dress for seamen,
and even in the case of officers the regulations were not enforced as
they are now.]
[Sidenote: Competing Designs.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Paxton's selected.]
[Sidenote: Erection of the Crystal Palace.]
Somerset House had been placed at the disposal of the Commissioners for
the purposes of the Exhibition, but the fervour with which all nations
embraced the idea soon made it manifest that no permanent edifice could
contain more than a small fraction of the exhibits. There was no time to
be lost--the 1st of May 1851 had been fixed for the opening ceremony.
The difficulty was not the cost, for a guarantee fund of £200,000 had
been speedily subscribed; but the designs and specifications had to be
submitted, the materials prepared, and the erection completed, all
within the space of nine months. A site in Hyde Park was chosen, and the
Commissioners set to work to examine no fewer than 245 designs and
specifications sent in by architects all over the world. They had almost
decided in favour of a design by a French architect, when a certain Mr.
Joseph Paxton--not a professional architect, but superintendent of the
Duke of Devonshire's gardens at Chatsworth--produced a scheme so
original and simple that it was adopted at once in preference to all
others. It was an enormous conservatory of glass and iron--1,848 feet
long, 408 feet broad, and 66 feet high--with transepts constructed so as
to contain some of the elms still growing in Hyde Park. The decision of
the Commissioners was not arrived at till July 26: not a single casting
or piece of material had been prepared yet; but the contractors, Messrs.
Fox, Henderson & Co., undertook to deliver the building ready for
painting and fitting on December 31. The ground lying between Albert
Gate and Knightsbridge Barracks on the east and west, between Rotten Row
and St. George's Place on the north and south, was handed over to them
on July 30; the first column was raised on September 26, and on the
stipulated day Messrs. Fox and Henderson handed over the structure of
the Crystal Palace, as it was called, to the Commissioners. Though the
great fabric vanished with the leaves of a single summer, yet this
achievement of the contractors deserves record among the most famous
exploits of industrial enterprise, affording, as it did, a practical
illustration of the dominant object of the Great Exhibition, as Prince
Albert had defined it in his speech at the Mansion House; namely, "To
give us a true test and living picture of the point of development at
which the whole of mankind has arrived ... a new starting point from
which all nations will be able to direct their further exertions."
[Illustration: _R. Simkin._}
A. Seaman (Full Dress).
B. First Class Petty Officer, White (Summer) Full Dress.
C. Chief Petty Officer.
D. Seaman (Landing Order).
E. Admiral.
F. Captain.
G. Midshipman.
H. Lieutenant.
J. Boatswain.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH NAVY, 1897.]
[Sidenote: Colonel Sibthorp denounces the Scheme.]
[Sidenote: Papal Titles in Great Britain.]
[Sidenote: Popular Indignation.]
There were _frondeurs_, of course, as there always are in the projection
of any scheme involving novelty; and the _Times_ lent its sonorous voice
to swell the clamour raised against the desecration of Hyde Park by the
introduction of a commercial speculation. It may appear to some that the
British retain to this day some traces of insular prejudice against
foreigners, but such a feeling was far more prevalent in 1850 than one
is apt to realise now. It found fitting expression in the House of
Commons from the lips of Colonel Sibthorp, who declared that "when Free
Trade had left nothing else wanting to complete the ruin of the Empire,
the devil had suggested the idea of the Great Exhibition, so that the
foreigners who had first robbed us of our trade might now be enabled to
rob us of our honour."[D] The circumstances of the moment secured the
gallant Colonel more sympathy than his grotesque speech and exaggerated
fears would otherwise have won for him. The Protestant spirit of England
had taken alarm at a Papal bull re-establishing in Great Britain a
hierarchy of bishops deriving titles from the sees to which they were
appointed. This might have seemed a higher compliment to Great Britain
than the arrangement under which the Roman Catholic bishops, which had
existed ever since the Reformation, held their appointments, under
fictitious titles in _partibus infidelium_. But a good deal had occurred
in recent years to arouse Protestant jealousy of Papal aggression. The
Tractarian movement had resulted in the secession of Newman, Manning,
and other conspicuous clergy and laymen to the Church of Rome; people
both in London and Rome had begun to prognosticate a general secession
from the Church of England, and there was something peculiarly startling
in the appointment at this juncture of Cardinal Wiseman as Archbishop of
Westminster. Most Englishmen greatly preferred that the Pope should
continue to regard and call them "infidels," than that he should be
permitted to bring them under his immediate patronage in this formal and
ostentatious manner; and the feeling of irritation was intensified by
Wiseman's pastoral letter to the English people on October 7, 1850, in
which the new Archbishop announced that "your beloved country has
received a place among the fair churches which, normally constituted,
form the splendid aggregate of Catholic communion." Either the
Protestant Reformation, for which Great Britain had paid so heavy a
price, was a precious reality, in which case, so it appeared to most
Englishmen, this was an insolent and significant aggression by the Court
of Rome, or it was an obsolete blunder, and Rome was going to forgive it
and resume her spiritual sway over our people.
[Illustration: _John Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
THE BOY WHO CHALKED UP "NO POPERY," AND THEN RAN AWAY.
Lord John Russell's Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of February was
materially modified and made much less stringent before it was
reintroduced in March.]
[Sidenote: The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.]
The Prime Minister lost no time in showing how the affair presented
itself to his mind. Within less than a month he had proclaimed that the
Pope's action was "a pretension of supremacy over the realm of England,
and a claim to sole and undivided sway, which is inconsistent with the
Queen's supremacy, with the rights of our bishops and clergy, and with
the spiritual independence of the nation as asserted even in Roman
Catholic times"; and he vindicated the sincerity of these expressions by
introducing, immediately after the meeting of Parliament in February
1851, a Bill to prevent the assumption by Roman Catholics of titles
taken from any place within the United Kingdom.
It was a hazardous measure to steer through the Imperial Parliament.
Outside popular passion was aflame; effigies of the Pope and Wiseman,
sixteen feet high, had been dragged through the streets of London on the
Fifth of November instead of the usual Guy Faux. On the other hand, both
the Radicals and the Irish Catholics in the House might be counted on to
offer fiercest opposition to the Bill. Ministers themselves dreaded
enacting anything that savoured of religious intolerance, and the Queen
herself has left on record her feelings about the subject.
"I would never have consented," she wrote to the Duchess of Gloucester,
"to anything which breathed a spirit of intolerance. Sincerely
Protestant as I have always been, and always shall be, and indignant as
I am at those who call themselves Protestants while they are, in fact,
quite the contrary, I much regret the unchristian and intolerant spirit
exhibited by many people at the public meetings. I cannot bear to hear
the violent abuse of the Catholic religion, which is so painful and so
cruel towards the many good and innocent Roman Catholics. However, we
must hope and trust this excitement will soon cease, and that the
wholesome effect of it upon our own Church will be lasting."
[Illustration: _Sir J. E Boehm, R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
THOMAS CARLYLE, 1795-1881.
The son of a stonemason; born at Ecclefechan, Dumfries, and educated at
Edinburgh University. His essays and historical writings, set forth in
virile and rugged English, have had a very great influence on literature
and on popular thought, both in England and America. "Sartor Resartus"
appeared in 1833-4; the "French Revolution" in 1837; "Cromwell's Letters
and Speeches" in 1847; "Frederick the Great" in 1858-65.]
No wiser words have ever been written or spoken by a monarch. It was
both necessary and desirable to give effect to the national repugnance
to spiritual interference; but it was imperative that spiritual freedom
should be left absolutely unfettered. The progress of the measure
through the House of Commons was like that of Samson's foxes through
the Philistines' corn; it kindled every slumbering sentiment of acrimony
and hatred. The Radicals, through Mr. Roebuck, exclaimed against it as
"one of the meanest, pettiest, and most futile measures that ever
disgraced even bigotry itself." The Irish employed all their
inexhaustible resources in resistance; nor was their opposition modified
in the least degree by the Government agreeing to exclude Ireland from
the Bill. Nevertheless, after four nights' debate on the motion for
leave to introduce the Bill, the division list showed a majority of 332
in favour of it.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
THE FIRST OF MAY, 1851.
The Duke of Wellington presenting a casket to his godson, Prince Arthur
(Duke of Connaught). The Prince Consort holds a plan of the Great
Exhibition, which is seen in the distance.]
[Sidenote: Defeat of Ministers on the Question of the Franchise.]
[Sidenote: Lord Russell Resumes.]
But just as Peel fell on the morrow of his great victory on the Corn
Laws, so within a week of the division on the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill
Russell encountered defeat in resisting a motion to extend the
Franchise. He resigned office: the Queen sent for Lord Stanley, who
recommended that an attempt should be made by Russell to form a
coalition Cabinet with the help of the party of the late Robert Peel.
But the recent debate had raised implacable bitterness between the
Peelites and the Whigs. Next, Lord Aberdeen refused to attempt the
formation of a Ministry, on the ground that no Ministry could stand
which would not undertake to deal with Papal aggression, which he was
determined not to do. Lord Stanley then reluctantly tried his hand and
failed. The situation was more embarrassing than any that had arisen
since 1812, when the Lords Wellesley, Moira, Grey, and Grenville had
successively failed to form a Cabinet. The deadlock brought about a
touching incident. Her Majesty resolved to ask the advice of her
well-tried servant, the Duke of Wellington, then in his eighty-third
year. He gave it in terms as concise as one of his own general orders:
"That the party still filling the offices, till Her Majesty's pleasure
shall be declared, is the one best calculated to carry on the Government
at the present moment." On March 3, therefore, Lord John Russell, on Her
Majesty's invitation, returned to office. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill
was resumed, but the more stringent clauses were withdrawn, and in the
form in which it finally received the Royal Assent it did no more than
declare the illegality of the English titles assumed by the Roman
Catholic hierarchy.[E]
[Illustration: _H. C. Selaus._} {_From an Engraving._
THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851.
The Queen, Prince Consort, Duchess of Kent, and the Royal Children on
the Dais; members of the Ministry on the left; Foreign Ambassadors on
the right.]
[Sidenote: Opening of the Great Exhibition.]
While this agitation and these debates were in progress, it may be
believed that many people were far from hospitably disposed towards the
crowds of foreigners which the Great Exhibition was designed to draw to
London. But all hostile criticism was reduced, first to whispers, by the
marvellous success of the structure itself, and then to silence, by the
splendour of the opening ceremony and of the display within the
building. It is the poet's gift to store the essence of events in very
small phials, and Thackeray's _May Day Ode_ vividly reflects the
feelings of the nation on that far-off spring morning:
"But yesterday a naked sod,
The dandies sneered from Rotten Row,
And cantered o'er it to and fro;
And see, 'tis done!
As though 'twere by a wizard's rod,
A blazing arch of lucid glass
Leaps like a fountain from the grass
To meet the sun!"
A generation has sprung up since that day, satiated with marvels and
surprised by no achievement of hand and brain. But no such visible,
tangible accomplishment in the arts of peace had ever been manifested up
to that time; if Prince Albert's idea had been one of startling novelty,
the celerity of its realisation was still more startling.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE CONSORT.
From the Portrait painted in 1859.]
"God bless my dearest Albert!" wrote the Queen with no feigned emotion,
"God bless my dearest country, which has shown itself so great to-day!
One felt so grateful to the great God, who seemed to pervade all and
bless all."
More than mere womanly emotion, this, in presence of an exciting scene.
The May Day poet put on it the same interpretation:
"Swell, organ, swell your trumpet blast!
March, Queen and Royal pageant, march
By splendid aisle and springing arch
Of this fair Hall!
And see! above the fabric vast
God's boundless heaven is bending blue,
God's peaceful sun is beaming through,
And shining over all."
One note of discord, and one only, was heard; rather, one note necessary
to make the complete harmony was silent. It would have fulfilled the
international character of the Exhibition and emphasised it as an echo
of the message of peace on earth and goodwill towards men had the Corps
Diplomatique availed themselves of Prince Albert's invitation to present
an address to the Queen. But, strangely as it may sound at the present
day, most of the great Continental rulers held severely aloof from the
whole project of the Exhibition. They were apprehensive of the effect
which contact with English institutions, so dangerously liberal, might
have on their own subjects, and the foreign Ambassadors agreed, by a
majority of three, to decline to present an address.
[Sidenote: Its Success and Close.]
The success of the opening ceremony attended the Exhibition to its close
on October 15. Between six and seven millions of persons visited it, and
the surplus funds accruing to the Commissioners, amounting to upwards of
£200,000, were afterwards applied, on Prince Albert's suggestion, to the
purchase of the South Kensington estate, now occupied by various
institutions for the encouragement of Science and Art.
As inaugurating an era of universal peace, which its most enthusiastic
supporters expected it to do, the Great Exhibition of 1851 proved a
failure; but as a means of diffusing among the people of Great Britain
views about foreigners more enlightened than those they entertained
before, as an impetus to commerce and manufacture and a stimulus to
artistic production, the "Crystal Palace" has fully fulfilled the most
sanguine anticipation.
[Illustration: _W. L. Wyllie, A.R.A._}
THE WHITE STAR LINE R.M.S. "TEUTONIC" AS AN ARMED CRUISER AT THE NAVAL
REVIEW, August 4, 1889.
Addressing the members of the Institute of Naval Architects on March 30,
1887, upon the "Merchant Service and the Royal Navy," Sir N. Barnaby,
late Director of Naval Construction, referred to the arrangements which
had then recently been completed between the Admiralty and the White
Star and other Companies for the retention of their steamers for war
purposes, and pointed out that "this seed, for which we have to thank
Mr. Ismay, was planted at the Admiralty nine years ago; ... the outcome
of proposals made by Mr. Ismay as far back as 1878," when he urged upon
the attention of the Admiralty that a fast mail or passenger steamer
might be as efficient a factor in a naval war as an ordinary war
cruiser, and offered to make an agreement to hold at the disposal of the
Admiralty, upon terms then specified, certain ships for the purposes of
the State in time of war.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Frith & Co._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
Buckingham Palace occupies the site of old Buckingham House, which was
altered and enlarged to fit it for a Royal Residence by John Nash in the
reigns of George IV. and William IV. It was altered again in 1837 for
Queen Victoria, and the east front (that shown in the Illustration)
added in 1850, when the Marble Arch was removed from the front of the
Palace to its present site at the north east corner of Hyde Park. The
lake in the foreground is the ornamental water in St. James's Park.]
CHAPTER VII.
1851-1853.
Louis Napoleon's Coup d'État--Condemned in the English
Press--Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion Rebuked by the Queen--He
Repeats it and is Removed from Office--Opening of the New Houses
of Parliament--French Invasion Apprehended--Russell's Militia
Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The "Who? Who?"
Cabinet--Death of the Duke of Wellington--His Funeral--The
Haynau Incident--General Election--Disraeli's First
Budget--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The Coalition
Cabinet--Expansion of the British Colonies--Repeal of the
Transportation Act.
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's Coup d'État.]
The Great Exhibition closed on October 15, 1851, and hardly had the
contractors begun to dismantle the glittering fabric, before the vision
of universal peace, which some spirits had hailed in it, was rudely
shattered by events in France. The _coup d'état_ whereby Prince Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte seized on the government of the country and suspended
the Constitution took place on the morning of December 2. This event
concerns the present narrative only in one respect. When the news came
to England it caused an almost unanimous feeling of horror at the
massacre of peaceful citizens. The Queen, who was at Osborne, was
informed on December 4 of what had taken place, and at once wrote to the
Prime Minister, enjoining on him the necessity "that Lord Normanby (her
Ambassador at Paris) should be instructed to remain entirely passive,
and should take no part whatever in what is passing." These instructions
were conveyed to Lord Normanby next day by the Foreign Minister, Lord
Palmerston. But, in a despatch written by Lord Normanby to Lord
Palmerston on December 6, informing him that he had made known to M.
Turgot, the French Foreign Minister, that he had received Her Majesty's
commands to make no change in his relations with the French Government
in consequence of what had passed, the following startling passage
occurred:--"Monsieur Turgot said that ... he had two days since heard
from M. Walewski (French Ambassador in London) that your lordship had
expressed to him your entire approbation of the act of the President,
and the conviction that he could not have acted otherwise than he had
done."
[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion.]
On reading a statement attributed to her Foreign Minister so far at
variance with her own opinion and the decision of her Cabinet, the Queen
wrote to Lord John Russell, asking him if "he knew anything about the
alleged approval, which, if true, would again expose the honour and
dignity of the Queen's Government in the eyes of the world."
[Illustration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch"._
THE "JUDICIOUS BOTTLE-HOLDER," OR DOWNING STREET PET.
"Bless you! it's all chaff--won't came to a fight. Old Nick's got no
constitution--and then, I'm Bottle-holder on t'other side, too!"]
[Illustration: _From the Silver Model_} {_by R. Hodd & Son._
H.M.S. "BRITANNIA," 1837.
This, the most formidable line-of battle ship afloat at the time of Her
Majesty's Accession, was built in 1820 and carried 120 guns. She was the
Flag ship at Portsmouth from 1835 to 1840. In 1850 she was converted
into a Training Ship, and was finally broken up in 1869. The Silver
Model, from which this Illustration was photographed, was presented to
Her Majesty the Queen, together with a similar one of the ill-fated
_Victoria_--the typical ship of 1887--by the officers and men of the
Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Auxiliary Naval Forces, and was exhibited
amongst the Jubilee Presents.]
[Illustration: H.M.S. "JUPITER," 1897.
This "first class battleship," which has but lately undergone her sea
trials, is of the same size as the _Majestic_ and the _Magnificent_. She
was built by the Clydebank Shipbuilding Company, and may be taken as the
representative ship of the year. Displacement, 15,000 tons; horse-power,
12,000; speed, 17-1/2 knots.]
The word "again" used by the Queen in this letter had reference to Lord
Palmerston's action in regard to the visit of Kossuth, the Hungarian
refugee, to England in the previous October. There had been much
sympathy in England with the cause of Hungarian independence; Kossuth
had been fêted in many towns as an illustrious patriot and exile, and
Palmerston consented to receive a visit from him. This was more than the
susceptibilities of the Austrian Government could endure; Russell having
summoned a Cabinet Council to consider the intended reception by the
Foreign Minister, Palmerston reluctantly yielded to the opinion of his
colleagues, and the reception was given up. But he consoled himself by
receiving at the Foreign Office addresses from Radical meetings, in
which the Emperors of Russia and Austria were described as "odious and
detestable assassins" and "merciless tyrants and despots"; and, in
expressing himself "extremely flattered and highly gratified" at the
terms directed towards himself, he added that "it could not be expected
that he should concur in some of the expressions which had been used in
the addresses." It was in receiving the deputation conveying these
addresses that this characteristically English Minister earned one of
his most-enduring nicknames. He said in the course of his speech that
the conduct of Foreign Affairs required "a great deal of good
generalship and judgment, and during the pending struggle a good deal of
judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play." However
much this allusion to the prize ring may have scandalised some of the
"unco guid," it was just one of those sayings that tickle the popular
fancy, and the "Judicious Bottle-holder" furnished the subject of one of
_Punch's_ lively cartoons.
[Illustration: H.M.S. "BOXER," TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER.
The _Boxer_, a twin-screw vessel, built by Messrs. Thornycroft, of
Chiswick, is one of the fastest ships in the world. Her length is 200
feet; speed, 29·17 knots. Her sister-ship, the _Desperate_, has steamed
30 knots.]
But it was necessary to put a check on the Foreign Secretary's
recklessness. It was intimated to him that his conduct was calculated to
place the Sovereign in a most painful position towards her allies, and
this rebuke, Russell wrote to the Queen, it was hoped would "have its
effect on Lord Palmerston." This incident closed on December 4, only two
days after the French _coup d'état_, and when it became apparent that
the Foreign Secretary had perpetrated a further indiscretion, strong
measures had to be taken. The dismissal of a Minister is an extreme
exertion of the Royal Prerogative, though it is one that was not
uncommon in former reigns. Nevertheless, it is the only expedient when a
Minister refuses to carry out the policy of the Queen's Government or
enters upon an independent one of his own.
[Sidenote: Dismissal of Palmerston.]
[Illustration: H.M.S. "VICTORIA" FIRING HER 110-TON GUN.
The _Victoria_ was built in 1887 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell. &
Co., and was one of three "first-class armourclads" which were armed
with 110-ton guns--the heaviest ordnance ever made. She was of steel,
10,500 tons displacement. The loss of this magnificent ship, with the
Admiral, 30 officers, and 320 men out of a crew of 600, on the 22nd June
1893, through colliding with H.M.S. _Camperdown_ while executing
manoeuvres off the Syrian coast, is one of the most tragic events in
recent history.]
After some correspondence between Russell and Palmerston, the former
wrote, on December 17, informing Palmerston "that the conduct of Foreign
Affairs could no longer be left in his hands with advantage to the
country," and offering him the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland. Of course
Lord Palmerston resigned, and the Queen accepted the resignation. "The
distinction," wrote Her Majesty to the Prime Minister, "which Lord
Palmerston tries to establish between his personal and his official acts
is perfectly untenable."
[Illustration: H.M.S. "TERRIBLE," 1897.
This is the latest of the "first class cruisers"; displacement, 14,200
tons; horse-power, 25,000; speed, 22 knots. Built by the Clydebank
Shipbuilding Company.]
[Sidenote: The New Houses of Parliament.]
In this year (1852) the Houses of Lords and Commons took possession of
the new Palace of Westminster, built from the design of Barry on the
site of the old Palace, destroyed by fire in 1835. The style of
architecture selected--the Tudor-Gothic--is not one which lends itself
readily to grand or massive treatment, owing to the infinite repetition
of detailed ornament; but it has this to recommend it, that it is
exclusively indigenous to England, and the architect was successful in
erecting on a very unpromising site a crowning example of that
particular form of Gothic building. The cost of the new Palace as it
stands amounted to about £3,000,000; but it should be said that Barry's
design has never been completed. It was intended to extend the buildings
to form a quadrangle round the court at the foot of the Clock Tower, to
accommodate various Public Departments now housed in Whitehall and
Downing Street.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.]
[Sidenote: French Invasion Apprehended.]
[Sidenote: Resignation of Ministers.]
[Sidenote: The "Who? Who?" Cabinet.]
The political convulsions in France were mildly reflected in Great
Britain during the year 1852--the year of three Administrations. In the
first-named country, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince-President of the
Republic which he had turned into a farce, had secured the good will of
the Army by restoring to them their Napoleonic Eagles, and then, with
the whole armed force of the nation at his back, had issued an appeal to
the people in the form of a plebiscite. By 7,824,189 votes to 253,145
they had bestowed on him the title and dignity of Emperor Napoleon III.
Such an appeal and such a response could only be interpreted as the
resurrection of the Napoleonic idea. In the forefront of the policy of
the new Emperor must surely be found vengeance for Waterloo and the
humiliation of England. If this was not expressed in so many words,
there were frequent passages in the speeches of Louis Napoleon which
could bear no other interpretation. England awoke to her danger; the
"nation of shopkeepers" did not wait for legislative measures, but
quietly began arming and drilling, encouraged by the authorities, thus
laying the foundation of that splendid defensive force of artillery and
infantry of which the Volunteers are composed at this day. Great Britain
possessed in 1852 a small army--about 24,000 infantry at
home--absolutely without any reserve force. The Cabinet devised a scheme
for creating a local Militia, to be drilled for fourteen days in each
year, and to serve exclusively within their own counties. Prince Albert
saw grave defects in the plan, and the Duke of Wellington liked it even
less than he did; nevertheless Lord John Russell introduced his Bill to
give effect to it. Then came Palmerston's opportunity. He was a free
agent now, and rendered good service in opposing an inadequate and
almost wholly useless measure. On his motion the Government were
defeated by eleven votes on February 20, and next day the resignation of
Ministers was in the hands of the Queen. The Earl of Derby (the
irreconcilable Lord Stanley of Peel's Cabinet) undertook to form a
Ministry, which, inasmuch as it could only be drawn from Protectionist
ranks, was in a hopeless minority in the House of Commons. Lord
Malmesbury took the seals of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Disraeli
became, _per saltum_, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the
House of Commons--an instance unique in recent times of such a position
being assumed by one who had never before held office. The rest of the
Cabinet was made up of men then untried and unknown, though some of them
afterwards rose to distinction, and got the name of the "Who? Who?"
Ministry. The origin of the nickname was a conversation overheard in the
House of Lords between the Prime Minister and the Duke of Wellington,
who was eagerly questioning Lord Derby about the composition of his new
Cabinet. The old Duke had grown very deaf, and all his inquiries were
plainly audible to the House, as well, of course, as the Premier's
replies. "Who? Who?" asked the old Duke, as, hand to ear, he strove to
identify the unfamiliar names, and "Who? Who?" became the title of the
new Government. Weak as it was, however, and holding office as it did on
sufferance only, the Derby Ministry was able to prepare and carry a
Militia Bill which satisfied even so critical an expert as the Iron Duke
himself.
[Illustration: _Louis Haghe._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE FUNERAL OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON PASSING APSLEY HOUSE, November 18,
1852.]
[Sidenote: Death of the Duke of Wellington.]
Brief as was the duration of the Derby Ministry it outlived the days of
one of its warmest friends. The Duke of Wellington drew his last breath
at Walmer Castle on September 14, 1852. To say that he was the most
popular individual in the United Kingdom would be to apply a term which
perhaps, of all others, he would have relished least; but without doubt
"the Duke" was the best beloved. The first soldier in Europe,
thirty-seven years of peace had not dimmed the lustre of his great
renown in war, nor prevailed to make the nation forget his services in
the hour of England's greatest need. If, as a statesman, he could not
command the same unanimous meed of "Well done!" he had established a
standard of public life too often obscured in the heat of party strife.
Vittoria, Salamanca, Talavera, Waterloo--the radiance from those far off
conflagrations still glowed round that venerable head, but it was the
honest purpose, bluntly spoken and fearlessly acted on, that won for
Wellington a place in the hearts of his countrymen far more enduring
than the reward of any commander, however successful--of any orator,
however powerful.
[Illustration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
THE PROTECTION GIANT.
"Fee, fi, fo, fum!
I smell the blood of an Englishman!
Be he alive or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread!"
(Mr. Punch's idea of the policy of Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli.)]
[Illustration: THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL,
AS IT IS TO BE WHEN COMPLETED.
From a Photograph taken in the Cathedral, to which the statue has been
added from the sculptor's model in the Architectural Court of the South
Kensington Museum. The lower illustration represents the sarcophagus in
the Crypt which contains the body of the Duke; the Funeral Car is also
preserved in the Crypt. The tomb in the background is that of Nelson.]
[Sidenote: The Haynau Incident.]
There was the precedent of the obsequies of Nelson to justify the Queen
in commanding a funeral of the Great Duke at the public expense; but Her
Majesty was desirous to associate her people with herself in doing
honour to the memory of her greatest subject. The body of the Duke,
therefore, was put in charge of a guard of honour till the meeting of
Parliament in November, when the consent of both Houses was immediately
given to a funeral at the public expense and the interment of Wellington
in St. Paul's Cathedral, beside the tomb of Nelson. All the Great Powers
of Europe, save one, sent representatives to the ceremony. It would have
caused no surprise had France, with a Napoleon once more in supreme
power, refused to allow her Ambassador to attend the funeral of her
ancient foe, but Louis Napoleon told Count Walewski he wished to forget
the past and to continue on the best of terms with England. It was not
France, but Austria, who was conspicuous by the absence of her
Ambassador from St. Paul's on this November day; and the reason was
found in an extraordinary circumstance which had occurred a few weeks
previously. An Austrian notable, General Haynau, arrived in England
early in September, on an unofficial visit. He had earned an unenviable
reputation for cruelty in putting down insurrections in Italy and
Hungary; ugly stories had been circulated about the flogging of
Hungarian women and other barbarities, enough, whether true or not, to
make his name detested by all who sympathised with the national movement
on the Continent. One day he went to inspect Barclay's brewery, and as
soon as his identity with the "Austrian butcher" became known to the
workmen there, they rushed at him with loud cries, pelted him, tore his
coat and tried to cut off his long moustaches. Escaping from the
brewery, he was assailed with equal fury in the street, and had to take
refuge in a public house till the police came to his assistance. The
Austrian Chargé d'Affaires appealed for redress, and Lord Palmerston
called in person to express the deep regret of Her Majesty's Government
at the outrage.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
WEIGHING ANCHOR ON A MODERN WARSHIP.
This Photograph was taken on board H.M.S. _Repulse_, off the Isle of
Portland. A portion of the anchor, covered with mud, is seen just over
the ship's side. The ships in the background are H.M.S. _Resolution_ (on
the left), and H.M.S. _Royal Sovereign_ (in the centre).]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symonds, Portsmouth._
H.M.S. "WARRIOR," THE FIRST ENGLISH IRONCLAD.
The first ironclad built was the _Gloire_, designed by M. Dupuy-de-Lôme
for the French Government. It was regarded by the English Naval
Authorities as of doubtful practical value; but it soon became necessary
for them to adopt the principle of defensive armour for our own ships.
The _Warrior_, built by private contract at a cost of £376,000, was
completed in October, 1861. She has a length of 380 feet, breadth 58
feet, displacement 9,210 tons, horse-power 1,250; and, whilst she
has the general form of a wooden ship, with overhanging bows and
stern, she embodied many of the ideas--such as that of watertight
compartments--which have been adopted in all the more recent warships.]
[Sidenote: Disraeli's First Budget.]
Parliament had been prorogued on July 1 by the Queen in person and
dissolved immediately after by Royal Proclamation. The elections which
followed left the relative strength of parties nearly the same as in the
old Parliament, that is, with no working majority on either side. The
new Parliament met on November 4, and on December 3 Mr. Disraeli
introduced his Budget in a speech which lasted five hours. The debate
which followed is memorable as the occasion of the first encounter
between two men who, for a quarter of a century afterwards, were to be
as conspicuously the protagonists of their respective parties as Pitt
and Fox had been at the beginning of the century. Disraeli--by this time
fully conscious, and embittered by the consciousness, that he was
fighting for a losing cause--concluded a speech full of stinging
invective at two o'clock on the morning of December 11. To answer him
rose one whom Macaulay had described in 1838 as "the rising hope of
those stern and unbending Tories who follow reluctantly and mutinously a
leader (Peel) whose experience is indispensable to them, but whose
cautious temper and moderate opinions they abhor." Mr. Gladstone had
been a Member of Parliament for more than twenty years, and was already
distinguished for power and poignancy in debate; but the moment had come
when, for the first time, the House of Commons was to come under the
full influence of his superb command of language, his impressive use of
gesture and his singularly resonant voice.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co., Strand._
THE GREAT STEAM-HAMMER AT WOOLWICH ARSENAL.
Maximum striking power, 1,000 tons.]
Gladstone's speech closed the debate on Disraeli's First Budget, and it
was decisive. The Government suffered defeat by nineteen votes, and next
day Lord Derby went to Osborne to tender his resignation. Her Majesty
laid her commands on the Earl of Aberdeen who, as a Peelite
Conservative, assisted by the Whig Marquis of Lansdowne, proceeded to
form a Coalition Cabinet.
[Sidenote: Expansion of British Colonies.]
Before entering upon a review of the events which brought to a violent
close the peace which Great Britain had maintained for thirty-nine years
with the other European Powers, the present seems a fitting place to
give a sketch of salient points in the expansion of British Colonies in
various parts of the world--Colonies which, for the greater part, had no
existence before Queen Victoria came to the throne. It was in 1858 that
the discoveries of gold in British territory, as well as in California,
had begun to fill the channels of trade and enrich the manufacturers of
the home country in a degree beyond all previous experience. The great
Continent of Australia, discovered by Captain Cook in 1770 and by him
named New South Wales, was hardly known to people in England during the
first forty years of the present century except as a penal settlement,
although a number of British emigrants found their way there when the
Army and Navy were reduced after the long European wars had come to an
end in 1815. But it was not until the gold-fields were discovered in
1851 that the full tide of immigration set in. The growth and
development of the European community since that time have been immense.
From the original settlement at Botany Bay in 1788 have arisen the
States of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and
Western Australia, each with its separate representative constitution
and legislature, and a governor appointed by the Queen. The population,
rapidly increasing, already amounts to three millions and a quarter,
with an annual export trade of more than £70,000,000. The gold-fields,
since their discovery in 1851, have added about £300,000,000 to the
wealth of the world, nor is there any near prospect of the supply
failing. On the contrary, the newly-opened mines at Coolgardie, in
Western Australia, promise to prove the richest field in the whole
island.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co., Strand._
THE SOUTH BORING MILL AT WOOLWICH ARSENAL.
Showing the machinery for boring and rifling heavy ordnance.]
New Zealand was first colonised in 1839, though Europeans had settled
there as far back as 1814, and in 1841 it was created by letters patent
a colony distinct from New South Wales. The chief wealth of this island
is pastoral and agricultural, though New Zealand contributes also to the
Pactolus flowing north, having exported gold to the value of more than a
million sterling in 1895.
Tasmania, formerly Van Diemen's Land, is another insular possession of
Great Britain in the South Pacific, originally occupied in 1803 as a
penal settlement; and the Australasian Dominions of the Crown were
completed by the annexation of the Fiji group of islands in 1874, and
British New Guinea in 1888. This vast territory, with its almost
inexhaustible mineral wealth and fertility, may be said with almost
literal accuracy to be the peculiar creation of the reign of Queen
Victoria.
[Illustration: _Walker & Boutall sc._
THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1897.
British possessions shaded or underlined. Views of the principal
Colonial towns are given on subsequent pages. * Egypt under British
occupation since 1882.]
[Sidenote: Repeal of the Transportation Act.]
In 1853 an important change in the penal code of Great Britain was
effected by the Act altering the punishment of transportation of
convicts into that of penal servitude. The Lord Chancellor admitted, in
moving the Second Reading of the Bill, that transportation answered the
end of punishment better than anything else which could be devised; it
was the strongest deterrent, short of a capital sentence, which could be
employed without the infliction of physical pain, and, had the United
Kingdom only been concerned, no alteration in the law would have been
proposed. But the interests of the Colonies must be taken into account
also; the strong representations laid before the Government by the
Colonists, coupled with the extraordinary discoveries of gold in
Australia, made it imperative that these growing communities should
cease to be the slumping ground for the refuse of British civilisation,
and other provision must be made for the disposal of criminals. The
measure became law, and the Australasian settlements, relieved from the
slur which had become wellnigh intolerable, entered on a career of
expansion and profitable industry of which no man can yet foretell the
ultimate result.
Besides British India, of which the growth and consolidation is
described elsewhere, the chief expansion of the Empire and its
protectorate during the present reign has taken place in South Africa.
The Cape Colony was ceded to the British Crown in 1814; the Colony of
Natal was added to it in 1843, was erected into a separate Colony in
1856, and was made self-governing in 1893. Basutoland was annexed to the
Cape Colony in 1871, but in 1884 it was constituted a separate Crown
Colony, and neither it nor Bechuanaland, which, having been annexed in
1885, is governed from the Cape, have yet developed representative
institutions.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co., Strand._
TORPEDO STORES AT PORTSMOUTH.
Containing Torpedoes to the value of £150,000.]
In dealing with its great Dominion in South Africa the British
Government is confronted with a problem which has never presented itself
in Australasia. There the aboriginal population has died out
everywhere, except in New Zealand, from the mere contact with
civilisation, and, except in the Island of New Guinea of which the
Germans possess a moiety, British influence is not hampered by any
competing European race. But it is far otherwise in South Africa. There,
also, what may be regarded as the aboriginal races, the Hottentots and
Bushmen, have been crushed wellnigh out of existence, but they have been
replaced on the one hand by the powerful Bantu people, consisting of
Kaffirs, Zulus, Bechuanas, and other Negroid tribes, and on the other by
the Boers, descended from Dutch settlers of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. The Administration of South Africa has to provide
for the development of British enterprise and to secure peaceful
relations between the diverse elements of the population. It cannot be
doubted that South Africa contains the material of enormous wealth. The
climate of the high veldt, a wide belt of land ranging between 4,000 and
5,000 feet above sea-level, is exceedingly salubrious. Diamonds and gold
already have been worked in large quantities, though a few years ago
their very existence was unsuspected. At the present time the yield of
gold is equal to that of either Australia or America, amounting to
one-fifth of the total annual output of the world. Should the gold ever
be worked out there is abundant mineral wealth of other kinds, including
an almost virgin coal-field, covering an area of nearly a thousand
square miles between Pretoria and Delagoa Bay.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
A LANDING-PARTY OF SEAMEN.
_Punch_, at the time of the Siege of Sebastopol, depicted a couple of
seamen, on board a man-of-war off that town, asking for a day's holiday
"to go shooting with them soldiers." On the same principle of sharing
the fun it has come to be the practice to include a party of bluejackets
among the forces engaged in any of our "little wars."]
In America, the most notable feature in the recent history of the
British possessions is found in the growth of wealth and population in
the Dominion of Canada. It has been shown how that Colony rose in
rebellion in the first year of the present reign, and how Lord Durham
framed a Constitution for it in his report. Lord Durham died, and his
scheme lay in a pigeon-hole of the Colonial Office till 1867, when it
was virtually carried into effect by Lord Carnarvon's Act for the
Confederation of the British North American Provinces. Upper and Lower
Canada, the English and French territories of the rebellion, are now
known as the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and with them are
confederated New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, British
Columbia, Manitoba, and the North-West Territories. The population of
Canada has risen from about one million and a half in 1841 to five
millions at the present day, and progress in commerce and wealth has
been equally rapid.
[Illustration: _Carl Haag, R.W.S._} {_From the Royal Collection._
EVENING AT BALMORAL OLD CASTLE--THE STAGS BROUGHT HOME.--September
1853.]
CHAPTER VIII.
1853-1854.
The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of
the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince
Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The
Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the
Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and
France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments.
[Sidenote: The "Sick Man."]
"We have on our hands a sick man--a very sick man; it will be a great
misfortune if one of these days he should slip away from us before the
necessary arrangements have been made."
This sentence, spoken on January 9, 1853, by Nicholas, Czar of Russia,
to the British Minister at St. Petersburg, Sir George Hamilton Seymour,
supplied a phrase which has become historic, and remains as appropriate
to the present state of Turkey-in-Europe as it was forty-four years ago.
The Ottoman Empire in Europe had become an anachronism, not because it
was a heritage won by mediæval conquest, for that may be assigned as the
origin of almost every European State, but because the Turk maintained
his rule in modern times by mediæval methods. In the days when nations
were kept in subjection by the violence of their governors, the Turk had
been a standing menace to all Europe, for he was as powerful as any
Christian Monarch; but in proportion as the other nationalities acquired
the solidarity which follows on the growth of constitutional rights and
the limitation of absolute rule, he became a terror only to the subject
races within the Ottoman dominions. To the rising tide of Western
civilisation he opposed the breastwork of philosophic indifference,
though the ancient Saracen instinct for war still caused him to adopt
eagerly the successive inventions in military armament. The weakest
principality had nothing to fear in the nineteenth century from Turkish
invasion, but the most powerful states had realised that it would be a
formidable task to make the Porte comply with the concert of
Europe--such is the quality of genuine _vis inertiæ_. Nevertheless the
real guarantee for the integrity of the Ottoman Empire had come to
be--not her army and fleet, nor the fervour of her Moslem subjects--but
the mutual jealousy and suspicion existing between other Powers
regarding the disposal of Ottoman territory. It had come to this, then,
that the Christian states acquiesced in the continuance of the Ottoman
Empire in Europe as a kind of buffer state--a barrier against such a
collision of interests and ambitions as might revive warfare on a
Napoleonic scale. The heirs of the "sick man" dreaded his death because
of the conflict sure to ensue among his heirs.
[Illustration: _C. J. Staniland, R.I._}
THE LARGEST GUN OF 1837.
The illustration shows a gun's crew working the 67-cwt. gun, which was
the largest in use in the early part of Her Majesty's reign. It threw a
solid shot of 68 lbs. weight. At the Rotunda at Woolwich there is a gun
of this size which was used in the trenches at Sebastopol, and had its
trunnions shot away.]
Three European Great Powers were more closely affected than others by
the Eastern question--Russia, by reason of her office as guardian of the
Eastern Church, as well as by her hereditary policy of absorbing
neighbouring territories--Austria, on account of her claim to the
Danubian provinces of the Porte--and England, because she could not
suffer the advance of Russia between her and her Asiatic dominions. The
interest of England may seem to have been less direct than that of the
other Powers; nevertheless, the continual encroachment of Russia in
Asia, and the steady extension of the Russian frontier towards that of
British North-West India, had so powerfully impressed British statesmen
with the danger of a collision in that quarter, that the integrity of
the Ottoman Empire had become a cardinal principle in the Continental
diplomacy of England.
[Illustration: THE LARGEST GUN OF 1897.
The huge 110-ton guns of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. are
mounted in the _Sanspareil_ and _Benbow_, and the _Victoria_ carried two
of them to the bottom when she sank. There are considerable
disadvantages attaching to the use of artillery so enormous, as will be
understood when it is stated that the cost of each round fired with full
charge and armour-piercing projectile is £200; that the gun would become
practically useless after firing 75 rounds of this description (of
course a much smaller charge is used when practising); and that the
energy developed amounts to 60,000 foot-tons--about enough to lift the
whole ship six feet in the air. For these and other reasons the 67-ton
gun shown on next page is now being supplied in preference to the larger
one. The 110 ton gun is capable of piercing a solid mass of wrought iron
30-1/2 inches thick, at a distance of 1,000 yards; the much smaller
9·2-inch (22-ton) gun was tested in 1887, and threw a shot nearly 12
miles, its trajectory rising to a height greater, by 2,000 feet, than
that of Mont Blanc.]
[Sidenote: Projects of the Emperor Nicholas.]
But the Emperor Nicholas of Russia had convinced himself that the "sick
man" was at the point of death, and that it was essential to the peace
of Europe that his heirs should divide the inheritance before his
demise. The sentence at the head of this chapter was spoken by the Czar
when he revived proposals which he had made to the Duke of Wellington
and Lord Aberdeen, then Foreign Secretary, on the occasion of his visit
to England in 1844. These proposals had been embodied in a celebrated
memorandum drawn up by Count Nesselrode, to the effect that the Turkish
Empire should be maintained in its integrity as long as possible, but
that as soon as its fall could be averted no longer, England, Austria,
and Russia should act on a common understanding and divide the dominion
among themselves. Nesselrode's memorandum had been received and placed
in the archives of the Foreign Office, and no disclaimer of assent to
the propositions therein had ever been made on the part of Her Majesty's
Government. Silence is often assumed to indicate consent, so when
Nicholas, believing in 1853 that the Porte was indeed on the point of
dissolution, renewed his proposal for a partition of the Turkish Empire,
it was at least excusable that he should reckon on the co-operation of
Great Britain. Lord Aberdeen, who had been Foreign Secretary when the
Czar was in England in 1844, was Prime Minister in 1853. Nicholas
disclaimed any intention of a Russian occupation of Constantinople; he
suggested that Bulgaria and Servia might be constituted independent
States under Russian protection, and declared that he would acquiesce in
the annexation of Egypt and Candia by Great Britain. All this, and much
more, he explained to Sir Hamilton Seymour, assuring him that if Great
Britain and Russia came to an understanding on the subject, it mattered
nothing to him how the other Powers might view it.
[Illustration: _John Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
THE OLD 'UN AND THE YOUNG 'UN.
Old Nicholas (Emperor of Russia): "Now then, Austria; just help me to
finish the Port(e)."
The Emperor of Russia, disappointed in his overtures to England,
endeavoured to obtain the assistance of Austria against Turkey.]
[Sidenote: The Custody of the Holy Places.]
[Sidenote: Prince Menschikoff's Demand.]
At this juncture a fresh controversy was stirred in connection with
Ottoman rule. In the sixteenth century a treaty was concluded between
the Sultan and François I., King of France, whereby the custody of the
Holy Places in Palestine had been committed to the monks of the Latin
Church, who were placed under the protection of the Crown of France.
Subsequently firmans had been granted to the Greek Church, conferring
rights at variance with the exclusive guardianship claimed by the Latin
Church. Incessant disputes arose on a ludicrously minute point, such as
might have puzzled diplomatists in the era of the Crusades, but one
which seemed strangely out of keeping with statesmanship of the
nineteenth century, namely, "whether, for the purpose of passing through
the building into their grotto, the Latin monks should have the key of
the chief door of the Church of Bethlehem, and also one of the keys of
each of the two doors of the Sacred Manger, and whether they should be
at liberty to place in the Sanctuary of the Nativity a silver star
adorned with the arms of France." The French Republic, and afterwards
the French Empire, as heirs of the Crown of France, championed the cause
of the Latin monks, even threatening to occupy Jerusalem; until, in
February 1853, the Porte issued a firman in order to reconcile in a
reasonable way the conflicting claims of the two Churches. But reason
was the last influence to prevail in an unreasonable quarrel. Russian
forces, before the issue of the firman, had already begun massing on the
frontiers of Moldavia, and immediately after the issue of the firman,
Prince Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople with a numerous military
suite, endeavoured to force on the Porte an agreement establishing a
Russian protectorate of Christians within Turkish Dominions, and
threatened a rupture of diplomatic relations unless this was agreed to
at once. Reschid Pasha asked for a delay of five or six days to consider
such a momentous question; it was refused; whereupon the Ottoman Council
promptly declined to become a party to the proposed convention.
Menschikoff immediately left Constantinople; the Russian Government
continued warlike preparations, which were met by similar measures on
the part of the Porte, as a simple measure of self-defence.
[Illustration: _Photo by Thiele._} {_Chancery Lane._
THE LARGEST GUN OF 1897.
The deck of H.M.S. _Repulse_ cleared for action; the captain of the
barbette is taking the enemy's distance. The 67-ton guns in the
foreground are the largest which are now being built; they are lowered
behind the steel shield by hydraulic machinery for charging.]
[Sidenote: Russian Invasion and The Vienna Note.]
On July 2 the Russian army under Prince Gortchakoff crossed the Pruth
and occupied the Turkish territory of Moldavia and Wallachia. Of course
this was an act of war, but no collision actually took place, and
representatives of the four Great Powers--Austria, France, Great
Britain, and Prussia--met at Vienna in July and agreed on a Note
embodying terms for the peaceful settlement of the dispute. It were
natural to expect that a document of such moment should have been framed
in language of the utmost precision and incapable of bearing ambiguous
interpretation. Nevertheless this short Note contained five passages so
vague and ambiguous that they might have been construed into giving away
the whole case of Turkey, though this was undoubtedly far from the
intention of the authors. Russia, perceiving her advantage, accepted the
Note at once; but the Ministers of the Sultan declined to do so, unless
the five objectionable passages were modified. Nesselrode stated
explicitly the reasons which prevented Russia from agreeing to any
modification. These reasons enlightened the British Cabinet for the
first time as to the construction put on the Note by Russia, which was
directly contrary to that intended by the Four Powers.
[Illustration:
_R. Simkin._}
A. 11th Light Dragoons.
B. 12th Lancers.
C. 5th Dragoon Guards.
D. 1st Lifeguards.
E. Private, Rifle Brigade.
F. Private, Line.
G. Private, Grenadier Guards.
H. Officer, Infantry of the Line.
J. Officer, 13th Light Dragoons.
K. Officer, 2nd Dragoon Guards.
L. Gunner, Field Battery, R.A.
M. Trooper, 8th Hussars.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1837.]
England, therefore, was compelled to acquiesce in Turkey's refusal to
sign the Note, at the same time urging her not to regard the occupation
of Moldavia and Wallachia as an act of war. The state of affairs towards
the end of September is concisely described in a note written by Prince
Albert to Baron Stockmar: "Meyendorff is in the Vienna Cabinet; Louis
Napoleon wishes for peace, enjoyment, and cheap corn; the King of
Prussia is a reed shaken by the wind; we are paralysed through not
knowing what our agent in Constantinople is or is not doing; the Divan
has become fanatically warlike and headstrong, and reminds one of
Prussia in 1806; the public here is furiously Turkish and anti-Russian."
On October 5 the Porte issued a formal declaration of war. On the 14th
the combined fleets of England and France, which were lying in Besika
Bay, moved into the Dardanelles on the invitation of the Sultan.
Mediation was at an end.
[Sidenote: Destruction of the Turkish Fleet.]
A Turkish squadron of twelve sail in the Black Sea were attacked on the
30th while lying at anchor at Sinope and completely destroyed, with the
loss of 4,000 men, leaving only about 400 alive. The news of this
massacre, enacted almost under the very guns of the allied fleet, spread
like wildfire through France and Great Britain, and ignited every
warlike spirit that still slumbered. It was alleged that the Turkish
admiral had hauled down his flag before the overwhelming force which
attacked him, and that the Russians had paid no attention to this signal
of surrender.
[Sidenote: Resignation of Lord Palmerston.]
The Cabinet was much more divided in opinion than the nation. Lord
Palmerston, the Home Secretary, startled the nation by resigning office
on December 16, not, however, as was generally assumed, on account of
difference about the Eastern Question. "No one," wrote Prince Albert,
"will believe the true cause of his retirement--his dislike of Lord
John's plan of Reform, and treachery is everywhere the cry. It is the
Eastern Question that has turned him out, and Court intrigues!"
Everybody, in fact, believed that Palmerston had left the Cabinet rather
than assent to abandoning Turkey to the tender mercies of Russia. Prince
Albert was vehemently accused by a portion of the Press of being
favourable to the designs of Russia: how far this was from the truth
people afterwards came to learn from his own letters written while these
events were in progress. The cry went forth that Palmerston was the only
man who could save the honour of England; in a few days he withdrew his
resignation and confidence was restored.
[Illustration:
_R. Simkin._}
A. Trooper, 17th Lancers.
B. Trooper, 10th Hussars.
C. Trooper, 2nd Life Guards.
D. Private. Coldstream Guards.
E. Trooper. 1st Royal Dragoons.
F. Private, King's Royal Rifles.
G. Officer, Royal Artillery.
H. Officer, Line.
J. Officer, Black Watch.
K. Gunner, Royal Horse Artillery.
L. Private, Line.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1897.]
[Sidenote: Great Britain and France Declare War with Russia.]
On February 7 the Russian Ministers left London and Paris; the English
Minister left St. Petersburg on the same day. On the 27th the ultimatum
of England was despatched to Count Nesselrode. On March 24 Her Majesty's
formal declaration of war against the Emperor of Russia was read from
the steps of the Royal Exchange, and the reasons for this act were
published at length in the _London Gazette_. England had been
slow--culpably slow, declared Derby and Disraeli--in resorting to an
appeal to arms, but, having made it, the spirit of her greatest poet
pervaded the Councils of her Ministry:--
"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it, that the oppressor may beware of thee."
[Sidenote: State of British Armaments.]
Before the actual declaration of war, large numbers of British troops
had embarked for the East, and a powerful fleet had been assembled at
Spithead for service in the Baltic under Admiral Sir Charles Napier. To
Prince Albert's watchful influence must be attributed the degree to
which the nation now found itself prepared for the coming struggle. For
the warlike habits of our people had been lulled by the peace which,
uninterrupted for nearly forty years, had prevailed between England and
other European powers. It would be difficult to realise at this day how
far the nation had lapsed into unreadiness. Prince Albert incessantly
strove to arouse it from this perilous lethargy. One result of his
efforts had been the establishment during the summer of 1853 of a
temporary camp of exercise at Chobham, a complete novelty to the
generation of that time. Aldershot, as a place of arms, had no existence
then, but the system initiated at Chobham has become part of our regular
military organisation. Another result had been the establishment of a
permanent Channel Fleet, which was reviewed by the Queen at Spithead on
August 11, 1853, and described by Prince Albert as "the finest fleet,
perhaps, which England ever fitted out; forty ships of war of all kinds,
all moved by steam-power but three.... The gigantic ships of war, among
them the _Duke of Wellington_ with 131 guns (a greater number than was
ever assembled before in one vessel), went, without sails and propelled
only by the screw, _eleven miles an hour_, and this against wind and
tide! This is the greatest revolution effected in the conduct of naval
warfare which has yet been known ... and will render many fleets, like
the present Russian one, useless." Speaking of men-of-war fitted with
the auxiliary screw, he went on: "We have already sixteen at sea and ten
in an advanced state. France has no more than two, and the other Powers
none.... I write all this, because last autumn we were bewailing our
defenceless state, and because you know that, without wishing to be
_mouche de coche_, I must rejoice to see that achieved which I had
struggled so long and so hard to effect."
[Illustration: _J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
WHAT IT HAS COME TO.
Lord Aberdeen holding back the British Lion.]
[Illustration: _W. A. Krell._} {_In the Royal Collection._
REVIEW OF THE CHANNEL SQUADRON BY HER MAJESTY, August 11, 1853.]
Great Britain, then, at the outbreak of the Russian War, possessed a
fleet stronger than the combined flotillas of any other three Great
Powers. Her land forces were far less satisfactory, for though they were
perfectly disciplined and well-equipped according to the existing state
of military science, they were few in numbers and almost totally without
reserves, for the new Militia could not count for much as yet.
[Illustration: GUN SHOP AT THE ELSWICK WORKS.
A few guns of 4'7 in. and 6 in. calibre awaiting inspection.]
[Illustration: _Sir E. Landseer, R. A._} {_From the Royal Collection. By
permission of Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall._
ROYAL SPORTS.--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT, WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES,
IN THE HIGHLANDS, 1853.]
CHAPTER IX.
1854-1856.
Mr. Gladstone's War Budget--Humiliation and Prayer--The Invasion
of the Crimea--The Battle of Alma--A Fruitless Victory--Effect
in England--War Correspondents--Balaklava--Cavalry Charges by
the Heavy and Light Brigades--"Our's Not to Reason Why"--Russian
Sortie--Battle of Inkermann--Breakdown of Transport and
Commissariat--Hurricane in the Black Sea--Florence
Nightingale--Fall of the Coalition Cabinet--Lord Palmerston
Forms a Ministry--Victory of the Turks at
Eupatoria--Unsuccessful Attack by the Allies--Death of Lord
Raglan--His Character--Battle of Tchernaya--Evacuation of
Sebastopol--Surrender of Kars--Conclusion of Peace.
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's War Budget.]
When Mr. Gladstone introduced his War Budget on May 8, he said that the
prosperity of trade and elasticity of the Revenue warranted him in
meeting the expenses of the campaign out of current taxation. He
calculated on this being possible by doubling the Income Tax and
increasing the duty on malt and spirits. Lord Aberdeen, replying to Lord
Roden in the House of Lords, stated that a Day of Humiliation and Prayer
would be set apart for the success of British arms. The Queen
immediately wrote to the Prime Minister, reminding him that she had not
been consulted about this, and objecting to the term "humiliation."
"To say (as we probably should) that _the great sinfulness of the
nation_ has brought about this war, when it is the selfishness and
ambition and want of honesty of _one man_ and his servants which has
done it, while our conduct throughout has been actuated by unselfishness
and honesty, would be too manifestly repulsive to the feelings of
everyone, and would be a mere bit of hypocrisy. Let there be a Prayer
expressive of our great thankfulness for the immense benefits we have
enjoyed, and for the immense prosperity of the country, and entreating
God's help and protection in the coming struggle. In this the Queen
would join heart and soul. If there is to be a day set apart, let it be
for Prayer in this sense."
The Day of Solemn Fast, Humiliation, and Prayer was fixed, but, in
accordance with the Queen's feeling, there were no abject expressions
used in the Prayers prescribed, only a committal of the cause of England
into the hands of the Almighty to "judge between them and her enemies."
[Illustration: _R. Thorburn, A.R.A._} {_From a Miniature in Her
Majesty's possession._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, 1841.]
Varna, a fortified seaport of Bulgaria, on the shore of the Black Sea,
half way between the Bosphorus and the mouth of the Danube, was the
rendezvous appointed for the British and French forces. Lord Raglan,
who, as Lord Fitzroy Somerset, had lost an arm under the Great Duke at
Waterloo, was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army; Maréchal
Saint-Arnaud that of the French; and the veteran Omar Pasha that of the
Turkish. The Russian commanders had learnt that, whatever might be the
incapacity of the Sublime Porte for rule, its troops were composed of
excellent fighting material when well commanded. The Turkish garrison of
Silistria, on the Danube, maintained such a stubborn defence for many
weeks under two English officers, Captain Butler, of the Ceylon Rifles,
and Lieutenant Nasmyth, of the East India Company's Service, that at
last the Russians had to raise the siege, on June 22, after losing more
than 12,000 men. At Giurgevo, again, on July 7, General Soimonoff (who
afterwards fell at the Battle of Inkermann) was badly beaten, and soon
afterwards the whole of the Russian forces were withdrawn beyond the
Pruth, and Turkish territory was free from invaders. This movement was
due, no doubt, in some measure, to the action of Austria, who had
demanded the evacuation of the Principalities, backed her demand by a
threatening movement of troops, and actually concluded a convention with
the Porte on June 14.
[Illustration: _H. E. Dawe._} {_From an Engraving._
HER MAJESTY IN THE ROYAL PEW, ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, 1846.]
The great arsenal and harbour of Russia was Sebastopol in the Crimea,
and it was on this point that the attention of Ministers in London and
Paris was chiefly concentrated. There has been great variance in the
accounts of how it came to be decided that the attack of the Allies
should be directed on that town. It is sufficient to state here that, on
June 29, a despatch was sent to Lord Raglan, strongly urging the
necessity of a prompt attack upon Sebastopol and the Russian fleet, but
leaving the final decision to the discretion of the Allied Commanders.
Lord Raglan did not read these instructions as leaving him any choice,
but regarded them, as he afterwards stated, as "little short of an
absolute order from the Secretary of State," and prepared to obey it. He
was a veteran soldier, it is true, but he had acquired his experience in
campaigns before the days of steam and electricity, and the incessant
and rapid interchange of despatches between Downing Street and the seat
of war no doubt was somewhat bewildering.
[Illustration: _R. Simkin._} {_From Contemporary Prints._
A. Corporal.
B. Sergeant.
C. Officers--Undress.
D. Full Dress.
E. Privates.
UNIFORMS OF THE ROYAL MARINES, 1837.]
[Sidenote: The Invasion of the Crimea.]
The French Commander-in-Chief, Saint-Arnaud, received similar
injunctions from the Emperor Louis Napoleon, who was as strongly in
favour of the project as Palmerston and the Duke of Newcastle; Lord
Raglan, therefore, encountered no opposition from him on the score of
strategy. After three months of inaction at Varna, during which the
troops suffered severely from cholera, the invasion of the Crimea was
undertaken; the Allied Forces set sail for Eupatoria, and on September
21 the Duke of Newcastle telegraphed to the Queen that 25,000 English,
25,000 French, and 8,000 Turks had safely disembarked at Kalamita Bay,
near the mouth of the River Alma, about eight miles north of Sebastopol,
without meeting any resistance. The advance on Sebastopol began on
September 19, and on the 20th the Allies encountered the Russian army,
under Prince Menschikoff, strongly entrenched on the heights south of
the River Alma. Menschikoff of deliberate purpose had allowed them to
disembark unmolested; he had chosen what he believed to be an
impregnable position, where he intended to keep them in play till the
arrival of reinforcements should enable him to leave his entrenchments
and overwhelm the invaders with superior numbers; he watched them
crossing the stream below his position in full confidence that they were
entering the trap prepared for them. But he had underrated the
individual prowess of British and French soldiers. They had discipline,
individual gallantry, and physique in a high degree, but these are often
only so many contributions to the aggregate of disaster unless directed
by sagacious generalship, and the tactics of the Allied Forces at the
Alma were of the headlong character of a schoolboy's playground.
Maréchal Saint-Arnaud was in an agony of illness of approaching death,
as it turned out--and there was little cohesion or concert between the
English on the left and the French on the right of the attacking line.
Only one thing was plain to the men of both armies--there were the
Russian batteries, on the heights beyond the river, with heavy columns
of infantry hanging like a grey cloud along the crests--the one thing to
do was to get at them. Saint-Arnaud, addressing his Generals of
Division, Canrobert and Prince Napoleon, said: "With such men as you I
have no orders to give; I have but to point to the enemy!"
[Illustration: _R. Simkin._}
Royal Marine Artillery--
A. Company Sergeant-Major. B. Gunner. C. Officer.
Royal Marine Light Infantry--
D. Officer. E. Drummer. F. Sergeant. G. Private.
UNIFORMS OF THE ROYAL MARINES, 1897.]
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
COL. BELL, OF THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS,
Obtained the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Battle of the Alma,
when he seized upon, and captured, a gun which the enemy was carrying
off the field.]
[Sidenote: The Battle of the Alma.]
At two o'clock the Allies crossed the river under a plunging fire, and
advanced up the opposing slopes in face of the batteries and a searching
fire of musketry; the great redoubt was carried by assault; the British
battalions, deployed in double rank, according to the unique practice of
English field drill, poured a withering fire into the solid columns of
the enemy and plied the deadly bayonet at closer quarters. About four
o'clock the Russians wavered, fell back, and broke; the position was
carried and the first European field since Waterloo had been won.
With pardonable emulation historians of both nations have claimed the
chief glory of the day for their own people, nor does it profit now to
weigh out the laurels to each with scrupulous precision. The brunt of
the fighting no doubt fell to the English share; that was their good
luck in what Mr. McCarthy has termed a "heroic scramble"; theirs too was
the heaviest loss. One thing is certain that the day was won by the
Allies, not by the skill of their generals, but by the valour and
endurance of the troops, and that the two qualities which ensured
success were those which chiefly distinguished the two nations
respectively--the resolute steadiness and courage of the one, and the
brilliant dash and fury of the other.
[Sidenote: A Fruitless Victory.]
The Battle of Alma was won, but the fruits of victory--where were they?
The English had lost 2,000 men in two hours' fighting, including
twenty-six officers killed; the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers having suffered
worst, with eight officers killed and five wounded and nearly 200
casualties in their ranks. The French returned their loss at 1,200. What
was to be set to the credit of the account? Menschikoff was in full
retreat with his army in great confusion, which required only the
pressure of pursuit to convert into a hopeless rout. Raglan, the pupil
of the Great Duke, surely had learned a sounder lesson than to allow the
enemy time to reorganise his disordered divisions. Raglan, of course,
was for pursuit, but Saint-Arnaud, physically and mentally shattered,
objected for the reason that he was weak in cavalry; the English
commander hesitated, perhaps on good grounds, to proceed alone, and the
opportunity was lost.
The news of victory caused a great revulsion of feeling in England.
People had become impatient during the summer months of inaction at
Varna, and disheartened by the failure of Sir Charles Napier to carry
all before him in the Baltic. Bomarsund, it is true, had been taken, but
Cronstadt and Sweaborg had proved impregnable. Complaints were general
about the want of vigour displayed in carrying on the war, and
dissatisfaction not only prevailed among the uninformed public, but even
found expression from the lips of Cabinet Ministers.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
COL. LLOYD LINDSAY, OF THE SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS
(now Lord Wantage, K.C.B.), seized the colours and rallied his men when
thrown into disorder in the Battle of the Alma. For this act, and for
gallantry at Inkermann, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
MR. (NOW SIR) WM. H. RUSSELL, LL. D.
The first of War Correspondents. Born in 1821; joined the staff of the
_Times_ in 1843, and has represented that paper in all the considerable
wars which have occurred since.]
[Sidenote: War Correspondents.]
A novel feature in the Expedition to the Black Sea was the presence with
the army of war correspondents, representing the leading daily papers.
This was a symptom of that growth of journalistic enterprise which was
to receive such notable impetus in the following year by the abolition
of the newspaper stamp duty. The name of Mr. W. H. Russell, representing
the _Times_, will be long remembered as that of the pioneer in this new
and exciting form of literature. The vivid descriptions sent home of the
splendid conduct of British troops in the field, and the excellent
relations established between them and their ancient foes the French,
were eagerly perused in England, and sent up the enthusiasm to fever
heat.
But if the war letters in the newspapers were of good service in
allaying public impatience by reporting valorous exploits and heroic
endurance, they tended to intensify the anxiety when the campaign became
prolonged towards winter, without any decisive result. It had been
expected that Sebastopol would be carried by a _coup-de-main_; so it
might have been, perhaps, had the victory of Alma been followed up, even
on the day after the action. But the views of Maréchal Saint-Arnaud
prevailed again; the project of assaulting Sebastopol on the north side
was abandoned; and the Allies undertook the terribly hazardous, though,
as it happened, successful flank march upon Balaklava, which, with its
convenient harbour, was selected as the English base and depôt, while
the French chose Kamiesch Bay.
The Battle of Alma took place on September 20; on the 23rd General
Todleben, commanding the defences of Sebastopol, sunk seven war vessels
at the mouth of the harbour. The Allied Fleet, from which this operation
was plainly visible, were thus effectually shut out; the golden
opportunity of the speedy capture of the city by a combined land and sea
attack had gone by. Such an attack was made on October 17, but the fleet
could only play at long bowls, and the French batteries were silenced in
a few hours. The first attempt ended in failure. There was nothing for
it but a prolonged siege, and the Allied Land Forces were insufficient
to invest the town effectively. Moreover they were threatened by a
Russian army outside, constantly reinforced by fresh troops from the
interior. The besiegers themselves had to stand on the defensive.
[Illustration: _W. Simpson, R.I._} {_From Colnaghi's "Authentic
Series."_
IN THE BATTERIES BEFORE SEBASTOPOL.
Sketched on the spot.]
[Sidenote: Balaklava.]
[Sidenote: Cavalry Charges by the Heavy and Light Brigades.]
On October 25 General Liprandi attacked the English camp at Balaklava
with 20,000 or 30,000 men. It is a day to be much remembered in British
war annals with profound but melancholy pride, because of the blunder
which cost the British Army the loss of two-thirds of its Light Cavalry.
The action began by the capture by the Russians of four redoubts held by
the Turks. Then took place a cavalry encounter which, though it has been
eclipsed in memory by the subsequent exploit of the Light Brigade, was,
in truth, not less splendid and far more fruitful. The Russian horse,
numbering some 3,000 sabres advanced against the British Heavy Cavalry
Brigade under General Scarlett. Immensely outnumbered as they were, and
hampered by tent ropes and enclosed ground, the Scots Greys and
Enniskillens charged them impetuously. For a minute or two it seemed as
if these fine regiments must be swallowed up in the dense columns of the
enemy, but the Royals and 4th Dragoon Guards moving up on the left, and
the 5th Dragoon Guards on the right, charged the enemy on either flank,
and forced them to give way and fly. The whole affair was over in less
than five minutes.
Lord Raglan, who was anxiously waiting for infantry reinforcements,
seeing the Russians preparing to move the guns from the captured
redoubts, sent an order to Lord Lucan to prevent them doing so. "Try to
prevent the enemy carrying away the guns." What guns? Captain Nolan, who
carried the order, pointed to a battery of eight Russian guns at the end
of the valley, supported by artillery on either flank. "There, my lord,
is our enemy," said he, "and there are our guns." Lord Lucan hesitated
at first, but the order seemed explicit, and he directed Lord Cardigan
to form his Light Brigade into two lines. In the first line were four
squadrons of the 13th Light Dragoons and 17th Lancers; in the second
were four squadrons of the 4th Light Dragoons and 11th Hussars, with one
squadron of the 8th Hussars as a kind of reserve. The command was given,
and it was obeyed. Six hundred and seventy-three men rode down that
valley of death straight for the guns, on a venture as hopeless and
devoted as that of Sir Giles de Argentine at Bannockburn, and hardly
less futile. Only one hundred and ninety-five returned.
[Illustration: _Stanley Berkeley._} {_By permission of the publishers,
Messrs. S. Hildesheimer & Co., of London and Manchester._
THE CHARGE OF THE HEAVY BRIGADE AT BALAKLAVA.]
[Sidenote: Breakdown of Transport and Commissariat.]
On the following day the Russians made a sortie in force upon the
English position at Inkermann, and although they were repulsed by Sir de
Lacy Evans's division, there can be no possible doubt that the Allied
Forces at this period were in imminent peril of a terrible disaster.
Five days before the cavalry action of Balaklava, Raglan had informed
the War Office that his army was reduced to 16,000, and that he doubted
if he could maintain it in the field during the winter, even if
Sebastopol should be taken first. Week after week the condition of the
troops was painted in gloomier colours by the war correspondents. The
transport system had broken down; supplies of all sorts were running
short; the hospital arrangements were miserably inadequate for the
numerous wounded and the still more numerous sick. The Turkish
troops--men of the same race who had fought so well under English
officers at Silistria--proved useless--worse than useless, for they had
to be fed--under their own pashas in the trenches before Sebastopol.
[Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._} {_By permission of the Artist, and
of Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall, Publishers of the Photogravure._
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE AT BALAKLAVA.]
The French Emperor took alarm. Hitherto nearly all the fighting had
fallen to the share of the British, and England had very few troops
ready to send as reinforcements. Louis Napoleon proposed to send 20,000
French troops if England would supply the necessary transports. This was
undertaken at once; huts, warm clothing, blankets, tinned meat, and
other stores were sent out in ample quantities, but very few of the
cargoes reached their destination. Winter had burst upon the Black Sea
with almost unexampled fury; the transports and cargo ships were
scattered. Two French men-of-war and twenty-four British transports went
to the bottom in the hurricane; the elements seemed to combine with
man's mismanagement for the annihilation of the Allied Forces. What our
soldiers had to bear, half clothed, half starved, in those bitter
trenches, may be read in Kinglake's narrative.
[Sidenote: Battle of Inkermann.]
While the authorities at home were straining every nerve to send succour
to the fast-dwindling army in the field, news came to England of another
great battle, far more sanguinary than any previous encounter, in which
once more the brunt had fallen on the British. The Grand Dukes Nicholas
and Michael, with the whole forces in Sebastopol, reinforced by large
bodies of troops newly arrived from the Danubian provinces, in all not
less than 50,000 men, had attacked the right of the English lines early
in the dark morning of November 5. The fighting continued till late in
the afternoon, the French being engaged also; but General Canrobert (who
had succeeded to the command vacated by the death of Saint-Arnaud), in
his telegram to the Emperor, chivalrously attributed the victory to "the
remarkable solidity with which the English army maintained the battle,
supported by a portion of General Bosquet's division." The English loss
in the Battle of Inkermann amounted to 2,573 killed and wounded, of
which 145 were officers, including four generals; the French lost 1,800,
while the Russian casualties were made out in their official returns at
11,959 killed, wounded, and prisoners.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN.]
[Sidenote: Florence Nightingale.]
The Allies paid a heavy price for this victory, but the carnage was not
in vain. The power of Russia was crippled for a moment, and time was
given for the succour which busy hands and brains were preparing in
London and Paris. The most heartrending spectacle of all was the state
of the hospitals at Scutari. No sooner did a description of them reach
London than a fund was opened to supply their wants. More than £25,000
was collected, and English women organised themselves as nurses, and
placed themselves under the direction of Miss Florence Nightingale. No
commander so puissant--no statesman so powerful--that his name shall
out-last that of this devoted Englishwoman, whose services, in spite of
the usual routine official objections, were accepted by Mr. Sidney
Herbert, the Secretary at War.[F] Miss Nightingale arrived at Scutari,
with thirty-seven nurses, on the morning of the Battle of Inkermann, and
so clearly did this devoted band prove their usefulness, that Miss
Stanley, the Dean of Westminster's sister, followed not long after with
forty additional assistants. To Florence Nightingale is due the glory of
having initiated a movement which has extended far beyond the limits of
the Crimean Campaign. No army now moves on active service without its
train of skilled nurses, and the Geneva Convention has been the direct
result of this first mission of mercy.
[Illustration: _W. Simpson, R.I._} {_From Colnaghi's "Authentic
Series."_
MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE IN ONE OF THE WARDS OF THE HOSPITAL AT
SCUTARI.
From Sketches made on the spot.]
[Sidenote: Fall of the Coalition Cabinet.]
It would be no pleasant task to retrace at length the sorrowful story of
the siege. British army organisation had broken down hopelessly, and
people in England were maddened by the descriptions in the Press,
perhaps in some instances exaggerated, how their brothers and sons were
dying in the trenches, not by steel and shell, but from the starvation,
disease, exposure, vermin, to which the culpable incapacity of British
officials, as it was believed, had exposed them. It was the system,
rather than its agents, which was to blame; but shoulders had to be
found to bear the blame, and Parliament took the only means in its
power, by passing a vote of censure on Ministers, who were defeated on a
motion by Mr. Roebuck by the crushing majority of 157. The Coalition
Government had collapsed.
[Sidenote: Victory of the Turks at Eupatoria.]
After an ineffective attempt by Lord Derby to form a Cabinet, Lord
Palmerston--the only possible man in the existing state of public
opinion--became Prime Minister. Things had begun already to go better
with the Allies before Sebastopol. Omar Pasha, with his despised Turks,
defeated an army of 40,000 Russians under General Liprandi at Eupatoria
on February 18, being supported by an effective fire from the Allied
Fleet.
The news reached Czar Nicholas on March 1; he was suffering at the time
from the effects of influenza, but his health was not the subject of any
alarm to his Court. Nevertheless he died on March 2; peace negotiations
were immediately opened at Vienna, and the new Czar consented to send a
representative to the Conference "in a sincere spirit of concord."
Great Britain was represented by Lord John Russell and France by M.
Drouyn de Lhuys, but the proceedings were rendered abortive by the
refusal of Russia to consent to the neutralisation of the Black Sea.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
LIEUT.-COLONEL SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, BART., V.C.
At the Battle of Inkermann, ammunition failing, both British and
Russians hurled stones at each other. In the midst of the mêlée,
Lieut.-Colonel Russell, of the Grenadier Guards, led a party into the
midst of the enemy, and dislodged them from the Sand-bag Battery. He was
nearly bayonetted; his life was saved by a private in the Grenadiers
named Palmer.]
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs
Graves._
FIELD-MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN, 1788-1855.
Lord Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, created Baron Raglan in 1852, was the
eighth and youngest son of the Fifth Duke of Beaufort. He was Military
Secretary to the Duke of Wellington, 1819-1852, Master-General of
Ordnance, 1852, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in
the Crimea, 1854.]
[Sidenote: Death of Lord Raglan.]
The war went on; the Allies being strengthened in a minute degree by the
active adherence of the little kingdom of Sardinia, of which the gallant
and resolute monarch, Victor Emmanuel, perceived ultimate advantage to
his designs on the throne of Italy through alliance with Great Britain
and France in a war which concerned him about as much as it did the
Queen of the Sandwich Islands. The bombardment of Sebastopol was resumed
on April 10, and 400 great guns battered away without much result. But
the trenches were drawing ever closer round the doomed city, and the
Allies made a successful expedition to Kertch on May 24, where they
destroyed immense stores provided for the Russian army, as well as a
convoy of cargo ships in the Sea of Azoff. On June 18 a combined assault
was delivered on the Malakoff and Redan Forts, but the Allies were
repulsed with heavy loss. It had been undertaken against the judgment of
Lord Raglan, who yielded reluctantly to General Pelissier's urgent
request. He took this reverse grievously to heart: harassed as he had
been by the censures passed at home on his administration, his health
gave way under this additional blow, and he succumbed to dysentery on
the 29th.
[Illustration: _E. M. Ward, R.A._} {_In the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN INVESTING THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. WITH THE ORDER
OF THE GARTER AT WINDSOR CASTLE, April 18, 1855.
The friendly feeling between England and France which sprang out of
their common interests in the war against Russia, found expression in an
interchange of visits between the Sovereigns of the two countries. The
Emperor Napoleon III. and his beautiful Empress visited the Queen at
Windsor in April 1855. They were met at Dover by the Prince Consort on
the 16th, and remained at Windsor until the 21st. One of the most
impressive ceremonies of their visit was the Installation of the Emperor
as a Knight of the Garter.]
In assuming the chief command of the British Army in this war, Lord
Raglan had undertaken a task of peculiar and, in some respects, novel
difficulty. He brought ripe experience, it is true, acquired under the
greatest soldier of the century, but the lapse of years had brought
about so many changes in military appliances and scientific inventions,
that much of that experience was rendered obsolete. He was the first
British general who had to conduct operations in the field advised,
controlled, directed, censured by telegraphic despatches from the War
Office. He had, moreover, to act in concert with an ally, brave, indeed,
but sensitive, and it was of the nature of things that their counsels
should sometimes clash, at least, that their judgment should not always
be identical. Little reference has been made to the angry impatience
expressed in the English press and Parliament in regard to what was
freely condemned as the incapacity and dilatoriness of Lord Raglan,
because time and reflection have amply vindicated his renown. But it
must have been galling to him at the time, and greatly aggravated the
difficulties of his position. The best evidence of his genuine force of
character is found in the patient courage with which he fulfilled his
office to the last, and the enthusiastic devotion which he won from all
ranks serving under him.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
MAJOR (NOW GENERAL) CHRISTOPHER TEESDALE, C.B., R.A., AT KARS, September
29, 1855.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallant conduct in throwing
himself into the midst of the Russians, who had penetrated under cover
of night into the Yuksek Tabia redoubt; also for saving, at great
personal risk, the enemy's wounded from the fury of the Turks.]
[Illustration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN DISTRIBUTING MEDALS TO THE HEROES OF THE CRIMEA,
ON THE HORSE GUARDS PARADE, May 21, 1855.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Tchernaya.]
The command of the British forces devolved upon General Simpson. On
August 16 General Liprandi made a formidable attempt to raise the siege
by an attack on the French and Sardinian position on the Tchernaya, but
was repulsed with tremendous slaughter. This was the last encounter in
the open field. The final assault on the town was opened by a tremendous
fire from the Allied batteries on September 5, and the bombardment
continued without intermission throughout the 6th and 7th. On the
morning of the 8th the French made a splendid dash at the Malakoff Fort,
the key of Sebastopol, and captured it. The English fared not so well in
an attempt to storm the Redan and suffered severely in a repulse. But
the defence was at an end.
[Illustration: _C. Jacquand._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCE CONSORT LANDING AT BOULOGNE, August
18, 1855.
This was the first visit of an English Sovereign to France since Henry
VI. was crowned in Paris in 1422. The Royal Visitors were received by
the Emperor on the landing stage at Boulogne, and conveyed to the Palace
of St. Cloud. During their stay in Paris they paid several visits to the
Palais des Beaux Arts, a part of the Exposition Universelle in which
they were greatly interested.]
[Illustration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
REVIEW IN THE CHAMPS DE MARS AT PARIS, August 24, 1855.
During their stay in Paris, Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince Consort
were present at a grand review of troops held in the Champs de Mars.
Especial interest was attached to the spectacle, as at the moment the
armies of France and England were fighting side by side in the final
struggle in the Crimea. Canrobert, one of the heroes of the war, was
present, and was decorated by the Queen with the Order of the Bath. Her
Majesty, with the Empress and Princess Mathilde, are sitting together in
the balcony, while the Emperor and the Prince Consort are below watching
the movements of the long series of battalions.]
[Sidenote: Evacuation of Sebastopol.]
After repeated attempts to retake the Malakoff, the Russian commander
resolved on evacuating the town. Fortunately the wires connected with
the magazine in the Malakoff were discovered in time by the French and
cut, for arrangements had been made for blowing up all the forts. One
after another they went up with terrific din during the night; early on
the morning of the 9th the Russians executed a masterly evacuation
across a floating bridge, leaving their town in flames and their fleet
at the bottom of the harbour. Sebastopol had fallen, but not into the
hands of the Allies; it had been erased from the face of the earth.
[Illustration: _E. M. Ward, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN VISITING THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON I. IN THE INVALIDES,
PARIS, August 24, 1855.]
[Sidenote: Conclusion of Peace.]
The Congress of Paris met on February 26, 1856, and a treaty of peace
was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers on March 30. The
most important Article was that which guaranteed the perpetual
neutrality of the Black Sea; Russia received back the ruins of
Sebastopol in exchange for the wreck of Kars, and the Eastern Question
was laid to rest, at least for a season.
[Illustration: THE EARL OF ROSSE'S GREAT TELESCOPE AT PARSONSTOWN.
This great reflecting telescope, still the finest in the world, is 56
feet long; the speculum or mirror of copper and tin at the bottom of the
tube is 6 feet in diameter and weighs nearly 4 tons. Its nominal
magnifying power is 6,000, and it reflects about 165,000 times as much
light as the naked eye itself would receive. It was designed and
constructed in 1845 by the late Earl of Rosse, and has rendered great
service to science.]
[Illustration: [_From a Photograph by the late Mrs. Cameron._
SIR JOHN F. W. HERSCHEL, BART.
1792-1871.
Astronomer. Son of Sir Frederick W. Herschel. His first great work was
his Catalogue of Double and Triple Stars; later on he catalogued the
nebulæ, and made researches in Sound and Light. He discovered the
solvent effects of hyposulphite of soda on silver salts--the basis of
photographic processes. Created a Baronet in 1838, Master of the Mint
1850-55. For many years he was among the most prominent of English
scientists.]
For this result England had to pay down four and twenty thousand lives
and add forty-one millions to her National Debt; but she learned in
addition to take vigilant precaution against the enervating influence of
prolonged peace. To this may be added the bracing moral effect which
follows on the supreme and disciplined exercise of a nation's power.
[Illustration: _Sir Oswald Brierly, R.W.S._} {_In the Royal Collection._
ACTION AT FATSHAN, CHINA, June 1, 1857.
The Chinese fleet of about ninety junks was completely destroyed in two
severe engagements, in which the Chinese fought their guns with
unexampled constancy. Owing to the shallowness of the water the British
attacked in small boats.]
CHAPTER X.
1857-1858.
The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the
Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to
Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The
Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of
Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at
Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Massacre--Siege of
Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's
Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia
Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the
Princess Royal.
It is well that the next chapter in British warfare is a short one, for
it is one which Britons can peruse with little pride. It is prefaced by
a paragraph in the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament on
February 3, 1857: "Acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and
infraction of treaty rights, committed by the local Chinese authorities
at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, have rendered it
necessary for Her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to
measures of force to obtain satisfaction."
[Illustration: _T. Phillips, R.A._} {_From the "Life of Dr. Arnold," by
permission of Mr. Murray._
THOMAS ARNOLD, D.D., 1795-1842.
Appointed Head Master of Rugby School in 1827, he infused a new tone and
spirit into English Public School Education. He was the first to
introduce modern languages, modern history, and mathematics into the
regular school course.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN THE ROBES OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.
Painted in 1859.]
[Sidenote: The Lorcha "Arrow."]
[Sidenote: War with China.]
A dispute had arisen out of circumstances even more trivial than the
question of custody of the Holy Places, which led to the Crimean war.
A vessel termed a "lorcha," lying in the Canton river in October 1856,
was boarded by Chinese officials, who took away twelve men accused of
piracy, although the lorcha _Arrow_ was flying the British flag. The
British Consul at Canton demanded the release of these men, according
to the treaty of 1843; but the Chinese Governor Yeh declared that the
_Arrow_ was not a British vessel but a Chinese pirate, and refused
to comply with the Consul's demand. It was proved, however, that the
_Arrow_ had been duly registered as a British vessel, though her
registration had actually expired ten days before the arrest of the men.
Mr. Parkes, the British Consul, appealed to Sir John Bowring, British
Minister at Hongkong. Bowring was determined to stand no nonsense from
the Chinaman: nor was he going to trouble himself whether the _Arrow_
was entitled to fly the British ensign or not! As a matter of fact,
he wrote to Parkes that the expiry of the registration had deprived her
owners of the right, but that as the Chinese did not know that, they
must be held responsible for insulting the flag. Anyhow, it was enough
for Bowring that Chinese officials had dared to take men by force from
under that flag, whether it had been hoisted rightfully or wrongfully.
He sent an ultimatum to Yeh, demanding the release of the men and an
ample apology within forty-eight hours, or he would begin hostilities.
Yeh released the men, and promised that greater caution should be
observed in future, but he refused to apologise, maintaining that the
_Arrow_ was in fact a Chinese vessel. Incredible as it may seem that
such powers should be vested in a British Minister, and still more so,
that he should employ them in such a miserable quarrel, nevertheless
Bowring ordered up the fleet and Canton was severely bombarded for
several days. Yeh made the tactical blunder of offering a reward for the
heads of Englishmen. He got no heads, but he forfeited the respect which
England always pays to an honourable foe.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
INTERIOR OF THE GUN-COTTON FACTORY AT WALTHAM ABBEY.
The picture represents the Pulping and Moulding Room. Gun-cotton
consists of cotton-waste subjected to the action of nitric acid, washed,
boiled, chopped into pulp, and pressed into blocks.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
BARREL-ROOM AT THE SMALL ARMS FACTORY, ENFIELD.]
[Sidenote: Defeat of the Government, and Dissolution.]
[Sidenote: Palmerston returns to Office.]
There was considerable sensation when the news came to England. Lord
Derby moved a vote of censure in the Lords, and the only answer the Lord
Chancellor could make to the enquiry whether, supposing a Chinese owner
of a Chinese vessel bought a British ensign, that made her a British
vessel, was that the Chinese had no right to assume that the flag was
hoisted illegally. The House of Lords supported the Government, but it
went worse with them in the Commons. On the motion of Mr. Cobden,
Ministers were defeated by a majority of sixteen. Mr. Disraeli had dared
the Government to go to the country on the question. "I should like," he
had said, in the measured, biting accents of his later manner, "to see
the proud leaders of the Liberal party--no reform, new taxes, Canton
blazing, Pekin invaded!" Palmerston took up the gauntlet; he appealed to
the country, and he put his policy--thorough "Jingo," as it would be
termed nowadays--before the constituencies in such sort that he was
returned to power stronger than before. Never was a Minister more
thoroughly justified in settling his plans for a long spell of office.
But Palmerston himself is said to have observed once that "the life of a
Ministry was never worth three months' purchase," of which the fate of
his own second Administration was a striking illustration. It lasted
just long enough to enable him to announce to the House of Commons in
February 1858 that Canton had fallen before a combined English and
French force; for the French in the interval had managed to pick a
quarrel with the Chinese. A treaty was concluded securing access to the
interior of China for Englishmen and Frenchmen, establishing diplomatic
relations between England and France and the Court of China, and
securing the toleration of Christianity.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
WINDING CORDITE IN THE GOVERNMENT FACTORY.
Cordite is composed of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine. In the form of
greasy cord it is wound on reels, and afterwards cut into lengths.]
On June 25, 1857, the Queen issued Letters Patent conferring on Prince
Albert the title of Prince Consort, a name which had been popularly
applied to him for many years in England, and by which he was known
henceforward to the world. The change may seem an unimportant one, but
it created some unreasonable dissatisfaction at the time, and the Press
of the country betrayed no enthusiasm in its favour.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
MACHINE-GUN SHOP AT THE SMALL ARMS FACTORY, ENFIELD.]
[Sidenote: Startling News from India.]
The transit of news had been greatly accelerated over large tracts of
the globe by the use of electricity, but it still took many weeks to
convey intelligence between Great Britain and her Empire in India.
Little did the people who assembled in London on June 23, 1857, to
celebrate the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, by which Bengal was
added to the British Dominions, imagine that at that very moment Bengal
was the scene of a conflict as mighty in scope as it was horrifying in
detail. The story burst upon England with the suddenness of a tornado.
The Sepoy army had risen in revolt, murdered their officers, proclaimed
the King of Delhi Emperor of India, and the whole peninsula was in
rebellion. There had been awful massacres too; English men, women, and
children had been slaughtered in hundreds; most hideous of all there
were circumstantial stories of outrage, followed by torture, committed
upon our women. A terrible moan for vengeance rose throughout the land.
There were few families who had not relations, or at least friends and
acquaintances, among the British communities in India; the suddenness of
the news was not the most appalling part of it; it was the ghastly
details of the story that so deeply moved the nation. Black and bloody
as the reality afterwards proved to be, the mutineers were not shown to
have been guilty of the worst horrors imputed to them in the early days
of the rising. Englishwomen perished as women perished in the worst of
mediæval massacres, but they were not subjected to outrage or torture,
as was circumstantially affirmed and universally believed at first.
[Illustration: _Photographed from examples_} {_in the Tower Armouries._
THE FIRE-ARMS OF THE EARLY YEARS OF HER MAJESTY'S REIGN.
1. "Brown Bess" (smooth-bore flint-lock).
2. Baker's rifle (flint-lock).
3. Baker's rifle, with sword-bayonet.
4. Brunswick rifle (percussion).
5. Minié rifle (1851).
The above were all in use at the time of the Crimean War.]
This great convulsion is always referred to as the Indian Mutiny,
because of the violent revolt of so many native regiments in the British
service; but it was far more than a mutiny; it was an insurrection of
the Indian races against the European conqueror, a common rising of
Hindoo and Mahomedan against the Christian power. Disaffection to
British rule had never ceased to smoulder: how should it, seeing that so
many native rulers had been deposed, so many others placed in inglorious
dependency or on pension? The misrule and oppression of these potentates
had been forgotten by the people who once groaned under them, just as
the Jacobites who shouted for "the auld Stuarts back again" forgot what
the people had endured under the Stuart kings. Dost Mahomed had shown an
example how the Feringhi could be dealt with, and there were a thousand
grievances against English officers and magistrates to be wiped out.
Lord Dalhousie had resigned the Governor-Generalship in March 1856, and
his eight years of rule had been regulated by a policy of annexation.
Deeply penetrated with the capacity of the Indian races and their
country for moral and material development, he perceived how fatal was
the native system of rule to all progress. Consequently he was not
rigidly scrupulous in every case about the precise justice of the means
by which one principality after another was added to the British
dominions. The greatest happiness of the greatest number often involves
disappointment and even direct injury to the few. Dalhousie vindicated
his policy by the splendid energy he showed in making roads, railways,
and telegraphs, in reducing taxation, and in general measures for the
good of the people; but he undoubtedly left a feeling of soreness and
resentment that only waited a fitting opportunity to take effect.
Out of this discontent arose a widespread conspiracy against British
rule in the beginning of 1857. It is believed by some that the military
rising was premature, and disconcerted the measures of those organising
the general revolt. Be that as it may, the earliest overt acts of
rebellion took place among the troops.
[Illustration: _Photographed from examples_} {_in the Tower Armouries._
THE RIFLES OF THE LATER YEARS OF HER MAJESTY'S REIGN.
6. Enfield long rifle (1853).
7. Snider-Enfield rifle (1864).
8. Martini-Henry rifle (1871).
9. Lee-Metford magazine rifle, with short sword-bayonet (the
present regulation weapon).]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
CYCLIST CORPS.
The value of the bicycle in actual warfare has yet to be proved; but,
like the field telegraph and the military balloon, it has already taken
its place in the equipment of European Armies. The Corps represented is
the 2nd V.B. West Kent Regiment.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
"TROOPING THE COLOURS" ON HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY.
The annual "trooping of the colours" of the Household Troops on the
Horse Guards Parade is the prettiest military pageant to be seen
nowadays in London.]
[Sidenote: Rising at Meerut.]
The effect of the Minié rifle, carried by some of the Russian troops in
the Crimea, had been so remarkable, that the British military
authorities had decided that the day of "Brown Bess"--the smooth-bore
musket--had gone by. In common with the rest of the forces, therefore,
the Enfield rifle was served out to the Indian troops in 1856. Now the
paper of the cartridges used in this weapon was greased, and the idea
was industriously circulated among the Sepoys that the lubricant used
was a mixture of the fat of cows and pigs--a most ingenious falsehood,
if falsehood it were--a most unlucky fact, if fact it were--for the
native troops were composed partly of Mahomedans, to whom, of all
animals, the hog is most loathsome, and partly of Hindoos, by whom, of
all animals, the cow is held most sacred. Falsehood or fact, the story
served a sinister purpose, for although the issue of the objectionable
cartridges was stopped in January, and Lord Canning, the
Governor-General, issued a Proclamation in May to the Army of Bengal,
declaring that the story of an intentional affront to religion and caste
on the part of the Government was utterly groundless, the early months
of 1857 witnessed repeated instances of military insubordination, and
some of the native regiments had to be disbanded. On Saturday, May 9,
eighty-five men of the Bengal Cavalry were sentenced at Meerut to long
periods of imprisonment and hard labour for refusing to use the
cartridges issued to them. Next day, Sunday, the whole native garrison
at Meerut, the largest military station in India, mutinied, killed
several of their officers, massacred some Europeans, and breaking open
the gaol, released their imprisoned comrades. The European troops at
Meerut drove them out of their cantonments; but allowed the mutineers to
march to Delhi, where the octogenarian representative of the Great Mogul
still held his court as a subject of Queen Victoria and pensioner of the
East India Company. This old man they proclaimed Emperor of India, and
the military mutiny assumed at once the character of national rebellion.
All the patriotism that had been outraged, all the aspirations that had
been crushed, all the private interests that had suffered by Lord
Dalhousie's annexation of the Punjab, of Oude, of Sattara, and of
Jhansi, found their outlet and opportunity in the mutiny of the garrison
of Meerut. The great Koh-i-noor diamond, symbol of the sovereignty of
Lahore, had been displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851: the diamond
might be gone beyond recall, but the tyranny of the Sikh Ameers had
passed from memory also, and a resolute effort might restore them. There
are known various modes of pre-historic telegraph. In the Scottish
Highlands of old the fiery cross, passed from hamlet to hamlet, summoned
the clansmen to arms; on the Borders the bale-fires leapt from height to
height to rouse the land: not less sure and hardly less swift was the
symbol of "chupatties," little unleavened cakes, of which two were left
with the head man of each village of Northern India on an appointed
morning, with directions to make similar cakes and pass them on. When
the standard of rebellion was hoisted on the citadel of Delhi, the train
had been laid and all was in readiness for an explosion which should
shatter to fragments British rule in India.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
THE BATTLE OF KOOSHAB, February 8, 1857.
The Persian War of 1856-1857 was undertaken to establish the
independence of Afghanistan, and the Persians were defeated in an action
at Kooshab, about forty-four miles from Bushire. When the 3rd Bombay
Light Cavalry charged the enemy's square, Lieut. Moore, who was
foremost, leapt into the square and had his horse killed under him.
Lieut. Malcolmson fought his way to his brother officer and rescued him.
Both officers were awarded the Victoria Cross.]
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
CAPTAIN DIGHTON PROBYN AT AGRA.
In the action against the mutineers at Agra, in August 1857, Captain
(now Lieut.-General Sir) Dighton Probyn distinguished himself by leading
his squadron against an overwhelming mass of the enemy's infantry. He
received the Victoria Cross for his gallantry on this occasion.]
[Sidenote: Loyalty of the Sikhs.]
But there was one factor essential to making the convulsion complete,
and that was the co-operation of the Sikhs--the most warlike population
of India--the people who, only eight years before, had inflicted on
British arms what we must be honest enough to own as the defeat of
Chilianwalla. While the rebellion was spreading like wildfire through
the whole of the rest of the North-West, and blazing through Oude into
Lower Bengal, while regiment after regiment was rising, shooting its
officers, and joining the native population in pillage and massacre of
Christians, the Sikhs never wavered in fidelity to British rule. That
was what saved the British Indian Empire--that, and the way in which
British officials behaved in the hour of trial.
Of course, severe reflections have been passed on those in command of
European troops at Meerut and in the neighbourhood of Delhi for allowing
the revolted regiments to pass unmolested from the former to the latter
place. There was indecision shown, no doubt. The Commandant at Meerut
telegraphed to Delhi what had occurred, and did no more. Next day the
Mahomedans of Delhi rose and joined the Sepoys, and the Europeans in the
Residency could only blow up their magazine to prevent it falling into
the hands of the rebels. It is easy to sit in an elbow chair and
pronounce the opinion that if the authorities at Meerut had showed
presence of mind the rebellion might have been quashed at the outset;
but it is a fearful thing for soldiers to have to turn their arms
suddenly against their comrades; and any hesitation or weakness shown on
that occasion may be forgotten in the tribute due to the whole body of
military and civil officers for their conduct in what followed.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._}
VISCOUNT CANNING, 1812-1862.
Governor-General and First Viceroy of India.]
[Illustration:
_From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co., Strand._
TYPES OF OUR INDIAN CAVALRY.
1. Guide Cavalry.
2. 1st Bengal Cavalry.
3. 1st Punjab Cavalry.
4. Major, 11th Bengal Lancers.
5. 1st Contingent, India Horse.
6. 4th Bombay Poonah Horse.
7. 1st Madras Lancers.
8. 4th Contingent, Lancers (Hyderabad).]
[Sidenote: Lord Canning's Presence of Mind.]
Lord Canning played a splendid part. Of all moods of the human creature
there is none so ungovernable as fear. The suddenness of the outbreak,
the rapidity of its spread, the atrocious massacres which marked its
progress, created a wild panic in Calcutta and other European
communities. Canning was assailed on all sides by the insane counsels of
terror. He was urged to take the most savage methods of reprisal. The
dethroned King of Oude was living near Calcutta. Of all Dalhousie's
annexations perhaps that of Oude was the one which most afflicted
sensitive consciences; and the people of Calcutta, convinced that the
King of Oude was preparing schemes of vengeance, besought the
Governor-General to seize his person. Canning responded by receiving the
King and his Vizier to reside in his own house. The clamours against him
rose to frenzy: people nicknamed him "Clemency Canning"; they shrieked
for his recall; but through all the tumult this great man kept his head
cool and his nerve steady.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta._
STATE ELEPHANTS OF THE VICEROY OF INDIA.
The elephant in the centre of the group was taken from the Nawab of
Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and was 140 years old when the
photograph was taken.]
Happily there were other cool heads besides the Governor-General's. On
May 11 information of the outbreak at Meerut was telegraphed from
Calcutta to Lahore, the capital of the Punjab. The Governor, Sir John
(afterwards Lord) Lawrence was absent at Rawul Pindee, having left full
power in the hands of the Judicial Commissioner, Mr. Robert Montgomery.
Four thousand Sepoy troops lay at Meean Meer, five or six miles from
Lahore, and Mr. Montgomery had to decide on the instant whether these
should be assumed to be contemplating mutiny. He came to a speedy
decision. They must not be allowed the chance. There was a great ball in
Lahore that night; among the guests were the civil and military chiefs
of the district. Mr. Montgomery consulted with them and it was resolved
to disarm the native troops. A parade was ordered for daybreak at Meean
Meer: twelve guns loaded with grape were placed along one side of the
parade ground. The troops were formed up in line of contiguous columns
facing the guns and ordered to pile arms. They obeyed, for to hesitate
was death. The rifles were carried off in carts, and the station was
left in possession of 1,300 European troops. This was perhaps the most
critical moment of the Mutiny. Nothing short of Mr. Montgomery's
firmness, supported by the military commanders, could have ensured the
safety of the Punjab.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph by F. Frith & Co._}
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CALCUTTA.
The official residence of the Viceroy of India. Built in 1799-1804 by
Lord Wellesley at a cost of about £150,000. Calcutta is the seat of
Government of the Empire of India; population (1891), 862,000. The total
population of India in 1891 was 287,000,000, of whom only 238,500
habitually spoke English, and of these less than half were British
born.]
[Sidenote: The Rising at Cawnpore.]
The darkest page of the book of Mutiny is that which contains the story
of Cawnpore. In May 1857 there were 3,000 native troops at that place,
and about 300 Europeans, under command of Sir Hugh Wheeler, an old man
of seventy-five. Wheeler had reason to expect his force to mutiny, and
appealed to Nana Sahib, a neighbouring prince representing the dethroned
Mahratta Peishwah of Poonah, to help him. Nana had an undoubtedly
genuine grievance against the Government. On the death of the last
Peishwah, Lord Dalhousie had refused to continue the pension to his
adopted son Nana, thereby violating the Hindoo principle that all the
rights of sonship, material as well as spiritual, are conveyed by
adoption. Nana, whose real name was Seereek Dhoondoo Punth, was rich and
hospitable, and delighted in entertaining English officers and their
ladies at his residence near Cawnpore. He responded cordially to Sir
Hugh's invitation, and came at once to Cawnpore with 300 men and two
guns, to help to keep order. His arrival coincided with the revolt of
the garrison, and he placed himself at once at the head of the
mutineers. Wheeler had taken refuge in an old hospital building with
about 1,000 Europeans, of whom 280 were women and girls, with about the
same number of children. A hasty entrenchment was thrown up, and Wheeler
refused Nana's summons to surrender. For nineteen days, under the
tropical sun of June, this handful of brave men maintained the defence
of their crumbling mud wall against thousands of rebels. The assailants
were reinforced by a contingent of Oude men, who made a fierce assault
on the place; but the English were fighting for more than their mere
lives; the presence of their women and children made each man bear
himself like a Paladin. The attack was repulsed, and this prolonged
resistance soon began to tell on the prestige of Nana, for Hindoos and
Mahomedans alike appreciate prowess in the field. He offered terms to
the besieged: "All those who are in no way connected with the acts of
Lord Dalhousie, and who are willing to lay down their arms, shall
receive a safe passage to Allahabad."
[Illustration:
A. Post and Telegraph Offices. B. High Court. C. Clock Tower.
D. University. E. Secretariat.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS, BOMBAY.
Bombay is for Europeans the Gate of India, the port of arrival and
departure for both passengers and mails. It is in direct communication
by railway with Calcutta and Madras. Population (1891), 822,000.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
NATIVE HOUSES IN THE FORT, BOMBAY.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
STATUE OF THE QUEEN AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE, BOMBAY.
The Statue, executed in white marble by Noble, was unveiled by Lord
Northbrook in 1872. A native superstition ascribes the origin of the
recent plague to vengeance for an insult offered to this statue, which
was one morning found bedaubed with tar.]
[Sidenote: The Massacre.]
The terms were accepted. The little garrison had done all that flesh and
blood and gallant souls could do. The survivors of the siege embarked in
boats on the Ganges, prepared by Nana's orders. The women and children
were all aboard, the men were following. At that moment a bugle sounded;
instantly the straw awnings of the boats burst into flame, and the
native rowers leaped out. A fire of grape and musketry poured down on
the frail craft, and continued till Tantia Topee, Nana's lieutenant,
sounded the "Cease fire!" Then the survivors, 125 Englishwomen and
children, many of them sorely wounded, were collected and driven back to
the town. One only of the boats escaped, drifting down the Ganges, a
target for innumerable marksmen on both banks. A dozen men landed to
drive off the assailants; in their absence the boat was captured, and
those on board--sixty-five men, twenty-five women, and four
children--were haled back to Cawnpore. The men were shot on the spot;
the women and children were crammed into the prison-house with the
others. Cholera and dysentery soon carried off eighteen women and seven
children--more fortunate than their companions.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta._
SUTTEE CHOWRA GHAT.
On the banks of the Ganges; the scene of the first massacre of
Cawnpore.]
[Illustration: _Baron Marochetti, Sc._} {_Photo by Bourne & Shepherd._
THE STATUE ERECTED OVER THE WELL AT CAWNPORE
Into which the bodies of the English women and children were thrown
after the massacre in the prison.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Bourne & Shepherd._
BENARES FROM THE GANGES.
Benares is the sacred city of the Hindoos. It contains innumerable
temples and shrines, the most sacred being that of Bisheswar, dedicated
to the worship of Shiva; its dome is overlaid with gold. To Buddhists
the stupa now called Damek, three miles to the north of Benares, erected
on the spot where Buddha first expounded his doctrine, is a place of
pilgrimage. But the most prominent object from the river is the
Mohammedan mosque built by Aurungzeb, son of Shah Jehan. Its slender
minarets are 147 feet high.]
Nana's visions of rule were becoming overcast. The English had rallied
from the first shock of the Mutiny; troops, before which he knew his men
dared not stand, were drawing near; Havelock had already routed Tantia
Topee, with 4,000 of Nana's best fighting men, and Neill was at
Allahabad. The rebellion was mastered, but Nana's vengeance, if it was
to be balked of its full scope, at least should be complete on those who
were in his power. A company of Sepoys was ordered up to the house where
the Englishwomen were imprisoned. Unhappy creatures, their approaching
fate cannot have caused them much concern; they were in every
circumstance of suffering and misery already. For nearly four weeks they
had not been able to change their tattered clothing, nor had a drop of
water to wash in. The Sepoys began firing through the windows, but there
were traces of mercy in their hearts; they fired high and ineffectively,
and were marched home again. In the evening five men were sent up and
entered the house; awful sounds were heard within, and twice one of the
butchers came out and exchanged his broken, bloody sword for a fresh
weapon. At length all was still; the five men, weary with slaughter,
came out and went off, locking the door behind them. Next morning they
returned with a fatigue party, cleared out that fearful house of blood,
and flung the bodies down a dry well.
[Illustration: _Photo by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta._}
THE CASHMERE GATE, DELHI.]
There is nothing in English history, at least during the last six
centuries, approaching in horror to the massacre of Cawnpore, and it is
well that one is not often called on to witness--to share in--the fury,
the wild cry for revenge, that rose from England when the tale came to
be told there. Nana Sahib waited to encounter the victorious Havelock on
July 16; he was completely defeated, fled from the field in the
direction of Nepaul, and has never since been heard of. Of the twelve
men who left the boat which floated down the Ganges, four escaped after
extraordinary adventures, by favour of a friendly rajah--the sole
survivors of the European community at Cawnpore.
[Illustration: _A. Pearse._}
BLOWING UP OF THE CASHMERE GATE, DELHI.
This was one of the most daring exploits in a campaign remarkable for
deeds of gallantry. Advancing across a broken drawbridge in broad
daylight, in the face of the enemy's defences, Lieutenants Home and
Salkeld, with native sappers to carry the gunpowder, succeeded in laying
eight bags of powder against the gate. Home leaped into the ditch
unhurt; Salkeld, who held a lighted port fire, was badly wounded and
fell back on the bridge, handing the port-fire as he fell to Sergeant
Burgess, who was immediately shot dead. Sergeant Carmichael then
advanced, picked up the port-fire, and lighted the fuse, but fell
mortally wounded. The gate was blown in, killing all its defenders but
one, and the British entered without opposition.]
[Sidenote: Siege of Delhi.]
On June 8 General Wilson appeared before Delhi, but his force was far
too small to attempt to invest a city held by 30,000 insurgents. General
Nicholson reinforced him in August, and on September 20 the place was
taken by assault, Nicholson falling dead at the head of the storming
columns.
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves._
FIELD-MARSHAL LORD CLYDE, 1792-1863.
Born at Glasgow; entered the army in 1808, and served with great
distinction in the Peninsula, China, the Punjab, the Crimea, and was
Commander-in-Chief in the operations for the suppression of the Indian
Mutiny. For his services in this campaign he was raised to the peerage.
He is buried in Westminster Abbey.]
Seeing that it has been necessary to relate some of the many atrocities
perpetrated by the rebel leaders, it would be unfair to keep regarding
one that was enacted here by an English officer. A brave young fellow
called Hodson, commanding an irregular force well-known as Hodson's
Horse, asked General Wilson's permission to capture the King of Delhi
and his family. Wilson consented, provided the old King's life should be
preserved. The King and his sons had taken refuge in an immense
enclosure, the tomb of the Emperor Hoomayoon, adjoining the city, where
he was guarded by a strong armed force. Hodson quietly rode up with a
small escort and called on the troops to lay down their arms. Believing,
no doubt, that the English officer had ample force at hand to enforce
his command, they instantly obeyed. The King's life was spared,
according to orders, but, shameful to say, Hodson summoned the three
Princes--the King's sons--before him, and shot them with his own hand.
It was a horrible act, but in the spirit of vengeance then prevalent,
many were found to justify it, and Hodson was never brought to trial. He
was killed in action at Lucknow not long after.
[Illustration: _T. Jones Barker._} {_By permission of the Corporation of
Glasgow._
1. Sir Henry Havelock.
2. Sir James Outram.
3. Sir Colin Campbell.
4. Sir John Inglis.
5. Sir Hope Grant.
6. Major-General Sir W. R. Mansfield.
7. Sir William Peel.
8. Brigadier Hon. Adrian Hope.
THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW, November 17, 1857.
This picture represents the meeting of General Sir Henry Havelock, Sir
James Outram, and Sir Colin Campbell at the Mess House of the 32nd
Regiment, in Lucknow, in November 1857. It was executed from sketches
taken on the spot by Egron Lundgren.]
[Illustration: _J. Lucas._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
CAPTAIN SIR WILLIAM PEEL, R.N.,
In command of the Naval Brigade at Lucknow.]
While these events were passing, General Anson, Commander-in-Chief of
the forces in India, died on June 27. It was decided to send out Sir
Colin Campbell to replace him. On being asked when he would be ready to
start Sir Colin answered with characteristic promptitude: "To-morrow";
and he sailed the following day without waiting to prepare his outfit.
[Sidenote: The Relief of Lucknow.]
Sir Henry Lawrence,[G] Chief Commissioner of Oude, had fortified and
provisioned the Residency of Lucknow where, on July 2, he was besieged,
having with him a single battalion of Europeans and all the European
inhabitants of the station. Lawrence was killed at the opening of the
siege, but the little garrison held out with magnificent resolution
till, on September 25, they were relieved by Havelock and Outram. But
these generals were in turn hemmed in by immense masses of rebel troops,
and it was not until Sir Colin Campbell fought his way to Lucknow, on
November 17, that the garrison with the women and children could be
considered to be relieved. One of those who endured this long and
painful siege was that Dr. Brydon, who had ridden alone into Jellalabad
after the awful retreat from Cabul in 1842.
[Illustration: _A. H. Ritchie._} {_From an Engraving._
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK, 1795-1857.]
[Illustration: _T. Brigstocke._} {_From the National Portrait Gallery._
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR JAMES OUTRAM, 1803-1863.]
[Sidenote: Death of Havelock.]
The Residency was evacuated on the 22nd, and Havelock, outworn with the
heroic exertions of the past six months, died on the 24th. If Lord
Canning's calm resolution and Mr. Montgomery's bold promptitude were the
chief agents in checking the proportions of the rebellion, it was
Havelock's masterly generalship and cool courage in face of overwhelming
numbers that first broke the military spirit of the insurgents. Soon
after Havelock's death, Sir Colin was obliged to suspend operations at
Lucknow in order to repair a disaster which had overtaken General
Wyndham, who had been defeated by the Gwalior rebel army at Cawnpore.
Having done so, and captured that place of dreadful memory, he rejoined
Sir Hope Grant at Lucknow, which was taken by assault on March 19, 1858.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta._
RUINS OF THE BAILEY GUARD, THE RESIDENCY, LUCKNOW.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta._
THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA.
This building, erected in 1629-1648 to serve as the Mausoleum of
Arjamand Benu Begam, wife of the Emperor Shah Jehan, is reputed the most
beautiful specimen of architecture in India, perhaps in the world. It is
of white marble and precious stones, and possesses a feminine grace and
charm which no photograph can reproduce.]
It throws some light on the magnitude of what is usually called the
Indian Mutiny, that upwards of 2,000 of the enemy were killed in the
final attack, and 100 of their guns taken. Those who had begun by
putting down a mutiny had to end by re-conquering the greater part of
India.
Sir Colin Campbell (now Lord Clyde) continued the campaign in Oude after
the Fall of Lucknow, ably assisted by Jang Bahádur of Nepál, until that
province was entirely subdued by the end of 1858. Sir Hugh Rose
(afterwards Lord Strathnairn) was opposed to the last in Central India
by the Ranee of Jhansi, a Princess of extraordinary character, who rode
in battle like a modern Joan of Arc, and fell, sabre in hand, at the
head of her troops. Tantia Topee, the former lieutenant of Nana, was the
last to hold out, but at length he, too, was taken in April 1859, and
hanged for his share in the horrors of Cawnpore.
[Illustration:
THE REGALIA.
1. Imperial State Crown, made for Queen Victoria, 1838. It
contains the ruby given to Edward the Black Prince by the King
of Castile, 1367, and 2,783 diamonds, besides pearls, rubies,
sapphires, and emeralds.
2. The old Sceptre.
3. The Queen Consort's Crown, made for Mary of Modena, Queen of
James II.
4. Top of Salt Cellar used at Coronation banquet.
5. (In centre of picture.) Monde of the old Imperial Crown.
6 and 7. The Sceptre with the Cross, and the Orb, both made for
the Coronation of Charles II.
8. St. Edward's Crown, used at the Coronation of Queen Victoria.
The total value of the Regalia exceeds £3,000,000.]
[Sidenote: End of the East India Company's Rule.]
It was not possible that such a convulsion should pass through the
peninsula of Hindostan without shaking down everything that could be
shaken in its institutions. The English public--the average English
Parliament man--knew of the existence of British rule in India, and
could lay finger on Calcutta in the map. But that was about the utmost
precise knowledge of Indian affairs possessed by most people, until
attention was violently forced to them by the Great Mutiny. Then it
dawned upon them that this mighty dominion was governed by the directors
of a trading company, who exercised all the powers of empire, civil and
military, deriving their authority from a charter signed by Queen
Elizabeth. Various limitations and reforms, indeed, had been imposed by
Parliament on "John Company"; still, the whole system had become an
archaism, as uncertain in practice as it was indefensible in theory. The
time for sweeping changes had come, not because the directors of the
East India Company had abused their authority; but the safety of the
Empire required that the Crown should enter now upon the heritage won by
the commercial enterprise of its subjects. The Act for the better
government of India was framed on a series of Resolutions laid before a
Committee of the whole House, and became law in the autumn of 1858. It
provided that the Administration of India should pass wholly out of the
hands of the Company into those of the Queen, governing through a
Secretary of State and a Council of fifteen, seven of whom were to be
nominated by the Court of Directors and eight by the Crown. The
Governor-General was made a Viceroy, the Indian Navy was discontinued,
and the twenty-four European Regiments in the Company's Service were
amalgamated with the Royal army.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._}
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS ROYAL AT THE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE.]
[Sidenote: Marriage of the Princess Royal.]
Notice must be paid here to a happy event, which brought to a close the
unpleasant feelings subsisting between the Courts of Great Britain and
Prussia, owing to the unfriendly and insincere conduct of the King of
Prussia during the Crimean Campaign. On January 25, 1858, the Princess
Royal was married in the Chapel Royal, St. James's, to the Crown Prince
of Prussia, who, in later years, bore such a distinguished part as the
Emperor Frederick William of Germany.
[Illustration: _J. Philip, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
1. Her Majesty the Queen.
2. Prince Consort.
3. Princess Royal.
4. Crown Prince of Prussia.
5. Prince of Wales.
6. Prince Alfred.
7. Prince Arthur.
8. Prince Leopold.
9. Princess Alice.
10. Princess Helena.
11. Princess Louise.
12. King of Prussia.
13. Queen of Prussia.
14. Duke of Saxe-Coburg.
15. Archbishop of Canterbury.
16. King of the Belgians.
17. Duchess of Kent.
18. Duke of Cambridge.
19. Duchess of Cambridge.
20. Princess Mary of Cambridge.
21. Lady Cecilia Lennox.
22. Lady Villiers.
23. Lady Stanley.
24. Lady Murray.
25. Lady Molyneaux.
26. Lady Susan Pelham Clinton.
27. Earl of St. Germans.
28. Marquess of Breadalbane.
29. Earl of Clarendon.
THE MARRIAGE OF T.R.H. THE PRINCESS ROYAL AND THE CROWN PRINCE FREDERICK
WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA, January 25, 1858.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Valentine, Dundee._}
BALMORAL CASTLE.
Her Majesty's Highland residence was built in 1853 from designs by
H.R.H. the Prince Consort. It is of white Crathie granite. There are
30,000 acres of deer forest within the bounds of the royal demesne.]
CHAPTER XI.
1858-1860.
Commercial Panic in London--Suspension of the Bank Charter
Act--The Orsini Plot--The Conspiracy to Murder Bill--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Lord Derby's Second
Administration--Disraeli's Reform Bill--Vote of No
Confidence--Defeat and Resignation of the Government--Lord
Palmerston's Second Administration--Threatened French
Invasion--The Volunteers--The Paper Duty Repealed by the Commons
and Restored by the Lords--A Constitutional Problem--Its
Solution--War with China--British and French Defeat at
Pei-ho--Return of Lord Elgin to China--Wreck of the
_Malabar_--Capture of the Tangku and Taku Forts--Occupation of
Tien-tsin--Murder of British Officers and others--Capitulation
of Pekin--Destruction of the Summer Palace--Treaty with China.
[Sidenote: Commercial Panic.]
Palmerston's Government, apparently one of the most popular that had
ever been formed, had to bow under the adverse influence of events
beyond its control. In addition to the commotion radiating from the
centre of disturbance in India, there had been widespread commercial
disaster at home, following on a period of excited speculation. On
November 12 the Bank Charter Act had been suspended, and the Bank of
England received authority to exceed the statutory limits in meeting
demands for discount and advances, because of the numerous failures and
prevailing money-panic.
[Sidenote: The Orsini Plot.]
[Sidenote: Government Defeat and Resignation.]
But the squall that was to overturn the Ministry came from a quarter
which nobody could have foreseen. On January 14 a murderous attack was
made on the Emperor and Empress of the French in Paris. An Italian
refugee, Felice Orsini, well known in England, waited, with a number of
fellow-ruffians, at the door of the Opera House in the Rue Lepelletier,
and threw three bombs, charged with a powerful explosive, at the
Imperial carriage as it drew up. The effect was appalling: the intended
victims escaped unhurt, but ten persons were blown to death among the
bystanders, and no less than 156 were wounded, of whom Orsini himself
was one. All this was dreadful enough, and yet the connection thereof
with the stability of Palmerston's Administration might seem exceedingly
remote. It was established in the following way. Orsini, a man of good
birth and attractive exterior, had been very well received in English
society, and his appeals on behalf of the Italian provinces of Austria
had received polite attention, and, among enthusiastic advocates of
freedom, a great deal of sympathy. London was then, as it remains to
this day, a sanctuary for political refugees from all the ends of the
earth. Palmerston, however, had enough common-sense and honesty to
recognise that it was one thing to allow fugitives to shelter in
England, and quite another to take no precautions as to their good
behaviour, and he prepared and introduced a Bill to strengthen the law
dealing with conspiracy to murder. This was vehemently opposed on the
first reading by Lord John Russell, but Disraeli and the Conservatives
helped to carry that stage by a large majority. In the interval,
however, before the second reading, public opinion had undergone a
marked change. The tone of the French Press had become intensely
insulting towards Great Britain; people in London had got it in their
heads that the Conspiracy to Murder Bill had been prepared at the
dictation of the French Ambassador, and Palmerston was suspected of
being at his old game of truckling to Louis Napoleon. The suspicion was
fatal to him. An amendment to the second reading, moved by Mr. Milner
Gibson, was supported by Disraeli and 146 Conservatives, and carried
against the Government by a majority of nineteen. Palmerston resigned at
once, and Lord Derby began his second administration with his eldest
son, Lord Stanley, at the Colonial Office, Lord Malmesbury at the
Foreign Office, and Disraeli leading the House of Commons as Chancellor
of the Exchequer.
[Illustration: _Samuel Lawrence._} {_From a Crayon Drawing._
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY,
1811-1863
Thackeray, whose father was in the Indian Civil Service, was born at
Calcutta and educated at the Charterhouse and Cambridge. He studied in
Paris as an artist, but took to literature and wrote for _Fraser's
Magazine_ and (from 1842) for _Punch_. It was not until 1847 that, with
the publication of "Vanity Fair," he became a serious competitor for
popular favour with Dickens. In 1859 he became the first editor of the
_Cornhill Magazine_.]
[Illustration: _Sir W. Gordon._} {_From an Engraving._
LORD MACAULAY, 1800-1859.
Thomas Babington Macaulay was the son of Zachary Macaulay the
philanthropist. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to
the Bar in 1826. In 1834 he went to Calcutta as a member of the Supreme
Council; on his return he became Secretary at War, and, in 1846,
Paymaster to the Forces. His "Essays" began to appear in the _Edinburgh
Review_ in 1825; his "Lays of Ancient Rome" were published in 1842. He
was engaged on the final chapters of his "History of England" when he
died, in 1859. He was raised to the peerage in 1857.]
[Illustration: KANDY LAKE, CEYLON.
The Island of Ceylon has a population exceeding 3,000,000. Its principal
product is tea, of which in 1896 over 100,000,000 lbs. were exported.
The chief town is Colombo. Kandy, situated on a beautiful lake in the
interior, was the capital of the native kingdom before its annexation by
the British in 1815.]
[Sidenote: Disraeli's Reform Bill.]
Disraeli had once taunted Palmerston with having no domestic policy.
"His external system," he said, "was turbulent and aggressive, that his
rule at home may be tranquil and unassailed." That was, in truth, the
greater part of the secret of Palmerston's popularity; he refrained from
exciting apprehension and stirring combustible questions. He made no
enemies at home, though he might be careless in giving offence abroad.
But that was a rôle not at all suited to Disraeli's ambition. He knew
that at any moment something might happen to drive his party out of
office, and he resolved to prepare a soft place to fall on. It would be
a fine stroke to take Lord John Russell's favourite project out of his
hands, to "dish the Whigs" by lowering the franchise. John Bright had
returned to active politics and was stirring up the people in the north
to agitate for Reform. He would take the wind out of Bright's sails too;
and he persuaded Lord Derby to let him bring in a Reform Bill of his
own.
[Illustration: _R. Simkin._}
A. Gunner, Artillery.
B. Sapper, Engineers.
C. Officer Queen's Westminster.
D. Officer, Victoria Rifles.
E. Private, Six-foot Guards.
F. Private, Artists.
UNIFORMS OF VOLUNTEERS, 1860.]
It was an unlucky device. The Bill was not a very formidable one, but it
disturbed a great question. Two members of the Cabinet, Mr. Walpole and
Mr. Henley, threw up their offices rather than join in work which they,
in common with most Conservatives in the country, considered alien from
Conservative principles. The Whigs and Radicals would have no hand in
such a measure, which they exposed as a sham, and Russell persuaded the
House to reject it by a majority of thirty-nine. Neither did the Bill
serve its author's purpose in the country. When Lord Derby appealed to
the constituencies, the response came, at the end of May 1859, in the
form of a feeble accession to Conservative numbers, not strong enough to
avert defeat by thirteen votes on a vote of want of confidence, moved by
a young member put up by the combined Whigs, Radicals, and Peelites--the
Marquis of Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire). The only effects of
Disraeli's stratagem had been to disgust and disunite his own party, and
to cause his opponents to sink their differences in united action.
[Illustration: _R. Simkin._}
A. Private, London Rifles.
B. Gunner, Artillery.
C. Sapper, Engineers.
D. Officer, 1st Middlesex.
E. Officer, and V.B. Royal Fusiliers.
F. Private, Artists.
G. Private, London Scottish.
UNIFORMS OF VOLUNTEER BATTALIONS, 1897.]
[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's Second Administration.]
[Sidenote: Threatened French Invasion.]
[Sidenote: The Volunteers.]
On Lord Derby's resignation, Lord Palmerston formed a strong Cabinet,
including Lord Granville, Mr. Gladstone, Sir George Cornewall-Lewis, Mr.
Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Cardwell. Lord John Russell refused any post
except that of Foreign Secretary, which shut out Lord Clarendon, who
declined any other appointment. At the moment, as it happened, England
was keeping scrupulously clear of the conflict between France and
Austria. The Queen's speech to the new Parliament had announced that "a
strict and impartial neutrality" should be maintained, and this was done
in spite of persistent attempts on the part of Louis Napoleon to secure
the assistance of Great Britain in the deliverance of Italy, in spite,
too, of the strong sympathy entertained by Mr. Gladstone and others in
the Cabinet for the cause of Italian nationality. There was, however, a
shrewd distrust of the French Emperor growing in the minds of the
British public at this time, which made it easier than it had otherwise
been for the Government to steer clear of foreign complications. In
fact, the development of the arsenal at Cherbourg and the assembly there
of a powerful fleet were interpreted, perhaps not without justice, as
indicating a contemplated invasion of England. The Volunteer movement
first assumed important proportions in the year 1859 under this feeling
of apprehension.
"Form, form, riflemen, form!
Ready--be ready, to meet the storm"--
sang the Laureate, and the storm was expected to come from the French
quarter. However, whatever aggressive intentions may have passed through
the mind of Napoleon III. were dissipated by the formidable front
assumed by the people of Great Britain. The immense improvement which
had been recently effected in arms of precision caused irregular troops
to assume far greater importance in the calculations of an intending
invader than they ever had before; and the same cause, by encouraging
fine marksmanship and developing competitive skill at the targets, has
imparted to the Volunteers of 1859 a permanence quite without precedent
in the history of similar martial movements.
[Illustration: _H. Edridge, A.R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D., 1774-1843.
Poet Laureate 1813-1843.]
[Illustration: _H. W. Pickersgill, R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, 1770-1850.
Poet Laureate 1843-1850.]
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts, R.A._} {_From Photo by H. H. Cameron._
LORD TENNYSON, 1809-1892.
Appointed Poet Laureate 1850. His first published verses appeared in a
volume of "Poems by Two Brothers" in 1827. He was created Baron Tennyson
in 1884.]
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts, R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
ROBERT BROWNING, 1812-1889.
Poet. His last volume, "Asolando," was published on the day of his
death, December 12, 1889. He and Tennyson lie in adjoining graves in
"Poet's Corner," Westminster Abbey.]
[Sidenote: Question of the Paper Duty.]
Mr. Gladstone's Budget of 1860 contained a proposal which brought about
his final rupture with the Conservative party. He proposed to repeal the
paper duty. Now the burdens upon journalism, originally imposed with the
deliberate intention of limiting the number and regulating the political
character of newspapers, had already been greatly reduced since the
beginning of the reign. The stamp duty had stood at a penny on each copy
of a newspaper till 1855, when it was abolished; but there remained
still a pretty heavy tax on paper. Mr. Gladstone's proposal to abolish
it was met with strong opposition from all sections of politicians, and,
strangely enough, from paper manufacturers themselves, as well as from
the proprietors of high-priced journals. There was, besides, a vague,
but very general, dread of the effect on the public mind of the
multiplication of cheap literature. Nevertheless, the Budget Resolutions
removing the paper tax passed through Committee, though the last of them
was only carried by a majority of nine votes. At the present day, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer's proposals, having passed through that
ordeal, would be regarded as impregnable. It was otherwise in 1860. Lord
Lyndhurst, then in his eighty-ninth year, and so frail in body that a
rail had to be fixed opposite his seat to support him in speaking,
joined the opposition raised in the House of Lords to the repeal of the
paper tax, and made a marvellously vigorous and effective attack on the
proposal. The Lords vetoed the repeal by a majority of eighty-nine.
[Illustration: _J. Phillip, R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves,
Pall Mall._
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN 1860.
1. Rt. Hon. Edward Ellice.
2. Rt. Hon. Sir Francis T. Baring.
3. Lord H. G. Vane.
4. Richard Cobden, Esq.
5. John Bright, Esq.
6. Lord Elcho.
7. Rt. Hon. Edward Cardwell, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
8. Sir Roundell Palmer.
9. Rt. Hon. Milner Gibson, President of Board of Trade.
10. Rt. Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, President of Poor Law Board.
11. W. Massey, Esq.
12. Viscount Palmerston, First Lord of the Treasury.
13. Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart.
14. Rt. Hon. the Speaker.
15. Thomas Erskine May, Esq. C.B.
16. Lord Charles Russell.
17. Mr. Lee.
18. Rt. Hon. Sir John Pakington.
19. Sir Hugh M'Calmont Cairns.
20. Col. J. W. Patten.
21. Rt. Hon. Sotheron Estcourt.
22. Lord John Manners.
23. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer Lytton, Bart.
24. Rt. Hon. Major-General J. Peel.
25. Lord Stanley.
26. Rt. Hon. B. Disraeli.
27. Rt. Hon. Spencer H. Walpole.
28. Rt. Hon. J. W. Henley.
29. Lord John Russell.
30. Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
31. Rt. Hon. Sir George Grey, Secretary of State.
32. Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart., Secretary of State for India.
33. Rt. Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart., Secretary of State
for War.]
[Sidenote: A Constitutional Problem.]
Ministerialists were very indignant; the House of Lords had violated the
Constitution; they had refused to sanction the repeal of a tax ordered
by the House of Commons, and thereby infringed the privileges of that
Chamber. The next step would be that the Lords would claim the right of
imposing taxation--the cherished monopoly of the House of Commons. It
was certainly an awkward question, but Palmerston was equal to the
occasion. He averted a popular storm by moving for a Select Committee to
examine and report on the degree, if any, in which the Lords had
exceeded their powers. The Committee sat for two months, and reported
that no breach of privilege was involved in the refusal of the Lords to
ratify the repeal of a tax. It was not the re-imposition of a tax, for,
although the Lords have no power to impose taxation, a tax can neither
be repealed or imposed without the concurrence of both Houses. In the
end the difficulty was got over by Palmerston, who moved certain
resolutions affirming the exclusive right of the House of Commons to
impose or remit taxation.
[Illustration: _Commander A. T. Thrupp._} {_From Sketches made on the
spot._
ATTACK ON FORTS ON THE PEI-HO RIVER, May 20, 1858.
The Chinese had completed batteries and earthworks armed with
eighty-seven guns, and had obstructed the river with junks chained
together. The British and French squadrons forced a passage, and the
Plenipotentiaries (Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros) proceeded to Tien-tsin
and opened negotiations. The Treaty then obtained was to be ratified at
Pekin within twelve months; but the Plenipotentiaries appointed in
accordance with this clause met, in June 1859, a still more determined
resistance.]
[Illustration: HONGKONG AND ITS HARBOUR.
Hongkong is the principal centre of British trade with China. Ceded to
Great Britain 1842.]
[Sidenote: War with China.]
Serious trouble had broken out again between Great Britain and China.
Mr. Bruce, brother to the Earl of Elgin, had set out for Pekin as
British Plenipotentiary, in company with the French Plenipotentiary, as
provided by the Treaty of Tien-tsin. They were escorted by a squadron,
chiefly consisting of gunboats, under Admiral Hope; but on arriving at
the mouth of the Pei-ho they found the passage obstructed by booms and
defended by recent fortifications. As the authorities at Tien-tsin
returned evasive answers to the Admiral's remonstrances, he determined
to force a passage. The gunboats advanced up the Pei-ho on June 24, when
suddenly a tremendous fire was opened on them from masked batteries in
the forts. The _Kestrel_ was sunk, the _Lee_ had to be run ashore to
avoid sinking, the _Plover_, which carried the Admiral's flag, was
disabled, so that he had to shift his flag to the _Cormorant_, and the
Admiral himself, being severely wounded, had to hand over the command to
Captain Shadwell. It was determined to make an immediate attempt to
carry the forts by assault. A body of 1,000 men, including sixty French,
were landed at 7 p.m., but, owing to the mud, which was knee, and even
waist-deep, only about fifty men succeeded in reaching the furthest of
three ditches surrounding the south fort. Their ammunition was wet, all
the scaling ladders, except one, either had been broken by the
tremendous fire from the fort or had stuck in the mud. Ten brave fellows
rushed forward with this one, but three of them were shot dead at once,
and five were desperately wounded. There was nothing for it but
retreat. The loss in this disastrous affair was eighty-nine officers and
men killed and 345 wounded.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._
MONTREAL.
This is the largest town in Canada; population (1891), 216,650. On the
extreme right of the picture can be seen three or four spans of the
Victoria Tubular Bridge, nearly two miles long, crossing the St.
Lawrence river.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._
QUEBEC.
The Capital of the former province of Lower Canada is largely inhabited
by people of French descent, and French is currently spoken.]
[Illustration: THE CANADIAN HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA.
The government of Canada is (under the Sovereign) vested in a
Governor-General and a Privy Council, and the legislative power is
exercised by a Parliament of two Houses, called the "Senate" and "House
of Commons." Canada has an area of 3,315,000 square miles, and a
population of over 5,000,000 (4,833,239 in 1891).]
[Sidenote: Wreck of the "Malabar."]
[Sidenote: Occupation of Tien-tsin.]
[Sidenote: Murder of British Officers and others.]
Of course such a treacherous act could not go unpunished. An ultimatum
was sent demanding an apology and the fulfilment of the Treaty of
Tien-tsin, including the payment of the war indemnity of 4,000,000
taels. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the Plenipotentiaries who acted for
the Allies in the Treaty of Tien-tsin, proceeded to Hongkong to enforce
the demands of England and France, supported by an army under Sir Hope
Grant, in which several Sikh regiments volunteered to serve, and a
French contingent under General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards
distinguished as Comte Palikao. The Plenipotentiaries came near to
perishing on the voyage out. The _Malabar_ frigate, which conveyed them,
was totally wrecked on a reef at Point de Galle, in Ceylon, those on
board escaping with great difficulty, and with the loss of many valuable
papers and much property. However, Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros arrived
at Hongkong in another vessel on July 21. They found that the Chinese
Council had returned an insolent answer to Mr. Bruce's ultimatum, which
left no alternative but immediate action. The Allied Forces advanced on
July 26, the English from Chefow, and the French from Tah-lien-hwan;
they captured the Tangku Forts, with forty-five guns, on August 14, and
the Taku Forts, containing about 400 guns, on the 20th, the English loss
on the latter occasion amounting to seventeen killed and 183 wounded.
Sir Hope Grant's despatches contain cordial references to the gallantry
displayed by his French allies in the assault. Tien-tsin was next
occupied on August 23, and preparations were made for an immediate
advance on Pekin. The Chinese forces had disappeared, but the
Government, anxious at all hazards to keep the "barbarians" from
approaching the capital, opened negotiations for peace, and on September
13 Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with Mr. Bowlby,
the Times' correspondent, and some British and French officers, rode on
to Tungchow a town within twelve miles of Pekin, to arrange the
preliminaries of an interview between the Plenipotentiaries of the
Allies and the Chinese. A camping ground was allotted for the Allied
Forces about five miles short of Tungchow, but before Grant and de
Montauban could occupy it, a large Chinese army had surrounded the
position. Mr. Parkes, Mr. Loch, and their party, protected by a flag of
truce, went back to Tungchow to remonstrate against this dangerous
violation of the agreement; they were treacherously seized and thrust
into loathsome dungeons, crowded with filthy Chinese prisoners, where
thirteen out of twenty-six of them died from savage ill-treatment by
their captors. Captain Brabazon, R.A., Lieutenant Anderson, and Mr.
Bowlby were among these victims, their hands and feet having been so
tightly bound with cords that the flesh burst and fatal mortification
ensued.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._
TORONTO.
Capital of Ontario, and the second largest town in Canada.]
[Illustration: EMERALD LAKE, IN THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, in passing over the "Rockies," opens up
some of the finest scenery in America.]
[Illustration: VANCOUVER HARBOUR, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the principal
port on the Pacific coast of British North America.]
[Sidenote: Capitulation of Pekin.]
The Allied Army resumed its march on Pekin; the Emperor's Summer Palace,
a magnificent collection of buildings, treasure-houses, and gardens, was
taken on October 6; on the 12th everything was ready for the bombardment
of the capital, and it was made known to the Chinese Government that
this would begin the following day at noon, unless the city were
surrendered previously. The Emperor had fled, but on the morning of
October 13 the Governor of Pekin capitulated. The Allies entered, and
before noon the English and French ensigns were flying side by side on
the citadel.
[Sidenote: Destruction of the Summer Palace.]
Not till then did Lord Elgin learn the horrible fate of the captives. He
decided at once that exemplary vengeance must be inflicted, but not
according to the traditional custom of reprisals, by inflicting torture
and death on the persons of individuals. No doubt the Chinese officials
would have handed over to him as many vicarious victims as he chose to
demand, but Lord Elgin decreed such a monumental act of indignation as
should never be effaced from the memory of the people of China. The
Summer Palace was the most precious possession of the Heavenly Dynasty.
Therein had been stored the best of the art treasures of many
generations; the ingenuity of architects, gardeners, and craftsmen of
all kinds had been exhausted in erecting and decorating its courts and
pagodas and laying out the fantastic grounds. Lord Elgin ordered its
total destruction. The French and English soldiers were allowed to
plunder it first; jewellery, plate, and other costly articles were
"looted" in immense quantity, and then the whole vast edifice was
delivered to the flames. A monument was set up on the site, bearing an
inscription that this was done as the punishment for national cruelty
and treachery. A Convention between the British and Chinese
Plenipotentiaries was concluded on October 24, and Pekin was evacuated
by the Allied troops on November 5.
[Illustration: THE CITY HALL, WINNIPEG.
Manitoba is a district of enormous farms. The Capital, Winnipeg--known
as Fort Garry until its incorporation in 1873--is one of the "newest"
cities in the British Empire. Its population in 1871 was 241; in 1891,
25,642. It is the centre for the distribution of the produce of Western
Canada.]
[Illustration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT AT A REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT, June 1859.
On the left is General Knollys, afterwards Comptroller of the Household
to the Prince of Wales, in command of the troops.]
[Illustration: _Carl Haag, R.W.S._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT FORDING THE POLL TARFF, October 9, 1861.
The story of this, the last excursion taken by the Queen in company with
the Prince Consort, is told in a very interesting chapter of Her
Majesty's "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands." On the
previous night the Royal party had stayed, unexpected and unrecognised,
at the inn of Balwhinnie, "where," says Her Majesty, "there was hardly
anything to eat; only tea and two miserable starved Highland chickens,
without any potatoes; no pudding, and no _fun_." But in this last
particular the succeeding day's exploits certainly cannot have been
deficient.]
CHAPTER XII.
1861-1865.
The American Civil War--Recognition of Confederate States as
Belligerents--English Opinion in Favour of the Confederates--The
_Trent_ Affair--Dispatch of Troops to Canada--Death of the
Prince Consort--His Last Memorandum--The Cruiser
_Alabama_--Claims against Great Britain--Arbitration--Award
Unfavourable to Great Britain--Public Indignation--Marriage of
the Prince of Wales--The Schleswig-Holstein
Difficulty--Neutrality Observed by Great Britain--Popular
Sympathy with Denmark--Dissolution of Parliament--Result of the
Elections--Death of Lord Palmerston.
[Sidenote: The American Civil War.]
The election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, and
the consequent decree abolishing slavery, brought about the secession of
the Southern States and the outbreak of civil war on a vast scale early
in 1861. It was not to be expected that such a convulsion among people
of British speech and descent could run its course without taking effect
on a country so intimately associated with the United States as Great
Britain was in commerce, literature, and social relations. The first
difficulty arose out of the question whether the Southern States--the
Confederates, as they were designated--should receive recognition as
belligerents, or whether they should be regarded as rebels against the
Federal Government. Lord John Russell, having consulted the law officers
of the Crown, announced on May 8 that the Government had decided to
recognise the belligerency of the Southern Confederation, and a
proclamation of neutrality was issued on May 13. This act was
interpreted as unfriendly by the Federal Government, who claimed that no
State in the Union had a constitutional right to secede, that it could
only rebel, and that the British Government had unduly favoured the
rebels by prohibiting Her Majesty's subjects from enlisting in the
service of either Federals or Confederates. On the other hand, the
Northern or Federal Government had proclaimed the blockade of the
Southern ports, thereby implying that Confederates were belligerents and
not rebels, for no Government can _blockade_ its own ports, it can only
_close_ them. So far, therefore, from favouring the Confederate cause by
recognising its belligerency, Her Majesty's Government adopted the only
course enabling them to respect the Federal blockade and to restrain
English traders from breaking it.
But for some occult reason, the Federal cause was unpopular in this
country from the beginning; the initial reverses sustained by the armies
of the North were hailed with satisfaction in the English Press; and
this, combined with a rash expression used in public by Lord Palmerston
about the "unfortunate rapid movements" of Federal troops in the action
at Bull's Run, caused a very sore feeling against Great Britain among
both leaders and people in the Northern States.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. VICTORIA MARIA LOUISA, DUCHESS OF KENT.
H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent was the daughter of H.S.H. Francis, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; married July 11, 1818, Edward, Duke of Kent,
fourth son of George III., and was the mother of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria. Died March 16, 1861. Her Majesty, therefore, lost both mother
and husband within nine months.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. EDWARD, DUKE OF KENT, 1767-1820.
Fourth son of King George III., and father of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria.]
[Sidenote: The "Trent" Affair.]
An unfortunate incident arose early in the war to intensify this
feeling, and the corresponding unpopularity of the Federals in England.
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, being anxious to
obtain recognition by European Courts, sent two Envoys, Mr. Mason to
represent him at the Court of St. James's, and Mr. Slidell at the Court
of the Tuileries. These two gentlemen, escaping by night from
Charleston, then under blockade, embarked at Havana in the English mail
steamer _Trent_. A Federal sloop-of-war was cruising about in search of
the Confederate privateer _Sumter_, and her commander, Captain Wilkes,
on hearing about the Confederate Envoys, resolved to get possession of
them. Intercepting the _Trent_ in the Bahama Channel, he hailed her to
heave to, fired a couple of shots across her bows, boarded her, and
carried off Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Of course this act was wholly
unjustifiable by international law, and President Lincoln at once
directed Mr. Seward to reply by complying with Earl Russell's demand for
the surrender of the Confederate Envoys. They were liberated accordingly
on January 1, 1862, and sailed for Europe. But unluckily Lord Palmerston
had no reason to calculate on this ready compliance with British
demands. Captain Wilkes had received approval of his conduct from the
Federal Secretary to the Navy, a vote of thanks to him had been passed
by the Washington House of Representatives, and he had been fêted
wherever he went. All this was taken as indicating President Lincoln's
intention to defend the action of his officer: indeed, but for what was
going on in England, Lincoln's best intentions might have been overborne
by the tide of public opinion. Simultaneously with the despatch of Lord
John Russell's demand for the surrender of the prisoners, 8,000 troops
were embarked in England for service in Canada, and every preparation
was made for immediate war. This not only cost Great Britain about a
million of money, but also deprived President Lincoln's act of all grace
in the eyes of English people.
[Illustration: SYDNEY TOWN AND HARBOUR, FROM PALACE GARDENS.
The colony of New South Wales, originally comprising the eastern half of
the continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania, was formally
founded by an expedition under the command of Capt. Arthur Phillip. The
first landing was effected at Botany Bay, and the City of Sydney was
founded on January 26, 1788. New South Wales became a self-governing
colony in 1855. Population (1893), 1,277,870; imports (1895),
£15,992,415; exports (1895), £21,934,785.]
[Sidenote: Death of the Prince Consort.]
The _Trent_ difficulty was the last public question in which the Prince
Consort was to take part. A memorandum dated December 1, 1861, written
by him and conveying to Lord Russell the Queen's remarks on the drafts
of despatches he was about to forward to Lord Lyons, was the last State
paper to which the Prince Consort set his hand. He had been ill for some
days previously, and soon afterwards gastric fever developed itself. In
spite of the tender attention of the Queen and the Princesses, the
malady continued, not much worse, apparently, but no better. Congestion
of the lungs set in, and at midnight on Saturday, December 14, the
tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's Cathedral announced to the
people of London that the Monarch's Consort was no more--that their
Queen was a widow.
[Illustration: THE HAWKESBURY BRIDGE, NEW SOUTH WALES.
On the railway between Adelaide and Brisbane; the largest work of the
kind south of the Equator. Opened May 1, 1889.]
[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL, CENTENNIAL HALL, AND CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY.]
The Prince died in his forty-third year. It is pretty well understood by
this time how well he had discharged the duties of a difficult station
as Consort of the Crown, how true was the love which united him to the
Queen, how deep was her sorrow at parting with him after twenty-one
years of wedded life. He had lived down the prejudice which undoubtedly
was prevalent at the time of, and for some years after, the marriage.
Without appearing in political affairs with such prominence as might
have aroused the susceptibilities of a self-governing people, his
attention to public affairs was as incessant as that of any Cabinet
Minister. The writing tables of the Queen and the Prince stood side by
side; he was ever at hand to advise Her Majesty in her correspondence
with Ministers; many of her letters and memoranda to the Cabinet are in
the Prince's handwriting. When the final solution of the _Trent_ dispute
was communicated to Her Majesty on January 9, 1862, she wrote to the
Prime Minister: "Lord Palmerston cannot but look on this peaceful issue
of the American quarrel as greatly owing to her beloved Prince, who
wrote the observations on the draft to Lord Lyons, in which Lord
Palmerston so entirely concurred. It was the last thing he ever wrote."
[Illustration: _W. Theed._} {_At Windsor Castle._
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT.]
The only danger to the Prince Consort's place in the affections of the
British people in his later years was of the nature of that which
over-took Aristides. There is a certain monotony in virtue, like that of
uninterrupted serene weather, which weighs upon natures of a less lofty
tenour. But no sooner was the Prince departed than the nation realised
the value of the part he had performed, and it has never since ceased to
be grateful for the energy he displayed in promoting every scheme of
social or intellectual advancement, and stimulating the growth of
commercial and industrial enterprise.
[Sidenote: The Cruiser "Alabama."]
The next controversy endangering friendly relations between the
Governments of Queen Victoria and President Lincoln arose out of
Confederate privateering. Many of the private dockyards of Great Britain
were turning out vessels as fast as they could to sell to the
Confederate leaders. One of these ships, the _Alabama_, built in Messrs.
Laird's yard at Birkenhead, became the terror of Federal commerce,
having captured between sixty and seventy merchantmen in two years. At
last she was sunk by the Federal ship-of-war _Kearsarge_, but her fame
did not perish with her; it was the cause of an important alteration in
international law. The fact is, the _Alabama_ was, for all intents and
purposes, an English pirate. Built and armed in England, most of her
crew and all her gunners were English, some of the latter being actually
in English pay, as belonging to the Royal Naval Reserve. She approached
her prizes flying the British colours at her peak, and only hauled them
down when her prey could not escape. She was constantly in English
harbours, and never in a Confederate one. While she was being built at
Birkenhead, the American Minister appealed in vain to the British
Government to detain her under the Foreign Enlistment Act; she was
allowed to go to sea. Later on, two ironclads were on the point of
leaving the Mersey for the Confederate service. Again Mr. Adams, the
American Minister, demanded their detention, adding in his letter to
Lord Russell, "it would be superfluous in me to point out to your
lordship that _this is war_." The ironclads were detained, but President
Lincoln, Earl Russell, and Lord Palmerston had all passed away before
the dispute about the _Alabama_ was brought to a close. The American
civil war had ended, General Grant was President of the United States,
and Mr. Gladstone Prime Minister of England, when the question came up
for final settlement. When it had been raised first, Lord Palmerston's
Government had refused to admit any responsibility; then followed Lord
Derby's third administration in 1866, and Lord Stanley as Foreign
Secretary consented to the proposal for arbitration. But the
introduction of various claims on the part of private individuals,
arising out of events long antecedent to the civil war caused the
postponement of any agreement until the year 1871. Each nation then
appointed a Commission to meet at Washington to discuss all the subjects
of international controversy, of which the _Alabama_ claims were the
principal. The British Commissioners were Earl de Grey (the present
Marquis of Ripon), Sir Stafford Northcote (afterwards Earl of
Iddesleigh), Mr. Montague Bernard, Sir Edward Thornton, British
Ambassador at Washington, and Sir John Macdonald, Prime Minister of the
Canadian Parliament. The Conference resulted in the Treaty of
Washington, of which the opening clause gave occasion to considerable
resentment in the minds of the British public. It was no less than an
apology--dignified but explicit--on the part of the Queen's Government,
for having permitted the escape of the _Alabama_ and other cruisers from
British ports, to the injury of American commerce. England, it was
loudly protested, had never apologised to any other Power; she would
never had been so humiliated had "Old Pam" remained at the head of
affairs; the whole British case had been given away before the matter
got to the stage of arbitration. So said the British Press, and so said
a large section of the public. However, Great Britain having professed
herself ready to pay something to secure the friendship of President
Grant's Government, the claims went before a tribunal of five
arbitrators, of whom one was appointed by Queen Victoria, and one each
by President Grant, the King of Italy, the Emperor of Brazil, and the
President of the Swiss Confederation. This tribunal assembled at Geneva
in 1872, and decreed that Great Britain should pay an indemnity of
£3,250,000 for the acts of the _Alabama_ and other Confederate cruisers.
The fine was paid, but the impression produced on the minds of the
British people cannot be said to have been favourable to the doctrine of
arbitration. It was felt that John Bull had been made to "knuckle down"
to Brother Jonathan, and the amicable intentions of the British
Commissioners at Washington of promoting cordial relations between the
British and American peoples were frustrated almost as thoroughly as
they might have been had the dispute been fought out in the ordinary
way.
[Illustration: ROYAL ALBERT HALL, KENSINGTON GORE.
So named in memory of the Prince Consort, whose Memorial it faces. It
was opened by the Queen in 1871. The Hall itself is oval, 200 feet by
160 feet, and 140 feet high to the dome. It accommodates 10,000 persons,
and cost £200,000.]
[Illustration: ALBERT MEMORIAL, KENSINGTON GARDENS.
This monument, which is of marble, gold, bronze, and mosaic work, was
designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is 175 feet high. The statue
of the Prince, of bronze gilt, is by Foley. Above the arches runs this
inscription: "Queen Victoria and her people to the memory of Albert,
Prince Consort, as a tribute of their gratitude for a life devoted to
the public good." The cost of the Memorial exceeded £130,000.]
[Illustration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. PRINCESS ALICE TO H.R.H. PRINCE LOUIS OF HESSE IN THE
DRAWING ROOM AT OSBORNE, July 1, 1862.
On the left are Her Majesty the Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, and Prince Leopold, and Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,
attended by the Duchess of Wellington and the Duchess of Athole. On the
right are the parents and brother of the bridegroom. The bridesmaids
were Princesses Helena, Louise, and Beatrice, and Princess Anna of
Hesse.]
[Sidenote: Marriage of the Prince of Wales.]
On March 10, 1863, took place the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of
Wales, to the Princess Alexandra[H], eldest daughter of Prince Christian
of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, heir to the throne of
Denmark. The announcement of the betrothal had been favourably received
in Great Britain, but, on the arrival of the bride-elect in London, her
exceeding personal beauty, her charm of manner and amiability, produced
a remarkable effect, and public feeling rose to a very high degree of
enthusiastic approval. London hastened to cover up the dingy traces of
an English winter with gay bunting; the lively Danish national colours,
scarlet and white, draped all the thoroughfares; and everywhere might be
seen the Dannebrog--the national ensign of Denmark--streaming side by
side with the British standard in the keen wind and bright sunshine of
March.
[Illustration: _G. W. Thomas._} {_From the Royal collection._
THE MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES TO H.R.H. PRINCESS ALEXANDRA
OF DENMARK IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, March 10, 1863.
Her Majesty the Queen occupies the royal closet above the group of
bridesmaids. Next the Prince of Wales are his supporters, the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the Crown Prince of Prussia. The Archbishop
of Canterbury and Dean Wellesley officiate. The bridesmaids were the
Ladies Victoria Scott, Diana Beauclerk, Elena Bruce, Victoria Howard,
Emily Villiers, Agneta Yorke, Feodore Wellesley, and Emily Hare. The
English Princes and Princesses are to the left of the bridal group; the
mother and sisters of the bride to the right.]
The course of events on the Continent at this time gave to the royal
marriage an appearance of political significance which, in reality, it
did not possess. In olden times, no doubt, the espousal of the heir of
England to the daughter of Denmark would have implied a political and
military alliance, offensive and defensive, between the two Crowns. But
in Europe of the nineteenth century it is peoples, not princes, who hold
the decrees of peace and war. It was this very fact which, shortly after
the Prince of Wales's marriage, seemed likely to precipitate a conflict
between Great Britain and Denmark on the one side, and Austria and
Prussia on the other. Englishmen had grown proud of their beautiful
Princess, and were chivalrously disposed to take up the cause of her
little country. They forgot or did not know that it was only the adopted
country of her family.
[Sidenote: The Schleswig-Holstein Difficulty.]
The crisis arose on the death of Frederick VII., King of Denmark. The
succession, as had been decreed by the Great Powers in 1852, devolved on
the father of the Princess of Wales, who became King Christian IX. of
Denmark. There had existed between Germany and Denmark a long-standing
dispute about the possession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and
Lauenburg. The King of Denmark was also Duke of Holstein and Lauenburg,
just as, previous to Queen Victoria's accession, the King of England had
been also King of Hanover. But the vast majority of the population of
these Duchies was purely German, and the German Confederation had been
anxious for a long time to admit them to their common nationality. The
Danish Government, on the other hand, desired to incorporate these
provinces in the Kingdom of Denmark. Prince Frederick of
Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg disputed the succession of Christian IX.
to the Duchies in question. The Germanic Diet, under the influence of
Herr von Bismarck, supported Prince Frederick's claim, and an allied
army, provided by Austria and Prussia, crossed the frontiers of Holstein
and Schleswig to enforce it. The Danish army was mobilised, and Denmark
entered upon a hopeless contest--hopeless, seeing that she, one of the
weakest of European States, was pitted against two of the most powerful.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Mayall, Piccadilly._
A. Princess Helena.
B. Prince and Princess of Wales.
C. The Queen.
D. Princess Beatrice.
E. Prince Arthur.
F. Princess Royal.
G. Princess Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse.
A ROYAL FAMILY GROUP.
Photographed from life on the day of the wedding of the Prince and
Princess of Wales.]
[Illustration: _R. Lauchert._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES AT THE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE.]
It must be confessed that the Danes had not unreasonable grounds for
believing they would not be left to meet such odds single-handed. Lord
Russell had often warned the Danish Government that unless it respected
the liberty of its German subjects, Denmark must look for no help from
England in a conflict with the Germanic Powers. The Danes protested that
they had scrupulously followed this advice, and there can be no doubt
that they had been encouraged to look for the support of Great Britain
if any attempt were made to infringe legitimate Danish authority, and
that both Lord Russell and Lord Palmerston contemplated armed
intervention between Denmark and her possible aggressors as a duty which
Great Britain might have to undertake. But Great Britain had too much at
stake to risk a conflict single-handed with Austria and Prussia, who, as
Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Russell, "could bring 200,000 or 300,000
men into the field." England was not more bound by the Treaty of Vienna
than France was; France refused to act, and England adopted the prudent,
but apparently cold-blooded, part of looker-on. Public opinion in Great
Britain ran pretty high in favour of the Danes, and many Englishmen felt
ashamed of the part their country was made to play. They could not
understand how Palmerston, of all men, could act so unhandsomely, and
perhaps the only thing that saved the Government from defeat on a vote
of censure, was that Disraeli, who moved it, shrank from advocating the
only logical alternative to their policy--a declaration of war.
[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre and Spottiswoode._
THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE.
The first settlement on the site of the present city of Melbourne was
made in 1836; it is now the largest city in Australia, with a population
(1891) of 490,896. The Colony of Victoria, of which it is the capital,
was separated from New South Wales in 1851, and received a
self-governing constitution in 1855. Population (1895), 1,181,769.
Imports (1895), £12,472,344. Exports (1895), £14,547,732.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre and Spottiswoode._
THE TOWN HALL, AND PART OF COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE.]
[Sidenote: Dissolution of Parliament.]
The sixth Parliament of Queen Victoria was dissolved on July 6, 1865,
having attained the unusual age of six years and thirty-six days. The
chief feature of the general election which followed was the number of
seats gained by the Radicals at the expense of the remnants of the Whig
party or Moderate Liberals. Mr. Gladstone, reckoned as a
Liberal-Conservative up to this time, though well known to be inclining
more and more to the policy typified by John Bright, was unseated for
Oxford University by Mr. Gathorne-Hardy (now Earl of Cranbrook), and the
last tie which attached him to the Conservatives was severed by his
subsequent election for South Lancashire.
Palmerston's appeal to the country had been answered by an expression of
confidence in him, but that confidence was of a very complex kind. The
Radicals voted for him, because, as long as he was in Parliament, no
other man could lead the Liberal party; but they distrusted his foreign
policy, and chafed at his indifference to questions of reform. The
Liberals voted for him, because he represented exactly the views of
moderate Liberalism; and the attitude of many Conservatives was
accurately expressed in a letter written by Mr. W. H. Smith,
Liberal-Conservative candidate for Westminster, to Colonel Taylor, the
Whip of the Conservative party, thanking him for the support he had
received from Conservatives in his unsuccessful contest against Mr.
Mill. "I believe in Lord Palmerston," he said, "and look forward
ultimately to a fusion of the moderate men following Lord Derby and Lord
Palmerston into a strong Liberal-Conservative party."
[Illustration: HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BRISBANE.]
[Sidenote: Death of Lord Palmerston.]
But the strong link which for so long had bound the present to the past,
and acted as a check on precipitate legislation, snapped at last.
Palmerston died on October 18, 1865, aged eighty-one years, less two
days, having sat in the House of Commons for fifty-eight years, which,
as Mr. Cardwell observed, was just one-tenth of its whole existence. The
feeling in the country was more profound than any which had been
manifested since the death of Wellington. In the course of these pages
no attempt has been made to palliate or conceal some of the errors of
judgment, the faults of statesmanship, even the occasional want of
sincerity to Parliament and the public which formed blemishes in his
career, especially in the earlier part of the Queen's reign. In spite of
these blots--and some of them were far from venial--he had lived to
secure the confidence of his Sovereign and the affection of her people.
A great deal of this was owing to his personal character and manner and
his kindly humour. It is no slight upon Scotsmen or Irishmen to say that
the chief secret of his universal popularity was that he was such a
thorough Englishman. Some of his sayings had a much deeper meaning than
their tone of levity implied. Two of them will bear repetition here,
seeing how accurately the lapse of years has fulfilled the prediction
contained in them. Palmerston was known to be opposed to any further
extension of the franchise. Somebody once observed to him that it really
would not make much difference, for the same class of member would be
returned as before. "Yes," replied Palmerston, "the same men will get in
as before, but they will play to the shilling gallery instead of to the
boxes." The late Earl of Shaftesbury put on record one of Palmerston's
latest sayings. Palmerston always distrusted Mr. Gladstone as a
politician, and made no secret of it. But he always was extremely
anxious for Mr. Gladstone's return for Oxford University. "He is a
dangerous man," he said to Lord Shaftesbury: "keep him in Oxford, and he
is partially muzzled, but send him elsewhere, and he will run wild."
This came to Mr. Gladstone's ears, so, after his defeat at Oxford in
1865, he opened his campaign in South Lancashire by saying to the
electors assembled in the Free Trade Hall of Manchester: "At last, my
friends, I have come amongst you.... I am come among you unmuzzled."
[Illustration: BRISBANE.
The population of Brisbane increased between 1881 and 1891 from 31,000
to 93,000. Queensland, of which it is the capital, was separated from
New South Wales and constituted a self-governing Colony in 1859. It had
in 1895 a population of 460,550. Imports (1895), £5,349,007. Exports,
£8,982,600.]
[Illustration: _Sir E. Landseer, R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves, Publishers of the large Engraving._
THE QUEEN AT OSBORNE, 1866.
On the seat are the Princesses Helena and Louise. Her Majesty is
attended by John Brown.]
CHAPTER XIII.
1866-1872.
Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill--The Cave of Adullam--Defeat and
Resignation of the Ministry--Retirement of Earl Russell--Lord
Derby's Last Administration--Disturbance in Hyde
Park--Commercial Panic--Completion of the Atlantic Cable--Mr.
Disraeli's Reform Bill--Secessions from the Cabinet--The
Fenians--War with Abyssinia--Retirement of Lord Derby--The Irish
State Church--Dissolution of Parliament--Liberal Triumph--Mr.
Gladstone's Cabinet--Disestablishment of the Irish Church--Death
of Lord Derby--Irish Land Legislation--National Education--Army
Purchase--The Ballot Bill--Adoption of Secret Voting.
[Illustration: _J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
RETIRING INTO PRIVATE LIFE.
Lord Brougham: "Eh, Johnny, ye'll find it mighty dull here!" Lord John
Russell was raised to the Peerage in 1861.]
[Sidenote: The Cave of Adullam.]
The only changes in the old Cabinet, consequent on the death of its
great chief, were the advance of Earl Russell to the Premiership and the
appointment of Lord Clarendon to the Foreign Office. But the change in
the House of Commons was as momentous as it was abrupt. The place of its
old leader--the safe, the leisurely, the unemotional Palmerston--was
filled by the restless and ardent, the uncertain Gladstone. The
Conservatives were dispirited and anxious; they were afraid of what the
new House of Commons might be led to do; party feeling began to acquire
a new bitterness, the offspring of fear, which was to grow more and more
intense until the final retirement of Mr. Gladstone in 1895. The
Radicals, on the other hand, were sanguine and jubilant. Reinforced in
numbers, and relieved from the restraint which the irresistible prestige
of Palmerston had imposed on their aspirations, they felt that the
moment for action had come; they had got a leader after their own
hearts, and the first thing to do was to extend the franchise. But there
was disappointment in store for them. Mr. Gladstone introduced his Bill
on March 12; it pleased nobody. The Radicals detected in it the frigid
hand of the Whigs, and the moderate Liberals, secretly detesting all
schemes for a Democratic franchise, began by viewing it coldly, and
gradually drifted into opposition with the Conservatives. Its most
formidable opponent rose from the Ministerial Benches. Mr. Robert Lowe,
whom an intimate acquaintance with Australasian politics had imbued with
profound distrust for Democratic institutions, made a brilliant and
fearless onslaught on the measure, and received all that rapturous
applause which is the invariable reward of a strong man turning his
weapons against his own party. Gradually he drew to himself a compact
band of malcontents, whose memory might have passed into oblivion long
ere this but for a happy metaphor employed by Mr. John Bright, who
likened them to the men who gathered to David in the Cave of Adullam.
"Every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and
every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him." People
were tickled with the illustration: straightway the Liberal dissentients
were dubbed Adullamites, and "a cave" has remained ever since the
recognised term for a group of men combining to act against their own
party.
[Illustration: KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
In point of size, Adelaide holds the third place among Australian cities
with a population (1891) of 133,252. South Australia now stretches right
across the continent, and has an area of 578 million acres and a
population (1895) of 357,405. It was first colonised in 1836, and
constituted a self-governing Colony in 1856. Imports (1895), £5,680,880;
exports, £7,352,742.]
Mr. Lowe's band proved strong enough to kill the measure. It passed the
second reading, indeed, by a majority of five, but it perished in
Committee, and the Ministry resigned. It was the closing scene of Earl
Russell's long career, which somehow had missed the success which his
achievements seemed to have earned. Born in the very holiest of holies
of the Whig sanctuary, with natural abilities far more varied, with
acquired culture far more extensive, with greater advantages from family
connection than Palmerston could boast, and without Palmerston's
headstrong tendencies, he never attained more than a fraction of the
influence and popularity which Palmerston had so fully secured.
Indispensable for more than a generation to every Whig or Liberal
Cabinet, he had become associated more with the failures than the
successes of his party, and people ungratefully remembered him rather as
the betrayer of Denmark than as the pioneer of Reform.
[Illustration: PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
The Swan River Settlement was founded in 1826, and made a separate
Colony, under the name of Western Australia, in 1829. It remained a
Crown Colony until 1890, when it became a self-governing community.
Population (1897), 138,000 (estimated). Imports (1895), £3,774,951;
exports, £1,332,554.]
[Sidenote: Lord Derby's last Administration.]
[Sidenote: Disturbance in Hyde Park.]
Once more it was Lord Derby's fate to form a stop-gap Administration,
and no sooner was the new Ministry complete, early in July, than the
country suddenly threw off the indifference it had shown to Mr.
Gladstone's offer of an extended franchise, and public meetings were
held all over the country vehemently demanding Reform. It was too late
in the session, of course, to do anything that year in Parliament, but
the agitation sufficed to show that there was at least one weak man in
the Cabinet. The Reform League summoned a meeting in Hyde Park for the
evening of July 23, which it was decided to prohibit, and amiable,
gentle Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary, issued a notice that the Park
gates would be closed at 5 p.m. Notwithstanding this announcement,
processions with bands and banners arrived at the appointed hour, and
Mr. Beales, President of the League, demanded admittance, which was
refused. Mr. Beales was an experienced barrister, and knew very well
what he was about. He was of opinion that in denying the right of public
meeting in Hyde Park, the Home Secretary was acting beyond his powers,
and, content with asserting this right in a formal way, he intended to
adjourn the meeting and claim redress by constitutional means. But a
meeting in Hyde Park, no matter for what purpose, invariably attracts
thousands of idlers and roughs, who have no part and no interest in the
question to be discussed. Mr. Beales and the earnest reformers adjourned
to Trafalgar Square and passed resolutions to their hearts' content; but
the rough and idle part of the crowd remained about Hyde Park. The gates
were strong enough to resist any pressure, but the railings were old and
frail. People climbing on them felt them shake and creak; half a dozen
fellows gave a push together in Park Lane--the railings gave way; in an
instant the whole length from Hamilton Gardens to the Marble Arch went
down, and the Park was filled with a tumultuous, rollicking mob. The
grass and the flower-beds were the only property that suffered; the
police took a few prisoners, and the crowd dispersed peacefully at
nightfall. Mr. Beales took a small deputation to the Home Secretary next
day, urging him to withdraw the troops and police, and trust the people
to take care of the town. Mr. Walpole consented; it may have been
prudent to do so, but the manner of doing it was unfortunate. It is a
dangerous precedent for a Home Secretary to show himself afraid of the
consequence of carrying out his own decrees.
[Illustration: _G. Magnussen._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS HELENA AND PRINCE CHRISTIAN OF
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-SONDERBURG-AUGUSTENBURG, IN THE PRIVATE CHAPEL AT
WINDSOR CASTLE, July 5, 1866.]
[Sidenote: Commercial Panic.]
The summer of 1866 will be remembered long in the City of London by
reason of the commercial disaster and monetary panic which followed
sharply on a period of speculative inflation, the combined result of
active trade and the new law of limited liability. The suspension early
in May of the great discount firm of Overend and Gurney, with
liabilities figured at £19,000,000, was followed within the same week by
the failure of several banks and the suspension of the Bank Charter Act.
On May 11 the Bank rate was raised to 10 per cent. and continued at that
point till August 17. The shock was one from which the credit of the
country took a long time to recover, and the amount of private
misfortune and loss of income reacted on almost every department of
trade, though the public revenue maintained a surprising degree of
elasticity.
[Illustration:
A. Private, Queensland Mounted Infantry.
B. Trooper, South Australian Cavalry.
C. Trooper, New South Wales Cavalry.
D. Trooper, Bodyguard, Canada.
E. Trooper, Canadian Dragoons (Winter Dress).
F. Private, Cape Mounted Infantry.
G. Sergeant, Cape Town Highlanders.
H. Officer, 8th Battalion Active Militia of Canada.
J. Officer, Royal Malta Artillery.
K. Trooper, Canadian Dragoons.
L. Gunner, Royal Canadian Artillery (Winter Dress).
_R. Simkin._}
TYPES OF COLONIAL TROOPS, 1897.]
[Sidenote: The Atlantic Cable.]
A brighter passage in the record of 1866 is that which commemorates the
completion of telegraphic communication between Great Britain and
America. Attempts had been made in 1857, 1858, and 1865 to lay a cable
across the Atlantic, all of which ended in failure; but Mr. Cyrus Field
would not abandon his dream. The _Great Eastern_ steamship sailed from
Berehaven on July 12, and on July 27 the first messages were exchanged
between the old and new worlds. A feat hardly less inspiring was
performed later in the same season, in the recovery of the broken cable
of 1865, which was spliced, thereby effecting a second connection
between the two continents.
[Sidenote: "A Leap in the Dark."]
Mr. Disraeli, as has been said, had undertaken the task in which Mr.
Gladstone had failed, and brought in a Reform Bill early in the session
of 1867. It cost the Government a heavy price at the outset: Lord
Carnarvon, Lord Cranbourne (now Marquis of Salisbury), and General Peel
resigned their seats in the Cabinet because they disapproved of it. The
Bill went forward, and, after undergoing many changes, finally passed in
a form conferring household suffrage in boroughs and a £12 franchise in
counties. "No doubt," said Lord Derby on the third reading of the Bill
in the Lords, quoting a remark made by Lord Cranbourne in the other
House, "no doubt we are making a great experiment and 'taking a leap in
the dark,' but I have the greatest confidence in the sound sense of my
fellow-countrymen." But another saying by Lord Derby gives a truer
insight into the real object of a Conservative Government in doing work
so repugnant to its accredited principles. Somebody having observed to
him that the measure was dangerously democratic--"We have dished the
Whigs!" was all that Derby replied. Mr. Disraeli, in reference to the
same subject, made use of a phrase which gave bitter offence to some of
his party, and deepened the distrust with which the old school of
Conservatives regarded him almost to the end of his life. On October 29,
1867, he was entertained at a banquet by the Conservatives of Edinburgh,
and when passing in review the events of the session, and especially his
Reform Act, he said: "I had to prepare the mind of the country, and to
educate--if it be not arrogant to use such a phrase--to educate our
party."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Beattie, Hobart._
HOBART, TASMANIA.
Tasmania, formerly known as Van Diemen's Land, was taken possession of
by the British in 1803. It was governed from Sydney until 1825, when it
became an independent province; and it received its existing
Constitution in 1855. Population (1895), 160,834; imports, £1,094,457;
exports, £1,373,063.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Beattie, Hobart._
LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA.]
[Sidenote: The Fenians.]
The stream of emigration westward which set in after the Irish famine in
1848 had resulted in creating a very large Irish population in the
United States. All these emigrants had brought with them a bitter hatred
of England, on whom they laid the blame of all the sufferings of their
own people. They had found in America the true remedy for their wrongs,
which, had they realised it, arose not so much from political, as from
physical causes. By moving to a spacious land where labour was in
demand, they escaped from the evils which must always press upon a
congested population with no proper outlet for its energy. But still
they loved old Ireland and hated England, and, finding themselves of
political importance in the new land, for the Irish vote soon became
indispensable to the Democratic party, they busied themselves with
projects for the deliverance of their country. They found plenty of
encouragement from Americans, for the feeling in the Northern States was
very bitter against England after the close of the civil war. Thousands
of Irishmen had learnt the art of war and the use of weapons in the
Federal armies; a military organisation was set on foot in the belief
that Great Britain and the United States were on the point of going to
war. This organisation, which adopted the title of Fenian, had for its
leader a man of great ability and experience, James Stephens. The
Government received due warning of what was in preparation; in fact, the
leaders of the movement in Ireland openly proclaimed their intention of
restoring by force of arms the independence of Ireland. They had plenty
of funds: every Irish man and maid in America contributed something to
such a glorious purpose. A steady stream of American-Irish, most of them
old soldiers of the civil war, set in from across the Atlantic, and
scattered themselves among the towns and villages of Ireland. At last
Stephens himself arrived, who, having been mixed up in the rising of
1848, was promptly arrested and lodged in Richmond Prison, Dublin, in
November, 1865. All Ireland was convulsed with delight when, a few days
later, he was found to have escaped.
The absence of Stephens from America had evil results to the Fenians
there. One party was for invading Canada, a project which Stephens had
never favoured. No sooner was his back turned, than a party of Fenians
actually crossed the Niagara river, occupied a fort, and defeated a
force of Canadian volunteers. Just as in 1838, when the Canadians were
in revolt, the United States Government had saved the position for Great
Britain by enforcing the neutrality of their frontier, so now it acted a
similar part, and put an end to what might have become a highly
dangerous state of affairs. Stephens never reappeared, but the
preparations he had started were continued. With the pathetic
hero-worship of the Celt, the Irish peasantry were confident that their
lost leader would return among them soon and lead them to victory. But
one brief taste of prison discipline had been enough for this doughty
champion, and he is believed to have spent the rest of his life abroad
in comparative affluence, derived from the subscriptions collected from
his dupes.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.
The first body of immigrants arrived at Port Nicholson in 1840. In the
same year the whole of the islands were annexed by Great Britain, and
Wellington and Auckland were founded. Constitutional government was
conferred in 1853. In 1865 Wellington became the seat of government. The
population of the islands in 1895 was 698,706; imports, £6,400,129;
exports, £8,550,224.]
In February 1867 the Government frustrated a Fenian plot to seize
Chester Castle; there was an attempt at a general rising in Ireland,
which ended in the loss of a few lives in harebrained and disconnected
attacks on police barracks in Cork, Limerick, Louth, and elsewhere, and
a number of American-Irish were arrested. Two of these prisoners were
being conveyed across Manchester in a prison van, when it was suddenly
attacked by a party of armed Fenians. A policeman was shot dead, the
prisoners were rescued and were never recaptured.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE PINK TERRACES, ROTOMAHANA, NEW ZEALAND.
The water from the hot springs, on its way to Lake Rotomahana ("Warm
Lake"), left a deposit which gradually assumed the forms shown in the
illustration. The water was exquisitely blue; the terraces on one side
of the lake were white, on the other a transparent pink. Both were
completely destroyed in the great eruption of 1886.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE WHITE TERRACES, ROTOMAHANA, NEW ZEALAND.]
The only other serious act of the Fenians was an attempt to release two
prisoners confined in Clerkenwell Gaol, who, considering the means
adopted, might very well pray to be delivered from their friends. A
barrel of gunpowder, placed against the outer wall, was exploded at four
in the afternoon, throwing down about sixty yards of masonry and
wrecking several houses in the street. But for a warning received by
the Governor of the gaol that an attempt was to be made to blow it up,
the prisoners would have been at exercise in the yard at the time of the
explosion, and almost certainly must have been killed. As it was, twelve
persons were killed and 120 were wounded.
[Illustration: SIR ROBERT NAPIER, AFTERWARDS LORD NAPIER OF MAGDALA,
1810-1890.
Born in Ceylon. Commander-in-Chief of Bombay, 1865, and of India, 1870.
Raised to the Peerage, 1869, for his services in Abyssinia.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen._
PARLIAMENT HOUSE AND TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE TOWN.
See historical notes on Cape Colony, page 71. Area, including
dependencies (estimated), 292,000 square miles; population, 1,800,000,
of whom 39,000 are British born; imports (1895), £19,094,880; exports,
£16,904,756, including diamonds, £4,775,016; gold, £7,975,637; wool,
£2,000,000.]
[Sidenote: War with Abyssinia.]
The arms of a great and growing empire are seldom allowed to rust from
disuse, no matter how pacific the intentions of its rulers may be.
Parliament was called together in November 1867 to vote supplies for an
Expedition which it had been found necessary to send out to Abyssinia,
under the command of Sir Robert Napier. Theodore, King of Abyssinia, a
passionate and semi-barbarous despot, had cultivated amicable relations
with Great Britain for a number of years, chiefly on account of his
friendship for Mr. Plowden, formerly English Consul at Massowah. But Mr.
Plowden was dead--killed in an encounter between Theodore and his
rebellious subjects; and Captain Cameron, who succeeded to the Consulate
at Massowah, had not succeeded in ingratiating himself with the King.
Theodore appealed to Queen Victoria to help him against the Turks, and
on receiving no immediate reply to his letter, lost his temper and threw
all the British subjects he could catch into the cavernous dungeons of
his capital, Magdala. Among these captives was Captain Cameron. Mr.
Rassam was sent on an embassy to remonstrate with Theodore, who,
however, was not inclined to listen to reason. On the contrary, he had
the envoy seized, with his companions, Lieutenant Prideaux and Dr.
Blane, loaded with chains, and thrust into prison. Lord Stanley now sent
to demand the release of the prisoners within three months, and declared
that immediate invasion would follow if this were refused. It was a
delicate business to convey despatches to the tyrant in his rock
fortress, and Theodore never received the ultimatum. The expedition set
out: 400 miles of very mountainous country had to be traversed, but
everything had been admirably prepared in the matter of transport and
commissariat, and Napier was an experienced commander. The ease of the
victory which awaited him has done something to diminish the fame which
is really his due for accomplishing a very difficult task. He
encountered the Abyssinian army under the walls of Magdala on April 10,
1868; the King's soldiers fought with headlong gallantry, and fell in
heaps before the terrible fire of British Infantry. Charge after charge
was repelled, until Napier found that his enemy had vanished, leaving
some 2,000 dead and wounded on the field, while in his own force the
casualties amounted to no more than nineteen wounded. The fierce old
King so far bowed under chastisement that the captives were released,
but he refused to surrender. It then became necessary to enforce the
lesson that, if Great Britain does not take up arms lightly, neither
does she lay them down without exacting all her demands. Napier
determined to take Magdala by assault. Perched high on a precipitous
rock, it occupied a position which, in old times and without modern
appliances, must have been pronounced inaccessible. But there are few
places to which courage equipped by science can be denied admission: the
northern gate was stormed, and lying within it was found the old lion
King. Preferring death to dishonour he had perished by his own hand.
Lord Derby's health had given him repeated warning that the time had
come when he must seek release from public duties. He retired from
office in February 1868, and Mr. Disraeli became Prime Minister. "The
time will come when you _will_ hear me." Few--very few--who had heard
that vaunt shouted across the House in 1837 were there to witness its
complete fulfilment in 1868. It was a position of the highest honour,
but not one of great power to which Disraeli had succeeded, and he was
not called on to occupy it long. He could not reckon on a majority on
any question upon which the Opposition should act together under a
resolute leader. Such a question and such a leader were soon found.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen._
SEARCHING TABLES AT THE DE BEERS' DIAMOND MINE, KIMBERLEY, SOUTH
AFRICA.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by J. H. Murray,
Pietermaritzburg._
TOWN HALL, DURBAN.
Durban, the largest town in Natal, had a population in 1894 of 27,984.
Natal has an estimated area of 20,461 square miles, and a population
(1891) of 543,913. Imports, from Great Britain (1895), £1,602,023;
exports, to Great Britain, £716,645.]
[Sidenote: The Irish State Church.]
[Sidenote: Liberal Triumph.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet.]
[Sidenote: Death of Lord Derby.]
In choosing the Established Protestant Church of Ireland for attack, Mr.
Gladstone selected the weakest spot in the Constitution; one,
nevertheless, which the Conservative party were bound to defend to their
last man. The Irish peasantry, except those of the greater part of
Ulster, were Roman Catholics, and Roman Catholics of a peculiarly devout
and enthusiastic kind. The Protestant Establishment was an alien Church,
and could never be anything else; a monument of conquest which it had
been unwise to set up. It presented itself to Mr. Gladstone as the very
core and pillar of disaffection, and it was very easy to make out a
strong case for its abolition. In March 1868 he brought forward three
resolutions, declaring that it was the opinion of the House of Commons
that the Established Church of Ireland should cease to exist, and the
first division showed a majority of sixty-one in favour of the project
and against the Government. In consequence of this Disraeli advised the
Queen to dissolve Parliament, which was done in July. Writs were made
returnable in November, and the interval was spent in such canvassing
and platform work as the country had never experienced before. Mr.
Gladstone was beaten in Lancashire, Mr. W. H. Smith ousted Mr. Mill from
Westminster, and Mr. Roebuck lost his seat at Sheffield; nevertheless,
the general result of the polls was an immense gain to the Liberals,
showing a majority for them of 120 in the New Parliament. Mr. Gladstone,
having found a seat at Greenwich, set to work to obey the Queen's
bidding in forming a Ministry. The most notable accession to the Cabinet
was that of Mr. Bright, who became Secretary of State for India, thus
marking an epoch in Parliamentary history by the formal recognition of
the extreme Radicals as a party in the State. The great business of the
session of 1869 was, of course, the Bill to disestablish and disendow
the Irish Church. No Irish question can be touched without releasing the
springs of oratory of a quality beside which the most impassioned
appeals of average English or Scottish speakers seem tame and halting.
In the Commons the fight was a foregone conclusion; but the Irish Church
was an exceedingly wealthy corporation, and the disposal of its
possessions, to the value of sixteen millions sterling, afforded matter
for long and complicated debates in Committee. The Lords could not be
persuaded even to delay the Act on which the country and the House of
Commons had spoken with so much decision. The Bill passed its second
reading by a majority of thirty-three, and received the Royal Assent on
July 26, 1869. Lord Derby had made his last speech on the second reading
of this measure, which he resisted with much of his ancient vigour and
all his splendid eloquence. He died in October of the same year, and, in
the opinion of most men qualified to form one, Parliament lost in him
its most polished orator.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Annan & Sons, Glasgow._
DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 1813-1873.
African Missionary and Explorer. Born at Blantyre, near Glasgow, and in
his youth worked in cotton-mills in that town. Sent to Africa by the
London Missionary Society in 1838, he thenceforth spent his life in
exploring and evangelizing that continent. In 1865 and 1870 expeditions
were sent in search of him. He died at Ilala. His body was brought to
England, and buried in Westminster Abbey.]
[Illustration: _J. Ballantyne, R.S.A._} {_In the National Portrait
Gallery._
SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A., 1802-1873.
This distinguished animal painter was born in London. He was knighted in
1850, and in 1865 was offered and declined the office of President of
the Royal Academy. The picture represents him in the studio of Baron
Marochetti, at work on one of the lions for the Nelson column. These
were cast in bronze, and placed in position in January 1867.]
[Sidenote: Irish Land Legislation.]
The Irish people at first showed few signs of gratitude for the
disestablishment of their State Church. The Fenians were giving fresh
signs of activity, agrarian crime was of frightful frequency during the
winter of 1869-70, and the virulence of the anti-British press became
day by day more intense. Troops were poured into the country to repress
disturbance, and Mr. Gladstone set about preparing fresh measures of
conciliation. The Irish land system, theoretically almost identical in
general principles to that of Great Britain, not only differed from it
in important details, but had come to be worked on wholly different
lines from those pursued by English and Scottish landlords. In Great
Britain the tendency had been to throw small unprofitable holdings into
substantial farms which should be worth the efforts of energetic men of
means to cultivate. The landlord, as a rule, equipped the farm with
suitable buildings and fences, and frequently lived on his estates
during most of the year. In Ireland, with few exceptions, buildings and
improvements of every sort were executed by the tenant, who was allowed
to subdivide his holding into mere patches of land, with a hovel run up
at the expense of the occupant. The peasantry were bound to their
holdings by the capital they had sunk in them; they could not in every
season wring the rent out of the land; huge masses of arrears
accumulated, often ending in eviction, which meant practical
confiscation of such permanent improvements as had been effected. All
the evil effects and bitter feelings arising out of this decrepid mode
of tenure were intensified by the ever-increasing tendency of landowners
to absenteeism, and by the prevailing difference in the religion of
proprietors and peasantry.
[Illustration: _W. H. Mason._} {_From a Print at the Oval._
CRICKET IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REIGN.
Sussex _v._ Kent, at Brighton, 1842.]
In Ulster, indeed, the conditions were different. Not only was there a
large Protestant element in the farming and labouring class, but the
custom of tenant-right had grown up, protecting the tenant against
disturbance as long as he paid his rent, securing his right to
compensation on leaving for improvements executed by himself, and, most
important of all, giving him a saleable property in the goodwill of the
tenancy. The Ulster tenantry, as a rule, were prosperous. Mr. Gladstone
refused to see in their prosperity only the result of their greater
industry and capacity for business: he set it down to the system of dual
ownership involved in the recognition of tenant-right, and this system
he resolved to apply to every part of Ireland by creating a statutory
partnership between landlord and tenant. It is hardly possible to
conceive a reform more vital than that initiated by this measure in the
social fabric of Ireland; for, except in the north-east of Ulster,
agriculture forms the sole important industry of that country. Yet the
Conservative Opposition, led by Mr. Disraeli, made no attempt to resist
it; the case for legislation was too clamant.
[Illustration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
FASHIONS IN 1864.
The safest way to take a lady down!]
[Sidenote: National Education.]
[Sidenote: Army Purchase.]
Far-reaching as the Irish Land Bill has proved in its effects, it was
hardly of greater moment than a measure introduced two days later by Mr.
W. E. Forster, establishing a scheme of elementary education. The
Government had been not more than two years in office, and had amply
fulfilled the first part of an ambitious programme by passing three
measures of extraordinary importance, dealing with the Irish Church,
Irish land tenure, and national education; yet the tide of popular
favour which had carried them into power began to show unmistakeable
signs of ebbing. The legislation of 1871, actual and proposed, served to
add to the number of malcontents. The first step taken was against the
system of purchase in the army. It was the recognised practice in all
except a few special corps in the British army for an officer to
purchase his first commission, as well as every subsequent step in
regimental promotion. There was a regulation scale of prices, but there
was also an extra regulation payment, winked at by the authorities. An
officer's commission thus became a valuable property to him, which he
could dispose of on leaving the service. It was a system which few
people could defend successfully in theory, but it was one that had
worked well in practice; and the project to sweep it away created a
vigorous opposition. But what makes the Parliamentary fight over army
purchase of moment in history is the means by which Mr. Gladstone
carried his purpose in the teeth of the House of Lords. The abolition of
purchase had been part only of a sweeping measure of army
re-organisation brought in by Mr. Cardwell. In order to save part of the
Bill, the Government threw overboard every section of it except the
purchase clauses. The Lords, desiring to defeat what was left of the
original Bill, declared they would not accept the purchase clauses until
the whole scheme of army reform was before them. A sigh of relief
escaped from military men; the system endeared to them by custom and
association had been saved by the action of the Upper House. But they
had to learn how resolute and adroit was he with whom they had to
reckon. Mr. Gladstone had a theatrical surprise in store for everyone.
He gave the go-by to Parliament by announcing that, whereas army
purchase had been created by Royal warrant, it could be rendered illegal
by the same means; and, therefore, he had advised the Queen to cancel
the old warrant and issue a new one. It was a complete victory over the
House of Lords; they were forced to pass the Bill so obnoxious to them,
otherwise the officers of the army would have been deprived of the
compensation provided for the sums they had paid for their commissions.
But the victory was very damaging to Mr. Gladstone's Government.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
CRICKET IN THE LATER YEARS OF THE REIGN.
England _v._ Australia at Lords, June 22, 23, 24, 1896. Dr. Grace is at
the further wicket.]
[Illustration: _G. Du Maurier._} {_From "Punch."_
FASHIONS IN 1870.
He: "Shall we--a--sit down?" She: "I should like to, but my dressmaker
says I mustn't."]
[Sidenote: The Ballot Bill.]
Most educated people were tired, and perhaps ashamed, of the uproar and
scandal inseparable from the old system of elections, and the Government
brought in a Bill to abolish the hustings and make the proceedings more
orderly, against which few voices would have been raised, had it not
contained provisions for voting by Ballot. The idea of secret voting was
repugnant to the national sense of what is fair and above-board; but the
Bill eventually got through the House of Commons, though shorn, at the
instance of Mr. Vernon Harcourt and Mr. James (now Lord James of
Hereford), of the provisions for throwing the expenses of elections on
the rates. The measure was rejected by the House of Lords, but the
Government succeeded in passing it during the session of 1872. The
result upon the balance of parties in the House of Commons has been
singularly small, and certainly the Conservatives, who had most reason
to dread the effect of secret voting on the fortunes of their party,
have had no reason to complain of the result.
[Illustration: _Sydney P. Hall._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS LOUISE TO THE MARQUIS OF
LORNE, K.T., AT ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, March 21, 1871.
The officiating clergy are the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Oxford,
and the Dean of Windsor. Next the bride on the left is the Queen, then
the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Princess of
Wales and her two sons, and other members of the Royal Family. The
bridegroom is supported by Earl Percy and Lord Ronald Gower, behind whom
are the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, his parents. Mr. Disraeli is in the
right hand corner of the picture, and Mr. Gladstone sits in the centre
of the same row.]
CHAPTER XIV.
1870-1880.
The Franco-German War--Russia seizes her Opportunity--The Irish
University Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--Mr.
Gladstone resumes Office--Dissolution of
Parliament--Conservative Victory--The Ashanti War--Mr.
Disraeli's Third Administration--Mr. Gladstone Retires from the
Leadership--Annexation of the Fiji Islands--Purchase of Suez
Canal Shares--Visit of the Prince of Wales to India--The Queen's
New Title--Threatening Action of Russia--The Bulgarian
Massacres--Disraeli becomes Earl of Beaconsfield--The
Russo-Turkish War--Great Britain Prepares to Defend
Constantinople--Secession of Lord Carnarvon and Lord Derby--The
"Jingo" Party--The Berlin Congress and Treaty--"Peace with
Honour"--Massacre at Cabul--War with Afghanistan--The Zulu
War--Disaster of Isandhlana.
[Sidenote: The Franco-German War.]
[Sidenote: Russia Seizes her Opportunity.]
The hurricane which, breaking over Western Europe in the summer of 1870,
had swept away the Imperial Dynasty of France before the close of the
year, was not felt in Great Britain with any alarming effect. Nothing
occurred seriously to endanger her neutrality; she was enjoying a period
of commercial prosperity strangely in contrast to the savage strife
beyond the sea, until a sudden and ominous act on the part of the
Russian Government redoubled the anxious vigilance of Her Majesty's
Government. The Treaty of Paris had established the neutrality of the
Black Sea, throwing open its waters to the mercantile marine of all
nations, and interdicting them to the flag of war, "either of the Powers
possessing its coasts, or of any other Power." By this provision Russia
now proclaimed she would no longer be bound. She could not have chosen a
better opportunity for her own purpose. The Western Alliance was
dislocated; two of the signatories to the Treaty of Paris were engaged
in mortal strife; a third--Austria--could not be expected to take action
independently of Prussia; was it incumbent on Great Britain--the fourth
Power--to vindicate, single-handed, the sanctity of the treaty? Few
responsible people could be found to contemplate seriously such a
course; yet it was peculiarly galling to the national pride to have to
acquiesce in the action of Russia. Lord Granville proposed a conference
of the Powers to be held in London, and the proposal was accepted. The
Conference met on January 17, 1872, and solemnly proceeded to abrogate
that which they were in no position to maintain--the neutralisation of
the Black Sea. Reflection on the situation of Europe at that time can
lead to no other conclusion but that Great Britain was sagaciously
steered without loss of honour through a very difficult channel; but
none the less unfavourable to the Government was the impression created
at the time, that the country had suffered a degree of humiliation in
permitting a treaty which had cost her so dear to be torn up.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._
HER MAJESTY WITH THE PRINCESS BEATRICE.
April 1871.]
[Sidenote: The Irish University Bill.]
[Sidenote: Defeat and Resignation of Ministers.]
But Mr. Gladstone, full of serious purpose, was blind to the symptoms of
failing prestige--indifferent to the warning conveyed by loss of
successive seats at by-elections. He had dealt with two limbs of the
upas-tree; there remained the third--that of Irish education, and he
bared his arms to attack it. On February 13 he introduced a Bill dealing
with the Irish Universities. It was a masterly measure, a scheme of
extraordinary complexity, dealing with a very complicated and
unsatisfactory state of things. It is not necessary to examine its
details at this time; it is, perhaps, enough to say that the Prime
Minister's plan was one that, while it offended and alarmed every
one deriving benefit from the existing state of things, failed
to satisfy any of the religious bodies--Protestant, Catholic, or
Nonconformist--which desired a change. Disraeli's words spoken on the
second reading came home to many hearts on both sides of the House. "You
have now had four years of it," he said. "You have despoiled churches;
you have threatened every corporation and endowment in the country. You
have examined into everybody's affairs. You have criticised every
profession and vexed every trade. No one is certain of his property, and
nobody knows what duties he may have to perform to-morrow. I believe
that the people of this country have had enough of confiscation." The
Bill was rejected by a majority of three votes, and Mr. Gladstone
resigned office; but, on the Queen sending for Mr. Disraeli, he declined
to form "a weak and discredited Administration," and the Government
resumed its functions.
[Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
CRITICS.
Mr. Gladstone: "H'm, flippant!"
Mr. Disraeli: "Ha, prosy!"
Mr. Disraeli's "Lothair" and Mr. Gladstone's "Juventus Mundi" appeared
almost simultaneously in 1870.]
[Sidenote: General Election.]
Ministers were in an unenviable position. The increasing bitterness of
parties had brought about a disregard of those unwritten laws which had
contributed so much in the past to the amenity of public life and to
earning for the House of Commons the character of being "the best club
in London." There were bitter dissensions among Ministers themselves, of
which Lord Ripon and Mr. Childers gave evidence by leaving the Cabinet.
In four years the Conservatives had gained fifteen seats in
by-elections, against which Ministerialists could only set two captured
from the enemy. Still, the Government could reckon on a majority of
ninety in the House of Commons, and no one dreamt of their appealing to
the country while all the omens remained adverse. Nevertheless, Mr.
Gladstone startled everybody by issuing a manifesto, in January 1874,
announcing the dissolution of Parliament. Never did a politician play
more completely into his opponent's hands, though the Conservatives went
to the polls full of misgiving about the effect of the new-fangled
Ballot. The result proved that their fears were unfounded. The followers
of Mr. Disraeli in the new Parliament outnumbered those of Mr. Gladstone
by half a hundred.
[Illustration: _N. Chevalier._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE PROCESSION ON THE OCCASION OF THE THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S
FOR THE RECOVERY OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES PASSING LUDGATE CIRCUS,
February 1872.
His Royal Highness had been seized with typhoid fever in November 1871,
and for several days in the early part of December his life was
despaired of. Her Majesty and the other members of the Royal Family were
twice summoned to Sandringham, where he was being nursed by the Princess
of Wales and Princess Alice of Hesse.]
[Sidenote: The Ashanti War.]
The closing months of Mr. Gladstone's Administration were marked by a
short war on the Gold Coast, arising out of a dispute with Koffee
Calcalli, King of Ashanti, who had claimed a tribute formerly paid to
him by the Dutch for some territory which they sold to Great Britain in
1872. Failing to obtain acknowledgment of his claim, the King of Ashanti
attacked the Fantis, a tribe under British protection, and it became
necessary to chastise him. The difficulty of doing so lay, not in the
character of the people of Ashanti, for, though brave and warlike, they
could not stand before modern arms of precision, but in the nature of
the climate and the difficulty of transport. The campaign had to be
limited to the cool season; it was entrusted to Sir Garnet Wolseley, who
well sustained the reputation he had earned in the Red River Expedition
in 1870. The Expedition left England on September 12, 1873, and returned
on March 21, 1874, having in the interval captured and destroyed
Coomassie, the capital, brought the King to terms, and laid a perpetual
interdict on the hideous human sacrifices which formed one of his most
cherished institutions. The Ashanti warriors defended their forest
roads gallantly, and the British loss was heavy in proportion to the
numbers engaged. The total cost of this Expedition was reckoned at a
little short of one million sterling.
[Illustration: _Orlando Norrie_} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE ASHANTI WAR: THE 42ND HIGHLANDERS CROSSING THE OMDALI.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Disraeli's Third Administration.]
The new Ministry was formed with unexampled celerity. Mr. Gladstone,
accepting the verdict of the country, did not attempt to meet the new
Parliament, but resigned on February 18, 1874. Three days later the
Queen had approved of the names submitted to her by Mr. Disraeli for all
the offices in the Government, both in the Cabinet and outside it. Lord
Salisbury, sometimes known then as "the terrible Marquis," and Lord
Carnarvon, both of whom had seceded in 1867 on the question of the
franchise, resumed their former seats at the India and Colonial Offices
respectively. The Liberal party were languishing in that political
anæmia which follows on overwhelming defeat, when they received an
additional blow in the retirement of Mr. Gladstone from the leadership.
Some hard things were said about one who thus abandoned his party at the
lowest ebb of their fortunes, and uncomplimentary contrasts were drawn
between him and Disraeli, who had cheered his followers by his constant
presence in adversity which seemed irredeemable. After some months of
indecision, during which the Liberal leadership was administered by a
kind of _junta_, the Marquis of Hartington assumed the thankless task of
leading the deserted and dispirited Opposition, an office made all the
more difficult by the occasional raids upon the debates made by Mr.
Gladstone as often as some subject which specially interested him turned
up, such as the Public Worship Bill, and the Bill abolishing patronage
in the Church of Scotland.
[Illustration: _Orlando Norrie_} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE ASHANTI WAR: THE ENTRY INTO COOMASSIE, February 4, 1874.]
[Illustration: _N. Chevalier._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AND THE GRAND-DUCHESS MARIE OF
RUSSIA AT THE WINTER PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG, January 23, 1874.
View of the interior of the chapel of the Winter Palace. The bride and
bridegroom are standing before the altar, and over them the Metropolitan
of St. Petersburg elevates the cross. The Emperor and Empress of Russia
stand together against the great piers supporting the dome, and near
them are the Czarewitch with his wife, the Princess Dagmar, and the
Princess of Wales, her sister. In the foreground are the Prince of Wales
and the Crown Prince of Prussia, and among others present are the Crown
Princess of Prussia, the Crown Prince of Denmark, Prince Arthur, the
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a long train of Grand Dukes and
Nobles.]
[Sidenote: Annexation of the Fiji Islands.]
Mr. Disraeli was not new to office, but he found himself in power for
the first time. With a good working majority behind him in the House of
Commons, a helpless Opposition before him, and a surplus of six millions
at the Treasury, the natural question in everybody's mouth was "What
will he do with it?" There were still many of his own party who
mistrusted his love of display and his magnificent conception of empire
as likely to impel him along some hazardous course of conquest abroad or
legislation at home, but their apprehensions were soon allayed. In
leading the House, Disraeli exchanged his formidable gifts of invective
for a manner and speech conciliatory to men of all parties. The domestic
programme of the Government for the sessions of 1874 and 1875 was
unambitious but useful, and the only extension of British dominion
abroad was the peaceful annexation of the Fiji Islands at the request of
King Cakobau and his council.
[Illustration: _Hon. John Collier._} {_By permission of the Linnean
Society._
CHARLES R. DARWIN, LL.D., 1809-1882.
Naturalist. Born at Shrewsbury; educated there and at Edinburgh and
Cambridge. His researches into the "Origin of Species," "The Descent of
Man," &c., have revolutionized modern ideas on these subjects.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph by Mayall, Piccadilly._
PROFESSOR SIR RICHARD OWEN, 1804-1892.
Naturalist, and one of the greatest authorities on comparative anatomy
and osteology. First Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of
Surgeons (1836), and first Superintendent (1856-1883) of the Natural
History Department of the British Museum, now housed in the building
here shown, in the arrangement of which he was greatly interested. It
was said of him that he could describe any animal from a single bone.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON.
Built in 1873-1880 from designs by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., at a
cost of £352,000.]
[Sidenote: Suez Canal Shares.]
But towards the end of 1875 there came the occasion for the display of
some spirit, in which may be traced the beginning of reaction against
the "Little Britain" school of politicians. When a singular opportunity
presented itself of strengthening our communications with the East,
Disraeli fearlessly seized it. The Suez Canal had been open since 1869,
and Great Britain, though she was the Power which made most use of it,
had no pecuniary interest in it. The funds necessary for the work had
been subscribed almost entirely by the Egyptian Government and by
private speculators in France. Of the 400,000 original shares, the
Khedive of Egypt held 176,000; but the Khedive's expenditure had been
for years far beyond his revenues, and his shares were thrown upon the
market in 1875. Disraeli was struck by the proposition advanced by Mr.
Greenwood, a journalist of some note, that these shares should be bought
by the British Government, and the purchase was completed on November
25, the price paid being £4,000,000. Sir Stafford Northcote, on whom
fell the duty of asking Parliament for the money, was opposed to his
chief's policy in this matter, and must have felt some misgiving in
repelling the attacks made upon it by the Liberals, but he did so
effectively. Mr. Gladstone emerged from his retirement to fling himself
into the debate, and declared that to spend the national funds in such
an object was "an unprecedented thing";--"So is the Canal!" retorted
Northcote. It is only just to Disraeli's statesmanship to notice what an
excellent investment, in a monetary sense, was made for Great Britain by
the purchase of these shares. The original sum of four millions has been
entirely paid off out of income derived from the shares, which, for a
number of years, have been paying from 17 to 21 per cent. The shares
purchased have risen in value from four to eighteen millions, and the
proportion of British tonnage to the whole tonnage of all nations using
the Canal is 75 per cent. It would, however, be claiming too much for
Disraeli's commercial acumen to suppose that he realised what should
become the ultimate monetary value of these shares. What he perceived
was the importance of Great Britain acquiring a voice in the management
of the new and dominant highway to India. The public had received
recently the means of estimating the stupendous responsibility resting
on the shoulders of those charged with the administration of British
India. The results of the first census ever taken there were published
in 1875, showing the total population of the British dominion in India
to consist of twenty-three distinct nationalities, amounting to
190,563,048 souls--nearly five times that of the United Kingdom. This
did much to dispel an idea dimly present in the minds even of educated
persons, that the Queen's Indian subjects consisted of one dusky race,
speaking one language and divided into two religions--Mahomedan and
Hindoo.
[Sidenote: The Prince of Wales Visits India.]
[Sidenote: The Queen's New Title.]
It was a congenial duty for the Prime Minister, entertaining these lofty
views of the burden and glory of empire, to ask the House of Commons to
vote £142,000 to defray the expenses of a visit about to be paid by the
Prince of Wales to India. His Royal Highness had already visited the
principal Colonies, but the customs of Oriental Courts, the ceremony and
display considered indispensable, and, above all, the necessity for
exchanging costly presents with the various Princes, rendered the
expenses far beyond what any ordinary tour would involve. The money was
cheerfully voted, for the public approved of the energy shown by the
heir to the Crown in acquiring a personal acquaintance with all parts of
the British Empire. There was less unanimity in the reception of the
next important proposal of the Government, made after the Prince's
return from India in 1876, namely, to supply such addition to the titles
of the Sovereign as had been rendered appropriate by her assumption, in
1858, of the direct government of India.
[Illustration: _A. Stuart Worthy._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, K.G.]
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts, R.A._} {_In the National Portrait Gallery._
EDWARD ROBERT, FIRST EARL OF LYTTON,
1831-1891.
Only son of Lord Lytton, the novelist. Viceroy of India, 1876-1880;
Ambassador to France, 1887-1891. Known in literature as "Owen
Meredith."]
[Sidenote: The Bulgarian Massacres.]
[Sidenote: The Russo-Turkish War.]
Meanwhile, the Eastern Question had burst out again. Insurrections in
the Turkish provinces of Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro had been
suppressed by the Porte with that ferocity so characteristic of Turkish
misrule; Russia had begun moving troops towards the Danube, and a large
section of the English public avowed sympathy with her, or with any
other Power that would put an end to the sickening brutalities in
Bulgaria. Mr. Gladstone threw Homer and theology to the winds, and the
country rang with his denunciations of "the unspeakable Turk." Those who
accuse Disraeli of undue solicitude for popularity should study the
course he steered in the storm that was raging round him. But before it
came to its height, he had spoken his last words in the House of
Commons. On August 11, 1876, Mr. Evelyn Ashley charged the Government
with negligence and the British Ambassador at Constantinople with
mischievous and dilatory tactics, in their dealings with the Porte and
their toleration of massacres. Disraeli replied in one of the most
effective speeches he ever delivered, concluding with the words: "What
our duty is at this critical moment is to maintain the Empire of
England. Nor will we ever agree to any step, though it may obtain for a
moment comparative quiet and a false prosperity, that hazards the
existence of that Empire." Next morning the Prime Minister's place on
the Treasury Bench was filled by Sir Stafford Northcote; a well-kept
secret was revealed; Mr. Disraeli, on whose health the stress of forty
years of active Parliamentary life had told with serious effect, had
accepted a peerage, and gone to the House of Lords as Earl of
Beaconsfield. Not, however, to escape responsibility. Throughout that
autumn and winter the Government was vehemently denounced in the country
for their toleration of Turkish misdeeds, but Lord Beaconsfield remained
firm in his resolution to refrain from embarrassing the Porte or
countenancing the designs of Russia. Before Parliament met, cooler
counsels had begun to prevail, and when the Czar declared war against
the Sultan, on April 24, the Bulgarian atrocities faded out of sight,
and British sympathy flowed out towards the weaker combatant. The
gallantry of Osman Pasha's troops, his double victory over the Russians
at Plevna in July, and the heroic defence of the Shipka Pass, brought
our old Crimean allies into high favour; but it was when the tide of
victory had turned, when the Turkish armies had been crushed under the
resistless preponderance of the Northern Power, when Russia was at the
gates of Constantinople, and the Porte forced to accept an armistice,
sent a Circular Note to the Great Powers, and a special appeal to Great
Britain, praying for help in her extremity, that the policy of
Beaconsfield was brought to the test.
[Illustration: _Val. C. Prinsep, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection.
Reproduced from Photographs by Mr. Hollyer, by permission of the
Artist._
THE IMPERIAL DURBAR AT DELHI, January 1, 1877: PROCLAMATION OF HER
MAJESTY AS EMPRESS OF INDIA.
The Viceroy (Lord Lytton) is seated on the dais, with Lady and the Hon.
Miss Lytton behind him, and surrounded by his Secretaries and
Aides-de-Camp. Major Burns, Chief Herald, stands on the steps, and a
group of heralds occupies the centre. In the circle, amongst the native
Princes, sit Sir R. H. Davies (Lieut-Governor of the Punjab, immediately
to the left of the Chief Herald, and Sir R. Temple, Lieut-Governor of
Bengal), and the Duke of Buckingham (Governor of Madras) to his right.
The two native Princesses are the Begum of Bhopal and the Rana of
Dholepore; of the latter only the head is seen, on the extreme right.]
[Sidenote: Secession of Lord Carnarvon and Lord Derby.]
Parliament was summoned hastily on January 17, 1878, and Northcote gave
notice that a Vote of Credit for £6,000,000 would be moved for
immediately, for the Cabinet had decided to defend the Sultan's capital
against the Czar. The British fleet was ordered, on January 15, to enter
the Dardanelles, a step which caused the instant resignation by Lord
Carnarvon of his seat in the Cabinet, followed a couple of months later,
by that of a far more important Minister--the Foreign Secretary. To send
warships into the Dardanelles would have been an empty menace unless it
had been supported by corresponding preparation of land forces, but
calling out the Army Reserve, the occupation of Cyprus by a British
force, and the dispatch of 7,000 Indian troops to the Mediterranean,
proved too much for the nerves of Lord Derby; he resigned his office,
and two years later severed his connection with the Conservative party
and accepted office in Mr. Gladstone's Second Administration.
[Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._
[_From "Punch."_
THE PAS-DE-DEUX,
From the Scène de Triumph in the Grand Anglo Turkish Ballet d'Action,
executed by the Earl of Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury.]
The resolute attitude of the Queen's Government found an echo in the
country, and the chorus of a popular music hall ditty supplied a
nickname, the exact equivalent of the French term _chauviniste_.
Everybody at this day understands what is meant by the "Jingo party" or
the "Jingo policy," though perhaps the origin of the phrase may come to
be forgotten. It is found in the lines shouted by enthusiastic audiences
in the early months of 1878:
"We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo! if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too."
[Sidenote: The Berlin Congress and Treaty.]
It was the policy of England in a nutshell, and it had its effect
abroad. The Russians had suffered heavily in the war: they were in no
spirit to renew it with a powerful, wealthy, and fresh enemy. They
agreed not to occupy Gallipoli, provided the English fleet withdrew from
the Sea of Marmora. Both nations were disposed to accept Prince
Bismarck's proffered mediation, and it was agreed to submit the Treaty
of San Stefano to a Congress of the Powers at Berlin. This famous
Congress, at which Great Britain was represented by her Prime Minister
and Foreign Secretary--Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury--effected a
re-arrangement of the Danubian provinces, a rectification of the
frontier of Greece, the cession to Russia of Batoum and Kars, with that
part of Bessarabia which had been taken from her by the Treaty of Paris,
and the occupation by Great Britain of the island of Cyprus, coupled
with an obligation to defend Turkey in the possession of her Asiatic
dominions. If it was not a settlement containing the elements of
durability, nor conveying much direct advantage to Great Britain, at
least it prohibited that which Great Britain was determined not to
allow--the handing over to Russia of the key of the Mediterranean, the
highway to India--and Beaconsfield was entitled to claim, as he did on
his return before a rapturous crowd in Downing Street, that Her
Majesty's Plenipotentiaries had succeeded in securing "Peace with
Honour."
[Illustration: _Sir J. E. Millais, Bart., P.R.A._} {_By permission of
the Garrick Club._
SIR HENRY IRVING.
Henry Irving was born at Keinton, near Glastonbury, in 1838. He made his
first appearance on the stage at Sunderland in 1856. His connection with
the Lyceum dates from 1866, and his management of that theatre from
December 1878. He was knighted in 1895.]
[Sidenote: Massacre at Cabul.]
But terrible news arrived before the close of the year. History--the
disastrous history of 1841--repeated itself with extraordinary
exactness. Sir Louis Cavagnari had been sent as envoy to Cabul early in
1878 to watch and, if possible, counteract the effect of the persistent
advance of Russia towards the frontier of British India. He was lodged
with a small escort, in comfortable, but defenceless, quarters in the
Bala Hissar or citadel of Cabul. The Amir Yakoob soon began to show
impatience at the presence of the British in his capital. He was in
difficulties also with his own troops, who were clamorous for arrears of
pay. On September 3 a riotous mob collected in front of the British
Embassy; blows were struck and shots fired, and soon Cavagnari and his
household were closely besieged. He had with him a secretary, a surgeon,
and Lieutenant Hamilton, commanding the escort of twenty-six troopers
and fifty men of the corps of Guides. These made a brave defence, but
at last the buildings were set on fire, and the envoy and every soul
with him perished in the flames. The Amir represented to the Viceroy
that this was the result of a mutiny against his own authority, and this
seems to have been the case; he was powerless to prevent what perhaps he
did not greatly deplore. Not the less necessary was it to exact
punishment for the massacre. General Stewart, who had just evacuated
Candahar under provisions of the recent treaty, re-occupied it; General
Baker advanced by the Shutar Gardan and seized Kushi. On October 6
General Roberts (now Lord Roberts), acting in concert with General
Baker, defeated a large force of Ghilzais, with artillery, on the
heights of Chardeh, and then fought his way to Cabul, which he entered
on the 12th.
[Illustration: _W. Parrott._} {_From a Lithograph._
WATERLOO BRIDGE AND THE NORTHERN BANK OF THE THAMES IN 1840.
This bank is now occupied by the Victoria Embankment and Charing Cross
Station.]
All this time Yakoob Khan had been making friendly professions, and
remained with the British field force during its operations. But there
was reason to suspect his complicity in the massacre; he tendered his
abdication to General Roberts, and was sent as a State prisoner to
India. Then followed painful scenes in Cabul, the assassins of
Cavagnari's party being hunted out and many of them publicly hanged. The
townspeople remained sullen: the Afghan warriors left Cabul and
collected at Ghazni, where an aged Mollah was preaching a holy war. By
the beginning of December the whole country was under arms, burning to
reenact the scenes of 1842. But they had a different man from General
Elphinstone to deal with in General Roberts. He continued to receive
reinforcements from India, and made such good use of them that, after
much hard fighting, the insurgent tribes under Mohamed Jan were
completely dispersed.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By F. Frith & Co., Reigate._
THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE,
Begun in 1868 and opened in 1882 by Her Majesty, were designed by G. E.
Street, R.A. The cost of the buildings was about £700,000, and of the
land upon which they stand £1,453,000. The Clock-tower and the "Griffin"
in the middle of the road mark the site of Temple Bar.]
[Illustration: _From an Engraving._}
TEMPLE BAR IN 1837.
This, the western gate of the City of London, was built by Sir
Christopher Wren in 1670. Above it, on iron spikes, used to be displayed
the heads and limbs of executed traitors. Up to 1851 it was the custom
to close the gates when the Sovereign was to enter the City in State,
until a herald had knocked upon them with his bâton, when the
procession, after some parley, was admitted. The Bar was removed in
1878.]
But there were many claimants to the throne of the Amir. Among these was
Abdurrahman, who lived in Turkestan, subsidised and protected by Russia.
This prince appeared in Northern Afghanistan in March 1880, and a
formidable rising took place in support of his claim. On April 19
General Stewart encountered a force, about 15,000 strong, at Ahmed Kel,
and a fierce encounter took place. For some time it seemed as if the
furious onslaught of the Afghans must prevail; the British infantry were
driven back; it was only by means of his artillery that Stewart saved
the day and the enemy was routed in the end.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lawrence, Dublin._
SACKVILLE STREET, DUBLIN, IN 1897.
In the foreground is the statue, by Foley, of Daniel O'Connell; beyond
the bridge is the monument of Sir John Gray, and, seen just behind it,
the General Post Office. In the distance is the Nelson Column.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH, IN 1897.
The Scott Monument was erected in 1840-1844 from designs by George Kemp;
the statue is by Steele. Between it and the Castle are seen the Royal
Institution (built in 1836) and the National Gallery (1850-1858).]
[Sidenote: The Zulu War.]
[Sidenote: Disaster of Isandhlana.]
In this position affairs in Afghanistan must be left, in order to trace
the momentous course of events at home, which wrought a remarkable
change on the character and object of the war. But before reverting to
the fortunes of the Beaconsfield Ministry, it is necessary to make
mention of another and more lamentable war which took place in another
quarter of the globe simultaneously with the Afghan Campaign. The River
Tugela formed the boundary between the British Colony of Natal and the
territory of the Zulus, the most powerful nationality in South Africa.
Land disputes between the Zulus and the Dutch Boers of the Transvaal
Republic had been brewing for many years, and at last hostilities broke
out between them. The Boers were badly beaten by a young Zulu chief
called Sikukuni, and both sides appealed to the British Government to
intervene. Sir Theophilus Shepstone was sent into the Transvaal to
adjudicate between them, and sought to solve the problem by annexing the
whole territory, not without the consent of the Republican leaders, the
disputed land being handed over to the Zulus. This settlement might have
proved effective but for the outrageous behaviour of Cetchwayo, King of
the Zulus, who suddenly developed a most violent temper, probably
arising from a growing taste for British rum. Even then, had matters
been left in the hands of Sir Henry Bulwer, the Governor of Natal,
matters might have been maintained on a friendly footing. Unfortunately,
Sir Bartle Frere, the Queen's High Commissioner in South Africa, saw
grounds for apprehension in the immense force maintained by Cetchwayo on
the frontier, and began moving troops from Cape Colony into Natal. He
endeavoured to exact guarantees from the Zulu king of an extremely
onerous nature, fixing January 11, 1879, as the limit for their
acceptance. Sir Bartle Frere's action can only be justified by the
supposition that war was, sooner or later, inevitable, a belief which
neither Sir Henry Bulwer nor the Colonial Office entertained. Cetchwayo
allowed the prescribed day to pass without complying with the High
Commissioner's demands. On the very next day British troops under Lord
Chelmsford invaded Zululand, the force advancing in three columns, under
Colonel Glyn, Colonel Pearson, and Colonel Durnford. Colonel Durnford's
column occupied a camp at Isandhlana on January 21; and the following
day, being attacked by about 20,000 Zulus, were almost annihilated. The
1st Battalion of the 24th Foot was destroyed, thirty officers and 500
men being slain. Colonel Durnford and Colonel Pulleine were killed, and
immense quantities of stores fell into the hands of the enemy. It was a
terrible retribution for having underrated the resources and numbers of
the enemy and for imperfectly reconnoitring his position. A similar
disaster very nearly befell Colonel Pearson's column. On the day after
the tragedy at Isandhlana he was beleaguered at the mission station of
Ekowe. For more than two months his little garrison of 1,200 held out
against incessant assaults by immense numbers of Zulus, till, in the
last days of March, provisions had run dangerously low. On April 1 Lord
Chelmsford, having received reinforcements from England, advanced with
4,000 British troops and 2,000 friendly natives, defeated the besiegers,
and raised the siege.
The invasion of Zululand had now assumed the proportions of a great
campaign. About 20,000 British and 4,500 Colonial troops were in the
field. The Government, dissatisfied with Lord Chelmsford's initial want
of success and subsequent hesitation, sent out Sir Garnet Wolseley to
supersede him. But before he arrived a decisive victory had been fought
on July 4, whereby the power of the Zulus was hopelessly broken. Lord
Chelmsford's reputation, endangered at Isandhlana, was redeemed at
Ulundi, just as Lord Gough's disaster at Chilianwalla had been repaired
at Goojerat before Sir Charles Napier came to supersede him.
The native chiefs now crowded in to make submission. Cetchwayo was a
fugitive with a handful of followers, and a force of cavalry scoured the
country in pursuit of him, till, on August 28, the war was brought to an
end by the capture of the unhappy king by Lord Gifford's party. It had
cost Great Britain dearly in lives and money; one of the most tragic
incidents in it was the death of Prince Napoleon, eldest son of the late
Emperor of the French, who served on Lord Chelmsford's staff as a
volunteer. He was slain on June 2, when employed on surveying duty,
having ridden into an ambush of Zulus.
[Illustration: _Lady Butler._} {_From the Royal Collection. Reproduced
by permission of the Artist._
RORKE'S DRIFT.
This post was held by Lieut. Chard, R.E., and Lieut. Bromhead with
eighty men of the 24th Regiment. Having heard of the disaster at
Isandhlana, they hastily improvised defences of bags and biscuit-tins,
and were almost immediately attacked by about 4,000 Zulus. During the
night the enemy six times obtained a foothold within the defences, and
even burnt the hospital; but they were again and again repulsed at the
bayonet's point. In the morning, when the little garrison was relieved,
351 Zulus lay dead around the entrenchments.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By F. Frith & Co., Reigate._
OSBORNE HOUSE.
Built by Her Majesty in 1840, largely from designs by H.R.H. The Prince
Consort. It is surrounded by a park of about 2,000 acres. The Queen's
apartments are in the wing to the right of the picture.]
CHAPTER XV.
1879-1881.
The Condition of Egypt--Mr. Goschen's Commission--Ismail's _Coup
d'état_--His Deposition by the Sultan--Establishment of the Dual
Control--The First Midlothian Campaign--Commercial and
Agricultural Depression--Sudden Dissolution of Parliament--Lord
Derby joins the Liberals--Second Midlothian Campaign--Great
Liberal Victory--Mr. Gladstone's Second Administration--Charles
Stuart Parnell and the Irish Home Rule Party--War with
Afghanistan--Battle of Maiwand--General Roberts's March--Defeat
of Ayub Khan and Evacuation of Cabul and Candahar--Revolt of the
Transvaal--Battles of Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill--Establishment
of the Boer Republic--Weakness of the Conservative
Opposition--The Fourth Party--Irish Affairs--Boycotting--A New
Coercion Bill--The Irish Land Bill--Resignation of the Duke of
Argyll--Death of Lord Beaconsfield--Military Revolt in
Egypt--Bombardment of Alexandria--Expedition against
Arabi--Battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir--Overthrow of
Arabi.
[Sidenote: The Condition of Egypt.]
The position and condition of Egypt had grown to be a matter of anxiety
to the Powers of Western Europe, owing to events which it is only
possible to recapitulate here in the briefest terms. Ruled by the
Khedive as an autonomous State, Egypt was also technically a province of
the Ottoman Empire and paid an annual tribute of £695,792 to the Sultan
of Turkey. But the creation of the Suez Canal, the investment of
European capital therein, and the importance to maritime nations of that
highway, rendered the good government of Egypt a subject of
international concern. The Khedive, Ismail Pasha, actuated, no doubt, in
part, by a resolve to develop the resources of his country, but also by
aims of personal indulgence and aggrandisement, had launched into
schemes of such scale and cost that the Egyptian Treasury was virtually
bankrupt in 1877. A Commission of Inquiry, presided over by Mr. Goschen,
resulted in the appointment of Mr. Rivers Wilson and M. de Blignières,
representing Great Britain and France respectively, as Members of the
Khedive's Cabinet. The plan failed to work smoothly; the Khedive became
leader of the Opposition to his own Government, and in February 1879 he
was compelled to submit to conditions imposed by the Cabinets of Great
Britain and France, excluding him from Cabinet Councils, appointing his
son Tewfik President of the Council, and vesting in the English and
French Ministers absolute power of veto upon all measures. Ismail Pasha
accepted these conditions, but on April 7 he suddenly dismissed the
Cabinet and appointed one entirely composed of natives of Egypt. On June
26, in consequence of representations from the Governments of Germany,
Austria, Great Britain, France, and Russia, the Sultan deposed Ismail
and created his son Tewfik Khedive in his place. A new scheme of
government was adopted, whereby Tewfik appointed his own Cabinet, and
the dual control of Great Britain and France was established by the
appointment of two Controllers, Mr. Baring (now Lord Revelstoke) and M.
de Blignières, with full powers to regulate expenditure, with seats in
the Cabinet, not removable except by their own Governments, and with
power to appoint and dismiss all subordinate officials. By the close of
1879 the credit of Egypt, which had been apparently hopelessly shattered
by Ismail's decree in May 1876, suspending payment and unifying the
general debt, was restored by the liquidation of all debts due by the
State.
This, then, was the state of affairs in Egypt towards the close of Lord
Beaconsfield's last Administration. The country had been redeemed from
insolvency by the joint action of Great Britain and France, the
arbitrary action of her rulers had been put under control, and her
internal affairs had been started on such a footing as should protect
the people from oppression and grievous taxation.
[Illustration: _H. M. Sinclair._} {_From the Royal Collection._
OLD OSBORNE HOUSE (1833).]
[Illustration: _Sydney P. Hall._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AND PRINCESS LOUISE
MARGARET OF PRUSSIA AT ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, March 13, 1879.
[Sidenote: The First Midlothian Campaign.]
The bridegroom, attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of
Edinburgh, waits at the altar; Her Majesty, with the Princess Beatrice,
and the Princess of Wales with her children, are included in the Royal
group. The bride is escorted by the Crown Prince of Germany on her
right, and her father, Prince Frederick Charles, on her left. The
foremost figures on the left are the King and Queen of the Belgians;
next them are Prince William (now the German Emperor) and his mother,
the Princess Royal, and to her left Princess Frederick Charles, mother
of the bride.]
Meanwhile the course of domestic politics in Great Britain claimed the
immediate attention of statesmen. On November 24, 1879, Mr. Gladstone,
once more the actual, though not the nominal, leader of the Opposition,
started from Liverpool on a memorable tour. The Earl of Dalkeith was
then member for Midlothian. He was the eldest son of the Duke of
Buccleuch, at that time the most notable Scottish peer, of immense
influence north of the Tweed and leader of the Conservative Party in the
North. Mr. Gladstone had conceived the chivalrous idea of doing battle
with this doughty chief on his own ground. The first "Midlothian
Campaign" lasted till December 5, and it took the country by storm. The
failure of the City of Glasgow Bank in the previous year had not only
brought disaster to thousands of persons in the North, but it had
emphasised in a peculiar manner the end of a period of prosperity.
Agriculture, especially, began to feel the full effects of foreign
competition; farmers, whose rents had been gradually increasing as the
value of land rose with favourable markets, now found it impossible to
meet their obligations out of income. There was the usual tendency to
lay the blame of individual misfortune on the Government, and Mr.
Gladstone, though his attacks on the policy of the Cabinet were based
principally on their foreign policy, which he denounced as aggressive,
evoked an immense amount of sympathy and encouragement from those who
listened to him or read his speeches.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._} {_From the "Life of Archbishop
Tait," by permission of Messrs. Macmillan._
ARCHIBALD C. TAIT,
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,
1811-1882.
Was of Presbyterian descent. Went to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1830,
and was one of the four Tutors who publicly protested against Newman's
"Tract XC." (see page 42). Head Master of Rugby, 1842; Dean of Carlisle,
1850; Bishop of London, 1856; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1868.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph by H. H. Hay Cameron._
BENJAMIN JOWETT, D.D.,
MASTER OF BALLIOL,
1817-1893.
Educated at St. Paul's School, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, in
1835 as scholar; became a Fellow in 1838; Tutor in 1842; Regius
Professor of Greek, 1855; Master, 1870; Vice-Chancellor of Oxford
University, 1882. He was one of the authors of "Essays and Reviews"
(1861) and a leader in University reform. His influence upon modern
thought has been very great.]
[Sidenote: Sudden Dissolution of Parliament.]
Ministers had still a year more to exist before an appeal to the country
should be necessary, and all was going quietly in Parliament, when, on
March 8, people were taken by surprise on hearing it announced that the
dissolution was to take place at once, and a manifesto from the Prime
Minister, in the form of a letter to the Duke of Marlborough, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, was published in the newspapers, setting forth
the imminence of trouble from Irish sedition, and calling on the nation
to be on its guard.
[Illustration: A CARDING ROOM AT MESSRS. J. AND P. COATS'S FERGUSLIE
MILLS.
These works, originated in 1826 in a small factory employing a score of
operatives, now give employment to about 5,000, and cover between fifty
and sixty acres. The sewing machine--itself an invention of the period
covered by these pages--has enormously increased the demand for thread.
The total imports of cotton into the United Kingdom, which were
592,000,000 lbs. in 1840, had grown to 1,757,042,672 lbs. during 1895.]
[Sidenote: Second Midlothian Campaign.]
The country neither realised the magnitude of the crisis, nor did it
perceive grounds for relying more on the Conservatives to deal with it
than on the Liberals. The Opposition was greatly strengthened at this
juncture by the accession of Lord Derby to the Liberal Party, and the
veteran Gladstone, forgetting his resolution, six years before, to spend
the rest of his years in retirement, went forth exulting on his second
Midlothian Campaign. The walls of the Tory Jericho of the North went
down before the blast of his trumpet; the Buccleuch was defeated; only
nine Conservatives were returned from Scotland. The Irish vote, an
important element in all the great towns, went solid for the Liberals in
obedience to Parnell's order "to vote against Benjamin Disraeli as they
should vote against the enemy of their country and their race." Instead
of the majority of fifty which they counted in the old Parliament, the
Conservatives returned to the new one in a minority of forty-six.
[Illustration: _From the Collection of_} {_C. Wentworth Wass, Esq._
ROYAL PLATES: SPECIMENS OF SERVICES MADE FOR HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
1. Royal Worcester Plate, emblazoned with the Royal Arms, border of
light blue and gold. 2. Royal Worcester Plate, with openwork border,
gilt, and having turquoise panels. Enamelled by Thomas Bott. Exhibited
at the International Exhibition of 1862. 3. Plate, richly gilt,
ornamented with the Royal Crown and the Arms of the City of London. Used
by Her Majesty at the Civic Banquet celebrating her Accession, 1837.]
There was much speculation as to whom the Queen would send for to form a
Ministry. Lord Granville and Lord Hartington were the nominal leaders of
the victorious party in either House, but the victory was due to Mr.
Gladstone's crusades--everybody agreed in that. On April 22 Her Majesty
sent for Lord Hartington; next day he and Lord Granville were received
to an audience, and thereafter all doubts were set at rest by Mr.
Gladstone receiving the Royal commands.
[Illustration: _From the Collection of_} {_C. Wentworth Wass, Esq._
ROYAL DESSERT PLATES.
4. From a Service made for the Prince of Wales shortly before his
marriage. It has the Prince's initials in gold, entwined with the
Princess's in flowers. 5. From a Service made for the Duke of Edinburgh
on his marriage. Turquoise and gold border, with painted panels. 6. From
a Service made for the Duke of Albany on his marriage. Turquoise, with
monogram, birds and flowers painted in white.]
[Sidenote: Irish Home Rule.]
After the Fenian movement, partly owing to vigorous measures on the part
of the Executive and partly to dissension among its own leaders, had
collapsed, Irish disaffection to British rule took the form of a
constitutional agitation for the establishment of a separate Legislature
for Ireland. "Home Rule for Ireland" became the watchword and goal of a
determined group of members of Parliament, acting under Mr. Isaac Butt,
an able and successful lawyer and powerful speaker, who began political
life as a Conservative. This third party acted together throughout the
Parliament of 1874-80. It was practically the creation of Mr. Butt, but
it soon carried its aims far beyond what he considered legitimate, and
adopted methods of obstructing Parliamentary business, against which he
protested in vain. A stronger man than Butt came to the front in the
person of a Protestant Irish landlord, Charles Stuart Parnell, one of
the most remarkable figures in recent political life. Though not gifted
with the native richness of rhetoric which distinguishes so many of his
countrymen, Parnell quickly acquired an ascendancy in the Home Rule
party in virtue of his genius for strategy, his resolute will, and a
kind of hauteur which lifted him above petty jealousy and interference.
From the first he discerned that the true way to attain Home Rule, if it
might be attained at all, was to maintain scrupulous independence of
both Conservatives and Liberals, to raise every possible obstruction in
the way of legislation, and, in short, to render the Irish party so
intolerable to all Governments, that Home Rule should be granted as the
only means of getting out of an impossible situation. In 1878 a debate
took place on the circumstances of the murder of the Earl of Leitrim,
and Butt was obliged to dissociate himself from all sympathy with the
sentiments expressed by some of his colleagues, and he resigned the
leadership in favour of Parnell. After the General Election the Home
Rulers in Parliament numbered sixty, perfect in discipline and devotion
to their new chief.
[Sidenote: War with Afghanistan.]
[Illustration: _G. D. Giles._} {_By permission of Mr. T. Turner, Carlton
Galleries, Pall Mall, owner of the Copyright._
SAVING THE GUNS AT MAIWAND.
The E/B Battery of Royal Horse Artillery, assisted by a few native
sappers, whilst limbering up, fought the Ghazis with hand-spikes and
other improvised weapons. They lost heavily both in officers and men,
but succeeded in carrying off the guns, and were specially thanked by
the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief.]
The pacification of Afghanistan by General Roberts was not of long
duration. After those concerned in the massacre of Cavagnari's party had
been punished with exemplary, if not excessive, severity, attempts were
made to conciliate the people, and the Conservative Government offered
to recognise any Amir at Cabul who might be elected, except Yakub Khan.
Candahar was to be separated from Cabul, becoming an independent State
under British protection, with Shir Ali as Amir. Then came the change of
Government in England, bringing about an important modification in
British policy towards Afghanistan. It was resolved to evacuate both
Cabul and Candahar, resigning the country to the claimant Abdurrahman.
The advance, however, of a rival claimant from Herat, in the person of
Ayub Khan, caused the Government of India to direct General Burrows to
defend the passage of the River Helmund. Beyond that river lay the
territory of the Wali of Zamindawir, an ally of the British in resisting
Ayub Khan's invasion. But the Wali's army mutinied and deserted to Ayub,
and General Burrows decided to retire to Kushk-i-Nakhud, thirty miles
in rear of the Helmund. Ayub then crossed the river, and directed his
march to Maiwand, a Pass over the hills twelve miles north of Burrows's
camp. General Burrows, in total ignorance of the real strength of the
enemy, resolved to march there and clear the Pass. On July 27 he started
with a force of 2,500 men, six nine-pounders, and some smooth-bores.
Unfortunately, instead of keeping to his purpose of occupying Maiwand,
which lay on his right, General Burrows made the fatal mistake of
attacking a column of the enemy which appeared on his left. He found
himself engaged with Ayub's whole army, variously estimated at from
12,000 to 20,000 of all arms. The British troops fought gallantly, but
some blunders, of a nature never clearly explained, made their position
untenable. The order was given to retreat, not before some of the Indian
troops had broken and fled. Next day the broken remnants of General
Burrows's Brigade struggled into Candahar, having fought their way
through hordes of armed villagers along the route, who rose in
excitement at the news of the defeat of the British. All that mortal man
could do to atone for his want of generalship was done by General
Burrows, who fought with desperate gallantry at Maiwand; but half his
Brigade perished, and probably it would have been annihilated but for
the steadiness of the Horse Artillery in action and in covering the
retreat.
[Illustration: LORD ROBERTS OF CANDAHAR.
Frederick Sleigh Roberts is the son of the late General Sir A. Roberts.
Born in 1832, and educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and Woolwich. Gained the
V.C. for rescuing a standard at Khodagunj, in the Indian Mutiny.]
[Illustration: _Chevalier Louis W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross
Gallery, Crystal Palace._
MARCH OF GENERAL SIR F. ROBERTS, G.C.B., V.C., FROM CABUL TO CANDAHAR:
CROSSING THE ZAMBURAK KOTAL.]
[Sidenote: General Roberts's March.]
General Primrose was in command at Candahar, where he was besieged by
Ayub on August 8. He was relieved by General Sir Frederick Roberts, who
left Cabul on August 9 with a flying column, nearly 10,000 strong, and
performed a march which has become celebrated in British war annals,
arriving at Candahar on the 31st, having covered 318 miles in
twenty-three days. On September 1 he attacked and completely routed Ayub
Khan, who fled to Herat. The war was over: it had cost £5,750,000; Lord
Ripon, who had succeeded Lord Lytton as Viceroy, was directed by the
India Office to abandon the purpose with which it had been undertaken,
and by the end of 1880 the British had evacuated both Cabul and
Candahar.
[Illustration: _Stanley Berkeley._} {_By permission of the Publishers,
Messrs. S. Hildesheimer & Co., of London and Manchester._
THE VICTORY OF CANDAHAR.]
[Sidenote: Revolt of the Transvaal.]
The trouble which broke out in the British Dominion of South Africa in
1880 must be regarded as the direct effect of the system of British
party politics. Forasmuch as, taking their cue from Mr. Gladstone, the
Opposition had vehemently denounced the annexation of the Transvaal, on
the overthrow of the Conservatives the "patriot" section of the Boers
not unnaturally expected the restoration of their independence. But
these hopes were dispelled by Mr. Gladstone and Lord Kimberley, the
Colonial Secretary, in the debate on the Queen's speech to the new
Parliament. They declared that Great Britain was under pledges to the
native population which made it impossible for her to recede. The effect
of this was to exasperate the Boers to the last degree. They rose in
armed revolt, and proclaimed an independent Republic on December 16,
1880. Detachments of British troops were beleaguered by the insurgents
at several places, and a detachment of the 94th Regiment, under Colonel
Anstruther, marching to the relief of Pretoria, suffered defeat, all of
them being slain or captured. The whole Dutch population of the
Transvaal were under arms by the beginning of 1881, and their skill as
riflemen rendered them a foe far more formidable than might have been
expected from their numbers.
[Sidenote: Establishment of the Boer Republic.]
It is a painful duty to record faithfully the events of the succeeding
weeks. On January 24, Sir George Colley, Governor of Natal, entered the
Transvaal with 1,000 troops, attacking the Boers at Laing's Nek on the
28th, when he was repulsed with the loss of seven officers and eighty
men killed and 100 wounded. On February 7 Colley was attacked on the
Ingogo River, and, though the enemy retired at sunset, the British loss
amounted to six officers and sixty-two men killed and sixty-four
wounded. On February 26 General Colley returned to the attack on the
Boers' camp at Laing's Nek. He decided on occupying Majuba Hill,
overlooking the enemy's position; and, owing to the great fatigue
endured during the ascent, in which his men were occupied for eight
hours of darkness, he neglected to intrench the ground. The position was
naturally an exceedingly strong one, yet on the following morning, the
27th, it was stormed by the Boers. The British force, 627 strong, was
routed, with very heavy loss, and Sir George Colley was among the slain.
Sir Evelyn Wood, who had arrived in the neighbourhood with
reinforcements, now succeeded to the chief command, and entered into
negotiations with the Boer commander, Joubert. These resulted in the
conclusion of peace on March 21, the terms including recognition of the
Queen's suzerainty over the Transvaal, but securing complete
self-government to the Boer Republic.
[Illustration: _Lady Butler._} {_By permission of the Artist, and of
Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall._
"FLOREAT ETONA!"
An eye-witness of the attack on Laing's Nek thus describes the incident
depicted: "Poor Elwes fell among the 58th. He shouted to another Eton
boy (adjutant of the 58th, whose horse had been shot): 'Come along,
Monck! Floreat Etona! we must be in the front rank,' and he was shot
immediately."]
[Sidenote: The Fourth Party.]
The task of the Government within the walls of the House of Commons was
rendered an easy one during 1880 and 1881, by reason of the spiritless
and disorganised condition of the Opposition under the mild and
forbearing generalship of Sir Stafford Northcote. The Conservatives,
moreover, found themselves under the obligation of voting continually in
the same lobby as their natural opponents, in resistance to the demands
of the Parnellite Party and in support of measures for the protection of
life and property in Ireland. Little resistance, indeed, would have been
encountered by Ministers, but for the spirited action of a small knot of
members below the Gangway. This group, led by Lord Randolph Churchill,
and comprising Mr. Arthur Balfour, Sir John Gorst, and Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff, allowed no subject to be dealt with without the closest
and most persistent scrutiny. Their diligence, their individual and
varied ability, and their permanent presence on the same bench, soon
caused them to be known as the Fourth Party; and the intrepidity of
their attacks on the Government was not more remarkable than the freedom
with which they taunted the Tory leaders for their inaction, especially
Northcote, Cross, and Smith.
More and more did the Irish Question absorb the attention of Parliament
and the public. Parnell was busy at the work of land agitation, and
explained the means by which landlords were to be driven from Ireland.
Speaking at Ennis, he exclaimed, "What is to be done with a tenant
bidding for a farm from which another tenant has been evicted?" "Shoot
him!" cried a voice in the crowd. "No," said Parnell, "I do not say
shoot him; there is a more Christian and charitable way of dealing with
him. Let him be shunned in the street, in the shop, in the
market-place--even in the places of worship--as if he were a leper of
old."
[Sidenote: Boycotting.]
One of the earliest cases in which this advice was carried into effect
was that of Captain Boycott, the Earl of Erne's agent. The Land League
issued orders that he was to be treated "as a leper of old"; his men
deserted him on the eve of harvest; tradesmen refused to supply goods;
not a soul in the district dared to be known to have intercourse with
him. Captain Boycott was a man of spirit: he brought a hundred Ulstermen
to gather the crops on his large farm; the Irish Government massed 7,000
troops and police to protect them, and henceforth the verb "to boycott"
became the recognised expression for a system which brought infinite
suffering on many poor people.
[Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
THE IRISH FRANKENSTEIN.
Mr. Parnell is regarding with amazement the monster whom he has evoked.]
But a terrible era of violence and crime, inaugurated by the murder of
Viscount Mountmorres on September 25, 1880, proved that the old methods
of terrorising were far from obsolete, and that the "more Christian and
charitable" boycotting was only a supplement to them. The transparency
of the veil thrown over the connection of the Land League with atrocious
crimes made it necessary to strengthen the hands of the Executive by the
introduction of a fresh Coercion Bill, with clauses specially framed to
deal with the new system of intimidation known as boycotting. Mr.
Forster, by a merciful instruction to substitute buckshot for ball in
the cartridges of the Irish police, earned for himself from the Irish
Party the nickname of "Buckshot" Forster. The debates on this measure
are memorable for the resistance offered to it by the Parnellite party,
which led to the adoption of the "12 o'clock rule" and of the closure.
[Sidenote: The Irish Land Bill.]
[Sidenote: Resignation of the Duke of Argyll.]
No sooner had the new Coercion Bill received the Royal Assent, on March
21, than Mr. Gladstone announced another great measure dealing with
Ireland, framed to conciliate disaffection and redress the complaints of
Irish farmers. The Irish Land Bill occupied the House of Commons during
four months of 1881. Its introduction caused the secession of the Duke
of Argyll from the Cabinet, because, as he explained to the Lords,
though in favour of increasing the number of landowners in Ireland, he
would have no hand in destroying ownership altogether.
[Sidenote: Death of Lord Beaconsfield.]
The Earl of Beaconsfield died on April 19, 1881. If Sir Robert Peel must
be reckoned the founder of the Conservative Party, Benjamin Disraeli
must be claimed as its architect.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
LORD BEACONSFIELD'S STATUE.
The statue erected to the memory of the Earl of Beaconsfield in
Parliament Square is annually decorated, on "Primrose Day" (April 19)
with palms and flowers, and vendors of primroses drive a busy trade in
"button-holes" amongst the onlookers. A similar tribute is annually paid
to the memory of General Gordon, whose statue stands in the centre of
Trafalgar Square; and for the last two years the Nelson Column itself
has, on "Trafalgar Day," been hung with festoons of evergreens.]
[Sidenote: Military Revolt in Egypt.]
For some time previous to this, affairs in Egypt had not been running
smoothly under the dual control. A military party had been formed, under
the lead of Ahmed Arabi Bey, calling itself national, but really
military, aiming at the effacement of the Khedive and the fulfilment of
the shadowy purpose of "Egypt for the Egyptians." Various disturbances
took place in Alexandria during 1881, but in May 1882 matters wore such
a threatening aspect that the allied English and French fleets were sent
to anchor off that city. The Khedive, in his extremity, had promoted
Arabi to be War Minister, who used his power to put the fortifications
of Alexandria in a thorough state of defence and began massing troops in
the town. On July 7 Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour, commanding the
British fleet, warned Arabi that unless these warlike preparations were
discontinued, he should be obliged to open fire. No notice being taken
of this, ships were provided for the safety of European inhabitants, and
on the 10th the British ultimatum was sent, demanding the instant
cessation of the works of defence and their surrender to the British
flag. Arabi having failed to comply with this also, the British ships,
consisting of eight powerful ironclads and five gun-vessels, cleared for
action and took up their positions, the French fleet retiring to Port
Said. The bombardment began on the morning of July 11, briskly replied
to by the guns in the forts, and continued all day till 5.30 p.m.
Resumed next day, it was continued at intervals till the afternoon, when
it was found that, under cover of a flag of truce, Arabi had withdrawn
his troops and abandoned the forts and town. A frightful scene began
directly military authority was withdrawn: the populace broke loose,
pillaging and firing the shops and houses, and massacring about 2,000
Europeans who had not availed themselves of the opportunity to escape.
Arabi, the Khedive's War Minister, was at the head of the Khedive's
army, yet Great Britain assumed the task of dispersing this army in
order to re-conquer the country for the Khedive.
[Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
A "SELF-DENYING" POLICY!
François (our ally): "C'est tres bien fait, mon cher Jean! You 'ave done
ze vork! Voyons, mon ami; I shall share viz you ze glory!"]
[Sidenote: Battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir.]
To the unofficial mind the reasons for the destruction of Alexandria and
the invasion of Egypt remain somewhat vague; Mr. Gladstone, however,
found little difficulty in persuading the House of Commons to entrust
him with a Vote of Credit for £2,300,000; and towards the end of August
an army, consisting of about 23,000 of all arms and ranks, landed on the
Mediterranean shores of Egypt; subsequently reinforced by 11,000 more.
In addition to these, there was an Indian contingent landed from the
South, consisting of nearly 8,000 men, making the total strength of the
British land forces in Egypt 40,560 men, under the command-in-chief of
Sir Garnet Wolseley. It was found on landing, on August 22, that the
enemy had placed dams across the Canal to cut off the water supply, and
it became necessary to dislodge him from his position at Tel-el-Mahuta.
This was effected without much difficulty on August 24, the Egyptian
troops, about 10,000 strong, showing little inclination for fighting.
General Graham then advanced, on the 26th, with 2,000 men, to seize
Kassassin Lock, which controlled the supply of fresh water. Here he was
attacked, on the 28th, by a greatly superior force, and for a time the
British were in a critical position. General Graham, however, managed to
hold his own, and heliographed for reinforcements, which arrived in good
time. The Egyptians fought well during the afternoon, but at sunset Sir
Baker Russell led up the Household Cavalry, the 7th Dragoon Guards, and
Horse Artillery, with four guns, and a brilliant charge of these fine
troops threw the enemy into confusion, causing him to break and fly from
the field. The total British loss was only eleven killed and sixty-eight
wounded.
[Illustration: _J. Richards._} {_From the Collection of Sir Henry
Ewart._
KASSASSIN: THE CHARGE OF THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY.]
Arabi held a strongly-fortified position at Tel-el-Kebir. On September 9
he attempted a reconnaissance, with 8,000 men and twenty-four guns, but
was driven back with the loss of some of his guns. Tel-el-Kebir offered
a front to the British advance of about four miles of earthworks, with
redoubts at intervals carrying guns. The flanks were protected by
similar works. Wolseley struck his camp on the evening of September 12,
and advanced during the night with 2,000 cavalry, 11,000 infantry, and
sixty guns. At dawn on the 13th General Graham's Brigade on the right,
and Sir Archibald Alison's Highland Brigade on the left, were within a
quarter of a mile of the Egyptian lines. An irregular fire was opened
upon them; they dashed forward to the assault, scaled the outer
defences, bayonetted the gunners, paused to re-form, and advanced
against the inner and stronger works. It remains a question of
honourable rivalry which were first inside the Egyptian position, the
Highlanders on the left or Graham's infantry on the right. At all
events, within half an hour the whole of Arabi's defences were captured,
his army was routed and flying under pressure of the British cavalry.
The British loss in this well-managed affair was very slight,
considering the strength of the position and the strength of Arabi's
army, supposed to amount to about 25,000 men. Eleven officers and
forty-three men were killed, and twenty-two officers and 320 men
wounded. The Egyptian loss was believed to be about 1,000; of prisoners,
3,000 were taken, with sixty guns. The campaign was practically over.
Arabi's troops disbanded themselves, and Arabi himself was arrested in
Cairo. Being brought to trial as a rebel, he pleaded guilty, and
sentence of death was passed on him. This sentence was commuted
immediately by the Khedive for one of perpetual banishment from Egypt.
[Illustration: _Linley Sambourne._} {_From "Punch."_
FIELD MARSHAL VISCOUNT WOLSELEY.
Son of Major Garnet Wolseley. Born near Dublin in 1833. Commanded the
Red River Expedition of 1870 and the Ashanti Expedition of 1873, and was
sent out in 1879 as Governor of Natal and the Transvaal, and High
Commissioner. He commanded the forces in Egypt in 1882 and again in
1884-5.]
[Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection.
Reproduced by permission of the Artist._
THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.]
The net result of these events was the withdrawal of the _condominium_
or dual control by England and France, the restoration of the Khedive's
authority, and the reconstruction of the administrative and social
system. But the British continued to occupy Egypt as security for the
pacific fulfilment of the reforms insisted on by the English
Plenipotentiary, Lord Dufferin.
[Illustration: _Lady Butler._} {_By permission of the Artist, and of
Messrs. Graves, Publishers of the large Engraving._
AFTER THE BATTLE: ARRIVAL OF LORD WOLSELEY AND STAFF AT THE BRIDGE OF
TEL-EL-KEBIR.]
CHAPTER XVI.
1881-1887.
Imprisonment of Irish Members of Parliament--Assassination of
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke--Prevalence of Outrages
in Ireland--A New Coercion Bill--Trial and Execution of the
Phoenix Park Murderers--The Dynamite Conspiracy--Corrupt
Practices Act--The Affairs of Egypt--General Gordon sent to
Khartoum--Gordon Besieged--Inaction of the Government--Relief of
Khartoum Undertaken--Too Late!--Death of Gordon--Lord Wolseley's
Campaign--Abandonment of the Soudan--Mr. Gladstone's Reform
Bill--The Question of Redistribution of Seats--The Frontier
Question in Afghanistan--Defeat of Ministers on the Budget and
their Resignation--Lord Salisbury's First
Administration--Dissolution of Parliament--The Irish Party and
the Balance of Power--Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration--His
Conversion to Home Rule--Rupture of the Liberal Party--The Home
Rule Bill Rejected--Dissolution of Parliament--Unionist
Victory--Lord Salisbury's Second Administration--Lord Randolph
Churchill Resigns--The Round Table Conference.
[Sidenote: Imprisonment of Irish Members.]
The effort made by the Government to conciliate the hostility of the
people of Ireland by the Land Act did not at first offer much prospect
of success. There was no diminution in the tyranny of the Land League or
in the number of cruel outrages traceable to that organisation. A
Cabinet Council was summoned hurriedly early in October 1881, the result
of which was the arrest of Mr. Parnell and two other members of
Parliament under the Protection of Life and Property Act, and their
imprisonment in Kilmainham. They remained in confinement as "suspects"
until May 2, 1882, when they were released unconditionally, a step which
led to the immediate resignation of Earl Cowper, the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, and his Chief Secretary, Mr. Forster.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
HERBERT SPENCER.
Born in Derby 1820. Educated as a Civil Engineer, but abandoned that
profession in favour of literature and philosophy. He was one of the
earliest exponents of the doctrine of evolution.]
[Sidenote: Assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke.]
There was great jubilation over this among the Nationalists. It was a
distinct surrender on the part of the Government to the party of
separation: and the suppressed Land League was revived openly under the
name of the National League. The response to the new policy of
conciliation and condonement came in terrible fashion. Earl Cowper and
Mr. Forster had been succeeded in the Lord Lieutenancy and Chief
Secretaryship by Earl Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish. On May 6 the
last-named gentleman, a brother of the present Duke of Devonshire, after
attending the installation of his chief, took a car to drive out to the
Chief Secretary's Lodge. Overtaking Mr. Burke, a permanent official at
the Castle, Lord Frederick dismissed his car and walked on with him
through the Phoenix Park. It was a fine spring evening, between seven
and eight o'clock; just as they were passing an opening in the trees on
their right, giving a view of the Viceregal Lodge, two men came along
the path to meet them. One of them, Brady, a man of immense size and
strength, stooped down as if to tie his shoe-lace. As the two gentlemen
passed him, he sprang erect, gripped Mr. Burke by the waist, and stabbed
him in the back. The other ruffian, Kelly, slashed Burke across the
throat as he fell. Lord Frederick, attempting to defend his friend with
an umbrella, received a fatal thrust in the breast from Brady's knife,
and fell dead also.
[Illustration: _Orlando Norrie._} {_From the Royal Collection._
DISTRIBUTION OF EGYPTIAN WAR MEDALS BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT WINDSOR,
November 21, 1882.]
On the 8th of the following month a gentleman called Walter Bourke,
riding with a soldier as escort near Gort, was shot at, and both were
killed; and in like manner, on the 29th, Mr. Blake, a land agent, and
his steward, Mr. Keene, were murdered by concealed assassins near Lough
Rea. Ireland had come to a desperate condition; it was garrisoned with
not less than 20,000 cavalry and infantry and 20,000 mounted
constabulary, yet the Executive seemed powerless to cope with an almost
universal conspiracy against life and property. The murdered Cavendish
was succeeded as Chief Secretary by Mr. G. O. Trevelyan, and the first
act of the Government was to introduce a fresh Coercion Bill, of
extraordinary severity, creating special tribunals for the trial of
suspects and criminals, conferring rights of search on the police, and
giving further powers for dealing with incitement to crime. The Bill was
vehemently opposed by Mr. Parnell and his party; nevertheless, the
Government pursued their apparently hopeless policy of conciliation by
introducing and carrying through the Arrears of Rent Bill, whereby about
two millions of money was applied to release Irish tenants of a moiety
of the liabilities which the Land League had forbidden them to fulfil,
and the balance of arrears was wiped out at the expense of landlords.
[Illustration: _Sir J. D. Linton, P.R.I._} {_From the Royal Collection._
1. The Queen.
2, 3. The Bride and Bridegroom.
4. Prince of Wales.
5. Grand Duke of Hesse.
6. Princess Beatrice.
7. Princess of Wales with her three daughters.
8, 9. Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
10, 11. Duke and Duchess of Teck.
12. Duke of Cambridge.
13. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar.
14. Princess Victoria of Hesse.
15. Archbishop of Canterbury.
16. Dean Wellesley.
17. King of the Netherlands.
18, 19. The Bride's Parents.
20. Queen of the Netherlands.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY AND PRINCESS HELEN OF WALDECK AND
PYRMONT AT ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, April 27, 1882.]
[Sidenote: Trial and Execution of the Phoenix Park Murderers.]
The additional powers conferred on the police by the Crimes Act of 1882
resulted in the capture of the gang who had planned and carried out the
murders in the Phoenix Park. In January 1883 seventeen persons were
arrested in Dublin, and on one of them, Farrell, turning informer, it
came out that they were members of a secret society. Their principal
object had been to make away with Mr. W. E. Forster when he was Chief
Secretary, and on various occasions he had escaped assassination by what
seemed the narrowest chances. Among those arrested was James Carey, who
had given the signal for the murder of Burke by raising a white
handkerchief, and who turned Queen's evidence. He was allowed to go free
after the trial, while five of his gang were hanged, the remainder being
sentenced to various terms of penal servitude. Finally, this bloody
chapter was brought to a close in the murder of Carey himself, by a man
named O'Donnell, who had travelled in the same ship with him to Cape
Town. O'Donnell was brought home to England and hanged early in
December.
[Sidenote: The Dynamite Conspiracy.]
While the trial of the Phoenix Park assassins was proceeding, another
formidable conspiracy was brought to light. A gang of Irish-Americans
had come to this country with the object of terrorising the Government
by a series of explosions of nitro-glycerine. On the evening of March
15, 1883, part of the Local Government Board Offices in Whitehall was
wrecked by the explosion of a canister of dynamite placed inside one of
the balustrades. Simultaneously, another explosion took place at the
office of the _Times_, in Printing House Square. By the help of
informers, the police were enabled to arrest a number of persons in
London, Birmingham, and Glasgow, all of whom were brought to trial, and
most of them proved to be active agents in a heinous conspiracy against
life and property. The formidable power which modern explosives had
brought within the reach of secret societies made it necessary to make
the law dealing with such crimes more stringent, and Sir William
Harcourt, the Home Secretary, on April 9, introduced a Bill to cope with
what he termed "the pirates of the human race." He assured the House
that the danger was so grave and imminent that the Bill must pass
through all its stages on that day. It was read a first, a second time,
passed through Committee, and was read a third time, all within little
more than an hour. Taken up to the Lords on the same evening, it was
dispatched there with equal promptitude, and received the Royal Assent
next day--an example of rapid legislation almost without parallel.
[Sidenote: Corrupt Practices Act.]
A much-needed boon was conferred this year (1883) upon Parliamentary
candidates in the passage of the Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill.
The old and evil electioneering traditions were put an end to now by the
statutory measure introduced by the Attorney-General, Sir Henry James
(now Lord James of Hereford); a statutory and moderate limit to
candidates' expenses, based on the number of electors in each
constituency, was fixed, which might not be exceeded on pain of voiding
the election.
[Sidenote: The Affairs of Egypt.]
The Government were called upon early in 1884 to realise the full weight
of the responsibility they had assumed in regard to Egyptian affairs.
The Mahomedan Arabs of the Soudan had been brought under Egyptian rule
in 1870; gross misgovernment had brought about bitter disaffection, and
the troubles of Lower Egypt before and during Arabi's revolt, afforded
these wild tribes an opportunity for throwing off the yoke. Mohamed
Ahmed appeared among them as the Mahdi, or Redeemer, who, besides being
a religious enthusiast, was a daring and skilful commander in the field.
In 1883 the Egyptian Government sent an army of about 11,000 men under
command of Colonel Hicks, a retired officer of the Indian army, to
restore the Khedive's authority in the Equatorial Provinces. This force
was attacked on November 1 in a rocky defile; for three days they
defended themselves; on the fourth their ammunition was all spent, and
every man in the Egyptian army, with many British officers, perished. Of
course, this tremendous victory was accepted by the Arabs as complete
proof of the Mahdi's divine mission: the insurrection spread like
wildfire, and the Khedive, acting under advice of the British
Government, decided not to attempt the re-conquest of these provinces.
[Illustration: MARINE ENGINES IN THE ERECTING SHOP AT CLYDEBANK.
The Clydebank works cover an area of 75 acres, and employ 6,500
workmen.]
[Sidenote: General Gordon sent to Khartoum.]
But the relief of Sinkat, Tokar, Khartoum, and other stations,
garrisoned by Egyptian troops under command of European officers, was
imperative. Expeditions to the relief of the two places first named were
attacked by the Arabs and cut to pieces, and instructions were
telegraphed for the immediate evacuation of Khartoum. But in Khartoum
there were not less than 11,000 persons, many of them Christians and
many in the Egyptian civil service, and to transport these safely down
the Nile would be an operation of exceeding difficulty and hazard.
General Gordon, commonly called "Chinese Gordon," a man of remarkable
character, happened to be in London at the time, preparing to start for
the Congo in the service of the King of the Belgians. He had been
Governor of the Soudan in 1874, under Ismail, and to him the British
Government appealed in their perplexity. He readily consented to throw
up his engagement under the King of the Belgians, and to proceed to
Khartoum, telegraphing to the garrison of that place: "You are men, not
women. Be not afraid. I am coming." Meanwhile, the Mahdi had scored
another signal success. Baker Pasha, formerly a well-known officer in
the English cavalry, advanced in January, with a force of 3,500, to the
relief of Tokar and Sinkat; he was attacked near Trinkitat and
overwhelmed; his half-trained Egyptians fled, and were cut down to the
number of 2,200, and sixteen European officers perished. Then Sinkat
fell, the throats of all the garrison being cut, and Tokar surrendered.
[Illustration: SHEARS FOR CUTTING HOT SLABS OF STEEL.
These shears, photographed at the works of the Glasgow Iron and Steel
Company, are capable of cutting through solid steel slabs 4 feet wide
and 12 inches thick. The slabs travel over the "live rollers" in the
floor to and from the shears. The use of steel in large quantities, both
for shipbuilding and for the making of rails, was rendered possible by
the introduction of the "Bessemer Process" (named after its inventor,
Sir Henry Bessemer) in 1860. Steel which had hitherto cost £50 or £60 a
ton, now cost but £7 or £8, and rapidly superseded iron. The Bessemer
"Converter" has, however, itself given place to the Siemens open-hearth
furnace.]
The safety of Lower Egypt being threatened by the Mahdi's continued
success, the British Government undertook the defence of a frontier line
drawn through Souakim. General Graham ascended the Nile with about 4,000
troops, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Arabs, under Osman Digna,
at El Teb, on February 29. Again, on March 11, Graham attacked Osman
Digna's camp at Tamai, captured, and gave it to the flames.
[Illustration: LAUNCHING AN ATLANTIC LINER AT MESSRS. HARLAND AND
WOLFF'S, BELFAST.]
[Illustration: FRAMING AND PLATING SHEDS, SHOWING MACHINERY FOR DRILLING
HOLES IN STEEL PLATES FOR SHIPBUILDING.
The works of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, which, some forty years ago
covered two or three acres, and employed a couple of hundred men, now
cover nearly eighty acres, and pay wages amounting to £12,000 to £14,000
per week. The tonnage of the vessels built during 1896 amounted to
81,000 tons, considerably more than the output of all the five
Government yards.]
[Sidenote: Gordon Besieged.]
General Gordon reached Khartoum on February 18. Finding that things were
even worse than he expected, he decided to avail himself of the services
of Zebehr Pasha, and telegraphed to Cairo for the Government to allow
him to come. Sir Evelyn Baring strongly advised that consent should be
given, but Zebehr was of evil repute as a slave-driving chief; stringent
instructions were sent from London that he was on no account to be
employed, and that if he attempted to join Gordon he was to be detained
by force. The Mahdi's forces invested Khartoum on March 23. Gordon, who
had to contend with treachery inside the walls, as well as the open
enemy outside, displayed extraordinary energy and ingenuity in defence,
continuing to send urgent appeals for assistance, both for Khartoum and
for Berber, which was also beleaguered. Berber fell before the end of
May; still the British Government turned a deaf ear to Gordon's
messages. At last the gallant General appealed from the Government to
the "millionaires of England and America" to send him money enough to
raise 2,000 or 3,000 Turkish troops to save Khartoum. It is, perhaps,
well that by the beginning of May the enemy had gathered so closely
round Khartoum that Lord Granville's response never reached Gordon. It
was to the effect that Her Majesty's Government was not prepared to
supply either Turkish or any other troops for military expeditions, and
Gordon was reminded that the mission he had undertaken was of a pacific
nature! But the spirit of the British people was galled by the
indifference shown by the Government to the fate of their devoted
servant; expressions of indignation grew louder and more frequent both
in Parliament and in the press, and, at last, early in August, a vote of
credit for £300,000 was obtained for the purpose of "preparations, as
distinct from operations," for a possible expedition to Khartoum. Lord
Wolseley went out to view the military aspect of affairs, and before
long a strong force was ascending the Nile.
[Illustration:
A. Col. Frank Rhodes.
B. General Sir Herbert Stewart (mortally wounded).
C. Col. Talbot.
_R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection, by permission of the
Artist._
TOO LATE!
After a gallant dash across the desert, the small force under General
Stewart arrived within striking distance of Khartoum only to find that
Gordon was dead.]
[Sidenote: Too Late!]
Too late! Help had been withheld too long. On the last day of the year a
tiny scrap of paper reached the British head-quarters on the
Nile--"Khartoum all right. C. G. Gordon. December 14, 1884"; but on
February 5, 1885, arrived a telegram in London announcing that the place
had fallen. When Parliament opened, on the 19th, Mr. Gladstone
endeavoured to excuse the Government for their undoubted share in the
disaster. "General Gordon contentedly forbore," he said, "indeed more
than contentedly--he determinedly forebore--to make use of the means of
personal safety which were at all times open to him." The words seemed
to be swept from the Prime Minister's lips by a hurricane of indignant
exclamations, and he withdrew them. They meant that Gordon might have
escaped down the river in a steamer, leaving the loyal Egyptians in
Khartoum to their fate. He was not that kind of man. Party discipline
prevailed to protect the Government from overthrow on a vote of censure:
they managed to put into their lobby 302 against 288.
Khartoum fell on January 26, 1885, after a siege of 317 days, and after
the garrison and townsfolk had endured extreme privations for several
weeks. Gordon was shot down near the palace, and a horrible massacre
followed, in which it was reckoned about 4,000 people were butchered.
[Illustration: _Lowes Dickinson._} {_By permission of the Artist._
GENERAL CHARLES G. GORDON, 1833-1885.
Served in the Crimean War, and in China in 1860-62. In 1862 he took
command of a small and heterogeneous force which, as "The
Ever-victorious Army," suppressed the Tai-ping rebellion and saved the
Chinese empire. The story of his mission to Khartoum in 1884 is told in
these pages.]
[Sidenote: Abandonment of the Soudan.]
Lord Wolseley's expeditionary force, amounting to about 14,000 men,
inflicted several defeats on the Mahdi's troops, notably at Abu Klea and
Gubat. But the British losses were exceptionally severe, not only on
account of the invincible courage of the Arabs and their desperate mode
of fighting, but because of sickness and climate. For example, out of
General Stewart's desert force of 2,000, no less than thirty officers,
including General Stewart himself and 450 men perished. The Mahdi died
of fever in July, and the Government decided on withdrawing from the
Soudan and fixing the frontier of Egypt at the second Nile cataract.
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill.]
It is necessary at this point to revert to the session of 1884. Mr.
Gladstone had resolved on a further extension of the Parliamentary
electorate by carrying out the equalisation of the county and borough
franchise. His Bill was received by the Conservative Opposition with
that half-hearted resistance which comes of inward disapproval, tempered
by dread of alienating the new electors, whom they were not strong
enough to exclude. In the end they took their stand on the ground that
no such Reform Bill should pass without a corollary measure
redistributing seats. It passed the Commons, but the House of Lords
declined to consider it until they had the redistribution scheme before
them. In vain Lord Granville pledged the Government to introduce a
Redistribution Bill the following year, if their Lordships would allow
the Franchise Bill to pass at once. Lord Salisbury declared that he was
not going to discuss redistribution with a rope round his neck. At last,
after much wrangling, after the usual denunciations of the House of
Lords on public platforms, and after sundry processions and
demonstrations in London, it was agreed to hang up the Franchise Bill,
prorogue Parliament, and call it together in the autumn to consider the
complete scheme. This was done accordingly; the Franchise Bill was
passed, and the Redistribution Bill read a second time, and the
Committee stage postponed till after the Christmas recess.
[Illustration: _Baron H. von Angeli._} {_From the Royal Collection, by
permission of Mr. Franz Hanfstaengl._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WEARING THE SMALL IMPERIAL CROWN, 1885.]
[Sidenote: The Afghan Frontier.]
But before that subject could be taken up again, the troubles of the
Government had multiplied. Not only had Khartoum fallen, thereby
rendering the Nile expedition as fruitless as it was costly, but the
violation by the Russians of the Afghan frontier, seemed to render war
with Russia all but inevitable, if our treaty engagements were to be
held sacred. "The House will not be surprised," said the Prime Minister,
referring to the defeat of the Amir's troops by General Komaroff, "when
I say, speaking with measured words in circumstances of great gravity,
that to us ... this attack bears the appearance of an unprovoked
aggression." Still more profound grew the conviction that the country
was on the eve of a great war when, on April 27, Mr. Gladstone came down
to the House to ask for a vote of credit for £11,000,000. But he did not
tell the House, in the course of a magnificent and most stirring speech,
that the Government practically had averted the danger by recalling Sir
Peter Lumsden, the British Commissioner in Afghanistan, thereby
condoning the offence of the Russians which he (Mr. Gladstone) had
denounced already as "unprovoked aggression."
[Sidenote: Defeat and Resignation of Ministers.]
All Parliamentary business, it was understood, including, the
redistribution of seats, was to be speedily disposed of in order to make
an early appeal to the constituencies under the new franchise. But, in
an unlucky hour for his colleagues, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
Childers, decided to include in his Budget provision for increasing the
duties on beer and spirits. There is no more perfectly organised body
than the Licensed Victuallers; none whom ordinary members are more
unblushingly anxious to conciliate on the eve of a general election.
Early in June the Government were beaten on Mr. Childers' proposal by a
majority of twelve votes, and resigned.
[Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS BEATRICE TO PRINCE HENRY OF BATTENBERG, AT
WHIPPINGHAM CHURCH, July 23, 1885.
The Queen and the bride are accompanied on either side by the Prince and
Princess of Wales. The bridegroom is supported by Prince Francis Joseph
of Battenberg and Prince Alexander of Bulgaria. The Bridesmaids are the
Princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud of Wales, Princesses Marie,
Victoria and Alexandra of Edinburgh, Princesses Irene and Alix of Hesse,
and Princesses Victoria and Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. The Archbishop
(Benson) of Canterbury and Canon Prothero officiate.]
[Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's First Administration.]
The Queen accepted Mr. Gladstone's resignation by telegram, and
entrusted Lord Salisbury with the task of forming a new Cabinet. No easy
duty on the brink of a general election, even had the Conservative Party
been at Peace within itself. But it was far from being so: a determined
revolt was being conducted by Lord Randolph Churchill and his
sympathisers--the "rapier and rosette" Tories--against Sir Stafford
Northcote's ineffective leadership. Amiable, cultivated, experienced,
and sagacious as he was, Northcote had failed to gain the confidence of
the combative spirits in his party, who recognised their real captain in
the brilliant but erratic Churchill. Lord Salisbury solved the
difficulty of uniting these discordant elements by removing Northcote to
the Lords, with the title of Earl of Iddesleigh and the office of First
Lord of the Treasury, placing Churchill in the Cabinet as Secretary of
State for India, and committing the leadership of the Commons to Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[Illustration: REPRESENTATIVE COINS OF THE REIGN.
1, 2. Sovereign, first issue.
3. Florin, first issue.
4. Crown piece, 1845.
5, 6. "Godless" florin (the words "Dei Gratiâ" being omitted from
the legend).
7. Sovereign, second issue.
8. £5 Piece, Jubilee issue.
9, 10, 11. Double florin, half-crown and shilling, Jubilee issue.
12, 13. Half-crown, new issue.
14, 15. Florin and shilling, new issue.
16. Maundy fourpenny piece.
17. Bronze penny, 1870.
*** The Queen's head is the same (except in scale) on all coins of the
same issue.]
This "Cabinet of Caretakers" had but a short existence. The new Ministry
met Parliament on July 6, and finished the necessary work of the session
in six weeks. It was understood that Parliament was to be dissolved in
time for a general election in November. It proved a restless autumn. In
almost every constituency canvassing and speech-making went on without
intermission for three months, Mr. Gladstone leading the van with his
third Midlothian campaign. He gave no countenance to the demand for
Irish Home Rule; on the contrary, he implored the British electors to
return such a Liberal majority as should render his party independent of
the Irish vote in Parliament. In response to this flashed out a general
order from Parnell, directing Irishmen in English and Scottish
constituencies to vote solid against the Liberals, who had "coerced
Ireland and deluged Egypt with blood." The Irish leader's policy was to
keep the two great parties balanced by the Home Rule vote, and the
result of the elections was as nicely adjusted as that skilled tactician
could have desired; 335 Liberals returned to the new Parliament were
exactly balanced by 249 Conservatives and 86 Home Rulers.
[Illustration: A COIN NO LONGER SEEN.
The copper Penny of the early years of the reign.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration.]
Of course, when Parliament re-assembled in February 1886, it was merely
a question of how many weeks or days should precede the downfall of a
Ministry in such a hopeless minority in the Commons. Meanwhile strange
rumours had been in circulation that Mr. Gladstone had decided to accept
the doctrine of Home Rule for Ireland, against which he and his party
had fought hitherto with as much obstinacy as the Conservatives. On
December 16 the sketch of a scheme attributed to him appeared in some of
the newspapers, and, in spite of an ambiguous disclaimer from himself,
people gradually became aware that Mr. Gladstone had resolved to
extricate his party from their subjection to the Irish party in
Parliament by the astounding expedient of granting the essence of their
demands.
[Illustration: The BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE ACROSS THE MENAI STRAITS.
Designed by Robert Stephenson and Sir William Fairbairn, and opened in
1850. It is 1,571 feet in length, and 100 feet above the water. The
widest spans are each 470 feet.]
Lord Salisbury's Government fell on January 25: Mr. Gladstone became
Prime Minister, and in his Cabinet were included some of his colleagues
who had pronounced most emphatically and most recently against Home
Rule, although the Lords Hartington, Derby, and Selborne stood
significantly aloof. The mine was laid: the only indication of the
coming explosion was the resignation, on March 26, by Mr. Chamberlain
and Mr. Trevelyan of their seats in the Cabinet. The train was fired on
April 8, when Mr. Gladstone introduced his Bill for the better
government of Ireland. The permanent furniture of the House of Commons
does not permit of more than some 400 out of its 670 members being
seated within its walls. An attempt was made to admit the presence of a
larger number to hear the explanation of this most momentous measure;
even so, only seventy or eighty additional seats could be provided by
filling the floor of the chamber with chairs. Probably there never was
such a scene of anxious expectation in the modern history of Parliament.
[Sidenote: Dissolution of Parliament.]
The division on the second reading was taken on June 7, the
corresponding Monday to that on which Mr. Gladstone's previous
Administration had fallen in 1885. Ninety-three Liberals voted against
the Bill, and Ministers were left in a minority of thirty. The Liberal
party was rent from summit to base, not less completely than the
Conservatives had been torn asunder by the action of their leader in
1846. The Prime Minister advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
Sudden and sharp was the appeal; firm and not to be misunderstood was
the response. Mr. Gladstone went out on his fourth Midlothian campaign,
and encountered no difficulty in retaining his own seat, as no opponent
came forward to challenge it. But the country turned a deaf ear to his
appeal. It preferred to listen to Lord Randolph Churchill's
characteristic denunciation of the Home Rule Bill, than which he vowed
that "the united and concentrated genius of Bedlam and Colney Hatch
would strive in vain to produce a more striking tissue of absurdities."
He declared that the real reason they were asked to accept such a
measure was only, "to gratify the ambition of an old man in a hurry."
The result of the elections showed 316 Conservatives, 78 Liberal
Unionists, 191 official Liberals, and 85 Parnellites: or a majority in
the new House of 113 against Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy.
[Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's Second Administration.]
When the Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, he invited Lord Hartington to
join him in forming a coalition Cabinet; but the time for that was not
yet--a purely Conservative Ministry, therefore, was formed. Everything
promised fair for the endurance of Lord Salisbury's second
Administration, but a rude shock was in store for it almost on the
threshold of its career.
[Illustration: THE FORTH BRIDGE.
This bridge, rather more than a mile in length (the principal spans
being 1,710 feet each), was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin
Baker. It was commenced in 1883, and opened by the Prince of Wales in
1890. It contains about 44,500 tons of Siemens steel, and cost over
£2,000,000.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
THE TOWER BRIDGE: THE RAISING OF THE BASCULES ON THE OPENING DAY.
The bridge, which cost over £830,000, was commenced in 1886, and opened
by the Prince of Wales, June 30, 1894. The bascules each weigh 1,000
tons.]
[Sidenote: Lord Randolph Churchill Resigns.]
[Sidenote: The Round Table Conference.]
By far the most striking figure in the Conservative ranks of the House
of Commons was Lord Randolph Churchill. He became Chancellor of the
Exchequer in the new Cabinet and leader of the House of Commons. Right
well he led it through the six weeks of autumn session following on
the elections. His admirers were delighted--his critics reconciled--by
his adroit exchange of the manners of a political bravo for those of
a responsible statesman; and that, too, without sacrifice of power in
debate or pungency in retort. What was the dismay of Ministerialists
when, in a moment of caprice, impatient because he could not get
exactly his own way on a question of military and naval expenditure,
Churchill threw up his office and left the Cabinet! This happened in
December 1885; active negotiations were going on at the time for the
redintegration of the old Liberal Party. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George
Trevelyan, as Unionists, had consented to confer with Sir William
Harcourt and Mr. John Morley, as Home Rulers, at a "round table," under
the presidency of Lord Herschell (also a Home Ruler). In the opinion of
most people, the return of at least half the Liberal Unionists to their
former allegiance might be expected, as the outcome of this conference.
The stability of the Ministry, therefore, was peculiarly jeopardised
by any appearance of internal disunion at this juncture. The crisis
passed over in safety. Mr. Goschen, an old colleague of Mr. Gladstone,
having been First Lord of the Admiralty in his first Administration,
now determined to throw in his lot with the Unionists, and accepted the
office vacated by Lord Randolph. The Round Table Conference separated
without having found a basis of agreement, and the main body of Liberal
Unionists remained staunch in support of Ministers.
The question still remained--who was to lead the House of Commons? The
answer was a remarkable one. Mr. W. H. Smith, in spite of the mediocrity
of his powers of oratory, had risen to very high office in successive
Conservative Cabinets. As a man of business his reputation was
unsurpassed, and he had secured the respect and confidence of all
sections of the House of Commons by his well-known indifference to
office and independence of its emoluments. Upon him the choice fell; he
exchanged the post of Secretary for War for that of First Lord of the
Treasury, and justified his appointment by leading the House of Commons
with admirable temper and judgment during five trying sessions.
[Illustration: _From Photograph_} {_by E. Ward._
MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL AND BARTON AQUEDUCT.
The Canal, 35-1/2 miles long, which has made Manchester practically a
sea-port, was commenced in 1887 and opened by Her Majesty the Queen in
1893. It cost 15-1/2 million pounds. The Bridgwater Canal is carried
across it in a swinging aqueduct at Barton. The lower illustration shows
the aqueduct partially swung open; the ends of the water-way are of
course closed and a barge may be seen therein, whilst the horse drawing
it is on the tow path above. The Ship Canal is seen beneath.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by E. Ward, Manchester._
BARTON AQUEDUCT.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION ON JUBILEE DAY PASSING HYDE PARK CORNER.]
CHAPTER XVII.
1887-1897.
Adoption of the Closure by the House of Commons--The Queen's
Jubilee--Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey--The Imperial
Institute--"Parnellism and Crime"--Appointment of Special
Commission of Judges--Their Report--Fall of Parnell--Disruption
of the Irish Party--Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith--The
Baring Crisis--The Local Government Bill--Establishment of
County Councils--Free Education--Death of the Duke of
Clarence--General Election--Mr. Gladstone's Fourth Midlothian
Campaign--The Newcastle Programme--Victory of Home Rulers--The
Second Home Rule Bill--Its Rejection by the Lords--Parish
Councils and Employers' Liability Acts--Mr. Gladstone Resigns
the Leadership--Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister--Disunion
of Ministerialists--Defeat and Resignation of the
Government--Lord Salisbury's Third Administration--General
Election--Unionist Triumph--The Eastern Question--Massacres in
Armenia--Lord Rosebery Resigns the Leadership--Trouble in the
Transvaal--Dr. Jameson's Raid--The German Emperor's Message--The
Venezuelan Dispute--President Cleveland's Message.
The session of 1887 was an exceedingly laborious one in the House of
Commons. The debate on the Address, prolonged by all the arts of
obstruction to inordinate length, furnished a convincing argument that
further changes in the rules of procedure were indispensable if the
House were to retain any control whatever over its own business, and
these rules, including that regulating the application of the closure,
were remodelled and adopted after long and heated discussion.
[Sidenote: The Queen's Jubilee.]
[Sidenote: Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey.]
In pleasing contrast to the heat and rancour of proceedings within the
walls of Parliament were those organised throughout the country to
celebrate the completion of the fiftieth year of Queen Victoria's reign.
The weather throughout the summer months was of exceptional splendour,
as if to give emphasis to the popular term "Queen's weather." London lay
for weeks under a cloudless sky, and no day in the year was more perfect
than Jubilee Day, June 21. On that morning the Queen went in procession
from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey to attend a thanksgiving
service, accompanied by a number of European monarchs, princes, and
distinguished persons, as well as by many Indian potentates, gorgeously
attired in many-coloured silks and jewels. Temporary galleries, fitted
up in the abbey church, afforded seats for peers and members of
Parliament and officers of the Army, Navy, and Civil Service, and, as
the wearing of uniforms was obligatory, the display of bright colour was
such as may very seldom be seen in Great Britain. The coronation chair
was set on a daïs covered with red cloth, between the sacrarium and the
choir, and here the Queen took her seat with the robes of state placed
on her shoulders while the service, which lasted just an hour, was
performed.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
THE JUBILEE PROCESSION PASSING DOWN REGENT STREET.
The escort of Princes in the foreground: the Indian escort immediately
precedes the Royal Carriage.]
[Sidenote: The Imperial Institute.]
It would be impossible, within reasonable limits, even to mention the
various schemes started, institutions founded, or funds set on foot to
commemorate the Royal Jubilee of 1887. Of these the most conspicuous
outwardly has taken the form of that pile of architecture in South
Kensington, known as the Imperial Institute, in the foundation,
permanent organisation, and direction of which the Prince of Wales has
taken as energetic a part as his father had done in the temporary
Exhibition of 1851.
[Illustration: _T. S. C. Crowther._}
THE JUBILEE SERVICE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, June 21, 1887.
The most conspicuous figures on the Queen's right are the Prince of
Wales and the Crown Prince of Germany (afterwards the Emperor
Frederick), and to her left the Crown Princess and the Princess of
Wales.]
[Sidenote: "Parnellism and Crime."]
[Sidenote: Appointment of Special Commission of Judges.]
During this year a series of events took their rise out of the
publication in the _Times_ of a number of articles headed "Parnellism
and Crime," in which Mr. Parnell and his colleagues were charged with
active complicity in the long prevalence of outrage and terrorism in
Ireland. The _facsimile_ of a letter, purporting to be written by
Parnell, was published on April 18, containing the following sentence,
referring to the Phoenix Park murders:--"Though I regret the accident
of Lord F. Cavendish's death, I cannot refuse to admit that Burke
got no more than his deserts." This letter was repudiated by Parnell
in his place in the House of Commons; but the Government resisted a
motion to the effect that the _Times_, in publishing these articles,
had been guilty of breach of privilege. Mr. Gladstone then moved for
a Select Committee to enquire into the truth of the charges, but this
also was refused by the Government. The request for a Select Committee
was renewed in the following year by Mr. Parnell, in order to enquire
into the authenticity of certain letters produced in an action for
libel brought against the proprietors of the _Times_ by Mr. O'Donnell,
one of Mr. Parnell's followers. Mr. W. H. Smith stated, in reply (July
12), that, in the opinion of the Government, a Select Committee of the
House of Commons was not a suitable tribunal to try charges arising
out of the action of political parties, but that the Government were
willing to appoint a Special Commission of Judges to enquire into the
whole allegations. Unfortunately, the debates on the Bill necessary
to constitute this Commission were excessively heated. The fact, an
infelicitous one, it must be allowed, that the Attorney-General, a
member of the Government, had acted as leading counsel for the _Times_
in the late trial, gave colour to the unfounded charge that the
Government had been acting all along in collusion with the _Times_.
[Illustration: _S. T. Dadd._} {_From Photographs by Russell & Sons,
Baker Street._
THE OPENING OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, May 10,
1893: THE ROYAL PROCESSION.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE.]
[Illustration: _L. Tuxen._} {_From the Royal Collection, by permission
of Mr. Mendoza, St. James's Gallery, King Street, St. James's, owner of
the copyright._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AND THE ROYAL FAMILY. PAINTED ON THE OCCASION OF
HER MAJESTY'S JUBILEE IN 1887.
1. HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
2. The Prince of Wales.
3. The Princess of Wales.
4. Prince Albert Victor.
5. Prince George of Wales.
6. Princess Louise of Wales.
7. Princess Victoria of Wales.
8. Princess Maud of Wales.
9. Crown Princess of Germany.
10. Crown Prince of Germany.
11. Prince William of Prussia.
12. Princess William of Prussia.
13. Prince Frederick William of Prussia.
14. The Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen.
15. The Hered. Prince of Saxe-Meiningen.
16. Princess Theodore of Saxe-Meiningen.
17. Prince Henry of Prussia.
18. Princess Irene of Hesse.
19. Princess Victoria of Prussia.
20. Princess Sophie of Prussia.
21. Princess Margaret of Prussia.
22. The Grand Duke of Hesse.
23. Princess Louis of Battenberg.
24. Prince Louis of Battenberg.
25. Princess Alice of Battenberg.
26. The Grand Duchess Eliza of Russia.
27. The Grand Duke Serge of Russia.
28. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse.
29. Princess Alix of Hesse.
30. The Duke of Edinburgh.
31. The Duchess of Edinburgh.
32. Prince Alfred of Edinburgh.
33. Princess Marie of Edinburgh.
34. Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh.
35. Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh.
36. Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh.
37. Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein,
Princess Helena of Great Britain and Ireland.
38. Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.
39. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein.
40. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein.
41. Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein.
42. Princess Louise of Schleswig-Holstein.
43. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne.
44. The Marquis of Lorne.
45. The Duke of Connaught.
46. The Duchess of Connaught.
47. Princess Margaret of Connaught.
48. Prince Arthur of Connaught.
49. Princess Victoria Beatrice Patricia of Connaught.
50. The Duchess of Albany.
51. Princess Alice of Albany.
52. Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany.
53. Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg.
54. Prince Henry of Battenberg.
55. Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg.]
[Sidenote: Their Report.]
The Commission consisted of Sir James Hannen, Sir J. C. Day, and Sir A.
L. Smith. Once more the Attorney-General appeared as leading counsel for
the _Times_, and from the outset the enquiry had all the appearance of a
Ministerial impeachment of certain Irish members. The exposure of the
atrocious character of Pigott, one of the chief witnesses relied on by
the _Times_, and his subsequent suicide, caused that part of the charge
which depended on the authenticity of certain letters attributed to
Parnell to be abandoned. The judgment of the Commission was not
delivered until February 13, 1890. While exonerating the Irish members
from some of the heaviest charges made against them by the _Times_, and
pronouncing the _facsimile_ letter to be a forgery, it was to the
effect, _inter alia_, that (1) they had joined a conspiracy to promote
by coercion and intimidation an agrarian agitation against the payment
of rent, in order to expel "the English garrison" of landlords from
Ireland; (2) that they had disseminated newspapers tending to incite to
the commission of crime; (3) that although some of the respondents did
express _bonâ fide_ disapproval of crime and outrage, they all persisted
in the system of intimidation which led to crime, with knowledge of its
effect; (4) that they made payments to procure the escape of criminals
from justice and to compensate persons injured in the commission of
crime, and (5) that they invited and obtained assistance and
subscriptions from known advocates of crime and dynamite.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, WITH HIS TRAIN-BEARER.]
On the whole, the prestige of the Government was greatly compromised by
its connection with this great trial, and the _Times_ paid £5,000
solatium to Mr. Parnell on account of the libel. Parliament was
prorogued early, on August 12, 1890, in order to meet again before
Christmas to take up the Irish Land Bill and the Tithes Bill, which had
been sacrificed for want of time. The prospects of a discredited
Government in meeting an exhilarated Opposition were far from
auspicious, but an unexpected event in the interval altered the whole
scene. A divorce suit was brought against Mr. Parnell by Captain O'Shea,
formerly one of his party in Parliament, but latterly known to have
departed from his allegiance, and the co-respondent in the suit allowed
judgment to go against him without offering any defence.
[Sidenote: Fall of Parnell.]
In no other country, perhaps, has the private misconduct of a public man
such fatal effect on his career as in Great Britain, where flagrant
immorality proved against a statesman puts an immediate end to his
reputation and influence. Parnell fell; Parnell, who for sixteen years
had led the Irish Party with unswerving will and undisputed authority;
Parnell, whose sagacious leadership had brought the vision of Home Rule
to the very brink of accomplishment. Mr. Gladstone wrote that, in his
opinion, Mr. Parnell's "continuance at the present moment in the
leadership would be productive of consequences disastrous in the highest
degree to the cause of Ireland." The ecclesiastical authorities in
Ireland pronounced against him, and the weight of priestly authority in
the political affairs of that country can hardly be overestimated. The
Irish Party in Parliament was divided. The majority of forty-five,
henceforth known as Anti-Parnellites, renounced their old chief at a
stormy meeting in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons; but the
minority of twenty-six remained staunch. The crisis saved the
Government.
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts._} {_Photographed by F. Hollyer._
LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., 1830-1896.
Frederick Leighton was born at Scarborough. Painter, sculptor, musician,
and polished orator, he will long be remembered as the ideal President
of the Royal Academy. The portrait represents him in his robes as D. C.
L.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, P.R.A., 1829-1896.
Born at Southampton; exhibited his first picture in 1846, and in 1848
became a member of the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" with Rossetti,
Holman Hunt, F. Madox Brown, and others. Elected President of the Royal
Academy on the death of Lord Leighton, he survived him only six months.]
[Sidenote: Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith.]
Parnell died on October 6, 1891. On the same day the Queen lost one of
her most devoted servants, and the House of Commons its leader, in the
person of William Henry Smith, whose health had broken down under the
strain of constant attention to the ever-increasing work of Parliament.
Added to this anxiety came the financial crisis brought about by the
failure, in November 1890, of the great house of the Barings to meet
their enormous liability of £22,000,000. The stability of the whole of
British finance was threatened, but the Governors of the Bank of England
came to the rescue, undertaking the liquidation of the concern and
opening a guarantee fund, which was subscribed readily, and thus the
disaster was averted.
[Sidenote: County Councils.]
The two measures by which Lord Salisbury's second Administration will
remain distinguished in the memory of most people were immediate and
exceedingly far-reaching in their effect; that, namely, which
revolutionised the whole system of local government by the creation of
County Councils, and that which rendered elementary education free of
payment of school fees. Of the first of these measures, Mr. Ritchie,
President of the Local Government Board, was the author, and it was
produced during the session of 1888. Member though he was of a
Conservative Cabinet, the most ardent Radical could not complain that
Mr. Ritchie had not dealt with ancient institutions in a sweeping
manner. The levying of county rates, the maintenance of roads and
bridges, asylums, the conduct of registrations, and nearly all the
duties hitherto reposed in country gentlemen in their capacity of
members of Quarter Sessions, were transferred to purely elective
councils chosen by the ratepayers. London, as defined by the Metropolis
Management Act, was constituted a county, and the old Metropolitan Board
of Works ceased to exist.
[Sidenote: Free Education.]
Free education was given a place in the Government programme of 1891,
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Goschen, was able to produce a
surplus of £2,000,000 in his Budget--just about the sum estimated as the
cost of remitting school fees out of the public funds; half of it was
taken in order to render elementary education free from September 1
following.
[Sidenote: Death of the Duke of Clarence.]
The mysterious epidemic which, for want of a more precise term, is known
by the Italian one of influenza, carried off a very large number of
persons in the winter and spring months of 1892, 1893, and 1894. Of
these the most distinguished by position was the Duke of Clarence,
eldest son of the Prince of Wales, and consequently ultimate heir to the
throne of Great Britain. He died on January 14, 1892, shortly before the
date fixed for his marriage with the Princess May of Teck.
[Illustration: _Baron H. von Angeli._} {_From the Royal Collection, by
permission of the Artist._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, 1890.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Fourth Midlothian Campaign.]
The summer of 1892 was a period of great political agitation, in
preparation for the General Election, which was fixed to take place in
July. Mr. Gladstone, notwithstanding his fourscore and two years, set
out with no manifestation of failing vigour on his fourth Midlothian
campaign. The object nearest to his heart was clearly the concession of
Home Rule to Ireland; but there was put forward also on behalf of the
Gladstonian Liberal party a scheme of general social legislation, known
as the Newcastle Programme, containing a long list of measures, some of
them of a very drastic nature, calculated to attract the support of the
labouring classes. The indifference felt by the bulk of English and
Scottish electors to the establishment of an Irish parliament was
overborne by the hopes excited among disestablishers, prohibitionists,
eight-hours'-day men, land-law reformers, and other enthusiasts, and
their votes went to secure the victory for the cause of Home Rule. The
Unionists, who had entered office in 1886 with a majority of 116 in the
House of Commons, had suffered so many losses by defection and in
by-elections that they could only reckon a majority of sixty-six when
Parliament was dissolved. This was changed by the general election,
into a minority of forty, which was the exact figure by which was
carried, when Parliament re-assembled in August, a vote of no confidence
in Lord Salisbury's Administration, after which Mr. Gladstone proceeded
to form his fourth and last Cabinet.
[Sidenote: The Second Home Rule Bill.]
On February 13, 1893, the Prime Minister proceeded to fulfil his chief
pledge to the electorate by introducing his second Home Rule Bill. Mr.
Gladstone's speech lasted two hours and a quarter, a marvellous
performance for an octogenarian; and although he failed to excite the
same enthusiasm among his followers as was so remarkable on the former
occasion, the Bill eventually passed the second reading by 347 votes
against 304. But the opposition in Committee was so vigorous and
sustained, that the Government resolved to force the Bill through by
applying the closure at fixed dates to groups of clauses, so that the
whole Bill should be through Committee by the end of July; and this was
effected, after animated resistance had been offered to what was
denounced as the "gag."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons, Baker Street._
THE ALBERT MEMORIAL CHAPEL, WINDSOR, ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL OF
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE, January 1892.
The Duke's coffin stands between the tomb of the Prince Consort at the
further end and that of the Duke of Albany (who died in 1884) at this
end of the Chapel.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._
BRINGING HOME THE BODY OF H.R.H. PRINCE HENRY OF BATTENBERG.
Prince Henry had volunteered for the Expedition to Coomassie in the
autumn of 1895; he was taken ill with fever on the march and died on his
way home. He was buried in Whippingham Church, near Osborne, February 4,
1896. The picture represents the transference of the body from H.M.S.
_Blenheim_ to the Royal Yacht _Alberta_.]
[Sidenote: Its Rejection by the Lords.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone Resigns the Leadership.]
It was September before the measure reached the Upper House, whence it
was thrown out by the unprecedented proportion of 419 to 14 votes. Among
the majority were numbered no less than sixty-two peers whom the Queen
had created on Mr. Gladstone's own recommendation. The attention of the
Ministerial party was then directed to stirring up popular indignation
against the House of Lords on account of their resistance to the popular
will. But it has to be confessed that this appeal evoked remarkably
little response. On the other hand, considerable impatience was
manifested on the part of many supporters of the Government at the
general election, on account of the neglect to carry out the multiform
promises contained in the Newcastle programme. Accordingly, Parliament
was summoned together for a winter session in November in order to
consider the Parish Councils and Employers' Liability Bills. These
important measures, which went through the successive stages to
completion in the course of 1894, remain the principal achievement of
Mr. Gladstone's last year in the public service. Early in 1894 his
withdrawal from active politics was announced; the leadership of the
House of Commons devolved upon Sir William Harcourt, and, although Mr.
Gladstone did not resign his seat for Midlothian, he brought to a close
a period of sixty-two years' attendance in the House of Commons. His
last utterance from the Treasury Bench was a vehement denunciation of
the action of the House of Lords in dealing with the Bills last referred
to.
[Illustration: _R. Ponsonby Staples._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves
& Co., Pall Mall._
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: MR. GLADSTONE INTRODUCING THE HOME RULE BILL,
February 13, 1893.
Mr. Gladstone stands at the table: on the seat behind him are Mr. John
Morley, Sir W. Harcourt, Mr. Marjoribanks (now Lord Tweedmouth), Mr.
Mundella and Sir C. Russell (Lord Russell), and Mr. Herbert Gladstone
sits in the "gangway." Mr. Asquith can be seen between Mr. Gladstone and
the clerk at the table. On the front Opposition bench, beginning at the
further end, are: Sir E. Clarke, Sir R. Webster (leaning forward), Mr.
Goschen, Mr. Balfour, Lord Randolph Churchill, and Mr. Edward Carson.]
[Sidenote: Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister.]
The removal of such a puissant personality from their head could not but
have a serious effect on the Ministerial array, composed as it was of
such Old Liberals as had embraced Home Rule out of confidence in Mr.
Gladstone, New Liberals of an extremely Democratic type under the
nominal lead of Mr. Labouchere, the Labour representatives, Parnellites
and Anti-Parnellites (the last-named being further split into sections
at war among themselves). On no single subject were these various groups
united save in a desire to get Home Rule out of the way. Home Rule,
indeed, had been disposed of, but not in the only way to satisfy its
advocates. The difficulty of the situation was intensified by the
successor to Mr. Gladstone chosen by Her Majesty. In sending for her
Foreign Minister, the Earl of Rosebery, she was acting, doubtless, on
the advice of Mr. Gladstone himself, but in the choice of a peer there
was abundant cause of dissatisfaction to most of the Ministerialists in
the House of Commons, who had placed the "mending or ending"--preferably
the ending--of the House of Lords in the forefront of their programme.
Besides, it was considered by very many that Sir William Harcourt had
done more to earn the leadership of the party than Lord Rosebery, and it
soon became apparent, not only that this appointment was a cause of
further disunion in the Home Rule ranks, but that Lord Rosebery and Sir
William Harcourt were far from cordial in their official relations. On
June 21, 1895, a listless debate was in progress on the Army Estimates,
the House was far less than half full, when Mr. Brodrick moved a
reduction of £100 in the salary of the Secretary for War, Mr.
Campbell-Bannerman, in order to call attention to the alleged deficiency
in the stores of small-arms ammunition. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman offered
his personal assurance that the amount in store was adequate, but the
Opposition declined to accept it in view of the official figures laid
before the House. A division was called; there was nothing to indicate
the critical nature of it till Mr. Ellis, the chief Ministerial Whip, to
whom the Clerk at the Table had handed the paper automatically, passed
it on to Mr. Douglas, the chief Opposition Whip, when it was found that
the Government were in a minority of eight--132 votes to 125.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, January, 1893.]
[Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's Third Administration.]
A mishap like this might have passed without immediate effect on the
fortunes of the Government, had it not been that the form of the
amendment carried was one reflecting on the departmental administration
of one of the Secretaries of State. Lord Rosebery tendered his
resignation, and the Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, who commenced at
once to form his third Administration. The Liberal Unionist contingent,
with the Duke of Devonshire as their chief, elected to maintain their
organisation independent of their Conservative allies; but the Ministry
was formed by a coalition of the two wings of the Unionist party. They
approached the general election in July with such confidence of success
as very rarely can be entertained under a system of household suffrage;
but the result far exceeded their most sanguine calculations. Sir
William Harcourt lost his seat for Derby on the first day's polling, the
prelude of such discomfiture as has scarcely any parallel in the history
of a political party. Reckoning the Gladstonian or Home Rule majority in
the previous Parliament at forty-three, it was converted at the polls of
1895 into an Unionist majority of 152. The new Ministry, in entering
office, found domestic affairs in a very tranquil state; but troubles
had been gathering for some time, endangering the peaceful relations of
Great Britain with several foreign Powers, which called for the exercise
of all Lord Salisbury's experience and foresight in undertaking once
more the administration of foreign affairs.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._
HER MAJESTY WITH HER GREAT-GRANDSON PRINCE EDWARD OF YORK, THIRD IN THE
DIRECT LINE OF SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE.]
[Illustration: _L. Tuxen._} {_From the Royal Collection, by permission
of Mr. Mendoza, St. James's Gallery, King Street, St. James's,
proprietor of the copyright._
THE MARRIAGE OF T.R.H. THE DUKE OF YORK AND PRINCESS VICTORIA MARY (MAY)
OF TECK, AT THE CHAPEL ROYAL, ST. JAMES'S, July 6, 1893.
Next the bridegroom is his father, the Prince of Wales, and the tall
figure of the King of Denmark is seen between him and the Princess of
Wales. Her Majesty the Queen has on her right the young Prince Alexander
of Battenberg and his mother the Princess Henry; and behind her
Majesty's chair are Prince Henry of Battenberg and the Duke of
Cambridge. Following the line to the right from the Duke, we see the
Duchess of Fife, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the Duke of Fife, Prince
Waldemar of Denmark, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Prince Philip of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, and other
officials. The first two bridesmaids are the Princesses Victoria and
Maud of Wales, then Princesses Victoria Melitia of Edinburgh and
Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, and behind them Princesses Alexandra of
Edinburgh and Victoria Patricia of Connaught, and on the extreme right
of the picture, Princesses Beatrice of Edinburgh and Margaret of
Connaught. The Princesses Victoria Eugenie and Alex of Battenberg are
nearest the spectator, and seated in front is the Duchess of Teck. In
the foreground to the left stands the Czarewitch--now Czar of
Russia--with Princess Louis of Battenberg seated on his right, and
Princess Henry of Prussia to his left. Before him are seated the Grand
Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Immediately behind the bride's
head is seen the Duke of Edinburgh; next him, towards the left of the
picture, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke of Connaught; and towards
the right the Duchess of Connaught and Prince Christian (next the Prince
of Wales). Archbishop Benson of Canterbury performs the ceremony, the
Bishop of Rochester stands behind him, and nearer the foreground,
between the Archbishop and the Czar, are the Duke of Teck and two of his
sons; the third son, Prince Alexander George, is seen just behind the
Czar's shoulder. On the extreme left is Prince Henry of Prussia, and
next him Prince Louis of Battenberg, and the Sub-Dean of the Chapels
Royal.]
[Sidenote: The Eastern Question.]
The Eastern question had passed once more into an acute stage. The
incorrigible vices of the Government of Turkey had led to a series of
horrible massacres of the Christian subjects of the Sultan in Armenia.
Sympathy with the sufferers was readily aroused in this country; Mr.
Gladstone, though no longer in Parliament, responded to appeals made to
him by various individuals, and wrote a number of letters, in which,
though at first he was careful to use no expression to increase Lord
Salisbury's difficulties, he gradually glided into his accustomed
vehemence, and indicated his desire that England should take vengeance
on the "Assassin of Europe," single-handed, if need be. In the course of
1896 he appeared on a public platform in Liverpool, and supported this
view with great energy. This precipitated a further calamity on the
Liberal party, for, in the course of 1896, Lord Rosebery announced that
he differed so strongly from the views expressed by Mr. Gladstone, and
was, besides, so sensible of the want of cordiality in the support given
to him by some of his followers, that he felt compelled to resign his
leadership. It would be premature to attempt more than brief allusion to
events which are still in progress. The insurrection of the Cretan
subjects of the Porte, the invasion of the island by Greece, and the war
which ensued between Turkey and Greece, in which the latter so quickly
collapsed, have proved, thus far, to be disturbances severely localised
by means of the Concert established among the Great Powers, who, while
resolved to compel the Sultan's Government to administer his realm with
humanity and even justice, have resisted the attempt made by the Greeks
to wrest away part of his territory by violence.
[Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
WHO SAID "ATROCITIES"?]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph by Russell & Sons._}
THE STATE DINING-ROOM AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
The tables set for the wedding breakfast of Princess Maud of Wales.
Princess Maud, youngest daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales,
was married to Prince Carl, second son of the Crown Prince of Denmark,
July 22, 1896.]
[Sidenote: Trouble in the Transvaal.]
The affairs of the Transvaal rose into prominent notice towards the
close of 1895. Commercial enterprise had for some time been actively
directed towards South Africa, notably by the British South Africa
Company, at the head of which was Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the Premier of the
Cape Colony, who had been sworn a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council.
Miners and settlers in general poured into the Transvaal to the number
of 60,000, converting the quiet village of Johannesburg into a large and
busy town. The Transvaal Government viewed this movement with no favour;
the industry of the Boer population was chiefly a pastoral one, and
President Krüger steadily refused to comply with the claim of the
new-comers to rights of citizenship. The Uitlanders, as the new settlers
were called, numbered three to one of the native Boers, and were paying
nine-tenths of the taxation: meetings, summoned to protest against the
action of the President and Volksraad, were prohibited; a deaf ear was
turned to all petitions for redress, and, at last, a movement was
started to obtain by compulsion what was refused by law. A force of all
arms, commanded by Dr. Jameson, and comprising several officers in the
British service, invaded the Transvaal in the expectation of a concerted
rising in Johannesburg. This did not take place: after a smart encounter
with the Boers, the English force surrendered on January 1, 1896. The
principal officers were put on their trial under the Foreign Enlistment
Act, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and, in some
instances, to forfeiture of their commissions. The claim for indemnity
put forward by the Government of the South African Republic has not yet
been settled. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed
to investigate the origin and conduct of what has become known as the
"Johannesburg movement," and its enquiry is still proceeding. Perhaps
the most important result of the Transvaal raid will prove to be the
insight suddenly afforded into the true sentiments of the German
Government towards Great Britain. The numerous bonds uniting the German
and British Courts, added to the racial sympathies existing between the
two nations, had given rise to the belief that the policy of Germany was
more friendly towards Great Britain than that of some of the other great
Powers. This belief was rudely dispelled by a message from the German
Emperor to President Krüger encouraging him in resistance in any dispute
that might arise with the British Government.
[Illustration:
A. Major White.
B. Dr. Jameson.
C. Capt. Coventry.
D. Sir J. Willoughby.
_R. Caton Woodville._} {_By permission of the Artist, and of Messrs.
Graves, publishers of the Photogravure._
DR. JAMESON'S RAID: THE LAST STAND OF THE INVADERS, NEAR KRUGERSDORP,
January 2, 1896.]
[Sidenote: The Venezuelan Dispute.]
While the trouble with the Transvaal was still pending, there came a
still more formidable surprise from a quarter whence it was little
expected. A controversy between Great Britain and the insignificant
South American Republic of Venezuela had been dragging its course for
many years on the subject of a disputed frontier between the latter
country and British Guiana. Suddenly, on December 17, President
Cleveland startled the world by a message to Congress declaring that the
action of the British Government in this matter was an infringement of
the Monroe doctrine; that it was the duty of Congress to resist the
infringement of that doctrine, and that a Commission should be appointed
by the Executive to examine and report on the rights of the case. Then,
continued the President, it would be "the duty of the United States to
resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon its
rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands
which, after investigation, may be determined of right to belong to
Venezuela."
This was open menace, and it required the utmost forbearance on the part
of the British Cabinet to avoid precipitating a conflict. Finally, the
question of the Venezuelan Frontier was referred to arbitration, and
diplomacy seems in a fair way to earn one of its best merited triumphs.
[Illustration: _Chevalier de Martino._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THREE GENERATIONS AFLOAT.
To the right is the Queen's steam yacht _Victoria and Albert_; in the
centre the Prince of Wales's _Britannia_; and to the left the German
Emperor's _Meteor_.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
Material Progress during the Reign--Modern Locomotion--The
Bicycle--Motor Carriages--The Proposed Channel Tunnel--Steam
Navigation--Ironclads--The Telephone--The
Phonograph--Electricity as an Illuminant--Photography--Its
Effect on Painting and Engraving--Victorian
Architecture--Absence of Principle in Design--Universal
Education--Its Effect on Moral Character and Literary
Habits--The Predominance of Fiction--The Growth and Character of
British Journalism--The Advance of Natural Science--Surgery and
Medicine--Vaccination--Antiseptic and Aseptic
Treatment--Bacteriology--The Röntgen Rays--Sanitary
Legislation--Conclusion.
[Sidenote: Material Progress during the Reign.]
Allusion has been made in earlier chapters to the development during the
reign of Queen Victoria of the powers of steam applied to locomotion, of
electricity applied to the conveyance of news, to the institution of the
penny post, and to the invention of anæsthetics in surgery. But no
survey, however brief, would be satisfactory which took no note of a few
other stages in the progress of applied knowledge--progress which, up to
the present moment, shows no sign of slackening.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. W. Burgess, Ringmer._
AN EARLY BICYCLE.
This is probably the earliest Bicycle seen in England; it was made in
1868 by Mr. W. F. Martin.]
[Sidenote: Modern Locomotion.]
First, as to locomotion: when Sir Walter Scott was writing the opening
chapters of the "Heart of Midlothian," in 1818, he referred to the
wonderful development of facilities for travel, and may have thought he
was exceeding the limits of the probable when he penned the sentence:
"Perhaps the echoes of Ben Nevis may soon be awakened by the bugle, not
of a warlike chieftain, but of the guard of a mail coach." Scott was by
no means deficient in imaginative power, but the maximum speed he can
have contemplated was ten miles an hour, for the standard of speed in
those days was the pace of a horse (we still reckon the strength of our
engines at so many "horse" power). What would he think now, were it
possible for him to take his seat in a luxurious saloon and be whirled
round the flanks of Ben Nevis, along the West Highland Railway? Eleven
years after the publication of the "Heart of Midlothian" a competition
of locomotives was held on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the
prize was taken by Messrs. Stephenson's "Rocket." Weighing 7 tons 9
cwts., this engine was able to draw a load of 9 tons 10 cwts. at an
average speed of thirteen miles an hour. One of the first-class express
engines on the London and North-Western line at the present day weighs
77 tons 2 cwts., and draws a load of 160 tons, at an average speed of
forty-seven miles an hour.
[Sidenote: The Bicycle.]
But it is not only by steam that the standard of speed in locomotion has
been displaced. The invention and constant improvement of the bicycle
has not only caused the rise of a most important industry in their
manufacture (about half a million cycles are being turned out of the
factories annually, representing a value of at least £5,000,000), but it
has supplied a means of locomotion of incalculable convenience to
persons of all classes and of both sexes. This invention must be
reckoned a great boon, not only as a means of recreation to persons in
crowded towns, to whom the cycle affords easy access to the country, but
also to working-men living at a distance from their employment.
[Sidenote: Motor Carriages.]
With respect to the mechanical propulsion of carriages along ordinary
streets and highways, stringent regulations were in force until 1896,
under which such carriages were not permitted to travel at a higher
speed than four miles an hour. But the invention of "motor" carriages,
propelled by steam, gas, oil, or electricity, convinced the authorities
that these restrictions should be relaxed. This accordingly was done by
Act of Parliament, and their removal was celebrated, on November 14,
1896, by the excursion of a number of horseless carriages from London to
Brighton. Evil weather marred the display, nevertheless large numbers of
persons turned out to witness it. It is too early to predict the extent
to which horses may be displaced by motor carriages, but it can scarcely
be doubtful that their obvious imperfections will yield to the ingenuity
of inventors, so as to render them at least dangerous rivals to the old
kind of equipage.
[Illustration: GEORGE STEPHENSON, 1781-1848.
Railway Engineer. Born at Wylam, Northumberland. Son of a colliery
fireman. Constructed his first locomotive in 1814. Planned and
constructed the first railways--Stockton and Darlington, 1815-25,
Liverpool and Manchester, 1825-30. Was chief engineer to most of the
lines constructed until 1840, when he retired, leaving his business to
his son Robert.]
[Sidenote: The Proposed Channel Tunnel.]
Before leaving the subject of terrestrial locomotion, allusion must be
made to the project of carrying a tunnel under the Straits of Dover to
the French coast, to enable trains to be run without interruption from
Great Britain to the Continent. The tunnel, the favourite scheme of Sir
Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, was begun some
years ago, and was actually carried for several hundred yards under the
sea. But the strategic advantages of an island realm are too substantial
to be sacrificed by the creation of a highway, command of which would
certainly be insisted on by any Power or combination of Powers which, in
the future, might overcome Great Britain in arms.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by permission of Curzon, Robey &
Co._
THE MOTOR-CAR PARADE, November 14, 1896: THE START FROM THE HOTEL
METROPOLE.]
[Sidenote: Steam Navigation.]
[Sidenote: Ironclads.]
Turning now to locomotion by sea, or navigation, steam had been applied
to the propulsion of vessels as early as 1802, and its use had been
gradually extended till, in 1835, the first steamer with mails for Egypt
and India was despatched from Falmouth; but it was not until the second
year of the present reign, 1838, that the first vessel entirely
propelled by steam crossed the Atlantic. Greatly as the appearance and
strength of our mercantile marine fleet has been altered to meet the
requirement of speed, a still greater contrast is presented in the
construction of warships since the invention of rifled ordnance. When
our Queen ascended the throne, the famous wooden walls of Old England
were moved by sails alone. Greater speed was subsequently secured by the
introduction of engine room to vessels of the old type, with paddles or
screw-propellers. But experience proved how easily engines might be
thrown out of gear by a single shot, a danger which grew more imminent
with every fresh improvement in guns. Then began the long contest
between armour-plating and projectiles: the armour had to be made
thicker and ever thicker to resist the increasing weight and velocity of
projectiles, until, by the reduction of masts and spars to the bare
necessities of signalling, the submergence of the hull to reduce the
vulnerable surface, the increase of engine space, and the reduction of
the armament to a few pieces of great power, our battleships have lost
almost all semblance of the fabrics which used to move in such stately
manner under towers of canvas, and have acquired the character of
floating forts. Still, Britannia rules the waves; her seamen, of whom it
was predicted that the adoption of steam would deprive of their
superiority, have no equals in the world; and her people have proved, by
their enthusiasm in furnishing the necessary funds, that they will
endure almost any sacrifice rather than suffer the British Navy to be
second in power to any other.
[Illustration: _J. C. Horsley, R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
ISAMBARD K. BRUNEL, 1806-1859.
Son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, engineer of the Thames Tunnel. Designed
the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the _Great Western_ (the first great
ocean steamer) and the _Great Eastern_ (see page 38), and was engineer
of the Great Western Railway.]
[Sidenote: The Telephone.]
The revolution in intercourse between distant places effected by the
electric telegraph has been noticed already, but even that has been
outdone in rapidity by later applications of the electric current; for,
just as spoken language is swifter than written words, so the telephone
has overcome the limits hitherto imposed by space on conversation. It
was a great marvel when, in 1852, the completion of a cable under the
Channel rendered communication possible between London and Paris by
means of a code of signals; but now statesmen and commercial men may
discuss affairs confidentially by telephone; nay, a lover in Paris may
listen with rapture to the very accents of his beloved lingering in
London.
[Sidenote: The Phonograph.]
One of the most remarkable modifications of the telephone is Edison's
phonograph, whereby the human voice and other sounds are recorded on a
delicate membrane, which afterwards, for an indefinite period, is
capable of being made to repeat or transmit these sounds. Future
generations will be able thereby to listen to the actual voice and
accents of the departed.
[Illustration: DRIVING THE TUNNEL FOR THE WATERLOO AND CITY RAILWAY.
The illustration represents the shield which protects the excavators.
This is from time to time driven forward, and another section of the
iron lining of the tunnel is inserted piece by piece between it and the
sections already completed. Compressed air is used in that portion of
the tunnel which is beneath the river to prevent the water entering. The
Blackwall Tunnel, opened by the Prince of Wales, May 22, 1897, was
constructed similarly.]
[Sidenote: Electricity as an Illuminant.]
Not the least important of the recent modes of employing electricity is
its use as an illuminant. At the beginning of the reign the streets of
London and other towns, as well as many of the houses, were lit by gas;
though as late as fifteen years ago it was still the custom in some
old-fashioned hotels to charge half-a-guinea for the use of a pair of
wax candles. But the invention of an illuminant which neither exhausts
nor pollutes the air breathed by human beings, nor involves risk of
accidental conflagration, which is easily manageable and throws off no
smoke and very little heat, has been one of the benefits conferred by
science so characteristic of this age.
[Illustration: THE BUILDING OF A WARSHIP: A FIRST-CLASS CRUISER IN
PROGRESS AT THE THAMES IRONWORKS.
These works occupy about 28 acres, and employ between three and four
thousand workmen.]
[Sidenote: Photography.]
The researches of Daguerre and Nicéphore de Niepce had established,
before Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the possibility of obtaining
permanent images by the action of light on silver-plated copper, but the
first notable advance in the new art of photography was the invention of
the calotype by Fox Talbot, who applied iodide of silver to paper, which
was rendered sensitive to light by further treatment. Then, in 1850,
came the collodion process, and the subsequent discovery of dry-plate
processes brought photography within easy compass of amateurs, and
greatly enhanced the value of photography as an aid to science. The
exposure of thirty minutes, required under the Daguerrotype process, has
been reduced to one-fifteenth of a second by the use of gelatine
emulsion. The latest manifestation of photographic skill is certainly
very marvellous, namely, the kinematograph. By a rapid succession of
instantaneous exposures a series of plates is obtained so closely
consecutive that when the images are reflected in equally rapid
succession upon a screen, men and animals may be seen the size of life
in natural movement.
[Illustration: THE BUILDING OF A WARSHIP.
Finishing the upper works of H.M.S. _Jupiter_ at Clydebank. In the dock
are also five torpedo-boat destroyers.]
[Sidenote: Its Effect on Painting and Engraving.]
Photography has had a powerful effect on the art of painting, not only
by the cheap reproduction of acknowledged masterpieces, which is not
without risk of encouraging conventionalism in design, but by creating a
more exacting standard of fidelity to nature. While it has caused some
painters to seek after intense realism, it has led others to a
reactionary course which they term impressionism. Judging roughly from
the vast numbers of pictures painted and exhibited each year, and from
the immense prices given for the works of favourite masters, both living
and dead, it is difficult to believe that, however great may be the
aggregate expenditure by the purchasing public on photographs, it has
interfered appreciably with the sale of pictures.
One branch of art certainly has suffered by the rivalry of sun pictures,
namely, the various kinds of engraving. Wood-engraving, indeed, had
already run to seed during the present century, from the affectation of
craftsmen to a freedom and rapidity of which the material was not really
capable: but engraving on copper and steel, etching, lithography, and,
above all, mezzotint engraving (said to have been the joint invention of
Prince Rupert and one of his officers named Siegen), had lost none of
their delicacy and power when photography invaded their province.
Excellent results are obtained from the best methods of photogravure and
photolithography, and, where absolute accuracy of detail is required,
they leave little to be desired; but the extent to which cheap "process"
plates have supplanted the older arts of book illustration affords much
to deplore from an artistic standpoint.
[Illustration: THE FIRST SELF EXCITING DYNAMO.
Made by Mr. S. A. Varley in 1866. The principle of the dynamo was
discovered also, and almost simultaneously, by Sir Charles Wheatstone
and Dr. Werner Siemens.]
[Illustration: _D. Maclise, R.A._} {_From the original sketch in the
Dyce and Forster Collection, South Kensington._
MICHAEL FARADAY, 1791-1867.
Son of a blacksmith, and apprenticed to a bookseller, he developed a
passion for science which ultimately led to most important discoveries
in electricity and magnetism. The sketch represents him lecturing as
Fullerian professor at the Royal Institution.]
[Sidenote: Victorian Architecture.]
In one respect the reign of Queen Victoria offers a strange and rather
melancholy contrast to all that have preceded it, inasmuch as it is the
first during which the architects of this country have been totally
destitute of any peculiar style of building. Never were builders more
ingenious or more skilful, never was there such vast expenditure in the
erection of private or public buildings, but never before were
architects so completely reliant on the past for design. Is it proposed
to build a church, a public institution, or a dwelling-house? If you
have the money you shall have one as well built as human hands can
accomplish. But you must name your style--Greek, Palladian, Norman,
Early English, Tudor, Jacobean, or Georgian--your architect will carry
out a masterpiece in any one of them; but if you say Victorian, or the
style of the day, he will give you François Ier to-day, Queen Anne
to-morrow, and Pericles the day after. Buildings grow apace, and they
are soundly and tastefully constructed, but British architecture is
dead.
The same may be said of design in general. People of taste look with
horror upon the fashions of the early years of the reign; the heavy
mahogany furniture, the flowered wall-papers, the tapestry, the plate,
the ornaments, are all condemned as barbarous; and the mode consists of
Chippendale and Sheraton furniture and so-called "art" fabrics and
papers. But how little this depends on more than fleeting fancy may be
seen when it is considered how the taste has changed within a few years
in the matter of table-glass. Ten years ago nothing would please but
blown glass of the thinnest; Mr. Ruskin convinced us that the two
qualities of glass which should be emphasised in the design were
transparency and ductility. But we have thrown that doctrine to the
winds now, and a visit to one of the leading warehouses will show how
completely we have reverted to the brilliant, many-facetted bottles and
glasses of fifty years ago.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By Eyre & Spottiswoode._
ELECTRIC LIGHTING STATION, DAVIES STREET, WESTMINSTER.]
[Sidenote: Universal Education.]
It is natural, in considering the phenomenon of a great nation wholly
without any stable principles to guide it in art, to ask what has the
State done during sixty years in the matter of public education? Ask
rather, what it has left undone! Certainly our rulers cannot be charged
either with negligence or parsimony in this respect. Five years before
the accession of Queen Victoria not a shilling of money was voted by
Parliament towards elementary education. In 1833, for the first time, a
grant of £20,000 was made for that purpose; at the present day the vote
annually made for Education, Science, and Art exceeds ten millions. Even
this is not enough to satisfy some people, as was made plain by the
question addressed by an elector to a candidate for a Scottish
constituency at a recent election. "Is Maister Wilson," asked this
enthusiast, "in favour of spending £36,000,000 a year on the Airmy, and
only £12,000,000 on eddication? That's to say, twelve millions for
pittin' brains into folks' heads, and thirty-six millions for blawin'
them oot."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co., Reigate._
MANCHESTER TOWN HALL.
During the present reign most of our leading towns have built handsome
and commodious Town Halls. That of Manchester, designed by Mr. Alfred
Waterhouse, R.A., is a well-known example. It was opened in 1877. Its
clock-tower is 285 feet high; the interior of the hall is decorated with
historical paintings by Ford Madox Brown.]
A generation has grown up under universal compulsory education, and it
is possible already to calculate some of the effects of that
far-reaching measure on the material prosperity, moral character, and
literary habits of our people. In regard to the first two, statistics go
to show that, notwithstanding an increase of nearly 35 per cent. in the
population since the introduction of compulsory education in 1871, there
had been a decrease between that year and 1894 of nearly 25 per cent. in
the number of paupers, from 1,079,391 to 812,441. The convictions for
crime showed a corresponding diminution from 12,953 to 9,634, or rather
more than 25 per cent.; while, during a similar period, the number of
"juvenile offenders" had been reduced to the enormous extent of over
71-1/2 per cent.
[Sidenote: The Predominance of Fiction.]
As to the impulse given to the demand for literature by the extension of
education, there need be no doubt whatever; the enormous supply
continually pouring from the press of the country is sufficient proof of
that. In respect of books, the returns from the numerous public
libraries in the country show that works of fiction are in request far
beyond all the other branches of literature put together. Some sinister
conclusions have been drawn from that fact, but it is not always
remembered that most of those who frequent free libraries are
hard-working people, who turn to books for recreation rather than
instruction. On the whole, English fiction remains wholesome, a result
which, notwithstanding the democratic nature of our Constitution, is
owing, undoubtedly, in large measure to the tone maintained in her Court
by our present Monarch.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
TRURO CATHEDRAL.
This is the only Anglican Cathedral built in England during the Queen's
reign. The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales, May 20,
1880, and the Cathedral was opened in his Royal Highness's presence,
November 3, 1887. A portion of the nave and the central tower have yet
to be built. The architect is Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A.]
[Sidenote: The Growth of Journalism.]
That ephemeral, but not the less potent, form of literature known as the
Press, may be said almost truly to be the creation of the Victorian age.
Newspapers, as we know them, are the outcome of two circumstances, the
removal of the paper tax in 1861 and the spread of telegraphic
communication. Every industry, every sect, every amusement, every shade
of opinion, now has its special organs in the press; and perhaps nothing
is more remarkable than the enterprise and high quality of the
provincial journals, as distinguished from those published in the
Metropolis. British journalism differs in several important respects
from that of all other European countries. In the first place, it is
absolutely free: there is nothing approaching a censorship of the Press,
and in those rare instances in which, during the present reign,
publishers have been interfered with by the State, as has occasionally
happened in Ireland, the offence has not been a political one, but such
incitement to crime or disorder as would be punishable in any private
individual. It is matter for just pride that this liberty is exceedingly
seldom abused. Another point of difference is that the British
Government has no official or semi-official organ in the press. Official
announcements are communicated, when necessary, to press agencies, and
through them find their way into journals of all shades of politics.
Lastly, the British press has maintained, as a rule, its impersonality.
There has been a slight tendency of recent years to exchange the
editorial "we" for a more familiar style, but this has been confined so
far to journals of little influence. Leading articles and critical
reviews are almost invariably anonymous, whereas in France the weight
attached to these is proportioned to the repute of the name by which
they are signed. In order to give some idea of the daily output of the
newspaper press in London alone the following instance may be given:--On
Monday, February 13, 1893, Mr. Gladstone introduced his second Home Rule
Bill in the House of Commons. On the following morning there were
despatched from a single establishment, that of W. H. Smith and Son,
374,218 newspapers, weighing upwards of 44 tons.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
CENTRAL PARCELS POST OFFICE, MOUNT PLEASANT.
This spacious but unimposing building occupies the site on which, a few
years ago, stood the Clerkenwell House of Correction. Parcel postage was
first introduced on August 1, 1883, and the number of parcels forwarded
between post offices in the United Kingdom during the succeeding twelve
months was about 25,000,000. During twelve months of 1895-96 the number
of "inland" parcels despatched reached the enormous total of
60,500,000.]
[Illustration: _L. Tuxen._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE MARRIAGE OF THE CZAR OF RUSSIA TO PRINCESS ALIX OF HESSE,
GRANDDAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN, AT ST. PETERSBURG, November 26, 1894.]
[Sidenote: The Advance of Natural Science.]
It would be impossible within due limits to pass in review, even in the
most sketchy fashion, the advance made in natural science, especially as
each province of the whole realm of knowledge has become divided and
sub-divided into sections, each the peculiar department of specialists.
Three hundred years ago it was possible for Francis Bacon to survey the
entire firmament of human understanding, but in the nineteenth century
the task accomplished in the _Advancement of Learning_ and the _Novum
Organum_ has developed to a scale only to be compassed in such a
prodigious publication as the "Encyclopædia Britannica," of which the
latest edition consists of twenty-five volumes in quarto, containing
upwards of 20,750 pages printed in double columns, contributed by no
less than 1,200 different writers, besides translators and revisers.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by R. Milne, Aboyne._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, THE PRINCE OF WALES, THE CZAR AND CZARINA AND
THEIR INFANT DAUGHTER.
Photographed at Balmoral, November 1896.]
[Sidenote: Surgery and Medicine.]
In no department of science, perhaps, has progress brought such
immediate benefit to the people as in that of surgery and medicine. The
introduction of anæsthetics has been mentioned in an earlier chapter;
the present year, 1897, is the jubilee anniversary of that blessed
event. The vaccination laws were consolidated in 1871, and universal
vaccination insisted on, with the result that a loathsome disease, which
formerly brought unspeakable misery upon all civilised nations has been
practically vanquished. The deaths from small-pox in England, which, at
the close of the last century, were reckoned at 3,000 per million, had
sunk in the decade from 1878-87 to 54 per million. Attempts have been
made persistently by a small minority to resist compulsory vaccination.
Persons inclined to listen to arguments against this legislation on the
score of undue interference with liberty, should study the Report of the
Local Government Board upon an outbreak of small-pox in Sheffield in
1887-88. Of 6,088 persons attacked 590 died; among children under ten
years of age, 5 per 1,000 of those vaccinated were attacked and ·09 per
1,000 died; of the unvaccinated, 101 per 1,000 were attacked and 44 per
1,000 died.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Miss Acland._
PROFESSOR RUSKIN.
John Ruskin was born in London in 1819, and matriculated at Christ
Church, Oxford, in 1836. He published the first volume of "Modern
Painters" in 1841, and was elected first Slade Professor of Art in the
University of Oxford, 1870.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
LORD LISTER, P.R.S.
Born 1827. Discovered the antiseptic method in surgery. Created a
Baronet in 1883, and a Baron in 1897.]
Although it is the name of a Frenchman, the late M. Pasteur, which is
most conspicuously associated with recent progress in pathology, it was
Sir Joseph (now Lord) Lister who was led by Pasteur's researches into
the theory of fermentation to discover the antiseptic system of surgery.
He employed carbolic acid, previously known as little more than a
laboratory product, in destroying microbes which had found access to a
wound, and thereby first made surgery scientific. But Lister did more
than that; the antiseptic treatment was superseded in turn by the
aseptic, in which, by sterilising everything that might come in contact
with wounds, access was refused altogether to microbes, and henceforward
operations surpassing the most ambitious dreams of the old school of
surgery were rendered possible. From the work of Pasteur and Lister has
arisen the science of bacteriology, which, in the hands of Professor
Koch, of Berlin, and others, is being developed into the systematic
"cultivation" of the germs of specific diseases.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by W. & D. Downey._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, 1897.
The authorized Diamond Jubilee Portrait.]
British surgeons have not been slow to avail themselves of the
discovery, by Professor Röntgen, of certain non-luminous rays beyond the
spectrum, which are capable of penetrating substances hitherto
considered impermeable. By laying such a structure as a human limb upon
a properly sensitised surface, and exposing it to these rays thrown from
a tube excited by electricity, a permanent image is obtained of the
bones and denser portions of the structure. By this means the exact
position of any foreign substance, such as a bullet or needle, or the
nature of a dislocation or fracture, may be ascertained with precision;
and already it has been found possible to examine the condition of the
internal organs of a living person.
[Sidenote: Sanitary Legislation.]
Mr. Disraeli was once greatly laughed at for announcing that the policy
of his Administration was _Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas_. Since then
the two great political parties have vied with each other in framing
legislation for the sanitation of cities and all human dwellings. It may
be difficult to decide which has had most hand in the good result
already shown in the mortality returns, legislators or men of science;
at all events, they are worthy rivals. The annual death-rate in England
during the first ten years of the present reign was 22·4 per 1,000; it
was a shade higher in the decade from 1861-70, standing at 22·5 per
1,000. Then came the age of sanitation and the dawn of bacteriology; the
death-rate sank in 1871-80 to 21·4 per 1,000, and in 1881-90 to 19·1 per
1,000.
[Illustration: _By permission of_} {_G. Houghton & Son, High Holborn._
RADIOGRAPH OF THE HAND OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.]
In bringing to a close this brief survey of the reign of twelve
lustres--the longest reign in the history of Great Britain--we may note
with gratitude that not one of the many influences that have contributed
to the moral or material well-being of the subjects of the empire shows
any sign of abating in force. It is a task of no little difficulty and
complexity to reconcile the rival, and sometimes conflicting, interests
arising in a vast population, and, at the same time, to maintain our
lead in the competitive industry of nations; yet it is one which the
personal character of the Monarch, in conjunction with the
constitutional development of the last sixty years justify the
Legislature in undertaking with courage and good hope.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by H. N. King._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE: THE GARDEN FRONT AND THE LAKE.]
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.
THE DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS.
By ALFRED C. HARMSWORTH.
CHAPTER I.
The Central Idea of the Celebrations--The Imperial Character of
the Pageant--The Colonial Premiers Invited--The
Decorations--Influx of Visitors--Grand Stands--Precautions
against Accidents--Thanksgiving Services on Accession Day--The
Queen's Arrival in London--Night in the Streets.
We have traced the history of our great Queen down to the point where
her Record Reign reaches its culmination in the festivities of June,
1897. Nothing now remains but to give some account of these Imperial
celebrations--Imperial in the truest sense of the word, because faithful
subjects of Her Majesty, of every colour and every creed, came from the
four corners of the most majestic Empire that has ever existed to pay
homage to the Lady Ruler over all. Pen and pencil must necessarily fail
to do justice to so unique a demonstration of an Empire's love and
devotion, but the reader of these words may rely upon it that our
account is true in every detail. Such a record will be found useful not
only by those who actually took part in the Diamond Jubilee festivities
and who wish to refresh their memories, but also by those to whom they
will be matter of history.
The possibilities of a great celebration in 1897 were first discussed
after the Jubilee of 1887, although it was not until 1896 that public
interest was thoroughly aroused in the great event. Men felt vaguely
that the sixtieth anniversary of the reign of the best-beloved of all
British Sovereigns demanded an especial effort on the part of all loyal
subjects; but as to the manner in which the event should be celebrated,
opinions were as various as the men who gave utterance to them. One
only definite desire was in everybody's heart--that the Queen should
come down among her people and receive their congratulations in person.
This was the central idea round which all schemes clustered, and this
was the idea to which the Queen gave her sanction. In March of 1897 it
was officially proclaimed that Her Majesty would go in procession to St.
Paul's to offer up her thanks to the Supreme Being for all the blessings
of her long reign.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
THE RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN.
Born in London in 1836. He was educated at University College School,
and afterwards joined his father, who was a member of the firm of
Nettlefold and Chamberlain, screw manufacturers, of Birmingham. He was
elected Chairman of the Birmingham Education League in 1868, member of
the Town Council in the same year, and of the School Board in 1870; of
the last he became Chairman in 1873. He was Mayor of Birmingham during
the years 1874-75-76, and has represented that town in Parliament since
1876. He accepted the Presidency of the Board of Trade with a seat in
Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet in 1880, and in 1886 the Presidency of the Local
Government Board, but resigned in March of that year when his political
chief declared in favour of Home Rule for Ireland. After the general
election of 1895 he became Secretary of State for the Colonies in Lord
Salisbury's Administration. He is the Leader in the House of Commons of
the Liberal wing of the Unionist Party. He married (as his third wife)
Miss Endicott, an American lady, in 1888.]
[Sidenote: Colonial Premiers Invited.]
And here let honour be rendered to whom honour is due. From the Colonial
Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, emanated the action which gave the event its
Imperial character--the invitation of the Colonial Premiers and the
representative detachments of men from the various forces of Colonial
and other troops serving under her throughout our world-wide Empire. A
brilliant military pageant might have been effected by the employment
only of the troops of our regular army; but we have other forces across
the seas, small it may be in numbers, but magnificent in physique and
all that constitutes martial efficiency, whose presence on such an
occasion would add lustre and a peculiar significance to the great
function.
Meanwhile our grey old London set about adorning itself for the great
event. To transform a working city like London into a temporary
fairyland is a task of herculean proportions, but it was done! The
Corporation voted £25,000 to a decoration fund, and the most moderate
estimate fixes the cost of London's holiday garb at £250,000. Venetian
masts appeared suddenly in all the streets along which the procession
was to make its way; and as the fateful day drew near, festoons of
flowers and loyal inscriptions were suspended from these. Cunningly
concealed in the hanging bouquets of flowers were electric lamps
destined to make the streets even more brilliant at night than they were
in the daytime.
[Sidenote: The Decorations.]
The actual route literally blazed with colour. Flags were at a premium
and so were coloured stuffs and flowers, for the Jubilee had asked more
than the supply, and in many cases the North country mills were working
day and night to make good the deficiency. When at last the great city
had finished her toilet, not even her own children recognized her.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by York & Son._
THE DECORATIONS IN ST. JAMES'S STREET.]
St. James's Street sat at the head of all, a perfect poem of decorative
beauty. There were two massive Corinthian pillars at either end, their
capitals of gold surmounted by large globes, their bases adorned with
choice growing palms and flowers. Forty venetian masts capped with the
Imperial crown stood on each side of the street, and from mast to mast
were laced festoons of evergreens, from which hung baskets of rare
flowers, birds in flight, and globes of red, white, and blue glass,
which sparkled in the sunlight and turned the roadway into a pathway of
quivering light.
Other thoroughfares vied with St. James's Street. In the Strand the
omnibuses ran under swaying lines of many-coloured globes hanging across
the roadway from one flower-bedecked venetian mast to another. Round the
pillars of the Mansion House and the Royal Exchange were serpentine
trails of tiny gas jets winding far up under the dark eaves of the roof,
and from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's vast buildings were literally
outlined with tiny gas and electric light lamps. The Fire Monument and
other public monuments came in for special decorative attention, and in
some cases hundreds of pounds were spent in beautifying them for the
great show.
[Illustration: THE DECORATIONS AT THE CARLTON CLUB.]
In Victoria Street the offices of the various Colonies were alive with
colour, and even the south side of the river, where loyalty is more
abundant than money, was gay with its decorations, in the form of golden
eagles with outstretched wings, and lines of real flowers stretched
across the thoroughfares on invisible wires.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By York & Son._
THE DECORATIONS IN THE WEST STRAND. Showing on the right a portion of
the Grand Stand at Charing Cross Station.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by York & Son._
THE DECORATIONS AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND.]
But the generous efforts of Civic and Parish authorities were not a whit
more remarkable than those of private individuals. Many of the houses
along the route of the procession were covered with decorations from
cellar to attic. The colour generally chosen was red, but in some
instances costly materials of delicate shades were used. Draperies of
brilliant hues were hung from almost every window, so that some of the
streets resembled theatres rather than the busy thoroughfares of a busy
city.
Nor were the decorations confined to the streets. Every errand boy wore
his Jubilee favour days before the event. From every whip fluttered a
little pennant of the national colour. Scarcely a bicycle passed that
had not on its handle-bar gay streamers of red, white, and blue, and
even the practical top-hatted city man sported in his button-hole the
colours which rule the world.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RT. HON. SIR WILFRID LAURIER, PREMIER OF CANADA.
Born at St. Lin, Quebec, 1841. Educated for the Law, and called to the
Bar at Montreal in 1861. In 1871 he entered the Legislature of Quebec,
and, three years later, the Dominion Parliament. Up to this time his
speeches had been delivered in French; he now spoke in English with
equal eloquence. He became Minister of Inland Revenue in 1877, and
Premier in July 1896. He is of French descent, a Roman Catholic, and a
strong supporter of Imperial unity.]
[Sidenote: Influx of Visitors.]
Long before these preparations were completed, the invasion of London by
visitors from the country, from America, and from the Continent had
commenced. The streets, always pretty-well congested with the great
press of traffic, were now almost impassable. Vast good-humoured crowds
surged up and down the principal thoroughfares, and travelling from one
part of the town to another became a matter of increasing difficulty.
Where all the people were accommodated it would be difficult to say.
Certain it is, that all the rooms in the better-known hotels were taken
weeks beforehand, and the landladies of Bloomsbury reaped a rich
harvest.
[Illustration: _Photographed at the Crown Studios, Sydney._
THE RT. HON. G. H. REID, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
Was born at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in 1845, and is the son of a
Presbyterian Minister. He began life in Sydney in the Civil Service, but
studied law and entered the New South Wales Legislature in 1880. He
became Minister of Education, 1883; Leader of the Opposition, 1891;
Premier, 1894. He is a strong advocate of Australian Federation.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RT. HON. SIR G. TURNER, PREMIER OF VICTORIA.
Born in Melbourne; he is by profession a solicitor. Entered the
Victorian Parliament in 1889, and became Prime Minister and Treasurer in
1894. He is between forty and fifty years of age.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph by Talma, Melbourne._
THE RT. HON. R. J. SEDDON, PREMIER OF NEW ZEALAND.
Born at St. Helens, Lancashire, in 1844; went to Victoria in 1863. He
has been for twenty-five years in the New Zealand Parliament, and has
been Premier since 1893. He is also Colonial Treasurer, Commissioner of
Customs, Postmaster-General, Minister of Labour, and Minister of Native
Affairs.]
[Sidenote: Grand Stands.]
In addition to the vast amount of accommodation afforded by the houses
lying along the route, every available coign of vantage was seized upon
for the erection of a stand. Churches were lost to view beneath vast
tiers of red upholstered seats reaching half way up their towers, and
what had been known as Charing Cross Station was buried from sight under
a mammoth thousand-seated stand. "Can our City Princes not have
noticed," asks a writer in the _Daily Mail_ with quaint humour, "that
somebody has stuck a lot of carpentry on the very pediment of the Royal
Exchange? Somebody else has boarded up the Law Courts, and barristers
and solicitors stoop and dive in as if they were going to clean out
their chicken houses. The Houses of Parliament are all scaffolding too,
and at first, seeing no reports in the papers, I thought they had been
abolished while I was away.... Even to take a penny boat at Westminster
you have to go under a sort of triumphal arch of joinery.... They are
actually changing all London from building into furniture."
One of the largest stands was in Whitehall opposite the Horse Guards.[I]
A large number of carpenters were employed for more than six weeks in
its erection; £7,000 was paid to the Woods and Forests Department for
the rent of the site, and its construction cost another £6,000. It
contained some 4,000 seats, which were advertised at from four to twenty
guineas. It was built into foundations of solid concrete from three feet
to six feet thick, and contained 150 tons of timber and fifteen tons of
forty-five feet steel girders; 5,000 chairs were specially purchased for
its equipment and, besides the seats, it contained promenades, reception
rooms, a luncheon room for the accommodation of 400 people, ladies'
rooms, telephones, and a smoking gallery.
Another huge stand was that erected in the churchyard of St. Martin's
Church, Charing Cross. This also contained 4,000 seats, ranging in price
from one to fifteen guineas. Its erection engaged the labour of 120 men
for some five weeks. It contained 175,000 cubic feet of timber and
twenty tons of ironwork. The rent of the site was £4,000.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by J. de Souza._
THE PROCESSION OF IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL TROOPS, June 19.
What was in effect a dress rehearsal of the Jubilee procession took
place on the Saturday preceding that event, when the Life Guards, the
Dragoon Guards, Horse and Field Artillery, and Colonial Mounted Troops
assembled at Victoria Park, and marched by Grove Road, Mile End Road,
and Whitechapel, to the Mansion House. The picture represents the South
Australian Lancers leaving the Park. The troops, and particularly the
Colonials, were received with the greatest enthusiasm by the immense
crowds which lined the route. It was a happy idea to give the East End
this opportunity of welcoming the Colonists.]
There were many other stands of colossal size, but that which
represented the most enterprising speculation of the celebration was
undoubtedly the colossal stand on the north side of St. Paul's
Churchyard.[J] For the purpose of its erection one of the most valuable
city properties was purchased and pulled down. The seats in these
various stands were offered at fabulous prices, but the public refused
to purchase, and the venture resulted in a heavy loss to its promoters,
as indeed did most of the speculations in seats. However, very large
sums indeed were paid to witness the procession, £2,000 being offered
and accepted for the use of a building in St. Paul's Churchyard for the
day. In some cases the vendors offered prizes ranging from £50 downwards
to purchasers of their seats.
On June 11 the official programme was published, and henceforth the sole
topic in men's minds was Jubilee Day and its doings. Previous to this,
however, the most elaborate precautions had been taken to ensure the
safety of the multitude of sightseers, and to guard against any hitch
occurring in the actual procession.
Meanwhile the guests of the Nation began to arrive from every part of
the World. The Prime Ministers of our great dependencies in Australasia,
in South Africa, and Canada, were lodged in the palatial Hotel Cecil;
the foreign princes and their suites were accommodated in the Royal
Palaces and in private mansions rented or lent for the occasion, while
the detachments of troops from the various self-governing and Crown
Colonies were billeted at Chelsea Hospital, at Hounslow, and at
Woolwich. The Indian officers composing the deputation from the Imperial
Service Troops, and the British officers in charge, were lodged at the
"Star and Garter" Hotel at Richmond. It is impossible to convey any
impression of the hospitality that was now lavished on our honoured
guests. While the troopers of the Colonial forces were being fêted by
Tommy Atkins and the Volunteers of London, the Colonial Premiers were
the lions of the great houses of the Metropolis. "He died from the
effects of British hospitality" is the humorous epitaph composed for
himself, in the event of that casualty, by the Right Honourable G. H.
Reid, Premier of New South Wales. Royal carriages and Royal servants
were placed at the disposal of visitors of high rank; but it is certain
that the genuine enthusiasm of their reception among the millions of
London was even more highly valued by our distinguished visitors than
these marks of Royal favour.
[Illustration: THE ROYAL TRAIN ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY, SPECIALLY
FITTED UP FOR THE JUBILEE OCCASION.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE ROYAL TRAIN.
The smaller picture shows the break-van and kitchen, with the gas stove
at which refreshments are prepared for Her Majesty's use while
travelling. The larger illustration represents the interior of the
Queen's saloon; in the picture at the top of this page it is the third
carriage from the engine. This saloon is lined, and its furniture
covered, with blue silk; it communicates by an enclosed gangway with
that of Her Majesty's personal attendants.]
[Sidenote: Precautions against Accidents.]
While the good citizens of London were entertaining the guests of the
Nation and getting their houses in order for the culminating function of
June 22, there was ever present in their minds a fear lest the great
festival would be marred by a catastrophe such as that which threw a
black shadow over the Coronation of the Czar. It was vaguely felt that
the vast multitudes that would throng the streets on that day might
become unmanageable--that some of the temporary stands would collapse,
or that the great pressure of the massed crowds at certain points would
result in disaster. It is due entirely to the sagacity and foresight of
the authorities that the streets were never more safe than they were on
June 22, and that not a single life was lost in consequence of the
Jubilee arrangements. Temporary stands were examined--and where faulty
condemned--again and again by the officials of the London County Council
and of the Corporation, and the most scrupulous care was taken that
there should not be gathered at any one point a larger number of persons
than could be easily controlled.
At an early stage in the proceedings the police decided to close the
great bridges connecting the north of London with the south. London
Bridge was closed at midnight on Jubilee Eve, the other bridges were
closed a few hours later, the idea being to prevent a possible great
and dangerous rush from north to south of the Thames to view the
procession both on the Middlesex and Surrey sides.
To make assurance doubly sure several rehearsals of the great Service at
St. Paul's, and the business of taking up and setting down at Buckingham
Palace were held; and so complete were these rehearsals, that every item
of the procession was fully represented, mounted grooms taking the
places of the princes and equerries who were to ride on horseback in the
procession. In the final rehearsals many of those who were destined to
high places in the procession were present, and there was a large demand
for seats to view in St. Paul's Churchyard.
So that the day might be one of universal rejoicing all over the
country, it had been declared, on March 18, a public holiday by Her
Majesty in the following proclamation:--"Victoria, R.--We, considering
that it is desirable that Tuesday, the twenty-second day of June next,
should be observed as a Bank Holiday throughout the United Kingdom, do
hereby, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, and in pursuance of
the provisions of 'The Bank Holidays Act, 1871,' appoint Tuesday, the
twenty-second day of June next, as a special day to be observed as a
Bank Holiday throughout the United Kingdom, and every part thereof, and
we do by this Our Royal Proclamation command the said day to be so
observed, and all Our loving subjects to order themselves accordingly."
[Illustration: _Lucien Davis, R.I._}
THE SPECIAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY, June 20.
PROCESSION OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR AND PEERS.]
[Sidenote: Thanksgiving Services.]
The actual celebrations may be said to have commenced on Sunday, June
20. This, being Accession Day, was marked by a universal service of
thanksgiving throughout the Empire, in addition to the four Special
Services, which must ever be memorable in British history: the Royal
Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, the great National Service at
St. Paul's, and the Services at Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's,
Westminster, at which the Peers and Commons were present.
The Service at Windsor was of the simplest description. The Queen drove
from the Victoria Tower at 11 o'clock to the entrance to the Dean's
Cloister. Thence she was taken in a wheel-chair to the north-east door
of the Chapel. She entered the north door of the Choir leaning on the
arm of an Indian attendant. The Queen's chair was placed on the broad
step at the foot of the beautiful altar, which she faced throughout the
impressive Service. Besides members of the Royal family and suites,
there were but few privileged visitors. The Service was arranged and
conducted by Dean Eliot, and it began with the hymn, "Now thank we all
our God." The Te Deum was sung according to a very striking setting
composed by the late Prince Consort, one which is not often used, but
which was given on this occasion by special command of Her Majesty. The
Service concluded with "God Save the Queen," sung by the choir and
congregation. The very simplicity of the scene was its impressiveness.
It required a great effort of the imagination to fully comprehend it
all--that the little old lady sitting there in quiet black before the
altar was she who, sixty years ago, was awakened from her sleep in
Kensington Palace to wear the crown of a world-wide Empire.
[Sidenote: The Queen arrives.]
On Monday, June 21, the Queen travelled up to London from Windsor. At
half-past twelve the Royal train glided gently into Paddington Station
with the Royal Standard proudly waving at the front of the engine, and
the Royal coat of arms on either side.
Extraordinary arrangements had been made to secure Her Majesty's comfort
and safety, and had there been an accident it would not have been due to
the absence of competent officers, for besides the Royal party the train
contained the head and front of the Great Western Railway, from the
Chairman, Viscount Emlyn, and the Directors downward.
The Queen was dressed in black except for the white egret plumes in her
bonnet, and it was noticeable that, notwithstanding her great age, she
seemed in the best of health and spirits, and fully equal to the strain
of the morrow.
A halt was made while Marylebone's loyal address was presented, and then
the Queen moved on to Buckingham Palace amid the delighted shouts of her
subjects who lined the whole route. It was a brilliant morning and a
brilliant reception--a foretaste of the morrow. While the crowds of
sightseers spent the rest of the day in wandering through the
gaily-bedecked streets, Buckingham Palace was the scene of receptions,
banqueting, and rejoicing.
[Illustration: _Photo by_} {_W. J. Brunell._
TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT PADDINGTON (between Oxford and Cambridge Terraces),
Through which Her Majesty passed immediately after quitting Paddington
Station. It may be mentioned that it was by Her Majesty's express desire
that no arches were built on the route of the Jubilee procession.]
During the day the Queen graciously accepted a sunshade which was
presented to her by Mr. Villiers, the doyen of the House of Commons. It
was entirely covered with costly flounces of the finest black Chantilly
lace; it was mounted upon an ebony stick, with gold top, and a knob
handle of gun-metal set with Her Majesty's cypher and V.R.I, in
diamonds, and had a suitable inscription in gold letters inlaid round
the handle, thus:--"Presented to Her Majesty on the occasion of her
Diamond Jubilee, by her oldest Parliamentary member, C. Villiers."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Underwood & Underwood._
HER MAJESTY PASSING THROUGH THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN EDGWARE ROAD ON HER
ARRIVAL FROM WINDSOR.]
[Illustration: _Photo by_} {_J. S. Lee._
HOW THE QUEEN LOOKED: A SNAP-SHOT OF HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCESS
CHRISTIAN, TAKEN IN EDGWARE ROAD, June 21.]
[Sidenote: Night in the Streets.]
At nightfall, an inhabitant of London who had known it in more prosaic
times might well have been pardoned for thinking the whole Nation were
mad and had turned the Metropolis into Bedlam. Vast armies of excited
people invaded the streets and, in spite of the fatigues that must have
been endured, comported themselves most admirably. There was little
prospect of their getting home. But no one cared. Why should they? They
had come to see the Jubilee, some of them from the uttermost ends of the
earth, and see the Jubilee they would, though they spent the night in
the streets--and thousands of them did so spend the night. Some possibly
had been unable to secure sleeping accommodation, others evidently
thought it scarcely worth while to return to distant suburbs when it
would be necessary for them to be up and doing early the next morning.
As the short night broke into day clusters of people were seen grouped
round the base of the Arch, on Constitution Hill, at Hyde Park Corner,
and in Trafalgar Square. Hundreds took their stand on the kerb all along
the route, and waited patiently. If they had but known it these loyal
souls might have saved themselves so much trouble--for if there was one
thing about Jubilee Day more remarkable than another, it was the
complete absence of undue crowding in the streets. Those who strolled
down to Piccadilly, St. James's Street, Fleet Street, or the Strand two
or three hours before the Procession started, were as well able to
witness the most impressive pageant that London has ever seen as those
whose eagerness led them to take up their positions four or five hours
earlier. The route was long, and the spectators, except at points of
convergence like Hyde Park Corner and Ludgate Circus, well distributed
throughout its entire length, while many hundreds of thousands were
accommodated in the houses; but this only partially explains the
complete immunity from uncomfortable crushing enjoyed by those who lined
the streets. The fact is, that a very large number of Londoners fearing
the crowd, and apprehensive perhaps of extreme fatigue and even of
actual danger, migrated from the Metropolis and spent the day in the
country or at the seaside. It is beyond doubt, moreover, that London
crowds grow more orderly and manageable year by year.
[Illustration: MORNING ON THE LINE OF ROUTE.
These two illustrations are copies of actual photographs taken for this
volume in the early morning of the great day. The upper one represents
the steps beneath the Duke of York's Column in Waterloo Place, and was
taken at half-past five. The other is the fountain near St.
Mary-le-Strand Church at six o'clock. A policeman with his horse is
already stationed in the roadway beyond the fountain, and many
spectators have taken their places for the day.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by York & Son, Notting Hill._
THE COLONIAL PROCESSION: ARRIVAL OF THE CANADIAN PREMIER (THE HON.
WILFRID LAURIER) AT HYDE PARK CORNER.
The Canadian Premier's carriage was preceded by Canadian troops, and
followed by the New South Wales Rifles and Lancers. The Procession is
just emerging from Constitution Hill by the great gates of the Arch
which are opened only for Royalty. The crowd at this point was, perhaps,
the biggest on the route, and stretched away down Grosvenor Place, down
Knightsbridge, into Hyde Park (there were thousands of people in the
Park who had given up all hope of seeing the Procession), and choked all
the streets leading into Piccadilly.]
CHAPTER II.
The Weather--A brilliant day for a brilliant pageant--The
Queen's Message to her people--The Colonial Procession--The
Royal Procession--Loyal enthusiasm--The Queen's reception at the
City boundary--The Service at the steps of St. Paul's--The halt
at the Mansion House--In the Borough--Return to the
Palace--Presents to the Queen--Congratulations from abroad--The
Royal Dinner.
The weather in the week before Jubilee week had been broken and stormy.
The most sanguine feared that "Queen's Weather" was not to be looked for
on the most momentous day in the great little lady's life. As a matter
of fact, the sky on the morning of June 22 was dull and overcast; and it
was not until the scarlet coats of the soldiers lined each side of the
roadway along the seven-mile route with warm colour that the expectant,
buzzing multitude gave itself up to an unqualified enjoyment of the day.
But the very elements conspired to add splendour to the great festival
of the Queen. It is a curious circumstance that at "the very moment when
the head of the Queen's Procession came through the archway into the
courtyard of Buckingham Palace the sun, which until then had been
waiting its opportunity behind the clouds, tried an experimental shine.
At a quarter-past eleven precisely, at the very moment when the first
gun of the Royal Salute boomed out in Hyde Park to announce that Her
Majesty herself was leaving the Palace, the experiment developed into an
achievement. The light haze that had hung in the air seemed
instantaneously to melt away, and the sunshine burst out bright and
clear over the jubilant city. It seemed as though the sunshine was one
of the prearranged items of the programme, and had been carried out with
the absolute punctuality which marked the carrying out of all the
arrangements."
[Illustration: In the above Map the Route of the Procession is indicated
by the thick outline; it lay up Constitution Hill, along Piccadilly, St.
James's Street, Pall Mall, the Strand, and Fleet Street to St. Paul's;
thence by Cheapside, King William Street, London Bridge, the Borough,
Westminster Bridge, Parliament Street, Horse Guards' Parade, and the
Mall, back to Buckingham Palace.]
[Sidenote: The Queen's Message to her people.]
Before leaving Buckingham Palace, the Queen gave the signal for the
transmission to all parts of the Empire of that gracious message which
is now engraven on the hearts of her people. A private telegraph wire
had been erected between the Palace and the Central Telegraph Office.
Her Majesty touched a button attached to a small telegraphic instrument
in connection with this wire, thereby giving the signal to the officials
at the Telegraph Office; and before the Royal carriage had passed
through the Palace gates, the royal message was being flashed along ten
thousand thousand miles of wire to the farthest outposts of British
civilization. Characteristic alike of the monarch and of her people were
the simple words:--
"FROM MY HEART I THANK MY BELOVED PEOPLE.
"MAY GOD BLESS THEM.
"V. R. and I."
Several replies from distant Colonies were found awaiting Her Majesty
when she returned to her Palace. Thus the witchcraft of science added
another touch of splendour to these unique festivities.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co., Reigate._
THE PIPERS OF THE LONDON SCOTTISH VOLUNTEERS ESCORTING COLONIAL TROOPS.
The stand on the right, in front of the National Gallery, is occupied by
Peers and their Ladies and friends. The whole of the north side of
Trafalgar Square (from the steps on the left of the picture to the
corresponding steps at the other end of the terrace) was occupied by the
London County Council Stand, one of the largest on the route. At this
spot the roadway was lined by Bluejackets and Marines.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By A. H. Brunell._
THE COLONIAL PROCESSION: ZAPTIEHS FROM CYPRUS PASSING LUDGATE CIRCUS.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by the London Stereoscopic Co._
THE HONG KONG POLICE AND OTHER TROOPS FROM THE CROWN COLONIES PASSING
DOWN KING WILLIAM STREET.]
[Sidenote: The Colonial Procession.]
Soon after nine o'clock the first part of the Procession left Buckingham
Palace. It consisted of the Colonial contingent, headed by Field-Marshal
Lord Roberts, V.C., supporting a Field-Marshal's bâton on his right
thigh, and mounted on a grey pony. All along the route the gallant
soldier was greeted with mighty cheers, and it was universally thought
that the choice of so popular a General to command the Colonial troops
while they were in this country was a singularly felicitous one.
Immediately behind the Field-Marshal rode the Canadian Hussars, 2nd
Canadian Dragoons, and the Mounted Police--a magnificent group of men,
who excited universal admiration--preceding the carriage of the Premier
of Canada, the Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier. This gentleman was
received with thunders of applause by the spectators, as were the other
Colonial Premiers; and if anything were needed to convince our
illustrious visitors that the heart of the old country is warm for her
children, their welcome on this day of days amply fulfilled the need.
Then came the New South Wales Mounted Rifles, the New South Wales
Lancers, and the Victorian Mounted Rifles--superb horsemen these, and
singularly effective-looking in their slouch hats fastened up at the
side and khaki uniforms--and after them the carriage in which rode the
Premiers of New South Wales and Victoria. But it is impossible to give
an account of each group. The actual spectators of the beautiful
Colonial procession could but feast their eyes on each body of splendid
warriors as it passed, and cherish a vain wish that the pageant might be
repeated again and again until every individual horseman and
foot-soldier had received a due meed of admiration. Only too quickly
came into view and passed away New Zealand mounted troops--among them a
few giant Maoris--Queensland Mounted Rifles, riflemen from the Cape and
South Australian Lancers, Natal Carabiniers and Umvoti, Natal and Border
Mounted Rifles, and then troops from the Crown Colonies; Trinidad
Mounted Rifles, and Zaptiehs from Cyprus; "upstanding Sikhs, tiny little
Malays and Dyaks; Chinese with a white basin turned upside down on their
heads; grinning Hausas, so dead black that they shone like silver in the
sun--white men, yellow men, brown men, black men, every colour, every
continent, every race, every speech--and all in arms for the British
Empire and the British Queen." After the Cypriotes came a handful of the
Rhodesian Horse, headed by the Hon. Maurice Gifford, carrying one
pathetic empty sleeve across his breast--a group that evoked almost
frantic cheering. "Up they came, more and more," says Mr. G. W.
Steevens, in the _Daily Mail_ of June 23, "new types, new realms at
every couple of yards, an anthropological museum--a living gazetteer of
the British Empire. With them came their English officers, whom they
obey and follow like children. And you began to understand, as never
before, what the Empire amounts to. Not only that we possess all these
remote outlandish places, and can bring men from every end of the earth
to join us in honouring our Queen, but also that all these people are
working, not simply under us, but with us that we send out a boy here
and a boy there, and the boy takes hold of the savages of the part he
comes to, and teaches them to march and shoot as he tells them, to obey
him and believe in him, and die for him and the Queen. A plain, stupid,
uninspired people, they call us, and yet we are doing this with every
kind of savage man there is. And each one of us--you and I, and that man
in his shirt-sleeves at the corner--is a working part of this
world-shaping force. How small you must feel in face of the stupendous
whole, and yet how great to be a unit in it!"
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_By Valentine & sons, Dundee._
THE COLONIAL PROCESSION: THE CARRIAGES OF THE PREMIERS CROSSING LONDON
BRIDGE.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Downer, Watford._
THE COLONIAL PROCESSION: THE RHODESIAN HORSE IN THE MALL, HEADED BY THE
HON. MAURICE GIFFORD.]
[Sidenote: The Royal Procession.]
Ten minutes after the last of the Colonial contingent had passed, the
advance guard of the Royal Procession proper came into sight. The first
man in that gorgeous company rode the giant Guardsman, Captain Oswald
Ames, seeming not so very much taller than the splendid fellows who
followed him, in spite of his six feet eight inches. Close following
these came a Naval Gun Detachment who passed away through the avenues of
enthusiastic civilians amidst a tumult of acclaim. Then, in quick
succession, Life Guards, Dragoon Guards, Hussars, Lancers, and Batteries
of the Royal Horse Artillery--the finest Artillery in the World. More
quickly almost than these words are read the various component parts of
the resplendent cavalcade came into view and vanished again. The
populace waved its handkerchiefs and roared itself hoarse in a chorus of
approval that was too whole-hearted to discriminate.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co., Reigate._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: OFFICERS OF THE HEAD-QUARTERS STAFF LEAVING
BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
On the balcony are the three children of the Duke of York; little Prince
Edward in the centre. After the return of the Procession, when the
people were allowed within the space outside the Palace railings, His
Royal Highness frequently acknowledged their cheers by saluting in
military style.]
As a grand ceremonial figure the Crown Prince, afterwards the Emperor
Frederick of Germany, had attracted more personal notice in the
procession of 1887 than was accorded to any visitor in that of 1897, but
the _personnel_ of the latter function was, in general, far more
distinguished. As regards the procession of carriages, which followed
immediately after the glittering deputation of officers of the Imperial
Service Troops in India, those containing the Royal children--Her
Majesty's grandchildren and great-grandchildren--were most
enthusiastically received by the crowd. The gravity with which the tiny
Princes and Princesses acknowledged the greetings of the spectators
occasioned great delight among the people, and the military salutes of
the young Duke of Albany and Prince Arthur of Connaught, were the
signals for fresh outbursts of applause. The Empress Frederick, the
Duchesses of York, of Teck, of Connaught, and of Albany, the Princesses
Louise and Henry of Battenberg, were each and all cheered and cheered
again. The Princes and other illustrious persons representing the States
of almost every Kingdom and Republic in the World, who rode in threes
close before the Queen's carriage, made up a group of almost
unparalleled interest and importance. In recognition of his exalted rank
as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Lord Wolseley, in the uniform and
carrying the bâton of a Field-Marshal, rode immediately in front of the
Queen's carriage.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co._
CAPTAIN AMES, 2ND LIFE GUARDS.
The tallest officer in the British army, who headed the Royal
Procession.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symmons & Co., Chancery Lane._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: AIDES-DE-CAMP PASSING THE UNITED SERVICE CLUB.
Probably every officer had friends on the Club stands; the picture shows
all heads turned that way.]
To quote again from Mr. G. W. Steevens, who witnessed the Procession
from St. Paul's:--"The eye was filled with splendour, but fresh
splendour came crowding in on it. The advancing pageant shifted and
loosened and came up in opener order. But as the mass of colour became
less massive, it became more wonderfully coloured. Here, riding three
and three, came a kaleidoscope of dazzling horsemen--equerries and
aides-de-camp and attachés, ambassadors and Princes, all the pomp of all
the nations of the earth. Scarlet and gold, azure and gold, purple and
gold, emerald and gold, white and gold--always a changing tumult of
colours that seemed to list and gleam with a light of their own, and
always blinding gold. It was enough. No eye could bear more
gorgeousness; no more gorgeousness could be, unless princes are to
clothe themselves in rainbows and the very sun. The prelude was played,
and now the great moment was at hand. Already the carriages were rolling
up full of the Queen's kindred, full of her children and children's
children. But we hardly looked at them. Down there, through an avenue of
eager faces, through a storm of white waving handkerchiefs, through
roaring volleys of cheers, there was approaching a carriage drawn by
eight cream-coloured horses. The roar surged up the street, keeping pace
with the eight horses. The carriage passed the barrier; it entered the
churchyard; it wheeled left and then right; it drew up at the very steps
of the Cathedral; we all leaped up; cheers broke into screams, and
enthusiasm swelled to delirium; the sun, watery till now, shone out
suddenly clear and dry, and there--and there--
"And there was a little, quiet, flushed old lady. All in black,[K] a
silver streak under the black bonnet, a simple white sunshade, sitting
quite still, with the corners of her mouth drawn tight, as if she were
trying not to cry. But that old lady was the Queen, and you knew it. You
didn't want to look at the glittering uniforms now, nor yet at the
bright gowns and the young faces in the carriages, nor yet at the
stately princes--though by now all these were ranged in a half circle
round her. You couldn't look at anybody but the Queen. So very quiet, so
very grave, so very punctual, so unmistakably and every inch a lady and
a Queen. Almost pathetic, if you will, that small black figure in the
middle of these shining cavaliers, this great army, this roaring
multitude; but also very glorious. When the other kings of the world
drive abroad, the escort rides close in at the wheels of the carriage;
the Queen drove through her people quite plain and open, with just one
soldier at the kerbstone between her and them."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symmons & Co., Chancery Lane._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE "DEATH-OR-GLORY BOYS" (17th LANCERS) IN PALL
MALL.]
But we must go back a little. At the Griffin, which marks the spot where
Temple Bar once stood, the Lord Mayor (the Right Hon. Sir George
Faudel-Phillips) had arrived about 10.15, bearing the City Sword of
State. While waiting for the Queen the Lord Mayor was entertained, in
accordance with ancient custom, at Childs' Bank.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by A. H. Brunell._
THE CROWD WAITING FOR THE QUEEN AT LUDGATE CIRCUS.
Her Majesty was visibly moved at the sight of the immense concourse of
people at this point; little Princess Eva of Battenberg on the contrary
waved her hand in delighted acknowledgment of their cheers. In the
foreground is the Lord Mayor, who headed the Procession from Temple Bar
to the Mansion House.]
[Sidenote: The Queen's Reception at the City Boundary.]
"Just before mid-day," says a writer in the _Times_ of June 23, "a loud
roar of cheering announced the approach of the Queen, and soon the State
carriages drew up at the Griffin, where the Lord Mayor and his
deputation, on foot, bareheaded, were awaiting Her Majesty. The
interesting ceremony of the presentation of the sword did not occupy a
minute. This handsome sword, in its pearl-covered scabbard, which has
been presented by successive Lord Mayors at this very spot to many
Sovereigns, from Queen Elizabeth's time to the present day, was handed
to the Lord Mayor by the City Sword-bearer with a low obeisance. Sir
George Faudel-Phillips held the hilt towards Her Majesty, who merely
touched it, and ordered him to lead the way into the city. The Lord
Mayor with considerable alacrity hurried to the spot south of the
Griffin where he had left his horse, mounted it, and rode off eastward
bareheaded, holding the sword aloft."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by E. P. Robson, Old Broad
Street._
HER MAJESTY'S RECEPTION AT THE CITY BOUNDARY.
Her Majesty, in her carriage, is seen on the right, with the Prince of
Wales and the Duke of Cambridge (whose head is seen between those of the
Scotch attendants) immediately behind. In the background are the
officers of the Royal household and others. Just in front of the City
Griffin the Lord Mayor is seen preparing to mount his horse, an
operation in which the police and some officials exhibit an anxious
interest.]
So the magnificent cortège passed on up Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill to
St. Paul's. At the steps of the west front of the great Cathedral was to
take place that religious ceremony which was to be the central point in
the great celebration. On either side of the portico was erected a huge
stand, set apart for ambassadors and other officials who had no place in
the Procession. The right-hand stand facing Ludgate Hill was occupied by
a splendid company of Indian Rajahs and other Oriental notabilities. On
the steps themselves were 500 choristers, and bands. Soon after the
Queen left Buckingham Palace the Archbishops and other officiating
clergy took their stand upon the Cathedral steps. The Archbishops of
York and Canterbury wore purple coronation copes, the Bishop of London a
splendid new yellow cope, the Dean and Chapter copes of green, gold, and
white, while the Bishop of Winchester, as Prelate of the Order of the
Garter, wore the dark blue robes of that Order. The Marquis of
Salisbury, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, and the Right Hon. Joseph
Chamberlain were the most noticeable figures in the great assemblage of
distinguished laymen collected at this point.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
LORD ROBERTS SUPERINTENDING THE ARRANGEMENTS IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.
The two Sheriffs are seen in the immediate foreground, followed by the
officers representing the Yeomanry, Militia, and Volunteers, and by
Equerries, Gentlemen-in-Waiting, and Attachés. Lord Roberts stands in
the centre of the open space. On the right is the pavilion erected on
the site of a demolished warehouse.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by T. C. Turner & Co., Barnsbury._
HER MAJESTY'S ARRIVAL IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.
The photograph was taken from the front of the Cathedral, looking down
Ludgate Hill, and shows the Princes and Representatives of Foreign
Sovereigns in the foreground, some of whom are just taking up their
positions within the enclosure. The carriages containing the Princesses
are parked in the open space beyond.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
THE CEREMONY AT ST. PAUL'S
The photograph was taken immediately after the conclusion of the
Service, when Her Majesty (whose face is clearly seen) turned to receive
the congratulations of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge.
The latter is in the act of addressing the Queen; the Prince is close
behind him. The Princess of Wales and Princess Christian are the other
occupants of the carriage; the latter holds her fan to screen her face
from the sun. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Temple) stands directly
above the Queen.]
The religious ceremony was short. It commenced with the intonation of
the Te Deum by the assembled choristers, and ended with the Benediction,
pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Old Hundredth was
then sung, followed by the National Anthem, the strains being taken up
by the general public all round the Cathedral, and then the Archbishop,
acting on a sudden and most happy impulse, called for three cheers for
the Queen. It is not too much to say that Her Majesty has never been
greeted with a more enthusiastic salvo from the throats of her people
than she received on this occasion.
On the conclusion of this most impressive ceremony the Colonial
contingent, who had hitherto led the Procession, and who had been
stationed at the north side of the Cathedral meanwhile, fell into
position behind the gallant Royal Irish Constabulary men and the
squadron of Royal Horse Guards, who had until now formed the rear escort
of the Royal Procession.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by the London Stereoscopic Co._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: EQUERRIES, GENTLEMEN-IN-WAITING, AND MILITARY
ATTACHÉS PASSING THE EASTERN END OF CHEAPSIDE.
The boys of Christ's Hospital ("Blue-Coat School") occupy the open space
between the Mansion House and the opposite corner of Queen Victoria
Street.]
[Sidenote: At the Mansion House.]
At a quarter to one the Queen's carriage halted outside the Mansion
House. The Lady Mayoress presented Her Majesty with an exquisite bouquet
of orchids in a beautiful silver basket. "The Queen," says a writer in
the _Times_, "was graciously pleased to accept the gift, and twice said
to her Ladyship, 'I am too grateful,' at the same time extending her
hand to the Lady Mayoress, who kissed it."
It is needless to trace the progress of the Empress-Queen through the
districts inhabited by her poorer, but no less affectionate,
people--from the City to London Bridge, in Southwark, in Lambeth, and on
over Westminster Bridge. Everywhere her reception was the same--a
magnificent outburst of love and devotion.
[Illustration: _G. F. Watts, R. A._} {_Photo by F. Hollyer._
THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
Lord Robert Cecil, eldest surviving son of the second Marquis, was born
at Hatfield in 1830, and educated at Eton and Christchurch, Oxford. M.P.
for Stamford, 1853-1868, when he succeeded to the Marquisate. Secretary
of State for India, 1866-67, and 1874-78. Minister Plenipotentiary at
the Constantinople Conference, 1876; Foreign Secretary, 1878-80. With
Lord Beaconsfield he represented England at the Berlin Conference in
1878. Leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Peers since 1881;
Premier 1885-86, 1886-1892, and since 1895.]
The stand that had been erected for the Members of Parliament at
Westminster occupied almost the whole space between the Clock Tower and
the river, and was crowded in every corner. Places had been balloted for
and Conservatives and Radicals were found seated together in the utmost
harmony, differences of political opinion being entirely forgotten in
the universal desire to see the procession, and to do honour to the
great lady who was the centre and cynosure of all. When the Queen's
carriage came in sight the Members rose in one body and cheered as they
had never cheered even their chosen leaders in the House itself. This
assuredly is a testimony to the universal esteem in which Her Majesty is
held by the Nation at large. There were about 600 Members, representing
every shade of political feeling throughout the three kingdoms,
rivalling one another in their eagerness to display their devotion to
the hereditary head of the State. It is safe to say that no
popularly-elected president of any existing Republic would be greeted in
the streets of his capital by all classes of his fellow-citizens with a
tithe of the respect, admiration, and affection accorded to our
constitutional Monarch on this day of her Jubilee. The Sovereigns of the
other European States--some of whom are wont to exact loyalty at the
point of the sword--may well have envied the happy lot of a Queen whose
chief protection is her people's love.
[Sidenote: Return to the Palace.]
At a quarter to two the Queen re-entered Buckingham Palace. Right nobly
had she borne herself throughout the trying ordeal. Some there were who
said they had never seen Her Majesty looking better in her life; others,
keener of sight, perhaps, fancied that under that cheerful exterior
traces of great emotion were clearly to be detected. Certain it is that
on more than one occasion the Queen nearly broke down, "and once, as the
tears rolled down her face, the Princess of Wales leant forward, and
sympathetically pressed her hand."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by the London Stereoscopic Co._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE CARRIAGES PASSING DOWN KING WILLIAM STREET.
In the nearest carriage are the Duchess of York, Princess Victoria of
Wales, Princess Henry of Prussia, and the Grand Duke of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by the London Stereoscopic Co._
THE NAVAL CONTINGENT CROSSING LONDON BRIDGE INTO SOUTHWARK.
Both Processions on Jubilee day--the Colonial and the Royal--were headed
by a few Life Guards and a strong naval detachment. In the case of the
Royal Procession the bluejackets dragged after them six naval guns--no
light labour, but performed with an ease and smartness which won
universal admiration.]
More than human must she have been had she been able to pass without
emotion through those millions of loving men and women shouting
themselves hoarse in the exuberance of their loyalty. Sixty years a
Queen, with such a celebration to mark the sixtieth year! Not when
Solomon reigned in all his glory--not when the Roman conqueror rode in
triumph along the Appian Way to receive the plaudits of Imperial
Rome--not when Napoleon the Great snatched the Emperor's diadem from the
Pope and placed it on his own brows--had a single human being been the
centre of so much earthly splendour before.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by C. Bertschinger._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY PASSING ST. GEORGE'S
CIRCUS, BOROUGH.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE QUEEN'S COLONIAL ESCORT, CONSISTING OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH OF THE COLONIAL CAVALRY DETACHMENTS, PASSING
WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.
The photograph is taken from the Clock Tower of the House of Commons.
Owing to the winding of the river, the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral can
be seen on the extreme left, over the warehouses on the Surrey side.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE BANDS OF THE 1ST LIFE GUARDS AND DRAGOON
GUARDS PASSING THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.]
[Sidenote: Presents to the Queen.]
Some mention should be made of the presents given to the Queen by her
royal kinsmen and her household. The Princes and Princesses more nearly
related to the head of the House of Hanover had prepared a pleasant
surprise in the shape of a copy of Mr. Holmes's authorised "Life of the
Queen," bound in covers of purest gold. Two hundred ounces of gold were
used, and the only ornaments consisted of the Imperial monogram
surmounted by a Crown, and having at its base a scroll bearing the
legend, "1837: June 20: 1897." These were composed of 352 diamonds, with
rubies and emeralds set in red enamel. On the back cover were engraved
facsimiles of the signatures of the various royal subscribers. A
magnificent brooch of diamonds and pearls was presented to Her Majesty
by the Princess of Wales, her children, the Duchess of York, and the
Duke of Fife. From her household the Queen received a bracelet of
beautiful workmanship composed of round medallions set in brilliants,
with large rubies and sapphires at intervals. On the medallions were
engraved the rose, shamrock, and thistle, the lotus-flower representing
the Colonies. The Queen was highly pleased with this token of the
affection of her household, and wore it at all the State dinners. The
design was the work of H.R.H. Princess Henry of Battenberg.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE ESCORT OF PRINCES AND REPRESENTATIVES OF
FOREIGN POWERS.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. Frith & Co._
RETURN OF THE ROYAL PROCESSION: THE ESCORT OF OFFICERS OF IMPERIAL
SERVICE TROOPS ENTERING THE PALACE YARD.]
[Sidenote: Congratulations from Abroad.]
In addition to the innumerable addresses which the Queen received from
every part of her dominions, an immense number of congratulatory
messages was sent from foreign countries. The quaintest of all was that
of the United States. It was delivered to Her Majesty by the Honourable
Whitelaw Reid, the Special Ambassador, who was conspicuous in the
Jubilee Procession as the only man partaking in it in everyday attire.
He wore evening dress and an opera hat. The text of the address was as
follows:--
"To Her Majesty VICTORIA, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,
Empress of India.
"Great and good friend, in the name and on behalf of the people
of the United States, I present their sincere felicitations upon
the sixtieth anniversary of your Majesty's accession to the
Crown of Great Britain.
"I express the sentiments of my fellow-citizens in wishing for
your people the prolongation of a reign which has been
illustrious and marked by advance in science, arts, and popular
well-being. On behalf of my countrymen I wish particularly to
recognise your friendship for the United States and your love of
peace exemplified upon important occasions.
"It is pleasing to acknowledge the debt of gratitude and respect
due to your personal virtues.
"May your life be prolonged, and peace, honour, and prosperity
bless the people over whom you have been called to rule. May
liberty nourish throughout your Empire under just and equal
laws, and your government continue strong in the affections of
all who live under it. And I pray that God may have your Majesty
in His holy keeping.
"Your good friend,
"WILLIAM M'KINLEY.
"Done at Washington this 28th day of May, A.D. 1897,
by the President.
"JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons, Baker Street._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: HER MAJESTY'S CARRIAGE IN WHITEHALL.
On the right is seen a portion of the banqueting hall of the former
Royal Palace of Whitehall, and next to it a grand stand seating 4,000
persons. The Queen's carriage is turning to pass through the Horse
Guards' gate into the Mall.]
[Sidenote: The Royal Dinner.]
In the evening of the great day the Queen entertained an
illustrious company of foreign Princes at dinner in Buckingham
Palace. Here is the menu:--Potages--Bernoise à l'Impératrice,
Parmentier; Poissons--Whitebait, Filets de Saumon à la Norvégienne;
Entrées--Timbales à la Monte Carlo, Cailles à la d'Uxelle;
Relevés--Poulets à la Demidon, Roast Beef; Roti--Poulardes farcies;
Entremets--Pois sautés au beurre, Pouding Cambaceres, Pain d'Oranges à
la Cintra, Canapés à la Princesse; Side Table--Hot and cold roast,
fowls, Tongue, Cold beef, Salade. A great bouquet of orchids was placed
on the dining-table immediately opposite where Her Majesty sat.
[Illustration: BROOCH OF DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
Presented to the Queen by the members of her household, and worn by Her
Majesty on State occasions during the Jubilee. The original is much
larger than this engraving; it measures 2-7/8 inches across.]
[Sidenote: Jubilee Honours.]
The list of Jubilee honours published in the newspapers of June 22
presented some features of great interest. The most popular elevations
were those of the eleven Colonial Prime Ministers to the dignity of
Privy Councillors. It was felt that the nucleus of the long-dreamed-of
Pan-Britannic Council had been formed. The elevation of Mr. W. E. H.
Lecky, one of the members for the Dublin University, to the same dignity
was recognised as a graceful compliment to the world of learning. The
baronetcy conferred on the Lord Mayor of London was well-deserved, for
no Lord Mayor had done so much in the present century to enhance the
reputation of the Mansion House for philanthropic enterprise and lavish
hospitality. Two new Lord Mayoralties, those of Sheffield and Leeds,
were created; and three towns, Nottingham, Bradford, and
Kingston-upon-Hull, were raised to the importance of cities. In late
years peerages have generally been bestowed on men who have achieved
greatness in the commercial world, and no choice could have been happier
than that of Sir John Burns, Bart., the head of the Cunard Steamship
Company, while that conferred on the Right Hon. Sir Donald Smith,
G.C.M.G., was held to be as much a compliment to the man himself as to
the Dominion of Canada, of which he was High Commissioner.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RIGHT HON. SIR HUGH M. NELSON,
PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND.
Born at Kilmarnock in Scotland in 1835, educated at Edinburgh High
School and University. Settled in Moreton Bay District in 1853, entered
the Legislative Assembly 1883, became Minister for Railways 1888-90,
Leader of Opposition 1891, Minister without portfolio 1892, Colonial
Treasurer 1893, Premier in November of the same year.]
Generally speaking, a more ample recognition of the claims of the
Colonial Empire, as well as of Art and Science at home, marked the
Diamond Jubilee honours list.
[Illustration: _By permission of_} {_F. Sanders & Co., Florists, St.
Albans._
DIAMOND JUBILEE ORCHID TROPHY.
This beautiful bouquet adorned the Royal Dinner Table on June 22. It
stood 8 feet 6 inches high and measured 6 feet through, and was arranged
in a gilded wicker basket. The upper portion took the form of a royal
crown, beneath which were the letters V. R. I., each a foot in length,
composed of Epidendrum Vitellinum on a ground of Odontoglossum
Citrosmum. Orchids from Australia, South Africa, New Guinea, Burmah,
British Guiana, the West Indies, and other parts of Her Majesty's
dominions were among the 50,000 to 60,000 flowers employed in this, the
most magnificent bouquet ever constructed.]
It was hoped by many that advantage would have been taken of this unique
occasion to extend the sovereign dignity of the Queen, so that it might
include not only the United Kingdom and India but also the
English-speaking Colonies. The addition of the names of the Colonies to
the legend on the coinage would have followed this step as a natural
corollary, and there can be no doubt it would have found favour with the
great majority of the Queen's subjects at home and abroad. Reasons of
State may have interfered, but they cannot be insuperable, and we may
look forward with confidence to the time when Parliament will decorate
the Queen with this splendid honour.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
THE RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG,
PREMIER OF CAPE COLONY.
Son of the late Rev. J. Sprigg, of Ipswich; born in 1830. He worked on
the Hansard staff of the House of Commons; went to Africa for his health
in 1858 and settled there. Entered the Cape Parliament in 1869. He has
been thrice Prime Minister; also Finance Minister under Mr. Rhodes,
1893-96.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symonds & Co., Portsmouth._
THE NAVAL REVIEW, June 26, 1897: THE FLEET SALUTING.]
CHAPTER III.
Illuminations in London--Festivities in the Provinces and the
Colonies---Addresses of Congratulation from the Lords and
Commons--Gathering of School Children on Constitution
Hill--State Performance at the Opera--The Princess of Wales's
Dinners to the Poor--State Reception--Special Performance at the
Lyceum--Torchlight Evolutions by Etonians at Windsor--Naval
Review at Spithead--The Fleet Illuminated--The Colonial Troops
at the Naval Review.
[Sidenote: Illuminations in London.]
On the evening of June 22, and for two or three days following, London
was ablaze with illuminations. In the city especially these were on a
scale of unparalleled magnificence. The Bank of England was fringed and
festooned with myriads of many-coloured lamps, while from the parapet of
the corner which looks towards Cheapside there glowed and scintillated a
dazzling fan-shaped device of huge size. Over the chief entrance
appeared the following inscription in letters of living fire: "She
Wrought Her People Lasting Good." The pillars of the Mansion House and
the Royal Exchange were entwined with bands of light, and every detail
of their architecture was accentuated by rows of tiny lamps. In this,
the very heart of London, it was as light as day. It may be mentioned
that 35,000 gas jets were used in decorating the Mansion House alone.
[Illustration: ST. PAUL'S ILLUMINATED.]
[Illustration: _E. H. Fitchew._}
THE MONUMENT ILLUMINATED.]
Moving westward with the vast throng of well-behaved sightseers, the
next point of great interest was the dome of St. Paul's. It had been
suggested that the Cathedral should be illuminated, as were the other
important buildings in the city, but the possibility of danger from fire
acted as a deterrent. Instead of this, powerful electric search-lights
were focussed on the dome and west front with wonderful effect. The dome
stood up clear against the dark sky, and the stonework supporting and
crowning it glowed like whitest marble. It is said that the expense of
this installation was at the rate of £1,400 a night.
On every side of the route down Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, and the
Strand, and more westward still, through Pall Mall, St. James's, and
Mayfair, iridescent stars and crowned monograms glowed like titanic
jewels from a thousand buildings. Fleet Street and the Strand were
garlanded across with festoons of many-coloured globes, and the streets
of this part of the town resembled nothing so much as an unending
triumphal arch of rainbow-hued fire. Observed from Waterloo Place, Pall
Mall seemed literally ablaze with general conflagration, so lavishly
were the Clubs illuminated. The beautiful floral arches which crossed
St. James's Street at every few feet were beaded with numberless
electric glow-lamps, and these were to have been set alight by the
Princess of Wales touching a button in Marlborough House. But on the
previous day some unexplained defect in the electric circuit had
resulted in the ignition of a portion of the illuminations, and it was
considered unsafe to try the experiment again. Marlborough House had
over the entrance gates a branch of laurel of various natural tints,
interspersed with red berries, forming one main arch over the gateway,
and two side arches over the doors. The main laurel arch supported an
oval medallion, surmounted by a crown, and bore the monogram "V.R.I."
surrounded by a garter. The side arches carried a Prince of Wales's
plume and badge. The whole of this was in cut crystal. The residence of
the Duke of York had a pretty wreath of white rose and pink may (the
former the emblem of the Royal House of York, the latter prettily
suggestive of the Duchess's name), with the monogram, "V.R.I." in the
centre. This device was carried out in gas jets. Piccadilly, Regent
Street, and Oxford Street were not so generally illuminated as those
thoroughfares we have already mentioned, but individual establishments
approached very closely to the high level attained elsewhere.
[Illustration:
A. Shot Tower.
B. Whitehall Court.
C. Hotel Metropole.
D. Hotel Cecil.
E. Savoy Hotel.
F. Embankment.
LONDON ILLUMINATED: THE VIEW WESTWARD FROM BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.]
[Illustration: _Holland Tringham, R.B.A._}
THE MANSION HOUSE ILLUMINATED.]
[Illustration: _Holland Tringham, R.B.A._}
THE BANK OF ENGLAND ILLUMINATED.]
And everywhere through the most richly-decorated streets there moved an
enormous throng of admirably-behaved people. Well into the small hours
of the night the millions of London strolled leisurely along the
principal highways of their great city. Disorder and riot were
conspicuous by their absence.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. Temple._
JUBILEE DAY AT SANDRINGHAM: THE CHILDREN'S TEA.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by G. Temple._
OUTDOOR SERVICE AT SANDRINGHAM ON JUBILEE DAY.]
[Sidenote: Provincial and Colonial Celebrations.]
It is safe to say that every town and village in England and Scotland
had its own miniature celebration, its own procession, its own feast for
the poor, its sports, or its firework display. At Sandringham a service
was held on the hill outside the church. About 2,000 children from the
various parts of the Prince of Wales' estate had tea in tents in the
cricket ground. In Liverpool the principal streets were lavishly
decorated, and about midday there was a procession of trades and
friendly societies, in which about 8,000 persons took part. On the river
there was a grand display of mercantile vessels dressed from stem to
stern in flags. The Corporation of Manchester had generously voted
£10,000 towards the Jubilee festivities. The streets were gaily
decorated, and in the morning 100,000 children were entertained at
breakfast and presented with Jubilee medals. In Birmingham there was a
great historical procession, and in the evening displays of fireworks in
three of the public parks. Many places commemorated the event by
building new hospitals or by placing those already existing on a sound
financial basis. The generosity of the citizens of Newcastle-on-Tyne was
such that a fund of £100,000 was raised for the purpose of establishing
a new infirmary. In the city of York the round of gaieties commenced at
the Mansion House, where the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress entertained to
breakfast the members of the Corporation and the Jubilee Committee. At
noon a thanksgiving service was held in the Minster. To the young people
of the city the occasion was made an eventful one, for 14,000 of them,
along with 1,300 teachers, assembled at 1.15 p.m. at their respective
schools, where each was presented with a medal commemorative of the
occasion. At night various points of the city were illuminated; a
powerful search-light lit up the country for miles around, this being
fixed on the central tower of the Cathedral, the west front of which was
also illuminated with coloured fires. All over the country the occasion
was made one of real rejoicing for the poor and needy, public and
private enterprise co-operating to entertain them in the most hospitable
manner.
There was a great bonfire display in Scotland. For a fortnight ten
Highland ponies had been carrying materials up Ben Nevis. The brush-wood
came chiefly from the neighbouring deer forest in Glen Nevis, and many
loads of peat from the Distillery mosses. A shower of "May" rockets gave
the signal to the bonfires on the neighbouring hills to make ready, and
a few seconds before 10.30 Mrs. Cameron Campbell of Monzie touched the
wire at the foot of the hill, and on the stroke of time the huge beacon
burst into a brilliant sheet of flame, and was answered from hill after
hill throughout Scotland. At the same time the following telegrams were
despatched:--
"To Big Ben, Westminster:--'Our Highland hills in blazing bonfires join
with London's illuminations in honour of our Queen.'" "To the Lord
Mayor, London:--'O'er loch and glen our bonfires shine to greet with you
our Queen.'"
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RIGHT HON. CHAS. C. KINGSTON,
PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Son of the late Sir George S. Kingston, Speaker of the South Australian
House of Assembly. Born at Adelaide in 1850; studied Law, and is a Q.C.
and Attorney-General for the Colony. Entered the Colonial Parliament in
1881, and has represented the same constituency (West Adelaide) ever
since. He became Prime Minister in 1893, and is President of the Federal
Convention.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
THE RIGHT HON. SIR WILLIAM V. WHITEWAY, Q.C.,
PREMIER OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
Younger son of the late Thomas Whiteway, of Buckyett, Devon; born 1828.
He went as a boy to Newfoundland, and, studying law, became a barrister
at St. John's in 1852, and Q.C. in 1862. Appointed Speaker of the House
of Assembly in 1864-69; he has since held every ministerial office in
the gift of the Newfoundland Government, which he has also represented
on numerous delegations and commissions. Attorney General and Premier of
the Colony, 1878-84, 1889-94, and since 1895.]
In all two thousand five hundred bonfires that had been erected on as
many eminences throughout the United Kingdom were set alight at about
half-past ten o'clock at night, and as the fires of these great beacons
died down there faded away into history the greatest day of rejoicing
the Anglo-Saxon has known since the glad news arrived that the conqueror
of Europe had been overthrown at Waterloo.
[Illustration: THE JUBILEE IN HIGH LATITUDES: ELMWOOD, FRANZ JOSEF LAND.
It is characteristic of our nation and our times that at this, the most
northerly outpost of civilized man--the head-quarters of the
Jackson-Harmsworth Polar Expedition--the Jubilee was celebrated "with
all the ardour of Big Englanders."]
The Colonies were as enthusiastic as the Old Country in their
celebrations of the Jubilee. In Ottawa there was a gathering of 7,000
school children on Parliament Hill. Each of the children carried a Union
Jack, and when these were waved together, while the National Anthem was
being sung, the effect is described as having been very remarkable. At
night the Parliament House was ablaze with 10,000 incandescent lamps, an
inscription on the right or Senate wing reading "God save the Queen,"
while on the left or Commons wing the device read "Dieu sauve la
Reine." Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg had each its own
well-arranged festivities. In Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, and in
the cities of New Zealand, the day was kept as a general holiday, the
decorations and illuminations being splendid in every case. In Cape Town
there was a review of troops and a huge procession headed by the Naval
Brigade. In Egypt, at Lagos, Sierra Leone, and at Mauritius, in the far
east at Singapore, at Hong Kong, and at Shanghai, in the East Indies and
the West Indies, in British Honduras and British Guiana--everywhere
where the Union Jack flies Her Majesty's subjects gathered together to
do her honour. Save only in her Empire of India, where the hearts of men
were hardly in tune with the festive spirit of the day. Yet, in spite of
the recent earthquake, which had shaken Calcutta to its foundations; in
spite of the plague, now happily only lingering in Bombay, and the
devastations of the recent famine, India was not without her joyful
celebrations, these appropriately taking the form, for the most part, of
acts of charity and mercy.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
THE SPEAKER IN HIS STATE COACH BEARING THE COMMONS' ADDRESS TO HER
MAJESTY.]
[Sidenote: Addresses from Lords and Commons.]
On Wednesday, June 23, the Lord Chancellor (Lord Halsbury) carried the
address of congratulation of the Upper House to Buckingham Palace, and
presented it to the Queen. This address had been moved in the House of
Lords by the Marquis of Salisbury on Monday, June 21, in the following
terms:--
"That a humble address be presented to Her Majesty on the auspicious
completion of the sixtieth year of her happy reign, and to assure Her
Majesty that this House proudly shares the great joy with which her
people celebrate the longest, the most prosperous, and the most
illustrious reign in their history, joining with them in praying
earnestly for the continuance during many years of Her Majesty's life
and health."
Mr. Speaker Gully, arrayed in his handsome Robes of State, went in his
great old gilded State coach to the Palace with a similar message from
the Commons.
[Sidenote: Gathering of School Children.]
The same day the Queen left town for Windsor. A touching ceremony marked
the occasion. At Her Majesty's special request, the stands on
Constitution Hill were filled with 10,000 children from the Board
Schools and Voluntary Schools of all denominations. By four o'clock in
the afternoon the children were in their places, and were regaled with
buns, milk, and sweets. At about a quarter to five Her Majesty--with
whom were the Empress Frederick, Princess Henry of Battenberg, and the
Duke of Connaught--drove up from Buckingham Palace. The children rose in
their places and cheered their Queen to the echo, and immediately
afterwards they sang the National Anthem, the band of the Grenadier
Guards leading. "While the voices filled the air with the grand old
melody, Her Majesty turned upon the singers a face radiant with love and
happiness. Those who think of Her Majesty as 'the Queen-mother' should
have looked upon her then to have found a realisation of the ideal."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._
HER MAJESTY AND THE SCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ROYAL PROCESSION PASSING UP
CONSTITUTION HILL.
The carriage nearest the spectator contains the Duke and Duchess of
York, Prince Edward of York, and Prince Henry of Prussia.]
A State Performance at the Opera was, however, the principal feature in
the Jubilee programme of June 23. With the exception of the Queen
herself, almost every Royal personage who had taken part in the Jubilee
Procession of the day before was present, and a special box on the right
of the Royal Box was reserved for the Colonial Prime Ministers and their
wives. The house was decorated from floor to ceiling with roses of every
shade--some 60,000 blossoms being used for this purpose. Boxes on the
grand tier, which had been sold by the management for £50 for the
evening, were sold again at prices ranging up to £150, while the stalls
realised £10 at least in every case. Famous as Covent Garden is for
splendid "houses," the brilliant assemblage on this evening quite
eclipsed all previous gatherings.
It is not too much to say that the whole social world of the country was
there. The handsome uniforms of the men, the beauty, diamonds, and
dresses of the ladies, set in a frame of so much floral magnificence,
made up a scene the splendour of which was never likely to fade from the
memory of anyone who witnessed it. In all that gorgeous company none
attracted as much admiration as the Princess of Wales. Simply dressed in
white satin, with the red sash of some Order across her shoulders, and
wearing a crown of diamonds, Her Royal Highness was, by universal
consent, the queen of beauty in a house full of the most beautiful women
in the three kingdoms.
It was only to have been expected, perhaps, that the most
generally-approved Jubilee celebration should have been inaugurated by
the same most charming Princess. This was nothing less than the
entertaining at dinner of 300,000 of the London poor. The feast took
place in different large buildings all over the poorer parts of the
Metropolis. The Princess, accompanied by His Royal Highness and the
Princesses Victoria of Wales and Charles of Denmark, drove round and was
personally present at as many as possible of the dining halls. At the
People's Palace, in the Mile End Road, where 1,600 crippled children
feasted, Her Royal Highness went in and out among the children,
bestowing here and there a smile, and here and there a few words of
kindly encouragement.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph taken for this Work_} {_by T. C.
Hepworth._
THE PRINCESS OF WALES'S DINNERS: THE DINNER TO CRIPPLED CHILDREN AT THE
PEOPLE'S PALACE.
The Princess of Wales stands in the centre of the platform with the
Prince of Wales on her right. The photograph was taken during the
"silence for Grace."]
[Sidenote: State Reception.]
A State Reception at Buckingham Palace, where Her Majesty was
represented by the Prince and Princess of Wales, brought the festivities
of June 24 to a close.
[Sidenote: Special Performance at the Lyceum.]
Friday, the 25th, was marked by an afternoon performance of "The Bells"
and "The Story of Waterloo" at the Lyceum Theatre, to which the men of
the Colonial Contingent had been kindly invited by Sir Henry Irving. Sir
Henry was uproariously cheered on his first appearance and at every
interval during the afternoon, and after the splendid presentation of
"The Bells" he was called again and again before the curtain, and
finally compelled to make a speech. He said:--
"Ladies and Gentlemen--I will say my dear comrades--for your greeting
to-day proves that we are comrades, one and all--I cannot tell you how
great a delight and pleasure it has been to us to have the honour, the
privilege, and the pride of making you welcome here to-day, and I
hope--I can but hope--that centuries hence our children will hold very
dear to them the spirit which gives us the opportunity of meeting you;
that spirit of love for our Queen and our country--that great nation
which you typify--which is the strength and glory and power of it; and
of that sweet and gracious lady, that beloved Queen of ours, for whom
your swords will flash and our hearts will pray. I thank you with all my
heart and soul for your welcome, and I thank you on behalf of one and
all behind this curtain, and we send our most cordial greeting to one
and all in front."
[Sidenote: Torchlight Evolutions by Etonians.]
Eton College has always enjoyed the favour of royalty, and on the
evening of Saturday, June 26, the boys furnished one of the most
picturesque celebrations of Jubilee time. In the morning the Queen had
entertained, in the Home Park at Windsor, five or six thousand children.
After that a grand review of firemen from all parts of the country took
place. At ten o'clock in the evening the Queen took up her place in a
window in the east corridor, and the Eton boys filed into the Quadrangle
(many of them in the uniform of their Volunteer Corps) each boy carrying
a torch or a lantern. A beautiful effect was produced when the boys went
through a variety of intricate evolutions.
[Illustration: _Lucien Davis, R.I._}
THE STATE RECEPTION AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE: ENTRANCE OF THE PRINCE AND
PRINCESS OF WALES.]
[Sidenote: The Naval Review.]
All this time the Naval Review at Spithead had been a-preparing. Every
nation that boasts a Navy had sent a ship, and the streets of Portsmouth
were filled with our own bluejackets and those belonging to the foreign
ships. All the World had come to see for herself what the British Fleet
was like, and we were able to provide such a Naval spectacle as has
never been witnessed before. Just as on June 22 we had furnished forth
an Imperial pageant demonstrating the scope and strength of our dominion
over the land surface of the globe, so now, on Saturday, June 26, we
showed that our sovereignty over the seas is as far reaching and even
more absolute. Without taking one single vessel from the Mediterranean,
from the Chinese Seas, from Australia, India, or North America, we
displayed at Spithead such a congregation of ships of war as filled with
amazement and despair those representatives of alien Powers who knew our
sea-going prowess only by repute. In all about 165 ships of our Navy
rode at ease, in four long lines and two short ones in the narrow
Strait, and they were manned by 40,000 officers and men. The length of
the lines of British ships aggregated nearly thirty miles! The
Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, G.C.B., V.C., flew his
flag on the _Renown_.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph taken for this Work_} {_by T. C.
Hepworth._
THE ROYAL VISIT TO THE PEOPLE'S PALACE.
The photograph shows the Princess of Wales with her two daughters, the
Princess Victoria and Princess Charles of Denmark (Princess Maud), who
have just entered the carriage after seeing the crippled children at
dinner. The Princess's bouquet is being handed to her. The Prince is
approaching the carriage. The Lord Mayor is seen standing by the pillar
over the centre of the carriage.]
Painful, indeed, must have been the reflections of those
strangely-constituted Britons--if any were present--whose interest in
public affairs is limited to the squalid area of parochial politics, as
their eyes ranged over the water in the direction of this mighty fleet.
With what vain regret must such as these have looked back on the days,
some ten or a dozen years since, when British Naval supremacy was but a
name--when we had few ships, and those out of date, and few men to man
them. Alas! for the fond anticipations of those who were looking forward
to the time when Britain should throw away her Empire and sink to the
prosperous unimportance of a Belgium, the cheerful mediocrity of a
Holland. There, at Spithead, was overwhelming proof that such views are
not shared by the great bulk of British people, whether Liberals,
Radicals, or Conservatives; that power is still sweet to the ruling
race; that that Empire which has been bought with the blood of the
Anglo-Saxon will be maintained in its integrity at any cost. Here they
lay in serried ranks on the moving waters, orderly as soldiers on a
parade ground--the steel-clad champions of a nation's honour--as
powerful to compel peace as to put the issue of war out of question if
war must come.
[Illustration: [_Fred T. Jane._
TORCHLIGHT EVOLUTIONS BY THE ETON BOYS IN THE QUADRANGLE OF WINDSOR
CASTLE.]
Exactly at eight o'clock the combined fleet began to decorate itself
with a million flags, taking time from the Commander-in-Chief's
flagship. The unnumbered merchant and pleasure craft of all kinds that
dotted the waters and lay still at moorings by the quays were already
gay with streaming pennants, nor were the fourteen battleships of the
foreign powers behindhand in embellishing themselves for the great
review. Some time before two o'clock the business of clearing the lines
for the procession commenced, and at two precisely a Royal salute of
guns on shore announced that the Royal yacht was under way. Not long
afterwards the _Victoria and Albert_, with the Prince of Wales on board,
preceded by the Trinity House yacht _Irene_, approached the head of the
lines. Royal salutes and the cheers of bluejackets marked the passage of
the Royal yacht along and through the lines. The _Victoria and Albert_
was followed by a train of vessels--the Peninsular and Oriental
Company's liner, the _Carthage_, carrying those Royal guests for whom
there was no accommodation on the _Victoria and Albert_; then another
Royal yacht, the _Alberta_; then the _Enchantress_, with the Lords of
the Admiralty and their friends; next the _Danube_, carrying the members
of the House of Lords; after her the _Wildfire_, with the Colonial Prime
Ministers and their suites and the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain,
Secretary of State for the Colonies, on board; then again the superb
Cunard liner, the _Campania_, carrying the House of Commons; and lastly
the _Eldorado_, with the foreign Ambassadors. The procession occupied
two hours in traversing the lines. Before the proceedings terminated the
_Victoria and Albert_ anchored abreast of the flagship _Renown_ and the
Prince of Wales received all flag officers, British and foreign, on
board, After this ceremony the Royal yacht weighed anchor and returned
to Portsmouth, receiving, as she departed, three cheers from every ship
in the fleet. Simultaneously with the arrival of the Prince of Wales in
Portsmouth Harbour the following signal was made to the fleet by Admiral
Sir Nowell Salmon:--"I am commanded by the Prince of Wales, as
representing the Queen, to express his entire satisfaction with the
magnificent naval display at Spithead and the perfect manner in which
all the arrangements were carried out, and at his request I order the
main-brace to be spliced." Splicing the main-brace, it should be
explained, involves the serving out of an extra allowance of grog, and
is still a very popular order with our man-o'-war's men. Almost
immediately after this a thunderstorm burst, accompanied by a deluge of
rain, and for some hours the "city of ships" was lost in an impenetrable
haze.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Gregory & Co._
ADMIRAL SIR NOWELL SALMON, V.C.
In command of the Fleet during the Jubilee Review.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West, Southsea._
THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE ROYAL YACHT PASSING BETWEEN THE LINES OF BRITISH
AND FOREIGN SHIPS.
The United States cruiser, _Brooklyn_, painted white, is a conspicuous
object in the line of foreign men-of-war. The battleship in the
foreground is H.M.S. _Victorious_.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West, Southsea._
THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE ROYAL YACHT ANCHORED ABREAST OF H.M.S. "RENOWN."]
[Illustration: _Charles Dixon._}
THE NAVAL REVIEW: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE FLEET AT ANCHOR IN SPITHEAD,
June 26, 1897.
The line E consists of Merchant Vessels, anchored on the south or Isle
of Wight side of Spithead. Line A consists of Foreign Men-of-war. The
total number of British War Ships occupying stations in Spithead was
165. Of these lines B and C comprised fifty-nine Battleships and
Cruisers in the following order, starting from the left or eastward
end:--
Line B--1, _Magnificent_; 2, _Royal Sovereign_; 3, _Repulse_; 4,
_Resolution_; 5, _Empress of India_; 6, _Majestic_; 7, _Prince
George_; 8, _Mars_; 9, _Jupiter_; 10, _Victorious_; 11, _Renown_
(Commander-in-Chief); 12, _Powerful_; 13, _Blake_; 14,
_Blenheim_; 15, _Royal Arthur_; 16, _Theseus_; 17, _Thetis_; 18,
_Flora_; 19, _Naiad_; 20, _Tribune_; 21, _Terpsichore_; 22,
_Sirius_; 23 (station not occupied); 24, _Hermione_; 25,
_Andromache_; 26, _Sappho_; 27, _Spartan_; 28, _Latona_; 29,
_Brilliant_; 30, _Charybdis_.
Line C--1, _Sans Pareil_; 2, _Howe_; 3, _Benbow_; 4,
_Collingwood_; 5, _Inflexible_; 6, _Alexandra_; 7, _Edinburgh_;
8, _Colossus_; 9, _Devastation_; 10, _Thunderer_; 11,
_Warspite_; 12, _Terrible_; 13, _Australia_; 14, _Galatea_; 15,
_Aurora_; 16, _Edgar_; 17, _Melampus_; 18, _Endymion_; 19,
_Diana_; 20, _Isis_; 21, _Juno_; 22, _Doris_; 23, _Venus_; 24,
_Minerva_; 25, _Dido_; 26, _Apollo_; 27, _Æolus_; 28, _Phaeton_;
29, _Leander_; 30, _Bonaventure_.
Line D (thirty-eight Third-class Cruisers, Gun-vessels, and
Torpedo Gunboats)--1, _Mersey_; 2, _Pelorus_; 3, _Magicienne_;
4, _Medea_; 5, _Medusa_; 6, _Barracouta_; 7, _Curlew_; 8,
_Landrail_; 9, _Speedy_; 10, _Alarm_; 11, _Antelope_; 12,
_Jaseur_; 13, _Circe_; 14, _Gossamer_; 15, _Jason_; 16,
_Hazard_; 17, _Leda_; 18, _Niger_; 19, _Onyx_; 20,
_Rattlesnake_; 21, _Renard_; 22, _Sharpshooter_; 23, _Skipjack_;
24, _Sheldrake_; 25, _Spanker_; 26, _Gleaner_; 27, _Raven_; 28,
_Cockchafer_; 29, _Starling_; 30, _Active_; 31, _Volage_; 32,
_Calypso_; 33, _Champion_; 34, _Cailiope_; 35, _Curacoa_; 36,
_Northampton_; 37, _Agincourt_; 38, _Minotaur_.
Line F (forty-eight Destroyers and Gunboats)--1, _Halcyon_; 2,
_Lightning_; 3, _Havock_; 4, _Daring_; 5, _Hornet_; 6, _Hardy_;
7, _Whiting_; 8, _Hasty_; 9, _Hunter_; 10, _Fame_; 11, _Foam_;
12, _Spitfire_; 13, _Ranger_; 14, _Research_; 15, _Triton_; 16,
_Vivid_; 17, _Firequeen_; 18, _Albacore_; 19, ----; 20, _Jackal_;
21, ----; 22, _Decoy_; 23, _Quail_; 24, _Ferret_; 25, _Rocket_;
26, _Opossum_; 27, _Sparrowhawk_; 28, _Lynx_; 29, _Thrasher_;
30, _Skate_; 31, _Virago_; 32, _Sunfish_; 33, _Haughty_; 34,
_Desperate_; 35, _Contest_; 36, _Janus_; 37, _Salmon_; 38,
_Snapper_; 39, _Sturgeon_; 40, _Spider_; 41, ----; 42,
_Wanderer_; 43, _Liberty_; 44, _Martin_; 45, _Nautilus_; 46,
_Pilot_; 47, _Seaflower_; 48, _Sealark_.
Twenty Torpedo Boats were anchored further to the right, near the Spit
Fort, and beyond them, in Stokes Bay, as well as on the opposite side,
off Osborne, accommodation was found for a very large number of yachts
and other vessels.]
It was not destined, however, that the hundreds of thousands of
spectators who were afloat in the pleasure boats and who lined Southsea
beach and the shores of the Isle of Wight overlooking Spithead, were to
lose the most beautiful spectacle of all. As daylight faded so faded the
storm, and at a quarter-past nine o'clock, when the signal for lighting
up the ships was given by a single gun, the conditions for viewing the
illuminations were as perfect as possible. To quote again a writer, Mr.
G. W. Steevens, to whom we are already much indebted:--"The thunderstorm
was only an episode. Having done its business, it went dutifully away,
and left the field clear for the illuminations. Out on the sea front you
could see the lights of the fleet like glow-worms in the dark. Then
suddenly there sounded a gun; and as I moved along Southsea Common there
appeared in the line a ship of fire. A ship all made of fire--hull and
funnels and military masts with fighting tops. And then another, and
another, and another. The fleet revealed itself from behind the castle,
ship after ship traced in fire against the blackness. From the head of
Southsea they still came on--fresh wonders of grace and light and
splendour, stretching away, still endlessly as in the daytime, till they
became a confused glimmer six miles away. It was the fleet and yet not
the fleet. You could recognise almost any ship by her lines and
rig--just as if it had been in day, only transmuted from steel and paint
into living gold. The Admirals still flew their flags as in the day,
only to-night the flags were no longer bunting, but pure colour. The
heavy hard fleet vanished, and there came out in its stead a picture of
it magically painted in pure light.
"For three hours this miracle of brightness shone wondrously at
Spithead. At half-past eleven or so the Prince returned the second time
as before, and the golden fleet sent a thunder of salute after him.
Then, as I stood on the high roof of the Central Hotel, the clock struck
twelve, and before my eyes the golden fleet vanished--vanished clean
away in a moment. You could just see it go.
"Here half a ship broken off, there masts and funnels hanging an instant
in the air; it all vanished, and nothing at all was left except the
rigging lights, trembling faintly once more on the dark sea."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symonds & Co._
THE JAPANESE BATTLESHIP "FUJI."
Japan having so recently had experience of actual naval warfare, her
representative at Spithead came in for a considerable amount of
attention. Some of her officers had, indeed, taken part in the Battle of
the Yalu.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Symonds & Co., Portsmouth._
THE UNITED STATES' CRUISER "BROOKLYN."
This vessel attracted considerable attention on account of her peculiar
shape and up-to-date equipment. She is fitted with non-inflammable
wooden decks, and carries eight 8-inch guns in four turrets, forward,
aft, and on each beam. She is painted white, a fact which led the
irreverent tars to christen her "The Cement Factory."]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West & Son, Southsea._
THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE FLEET, LOOKING WEST.
Photographed from the Flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, the _Renown_.
The nearest vessel is H.M.S. _Powerful_; the next beyond is the _Blake_.
In the other line are the _Galatea_, _Aurora_, _Edgar_, _Melampus_,
&c.]
[Illustration: _Fred. T. Jane_}
THE FLEET ILLUMINATED: AS SEEN FROM THE WATER.]
The Naval Review of 1897 was over. It had provided a sublime spectacle
for our Colonial and foreign visitors, and it had taught a lesson that
was meant to be learned by the whole World, and was actually so learned.
A great military Power we might not be, but on the seas our dominion
was, and must ever be, unquestionable. The chorus of admiration that
arose from the Continental and American press showed that the necessity
for this pre-eminence was recognised and allowed. If we had not known it
long ourselves, our foreign critics, both friendly and hostile, had been
aware that a great navy was the paramount condition of our national
existence.
[Sidenote: The Colonial Troops at the Naval Review.]
A circumstance that concerned the gallant men of the Colonial contingent
who had taken part in the Jubilee Procession must here be touched on.
Strange as it may seem, there had been originally no provision made for
the representation at the Naval Review of the Colonial contingent. This
remissness on the part of the authorities occasioned a good deal of
surprise, which found its expression in the columns of the London _Daily
Mail_; but it was not until the newspaper in question took the matter up
in right good earnest that the authorities bestirred themselves. It was
then proposed to charter a vessel and send the Colonials down to
Portsmouth some two or three days after the Review--it being somewhat
artlessly explained that as the fleet would still be in position and the
Review well over, our visitors would enjoy a better opportunity of
examining the ships in detail! Needless to say this line of argument
found little favour with the _Daily Mail_, the _Globe_, and the other
newspapers which were now strenuously advocating the claims of our
visitors. They raised their voices once more, with the result that at
the eleventh hour the responsible officials announced that the
difficulties--whatever they were--had been surmounted, and that the
Colonial contingent were to see the Imperial fleet on the actual day of
Review in all its majesty and splendour. The fleet was again dressed and
illuminated on the following Monday--Coronation Day. Mention should be
made of a little vessel, first seen at the Review, which marks a new
departure in marine engineering. This is the _Turbinia_ torpedo-boat,
driven by steam turbines at 2,100 revolutions, accomplishing 32 or 33
knots per hour.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by A. T. Crane._
THE FLEET ILLUMINATED: AS SEEN FROM THE SHORE.
Owing to the necessity for a prolonged exposure, fireworks and
search-lights do not leave any trace upon the photographic negative.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Argent Archer, Kensington._
THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO HER BIRTHPLACE: THE SCENE OUTSIDE ST. MARY'S
CHURCH, KENSINGTON.
In the carriage with Her Majesty are the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess
Serge of Russia and Princess Henry of Battenberg. On the pavement stands
the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, with a bouquet in her hands;
the Marquis stands on her left. Opposite the carriage door is Miss
Beatrice Leete, daughter of the Vestry Clerk, from whom the Queen
graciously accepted a magnificent basket of carnations.]
CHAPTER IV.
The Queen's Visit to Kensington--Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace--Review at Aldershot--Gift of a Battleship--The Prince of
Wales's Hospital Fund--The Jubilee Medals--Conclusion.
On the Monday after the Review the Queen returned from Windsor to the
Metropolis. She was received everywhere with enthusiastic greetings of
loyalty and affection. It was no mere conventional reception this. The
Nation had realised lately, as never before, the part their Queen had
played in the building of the Empire, and one and all flocked out to do
her honour. Her Majesty had returned to London to attend the garden
party which was to be held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace in the
afternoon. On her way from Paddington Station she visited Kensington,
the place of her birth.
[Sidenote: The Queen's Visit to Kensington.]
In front of St. Mary Abbott's Church, Kensington High Street, the Queen
stopped and received a splendid bouquet of roses at the hands of the
Princess Louise. Then the Marquis of Lorne presented the Chairman of the
Vestry, who handed Her Majesty a loyal address, in which Kensington
recalled with pride its long and many Royal associations. The Queen's
reply was characteristic and particularly interesting in view of recent
events:--
"I thank you for your loyal and kind address. It gives me great pleasure
to receive the assurance of devotion and goodwill from the inhabitants
of Kensington, and I gladly renew my associations with a place which, as
the scene of my birth and of my summons to the throne, has ever had, and
will ever have, with me solemn and tender recollections." The Queen then
drove on to the Palace, 10,000 school children singing the National
Anthem as she passed through Kensington Gardens.
[Illustration: _Lucien Davis, R.I._} {_Partly from a Photograph
specially taken for this Work by H. N. King._
HER MAJESTY'S GARDEN PARTY: INDIAN VISITORS.]
[Sidenote: Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.]
The subsequent garden party in the gardens of Buckingham Palace was one
of the most brilliant functions on record. The weather was beautifully
fine, and there was a unique attendance of Royal and other guests; the
Colonial Premiers were present, and the whole of the special envoys of
Foreign Powers and other distinguished Jubilee guests. The grounds were
opened at four o'clock, and in a very short time the dresses of the
ladies and the brilliant uniforms of men transformed them into a moving
blaze of colour. Her Majesty's guests amused themselves in a variety of
ways--a favourite form of diversion being a row on the Palace lake, on
which were a large number of boats in charge of picturesquely-attired
Queen's watermen.
When Her Majesty had traversed the lawn, and Lord Lathom had pointed
many of the people out to her, she moved to the entrance of her own
tent, and sat sipping tea and eating strawberries, with a white
apron--the strings of which passed over her shoulders--spread on her lap
in the homeliest fashion.
[Illustration: Mr. Chamberlain. Sir W. Laurier.
_A. Fairfax Muckley._} {_From a Photo by W. & D. Downey._
HER MAJESTY'S GARDEN PARTY: THE SECRETARY FOR THE COLONIES AND THE
CANADIAN PREMIER.]
[Sidenote: Review at Aldershot.]
The Naval Review had been an exhibition of our first line of defence,
and though there was nothing in the nature of boastfulness or arrogance
about it, it was such a demonstration as could have been made by no
other Power--perhaps, by no two Foreign Powers in combination. The
Military Review at Aldershot on July 1 was, of course, a much more
modest affair, but the quality of the troops employed imparted a
distinction to the function which went far to compensate for their
smallness in numbers. Judged by Continental standards our Army is
insignificant in size, but it must always command respect. Its
traditions are splendid, and its recent achievements completely
satisfactory. Some of the foreign Princes who were present with the
Queen at Aldershot on July 1 had seen ten times as many soldiers in
review, but it is safe to say that not one of them had ever seen a finer
body, man for man, than the 28,000 British troops gathered together on
Laffan's Plain. The presence among these of detachments from so many
British Colonies added a significance to the proceedings that could not
have been paralleled at a Military Review anywhere else in the World.
About a quarter-past four o'clock the Queen drove up in a carriage. The
troops were arranged in the shape of three sides of a great rectangle,
Her Majesty occupying the centre of the vacant side. A Royal Salute was
given, and then commenced the march past. The honour of marching in the
van had been assigned very properly to the Colonial troops, consisting
of 434 cavalry, 184 artillery and engineers, and 423 infantry.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by H. N. King._
HER MAJESTY PLANTING A TREE IN THE GROUNDS OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE AS A
MEMORIAL OF THE JUBILEE, June 28, 1897.]
The troops which followed represented almost every branch of the regular
army and made a splendid show. But here, as in the Jubilee Procession
itself, the Colonial contingent attracted the greatest share of
attention. To see gallant horsemen and steady marching infantry in
picturesque unfamiliar uniforms from every Continent all following the
same flag and serving the same Queen was to receive a new and inspiring
impression of the Empire. The red spaces on the map of the earth's
surface we had known from childhood's day to represent portions of our
own Empire--but the impression was a vague one until we saw Canadian,
Australian, and South African, actually under arms in defence of their
and our Queen, as much as of their own distant homes. It was then
brought home to us, with startling effect, how great is the birthright
of every Briton, how great the privileges attaching to such
citizenship--and how great the responsibilities. These men came to us,
not in gratitude for any priceless advantages we have bestowed upon
them--for we have done nothing of the kind--but simply because their
blood is the same as ours, their traditions the same, and their
sympathies. We are still well able to take care of ourselves; but who
shall say that the Old Country may not one day need the strong, right
arms of her children across the seas?
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by H. N. King._
HER MAJESTY'S WATERMEN.]
That our Colonial troops are not merely ornamental soldiers their
shooting at Bisley, at the meeting which ended on July 10, amply proved,
if their splendid horsemanship and marching had not proved it before.
Though for the most part entirely unused to the new Lee-Metford rifle,
they secured the Kolapore Cup, and, in a year which produced record
scores, held their own against the picked marksmen of our Regulars and
Volunteer Army.
The Review was brought to an end with the defiling past of the infantry.
A splendid effect was produced when the infantry gave the Royal salute,
and then burst with one accord into shouts of cheering--bonnets and
busbies being thrown up into the air or waved frantically on bayonet
points. The Queen returned to Windsor the same evening, and the Jubilee
celebrations proper were over.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} Her Majesty's Carriage. {_by Argent
Archer, Kensington._
THE ALDERSHOT REVIEW: MARCH PAST OF THE COLONIAL TROOPS.]
[Sidenote: Gift of a Battleship.]
On Saturday, July 10, a dinner was given at the St. George's Club,
Hanover Square, in honour of the Colonial Premiers, five of whom were
present. A distinguished company assembled; but the occasion would not
have merited mention in a history of the Queen's reign, had it not been
for a speech made by the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, First Lord of the
Admiralty. In language, the very simplicity of which riveted attention
from the first--coming as it did from the most eloquent member of Lord
Salisbury's Cabinet--Mr. Goschen announced that he had that day received
a battleship from Sir J. Gordon Sprigg, representing the Government of
Cape Colony! His actual words were:--
"To-day I have had an interesting scene, a simple scene, but one which
will come home to all of you. I received the present of an ironclad at
the hands of a British Colony. (Loud cheers.) There was no ceremonial,
there was no great reception, there was no blare of trumpets; but Sir
Gordon Sprigg simply came to the First Lord of the Admiralty and told
him that the Cape Colony was prepared to place an ironclad of the
first-class at the disposal of the Empire. (Cheers.) I thank him on
behalf of the English nation, I thank him on behalf of the Government,
and I thank him also on behalf of the Empire at large, of which the Cape
Colony is so distinguished a part. That offer of a first-class
battleship is accompanied by no conditions; but it is proposed that that
ship shall take its place side by side with those sister ships, paid for
by the British taxpayer, which many of you have seen at Spithead. (Hear,
hear.) No conditions attach to it; it is a free gift intended to add to
the power of the British Empire." (Cheers.)
This statement evoked expressions of great enthusiasm from the gentlemen
who dined at the St. George's Club that night; the next morning it
thrilled the entire nation. The zenith of the Jubilee celebrations of
1897 was reached; a self-governing Colony had come forward and presented
to the Crown the most magnificent gift of which history has any record!
Jewels and gold and the richest products of Oriental looms have been
showered on our Empress-Queen until her palaces have become museums of
priceless offerings; but that of the Government and people of Cape
Colony outvalued these as much as they outvalue the treasures of
ordinary men. Not so much the gift itself, however, but the spirit of
the givers touched the heart of the British people. Not in their most
visionary dreams had Imperialists contemplated such a consummation as
this. Sentiment, so often and so thoughtlessly derided, had triumphed
over the cold calculations of the "practical" politician, and the
foundation-stone of a united Anglo-Saxon Empire had been laid.
[Illustration:
A. Prince of Wales.
B. Duke of Coburg.
C. Duke of Connaught.
D. Princess of Wales.
E. Duke of Cambridge.
_S. Begg._} {_By permission of the proprietors of the "Illustrated
London News."_
PRESENTATION OF JUBILEE MEDALS BY H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES TO THE
COLONIAL TROOPS IN THE GROUNDS OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE, July 3; THE NEW
SOUTH WALES LANCERS FILING PAST THE ROYAL PARTY.]
[Sidenote: The Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund.]
There are a few other features of the Jubilee celebrations which demand
notice before this narrative is brought to a close. Chief among these is
the Prince of Wales's scheme for establishing the London hospitals on a
firm financial basis--the greatest charitable project in a year made
memorable by many such undertakings. So far back as February 6, when a
thousand Jubilee plans were being discussed, a statement of the Prince's
own wishes in the matter had appeared in the newspapers. His Royal
Highness began by saying that the Queen herself had no wish to express
an opinion as to the form any celebrations might take. In the absence of
any declaration on the part of Her Majesty, His Royal Highness felt at
liberty to lay before the inhabitants of London a scheme very dear to
his heart. Briefly explained, they were that such a sum of money should
be secured, in the form preferably of annual donations, as should
suffice to free the London hospitals of debt for ever. An additional
annual income of from £100,000 to £150,000 was necessary.
At the time of sending these pages to press, it is not known how far His
Royal Highness's wishes have been realised; but it is stated that a
sufficient amount has been collected to relieve the hospitals
permanently of some of their more pressing needs. A device,
characteristic of the age, was resorted to to swell the proceeds of the
fund. Two Hospital Stamps were issued under authority, and sold at 2_s._
6_d._ and 1_s._ each, the more expensive one being of a red colour and
the less expensive blue. An artistic group representing Charity, after
Sir Joshua Reynolds, occupies the centre of each stamp. The legend
"1837: The Queen's Commemoration, 1897" runs along the top, and at the
bottom appear the words, "Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund, Albert
Edward, Prince," the signature being a facsimile of His Royal Highness's
handwriting. The sale of these must have been prodigious, but until the
Hospital Fund's accounts are made up it will be impossible to judge how
far philatelists all over the world availed themselves of the
opportunity to add these unique specimens to their collections. The dies
from which the Hospital Stamps were printed were subsequently destroyed
in the presence of the Duke of York at the Bank of England. Another
happy idea was the publication of an official programme, authorised by
the Prince of Wales, of the Jubilee Procession. The programme, which was
sold at a shilling a copy, was admirably illustrated. The entire profits
were devoted to the Hospital Fund.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
DEFENDERS OF THE EMPIRE.
The following forces are represented by the above group: Borneo Dyak
Police, Sierra Leone Force, Victoria Mounted Rifles, Hausas (Sergeant
of).]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN FORREST,
PREMIER OF WEST AUSTRALIA.
Born near Bunbury, W.A., 1847, educated at Perth, entered Survey
Department 1865, and has commanded several expeditions into the interior
besides surveying much of the Colony. Commissioner of Crown Lands,
Surveyor-General and Member of Executive and Legislative Councils
1883-1890, Premier and Treasurer of the first Ministry under responsible
government 1890.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD BRADDON,
PREMIER OF TASMANIA,
Is a Cornishman. Born in 1829, and educated at University College. In
his eighteenth year he went to Calcutta and made himself famous as a
tiger-hunter. In the Mutiny he served with a regiment he had himself
raised, and was mentioned in despatches. He held many offices in India,
and in 1878 retired on a pension and went to Tasmania, where, twelve
months later, he entered the Colonial House of Assembly. He was Leader
of the Opposition in 1886-87, and Minister of Lands, Works, and
Education, 1887-88. He was for six years Agent-General for Tasmania, and
in 1894 became Premier of that Colony. Miss M. E. Braddon, the novelist,
is his sister.]
[Sidenote: The Jubilee Medals.]
The commemoration medals struck to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee were
eagerly bought up by all classes of Her Majesty's subjects. They were,
perhaps, the most artistic things ever issued from the Royal Mint,
though the small size of some of them interfered sadly with the effect
of the design. The prices were as follows:--Large gold, £13; small gold,
£2; large silver, 10_s._; small silver, 1_s._; and large bronze, 4_s._
It was a happy idea to give on the reverse of the medals the Queen's
head, by W. Wyon, as it appeared on the coinage for 1837 to 1887. The
choice of the motto--"Longitudo dierum in dextera ejus et in sinistra
gloria"--could not have been bettered if the whole of literature had
been searched through. The head, by Brock, on the obverse, first used in
1892, is undoubtedly the most satisfactory likeness of the Queen that
has appeared on the coinage. In the gold medals the metal was
unpolished, and the large silver ones were covered with a thin coating
of platinum, the burnished appearance of newly-stamped coinage being
thus avoided, much to the advantage of the design. In both cases the
metal was of the purest quality, and it is interesting to note that
there was actually £12 15_s._ worth of gold in the £13 medal.
Innumerable publications relating to the Jubilee were issued from the
Press. The _Illustrated London News_' special number was a triumph of
colour-printing; the "Golden Number" of the London _Daily Mail_ was, as
its name indicates, printed entirely in gold, and found a ready sale at
6_d._ a copy.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN THE DRESS WORN BY HER IN THE DIAMOND JUBILEE
PROCESSION.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by H. N. King._
THE THRONE ROOM, BUCKINGHAM PALACE.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by H. N. King._
THE WHITE DRAWING ROOM, BUCKINGHAM PALACE.]
Reviewing the Jubilee celebrations as a whole it is impossible not to be
struck by the leading characteristic of them all--their complete
success. The Sovereign Lady in whose honour everything was done, was
delighted with all; her subjects throughout the Empire enjoyed
themselves hugely; not a single accident dimmed the happiness of Jubilee
Day in London; the Procession was the most splendid ever witnessed; the
Review at Spithead transcended in magnificence anything of the kind
recorded in the annals of our navy; and the Review at Aldershot was a
triumph for our brave little army. Almost as remarkable was the
exaltation of national sentiment manifested at this time. It seemed as
if we had suddenly discovered that we belonged to a very great Empire,
and were overjoyed at the thought of it. When we saw the Colonial
Premiers and the Colonial soldiers, we realized for the first time that
we were co-heirs with them to a hundred Empires, and our imaginations
were kindled. Our political views widened out to the furthest horizon
and we were Conservatives and Liberals no longer, but Imperialists. We
wanted but a sign from the Colonies themselves to declare ourselves
Imperialists for ever, and we received a hundred signs. The offer of a
battleship from the Cape Colony was the greatest of these signs, but it
was only one of many. The Colonial Prime Ministers came to us bearing
messages of affection from the great new Britains they represented, and
in one or two instances their proposals shadowed forth measures of great
advantage to us and to them. Canada, in particular, offered a
considerable reduction of the tariff in return for the reception of
Canadian goods on terms which have hitherto been rendered impossible by
the existence of commercial treaties between this country and Germany
and Belgium. She asked, in fact, for liberty to trade with this country
on terms specially advantageous to both ourselves and Canada; and in
promptly giving notice to terminate the treaties referred to, Lord
Salisbury's Government accorded to Canada the honour of taking the first
practical step towards solving the fiscal difficulties which stand in
the way of Imperial federation. The exhortation of the great bard who
represents so strongly the spirit of the Victorian age seemed now for
the first time to have come right home to the heart of the nation:
"Sons, be welded each and all,
Into one imperial whole;
One with Britain, heart and soul!
One Life, one Flag, one Fleet, one Throne."
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Lafayette._
THE RIGHT HON. H. ESCOMBE, Q.C.,
Premier of Natal.
Born in London in 1838 and educated at St. Paul's School. He went to
Natal in 1859, and entered the Colonial Parliament in 1872; nominated to
Executive Council, 1880. Attorney-General, 1893. Prime Minister,
Attorney-General, and Minister of Education, 1897.]
[Illustration: _From Photo_} {_by H. N. King._
A BLACK V.C.
Sergeant W. J. Gordon, 1st West India Regiment, obtained the Victoria
Cross for interposing his body and receiving a bullet intended for his
superior officer.]
It is well that this first great reunion of the Anglo-Saxon race should
have taken place on the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
Commemoration. Let us hope that she may live to see another and even
greater Jubilee, another gathering together of the scattered members of
her Empire!
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.
[Illustration: THE JUBILEE MEDAL (FULL SIZE).]
[Illustration: O King of kings.
THE JUBILEE HYMN.
APPOINTED TO BE USED IN ALL CHURCHES AND CHAPELS
_ON SUNDAY JUNE 20, 1897._
_Written by the late Bishop of Wakefield._
_Set to Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. (Facsimile of the Original MS._)
King of kings, Whose reign of old
Hath been from everlasting,
Before Whose throne their crowns of gold
The white-rob'd saints are casting;
While all the shining courts on high
With Angel songs are ringing,
Oh let Thy children venture nigh,
Their lowly homage bringing.
2 For every heart, made glad by Thee,
With thankful praise is swelling;
And every tongue, with joy set free,
Its happy theme is telling.
Thou hast been mindful of Thine own,
And lo! we come confessing--
'Tis Thou hast dower'd our queenly throne
With sixty years of blessing.
3 Oh Royal heart, with wide embrace
For all her children yearning!
Oh happy realm, such mother-grace
With loyal love returning!
Where England's flag flies wide unfurl'd,
All tyrant wrongs repelling;
God make the world a better world
For man's brief earthly dwelling!
4 Lead on, O Lord, Thy people still,
New grace and wisdom giving,
To larger love, and purer will,
And nobler heights of living.
And, while of all Thy love below
They chant the gracious story,
Oh teach them first Thy Christ to know,
And magnify His glory. _Amen._
_The Portraits of Author and Composer are from Photographs by Window and
Grove, London, and Kilpatrick, Belfast._]
INDEX
_The asterisk (*) indicates an illustration or a footnote to an
illustration._
Aberdeen, Lord, *39, 74, *78, 79.
Abyssinia, War with, 133.
Adelaide, *128.
Adelaide, Queen, *30.
Aden, *20.
Adullam, Cave of, 128.
Afghanistan, affairs of, 31, *98, 147, 154-6, 167.
Africa, British, 71, *133, *134, 156.
Agra, Taj Mahal, *105;
mutiny at, *98.
Akbar Khan, 32.
Alabama Claims, 120.
Albany, Duke of. _See_ Leopold, Prince.
Albert, Prince, portraits of, *26, *37, *40, *49, *61, *79, *107,
*120;
betrothal, 26;
character, 26, 120;
landing of, *27;
marriage, *28;
grant to, 27;
prejudice against, 27;
opposition to duelling, 27;
his industry, 55;
projects the Great Exhibition, 55, *60;
on Russo-Turkish War, 76;
efforts for national defence, 78;
official title, 95;
at Aldershot, *116;
in the Highlands, *117;
death, 119;
memorial, *121.
Albert Memorial, *121;
Hall, *121;
Chapel, *178.
Alexandria, bombardment of, 159.
Alfred, Prince, *49, *107, *175;
marriage, *142.
Alice, Princess, *49, *107, *124;
marriage, *122.
Aliwal, Battle of, 44.
Allegiance, Act of, 6.
Alma, Battle of, 81, 82.
America. _See_ Canada, United States.
Anæsthetics, introduction of, 54.
Anti-Corn Law League, 35.
Arabi Pasha, 158, 160.
Architecture, Victorian, 188.
Arms, Small, *94, *95, *96.
Army, purchase, 136;
uniforms of, *76, *77.
Arnold, Dr., *92.
Arthur, Prince, portraits, *107, *124, *175;
presentation to, by his god-father, *59;
marriage, *151;
at Tel-el-Kebir, *160.
Ashanti War, 140, *141.
Ashley, Lord. _See_ Shaftesbury, Earl of.
Atlantic Cable, *38, 130.
Atrocities, Turkish, in Bulgaria, 144;
in Armenia, 180, *182.
Auckland, Lord, *32.
Australia, 70, *119, *125, *126, *128.
Awkward Situation, an, *39.
Balaklava, Battle of, 83, *84, *85.
Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J., 157.
Ballot Bill, the, 17, 137;
effect of, 140.
Balmoral, *73, *108.
Bank Charter Act, suspension of, 108, 130.
Barings, failure of, 177.
Beaconsfield, Earl of. _See_ Disraeli.
Beales, Mr., 129.
Beatrice, Princess (Princess Henry of Battenberg), *124, *139, *175;
marriage, *168.
Bedchamber Question, 22.
Belgians, King of, *25, *107.
Belle Alliance, La, *10.
Benares, *102.
Bentinck, Lord G., *48.
Berlin Congress and Treaty, 146.
Bessemer, Sir H., *165.
Bicycle, early, *184.
Bogue Forts, bombardment of, 29.
Bombay, views in, *101.
Bottle-holder, the Judicious, *64, 65.
Bowl, silver gilt, used at christening of Prince of Wales, *36.
Bowring, Sir J., 92.
_Boxer_, H.M.S., *65.
Boycotting, 157.
Bread, scarcity of, 19.
Bright, John, *35, 110, *112;
included in Cabinet, 134.
Brisbane, *126.
Britannia Bridge, *170.
_Britannia_, H.M.S., *64.
_Britannia_ Yacht, *184.
Brougham, Lord, *17;
attacks Melbourne's Government, *14;
motion on the Corn Duties, 21.
Browning, Robert, *111.
Brunel, I. K., *38, *186.
Brydon, Dr., *33, 105.
Buckingham Palace, *63;
State Dining-Room, *182.
Burnes, Capt., at Cabul, 31.
Butt, Mr., 154.
Cabul, *32;
Burnes at, 31;
retreat from, 33;
massacre at, 147;
evacuation of, 154-6.
Calcutta, Government House, *100.
_Caledonia_ Steamship, *21.
Cambridge, Duke of, *36, *107;
Duchess of, *36, *107.
Canada, Constitution of, 14;
rebellion in, 15;
attempted invasions of, 15, 132;
growth of, 72;
views in, and statistics, *114, *115, *116.
Candahar, march to, *155;
victory at, *156.
Canning, Viscount, *99.
Cape Colony, 71, *133, *134.
Cardwell, Rt. Hon. E., *112, 136.
Carlyle, Thomas, *58.
Carnarvon, Lord, 141, 145.
Cartridges, greased, in the Indian Mutiny, 97.
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 161, 162, 173.
Cawnpore, mutiny at, 101-103;
views in, *102.
Ceylon, *109.
Chalmers, Dr. Thos., *42.
Channel Tunnel, 185.
Charge of the Heavy Brigade, *84;
of the Light Brigade, *85.
Charter, the people's, 20.
Chartist movement, 19, 50.
Chelmsford, Lord, 149.
Chilianwalla, Battle of, *46.
China, Wars with, 28, *29, *92, 113-116.
Chinese Jugglers, *29.
Chloroform, introduction of, 54.
Church of England, religious movements in, 41.
Church of Scotland, secession from, 42.
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 157, 168, 171.
Chusan, capture of, 29.
Civis Romanus Sum, 54.
Clarence, Duke of, *175;
death of, 177, *178.
Closure, the, 158, 172, 178.
Clyde, Lord (Sir Colin Campbell), *103, 104, 105.
Coach, State, *14.
Coaches, Mail, 24.
Coalition Government, 87.
Coats's, J. and P., carding room, *152.
Cobden, Richard, *35, *36, 94, *112.
Coins, *169.
Colonial Troops, *130.
Colonies, the, expansion of, 70;
views in. _See_ Canada, Australia, &c.
Commerce, British, growth of, *38, *52.
Commons, House of, in Committee, *53;
new building, *66;
pictures of, *112, *179.
Connaught, Duke of. _See_ Arthur, Prince.
Conservatives, origin of name, 12.
Conyngham, Marquis of, *18.
Coomassie, *141.
Cordite, manufacture of, *95.
Cormack, Widow, her cabbage garden, 49.
Corn Laws, 21, 35.
Coronation, the, 10, *11.
Corrupt Practices Act, 164.
Cotton Imports, *152.
Council, the Queen's first, *5.
County Councils Bill, 177.
Crete, insurrection in, 182.
Cricket, *136, *137.
Crimean War, 77, 79-91.
Critics, *139.
Cruisers, armed, *62.
Crystal Palace, the, 56.
Cunard fleet, *39.
Cyclist corps, *97.
Cyprus occupied, 146.
Czar of Russia (Nicholas I.), 73-76, 87;
(Nicholas II.), *181, *191;
marriage of, *190.
Dalhousie, Lord, his policy, 96, 98, 99, 101.
Dardanelles, fleet ordered to, 145.
Darwin, Charles, *143.
Delhi, mutiny at, 99;
siege of, 103;
Cashmere gate of, *103.
Denison, Speaker, 19.
Denmark, popular feeling regarding, 122, 125;
War with Prussia and Austria, 124.
Derby, 14th Earl, *68;
forms a Ministry, 67;
second Administration, 109;
Reform Bill, 110, 130;
last Administration, 128;
"leap in the dark," 130;
retires, 134;
death, 135.
Derby, 15th Earl, secedes from Beaconsfield's Cabinet, 145;
joins Liberal Party, 146.
Devonshire, Duke of, 180. _See also_ Hartington, Marquis of.
Dickens, Charles, *46.
Disraeli, Benjamin, portraits, *48, *68, *112, *139, *146;
statue, *158;
maiden speech of, 13;
speaks on Corn Laws, 39;
Chancellor of Exchequer, 67, 69;
on the Chinese War, 94;
on Conspiracy to Murder Bill, 109;
on Palmerston's Domestic Policy, 109;
Reform Bill, 110, 130;
educates his party, 131;
attacks Gladstone's Government, 139;
declines office, 139;
third Administration, 141;
purchases Suez Canal shares, 143;
refuses to coerce Turkey, 144;
accepts the Earldom of Beaconsfield, 145;
at Berlin Congress, 146;
appeals to the country, 152;
death of, 158.
Diving Helmet, *47.
Dost Mohamed Khan, 31.
Dublin, *148.
Durban, *134.
Durham, Earl of, 16.
Dynamite Conspiracy, 163.
Dynamos, *188.
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 58.
Edinburgh, *148;
Duke of. _See_ Alfred, Prince.
Education, National, 136, 188;
free, 177.
Egypt, proposed annexation of, 74;
condition of, 150, 160;
Arabi's revolt, 158;
British occupation, 160;
War medals, *162;
annihilation of Col. Hicks' army, 164.
Elections, General, 13.
Electric Telegraph, 9.
Electricity, 186, *188.
Elephants of the Viceroy, *100.
Elgin, Lord, 113, 116.
Ellenborough, Lord, *17, *33, 34.
Elswick Works, *74, *78.
Emerald Lake, Canada, *115.
Empire, the British, map of, *71.
Employers' Liability Bill, 178.
Engines, locomotive, *9;
marine, *164.
Exhibition, the Great, *55, *60, 62.
Exports from United Kingdom, 52.
Faraday, Michael, *188.
Fashions, *52, *136, *137.
Fenians, 131, 132, 135, 153.
Ferozeshah, Battle of, 44.
Fiji annexed, 71, 142.
"Floreat Etona," 157.
Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., 136, 158, 163.
Forth Bridge, *170.
Fourth Party, the, 157.
France, revolutions in, 51, 66;
threatened rupture with, 53, 66, 111.
Franchise. _See_ Reform Bill.
Franco-German War, 138.
Franklin, Sir John, *46.
Free Trade, 35.
Geneva Arbitration Award, 121.
Germany, unfriendly action of, 183.
Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., portrait, *139;
speech on Canadian Constitutions Bills, 16;
enters Peel's Cabinet, 39;
on Maynooth Grants, 40;
attacks Disraeli's Budget, 69;
War Budget, 79;
sympathy with Italy, 110;
on Paper Duty, 111;
unseated for Oxford, 125;
"unmuzzled," 126;
Leader of House, 127;
Franchise Bill, 127;
first Administration, 134-139;
defeat, 139;
resumes office, 139;
appeals to country, 140;
retires, 141;
first Midlothian campaign, 152;
second ditto, 153;
second Administration, 153;
defeat, 168;
third Midlothian campaign, 169;
third Administration, 169;
accepts Home Rule, 169, 170;
appoints Parnell Commission, 174;
fourth Midlothian campaign, 177;
second Home Rule Bill, 178, *179, 190;
retirement, 179;
on Armenia, 181, 182.
Goojerat, Battle of, 46.
Gordon, General, 164.
Gough, Sir Hugh (Lord), *45;
in China, 29;
in India, 45.
Goulbourne, Mr., *48.
Grant, Sir Hope, *104, 105, 114.
Granville, Lord, 139, 153.
_Great Eastern_ Steamship, *38, 130.
Greece, difficulty with, 53;
War with Turkey, 182.
Greville, Chas., 5, *7;
quotations from, 4, 8, 17, 21, 25, 54.
Grey, Sir George, *112.
Gun-cotton factory, *94, *95.
Guns, heavy, *74, *75, *78;
machine, *95.
Hanover, King of, 4, *5, 6;
severance of Crown of from that of Great Britain, 6.
Harcourt, Sir W., Home Secretary, 163;
Leader of House, 179;
defeat at Derby, 180.
Hardinge, Viscount, *44, 45.
Hartington, Marquis of, 110, 153. _See also_ Devonshire, Duke of.
Havelock, Sir Henry, 102, 103, *104, *105.
Haynau, General, mobbed, 68.
Head, Sir F., 16.
Helena, Princess, *49, *107, *124, *127;
marriage, *129.
Henry, Prince, of Battenberg, marriage, *168;
death, *178.
Herschel, Sir John F. W., *91.
Hill, Lord, *10, *25.
Hill, Sir Rowland, *23.
Hobart Town, *131.
Holy Land, Turkish position in, 75.
Home Rule movement, 153, 169, 177, 178.
Hongkong, *113.
Hyde Park, riot in, 129.
Hyderabad, attack on, 44.
Imperial Institute, 173, *174.
Imports of United Kingdom, 52.
India, affairs of, 43;
expansion of British dominion in, 71;
Mutiny, 95-106;
government passes to Crown, 106;
population, *100, 144;
views in, *100-*103;
Queen proclaimed Empress, 144, *145.
Indian Cavalry, Types of, *99.
Influenza, 177.
Inkermann, Battle of, 85, *86.
Ireland, Famine in, 36, 47, 131;
Queen's visit to, 52;
discontent in, 131;
crime in, 158, 162.
_See also under_ Home Rule.
Irish Church, disestablishment of, 134, 135.
Irish Land League, 157.
Irish Land Legislation, 135, 158.
Irish Members, imprisonment of, 161.
Irish Party, split in, 176.
Irish University Bill, 139.
Ironclads. _See_ Navy.
Irving, Sir Henry, *146.
Isandhlana, 149.
Jameson, Dr., 182, *183.
Jellalabad, Brydon's arrival at, *33.
"Jingo," origin of the term, 146.
Jowett, Benjamin, *152.
Jubilee procession, *172;
service, *173.
Junks, engagements with, *29, *92.
_Jupiter_, H.M.S., *64.
Justice, Royal Courts of, *147.
Kandy Lake, Ceylon, *109.
Kassassin, Battle of, *159.
Keble, Rev. J., *42.
Kensington Palace, 3, *5, *6.
Kent, Duchess of, *4, 12, *30, *37, *107, *118;
Duke of, 4, 6, *118.
Khartoum, siege of, 164;
expedition to relieve, *166.
Kimberley diamond mine, *134.
Knollys, General, *116.
Kooshab, Battle of, *98.
Laing's Nek, 156, *157.
Landseer, Sir E., *135.
Lantern, Dioptric, *51.
Launceston, Tasmania, *131.
Launch of a Liner, *165.
Leighton, Lord, *176.
Leopold, Prince, Duke of Albany, *107;
marriage, *163, *175.
Lewis, Sir G. Cornewall, *112.
Liberals, first mention of, 31.
Lifeboats, *54, *55.
Lighthouses, *50, *51.
Lightship, the Spurn, *50.
Lincoln, Abraham, 117, 118, 119.
Lincoln, Lord, *48.
Lister, Sir J., *191.
Literature, Victorian, 189.
Livingstone, David, *135.
Locomotion, modern, 8, 184, *185.
Lords, the House of, disagreement with Commons on Paper Duty, 112;
on Home Rule, 178.
Lorne, Marquis of, *138;
Marchioness. _See_ Louise, Princess.
Louis Philippe visits Windsor, *41;
abdication, 51.
Louise, Princess, Marchioness of Lorne, *107, *127, *138, *175.
Lowe, Robert, Viscount Sherbrooke, 128.
Lucknow, relief of, *104;
ruins of Residency, *105.
Lyndhurst, Lord, *5, 14, 112.
Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, *112.
Lytton, Lord, *144, *145.
Macaulay, Lord, *109;
on his own writings, 25.
Macnaghten, Sir W., 32.
Magdala, capture of, 134.
Mahdi, the, 164, 165, 167.
Maiwand, action at, *154, 155.
Majuba Hill, 157.
_Malabar_ frigate, wreck of, 114.
Manchester Ship Canal, *171;
Town Hall, *189.
Mansfield, Earl of, 17.
Marines, Royal, uniforms of, *81.
Mary, Princess of Cambridge, *107.
Maud of Wales, Princess, marriage of, *182.
May, First of, *59.
May of Teck, Princess, *175, 177, *181.
Meeanee, Battle of, 44.
Meerut, rising at, 97.
Melbourne, Lord, 4, *5, 12, *18;
character of, 18;
attacked by Brougham, 22;
fall of his Ministry, 31.
Melbourne, views in, *125.
Menschikoff, Prince, 75.
Militia, plans for, 66, 67.
Millais, Sir J. Everett, *176.
_Monarch_, telegraph ship, *31.
Monroe Doctrine, the, 183.
Montgomery, Mr. Robert, action at Meean Meer, 100.
Montreal, *114.
Moodkee, Battle of, 44.
Mooltan, siege of, 46.
Motor Carriages, 185.
Nana Sahib, 101-103.
Nankin, Treaty of, 29.
Napier, Sir Charles, *43, 77, 82.
Napier, Lord, of Magdala, *133.
Napoleon, Louis, _coup d'état_, 63;
visit to England, *88;
plot against, 108;
seeks British aid for deliverance of Italy, 110.
Napoleon, Prince, death of, 149.
Natal, *134.
Natural History Museum, *143.
Naval Actions, *29, *92, *113.
Naval Reviews, *47, *78.
Navy Island seized by Americans, 16.
Navy, uniforms of, *56, *57;
battleships, &c., *64, *65, *69, 186, *187;
moves into Dardanelles, 76;
compared with foreign Navies, 78.
Newman, John Henry, Cardinal, *41.
Newport, riot at, 20.
New South Wales, views in, and statistics of, *119.
New Zealand, 70;
views in, and statistics of, *132.
Nightingale, Miss Florence, 86, *87.
Northcote, Sir Stafford, 157, 168.
"North Star" railway engine, *9.
Oath on Accession, 4, 7;
at Coronation, *8.
O'Brien, W. Smith, 48, 49.
O'Connell, Daniel, 12, *20, *36.
O'Connor, Feargus, 48, 50.
Operating Room at Central Telegraph Office, *31.
Opium War, 28.
Orsini Plot, 108.
Osborne House, *150, *151.
Ottawa, Houses of Parliament, *114.
Outram, Sir J., *104, *105.
Overend and Gurney, failure of, 130.
Owen, Sir Richard, *143.
Pacifico, the Jew of Athens, 53.
Palmerston, Lord, *5, *39, *112;
on action of Chinese Government, 28;
rises to fame, 53, 54;
indiscretions, 63, 64, 65;
resignation of, 65, 77;
again Prime Minister, 87;
defeat of, on Chinese War, 94;
returns to office, 95;
defeat, 108;
second Administration, 110;
action respecting Schleswig-Holstein, 125;
why supported, 125;
death, 126;
character of, 126.
Papal Titles, 57.
Paper, the duty on, 111.
Parish Councils Bill, 178.
Parliament, Houses of, *66.
Parnell, Charles S., 153, 155, 157, *158, 169;
imprisoned, 161;
fall of, 176;
death, 176.
Parnell Commission, 173, 176.
Party Government, evils arising from, 17.
_Pas-de-deux_, Beaconsfield and Salisbury, *146.
Peel, Sir Robert, *5, *12, *48;
resigns on the Bedchamber Question, 22;
on grant to Prince Albert, 27;
forms a Cabinet, 31;
accepts Free Trade, 35, *36;
resumes office, 39;
defeat of, 40;
last speech of, 54;
death, 54.
Peel, Capt. Sir W., *104.
Pei-ho Forts, attack on, *113.
Pekin, capitulation of, 115.
P. and O. Steamers, *21.
Perth, West Australia, *128.
Petition, monster, 51.
Phoenix Park murders, 161, 173.
Phonograph, the, 186.
Photography, 187, *192.
Plates, Royal, *153.
Police, origin of the nickname "Peelers," 10.
Poll Tarff, fording the, *117.
Poor Law, detestation of, 19.
Post, the Penny, 23.
Post Office, 9, *23, *24, *25, *26, *31, *190.
Postal Vans, *22.
Potato Famine in Ireland, 36, 47.
Press, the, 190.
Primrose Day, *158.
Prince Consort. _See_ Albert, Prince.
Princess Royal, portraits of, *40, *49, *106, *124, *175;
christening of, *30;
marriage, 106, *107.
Probyn, Capt. Dighton, *98.
Proclamation of Queen as Empress of India, 144, *145.
Prussia, King of, *37;
Queen of, *107;
Crown Prince of, 106, *107.
Pusey, Dr. E. B., *41.
Quebec, *114.
Queen, Her Majesty the. _See_ Victoria, Queen.
Queen's name, story of the, 7;
speech, 7.
Queensland, views in, and statistics of, *126.
Raglan, Lord, 80, 84, *88.
Railway Carriage, the Queen's, *16.
Railways, early, 8, *9, *15, *16, *22.
Ramnuggur, Battle of, 45.
Reform Bills, 12, 129, 167;
League, 129.
Regalia, the, *106.
Remnant of an army, *33.
Repeal of Corn Laws, 38, 40.
_Repulse_, H.M.S., *69, *75.
Rice, Rt. Hon. Spring, 24.
Rifles, examples of, *96;
manufacture, *94.
Roberts, General Lord, 147, 154, *155, 156.
"Rocket," the, *9.
Röntgen Rays, *192.
Rorke's Drift, *149.
Rosebery, Lord, premiership of, 179;
resigns office, 180;
resigns leadership of party, 182.
Round Table Conference, 171.
Royal Family, portraits of, *49, *175.
_Royal Sovereign_, H.M.S., *69.
Runjeet Singh, 31.
Ruskin, Professor, 188, *191.
Russell, Lord John, *5, *12, 14, *112;
moves grant to Prince Albert, 27;
proposes fixed Duty on Corn, 36;
attempts to form a Ministry, 39;
action respecting Papal Titles, 58;
defeat of, 59;
resumes office, 60;
defeated on Militia Bill, 67;
on Conspiracy to Murder Bill, 109;
on Disraeli's Reform Bill, 110;
action respecting Schleswig-Holstein, 125;
raised to peerage, *127;
becomes Premier, 127.
Russell, Sir W. H., *83.
Russia, political action of Czar, 73, 74, *75, 76;
invasion of Turkey, 75;
death of Nicholas I., 87;
repudiates Treaty of Berlin, 138;
invades Turkey, 145;
anticipated War with, 167.
Sacrament, Queen receiving, *10.
Sale, General, 34.
Salisbury, Lord, portrait, *146;
in Disraeli's third Administration, 141;
at Berlin Congress, 146;
on Redistribution Bill, 167;
first Administration, 168;
second, 177;
third, 180.
Saloon, the Queen's, *16.
Sanitation, 192.
Schleswig-Holstein, War in, 124.
Science, advances in, 190-192.
Seamen, landing party of, *72.
Sebastopol, siege of, 80, 81, *83, 86, 88, 89.
Self-Denying Policy, *159.
Shaftesbury, Earl of, *40.
Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk, 31, 34.
Shears for cutting steel, *165.
Sibthorpe, Colonel, 27, 57.
Sick Man of Europe, the, 73.
Signal Cabins, *13.
Sikh Wars, 43, 45;
Sikh loyalty, 98.
Smallpox, decline of, 191.
Smith, Mr. W. H., 134, 171;
death, 176.
Sobraon, Battle of, *43, 44.
Soudan, War in, 164, 167.
Soult, Marshal, *10, 12.
South Australia, statistics of, *128.
Southey, Robert, *111.
Speaker, the, *112, *176.
Spencer, Herbert, *161.
Sports, Royal, *73, *79.
State Coach, the, *14.
Steam-hammer, *70.
Steamships, *21, *31, *38, *39, *62, *165, 185. _See also_ Navy.
Stephens, James, 131.
Stephenson, George, *185.
Stewart, General, 147.
Suez Canal Shares, purchase of, 143.
Summer Palace, destruction of, 116.
Surgery, Antiseptic, 191.
Sussex, Duke of, 4, *5, *30, *37.
Sydney, views in, *119.
Tait, Archbishop, *152.
Tantia Topee, 102, 106.
Tasmania, 70;
views in, and statistics of, *131.
Tchernaya, Battle of, 89.
Telegraph Instruments, early, *15.
Telegraph Office, Central, *31.
Telegraphs, 9, *14, *15, *31.
Telephone, the, 186.
Telescope, Lord Rosse's, *91.
Tel-el-Kebir, Battle of, 159, *160, *161.
Temple Bar, *147.
Tennyson, Lord, *111.
_Terrible_, H.M.S., *65.
_Teutonic_ Steamship, *62.
Thackeray, *109;
May-day Ode, 60, 62.
Thames, the, *147.
Thanksgiving Service for recovery of Prince of Wales, *140;
for Jubilee of Her Majesty, 172, *173.
Three generations afloat, *184.
Throne Room, Windsor, *19.
Tien-tsin, Treaty of, *113, 114;
occupation of, 115.
Too Late! *166.
Toronto, *115.
Torpedo boats, *65;
stores, *72.
Tower Bridge, *171.
Tractarian movement, 42, 57.
Tracts for the Times, 42.
Trade Unions, 20.
Trafalgar Square, meetings in, 129.
Transportation Act repealed, 71.
Transvaal, the, War with, 156;
Dr. Jameson invades, 182, *183.
Treason Felony Act, 49.
Trent Affair, the, 118.
Trooping the Colours, *97.
Truro Cathedral, *189.
Tunnel, Channel, 185;
Southwark, *186;
Blackwall, *186.
Turkey, proposed division of, 71;
custody of Holy Places, 75;
invasion by Russia, 75, 145;
destruction of fleet, 76;
atrocities in Bulgaria, 144;
in Armenia, 180;
War with Greece, 182.
United States, friendly action of, 16, 132;
Civil War in, 117, 118;
threatened rupture with, 120, 121, 183.
Vancouver Harbour, *115.
Venezuela, dispute as to Boundary of, 183.
Victoria, Princess, 3, *4, *6, *7.
Victoria, Queen, portraits of, *2, *4, *6, *7, *8, *19, *27, *34,
*49, *52, *59, *80, *93, *107, *120, *124, *127, *139, *175,
*177, *180, *191, *192;
Accession, 3, 7, *8;
first Council, 4;
youth of, 5;
her name, 7;
prorogues Parliament (1837), 7;
impressions as to her character, 8;
Coronation, 10;
confidence in Lord Melbourne, 18;
sends for Duke of Wellington, 21;
Bedchamber Question, 22;
attends review at Windsor, *25;
betrothal, 26;
opens Parliament (1840), 27;
marriage, *28;
fired at, 28, 52;
receives Louis Philippe, *41;
growing popularity, 52;
visits Ireland, 52;
on Papal Titles, 58;
on opening of Great Exhibition, 62;
on Napoleon's _coup d'état_, 63;
invests Napoleon with Garter, *88;
distributes medals, *89;
visits France, *90, *91;
at Aldershot, *116;
in the Highlands, *117;
on Prince Consort's last writings, 120;
at Osborne, *127;
proclaimed Empress of India, 144, *145;
Jubilee, 172, *173;
opens Imperial Institute, *173;
influence of character, 189, 192.
_Victoria_, H.M.S., *65.
Victoria Cross pictures, *82, *87, *89, *98.
Victoria, Australia, views in, and statistics of, *125.
Vienna, Conferences of Ambassadors at, 75.
Villiers, Rt. Hon. C. P., *17, 21, 35, *112.
Volunteer movement, 111;
uniforms, *110.
Wales, Prince of, portraits, *48, *79, *107, *124, *144, *175, *191;
christening of, *37;
marriage, 122, *123;
illness, recovery, and thanksgiving, *140;
visits India, 144;
organizes Jubilee Institute, 173;
hand of, *192.
Wales, Princess of, *124, *175;
marriage, 122, *123.
War correspondents, 82.
_Warrior_, H.M.S., *69.
War-ships. _See_ Navy.
Waterloo Bridge, *147.
Wellington, Duke of, *5, *25;
at the Coronation, 10;
declines Premiership, 21;
moves amendment to address on Queen's betrothal, 27;
as Cæsar's Ghost, *36;
on Corn Laws, 38;
advises recall of Lord Russell, 59;
presents casket to Prince Arthur, *59;
death, 67;
funeral, *67, *68.
West Australia, statistics of, *128.
Who? Who? Ministry, 67.
William IV., death of, 3.
_William Fawcett_ Steamship, *21.
Windsor Castle, *3;
Throne Room, *19.
Winnipeg City Hall, *116.
Wolseley, Sir Garnet, afterwards Viscount, portrait, *160;
in Ashanti, 140;
in South Africa, 149;
in Egypt, 160, *161, 165.
Wood, Sir Charles, *112.
Woolwich Arsenal, *70.
Wordsworth, William, *110.
York, Duke of, *175;
marriage of, *181.
York, Prince Edward of, *180.
Zulu War, 148.
*** _All the illustrations in this Work are copyright._
ERRATA.
_The following corrections have been made in a portion of the issue of
this Work._
pp. 62, 63, date of closing of Great Exhibition _should be_
"October 11."
p. 65, fifth line from bottom, date of fire at Houses of
Parliament _should be_ "1834."
p. 71, last line, _for_ "died out" _read_ "almost died out"
p. 77, sixth line from bottom, _for_ "oppressor" _read_
"opposer"
p. 90, first line of note beneath upper illustration _should
read_ "first visit of an English Sovereign to Paris since
Henry VI. was crowned there," &c.
p. 119, title to first illustration _should read_ "Sydney
Harbour, from Palace Garden."
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Who had recently taken the place of the old watchmen, and were
nicknamed Peelers after Sir Robert Peel.
[B] The Tory Party had by this time adopted the title of Conservatives,
a term first applied to them by Wilson Croker in the _Quarterly Review_
for January 1830, wherein he mentions his attachment to "what is called
the Tory, but which might, with more propriety, be called the
Conservative Party." The Charter of Conservatism was never more clearly
defined than by Sir Robert Peel, who, speaking at Merchant Taylors' Hall
in 1838, said: "My object for some years past has been to lay the
foundations of a great party which, existing in the House of Commons,
and deriving its strength from the popular will, should diminish the
risk and deaden the shock of collisions between the two branches of the
legislature."
[C] During eight months of 1839 wheat was upwards of 70_s._ a quarter.
Last year (1896) it was 24_s._
[D] Daniel O'Connell's parody referring to Colonel Sibthorp, who was
Member for Lincoln, and two other Colonels in Parliament, is too witty
to be forgotten:--
"Three Colonels in three distant counties born,
Sligo, Armagh, and Lincoln did adorn,
The first in matchless impudence surpassed
The next in bigotry--in both, the last.
The force of nature could no further go:
To beard the third, she shaved the other two."
Colonel Sibthorp was distinguished, in days when shaven chins were all
but universal, by an immense beard and moustache.
[E] This Act was repealed in 1871.
[F] There were at that time two offices in the Government, that of the
Secretary of State for War, who was the Duke of Newcastle, and that of
the Secretary at War, Mr. Sidney Herbert.
[G] Sir Henry Lawrence was brother of Sir John Lawrence, afterwards Lord
Lawrence, Governor-General of India.
[H] Her Royal Highness's full baptismal names are Alexandra Caroline
Maria Charlotte Louisa Julia.
[I] See page 217.
[J] See page 210.
[K] Dress of black moiré silk with panels of pale grey silk, embroidered
in silver; cape of black chiffon, with white lace insertion and silver
embroidery. Black bonnet, ornamented with jet and silver, trimmed with
white acacia and ostrich feathers, and diamond aigrette.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
The first letter of each Chapter, including the Preface, was printed as
an illustrated drop-cap. This version of this eBook uses simple printed
letters instead, and does not indicate the presence of an illustration.
Identifying names in some captions have been replaced by letter keys and
corresponding explanations; when the original book used numeric keys,
they have been retained.
Footnotes have been moved to the end of this eBook.
The Index only covers pages 1-192. In the original book, it appeared
immediately after the Preface, but has been moved to the end of this
eBook.
In the original book, the Errata section appeared immediately after the
Index, and has been moved, with the Index, to the end of this eBook.
Index entry for "Press, the" refers to non-existent page 910. Changed to
190.
Table of Contents added by Transcriber.
Page 153, second illustration: plates numbered in original sequence.
Page 175: some numbers in the Key are unclear in the original.
Page 181: in illustration caption, "Victoria Melitia" should be
"Victoria Melita," as it is in the illustration caption on page 175.
Page 188: The "er" in "François Ier" was superscripted.
Page 213: The "6" in "about 600 Members" was printed poorly in the
source.
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