[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
(_From a Photograph by Mr. A. Bassano, London._)]
THE
LIFE AND TIMES
OF
QUEEN VICTORIA.
BY
ROBERT WILSON.
Illustrated.
VOL. II.
[Illustration]
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
_LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXI.
COLONIAL HOME RULE AND FINANCIAL REFORM. PAGE
Mr. Roebuck and Emigration--Self-Government and the
Colonies--Unsympathetic Whig Policy--Radicals and the Colonial
Office--The Peelites and Hudson’s Bay Company--Financial Reform--Mr.
Cobden at Variance with Mr. Bright--Combined Agitators--The
Demand for Retrenchment--Trade and the Flag--Tories and Taxes--A
_reductio ad absurdum_--A Raid on a Surplus--International
Arbitration--Parliamentary Reform--Parliament and the Jews--The
Tories oppose the Alteration of the Parliamentary Oath--Episcopal
Prejudice--Tory Obstructionists--An Ordnance Department Scandal--Mr.
Delane’s Attacks on Lord Palmerston in the _Times_--The Queen
Remonstrates against Lord Palmerston’s Recklessness--An
Anti-Palmerstonian Cabal--Lady Palmerston’s Intrigues--Lord Brougham
Betrays the Cabal--Palmerston’s Victory--Rome and France--The Second
War--The Disaster of Chillianwalla--Indignation of the Country--Lord
Gough’s Recall--Napier to the Rescue--The East India Directors Oppose
Napier’s Appointment--The Convict War at the Cape--Boycotting the
Governor 385
CHAPTER XXII.
FAMILY CARES AND ROYAL DUTIES.
Education of the Prince of Wales--Selection of Mr. Birch as Tutor--The
Queen’s Jealousy of her Parental Authority--Her Letter to Melbourne on
the Management of her Nursery--Her Ideas on Education--Prince Albert’s
Plans for the Education of the Prince of Wales--Stockmar’s Advice--The
Visit to Ireland--The Queen at Waterford--“Rebel Cork” _en fête_--The
Visit to Dublin--Viceregal Festivities--The Visit to the National Model
Schools--Shiel’s Speech--The Queen and the Duke of Leinster--Farewell
at Kingstown--The Queen Dips the Royal Ensign--Loyal Ulster--The Visit
to the Linen Hall--Lord Clarendon on the Queen’s Visit--A Cruise on the
Clyde--Home in Balmoral--The Queen’s “Bothie”--The Queen’s University
of Ireland--First Plans for the Great Exhibition--Opening of the London
Coal Exchange--The Queen’s Barge--Death of Queen Adelaide 403
CHAPTER XXIII.
CLOUDS IN THE EAST AND ELSEWHERE.
Political Wreckage--Force triumphs over Opinion--The State
of France--Election of Prince Charles Louis Bonaparte as
Prince-President--The Sad Plight of Italy--Palmerston’s Anti-Austrian
Policy--Defeat of Piedmont--The Fall of Venice--Fall of the
Roman Republic--A Cromwellian Struggle in Prussia--The Queen’s
Partisanship--Her Prussian Sympathies--The Hungarian Refugees in
Turkey--A Diplomatic Conflict with Russia--Opening of Parliament--Mr.
Disraeli and Local Taxation--Parliamentary Reform--The Jonahs of the
Cabinet--The Dispute with Greece--Don Pacifico’s Case--Coercion of
Greece--Lord Palmerston meekly accepts an Insult from Russia--French
Intervention--A Diplomatic Conflict in France--Recall of the
French Ambassador--False Statements in Parliament--The Queen’s
Indignation--The Don Pacifico Debate--The _Civis Romanus sum_
Doctrine--Palmerston’s Victory--The West African Slave Trade 420
CHAPTER XXIV.
SOME EPOCH-MARKING LEGISLATION.
The Colonies and Party Government--The Movement for Autonomy--Lord John
Russell’s Colonial Bill--Tory Opposition to Colonial Federation--Mr.
Adderley’s Plan--Mr. Gladstone’s Scheme for Colonial Church Courts--The
Colonial Bills Mangled in the House of Lords--More English Doles
for Ireland--An Irish Reform Bill--Lord John Russell Proposes to
Abolish the Lord-Lieutenancy--The Queen’s Irish Policy--Her offer
to Establish a Royal Residence in Ireland--The Bungled Budget--The
Demand for Retrenchment--The Tories Insist on a Reduction of Official
Salaries--Lord John Russell’s Commission on Establishments--The
Queen and the Church--The Ecclesiastical Appeals Bill--The “Gorham
Case”--Death of Peel--The Queen’s Sorrow--A Nation in Mourning--Peel’s
Character and Career--The Queen’s Alarm about Prince Albert’s
Health--The Queen at Work--The Queen’s Reading-Lamp 438
CHAPTER XXV.
FALL OF THE WHIG CABINET.
Debates on “No Popery”--Mutiny of the Irish Brigade--Defeat of Lord
John Russell--Lord Stanley “sent for”--Timid Tories--Lord Stanley’s
Interviews with the Queen--A Statesman’s “Domestic Duties”--Is
Coalition Possible?--The Queen’s Mistake--The Duke of Wellington’s
Advice--Return of the Whigs to Office--The Queen’s Aversions--The
“No Popery” Bill Reduced to a Nullity--Another Bungled Budget--The
Income Tax Controversy--The Pillar of Free Trade--The Window Tax
and the House Duty--The Radicals and the Slave Trade--King “Bomba”
and Mr. Gladstone--Cobden on General Disarmament--Palmerston in a
Millennial Mood--The Whig-Peelite Intrigue--The Queen and the Kossuth
Demonstrations--Another Quarrel with Palmerston--A Merry Council of
State 463
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE FESTIVAL OF PEACE AND THE _COUP D’ÉTAT_.
The World’s Fair--Carping Critics--Churlish Ambassadors Rebuked by the
Queen--Opening of the Great Exhibition--A Touching Sight--The Queen’s
Comments on “_soi-disant_ Fashionables”--The Duke of Wellington’s
Nosegay--Prince Albert among the Missionaries--The Queen’s Letter to
Lord John Russell--Her Pride in her Husband--The London Season--The
Duke of Brunswick’s Balloon “Victoria”--Bloomerism--The Queen at
Macready’s Farewell Benefit--The Queen’s Costume Ball--The Spanish
Beauty--An Ugly “Lion”--The Queen at the Guildhall Ball--Grotesque
Civic Festivities--Royal Visits to Liverpool and Manchester--A
Well-Dressed Mayor--The Queen on the “Sommerophone”--The _Coup
d’État_--The Assassins of Liberty--The Appeal to France--The Queen’s
Last Quarrel with Palmerston--Palmerston’s Fall--Outcry against the
Queen--A “Presuming” Muscovite--The Queen’s Vindication 480
CHAPTER XXVII.
A YEAR OF EXCITEMENT AND PANIC.
Cassandras in the Service Clubs--The Tories and the Queen’s
Speech--Lord John Russell’s Triumph--The Militia Bill--Defeat of
the Russell Ministry--Fall of the Whig Cabinet--Palmerston’s “Tit
for Tat”--A Protectionist Government--Novices in Office--A Cabinet
of Affairs--Mr. Disraeli’s Budget--Lord John Russell’s Fatal
Blunder--The Second Burmese War--Dalhousie’s Designs on Burmah--How
the Quarrel Grew--Lambert’s Indiscretion--The Attack on Rangoon--Fall
of the Citadel--Annexation--Desultory Warfare--Dissolution of
Parliament--The General Election--Equipoise of Parties--Factions
and Free Trade--Palmerston’s Forecasts--Forcing the Hand of the
Ministry--Death of the Duke of Wellington--The Queen’s Grief--The
Nation in Mourning--The Lying-in-State--Shocking Scenes--The Funeral
Pageant--The Ceremony in St. Paul’s--A Veteran in Tears--The Laureate’s
Votive Wreath--Review of the Duke’s Character 496
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE LAST YEAR OF “THE GREAT PEACE.”
Abortive Attacks on the Ministry--Mr. Disraeli’s First Budget--Fall
of the Tory Cabinet--The Queen and Lord Aberdeen--Organising
the Coalition--A Ministry of “All the Talents”--The Queen and
South Kensington--A Miser’s Legacy to the Queen--Sport at
Balmoral--Proclamation of the Second Empire--The “Battle of the
Numeral”--The Queen Initiates a Policy--Personal Government in the
Victorian Age--A Servile Minister--Lord Malmesbury’s Spies--Napoleon
III. and “Mrs. Howard”--Creole Card-Parties at Kensington--Napoleon
III. Proposes to Marry the Queen’s Niece--Lord John Russell’s Education
Scheme--Mr. Gladstone’s First Budget--The India Bill--Transportation
of Convicts to Australia Stopped--The Gold Fever in Australia--The
Rush to the Diggings--The First Gold Ships in the Thames--Gold
Discoveries and Free Trade--Chagrin of the Protectionists--The Rise in
Prices--Practical Success of Peel’s Fiscal Policy--Strikes and Dear
Bread--End of the Great Peace 515
CHAPTER XXIX.
DRIFTING TO WAR.
Origin of the Crimean War--Russia and “the Sick Man”--Coercing
Turkey--The Dispute about the Holy Places--A Monkish
Quarrel--Contradictory Concessions--The Czar and the Tory
Ministry of 1844--The Secret Compact with Peel, Wellington, and
Aberdeen--Nesselrode’s Secret Memorandum--The Czar and Sir Hamilton
Seymour--Lord John Russell’s Admissions--The Czar’s Bewilderment--Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe--The Marplot at Constantinople--A Hectoring
Russian Envoy--The Allied Fleets at Besika Bay--The Conference of
Vienna--The Vienna Note--The Turkish Modifications--The Case for
England--The British Fleet in the Euxine--A Caustic Letter of the
Queen to Lord Aberdeen--Prince Albert’s Warnings--The Massacre
of Sinope--Internal Feuds in the Cabinet--Lord John Russell’s
Intrigues--Palmerston’s Resignation and Return--The Fire at
Windsor--Birth of Prince Leopold--The Camp at Chobham--The Czar’s
Daughters--Naval Review at Spithead--Royal Visit to Ireland 540
CHAPTER XXX.
WAR.
The War Fever in 1854--Attacks on Prince Albert--Aberdeen’s
Correspondence with the Queen--The Queen’s Opinion of
the Country--“Loyal, but a little mad”--Stockmar on the
Constitution--Prince Albert’s Position at Court--The Privileges of
a Reigning Queen’s Husband--Debates on the Prince’s Position--The
Peace and War Parties--Mr. Cobden’s Influence--A new Vienna Note--A
Challenge to Russia--The Russian Ambassador leaves London--Recall of
Sir H. Seymour from St. Petersburg--Russian Intrigues with the German
Powers--The Czar’s Counter-Propositions--His Sarcastic Letter to
Napoleon III.--An Austrian Compromise--Lord Clarendon’s _Ultimatum_ to
Russia--The Czar’s Reply--Declaration of War--Omar Pasha’s Victories
in the Principalities--The Siege of Silistria--Evacuation of the
Principalities--The Rising in Greece--The Allies at the Piræus--The
Allies occupy Gallipoli--Another English Blunder--Invasion of the
Crimea--The Duke of Newcastle and a Sleepy Cabinet--Lord Raglan’s
Opinion on the War--The Landing of the Allies at Eupatoria--Battle of
the Alma--Russian Fleet Sunk at Sebastopol--At Balaclava--Death of
Marshal St. Arnaud--The Siege of Sebastopol--Battles of Balaclava and
Inkermann--Mismanagement of the War--Public Indignation against the
Government--Mr. Roebuck’s Motion--Fall of the Coalition Ministry 574
CHAPTER XXXI.
PARTY GOVERNMENT AND WAR.
Stratford de Redcliffe Cooling Down--Tory Distrust of the French
Alliance--The Queen’s Kindness to Lord Aberdeen--The Emperor Napoleon
and Prince Albert--The Prince Visits France--The Queen at Balmoral--Her
Feelings towards the Prince of Prussia--The Queen holds a Council
of War--She Demands Reinforcements for Lord Raglan--Napoleon’s
Alarm--Prince Albert’s Plan for an Army of Reserve--The Queen on
the Austrian Proposals--Her Anxiety about the Troops--Raglan’s
Meagre Despatches--The Queen and Miss Nightingale--At Work for
the Soldiers--Extorting Information from Lord Raglan--Ministerial
Changes--Lord John Russell’s Selfishness--A Miserly Whig Duke--The
Queen’s Disgust at Russell’s Treachery--Resignation of Russell--Fall of
the Coalition--The Queen and the Crisis--She holds out the Olive Branch
to Palmerston--Palmerston’s Cabinet--Quarrel between Mr. Disraeli
and Lord Derby--The Sebastopol Committee--Mr. Roebuck and Prince
Albert--The Vienna Conference and the Death of Czar Nicholas--The
Austrian Compromise--Parties and the War--Russell’s Humiliation--He
Resigns in Disgrace--The Queen Quashes the Peace Negotiations--A Royal
Blunder--The Queen tries to Gag the Peelites--Aberdeen Browbeaten by
the Court--Canrobert’s Resignation--Crimean Successes--Failure of the
Attack on the Redan--Death of Raglan 618
CHAPTER XXXII.
ROYALTY AND THE WAR.
Financing the War--The Queen’s Opinion of War Loans--A Dreadful
Winter--Distress in the Country--The “Devil” in Devonshire--Bread
Riots--War Loans and a War Budget--The Queen and the Wounded
Soldiers--Her Condemnation of “the Hulks”--Presentation of War Medals
in Hyde Park--Visit of the Emperor and Empress of the French--A Plot
to Capture the Queen--Councils of War at Windsor--The Grand Chapter of
the Order of the Garter--Imperial Compliments--Napoleon III. in the
City--At the Opera--The Queen’s Birthday Gift to the Emperor--Scarlet
Fever at Osborne--Prorogation of Parliament--A Court Intrigue with
Dom Pedro of Portugal--The Queen Visits Paris--Her Reception at St.
Cloud--The Ball at the Hôtel de Ville--Staring at the “Koh-i-noor”--At
the Tomb of the Great Emperor--Prince Bismarck’s Introduction to the
Queen--Home again--Lord Clarendon on the Queen’s Visit to Paris--How
the Prince of Wales Enjoyed himself--At Balmoral--The Bonfire on
Craig Gowan--Sebastopol Rejoicings--“A Witches’ Dance supported by
Whisky”--Courtship of the Princess Royal--Prince Frederick William of
Prussia--His Proposal of Marriage--Attacks of the _Times_--Visit of
Victor Emmanuel--His Reputation in Paris--Memorial of the Grenadier
Guards--Fresh Charges against Prince Albert--His Vindication of the
Crimean Officers 643
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE END OF THE WAR.
Lord Raglan’s Successor--“Take Care of Dowb”--Lord Panmure’s
Nepotism--The Crisis of the War--Gortschakoff’s Last Struggle--The
Battle of the Tchernaya River--France and the War--A Despondent
Court--Divided Counsels among the Allies--The Bridge of Rafts--The
Grand Bombardment--French Attack on the Malakoff--British Attack on
the Redan--Why the Attack Failed--The “Hero of the Redan”--Pélissier’s
Message to Simpson--Appeal to Sir Colin Campbell--Evacuation of the
Redan--Fall of Sebastopol--Retreat of the Russians to the North
Town--Paralysis of the Victors--The Queen’s Anger--Her Remonstrances
with Lord Panmure--A New Commander-in-Chief--Taking Care of
“Dowb”--Codrington Chosen--The Wintry Crimean Watch--Diplomatic
Humiliation of Palmerston--France Negotiates Secretly Terms of Peace
with Austria--Palmerston’s Indignant Remonstrances--The Queen Objects
to Prosecute the War Alone--The Surrender of Palmerston--He Abandons
the Turks--An Unpopular Peace--The Tories Offer to Support the
Peace--The Queen and the Parliament of 1856 669
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PEACE AND PARLIAMENT.
Opening of Parliament--A Cold Speech from the Throne--Moderation of
Militant Toryism--Mr. Disraeli’s Cynical Strategy--The Betrayal of
Kars--The Life Peerage Controversy--Baron Parke’s Nickname--More
Attacks on Prince Albert--Court Favouritism among Men of Science--The
Congress of Paris--How France Betrayed England--Walewski’s Intrigues
with Orloff--Mr. Greville’s Pictures of French Official Life--Snubbing
Bonapartist Statesmen--Peace Proclaimed--Popular Rejoicings--A Memento
of the Congress--The Terms of Peace--The Tripartite Treaty--The
Queen’s Opinion of the Settlement--Parliamentary Criticism on the
Treaty of Paris--Stagnation of Public Life in England--The Queen’s
“Happy Family” Dinner Party--A little “Tiff” with America--The
Restoration of H.M.S. _Resolute_--The Budget--Palmerston’s Tortuous
Italian Policy--The Failure of his Domestic Policy--The Confirmation
of the Princess Royal--Robbery of the Royal Nursery Plate--Prince
Alfred’s Tutor--Reviews of Crimean Troops--Debates on the Purchase
System--Lord Hardinge’s Tragic Death--The Duke of Cambridge as
Commander-in-Chief--Miss Nightingale’s Visit to Balmoral--Coronation
of the Czar--Russian Chicanery at Paris--A Bad Map and a False
Frontier--Quarrel between Prussia and Switzerland--Quarrel between
England and the Sicilies--Death of the Queen’s Half-Brother--Settlement
of the Dispute with Russia--“The Dodge that Saved us” 679
CHAPTER XXXV.
TWO LITTLE WARS AND A “PENAL DISSOLUTION.”
The Queen’s New Year Greeting to Napoleon III.--A Gladstone-Disraeli
Coalition--A Scene in the Carlton Club--Mr. Disraeli’s Attack on Lord
Palmerston’s Foreign Policy--The Queen Consents to Reduce the Income
Tax--A Fallacious Budget, with Imaginary Remissions--The Persian
War--General Outram’s Victories--Unpopularity of the War--Making War
without Consulting Parliament--The Rupture with China--A “Prancing
Proconsul”--The Bombardment of Canton--Defeat of Lord Palmerston,
and his Appeal to the Country--A Penal Dissolution--Abortive
Coalition between the Peelites and Tories--Mr. Gladstone and the
Intriguers--Split in the Peelite Party--Palmerston’s Victory at
the Polls--The Rout of the Manchester School--The Lesson of the
Election--Opening of the New Parliament--The Work of the Session--Mr.
Gladstone’s Obstruction of the Divorce Bill--The Settlement of the
Neufchâtel Difficulty--The Question of the Principalities--Visit of the
French Emperor to the Queen 699
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE INDIAN MUTINY.
The Centenary of Plassey--Rumours of Rebellion--Causes of the
Mutiny--The Annexation of Oudh--Lord Dalhousie’s Indian Policy--Its
Disturbing Effect on the Minds of the Natives--The Royal Family of
Delhi--The Hindoo “Sumbut”--The Discontent of the Bengal Army--The
Grievances of the Sepoy--The Greased Cartridges--The Mystery of
the “Chupatties”--Mutiny of the Garrison at Meerut--The March to
Delhi--Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow--The Tragedy of Cawnpore--Death
of the Commander-in-Chief--Who took Delhi?--Sir John Lawrence in
the Punjab--The Saviour of India--Lord Canning at Calcutta--First
Relief of Lucknow--Despatch of Sir Colin Campbell--Second Relief of
Lucknow--Savage Fighting at the Secunder-baugh--The Queen’s Letter to
Sir Colin Campbell--His Retreat to Cawnpore--His Management of the
Campaign--Windham’s Defeat at the Pandoo River--Sir Colin Campbell’s
Victory over the Gwalior Army 720
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE ROYAL MARRIAGE.
Birth of Princess Beatrice--Death of the Duchess of Gloucester--A Royal
Romance--Franco-Russian Intrigues--The Art Treasures Exhibition at
Manchester--Announcement of the Marriage of the Princess Royal--Prince
Albert’s Views on Royal Grants--The Controversy on the Grant to the
Princess Royal--Visit of the Grand Duke Constantine--The Christening
of Princess Beatrice--Prince Albert’s Title as Prince Consort
Legalised--The First Distribution of the Victoria Cross--Opposition to
the Order--The Queen’s Visit to Manchester--Departure of the Prince
of Wales to Germany--The Queen and the Indian Mutiny--Her Controversy
with Lord Palmerston--Sudden Death of the Duchess of Nemours--The
Marriage of the Princess Royal--The Scene in the Chapel--On the Balcony
of Buckingham Palace--The Illuminations in London--The Bride and
Bridegroom at Windsor--The Last Adieus--The Departure of the Bride and
Bridegroom to Germany 738
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Prince of Wales (_From a Photograph by Mr.
A. Bassano, London_) _Frontispiece_
The Western Suburbs of Victoria, Vancouver
Island 385
St. George’s Chapel, Windsor 388
John Bright (1857) 389
Royal Palace, Naples 392
Lady Palmerston 393
Sir Charles Napier 396
The Battle of Gujerat 397
The British Troops Entering Multan 400
Sir Harry Smith 401
Victoria Castle, Killiney--Bray Head in the distance 404
Royal Visit to Ireland: the Queen Leaving Kingstown 405
Visit of the Queen and Prince Albert to the Linen
Hall, Belfast 409
Castleton of Braemar 412
At Balmoral: a Morning Call 413
The Royal Barge 416
Opening of the London Coal Exchange--Arrival of
the Royal Procession at the Custom-House Quay 417
The Chamber of Representatives, Brussels 420
Louis Kossuth (1850) 421
The White Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 424
The Piræus, Athens 425
Grand Entrance, Westminster Palace 429
Mr. (afterwards Sir Alexander) Cockburn 432
Cape Town 433
Mr. Gladstone (1855) 436
Windsor Castle: View from the Quadrangle 437
View in Phœnix Park, Dublin 440
Mr. Horsman 441
The Funeral of Sir Robert Peel: the Tenantry
Assembling at the Lodge, Drayton Manor 444
The Funeral of Sir Robert Peel: the Ceremony in
Drayton Bassett Church 445
Meeting of the Ladies’ Committee at Stafford
House in Aid of the Great Exhibition 449
Cambridge House, Piccadilly (1854) 452
The Queen and Prince Arthur (_After Winterhalter_,
1850) _To face_ 452
Pate’s Assault on the Queen 453
Lord John Russell (1850) 456
The Royal Apartments, Holyrood Palace 461
St. Stephen’s Crypt, Westminster Palace 464
Mr. Locke King 465
The Green Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 468
Sir George Cornewall Lewis 469
The Caffre War: Natives Attacking a Convoy 472
Group of Dyaks 473
Lord Carlisle 476
The Great Exhibition, Hyde Park 477
Sir Joseph Paxton 481
Opening of the Great Exhibition, Hyde Park
(_After the Picture by Eugène Lamé_) _To face_ 482
St. George’s Hall, Liverpool 484
The Royal Visit to Worsley Hall: the State Barge
on the Bridgwater Canal 485
The Queen’s Arrival in Peel Park: Children of the
Manchester and Salford Schools Singing the
National Anthem 489
The Coup d’État: Lancers Charging the Crowd in
the Boulevards of Paris 492
Prince Charles Louis Napoleon 493
Diana Fountain, Bushey Park 496
Harnessing the Black Horses at the Royal Mews,
Buckingham Palace (_After the Painting by
Charles Lutyens. In the Possession of the
Earl of Bradford_) 497
Sidney Herbert (_After the Statue by Foley_) 500
St. Albans, from Verulam 501
View near Rangoon 504
Major Fraser’s Storming Party Carrying the Stockade
in Front of Rangoon 505
Walmer Castle 508
The Duke of Wellington (_After the Portrait by
Count D’Orsay_) 509
The Wellington Monument in St. Paul’s Cathedral,
completed in 1878 (_By Alfred Stevens_) 513
North Terrace and Wykeham Tower, Windsor
Castle 516
The Duke of Argyle 517
View in Braemar 520
The Queen’s Visit to the Britannia Tubular Bridge 521
Queen Victoria (_After the Equestrian Portrait
by Count D’Orsay_) _To face_ 521
Notre Dame, Paris (West Front) 524
Comte de Montalembert 525
Mdlle. Eugenia de Montijo, afterwards Empress
of the French 529
Prince Jeróme Bonaparte 532
Sketch in the Outer Cloisters, Windsor Castle 533
The Conveying of Australian Gold from the East
India Docks to the Bank of England (_After the
Engraving in the “Illustrated London News”_) 537
Study of a Child (_After an Etching by the Queen_) 539
Off the Coast of Asia Minor (Turkey in Asia) 540
Bazaar in Constantinople 541
Convent of the Nativity, Bethlehem 544
Interior of the Chapel of the Nativity, Bethlehem 545
The Nicolai Bridge across the Neva, St. Petersburg 548
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (_From a Photograph
by Messrs. Boning and Small_) 549
Town Hall, Vienna 552
Prince Menschikoff 553
The Mosque of Selim II. at Adrianople 557
The Duke of Newcastle 560
Destruction of the Turkish Fleet at Sinope 561
The Throne Room, Windsor Castle 564
Sebastopol 565
Fire in the Prince of Wales’s Tower, Windsor
Castle 568
The Queen at the Camp at Chobham _To face_ 568
Runnymede 569
Spithead 572
Balmoral Castle from the Road 573
The Outer Cloisters and Anne Boleyn’s Window,
Windsor Castle 577
Russian Repulse at Silistria 580
Lord Raglan 581
The Queen Waving Farewell to the _Duke of
Wellington_ Flag-ship 585
Marshal St. Arnaud 588
Forts Alexander and Peter the Great, Cronstadt 589
Omar Pasha 592
Map of the Crimea 593
The Barracks Hospital, Scutari 596
Odessa 597
Heights of the Alma 600
Sir John Burgoyne 601
Pembroke Lodge, Richmond 604
Codrington’s Brigade (23rd Royal Welsh Fusileers)
at the Alma 605
General Canrobert 608
Entrance to Balaclava Harbour 609
Sir Colin Campbell 612
Balaclava--“The Thin Red Line” (_After the Painting
by Robert Gibb, R.S.A. In the Possession
of Archibald Ramsden, Esq., Leeds_) 613
Valley of Inkermann 616
The Storm off Balaclava 617
Mr. Roebuck (1858) 620
Buckingham Palace, from St. James’s Park 621
Miss Nightingale and the Nurses in the Barracks
Hospital at Scutari 625
Henry VIII.’s Gateway, Windsor Castle 628
Refreshment Room, House of Lords 629
Mr. Sidney Herbert (afterwards Lord Herbert of
Lea) 632
The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg 633
Grand Reception Room, Windsor Castle 636
The Hundred Steps, Windsor Castle 637
View in the Crimea: The Palace Woronzow,
Alupka 641
The Wounded Soldier’s Toast--“The Queen!” 645
The Queen Distributing the Crimean Medal at the
Horseguards Parade Ground _To face_ 647
Windsor Castle from the Brocas 648
The Queen Investing the Emperor of the French
with the Order of the Garter 649
The Waterloo Room, Windsor Castle 652
The Royal and Imperial Visit to the Crystal
Palace: the Procession down the Nave 653
The Queen at the Fête in the Forest of St. Germain 657
Map of Crathie and Braemar 660
The Wooing of the Princess Royal 664
Count Cavour 665
Balaclava: at Peace (_From a Drawing made
Twenty-five Years after the Crimean War_) 668
Cathcart’s Hill, Crimea 669
French Attack on the Malakoff 672
General Todleben 673
The Throne Room, St James’s Palace (_From a
Photograph by H. N. King_) 677
View in the Crimea: Jalta 680
Miss Nightingale 681
The Emperor of Austria 684
The Conference of Paris, 1856 685
Visit of the Queen and Prince Albert to the
_Resolute_ 689
Portsmouth 692
Sir De Lacy Evans 693
View in Berne 697
Old Windsor Lock (_From a Photograph by Taunt
and Co., Oxford_) 701
Sir John Bowring 705
Chinese Lorchas in the Canton River 709
The Cascade: Virginia Water 712
Plan of Windsor Castle 713
The Duke of Cambridge (_From a Photograph by
Bassano_) 717
The Barracks at Meerut 721
Sir James Outram 725
Cawnpore 729
Lord Lawrence 733
Scene at the First Relief of Lucknow 736
The Hastings Chantry, St George’s Chapel,
Windsor 741
The Victoria Cross 744
The Queen Distributing the Victoria Crosses in
Hyde Park 745
The Crimson Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 749
Marriage of the Princess Royal (_After the Picture
by John Philip, R.A._) _To face_ 751
[Illustration: THE WESTERN SUBURBS OF VICTORIA, VANCOUVER ISLAND.]
CHAPTER XXI.
COLONIAL HOME RULE AND FINANCIAL REFORM.
Mr. Roebuck and Emigration--Self-Government and the
Colonies--Unsympathetic Whig Policy--Radicals and the Colonial
Office--The Peelites and Hudson’s Bay Company--Financial
Reform--Mr. Cobden at Variance with Mr. Bright--Combined
Agitators--The Demand for Retrenchment--Trade and the Flag--Tories
and Taxes--A _reductio ad absurdum_--A Raid on a
Surplus--International Arbitration--Parliamentary
Reform--Parliament and the Jews--The Tories oppose the Alteration
of the Parliamentary Oath--Episcopal Prejudice--Tory
Obstructionists--An Ordnance Department Scandal--Mr. Delane’s
Attacks on Lord Palmerston in the _Times_--The Queen Remonstrates
against Lord Palmerston’s Recklessness--An Anti-Palmerstonian
Cabal--Lady Palmerston’s Intrigues--Lord Brougham Betrays the
Cabal--Palmerston’s Victory--Rome and France--The Second War--The
Disaster of Chillianwalla--Indignation of the Country--Lord Gough’s
Recall--Napier to the Rescue--The East India Directors Oppose
Napier’s Appointment--The Convict War at the Cape--Boycotting the
Governor.
Another notable event in the Colonial history of 1849 was the
introduction by Mr. Roebuck, on the 14th of May, of a Bill for the
better government of the Colonies. The debate on this measure brought
vividly before the minds of thoughtful men the folly upon which our
step-motherly treatment of the Colonies was based. “Emigration by
itself,” exclaimed Mr. Roebuck, “is misery;” and yet the idea of
colonisation which prevailed at the Colonial Office was simply to
transport as many people as possible to distant wilds, utterly
regardless of their ultimate fate. Why should we not introduce something
like system, asked Mr. Roebuck, into our Colonial policy, and recognise
the fact that it was now not tribute, but trade that we might expect to
get from them? His proposal was to have one plan for settling a colony,
another for organising it when settled, and a third for groups of
colonies in confederation or union. His panacea for all Colonial ills
was to get rid of “red tape” at the Colonial Office and to give the
Colonies Home Rule. The difficulties, said Mr. Hawes, as representing
Lord Grey and the Colonial Office, in the way of granting Home Rule to
North-American Colonies would be insuperable; besides, England had far
too many Colonies already, so that it was of little use to bring forward
schemes for settling new ones! Whigs like Lord John Russell condemned a
policy which tended to substitute a fixed Parliamentary rule for the
discretion of a responsible Minister, and contended that physical
impediments rendered the union of Canada into one Dominion impossible.
Mr. Gladstone, however, warmly supported Mr. Roebuck’s policy. Even then
the leaven of the Home Ruler was working in his mind. Mr. Roebuck was
beaten by 116 to 73. But this did not put a stop to these Colonial
debates.
On the 26th of June Sir William Molesworth moved an Address to the Queen
begging for a Commission to inquire into the Administration of the
Colonies, more especially with a view to lessen the cost of their
government, and to give free scope to individual enterprise in
colonising. He startled the House by quoting figures which showed that,
in fifteen years, “a series of remarkable events in the Colonies” had
cost England the modest sum of eighty millions sterling. It could not
have cost more to settle 4,000,000 able and energetic emigrants in
Australia alone; and yet in the whole Colonial Empire in 1849, it
appears there were not more than 1,000,000 persons of British or Irish
descent. Charles Buller some years before had condemned the Colonial
Office for its arbitrary character, its indifference to local feeling,
and its ignorance of local wants, its procrastination and vacillation,
its secrecy and irresponsibility, its servitude to parties and cliques,
its injustice, and its disorder. In this debate Lord Grey’s
Administration was held to aptly illustrate all these vices; and yet
Lord Grey had become Colonial Minister because he stood pledged to cure
them. Lord Grey’s idea of Colonial government seemed to be either to
rule the Colony with a high hand from London, or, if it had some
semblance of representative institutions, to govern it by means of a
violent Party minority in the popular Chamber, co-operating with a
majority of the Council nominated by the Crown. Self-government for
Colonies that were fit for it, and intelligent government for those that
were not, were Sir William Molesworth’s remedies. A strong plea for
reducing the extravagant outlay on official salaries and useless
military expenditure was pressed; and protests against convict
emigration, which, together with our misgovernment, drove honest English
Colonists to the United States, were entered. Mr. Hume and Mr.
Gladstone, on behalf of the Radicals and Peelites, gave a general
support to the motion; but the indefatigable Mr. Hawes came smilingly to
the defence of Lord Grey with his stereotyped “_Non possumus_,” and Lord
John Russell declared that the scope of the reference to the Commission
was too vast and wide for practical purposes. His novel argument was
that to attempt to define the limits of Imperial and local questions
must end in bitter disputes between the Colonies and the mother country.
Undeterred by the failure of the Radicals to force a rational Colonial
policy on the Whigs, the Peelites next took up the matter, and on the
19th of June Lord Lincoln moved an Address to the Crown expressing the
opinion that the Hudson’s Bay Company, to which Vancouver Island had
been granted by Royal Charter, was ill-adapted for ruling or developing
the resources of a colony founded on principles of political and
commercial freedom, and generally challenging the validity of the grant.
One would have thought that it needed little argument to demonstrate the
unwisdom of founding a colony to be ruled by an absentee proprietary,
earning its revenues by a trading monopoly. The history of the United
States was full of examples of this species of folly, and both Lord
Lincoln and Mr. Hume argued their case with the greatest ability. But
they spoke to no purpose, for just as Mr. Hume was warming to his work
the House was counted out! In these days, when the air is full of
schemes for Imperial Federation, and Home Rule, it is interesting to
note how, in 1849, the battle of Colonial Reform was fought by a
combination of Conservative Peelites and “stalwart” Radicals, against
the Whigs, who were jealously opposed to all extensions of Colonial
autonomy.
After Colonial policy, and not long after it in point of interest, came
Finance. The erratic schemes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the
preceding year, together with the distress which afflicted the country,
had made everybody dissatisfied with the financial policy of the
Government. The Protectionists were always at hand to suggest that the
pressure of taxation was due to Free Trade. The Free Traders were never
weary of retorting that it was due to extravagant expenditure, and could
be remedied by retrenchment. Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright thus felt that
their mission in life did not end with the Repeal of the Corn Laws. If
they were to keep the ground they had taken, it seemed to them they must
start an agitation to reduce public expenditure. Mr. Bright rather
favoured the notion of agitating for an extension of the Franchise, on
the supposition that, if more taxpayers had votes, Government, in
deference to their prejudices, would be chary of augmenting public
burdens. Ultimately, however, they agreed to combine the two
agitations,[1] and work with each other as before. The popular feeling
in favour of economy was first manifested by the formation of Financial
Reform Associations in the large towns--that of Liverpool being
especially energetic--and they were soon busy discussing a practical
plan, which emanated from the fertile brain of Cobden, for the remission
of the Malt Tax and other public burdens. Cobden’s scheme was simply to
effect retrenchment by going back to the scale of expenditure that was
deemed adequate in 1835, and in this way he proposed to reduce taxation
by about £10,000,000 sterling. Quite a flutter of excitement ran through
the
[Illustration: ST. GEORGE’S CHAPEL, WINDSOR.]
House of Commons when, on the 26th of February, he brought his plan
under its notice. He contended that military expenditure had caused the
increase of £10,000,000, which he desired to reduce. Therefore he moved
that the expenditure under this head be diminished with all practicable
speed. The insular position of England was itself a sure defence against
her enemies.
[Illustration: JOHN BRIGHT (1857).]
Provided she did not interfere recklessly with foreign nations, she had
less to fear in 1849 than in 1835. Why, then, should the military and
naval expenditure of 1835 be exceeded? Vast sums of money, too, were
spent on the Colonies. Here also a reduction might be effected, for the
English taxpayer got no more food from the Colonies than the foreign one
did. At this period it was evident that Mr. Cobden had not put to the
test the sound maxim that “trade follows the flag.” The answer of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was that in 1835, to the expenditure of
which Mr. Cobden wanted to revert, no adequate provision had been made
for the true wants of the country; and that, since then, many things had
happened to increase expenditure unavoidably. The introduction of steam
into the Navy was an illustration of these changes. Moreover, the
Government had reduced expenditure by about a million and a half
sterling--and that was surely a pledge of their earnestness as financial
reformers.
The Tories put Mr. Herries forward to attack both parties. He blamed
Ministers for encouraging the financial reformers, and denounced Mr.
Cobden for the violence of his speeches out of doors on the subject. The
policy of the Tories was to demand that expenditure should not be
lessened, whilst there was ground for anxiety as to foreign affairs. One
of their arguments was an odd one. It was that, as the revenue was still
maintained in spite of the repeal of vast sums of taxation, there was no
ground for pretending that retrenchment was necessary because the people
felt that taxation was pressing hard on them. They did not seem to see
that this was either an argument in favour of raising revenue without
imposing any taxes at all--which was a _reductio ad absurdum_--or an
argument to show that reductions of taxation still left Government with
enough money in hand to defend the interests of the country, which was
virtually an admission that Mr. Cobden’s plan, if tried, could do no
harm. The Free Traders made a bid for the rural vote by arguing that, if
the landed interest wanted the relief which the Protectionists promised
them, they ought to vote for the reduction in expenditure, which would
enable Parliament to grant that relief. Mr. Cobden’s first scheme of
Financial Reform was rejected by a vote of 275 to 78. But this did not
allay the uneasiness of the public, who began to fret over the
extraordinary delay that took place in the production of the Budget. It
was not till the 29th of June that Sir Charles Wood made his financial
statement to the House. It was not a cheering one. The expenditure,
which was £53,287,110, had exceeded the Ministerial estimate by
£1,219,379, and it exceeded the revenue of the year by £269,378. Of
course, by excluding unexpected outlays on Irish distress, Canadian
emigration, &c., a more favourable state of accounts could be shown;
but, as the excluded money had been spent, there was really no reason
for ignoring it. For the coming year his estimated expenditure, he said,
would be £52,157,696, and his estimated receipts would yield, he hoped,
a surplus over that of £94,304. Sir Charles Wood’s strongest points were
that every effort would be made to keep current expenditure within
current income, and that instead of using small surpluses to remit small
sums of taxation, they would be kept as the nucleus of large surpluses,
for the reduction of large amounts of taxation. The Radicals and
Financial Reformers were not satisfied with Sir Charles Wood’s long list
of objectionable taxes that had been removed. In spite of all that,
expenditure increased--and what was worse, there was a steady increase
in permanent burdens on the revenue, in the shape of charges for the
Public Debt. Mr. Hume demanded that Excise be done away with, and that
the example of Sir James Graham, who reduced the expenses of the
Admiralty by £1,200,000, be followed. Mr. Milner Gibson attacked the
paper duty, the newspaper stamp duty, and the tax on advertisements, as
taxes on knowledge; and he cited the petition of the Messrs. Chambers
of Edinburgh, who declared that the paper duty had stopped the
continuance of a work for the humbler classes which they were bringing
out, and of which there had been a sale of 80,000 copies. Everybody
wanted some special duty repealed, either that on hops, bricks, soap,
beer, malt, tea, or timber. The Budget was felt to be unsatisfactory,
for, as Mr. Cobden said, it made the two ends barely meet. At the close
of the Session (20th of July) Mr. Herries supplemented this discussion
by starting another question--that of raising some portion of the
supplies of the State by a fixed duty on corn. The Protectionists argued
that Sir Charles Wood’s estimates were too sanguine, and that more taxes
must be imposed on the people, unless a small duty were put on foreign
corn. This was not to be a protective duty, but one merely for revenue
purposes, and as such surely it was justifiable. It would be only a tax
on food in name; in fact, the defence of the proposal was like the Irish
vagrant’s apology for the existence of her baby--“Please, sir, it’s only
a very little one.” Of course the Free Traders sprang upon Mr. Herries
with great glee. The Tories were going round the country promising the
farmers Protection. But when they came to the House of Commons all they
ventured to ask for was a small fixed duty on corn, which was to be
levied not for protective but for revenue purposes. The position was an
awkward one for Mr. Herries. Either his small fixed duty did or did not
raise the price of corn. If it did, he was deceiving the House of
Commons. If it did not, he was deceiving his clients among the farmers.
His move was obviously one for putting heart into a desponding faction.
It has been said that Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright had come to the
conclusion that, side by side with the agitation for retrenchment, there
should be pressed forward that for Parliamentary Reform. Accordingly,
Mr. Hume introduced his motion for Parliamentary Reform in the House of
Commons on the 4th of June, demanding Household Suffrage, Vote by
Ballot, Triennial Parliaments, and something approaching to equal
electoral districts. The opposition of the Whigs, who argued that reform
was unnecessary because many good measures had been passed by
Parliament, and that to extend the franchise would endanger the
Monarchy, induced the House to reject the motion by a vote of 268 to 82.
But a topic far more interesting to the Queen, whose speciality is
Foreign Policy, was brought under the notice of the House of Commons by
Mr. Cobden a few days after Mr. Hume’s motion was disposed of. He
suggested a plan whereby wars might cease, and civilised nations might
compose their quarrels by Arbitration. On the 12th of June Cobden moved
an Address to the Crown, praying that Foreign Powers might be invited to
concur in treaties binding them to accept Arbitration in settling their
disputes with each other. The Government did not openly resist the
motion. They got rid of it by putting up Lord Palmerston to move the
“previous question;” but the tone of the debate showed that, though the
House was dubious about the practicability of Mr. Cobden’s plan, it had
been profoundly impressed with his reasoning.
[Illustration: ROYAL PALACE, NAPLES.]
The Whigs, embarrassed by the refusal of Jewish Members to take the
Parliamentary Oath, next introduced a Bill expunging from the form of
the oath the words “on the true faith of a Christian.” The only bitter
opponents of the measure were the Tories, for most of the Peelites, like
Mr. Gladstone, supported it. The Commons passed the measure readily
enough; but in the House of Lords the hostility of the Episcopal Bench
was fatal to it. Another measure was sacrificed to the ecclesiasticism
which was then prevalent in Parliament. That was the Bill to legalise
marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister, which Mr. Stuart Wortley
introduced on the 3rd of May, and the most vehement opponents of which
were Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Gladstone, and Sir R. Inglis. Mr. Wortley carried
the Second Reading without much difficulty; but when Mr. Goulburn
threatened to use the forms of the House to obstruct the further
progress of the measure, it was withdrawn.
Foreign affairs originated some acrimonious debates in both Houses
during the Session. On the 6th of March a question was put by Lord
Stanley to
[Illustration: LADY PALMERSTON.]
Lord Lansdowne asking if it were true that a Government contractor had
been allowed to withdraw arms from a Government store, and supply them
to the insurgents in Sicily. Lord Lansdowne could not deny that the
allegation was true; and the incident not only caused a great deal of
excitement in the country, but it was one that gave much pain to the
Queen, who naturally saw in it the reckless hand of Lord Palmerston. The
secret history of the affair was this: Mr. Delane, the editor of the
_Times_, happened to meet a Mr. Hood--an Army contractor--accidentally.
In conversation Mr. Hood incidently mentioned to Mr. Delane that when
certain Sicilian agents applied to him for stores, he explained that he
had none on hand, having supplied all he possessed to the Government.
But he observed that if he could persuade the Government to let him have
these back, he would hand them over to the Sicilian insurrectionary
agents, replacing the Government stores in due time. The contractor
applied to the Ordnance Department, stating that his application had a
political, as well as a commercial, object. The Department, therefore,
referred the matter to Lord Palmerston, who sanctioned the transaction.
The _Times_ immediately published this story, and its attacks on Lord
Palmerston for having insulted Austria, and connived at insurrection in
Sicily, annoyed the Queen so seriously that Lord John Russell compelled
Lord Palmerston to apologise to the King of Naples, for whom he
cherished a supreme contempt. But when the scandal grew clamant, Mr.
Bankes opened up an attack in the House of Commons on Lord Palmerston.
He, however, mixed up with it a great deal of general criticism on the
policy of the Government in Italy, and gave Lord Palmerston an
opportunity of winning an easy victory by posing as a friend of freedom,
and a martyr to the doctrine of nationalities. Lord Palmerston, writes
Mr. Greville, delivered, in reply to his antagonist, “a slashing,
impudent speech, full of sarcasm, jokes, and claptrap, the whole
eminently successful. He quizzed Bankes unmercifully, he expressed
ultra-Liberal sentiments to please the Radicals, and he gathered shouts,
laughter, and applause as he dashed and rattled along.”
On the 22nd of March Lord Aberdeen headed another abortive attack on the
Foreign Policy of the Government. He complained that whereas Lord
Palmerston had been active in menacing Austria if she meddled with
Sardinia, he had spoken smooth things to Sardinia--never going further
than warning her that if she broke existing treaties, she would be doing
a dangerous thing. Aberdeen’s attack was regarded as a semi-official
expression of the ideas of the Sovereign on Lord Palmerston’s policy;
and it came to this, that Palmerston had made England an object of
aversion in every capital in Europe, by interfering between Governments
and their subjects, in a manner which brought on him the animosity of
both. He had been arrogant to the despots, and, whilst he had encouraged
the rebels, he had tamely abandoned them, whenever it became irksome to
defend them. In this debate the Foreign Office was convicted of having
suppressed an important despatch relating to Austro-Sardinian affairs in
the papers laid before Parliament. The truth is that the Cabinet did not
know what was and what was not included in the papers that Lord
Palmerston chose to publish; and Lord Palmerston sometimes did not even
give his colleagues enough information to enable them to answer
questions. One example of this is worth recording, because it directly
affected the Queen. In May, Lord Lansdowne, in reply to a question of
Lord Beaumont, told the House of Lords that “no communication whatever
had been made by the Austrian Government to ours relative to their
intervention in Italy.” But Collosedo, the Austrian Minister, had five
days before that gone to Lord Palmerston and communicated to him, by
order of the Austrian Government, their objects in interfering in Italy.
Palmerston kept his colleagues in utter ignorance of this interview; and
when the truth leaked out, Lord Lansdowne had to set himself right the
best way he could. As for Palmerston, when he was challenged with
deceiving his colleagues, and suppressing the fact that this Austrian
communication had been made to him, he replied impudently that “he had
quite forgotten it.” His needlessly violent anti-Austrian policy,
coupled with delinquencies of this kind, was intensely annoying to the
Queen. Writing under the date of June 3rd, Mr. Greville, in his Journal,
says, “The Duke of Bedford told me a few days ago that the Queen had
been again remonstrating about Palmerston more strongly than ever. This
was in reference to the suppressed Austrian despatch which made such a
noise. She then sent for Lord John Russell, and told him she could not
stand it any longer, and he must make some arrangements to get rid of
Lord Palmerston. This communication was just as fruitless as all her
preceding ones. I don’t know what Lord John said--he certainly did not
pacify her; but, as usual, there it ended. But the consequences of her
not being able to get any satisfaction from her Minister have been that
she has poured her feelings and her wrongs into the more sympathetic
ears of her late Ministers, and I believe that the Queen has told Peel
everything--all her own feelings and wishes, and all that passes on the
subject.”
In these circumstances an anti-Palmerstonian cabal was naturally formed.
Lord Aberdeen, a devoted friend of the Queen, attempted to organise a
movement for driving Palmerston from office; but the great obstacle was
Peel. Nothing could induce him to upset the Ministry which was pledged
to procure a fair trial for Free Trade. The Court Party, however,
suggested that, if censured, Palmerston might resign and his colleagues
stay in; or that they might all resign, and then, when it was shown that
no other Government could be formed, and that the Peelites could render
the formation of another Ministry impossible, Lord John Russell and his
colleagues might come back to power, without Lord Palmerston. The scheme
failed; but, as Mr. Greville says, the curious thing to note about it is
“the _carte du pays_ it exhibits,” and the remarkable and most improper
position which Palmerston occupied _vis-à-vis_ the Queen and his own
colleagues. “I know not,” writes Mr. Greville, “where to look for a
parallel to such a mass of anomalies--the Queen turning from her own
Prime Minister to confide in the one who was supplanted by him; a
Minister talking over quietly and confidentially with an outsider by
what circumstances and what agency his colleague, the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, might be excluded from the Government; the Queen
abhorring her Minister, and unable to rid herself of him; John Russell,
fascinated and subjugated by the ascendency of Palmerston, submitting to
everything from him, and supporting him right and wrong, the others not
concealing from those they are in the habit of confiding in their
disapprobation of the conduct and policy of their colleague, while they
are all the time supporting the latter and excusing the former, and
putting themselves under the obligation of identifying themselves with
his proceedings, and standing or falling with them.”[2]
[Illustration: SIR CHARLES NAPIER.]
Ultimately, however, a confederacy was formed between Lords Aberdeen,
Stanley, and Brougham to oust Lord Palmerston during the last days of
the Session, and the Queen, like every other prudent politician in the
country, who had been alarmed by Palmerston’s restlessness, rejoiced in
the prospect of getting rid of him. Unfortunately, the only Peer of the
three who was in earnest in this business was Lord Aberdeen; and yet,
when the 20th of July, the day for the attack, drew nigh, it was certain
that the Government would be defeated. Palmerston then played his trump
card. Lady Palmerston wrote a letter to Brougham, who was to lead the
attack, conveying to him some mysterious threat, and he promptly
betrayed his associates. “He made a miserable speech,” writes Mr.
Greville, “which enraged his colleagues and all the opponents of the
Government, who swore
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF GUJERAT.]
(and it was true) that he had sold them.” Brougham’s speech, however,
contained one good point which deserved to live. It was in it that he
condemned the interference, not only of our regular diplomatic body in
the affairs of the Mediterranean Powers, but also the interference of
“that mongrel sort of monster--half nautical, half political--diplomatic
vice-admirals, speculative ship-captains, observers of rebellion, and
sympathisers therewith.” The Government were in a minority in the House,
but they contrived to get a majority of twelve by proxies, in obtaining
which Lady Palmerston had displayed marvellous address. Thus was the
great game of faction played at the expense of the people in the early
years of the Queen’s reign. Not that the people cared much about the
matter, for it was only those who were behind the scenes who could
fairly appreciate what Lord Palmerston’s spirited policy really meant.
It was Radical, but it was reckless; and not only the Queen, but every
well-informed statesman--including Liberals like Mr. Cobden and Mr.
Bright--simply lived in daily terror, lest the Foreign Secretary might
suddenly involve the country in a wanton and purposeless European war.
Another important debate was raised by Lord Beaumont, on the 14th of
May, on French intervention in Rome. The States of the Church had long
been preparing for a revolt against Papal misgovernment. Pius IX.
therefore determined to modify the policy of his predecessors, and a
hapless scheme for satisfying the democracy, by appointing lay
councillors to work with or check a priestly government was tried--the
Pope refusing to bate one jot or tittle of his temporal authority. The
lay councillors could only meet and debate. They could not initiate
reforms. No sooner had this constitution been granted than the
revolution swept over Italy, and the Romans demanded the same
concessions as had been extorted by the Neapolitans. Concessions were
given with the intention that they should be withdrawn. Rossi--once
French ambassador at Rome--was made Prime Minister, and to extricate the
country from financial embarrassment, he proposed to mortgage the
property of the Church. He was, however, assassinated when entering the
Capitol; and then the Cardinals began to retract the concessions which
had been made to Liberalism. The people rose, insisting that the Pope
should protect the Constitution, and assuring him of their fidelity. He
then fled to Gaeta. Attempts to reconcile the Pontiff and his people
failed. The Roman Republic was proclaimed, and peace established, when
suddenly France interfered to restore his Holiness. It was to prevent
France from having a pretext for interfering in Italy that Lord Minto’s
mission was undertaken, and thus another failure had to be debited to
Lord Palmerston’s foreign policy. Naturally Lords Aberdeen and Brougham
taunted the Government with the failure of the Minto mission. But taunts
were powerless to extort from Ministers a statement of their relation to
the French expedition. In the House of Commons, however, those who
objected to French interference with the Roman people succeeded in
obtaining from Lord Palmerston an expression of disapproval of the
course which France had taken; but that was all.
Far and away the most important foreign debate of the Session was that
which Mr. Osborne raised on the Austro-Hungarian question in July.
Hungary had been crushed by the aid which Russia, unrebuked or
unrestrained by the shadow of a protest from Palmerston, had given her
Austrian masters; and the Liberal Party, always jealous of Austria as
the representative of Absolutist ideas, were wrathful accordingly. But
the discussion had no practical result. It was merely marked by a
declaration from Lord Palmerston, which came too late to be useful, to
the effect that the heart and soul of the country were enlisted on the
side of Hungary.
For Englishmen no debate was graver than the one on the state of the
nation, which Mr. Disraeli raised at the end of the Session. He
attributed the distress in the country to Free Trade, and he attacked
every branch of Ministerial policy. But the weak point of his brilliant
harangue was that it meant nothing, for not only was he unable to take
over the Government himself, but he had no practical proposal to make,
save his insinuated suggestion to restore Protection. Sir Robert Peel’s
speech, however, carried the House in favour of the Government. It was a
complete vindication of his fiscal policy, and its conclusion was
memorable, because in it he traced our immunity from revolutionary
excesses to his abandonment of taxes on food in 1846.
Early in the year the Queen was disturbed by evil tidings from India.
Hard fighting was reported from the banks of the Chenab. The Sikhs, it
was true, were in retreat; but our victory was a barren one, as we
captured neither prisoners, guns, nor standards, and sacrificed two of
our Generals (Cureton and Havelock), who fell at the head of their
regiments. In losing Cureton, her Majesty lost the finest cavalry
officer in her service. The fact was that, though we had conquered, we
had not subdued the Sikhs at the end of our first war with them. In
April, 1848, a Sikh chief murdered two British officers at Multan. This
was followed by a general outbreak, which was met on the whole
successfully by the desperate efforts of Lieutenant Edwardes and a mere
handful of men. Multan was besieged in June, 1848; but 5,000 of our Sikh
auxiliaries deserted to the enemy, and our army had to retreat. We had
not enough troops in the Punjab to control the rising, and our
auxiliaries under the Maharajah were not trustworthy. On the other hand,
the rebel chief Shere Sing, at the beginning of 1849, had 40,000 men
under his orders, and once again British supremacy in India was
trembling in the balance. On the 5th of March, however, still worse news
came to London. Lord Gough, with inconceivable recklessness, had, on the
14th of January, attacked the enemy in a strong position at
Chillianwalla with a small British force worn out by fatigue. The
conditions of the combat ensured disaster. Our troops, it is true, took
the Sikh positions, but during
[Illustration: THE BRITISH TROOPS ENTERING MULTAN.]
the night had to abandon them. The loss of life on our side was
enormous, and Lord Gough, though he fought like a hero in the thickest
of the _mêlée_, was not to be found at a critical moment to give orders.
The news of this disaster was received with universal indignation. The
Government attempted to allay public feeling by appointing Sir William
Gomm to succeed Lord Gough; but as Sir William was believed to be
equally incompetent, a demand for Sir Charles Napier’s appointment
became clamant. “We dined,” writes Lord Malmesbury, in his Diary on the
4th of March, “with the Colchesters, and were introduced to Sir Charles
Napier. He is a little
[Illustration: SIR HARRY SMITH.]
man, with grey hair brushed back from his face, with an immense hooked,
pointed nose, small eyes, and wears spectacles, very like the
conventional face of a Jew. He is appointed to retrieve our affairs in
India, and when the Duke of Wellington named him to the post he at first
hesitated, until the Duke told him if he did not go he would go
himself.”[3] Why did Napier hesitate? Because, it seems, the Directors
of the East India Company not only objected to his appointment, but
threatened to prevent him from having a seat on the Council, an insult
which Napier could hardly brook. “You have no idea of the difficulties
I have had in dealing with these men,” said Sir John Cam Hobhouse, then
President of the Indian Board of Control, to Mr. Greville. “I have
brought the Government, the Duke of Wellington, _and the Queen_ all to
bear upon them, and all in vain.” Mr. Greville advised Hobhouse to bring
another power--that of the House of Commons--to bear on the Company. In
other words, he advised the Government to go down boldly and inform
Parliament that they had appointed Napier, and if the Directors of the
Company refused to pay his salary as a Member of Council, to ask the
House to vote it. The Cabinet appointed Napier, and the Directors
acquiesced, fearing to face the responsibility of thwarting the
Government in doing what the Queen and the country desired.
But before Gough could be recalled, he redeemed the disaster of
Chillianwalla at Gujerat. The news of this successful battle, which was
fought on the 21st of February, reached the Queen on the 1st of April.
It meant that the crisis in India was over, and it lifted from her mind
the burden of a supreme anxiety. Multan, too, had fallen, and finally
the East India Company, admitting at last that it was impossible to
protect their frontier from attack, annexed the Punjab on the 29th of
March, 1849, thus closing the history of the Sikhs as an independent
nation. England had found in them the most fearless and formidable of
enemies. Since the annexation of their country, they have been the
staunchest and the most loyal of the Queen’s Indian subjects.
One serious colonial dispute must be noticed, for it led to an early
experiment in “boycotting.” Lord Grey, on the 4th of September, 1848, by
an Order in Council, had turned the Cape of Good Hope into a convict
settlement. The colonists resented this act with the hottest
indignation. Angry meetings were held at Cape Town; and the Governor,
Sir Harry Smith, was violently blamed because he refused to take on
himself the responsibility of suspending the “injurious and degrading
measure.” When the first convict ship, the _Neptune_, arrived in Simon’s
Bay on the 19th of September, the church bells in Cape Town were tolled
in half-minute time. The Municipality demanded that the vessel be sent
back. The populace, in mass meetings, adopted what they called “the
Pledge”--an obligation to “drop connection with any person who may
assist convicted felons.” In fact, the process which in Ireland has
recently been termed “boycotting” was resorted to, and supplies were
refused to the army, navy, and all Government establishments. The law
was impotent in face of such opposition, and very soon the Governor, Sir
Harry Smith, was compelled to bake his own bread even in his own house.
The colonists finally triumphed. The Order in Council was withdrawn, so
far as it referred to the Cape, and the _Neptune_ left, without having
landed a single convict. The episode is one of the earliest instances on
record of the successful application of “boycotting” to defeat an
unpopular policy.