[Illustration:
_Albert._
_From the Photograph by Mayall, with permission.
Engraved by W. Hall.
Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1862._
]
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THE
PRINCIPAL
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES
OF
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE CONSORT.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, GIVING SOME OUTLINES
OF HIS CHARACTER.
_TENTH THOUSAND._
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1862.
_The right of Translation is reserved_
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LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
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CONTENTS.
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PAGE
INTRODUCTION 11
THE OFFICE OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 63
SPEECH AT A MEETING FOR THE ABOLITION OF 81
SLAVERY, JUNE 1, 1840
SPEECH AT THE LITERARY FUND DINNER, 1842 83
SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CORPORATION 85
OF THE TRINITY HOUSE
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE SOCIETY FOR 87
IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE
LABOURING CLASSES, MAY 18, 1848
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE ROYAL 91
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY HELD AT YORK,
JULY 13, 1848
SPEECH AT THE LAYING OF THE FIRST STONE 93
OF THE GREAT GRIMSBY DOCKS, APRIL 18,
1849
SPEECH AT THE PUBLIC MEETING OF THE 96
SERVANTS’ PROVIDENT AND BENEVOLENT
SOCIETY, MAY 16, 1849
SPEECH AT THE ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY THE 103
MERCHANT TAILORS’ COMPANY, JUNE 11,
1849
SPEECH ON PRESENTING COLOURS TO THE 23RD 106
REGIMENT, ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS, JULY
12, 1849
SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN AT THE 109
MANSION HOUSE TO THE MINISTERS,
FOREIGN AMBASSADORS, COMMISSIONERS OF
THE EXHIBITION OF 1851, AND MAYORS OF
TOWNS, MARCH 21, 1850
SPEECH AT THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION 115
STONE OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY AT
EDINBURGH, AUGUST 30, 1850
SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY THE LORD 118
MAYOR OF YORK AND MAYORS OF CHIEF
TOWNS TO THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON,
OCTOBER 25, 1850
SPEECH AT THE DINNER OF THE ROYAL 126
ACADEMY, MAY 3, 1851
SPEECH AT THE THIRD JUBILEE OF THE 131
SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE
GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS, JUNE 16, 1851
SPEECH AT THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL 136
SOCIETY’S SHOW AT WINDSOR, JULY 16,
1851
SPEECHES AT THE BANQUET AT THE TRINITY 139
HOUSE, JUNE 4, 1853
SPEECH AT THE BICENTENARY FESTIVAL OF 146
THE CORPORATION OF THE SONS OF THE
CLERGY, MAY 10, 1854
SPEECHES AT THE DINNER AT THE TRINITY 149
HOUSE, JUNE 21, 1854
SPEECHES AT THE ANNUAL DINNER AT THE 154
TRINITY HOUSE, JUNE 9, 1855
SPEECHES AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW 159
CATTLE MARKET, IN COPENHAGEN FIELDS,
ISLINGTON, JUNE 13, 1855
SPEECHES AT THE BANQUET AT BIRMINGHAM, 162
ON LAYING THE FIRST STONE OF THE
BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE,
NOVEMBER 22, 1855
ADDRESS TO THE 3RD AND 4TH REGIMENTS OF 172
THE GERMAN LEGION AT SHORNCLIFFE, ON
PRESENTING TO THEM THEIR COLOURS,
DECEMBER 6, 1855
SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE GOLDEN LANE 173
SCHOOLS, MARCH 19, 1857
SPEECHES AT THE OPENING OF THE 177
EXHIBITION OF ART TREASURES AT
MANCHESTER, MAY 5, 1857
SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE 183
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION, JUNE 22, 1857
OPENING ADDRESS AT THE MEETING IN THE 193
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS FOR THE
INAUGURATION OF JENNER’S STATUE, MAY
17, 1858
SPEECHES AT THE TRINITY HOUSE, JULY 3, 195
1858
SPEECH AT CHERBOURG, AFTER THE BANQUET 199
ON BOARD ‘LA BRETAGNE,’ AUGUST 5, 1858
SPEECH ON PRESENTING NEW COLOURS TO THE 200
2ND BATTALION OF THE 13TH (“PRINCE
ALBERT’S OWN”) LIGHT INFANTRY, AT
HARFORD RIDGE, NEAR ALDERSHOT,
FEBRUARY 21, 1859
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH 203
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE, AT ABERDEEN, SEPTEMBER 14,
1859
SPEECH AT THE DINNER ON THE OPENING OF 231
THE CLOTHWORKERS’ HALL, IN THE CITY,
MARCH 27, 1860
SPEECH AT THE BANQUETING ROOM, ST. 234
JAMES’S PALACE, ON THE TWO HUNDREDTH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE
GRENADIER GUARDS, JUNE 16, 1860
SPEECH AT THE DINNER OF THE TRINITY 243
HOUSE, JUNE 23, 1860
SPEECH ON OPENING THE INTERNATIONAL 250
STATISTICAL CONGRESS, JULY 16, 1860
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Two editions of the Prince Consort’s Speeches were published by the
Society of Arts in 1857; and cheap editions of the same collection have
been published since the Prince’s death.
The present volume contains, in addition to the speeches previously
printed, a speech made by His Royal Highness at the Meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Aberdeen,
September 14, 1859; and his address on opening the International
Statistical Congress, held in London, 16th July, 1860; together with
several minor speeches made by the Prince since the year 1857.
This volume also contains some extracts from a memorandum written by the
Prince in reference to the office of Commander-in-Chief.
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INTRODUCTION
TO
THE PRINCE CONSORT’S
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION.
-------
The following work contains, with some few trifling exceptions, the
speeches and addresses delivered by His Royal Highness the Prince
Consort. It is published at the express desire, and under the sanction,
of Her Majesty.
* * * * *
It has been thought that this publication will not only be a worthy
tribute to the Prince’s memory, but that it will have a deep interest
for a large circle of readers. There will be those who were personally
attached to the Prince, and who will be [Sidenote: Those who will be
interested by the speeches.] glad to have a record of these speeches,
upon which he bestowed so much care and thought. To the statesman, to
the man of science, and to those who care for the social well-being of
the people, these speeches will be interesting, as coming from one who
himself was a master in those three great branches of human endeavour.
And, lastly, to the general student of literature they will [Sidenote:
Peculiarity of the Prince’s position.] possess a high value from the
peculiarity of the position of the man who uttered them. Every free and
great nation has had, during its best times, a long line of
distinguished orators; and, perhaps, the British nation, from its large
enjoyment of freedom, may defy the world to compete with it in
masterpieces of oratory. The names of [Sidenote: Great Britain fertile
in orators.] Somers, Bolingbroke, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Plunket,
Grattan, Canning, Sheil, O’Connell, and Macaulay, fill the mind with
pictures of attentive listeners, leaning forward, hushed to catch every
accent of a great orator speaking upon some great theme. But in every
age there will be such men as long as England is a great and free
nation. We have them in our senate now; and we feel that there are men
living amongst us who are fully worthy to take high places in the
illustrious roll of British orators. But, without claiming for the
Prince Consort any peculiar gift of oratory, it may fairly be maintained
that the world has far more chance of hearing speeches similar to those
of even [Sidenote: Rarity of speeches like those of the Prince.] the
most renowned among the orators just mentioned, than speeches like his;
for they were, in their way, unique. It must be a fortunate country
indeed, that, even in an extended course of its history, should have two
such men, so placed, as the deeply-lamented Prince Consort.
Now, why were these speeches unique? In the first place, the man who
spoke them had not only a scientific and an artistic mind (which is a
rare combination), but he was full of knowledge and of suggestive views
upon almost every subject. But that was not all. The expression of this
knowledge [Sidenote: The drawbacks upon the Prince in speaking.] and of
these views had to be compressed and restrained in every direction. He
was a Prince, and so close to the Throne that he could not but feel that
every word he uttered might be considered as emanating from the Throne.
He was not born in the country, and therefore he had to watch lest any
advice he gave might be in the least degree unacceptable, as not coming
from a native. He had all the responsibilities of office, without having
a distinct office to fill. At all points he had to guard himself from
envy, from misconstruction, and from the appearance of taking too much
upon himself. His was a position of such delicacy and difficulty that
not one of his contemporaries would presume to think he could have
filled it as well as the Prince did. And all this difficulty, and all
this delicacy, must have come out in fullest relief before him when he
had to make any public utterance.
[Sidenote: Eloquence much furthered by absence from restraint.] It is
said, and with some truth, that almost anybody might appear witty who
should be inconsiderate and unscrupulous in his talk. The gracious
reserve that kind-hearted men indulge in, tends to dim their brilliancy,
and to lessen their powers of conversation. What is true of wit is true
also of wisdom. In considering the speeches of the best speakers, and
comparing them one with another, careful account must be taken of the
degrees of freedom of speech which the speakers respectively enjoyed.
Often a man gains great credit for eloquence and boldness, when the
credit is largely due to his having no responsibility, or to his
careless way of ignoring what he has. Such considerations as the above
should be continually in the mind of any reader of the Prince Consort’s
speeches, who may wish to understand them thoroughly, and justly to
appreciate the speaker. It has been said that speech is silver, and
silence is golden; and if there be anything more precious than gold, it
may well be applied to describe that happy mingling of freedom of
thought, with a due reserve in the expression of that thought, which
ought to mark the speeches of men in an exalted position. They cannot
afford to make a speech, however good it may be in the main, that has
one needless witticism in it, or the slightest touch of exaggeration, or
the least indication of party prejudice.
Of the Prince’s speeches, as of much of his life, it may be said that
the movement of them was graceful, noble, and dignified; but yet it was
like the movement of a man in chain armour, which, even with the
strongest and most agile person, must ever have been a movement somewhat
fettered by restraint.
The principal elements that go to compose a great oration had often to
be modified largely in these speeches of the Prince. Wit was not to be
jubilant,—passion not pre-dominant,—dialectic skill not triumphant.
There remained nothing as the secure staple of the speech but supreme
common sense. Looked at in this way, it is wonderful that the Prince
contrived to introduce into his speeches so much that was new and
interesting.
[Sidenote: The leading idea of the speaker.] After reading continuously
the speeches of any remarkable man, we generally seek to discover what
is the leading idea of his mind—what is the string on which his pearls
of rhetoric, or of fancy, have been strung. And if we were asked what is
this leading idea with the Prince, we might safely reply—the beauty of
usefulness.
[Sidenote: His speeches exhaustive.] [Sidenote: Speech at the Servants’
Provident Benevolent Society.] Not that there are not many minor
characteristics of an admirable kind which it may be well to point out,
and to illustrate by examples. His speeches, though short, are
singularly exhaustive of the subject. As an instance, take his speech at
the Servants’ Provident Benevolent Society. “I conceive,” he said, “that
this Society is founded upon a right principle, as it follows out the
dictates of a correct appreciation of human nature, which requires every
man, by personal exertion and according to his own choice, to work out
his own happiness, which prevents his valuing, nay, even feeling
satisfaction at, the prosperity which others have made for him. It is
founded on a right principle, because it endeavours to trace out a plan,
according to which, by providence, by self-denial and perseverance, not
only will the servant be raised in his physical and moral condition, but
the master also will be taught how to direct his efforts in aiding the
servant in his labour to secure to himself resources in case of
sickness, old age, and want of employment. It is founded on a right
principle, because in its financial scheme there is no temptation held
out to the servant by the prospect of probable extravagant advantages,
which tend to transform his providence into a species of gambling; by
convivial meetings, which lead him to ulterior expense; or by the
privilege of balloting for the few prizes, which draws him into all the
waste of time and excitement of an electioneering contest.”
Another striking instance of this exhaustiveness, and also of his
generosity of feeling, [Sidenote: Speech at the dinner of the Royal
Academy, 1851.] is to be seen in those passages of his speech at the
dinner of the Royal Academy in 1851 where he speaks of criticism.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “the production of all works in art or poetry
requires in their conception and execution not only an exercise of the
intellect, skill, and patience, but particularly a concurrent warmth of
feeling and a free flow of imagination. This renders them most tender
plants, which will thrive only in an atmosphere calculated to maintain
that warmth, and that atmosphere is one of kindness towards the artist
personally as well as towards his productions. An unkind word of
criticism passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and
shrivels them up, checking the flow of the sap which was rising to
produce perhaps multitudes of flowers and fruit. But still criticism is
absolutely necessary to the development of art, and the injudicious
praise of an inferior work becomes an insult to superior genius.
“In this respect our times are peculiarly unfavourable when compared
with those when Madonnas were painted in the seclusion of convents; for
we have now on the one hand the eager competition of a vast array of
artists of every degree of talent and skill, and on the other, as judge,
a great public, for the greater part wholly uneducated in art, and thus
led by professional writers who often strive to impress the public with
a great idea of their own artistic knowledge, by the merciless manner in
which they treat works which cost those who produced them the highest
efforts of mind or feeling.
“The works of art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are
becoming articles of trade, following as such the unreasoning laws of
markets and fashion; and public and even private patronage is swayed by
their tyrannical influence.”
How thoroughly the Prince here feels with the artist! At the same time,
how he demands the highest order of criticism! What discernment is shown
in the comparison between our own time and other times as regards the
peculiar circumstances of criticism! And, in the last paragraph, how
justly he points out what are the dangers to High Art in the present
period! Indeed, this speech, taken as a whole, may claim to be one of
the best that have been delivered in our time.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s desire to get at principles of action.]
[Sidenote: Speech on laying the first stone of the Birmingham and
Midland Institute.] Again, another characteristic in the Prince’s
speeches is the evident desire in them to get at the law, or the
principle, upon which the matter in question should be settled. As an
instance of this I would adduce the following extract from his speech
when laying the first stone of the Birmingham and Midland Institute:
“Without such knowledge we are condemned to one of three states: either
we merely go on to do things just as our fathers did, and for no better
reason than because they did so; or, trusting to some personal
authority, we adopt at random the recommendation of some specific in a
speculative hope that it may answer; or, lastly, and this is the most
favourable case, we ourselves improve upon certain processes; but this
can only be the result of an experience hardly earned and dearly bought,
and which, after all, can only embrace a comparatively short space of
time and a small number of experiments.
“From none of these courses can we hope for much progress; for the mind,
however ingenious, has no materials to work with, and remains in
presence of phenomena, the causes of which are hidden from it.
“But these laws of nature, these divine laws, are capable of being
discovered and understood, and of being taught and made our own. This is
the task of science: and whilst science discovers and teaches these
laws, art teaches their application. No pursuit is therefore too
insignificant not to be capable of becoming the subject both of science
and art.”
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Condense-ness of the Prince’s speeches.] Contrary to our
feeling in reading most speeches, we are always sorry when the Prince
has ended, and we want more to have been said by him; and yet, if we
look attentively at any of the speeches, we cannot but see that so much
has been said that we must acknowledge ourselves somewhat unreasonable
in wishing to have had any more. His speech on laying the foundation
stone of the National Gallery at Edinburgh affords a notable instance of
this. It is so short that you feel inclined to clamour for more; and
yet, when you read it attentively, you find that enough has been said to
make up what would have been a long and telling speech in Parliament.
Happily the Prince’s absence from the parliamentary arena freed him from
that tendency to needless amplification which is the besetting sin even
of the best speakers in the present day.
* * * * *
The sympathetic nature of the Prince, which enabled him to feel so
largely and deeply for all classes of men, visible throughout his
speeches, is nowhere better seen than in his speech at the Bicentenary
Festival of the Sons of the Clergy. How rarely, by any one, has a just
tenderness for the Clergy been shown in ampler and in nobler terms than
in the following extract:—
[Sidenote: Speech at the Bicentenary Festival of the Sons of the
Clergy.] “Gentlemen, the appellation of a ‘money-making parson’ is not
only a reproach but a condemnation for a clergyman, depriving him at
once of all influence over his congregation; yet this man, who has to
shun opportunities for acquiring wealth open to most of us, and who has
himself only an often scanty life income allotted to him for his
services, has a wife and children like ourselves; and we wish him to
have the same solicitude for their welfare which we feel for our own.”
* * * * *
In estimating the Prince Consort’s speeches, it is to be recollected
that for the most part they treat of topics of an abstract character,
and seldom take up what is merely personal as their subject, which,
however, is always the most interesting to mankind.
This could not be avoided from the position of the Prince; but it is
much to be regretted, for whenever he did speak of something personal,
he was particularly successful.
For instance, if we were called upon to furnish for history the main
characteristics of Sir Robert Peel’s mind, we could not refer to any
description of that eminent statesman which would at all compete with
that given by the Prince Consort in the speech that he made at the
dinner to which he was invited by the Lord Mayor of York.
“There is but one alloy,” the Prince said, “to my feelings of
satisfaction and pleasure in seeing you here assembled again, and that
is, the painful remembrance that one is missing from amongst us who felt
so warm an interest in our scheme and took so active a part in promoting
its success, the last act of whose public life was attending at the
Royal Commission: my admiration for whose talents and character, and
gratitude for whose devotion to the Queen and private friendship towards
myself, I feel a consolation in having this public opportunity to
express.
“Only at our last meeting we were still admiring his eloquence and the
earnestness with which he appealed to you to uphold, by your exertions
and personal sacrifices, what was to him the highest object, the honour
of his country; he met you the following day together with other
commissioners, to confer with you upon the details of our undertaking;
and you must have been struck, as everybody has been who has had the
benefit of his advice upon practical points, with the attention, care,
and sagacity with which he treated the minutest details, proving that to
a great mind nothing is little, from the knowledge that in the moral and
intellectual as in the physical world the smallest point is only a link
in that great chain, and holds its appointed place in that great whole
which is governed by the Divine Wisdom.
“The constitution of Sir Robert Peel’s mind was peculiarly that of a
statesman, and of an English statesman: he was liberal from feeling, but
conservative upon principle; whilst his impulse drove him to foster
progress, his sagacious mind and great experience showed him how easily
the whole machinery of a state and of society is deranged, and how
important, but how difficult also, it is to direct its further
development in accordance with its fundamental principles, like organic
growth in nature. It was peculiar to him, that, in great things as in
small, all the difficulties and objections occurred to him first; he
would anxiously consider them, pause, and warn against rash resolutions;
but, having convinced himself, after a long and careful investigation,
that a step was not only right to be taken, but of the practical mode
also of safely taking it, it became to him a necessity and a duty to
take it: all his caution and apparent timidity changed into courage and
power of action, and at the same time readiness cheerfully to make any
personal sacrifice which its execution might demand.”
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s careful preparation of his speeches.] The
foregoing are some of the principal characteristics of the Prince’s
speeches. It remains only to be said that he thought over them with the
greatest care and anxiety. His respect for his audience, and also for
his own position, made him always endeavour to give the best thought he
could to whatever subject he was treating. He looked upon every occasion
he had for speaking as affording him an opportunity of saying something
that might be useful for his fellow-countrymen; and he toiled to make
that something worthy of him, and worthy of them.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s speech at the Trinity House, June 9, 1855.] The
Editor of these Speeches has thought it best to give them without any
introductory comments or explanations. One speech, however, brought
forth so much misrepresentation, that, in reference to that
circumstance, some comment may fitly be made upon it. I allude to the
speech which the Prince delivered at a dinner at the Trinity House on
the 9th of June, 1855. It is an admirable speech, and in it the Prince
spoke out more of his whole mind than perhaps in any other. Let us
recall the circumstances. We had met with much disaster in the Crimea.
The sickness and death of her soldiers had touched most deeply the heart
of the Queen; and the Prince, who was a patriot if ever man was, felt
for his country the tenderest anxiety. Now, let us look at the speech.
In every line of it may be seen the Prince’s intense anxiety to gain
support for the Government, and unity of resolve amongst the people.
Why does he dwell upon the power of despotism? Not that he delights to
praise despotism, but that he wishes us to see that we have an
antagonist whose power we must not venture to underrate. Why does he
speak of “constitutional government being under a heavy trial”? Not
that, for a moment, he seeks to decry constitutional government; but
because he loves it, is devoted to it, partakes that trial which
[Sidenote: Despotism strong in war.] he points out, and seeks only so to
consolidate free government that it may maintain its pre-eminence. How
well-chosen are the words he used on the occasion referred to, when he
says, “We are engaged with a mighty adversary, who uses against us all
those wonderful powers which have sprung up under the generating
influence of our liberty and our civilization, and employs them with all
the force which unity of purpose and action, impenetrable secresy, and
uncontrolled despotic power give him.”
Is it any new thing to say that despotism is naturally strong in the
field, and in the movements of great armies? From the days of Philip of
Macedon, down, through those of Louis the Fourteenth, to the Empire of
the First Napoleon, has it not been the object of great men in free
countries so to consolidate free governments as to give them that force
and unity which should enable them to meet the despot in the field upon
something like equal terms—equal terms, not as regards men (for freemen
always fight well), but as regards organization, which has so much to do
with superiority in military affairs?
[Sidenote: Danger from want of organi-zation.] It seems a needless
labour to make any defence of this speech, and a labour somewhat open to
the censure conveyed in the proverb that excuse is but a form of
accusation; but really the justification in this case is so complete,
that it does not come within the meaning of the word “excuse.” Every
lover of this free country must perceive that its only danger of being
worsted in some great contest is a momentary inferiority as regards
organization; and we should feel much gratitude to any one who, in an
exalted position, has the loving boldness to point out what are our
dangers. The Prince asked for confidence in the Government. England gave
that confidence, and the cause was won.
[Sidenote: The fearful mischief of flattering a nation.] Perhaps the
greatest injury that men highly-placed can do their countrymen is to
flatter them, and to hide from them any point of weakness that there may
be in the nation. We smile at flattery when addressed to private
persons, and think it no great harm; but it swells into a mischief of
gigantic magnitude when addressed to a nation by those who enjoy its
confidence.
We have not far to look for instances of nations being brought to the
brink of ruin because they have not had public men to tell them stern
truths as to the inefficiency of their means, and the unwisdom of their
ends. All honour, then, to the man who has the courage, at a critical
moment, to tell his countrymen where their peril really lies, and what
difficulties they must be prepared to overcome.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A view of the Prince’s character.] It may, perhaps, be not
unwelcome to the reader, and not inappropriate to the subject, that, as
an addition to this Introduction, I should attempt to give some view of
the character of the Prince, having had some opportunities of observing
him closely during the last year or two of his life, and having since
heard and carefully compared what those who knew him best could tell of
him. Such an attempt to depict the Prince’s character may be useful to
the future historian, who has to bring before himself some distinct
image of each remarkable man he writes about, and who, for the most
part, is furnished with only a superficial description, made up of the
ordinary epithets which are attached, in a very haphazard way, to the
various qualities of eminent persons by their contemporaries. We really
obtain very little notion of a creature so strangely-complex as a man,
when we are told of him that he was virtuous, that he was just, that he
loved the Arts, and that he was good in all the important relations of
life. We still hunger to know what were his peculiarities, and what made
him differ from other men; for each man, after all, is a sort of new and
distinct creation.
* * * * *
It is a great advantage, in estimating any character, to have a clear
idea of the aspect of the person whose character is drawn. There are,
fortunately, many portraits of the Prince Consort which possess
considerable merit; still there is something about almost every
countenance which no portrait can adequately convey, and which must be
left to description.
[Sidenote: A description of the Prince’s personal appearance.] The
Prince had a noble presence. His carriage was erect: his figure
betokened strength and activity; and his demeanour was dignified. He had
a staid, earnest, thoughtful look when he was in a grave mood; but when
he smiled (and this is what no portrait can tell of a man) his whole
countenance was irradiated with pleasure; and there was a pleasant sound
and a heartiness about his laugh which will not soon be forgotten by
those who were wont to hear it.
He was very handsome as a young man; but, as often happens with
thoughtful men who go through a good deal, his face grew to be a finer
face than the early portraits of him promised; and his countenance never
assumed a nobler aspect, nor had more real beauty in it, than in the
last year or two of his life.
The character is written in the countenance, however difficult it may be
to decipher; and in the Prince’s face there were none of those fatal
lines which indicate craft or insincerity, greed or sensuality; but all
was clear, open, pure-minded, and honest. Marks of thought, of care, of
studiousness, were there; but they were accompanied by signs of a soul
at peace with itself, and which was troubled chiefly by its love for
others, and its solicitude for their welfare.
[Sidenote: The originality of the Prince.] Perhaps the thing of all
others that struck an observer most when he came to see the Prince
nearly, was the originality of his mind; and it was an originality
divested from all eccentricity. He would insist on thinking his own
thoughts upon every subject that came before him; and, whether he
arrived at the same results as other men, or gainsaid them, his
conclusions were always adopted upon laborious reasonings of his own.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The quickness of his intellect.] The next striking
peculiarity about the Prince was his extreme quickness—intellectually
speaking. He was one of those men who seem always to have all their
powers of thought at hand, and all their knowledge readily producible.
[Sidenote: His merits in conversa-tion.] In serious conversation he was
perhaps the first man of his day. He was a very sincere person in his
way of talking; so that, when he spoke at all upon any subject, he never
played with it: he never took one side of a question because the person
he was conversing with had taken the other: and, in fact, earnest
discussion was one of his greatest enjoyments. He was very patient
[Sidenote: His tolerance of contra-diction.] in bearing criticism and
contradiction; and, indeed, rather liked to be opposed, so that from
opposition he might elicit truth, which was always his first object.
[Sidenote: Fond of wit and humour.] He delighted in wit and humour; and,
in his narration of what was ludicrous, threw just so much of imitation
into it as would enable you to bring the scene vividly before you,
without at the same time making his imitation in the least degree
ungraceful.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His love of freedom.] There have been few men who have had a
greater love of freedom, in its deepest and in its widest sense, than
the Prince Consort. Indeed, in this respect he was even more English
than the English themselves.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His sense of duty.] A strong characteristic of the Prince’s
mind was its sense of duty. He was sure to go rigidly through anything
he had undertaken to do; and he was one of those few men into whose
minds questions of self-interest never enter, or are absolutely ignored,
when the paramount obligation of duty is presented to them. If he had
been a sovereign prince, and, in a moment of peril, had adopted a form
of constitution which was opposed to his inclination or his judgment, he
would still have abided by it strictly when quiet times came; and the
change, if change there was to be, must have come from the other parties
to the contract, and not from him. He was too great a man to wish to
rule, if the power was to be purchased by anything having the reality,
or even the semblance, of dishonour. It is not too much to say, that, if
he had been placed in the position of Washington, he could have played
the part of Washington, taking what honour and power his fellow-citizens
were pleased to give him, and not asking, or scheming, for any more. He
must have sympathized much with the late Duke of Wellington, whose main
idea seemed to be to get through life justly and creditably, taking the
full measure of responsibility put upon him, and not seeking to have his
soul burdened with any more. Such men are absolutely of a different
order of mind from the commonplace seekers after power and
self-glorification.
The Prince, as all know, was a man of many pursuits and of various
accomplishments, with an ardent admiration for the [Sidenote: The Prince
gradually gave up some of his favourite pursuits.] beautiful both in
Nature and in Art. Gradually, however, he gave up pursuits that he was
fond of, such as the cultivation of music and drawing; not that he
relished these pursuits less than heretofore, but that he felt it was
incumbent upon him to attend more and more to business. He was not to
employ himself upon what specially delighted him, but to attend to what
it was his duty to attend to. And there was not time for both.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s aversion to prejudice and intolerance.] Another
characteristic of the Prince (which is not always found in those who
take a strict view of duty) was his strong aversion to anything like
prejudice or intolerance. He loved to keep his own mind clear for the
reception of new facts and arguments; and he rather expected that
everybody else should do the same. His mind was eminently judicial; and
it was never too late to bring him any new view, or fresh fact, which
might be made to bear upon the ultimate decision which he would have to
give upon the matter. To investigate carefully, weigh patiently, discuss
dispassionately, and then, not swiftly, but after much turning over the
question in his mind, to come to a decision—was his usual mode of
procedure in all matters of much moment.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s delight in the good deeds of other persons.]
There was one very rare quality to be noticed in the Prince,—that he had
the greatest delight in anybody else saying a fine saying, or doing a
great deed. He would rejoice over it, and talk about it, for days; and
whether it was a thing nobly said or done by a little child, or by a
veteran statesman, it gave him equal pleasure. He delighted in humanity
doing well on any occasion and in any manner.
This is surely very uncommon. We meet with people who can say fine
sayings, and even do noble actions, but who are not very fond of
dwelling upon the great sayings or noble deeds of other persons. But,
indeed, throughout his career, the Prince was one of those who threw his
life into other people’s lives, and lived in them. And never was there
an instance of more unselfish and chivalrous devotion than that of his
to his Consort-Sovereign and to his adopted country. That Her reign
might be great and glorious; that his adopted country might excel in
art, in science, in literature, and, what was dearer still to him, in
social well-being, formed ever his chief hope and aim. And he would have
been contented to have been very obscure, if these high aims and objects
could in the least degree have thereby been furthered and secured.
[Sidenote: The Prince’s love of his birthplace.] This love of his
adopted country did not prevent his being exceedingly attached to his
birthplace and his native country. He would recur in the most touching
manner, and with childlike joy, to all the reminiscences of his happy
childhood. But, indeed, it is clear that, throughout his life, he became
in a certain measure attached to every place where he dwelt. This is
natural, as he always sought to improve the people and the place where
he lived; and so, inevitably, he became attached to it and to them.
* * * * *
A biographer who has some very beautiful character to describe, and who
knows the unwillingness that there is in the world to accept, without
much qualification, great praise of any human being, will almost be glad
to have any small defect to note in his hero. It gives some relief to
the picture, and it adds verisimilitude. This defect (if so it can be
called) in the Prince consisted [Sidenote: The Prince’s shyness.] in a
certain appearance of shyness which he never conquered. And, in truth,
it may be questioned whether it is a thing that can be conquered, though
large converse with the world may enable a man to conceal it. Much might
be said to explain and [Sidenote: The causes of it.] justify this
shyness in the Prince; but there it was, and no doubt it sometimes
prevented his high qualities from being at once observed and fully
estimated. It was the shyness of a very delicate nature, that is not
sure it will please, and is without the confidence and the vanity which
often go to form characters that are outwardly more genial.
The effect of this shyness was heightened by the rigid sincerity which
marked the Prince’s character. There are some men who gain much
popularity by always expressing in a hearty manner much more than they
feel. They are “_delighted_” to see you; they “_rejoice_” to hear that
your health is improving; and you, not caring to inquire how much
substance there is behind these phrases, and not disinclined to imagine
that your health is a matter of importance which people might naturally
take interest in, enjoy this hearty but somewhat inflated welcome. But
from the Prince there were no phrases of this kind to be had: nothing
that was not based upon clear and complete sincerity. Indeed, his
refined nature shrank from expressing all it felt, and still less would
it condescend to put on any semblance of feeling which was not backed up
by complete reality.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s tempera-ment.] It is very difficult to describe
a man’s temperament, especially when it is of a somewhat complex nature,
as was that of the Prince. It was a buoyant, joyous, happy temperament.
It made his home and his household glad. To use a common expression, but
a forcible one, he was “the life and soul of the house.” Moreover, the
Prince’s temperament was very equable, not subject to sudden elations or
depressions. To illustrate, however, the complexity, before alluded to,
of men’s temperaments—beneath this joyousness of the Prince, deep down
in the character, there was a vein, not exactly of melancholy, but
certainly of pensiveness, which grew a little more sombre as the years
went on. It was a pensiveness bred from much pondering upon the
difficulty of human affairs, and upon the serious thing that life is.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A division of mankind into two classes.] The writer of this
Introduction has often, in his imagination, divided men into two great
classes, which seem to him separated by a wide gulf of thought and
feeling. The one class is, if it may be so expressed, on the side of
humanity: the other is opposed or indifferent to it. This essential
difference of character is not necessarily the effect or the concomitant
of virtue or of vice, of hopefulness or despondency, of a love of
justice or a proneness to injustice; and it has still less to do with
any of the intellectual qualities. But it depends upon the presence or
the absence of a large and loving nature, where the lovingness takes
heed of all humanity. The Prince was pre-eminently one of the first
class. He wished for success to all honest human endeavour. No love of
criticism, no fondness for paradox, no desire to exalt his own opinion,
made him waver in his yearning for the [Sidenote: The Prince’s sympathy
for work.] good of humanity. This caused his intense sympathy with all
human work, from that of the artisan to that of the statesman. We have
in this age used the word “philanthropy” till we are tired of it, till
it has [Sidenote: The Prince a philan-thropist.] become a mawkish word
with us; but still there is something very beautiful corresponding to
that word, and that was what the Prince possessed. We all recognize in
our respective spheres the distinction I have drawn above between these
two classes. We all know, for instance, when any public or private
disaster happens, who will really grieve over it and endeavour to
retrieve it; and who will make it a subject for vain comment, pretended
lamentation, or boasting censure. And a nation, like a man, would
[Sidenote: The Prince helpful in times of trouble.] have come to the
Prince when in real trouble, and have found in him one whose sole
thought would have been, “what can now be done for the best?” For he
was, as I said before, pre-eminently on the side of humanity, and all
that touched other men, touched him, too, very nearly.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His aversion to flattery.] The Prince had a horror of
flattery. I use the word “horror” advisedly. Dr. Johnson somewhere says
that flattery shows, at any rate, a desire to please, and may,
therefore, be estimated as worth something on that account. But the
Prince could not view it in that light. He shuddered at it: he tried to
get away from it as soon as he could. It was simply nauseous to him.
[Sidenote: His aversion to vice.] He had the same feeling with regard to
vice generally. Its presence depressed him, grieved him, horrified him.
His tolerance allowed him to make excuses for the vices of individual
men; but the evil itself he hated.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Low motives odious to him.] What, however, was especially
repugnant to the Prince was lowness. He could not bear men to be
actuated by low motives. A remarkably unselfish man himself, he scarcely
understood selfishness in others; and, when he recognized it, he felt an
abhorrence for it. The conditions that the Prince drew up for the prize
that is given by Her Majesty at Wellington College are very
characteristic of him. This prize is not to be awarded to the most
bookish boy, to the least faulty boy, to the boy who should be most
precise, diligent, and prudent; but to the noblest boy, to the boy who
should afford most promise of becoming a large-hearted, high-motived
man.
[Sidenote: The Prince’s religious feelings.] The Prince was a deeply
religious man, yet was entirely free from the faintest tinge of bigotry
or sectarianism. His strong faith in the great truths of religion
coexisted with a breadth of tolerance for other men struggling in their
various ways to attain those truths. His views of Religion did not lead
him to separate himself from other men; and in these high matters he
rather sought to find unity in diversity, than to magnify small
differences. Thus he endeavoured to associate himself with all earnest
seekers after religious truth.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Some men acquire knowledge without loving it.] It must have
occurred to every observer of mankind to notice that there are persons
who acquire knowledge without loving it. They have read all the noblest
works in literature without being profoundly touched by any of them.
They may be excellent classical scholars, and yet they do not seem to
love their Horace or their Virgil. Their minds are not penetrated with a
sense of the beauty of these authors. They do not see that an idea has
been expressed once and for ever, in the choicest language, by these
masters of expression: whereas, some humble student perceives all this;
and Virgil, Horace, and Ovid belong to him. The same thing occurs in
science; the same in law; the same in medicine. You see men who know all
about their art, or their science, but who do not seem to love it. They
are not led up to all nature by it. It is with them a business, rather
than a science or an art. Such was not the case with the Prince. He was
singularly impressed with the intellectual beauty of knowledge; for, as
he once remarked to Her who most sympathised with him, “To me, a long,
closely-connected train of reasoning is like a beautiful strain of
music. You can hardly imagine my delight in it.” But this was not all
with him. He was one of those rare seekers after truth who carry their
affections into their acquisitions of knowledge. He loved knowledge on
account of what it could do for mankind; and no man of our time
sympathized more intimately with that splendid outburst of Bacon, where
the great Chancellor exclaims,—
[Sidenote: Bacon on knowledge.] “Knowledge is not a couch,
whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace
for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a
fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise
itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and
contention; or a shop for profit or sale; but a rich storehouse
for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man’s estate.
But this is that which will indeed dignify and exalt knowledge,
if contemplation and action may be more nearly and straitly
conjoined and united together than they have been; a conjunction
like unto that of the two highest planets—Saturn, the planet of
rest and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil society
and action.”
[Sidenote: The Prince’s care for the poorer classes.] It was with a
feeling similar to that expressed in the foregoing passage that the
Prince would comment, for instance, upon an improvement in manufacture,
as bearing, especially, upon the health and strength of the poorest
classes. It was for “the relief of Man’s estate” that this amiable
Prince delighted most in the extension of the bounds of knowledge.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: How the Prince acquired knowledge.] It is always a subject of
interest to endeavour to find out how men who have been remarkable for
knowledge have found time and opportunity, in this busy, anxious,
hurried world, to acquire that knowledge. And in the case of the Prince
it is especially difficult to answer the question. But the truth is,
that, much as the Prince read books (and in early life he had been very
studious), he read men and Nature more. He never gave a listless or
half-awake attention to anything that he thought worth looking at, or to
any person to whom he thought it worth while to listen. And to the
observant man, who is always on the watch for general laws, the minutest
objects contemplated by him are full of insight and instruction. In the
Prince’s converse with men, he delighted at getting at what they knew
best, and what they could do. He would always try to get from them the
mystery of their craft; and, probably, after the Prince had had an
interview with any person of intelligence, that person went away having
learnt something from the Prince, and the Prince having learnt something
from him. Such men, who are always on the alert to gain and to impart
knowledge, deserve to know; and their knowledge soon grows to be beyond
book-knowledge, and enters into a higher sphere, as being the result of
delicate and attentive observation made by themselves, and for
themselves. This is how I account for the Prince’s remarkable
acquisition of much and various knowledge.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s care for the labouring classes.] If any man in
England cared for the working classes, it was the Prince. He understood
the great difficulty of the time as regards these classes; namely, the
providing for them fitting habitations. He was a beneficent landlord;
and his first care was to build good cottages for all the labouring men
on his estates. He had entered into minute calculations as to the amount
of illness which might be prevented amongst the poorer classes by a
careful selection of the materials to be used in the building of their
dwellings. In a word, he was tender, thoughtful, and anxious in his
efforts for the welfare of the labouring man. His constancy of purpose
in that, as in other things, was worthy of all imitation. He did not
become tired of benevolence. It was not the fancy of a day for him. It
was the sustained purpose of a life.
* * * * *