The year opened with considerable uneasiness regarding the probability of a French invasion; and the queen drew the attention of parliament to the necessity of increasing the number of soldiers. Without explaining the plan of the "militia bill," which was brought up for consideration, it is only necessary to say that the alterations made in it by the members of the house excited the indignation of Lord John Russell to such a degree that he sent his resignation to her majesty. Lord Derby took his place as minister, and Mr. Disraeli became Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons. The scheme for providing forces to defend the country was soon completed; and Mr. Disraeli occasioned no little surprise by the talent he showed for figures, in addition to his other gifts.
The new administration was called the "Who? Who? Ministry," and this is how it came by such a queer name. The Duke of Wellington was somewhat deaf, and, like many people so afflicted, spoke in a very loud tone. He was so anxious to hear the names of those who were to form the new cabinet that he stopped Lord Derby in the House of Lords, and asked to what person each office was to be assigned. As the prime minister mentioned the names, the aged duke eagerly asked, "Who? Who?" and the more unfamiliar the names the louder they had to berepeated, and the oftener and more audible became the "Who? Who?" until the conversation was heard by all the members. The story got abroad, and the familiar name of the "Who? Who?" government was given to Lord Derby's administration.
The well-known gray head disappeared soon after; for the old duke died on the fourteenth of September, at Walmer Castle, in his eighty-fourth year. Never did any other man occupy such a position in England as the Duke of Wellington. The whole nation loved him and had the utmost confidence in him; and to the queen he was a loyal subject and an affectionate friend. Strong men shed tears when they announced his death, for he had held a warm place in the hearts of his countrymen. "He was the pride and good genius, as it were, of this country,"—wrote the queen,—"the most loyal and devoted subject, and the staunchest supporter the crown ever had. He was to us a true friend and most valuable adviser."
This is the order which Lord Derby issued to the army, by her majesty's command:—
"The discipline which he exacted from others, as the main foundation of the military character, he sternly imposed upon himself; and the queen desires to impress upon the army that the greatest commander whom England ever saw has left an example for the imitation of every soldier, in taking as his guiding principle, in every relation of life, an energetic and unhesitating obedience to the call of duty."
In Southey's "Peninsular War," this sentence referring to the great duke occurs: "His campaigns were sanctified by the cause; they were sullied by no cruelties, no crimes; the chariot wheels of his triumphs have been followed by no curses; his laurels are entwined with the amaranths of righteousness, and upon his deathbed he might remember his victories among his great works."The funeral was grand and imposing, and beneath the dome of the Metropolitan Cathedral the remains of England's greatest military hero were laid beside those of Nelson, her greatest naval hero. "We have buried in our greatest general," said Lord Derby, in the House of Lords next day, "the man among us who had the greatest horror of war."
After a short sojourn at Balmoral the court returned to Windsor, and as soon as parliament was opened repaired to Osborne, when her majesty was soon called upon to make another change in her ministry.
Mr. Disraeli occupied the attention of the house for more than five hours with a speech regarding the reduction of certain taxes and the increase of others. He spoke ably, and made a strong impression; but a still stronger one was made by Mr. Gladstone in opposition. It was four long nights before the debate concluded, and it resulted in the resignation of the ministry, which was formally tendered to the queen the next morning. From that period Disraeli and Gladstone were rivals in power and opponents in parliament for more than twenty years.
The queen now felt the necessity for the formation of a powerful administration, and for that purpose she called on Lord Aberdeen, who became prime minister. Lord John Russell took the foreign office, Lord Palmerston became home secretary, and Mr. Gladstone chancellor of the exchequer. This was a powerful organization; but the man who attracted the most attention was Mr. Gladstone, then forty-three years of age. He had entered public life at a very early age, and had often distinguished himself as a debater. He was born in Liverpool, and his father was a Scotchman. He was a free-trader, and as such early attached himself to Peel. The speech which he made just after the formation of the new ministry lasted several
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hours; but it was so fine that his hearers were charmed, and nobody wished it to come to an end. His voice was remarkably clear and resonant, and he had the rare gift of being able to argue, with all the fluency for which he was noted, without the slightest preparation. He would start to his feet at a moment's notice, and pour forth a volume of words effective as they were eloquent. Mr. Gladstone, besides being an orator, was a statesman, a critic, an essayist, a Greek scholar, and a financier.
A.D. 1853.The queen was quite satisfied with her new cabinet, and wrote King Leopold: "The success of our excellent Aberdeen's arduous task, and the formation of so brilliant and strong a cabinet, would, I was sure, please you. It is the realization of the country's and our own most ardent wishes, and it deserves success, and will, I think, command great support."
The court prolonged their stay at Osborne until late in the spring of this year, and during that time the Eastern question began to attract attention. On that subject we shall presently have more to say. Another royal visit to Dublin must first be mentioned. It was made on the occasion of the opening of a great Art and Industrial Exhibition, similar to the one of 1851 in London. The exhibition opened in July; but measles, which attacked the Queen, Prince Albert, and all but the two younger royal children, delayed them for a month.
It was on the twenty-ninth of August before the royal party reached Dublin, where they were welcomed with the same enthusiasm that had marked their visit four years before. The morning of each day was devoted to the exhibition, and the Irish poplins, laces, and pottery were special objects of admiration.
After passing a pleasant week at Dublin the royal guests drove to Kingstown, on the evening of September 3, wherean immense crowd assembled to bid them adieu. "The evening was very beautiful," says her majesty's diary, "and the sight a fine one,—all the ships and yachts decked out and firing salutes, and thousands on the quay cheering." As night closed in, a magnificent aurora borealis lighted up the northern sky, and fire-works were let off until late into the night.
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On the sixth of September, the court reached Balmoral; but they could not enjoy this retreat so much as usual, because the prospect of war with Russia was daily becoming more imminent. England had been at peace with all the world for forty years, and she was very reluctant to bedrawn into any complication now; but a few words of explanation will show how she was forced to fight.
A treaty had been made between Francis I. and the Sultan, by which the holy places in Palestine and the monks of the Latin church were placed under the protection of France. In course of time the Greeks began to dispute the claim of the Latin monks to guard the shrines, and serious disputes arose. Then Russia, claiming to possess the greatest number of Greek Catholics among her subjects, thought fit to interfere. The matter was left to the decision of the Turkish Porte, which granted keys to certain of the shrines to the Latins, and of others to the Greeks. The French were not pleased, but agreed to accept the decision. Not so the Russians; they felt that the French had the key to the most important shrines, and had therefore obtained supremacy over them in the East. Besides, the Russian Government was determined to have the protectorate of the Christians in Turkey, even though they gained it at the point of the sword. So Prince Menschikoff was sent with a suite of naval and military officers to Constantinople to propose a sort of convention to enable his government to assert this protectorate over the Greek church within the Turkish Empire. He demanded an immediate reply. The new foreign minister, who had just entered upon his office, asked for five or six days in which to consider so important a matter. This was refused, whereupon the Ottoman council became indignant and declined to have any convention at all.
Prince Menschikoff at once left Constantinople, and Russia began her preparations for war. Before many days her troops were gathering in great force along the frontier. This aroused the patriotism of all the Turks, Moslem as well as Christian, and Russia appeared like a big giant ready to goble them up.
The czar had long before called Turkey, "the sick man," and had invited the English ministry to form an agreement with him, as to the distribution of the effects in case "the sick man" should die. He desired no strife,—oh no! He was perfectly satisfied that arrangements should be made that would be agreeable to all parties, provided he got possession of Constantinople.
England very properly refused to acknowledge that Turkey was "a sick man" at all, and would not agree that any European power should be wiped out. But she desired no war, and so a conference was called at Vienna between England, France, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of patching up, if possible, a reconciliation between Turkey and Russia. The eagerness with which Russia consented to accept the Vienna note made the Turkish Government suspicious that she saw something of special advantage in it to herself. Therefore, through the advice of the English ambassador at Constantinople, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the Turks declined to accept the Vienna note, unless certain changes were made. The prince consort had said that the Vienna note was a trap laid by Russia, and he was right; it was a trap in which the Western powers would have been caught, had it not been for the shrewdness of de Redcliffe.
The czar would listen to no modification of the Vienna note; so Turkey declared war, and the French and English fleet combined were sent to the Bosporus with orders to pass into the Black Sea, if the Russian fleet came out of Sebastopol. Turkish independence must be maintained, and that could not be unless the Western powers granted their assistance. Thus was war inevitably thrust upon them.
A.D. 1854.The Russian ambassador left London on the seventh of February, and on the same day the Englishambassador was recalled. Towards the close of the month a formal declaration of war was issued. Meanwhile, regiments were constantly passing through London, and embarking for action in the East. The queen thus describes one in a letter to King Leopold:—
"The last battalion of the Scotch Fusileers embarked to-day. They passed through the court-yard here at seven o'clock in the morning. We stood on the balcony to see them. The morning fine, the sun shining over the towers of Westminster Abbey, and an immense crowd collected to see the fine men, and cheering them immensely, as with difficulty they marched along. They formed line, presented arms, and then cheered us very heartily and went off cheering. It was a touching and beautiful sight. Many sorrowing friends were there, and we saw the shake of many a hand. My best wishes and prayers will be with them all."
A few days later the queen and prince visited the magnificent fleet at Spithead under the command of Sir Charles Napier. "We are just starting to see the fleet," wrote her majesty to Lord Aberdeen, "which is to sail at once for its important destination. It will be a solemn moment! Many a heart will be very heavy, and many a prayer, including our own, will be offered up for its safety and glory."
Lord Raglan, an old pupil of the Duke of Wellington, who had lost his right arm at Waterloo, was appointed to command the English forces, and Marshal St. Arnaud those of the French. Their instructions were to communicate with Omar Pasha, the Turkish commander, and then to decide whether an immediate attack upon Sebastopol, the Crimean stronghold, was advisable. The three commanders did consult, and did not altogether relish the idea of such an attack; but it had been strongly urged by theEnglish and French governments, and, therefore, was it undertaken.
On the fourteenth of September, twenty-seven thousand English, thirty thousand French, and seven thousand Turks landed without opposition on the shores of the Crimea. On the nineteenth they marched towards the river Alma, and reached its banks at noon of the twentieth. Prince Menschikoff thought his position invulnerable with his Russian batteries, his artillery, and his dense masses of infantry covering the hills; and when he saw the enemy approach, he began to congratulate himself upon the glorious victory that he already considered assured. He did not open fire on them as they crossed to his side of the river; that was not in accordance with his plan. He had told the czar that he could easily hold his position for three weeks; and so he would merely play with the allied troops until his immense reinforcements arrived, and then it would be so easy to pounce down upon them and crush them. So certain did he feel of the result of a fight that some of the precautions that a less arrogant general would have taken were entirely unheeded. The consequence was, that after a desperate combat the allied forces drove the Russians from the field and gained a complete victory.
If an immediate attack had been made upon Sebastopol in the face of this victory, it might have been taken; but there was no Marlborough, no Wellington, in the English army at that time, and the flying Russian troops were not even pursued. Thus they gained time, not only to consider the cause of their defeat, but to increase their defences.
On the third day after the battle, the allied troops gazed in wonder at certain movements of the Russians in the Black Sea. "What were they about?" was the question that was asked on all sides. "Were they going to attack the
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English and French ships?" It seemed so, for seven of their war vessels were drawn up right to the very entrance of the harbor, and under the very noses of the enemy. The operation was soon explained; for slowly but surely did the seven vessels go down, down into the water, until nothing was to be seen of them but the tops of their masts. Then vanished all hope of a speedy capture of Sebastopol. Her harbor was as impassable as though huge rocks guarded it.
Then the allied forces began a long, fatiguing march to Balaklava, which lies south of Sebastopol, and has a port that would enable them to keep communication between the army and the navy intact. They reached their destination safely, stationed themselves on the heights above the city, and with the fleet in the harbor prepared to attack Sebastopol simultaneously by sea and land. On the seventeenth of October the attack began; but the ships could not get near enough, on account of the sunken war vessels to do very effective work, and so it proved a failure.
On the twenty-fifth, the Russians made an attack with the hope of getting possession of Balaklava. The assault was bold and splendid, and with boldness and splendor was it repulsed. It was during this battle that the charge of the Light Brigade was made, of which Tennyson has written in so spirited a manner:—
"'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not the reason why,
Theirs but to do and die,—
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."
Some onehadblundered, but exactly who has neverbeen entirely settled. The officer who received the order was one of the first who fell; and, of the six hundred and seven men who composed the Light Brigade, only one hundred and ninety-eight returned. All the world wondered at the magnificent charge.
"When can their glory fade?—" asks the Poet Laureate. Never while courage and heroism are honored.
On the fifth of November the battle of Inkermann was fought during a dark, heavy fog. This was the fiercest fight of the campaign, and took place almost entirely in the dark. It was a hand-to-hand combat, and the loss was very heavy on all sides. It was, however, a victory to the allies; and the queen was so well pleased that she expressed her admiration of Lord Raglan's generalship by conferring upon him the baton of field-marshal.
Sir George Cathcart was one of the officers who lost his life in this campaign, and the queen wrote a most touching letter of sympathy to his widow. As a mark of regard to his memory, her majesty appointed his daughter Emily one of her maids-of-honor.
The Russians behaved, as they always do, with the greatest barbarity. "When poor Sir George Cathcart fell," writes the queen, "his faithful and devoted military secretary sprang from his horse, and with one arm—he was wounded in the other—supported his dying chief, when three wretches came and bayoneted him." Such scenes were not at all uncommon; and when the English or French soldiers were assisting the wounded enemy that were left on the battlefield they always took the precaution to deprive them of their arms; for it was not unusual for a Russian soldier to receive a cup of water with one hand, and stab his benefactor in the back with the other.
During the winter the suffering among the troops was very great. Cholera had attacked them and thinned theirranks to a great extent. Men were dying by hundreds, because the hospitals were in such a bad condition, and even the stores of food and medicines that were sent out could not be got at. There was a lack of system and organization in the army, which prevented supplies from reaching the proper places, and they were often left to decay in the holds of vessels, or worse still, fell into the hands of the Russians.
At last Sir Sidney Herbert remembered Miss Florence Nightingale, and applied to her for relief. Miss Nightingale was the daughter of a wealthy English country gentleman, who had made nursing a study. At the time of the breaking out of the Crimean war she was engaged in establishing an institution for training nurses after the plan of some she had visited on the continent. To this lady, then, Sir Sidney turned, and she consented at once to take charge of the Scutari hospital. She went out to the Crimea with a corps of thirty-seven ladies, and from the moment of her arrival no further complaints were made about hospital regulations. She restored order as by a stroke of magic, and thousands of sick and wounded soldiers were comforted by the tender nursing of that corps of brave, self-sacrificing women.
The queen, the elder princess, and all the ladies of the court made woolen comforters, mittens, and other warm clothing to be distributed in the army, and their example was imitated by women in every part of the kingdom.
The ministry at home were very much blamed for the lack of organization in the army, and changes were made. Lord John Russell resigned, and wrote to Lord Aberdeen, urging that Lord Palmerston should take charge of the war department. Then the queen wrote to Lord Palmerston, asking him "whether he could undertake to form an administration that would command the confidence of parliament,and properly conduct public affairs." He accepted, and much to his surprise found himself prime minister. Lord Panmure became minister of war.
Meanwhile negotiations for peace were begun at Vienna, and Lord John Russell was sent there to represent England; On the second of March the czar died very suddenly—it was said of pneumonia; but defeat and blasted hopes had much to do with his fatal illness. People outside of Russia did not seem very sorry; and it was ardently hoped that the new czar would be more inclined for peace than his father, but the conference at Vienna failed.
Then Louis Napoleon resolved to go to the Crimea himself, but England interposed to prevent, and he met with discouragement at home also. His next resolution was to make a visit to the queen, and having ascertained that it would be welcome, he named April 16 for the day of his arrival. The empress was to accompany him. The notice was short, but a splendid suite of apartments was quickly prepared at Windsor Castle for the royal guests.
The prince went down to Dover to meet them, but in consequence of a dense fog it was noon before they landed. An enthusiastic welcome greeted England's ally at every point; flags waved from the houses, and triumphal arches had been erected, all festooned with bright banners and flowers. Extracts from her majesty's diary will best describe the arrival at Windsor.
A.D. 1855."I advanced and embraced the emperor, who received two salutes on either cheek from me, having first kissed my hand. I next embraced the very gentle, graceful, and evidently very nervous empress. We presented the children; the emperor embraced Bertie, and then we went up stairs, Albert leading the empress, who, in the most engaging manner, refused to go first,
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but at length, with graceful reluctance, did so, the emperor leading me, expressing his great gratification at being here and seeing me.
"Nothing can be more civil or amiable or more well-bred than the emperor's manner—so full of tact. A long walk after breakfast gave him and Albert an opportunity, to discuss the war. The empress was as eager as her husband that he should go to the Crimea. She sees no greater danger for him there than elsewhere—in fact, than in Paris. She is full of courage and spirit, and yet so gentle, with such innocent and charming manners."
During the visit the emperor was invested with the Order of the Garter, and on the nineteenth he and the empress were entertained at Guildhall, by the city of London, at a grand banquet. They returned to the palace in the evening, charmed with the way they had been received everywhere, and later they attended the opera.
In the evening a council was held to decide upon future operations in the Crimea, and the next day the royal guests took their departure.
While the emperor was in England, St. Arnaud had died at the seat of war, and soon after news was brought of the death of Lord Raglan. The former was succeeded by Canrobert, who soon resigned in favor of General Pélissier, and the latter by General Simpson. Sardinia had come forward as an ally, and her troops had distinguished themselves for bravery and skill.
The visit of the emperor and empress had to be returned, so the queen, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the princess royal embarked, on the eighteenth of August, on board the "Victoria and Albert" for Boulogne. The emperor stood on the quay with a brilliant retinue to receive them, and conducted them to the railway station.
Arriving at St. Cloud, the royal guests were received bythe empress "amidst a blaze of light from lamps and torches, the roar of cannon, music, drums, and cheers."
"The saloons are splendid," writes the queen, "the ceilings are beautifully painted, and the walls hung with gobelins. The saloon in which we dined was terribly hot, for the table was covered with wax lights, which quite dazzled me. Everything was magnificent, and all very quiet and royal." This beautiful palace, which the queen describes in her diary, is in ruins now,—not from age, but from the storm of revolution that has destroyed so many fine buildings in and near Paris.
It might be tiresome to those of my readers who are not fond of descriptions to follow the queen in her visits to all the interesting places in Paris and its suburbs; so we will merely say that, after a week of feasting and sight-seeing, she returned to Osborne with her family, having cemented a warm friendship with the emperor and empress of the French.
In September the glorious tidings of the fall of Sebastopol reached England. A simultaneous attack of the French and English forces on the two fortresses—Redan and Malakoff—had resulted in victory; and then the Russians, finding that it would be useless to remain longer at Sebastopol, left it a burning mass, with powder magazines exploding, and flames bursting from every private and public building in the place. And so the war came to a close, and a treaty of peace was signed in Paris on the thirtieth of March. Turkey preserved her independence, and all the Russian places that had been taken by the allies were restored.
A.D. 1856.Just before peace was declared, a domestic event claimed the attention of the English royal family. This was a proposal from Frederick William, Prince of Prussia, for the hand of the princess royal. All parties inter-
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estedwere very much pleased, and Prince Albert wrote to Baron Stockmar: "The young man laid his proposal before us this morning, with the permission of his parents and of the king; we accepted it for ourselves, but requested him to hold it in suspense as regards the other party until after her confirmation. In the spring the young man wishes to make his offer to herself, and possibly to come to us along with his parents and his engaged sister. The seventeenth birthday is to have elapsed before the actual marriage is thought of, and this will, therefore, not come off till the following spring.... The young man is to leave us again in a fortnight.... I have been much pleased with him. His chiefly prominent qualities are great straightforwardness, frankness, and honesty.... He speaks of himself as personally greatly attracted to Vicky. That she will have no objection to make, I regard as probable."
The next day the queen wrote in her diary: "Our dear Victoria was this day engaged to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. He had already spoken to us of his wishes; but we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her himself or wait till he came back again. However, we felt it was better he should do so, and during our ride this afternoon up Craig-na-Ban, he picked a piece of white heather (the emblem of "good luck"), which he gave to her; and this enabled him to make an allusion to his hopes and wishes as they rode down Glen Girnoch, which led to this happy conclusion."
The confirmation of the princess royal took place the following March in the private chapel of Windsor Castle. The princess was led in by her father, and followed by the queen, with the King of the Belgians. All the royal children, the various members of the family, the ministers, the great officers of state, the members of the household, andmany of the nobility were present. The Bishop of Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury performed the ceremony, and everything went off extremely well.
The next domestic matter that occupied the attention of the royal parents was a plan for the education of Prince Alfred, who had selected the navy for his profession. In order that he might pursue his studies without interruption, it was decided that he should have an establishment of his own. The Royal Lodge at Windsor Park was therefore fitted up for him, and Lieutenant John Cowell, a young officer of Engineers, who had received a fine scientific education, was selected as tutor.
The queen had always shown regard for the care of her wounded soldiers, and took personal interest in the hospital arrangements at home. In April she visited St. Mary's Hospital at Chatham, where four hundred invalids were drawn up in the barrack square to receive her. After passing through the suffering numbers, cheering them with kind smiles and comforting words, the queen and prince entered the hospital, where those who were not well enough to be in the open air were assembled. Some of the poor fellows were frightfully crippled and disfigured; but all felt flattered by their sovereign's interest in them, and many displayed, with honest pride, the medals and other marks of honor that they had won on the battlefield. Two days later her majesty visited Aldershot, where a camp had been established. On a richly caparisoned chestnut horse she rode forward to inspect the troops. They were drawn up in two lines, fourteen thousand in number, and reached out a mile and a half in length. Bayonets flashed in the sunlight as the men presented arms, and the bands of the different regiments burst forth in strains of welcome as their sovereign advanced. Having reached an elevated piece of ground, her majesty, surroundedby a brilliant suite, witnessed the movements of the soldiers as they marched past her in a line. A grand field-day followed, when the queen appeared again on horseback, wearing the uniform of a field-marshal with the star and ribbon of the Garter, and a dark blue riding-skin. The sight was more splendid than before; the troops had mustered eighteen thousand strong this time, and their manoeuvres under the command of General Knollys excited great admiration.
During the same month there was a review of the fleet at Spithead. The royal yacht steamed out of the harbor followed by private vessels, all decked with flags and crowded with spectators, and, as they passed through the double line of men-of-war, a royal salute was fired; and this, added to the cheering of the men, produced a most exciting scene. The fleet performed various evolutions afterwards, and then had a mimic battle, which concluded the proceedings. Several more reviews, both of the navy and army, took place this year, and her majesty laid the corner-stone of a large military hospital which she had ordered to be built near Nettey. "It is to bear my name," she wrote, "and is to be one of the finest in Europe. Loving the brave army as I do, and having seen so many of my poor sick and wounded soldiers, I shall watch over the work with maternal anxiety."
An accident to the princess royal, in June, was the cause of a great deal of anxiety to the queen. The young lady was melting sealing-wax by a candle, to seal a letter, when her sleeve caught fire and her right arm was severely burned from the elbow to the shoulder. Had assistance not been near, the princess might have been burned to death; but two ladies who were in the room acted with praiseworthy presence of mind, and extinguished the flame with a hearth-rug. In a few weeks the wounds were entirely healed.In the autumn the court retired to Balmoral, and one of the most distinguished visitors presented to the queen and prince was Miss Florence Nightingale. The prince wrote of her: "She put before us all the defects of our present military hospital system, and the reforms that are needed. We are much pleased with her; she is extremely modest." A fortnight later she became the queen's guest, and Lord Panmure, the minister of war, was invited to meet her in order that she might lay before him an account of all she had seen at the Crimea, and her opinions as to the reforms that ought to be made. Miss Nightingale was treated with all the honors due so perfect a woman and so great a philanthropist.
A.D. 1857.When parliament opened in February, the queen gave an account in her speech of how an insult had been offered to the British flag by the Chinese, at Canton, which had rendered it necessary for redress to be demanded by force of arms. The facts were these: A Chinese-built vessel, called "The Arrow," sailing under a British flag, had been boarded by a Chinese war-junk, and the crew carried off as pirates. Sir John Bowring, the English governor at Hong-Kong, had demanded satisfaction, which Yeh, the Chinese commissioner, had refused. Thereupon the English fleet, under Admiral Michael Seymour, was sent to enforce reparation as well as free admission of foreigners to the city of Canton. Had Sir John Bowring not been so determined that the port of Canton should, according to a former treaty, remain open to trade, the matter might have been settled without a fight; but, as it was, the Chinese were forced into a war which cost them dear.
In a few words the cause of the Chinese war is told; but it would require thousands to recount the debate which arose in parliament as to the action of the government,which Lord Derby had challenged in one house, and Mr. Cobden in the other. The question was, whether or no the war was to be continued, whether or no Lord Palmerston was to resign? "Let the noble lord, who complains that he is the victim of a conspiracy, not only complain to the country,—let him appeal to it!" said Mr. Disraeli at the close of a two nights' debate. The noble lord did appeal to the country. He announced his policy to be, "to maintain the rights, to defend the lives and properties of British subjects, to improve our relations with China, and in the selection and arrangement of the means for the accomplishment of those objects, to perform the duty which they owed to the country." The elections which took place soon after showed a clear gain to the ministry, and a glorious victory for Lord Palmerston.
Two visitors must be mentioned, the one an American, the other a Frenchman, who went to England about this time on important missions. The American was Mr. Cyrus W. Field, who astonished the leading merchants and scientific men, by announcing a plan which he had for laying a telegraph line beneath the Atlantic to connect Europe and the United States. The Frenchman was M. de Lesseps, who explained his project for cutting a canal across the Isthmus of Suez. Both met with opposition, and both plans were deemed impossible; but, as we know, both have succeeded.
The Archduke Maximilian, brother to the Emperor of Austria, visited the court in June. He was at that time engaged to the Princess Charlotte of Belgium,—the woman afterwards known to all the world as "Poor Carlotta." It was six years after this visit to London that the Archduke Maximilian became Emperor of Mexico, where, by a turn of the revolutionary wheel, he was ordered to be shot by President Juarez, in 1867. Just before his sentencewas carried into execution, Maximilian took out his watch, and, pressing a spring which concealed a portrait of his wife, he kissed it, and gave it to a priest, saying: "Carry this souvenir to Europe,—to my dear wife; and, if she be ever able to understand you, say that my eyes closed with the impression of her image, which I shall carry with me above. Poor Carlotta!" He had reason to believe that his message never would be comprehended by his wife, because, as all her bright hopes were blasted in Mexico, her mind succumbed. When her husband was taken prisoner, she had gone to France, and then to Rome to plead for help. She was refused, and insanity was the result.
One of the most important movements this year was towards the establishment of schools for the poorer classes. Prince Albert took a lively interest in this matter; for it had astonished and pained him to find that more than half of the children between the ages of three and fifteen, in England and Wales, could neither read nor write, and the remainder had only two years of school life. He made a speech urging the necessity of compulsory education, and declared that parents must be made to see that to secure education for their children was "not only their most sacred duty, but also their highest privilege."
The title of Prince Consort was conferred by the queen on her husband this year; she also distributed "the Victoria Cross," for the first time. This ceremony took place at Hyde Park, and was intended as a reward for bravery in the army and navy. These decorations had been manufactured by the queen's order, and had inscribed on one side, "For Valor." They were given only to men who had served in the presence of the enemy, and had performed some signal act of bravery or devotion to their country. The list of such names had been made out with great care, and her majesty resolved to establish the orderby decorating the heroes with her own hand. More than a hundred thousand people assembled to witness the ceremony, and a vast semi-circle of seats had been erected to hold about twelve thousand. Four thousand soldiers were drawn up in a line, and between these and the royal pavilion were the sixty-two brave fellows who were to be decorated.
At ten o'clock her majesty rode into the park mounted on a gray horse, and dressed in a scarlet jacket, with a black skirt. She was accompanied by the prince, Prince Frederick William of Prussia, and a brilliant suite. The heroes were brought forward one by one, and her majesty pinned the cross to the breast of each without leaving her seat in the saddle. The prince saluted each man with profound respect as he withdrew. It was a splendid spectacle, and the enthusiasm of the multitude was very great.
Towards the end of June, news of the most alarming nature came from India. It was that the native regiments had mutinied, and massacred in cold blood the English officers, their wives, and children. An order was immediately issued for twelve regiments of a thousand each, and four thousand five hundred recruits, to be added to the army already in India.
Although these reinforcements were to be sent, some doubt existed as to whether the trouble was really so serious as was at first represented. Before many days the government learned by telegraph that the mutiny was almost universal in Bengal, and that thirty thousand men had deserted from the army. Delhi was in possession of the mutineers, who had been driven into the city with considerable loss. They still continued to make a desperate resistance, and the city was to be assaulted immediately.
There was no longer room for doubt; the English government and the whole nation shuddered at the thought ofwhat horrible deeds might be committed, should the mutiny become general throughout the country.
The death by cholera of the commander-in-chief for India had been announced by telegraph, and Lord Palmerston wrote to the queen proposing that Sir Colin Campbell should be sent out to take his place. This was agreed upon, and Sir Colin started the next day. Bad news continued to arrive from India, and Lord Canning wrote from Calcutta, urging the increase of English troops, as the only means of crushing anarchy and rebellion. But he knew the necessity for immediate action, and he could not wait for troops to come all the way from England; he therefore stopped those that were on their way to China, and pressed them into the service.
We need not detail the horrors of the Sepoy war nor the treachery of the never-to-be-forgotten fiend in human shape, Nana Sahib. It is enough for us to know that one post after another succumbed to English arms and English generalship, and the rebellion was finally stamped out.
This was a disastrous year in the commercial world; failure followed failure, not only of private firms, but of banks, and the difficulty was even greater in the United States than in Europe. Long years of prosperity had led to reckless speculation, which was supposed to be the chief cause of the trouble; but there were others besides.
A.D. 1858.The new year opened with preparations for the marriage of the princess royal. The court removed from Windsor to Buckingham Palace on the fifteenth of January, and by that time the guests who had been invited to attend the wedding had begun to arrive. By the nineteenth the palace was entirely filled. It contained besides the English royal family, the King of the Belgians with his sons, the Prince and Princess of Prussia, with their suites, and several princes and princesses.