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Many of the images in the book have multi-line captions, and
the first line of most of them contains attributions (credits)
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J. A. Vinter.} {National Portrait Gallery.
SIR ROWLAND HILL
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Inverted asterisms are indicated by three asterisks ***.
Table of Contents added by transcriber.
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface iii
PART ONE: SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN
CHAPTER I.
1837-1838.
Death of William IV.--Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to
the Throne--Ignorance of the Public about the young Queen--Her
early training--Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and
Hanover--Prorogation of Parliament--Early Railways--Electric
Telegraph--The Coronation--Popular Reception of Wellington and
Soult--State of Parties--Result of General Election--Rebellion
in Canada--The Earl of Durham--Debate on Vote by Ballot. 3
CHAPTER II.
1837-1842.
Lord Melbourne's services and character--Prevailing discontent
of the Working Classes--Its Causes--The Chartists--Riots at
Newport and elsewhere--Fall of the Ministry--Sir Robert Peel
sent for--The "Bedchamber Question"--Melbourne recalled to
Office--The Penny Post--Its remarkable Success--Betrothal of the
Queen--Character of Prince Albert--Announcement to
Parliament--Debates--Marriage of the Queen and Prince
Albert--War declared with China--Capture of Chusan--Bombardment
of the Bogue Forts--Peace concluded under the Walls of Nankin. 18
CHAPTER III.
1841-1846.
Unpopularity of the Whigs--Fall of the Melbourne
Ministry--Peel's Cabinet--The Afghan War--Murder of Sir A.
Burnes and Sir W. Macnaghten--The Retreat from
Cabul--Annihilation of the British Force--The Corn Duties--The
Pioneers of Free Trade--Failure of Potato Crop in Ireland--Lord
John Russell's conversion to Free Trade--Peel and Repeal--Rupture
of the Tory Party--The Corn Duties repealed--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Review of Peel's Administration. 30
CHAPTER IV.
1833-1849.
The Churches of England and Scotland--"Tracts for the
Times"--Newman, Keble, and Pusey--"Ten Years' Conflict" in
Scotland--Disruption of the Church--Dr. Chalmers--Rise of the
Free Church--Affairs of British India--First Sikh War--Battles
of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon--Second Sikh
War--Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson--Battle of
Ramnuggur--Siege and Fall of Mooltan--Battles of Chilianwalla
and Goojerat--Annexation of the Punjab. 41
CHAPTER V.
1846-1850.
The Irish Famine--Smith O'Brien's Rebellion--Widow Cormack's
Cabbages--The Special Commission--Revival of the Chartist
Movement--The Monster Petition--Its Exposure and Collapse of the
Movement--Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those
in other Countries--Growing Affection for the Queen--Its
Causes--Royal Visit to Ireland--The Pacifico Imbroglio--Rupture
with France Imminent--_Civis Romanus Sum_--Lord Palmerston's
Rise--Sir Robert Peel's Death--The Invention of Chloroform. 47
CHAPTER VI.
1849-1851.
Prince Albert's Industry--His proposal for a Great
Exhibition--Adoption of the Scheme--Competing Designs--Mr.
Paxton's selected--Erection of the Crystal Palace--Colonel
Sibthorp denounces the Scheme--Papal Titles in Great
Britain--Popular Indignation--The Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill--Defeat of Ministers on the Question of the
Franchise--Difficulty in finding a Successor to Russell--He
resumes Office--Opening of the Great Exhibition--Its success and
close. 55
CHAPTER VII.
1851-1853.
Louis Napoleon's Coup d'État--Condemned in the English
Press--Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion Rebuked by the Queen--He
Repeats it and is Removed from Office--Opening of the New Houses
of Parliament--French Invasion Apprehended--Russell's Militia
Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The "Who? Who?"
Cabinet--Death of the Duke of Wellington--His Funeral--The
Haynau Incident--General Election--Disraeli's First
Budget--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The Coalition
Cabinet--Expansion of the British Colonies--Repeal of the
Transportation Act. 63
CHAPTER VIII.
1853-1854.
The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of
the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince
Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The
Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the
Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and
France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments. 73
CHAPTER IX.
1854-1856.
Mr. Gladstone's War Budget--Humiliation and Prayer--The Invasion
of the Crimea--The Battle of Alma--A Fruitless Victory--Effect
in England--War Correspondents--Balaklava--Cavalry Charges by
the Heavy and Light Brigades--"Our's Not to Reason Why"--Russian
Sortie--Battle of Inkermann--Breakdown of Transport and
Commissariat--Hurricane in the Black Sea--Florence
Nightingale--Fall of the Coalition Cabinet--Lord Palmerston
Forms a Ministry--Victory of the Turks at
Eupatoria--Unsuccessful Attack by the Allies--Death of Lord
Raglan--His Character--Battle of Tchernaya--Evacuation of
Sebastopol--Surrender of Kars--Conclusion of Peace. 79
CHAPTER X.
1857-1858.
The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the
Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to
Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The
Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of
Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at
Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Massacre--Siege of
Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's
Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia
Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the
Princess Royal. 92
CHAPTER XI.
1858-1860.
Commercial Panic in London--Suspension of the Bank Charter
Act--The Orsini Plot--The Conspiracy to Murder Bill--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Lord Derby's Second
Administration--Disraeli's Reform Bill--Vote of No
Confidence--Defeat and Resignation of the Government--Lord
Palmerston's Second Administration--Threatened French
Invasion--The Volunteers--The Paper Duty Repealed by the Commons
and Restored by the Lords--A Constitutional Problem--Its
Solution--War with China--British and French Defeat at
Pei-ho--Return of Lord Elgin to China--Wreck of the
_Malabar_--Capture of the Tangku and Taku Forts--Occupation of
Tien-tsin--Murder of British Officers and others--Capitulation
of Pekin--Destruction of the Summer Palace--Treaty with China. 108
CHAPTER XII.
1861-1865.
The American Civil War--Recognition of Confederate States as
Belligerents--English Opinion in Favour of the Confederates--The
_Trent_ Affair--Dispatch of Troops to Canada--Death of the
Prince Consort--His Last Memorandum--The Cruiser
_Alabama_--Claims against Great Britain--Arbitration--Award
Unfavourable to Great Britain--Public Indignation--Marriage of
the Prince of Wales--The Schleswig-Holstein
Difficulty--Neutrality Observed by Great Britain--Popular
Sympathy with Denmark--Dissolution of Parliament--Result of the
Elections--Death of Lord Palmerston. 117
CHAPTER XIII.
1866-1872.
Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill--The Cave of Adullam--Defeat and
Resignation of the Ministry--Retirement of Earl Russell--Lord
Derby's Last Administration--Disturbance in Hyde
Park--Commercial Panic--Completion of the Atlantic Cable--Mr.
Disraeli's Reform Bill--Secessions from the Cabinet--The
Fenians--War with Abyssinia--Retirement of Lord Derby--The Irish
State Church--Dissolution of Parliament--Liberal Triumph--Mr.
Gladstone's Cabinet--Disestablishment of the Irish Church--Death
of Lord Derby--Irish Land Legislation--National Education--Army
Purchase--The Ballot Bill--Adoption of Secret Voting. 127
CHAPTER XIV.
1870-1880.
The Franco-German War--Russia seizes her Opportunity--The Irish
University Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--Mr.
Gladstone resumes Office--Dissolution of
Parliament--Conservative Victory--The Ashanti War--Mr.
Disraeli's Third Administration--Mr. Gladstone Retires from the
Leadership--Annexation of the Fiji Islands--Purchase of Suez
Canal Shares--Visit of the Prince of Wales to India--The Queen's
New Title--Threatening Action of Russia--The Bulgarian
Massacres--Disraeli becomes Earl of Beaconsfield--The
Russo-Turkish War--Great Britain Prepares to Defend
Constantinople--Secession of Lord Carnarvon and Lord Derby--The
"Jingo" Party--The Berlin Congress and Treaty--"Peace with
Honour"--Massacre at Cabul--War with Afghanistan--The Zulu
War--Disaster of Isandhlana. 138
CHAPTER XV.
1879-1881.
The Condition of Egypt--Mr. Goschen's Commission--Ismail's _Coup
d'état_--His Deposition by the Sultan--Establishment of the Dual
Control--The First Midlothian Campaign--Commercial and
Agricultural Depression--Sudden Dissolution of Parliament--Lord
Derby joins the Liberals--Second Midlothian Campaign--Great
Liberal Victory--Mr. Gladstone's Second Administration--Charles
Stuart Parnell and the Irish Home Rule Party--War with
Afghanistan--Battle of Maiwand--General Roberts's March--Defeat
of Ayub Khan and Evacuation of Cabul and Candahar--Revolt of the
Transvaal--Battles of Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill--Establishment
of the Boer Republic--Weakness of the Conservative
Opposition--The Fourth Party--Irish Affairs--Boycotting--A New
Coercion Bill--The Irish Land Bill--Resignation of the Duke of
Argyll--Death of Lord Beaconsfield--Military Revolt in
Egypt--Bombardment of Alexandria--Expedition against
Arabi--Battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir--Overthrow of
Arabi. 150
CHAPTER XVI.
1881-1887.
Imprisonment of Irish Members of Parliament--Assassination of
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke--Prevalence of Outrages
in Ireland--A New Coercion Bill--Trial and Execution of the
Phoenix Park Murderers--The Dynamite Conspiracy--Corrupt
Practices Act--The Affairs of Egypt--General Gordon sent to
Khartoum--Gordon Besieged--Inaction of the Government--Relief of
Khartoum Undertaken--Too Late!--Death of Gordon--Lord Wolseley's
Campaign--Abandonment of the Soudan--Mr. Gladstone's Reform
Bill--The Question of Redistribution of Seats--The Frontier
Question in Afghanistan--Defeat of Ministers on the Budget and
their Resignation--Lord Salisbury's First
Administration--Dissolution of Parliament--The Irish Party and
the Balance of Power--Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration--His
Conversion to Home Rule--Rupture of the Liberal Party--The Home
Rule Bill Rejected--Dissolution of Parliament--Unionist
Victory--Lord Salisbury's Second Administration--Lord Randolph
Churchill Resigns--The Round Table Conference. 161
CHAPTER XVII.
1887-1897.
Adoption of the Closure by the House of Commons--The Queen's
Jubilee--Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey--The Imperial
Institute--"Parnellism and Crime"--Appointment of Special
Commission of Judges--Their Report--Fall of Parnell--Disruption
of the Irish Party--Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith--The
Baring Crisis--The Local Government Bill--Establishment of
County Councils--Free Education--Death of the Duke of
Clarence--General Election--Mr. Gladstone's Fourth Midlothian
Campaign--The Newcastle Programme--Victory of Home Rulers--The
Second Home Rule Bill--Its Rejection by the Lords--Parish
Councils and Employers' Liability Acts--Mr. Gladstone Resigns
the Leadership--Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister--Disunion
of Ministerialists--Defeat and Resignation of the
Government--Lord Salisbury's Third Administration--General
Election--Unionist Triumph--The Eastern Question--Massacres in
Armenia--Lord Rosebery Resigns the Leadership--Trouble in the
Transvaal--Dr. Jameson's Raid--The German Emperor's Message--The
Venezuelan Dispute--President Cleveland's Message. 172
CHAPTER XVIII.
Material Progress during the Reign--Modern Locomotion--The
Bicycle--Motor Carriages--The Proposed Channel Tunnel--Steam
Navigation--Ironclads--The Telephone--The
Phonograph--Electricity as an Illuminant--Photography--Its
Effect on Painting and Engraving--Victorian
Architecture--Absence of Principle in Design--Universal
Education--Its Effect on Moral Character and Literary
Habits--The Predominance of Fiction--The Growth and Character of
British Journalism--The Advance of Natural Science--Surgery and
Medicine--Vaccination--Antiseptic and Aseptic
Treatment--Bacteriology--The Röntgen Rays--Sanitary
Legislation--Conclusion. 184
PART TWO: THE DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
The Central Idea of the Celebrations--The Imperial Character of
the Pageant--The Colonial Premiers Invited--The
Decorations--Influx of Visitors--Grand Stands--Precautions
against Accidents--Thanksgiving Services on Accession Day--The
Queen's Arrival in London--Night in the Streets. 193
CHAPTER II.
The Weather--A brilliant day for a brilliant pageant--The
Queen's Message to her people--The Colonial Procession--The
Royal Procession--Loyal enthusiasm--The Queen's reception at the
City boundary--The Service at the steps of St. Paul's--The halt
at the Mansion House--In the Borough--Return to the
Palace--Presents to the Queen--Congratulations from abroad--The
Royal Dinner. 202
CHAPTER III.
Illuminations in London--Festivities in the Provinces and the
Colonies--Addresses of Congratulation from the Lords and
Commons--Gathering of School Children on Constitution
Hill--State Performance at the Opera--The Princess of Wales's
Dinners to the Poor--State Reception--Special Performance at the
Lyceum--Torchlight Evolutions by Etonians at Windsor--Naval
Review at Spithead--The Fleet Illuminated--The Colonial Troops
at the Naval Review. 219
CHAPTER IV.
The Queen's Visit to Kensington--Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace--Review at Aldershot--Gift of a Battleship--The Prince of
Wales's Hospital Fund--The Jubilee Medals--Conclusion. 232
THE JUBILEE HYMN. 240
INDEX.
ERRATA.
FOOTNOTES.
Transcriber's Notes.
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.
[Illustration: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN HER ROBES OF STATE
From the
Painting by F. WINTERHALTER
Graciously lent by Her Majesty specially for "Sixty Years a Queen."]
[Illustration:
Sixty Years
a Queen
The Story of her Majesty's Reign
TOLD BY
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART, M.P.
ILLUSTRATED--Chiefly from the Royal Collections
by Special Permission.
ARRANGED & PRINTED BY EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE,
HER MAJESTY'S PRINTERS, LONDON.
PUBLISHED BY HARMSWORTH BROS. LIMITED,
24, TUDOR STREET, E.C.]
[Illustration]
PREFACE
An attempt has been made in the following pages to give a general view
of the principal events in the reign of Queen Victoria and the changes
resulting from the development of the means of travel and communication,
the accumulation of wealth, the acquirement of political power by the
people, and the spread of education among them. In making this attempt
the author had to choose between compiling a dry chronicle, and placing
before his readers the salient points in a period of rapid and
successful progress. He chose the latter; but, in order to carry his
purpose into effect within the limits assigned to him, he had to pass in
silence over the names of many persons distinguished in politics,
science, literature, art, and warfare. Those, or the descendants of
them, whose achievements entitle them to an honoured place in the annals
of their age, will understand that it was possible only to find room for
mention of a few of the illustrious band who have contributed to the
great work of empire and civilisation.
Especially in regard to literature, it may be felt that the reference to
that department is out of all proportion to its importance. But the
subject is so vast that it is almost hopeless to deal with, to any good
purpose, in two or three pages. Attention has, however, been drawn in
the concluding chapter to the effects of universal compulsory education
on our national prosperity, moral character, and intellectual life. In
respect of its action on the material well-being of the population, it
is not unreasonable to attribute to its influence part of the marked
decrease in pauperism in the last quarter of a century, even if the more
equable diffusion of wealth be reckoned the principal factor in that
process. If the results quoted cannot be proved to be the direct outcome
of universal education, at all events they synchronise in a remarkable
manner with the period of its existence.
Turning next to the literary habits of the people, it is not possible to
doubt the important bearing which recreative reading has upon the
national character. We are not, and probably never shall be, a nation of
students, but we have become within the limits of the present reign a
nation of readers. The press of the country is free--free in a sense
that has never been tolerated in any other State. Public men and
measures are submitted to searching criticism in a degree that would be
wholly intolerable but for the general high tone maintained in British
journalism. There are few things more remarkable in our civilisation
than the abundance of excellent writing supplied to the daily and weekly
press, and the sound morality which pervades it.
Next to the newspaper press, and hardly inferior to it in influence, is
the mass of fiction produced year after year in ever-increasing volume.
To ascertain how vastly its attractions prevail over those of
historical, poetic, philosophic, or scientific works, it is only
necessary to consult the returns of any free library. For good or for
ill, the thoughts of countless readers, old and young, are continually
engaged on the fictitious fortunes, dilemmas, and vicissitudes of
imaginary individuals. On the whole, the influence of this literature is
harmless and in some degree salutary, though it is true that within
recent years a school of novelists has arisen, containing some skilful
and attractive writers, who rely on winning popularity by going as near
as they dare to the worst kind of realism pursued by certain French
authors. It will do incalculable damage, not only to English literature,
but to the English character, if the public, in whose hands is the
verdict, encourage perseverance in this line. Hitherto, in the present
century, fiction has been maintained in Great Britain at a higher level
than it has ever touched before. The most popular writers of
romance--Scott, Marryat, Thackeray, Dickens (not to mention any living
authors)--dealt, indeed, with the foibles, crimes, and misfortunes of
men and women, but they never failed to keep a high ideal before their
readers. Their favourite characters were depicted as at war with evil:
not always successful, not without frailty, and even folly; but no
religion ever preached a purer morality than did these masters in the
story-teller's craft. It will be deplorable if people learn to employ
their leisure, not in narratives of heroism, self-denial, and innocent
love, but in studies of degradation and despair, and restless stirring
of sexual problems.
Some of the most striking and valuable discoveries in physical science
receive mention in the course of this narrative, as being among the more
memorable features of the reign, but it has been impossible even to
allude to countless others, almost as important to the welfare and
progress of humanity. Less obvious to the general public, but not less
remarkable, has been the application of the exact and comparative method
to intellectual research, so that, although students still differ, and
are likely to continue to the end of time to differ on some of the
conclusions at which they arrive, for the first time in the world's
history they are of one mind about the right system of enquiry.
There are still to be witnessed in the Queen's realm those violent
contrasts between vast wealth and grinding poverty, which must ever
arise in every civilised State in periods of great commercial and
productive activity. They are a standing perplexity and distress to
philanthropists; but one of the brightest features in the reign of Queen
Victoria, of infinitely deeper significance than the accumulation of
riches by the nation and by individuals, is the degree to which that
wealth has penetrated the middle and industrial classes.
The effect of the application of steam to machinery, which coincided so
nearly with the beginning of the present reign, was, indeed, injurious
to certain limited industries, but the general result has been a
continuous rise in the wages paid to artisans. The first few years of
the factory system, coupled with a lamentable ignorance of, and
indifference to, sanitary principles, brought a terrible increase of
disease, squalor, and suffering in their train. This soon attracted the
attention of philanthropists, among whom the leading place must be
assigned to the Earl of Shaftesbury; and year by year the two rival
political parties have vied with each other in applying remedial and
protective legislation to the evils of overcrowding, insanitary
dwellings, and other dangers besetting extraordinary industrial
activity. There are slums still, but they must be hunted for, instead of
forcing themselves on attention as was the case not long ago in almost
every large town. Artisans' dwellings, far exceeding in comfort, in
solidity, and in sanitation anything that our forefathers may have
dreamt of, are now the rule and not the exception.
Mere quotation of figures will not make clear the increased share of the
national wealth which now finds its way into the pockets of the working
classes, because the unprecedented cheapness of all the necessaries and
many of the luxuries of life (intoxicants alone excepted) has raised the
buying power of wages in a degree which cannot be estimated. Mr. W. H.
Mallock, a well-known writer on this subject, has recently devoted some
close enquiry to it, and has brought out some remarkable results. He
quotes the calculation of statisticians upon the income of the nation in
1851, when it was estimated at £600,000,000, and in 1881, when it was
reckoned at £1,200,000,000, having doubled itself in thirty years. He
then deducts from these totals the amounts assessed to income-tax,
arriving by this process at the total paid in wages (or the total of all
incomes under £150), which was £340,000,000 in 1851, and £660,000,000 in
1881. In those thirty years the wage-earning class had increased in
number from 26,000,000 to 30,000,000, or 16 per cent., while the wages
paid to them had increased by nearly 100 per cent. In fact the income of
the working classes in 1881 was about equal to that of the whole nation
in 1851, with largely increased purchasing power, owing to reduction in
prices.
But this does not exhaust the evidence of the diffusion of wealth which
has been going on, a process which is apt to be overlooked in the
attention attracted to the building up of a few colossal fortunes. Mr.
Mallock shows, by taking the increase in the number of incomes between
£150 and £1,000 a year, how greatly the middle classes have increased in
numbers. Persons assessed for taxation on incomes between these limits
have increased in number during the period under consideration from
300,000 to 990,000, that is, in a ratio of nearly 250 per cent. It is
hardly possible to over-estimate the importance of these figures in
their bearing on the prospects of the stability of the present social
system in Great Britain. Had this enormous increase in wealth been
accumulated in a few hands, it must have given a great impetus to the
revolutionary agencies always present under settled governments. But its
dispersal among a multitude of owners broadens the foundations of
authority, and at the same time acts as a powerful check upon
legislation for a limited class.
It must be admitted that, side by side with the advance in general
welfare, certain less desirable incidents of our civilisation claim
attention. One of these is the recurrence of disputes on a large scale
between employers and workmen, resulting in industrial strikes far
exceeding in extent and intensity anything of the sort that could be
organised before the legislature relaxed the laws against conspiracy and
combination. Although labour disputes are conducted now with a general
absence of the violence which almost invariably accompanied them in
earlier days, they are not without deplorable results in the losses
entailed on the working classes during their continuance, and in the
damaging effect they sometimes bring upon the industries affected. But
the principle of arbitration is gradually winning its way, and the fact
that on several recent occasions recourse to this reasonable method has
proved successful in averting a prolonged struggle, encourages the hope
that employers and employed are beginning to recognise their common
advantage in conciliation.
It is less easy to prescribe a remedy for the admitted evil of the
excessive aggregation of the people in centres of industry, and the
corresponding depletion of the rural districts. This tendency has been
at work ever since Virgil wrote his--
"O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,
Agricolas"--
and perhaps from long before. Increased facilities of locomotion, and
the stimulus lent by education to intellectual energy, have intensified
the movement; but at all events the worst effects of it on the national
physique are being mitigated by the attention directed to sanitary
engineering.
One of the results of general education has been to give greater breadth
and accuracy to the popular aspirations for the Empire. Five and twenty
years ago the British Colonies were regarded, even by experienced
statesmen, with a degree of indifference, which it is difficult for the
present generation to realize. It seemed to be assumed that, sooner or
later, each of them would throw off the bond attaching it to the Mother
country, and that nothing was to be gained by maintaining a union of
which the value could not be shown in a profit and loss account. A
complete change has come over public opinion in this respect. Imperial
federation is in the air; the precise means by which it is to be secured
have not been formulated, but the sentiment is as strong in the general
mind of the natives of these islands as it seems to be in that of the
Queen's subjects in India, in Canada, and in Australasia. Although the
presence of a large proportion of the Dutch race in our South African
Colonies renders the feeling in that land less pronounced, it is not
unreasonable to hope that even there just laws, wise administration, and
the prestige of a mighty empire will prevail to dispel suspicion and
establish a lasting harmony.
The example of good government, which has been set forth at home during
the present reign, is one in which every Briton may take a just pride.
Party politics are as vehement as ever, and sometimes descend into
acrimony; but the last traces of corruption have disappeared from public
life, and all the acts of administration are open to the most searching
scrutiny.
Not less remarkable is the change which has come over the habits of all
classes in regard to alcoholic indulgence, which, throughout the last
century and a considerable portion of the present one, remained as a
reproach on our social life. Formerly, though intemperance was looked on
as undesirable, it was not thought discreditable, or, at least, not
incompatible with the discharge of the most important offices. But at
the present time indulgence in drink is regarded as a bar to all except
ordinary manual labour, and even in that department the working man is
steadily emancipating himself from the thraldom which, at no distant
date, lay so heavily upon all classes.
These, and many others such as these, are some of the features which
distinguish the longest reign in our annals. So important are they,
regarded as affecting the happiness of millions of human beings, that
the remarkable length of the reign sinks into secondary moment compared
with its character. It has been an age of material progress more swift
and political change more permanent than any which preceded it, and
there have not been wanting those who viewed each successive step in the
movement with apprehension, predicting disaster to cherished
institutions--to the monarchy itself. The result, so far, has been to
falsify those predictions. The British monarchy reposes at present on
surer foundations than military prowess or legislative sagacity can
supply; it rests on the genuine affection of the people. Power has been
committed to them during these sixty years in no illiberal measure; in a
very practical sense they are masters, under the Almighty, of the
destiny of the empire, for they can, by their votes, put those Ministers
in power who shall do their pleasure. How comes it that this power has
been exercised with a moderation very different from that which there is
plenty of historical precedent for anticipating? There are doubtless
many contributory causes--an abundant employment owing to the expansion
of industry, cheap food, the diffusion of wealth, the readiness of the
British people to avail themselves of new lands, the hold which
religious principles keep upon them, and the instinctive conservatism
which affects, often unconsciously to themselves, all but those who
adopt extreme views in politics. All these, and many more, must be taken
into account in considering what has taken place; but there is one which
a watchful observer will reckon more direct in its effect than any of
them--namely, the personal character of the Monarch. Vigilant as she is
known to have been in attention to public affairs, conscientious as she
has shown herself in complying with the limitations of our Constitution,
Queen Victoria has set before her people a perfect Court and a model
home. Not by design has this been done, not by laborious compliance with
irksome rules or straining for public approval, but by the action of a
true nature, guided by a vigorous intellect and resolute will.
What might have been the result of the enormous development of popular
power if the Monarch had been one whose character had attracted no
affection or respect, it is idle to speculate. It is enough that every
true Briton is able to say, with heartfelt gratitude: "Thank Heaven that
throughout this critical period of change we have remained the subjects
of Victoria the Great and Good!"
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN:
THE STORY OF VICTORIA'S REIGN
TOLD BY
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART., M.P.
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA IN CORONATION ROBES.]
[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE.]
SIXTY YEARS
A QUEEN.
CHAPTER I.
1837-1838.
Death of William IV.--Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to
the Throne--Ignorance of the Public about the young Queen--Her
early training--Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and
Hanover--Prorogation of Parliament--Early Railways--Electric
Telegraph--The Coronation--Popular Reception of Wellington and
Soult--State of Parties--Result of General Election--Rebellion
in Canada--The Earl of Durham--Debate on Vote by Ballot.
At the present day, tidings, however fateful or momentous, flash
silently over unconscious fells and floods to the uttermost limits of
Empire; but it was otherwise sixty years ago. Throughout the brief night
of June 19, 1837, the land echoed to the furious galloping of horses and
the ceaseless rattle of flying wheels; for William the King lay dying at
Windsor Castle.
[Sidenote: Death of William IV.]
[Sidenote: Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to Throne.]
He drew his last breath before dawn on the 20th, and mounted messengers
thronged the highways yet more thickly than before in the early hours of
morning. Among them were two of very high degree--Dr. Howley, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and the Marquis of Conyngham, Lord Chamberlain--charged
to proceed post haste to Kensington Palace in order to summon the
Princess Victoria to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. Leaving
Windsor shortly after two in the morning, they did not reach Kensington
till five o'clock. The Palace was wrapped in silence; it was with great
difficulty that even the gate-porter could be roused, and there was
further delay inside the courtyard. At last the Archbishop and the Lord
Chamberlain obtained admission, were shown into a room, and left to
themselves. After waiting some time they rang the bell, and desired the
sleepy servant who answered it to convey to the Princess their request
for an immediate audience, on business of extreme urgency. Again the
impatient dignitaries were left alone, and once more they pealed the
bell. This time they were informed by the Princess's attendant that Her
Royal Highness was asleep, and must on no account be disturbed.
"We are come," was their reply, "on business of State to the Queen, and
even _her_ sleep must give way to that."
The attendant yielded, and then, to quote the simple but vivid
description by Miss Wynn, "in a few minutes she (the Queen) came into
the room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off,
and her hair falling on her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in
her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified."
[Illustration: _Sir W. Beechy, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. VICTORIA MARIA LOUISA, DUCHESS OF KENT, AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
AT THE AGE OF THREE.]
Next, the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, was summoned, and Charles
Greville has described in his diary how the young Queen met the Privy
Council at eleven o'clock.
[Sidenote: Ignorance of Public about the young Queen.]
"Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the
chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and
behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was very extraordinary,
and something far beyond what was looked for. Her extreme youth and
inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concerning her, naturally
excited great curiosity to see how she would act on this trying
occasion, and there was a considerable assemblage at the palace,
notwithstanding the short notice that was given."
[Illustration: _R. Westall, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.]
Bowing to the lords present, Queen Victoria, quite simply dressed in
black, took her seat, and proceeded to read her speech in clear, calm
accents. Then, having taken the oath for the security of the Church of
Scotland, she received the allegiance of the Privy Councillors present,
the two Royal Dukes having precedence of the others.
"As these two old men," wrote Greville, "her uncles, knelt before her
... I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between
their civil and natural relations."
At noon the Queen held a Council, at which the excellent impression she
had made already was confirmed. Throughout the trying ceremonies of the
first day of her reign she bore herself with a dignity and composure
which amazed, as much as it delighted, her Ministers.
Princess Alexandrina Victoria, upon whose young shoulders the weight of
the Empire had been laid so suddenly, was the only child of Edward, Duke
of Kent, fourth son of George III., by her Serene Highness Victoria
Maria Louisa, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and widow of
the Prince of Leiningen. William IV., third son of George III., had left
no children born in wedlock; on his death, therefore, the succession
devolved on his niece, who was born on May 24, 1819, and was therefore
just over eighteen at her accession. Nothing would have been more
natural than that the character of the Princess, as heiress to the
Crown, and the qualifications for rule of which she might have given
promise even at that tender age, should have been widely and eagerly
discussed, or, at least, that the late King's Ministers should have
formed some opinion of them; but this was not the case. The gossiping
Greville repeatedly lays stress on the seclusion in which Her Royal
Highness had been brought up, her inexperience, and the complete
ignorance of the public about her character and even her appearance; so
much so, that "not one of her acquaintance, none of the attendants at
Kensington, not even the Duchess of Northumberland, her governess, have
any idea of what she is or promises to be." It may easily be imagined,
therefore, how greatly the severity of the sudden ordeal to which the
girl-Queen was exposed was intensified by the anxious and curious
interest of those who were present at her first Council.
[Illustration: _Sir D. Wilkie, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY'S FIRST COUNCIL, AT KENSINGTON PALACE, June 20, 1837.]
[Illustration:
1. HER MAJESTY.
2. Duke of Argyll, Lord Steward.
3. Earl of Albemarle, Master of the Horse.
4. The Right Honourable G. Byng, Comptroller.
5. C. C. Greville, Esq., Clerk of the Council.
6. Marquess of Anglesea.
7. Marquess of Lansdowne, President of the Council.
8. Lord Cottenham, Lord High Chancellor.
9. Lord Howick, Secretary at War.
10. Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Home Department.
11. The Right Honourable T. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
12. Viscount Melbourne, First Lord of the Treasury.
13. Lord Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
14. The Right Honourable J. Abercrombey, Speaker of the House of
Commons.
15. Earl Grey.
16. The Earl of Carlisle.
17. Lord Denman, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench.
18. The Right Honourable F. Erskine, Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy
Court.
19. Lord Morpeth, Chief Secretary for Ireland.
20. The Earl of Aberdeen.
21. Lord Lyndhurst.
22. The Archbishop of Canterbury.
23. His Majesty the King of Hanover.
24. The Duke of Wellington.
25. The Earl of Jersey.
26. The Right Honourable J. W. Croker.
27. The Right Honourable Sir R. Peel, Bart.
28. H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex.
29. Lord Holland, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
30. Sir J. Campbell, Her Majesty's Attorney-General.
31. Marquess of Salisbury.
32. Lord Burghersh.
33. The Right Honourable T. Kelly, Lord Mayor of London.
Of all the illustrious personages here represented, Her Majesty is now
the sole survivor.]
[Sidenote: Her early training.]
For the seclusion in which the Princess Victoria had been brought up,
sufficient cause will be apparent to those who have studied the domestic
annals of the Court during the reigns of her uncles George IV. and
William IV., which were, in truth, in accord with the worst traditions
of Royalty. The Duke of Kent had died shortly after the birth of his
daughter, and his widow, over-anxious, perhaps, to screen the young life
from contagion of evil, sought to protect the Princess Victoria by a
training which, in most modern families, would be regarded as
unnecessarily severe. But deep-rooted custom requires drastic treatment
to remove it. On weak or light natures such discipline is too often seen
to work disastrous reaction; happily, the young Queen was inspired by an
intellect of such fibre, and a spirit of such temper, that she responded
to her early training by establishing and maintaining in her Court such
a high moral ideal as has never been known since the days of the
mythical Round Table.
[Illustration: KENSINGTON PALACE.
Her Majesty the Queen was born in the ground-floor room occupying the
farthest angle of the building on the extreme right of the picture. A
tablet within the room records the fact.]
[Illustration: _S. P. Denning._} {_From the Dulwich Gallery._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT THE AGE OF FOUR.]
[Sidenote: Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and Hanover.]
Queen Victoria's accession was the cause of the departure from England
of a Prince deservedly unpopular, whose signature stands first among
those appended to the Act of Allegiance executed at Kensington Palace.
Hitherto, for more than one hundred and twenty years, succession to the
throne of Great Britain had carried with it the crown of Hanover; but,
inasmuch as that crown was limited to the male line, it passed, on the
death of King William, to his eldest surviving brother, the Duke of
Cumberland. It is not necessary to discuss here the character of that
Prince--it is enough to say that his departure to take up his
inheritance in Hanover was probably cause of regret to very few persons
in this country and reason for rejoicing to a great many. Nor, in
looking back over the history of the past sixty years, can any
thoughtful person fail to recognise advantage in the severance of the
monarchies of Great Britain and Hanover. Any loss of prestige or dignity
which might have been anticipated has been amply outweighed by the
freedom enjoyed by this country from continental complications. England,
while she has forfeited no weight in the Councils of Europe, is in a far
stronger position to enforce her will when necessary, and the
development of rapid and easy transit have protected Englishmen from any
disadvantage that might have been apprehended from an exclusively
insular Court.
[Illustration: _W. Fowler._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AS PRINCESS VICTORIA.]
One of the incidents of the ceremony of accession commented on with most
interest was the fact that, in signing the Oath for the security of the
Church of Scotland, the Queen wrote only "Victoria," instead of her full
name "Alexandrina Victoria." Surely it was a happy inspiration which
prompted the choice of the single name--prophetic, as it has turned out,
of the character of the coming reign. Probably not one in a thousand of
her subjects are aware that Her Majesty has two baptismal names, though
there is historic interest attached to their origin. The Duke of Kent
gave his daughter the name of Alexandrina in compliment to the Empress
of Russia, intending her second name should be Georgiana. The Regent,
however, objected to the name Georgiana being second to any other in
this country; so, as the Princess's father was determined that
Alexandrina should be the first name, it was decided she should not bear
the other one at all.
[Sidenote: Prorogation of Parliament.]
On July 17 the Queen went in State to the House of Lords to prorogue
Parliament. After listening to an Address made by the Speaker on behalf
of the House of Commons, and giving her consent to certain bills, Her
Majesty proceeded to read her speech to Parliament in clear and
unfaltering accents. The concluding paragraph, viewed in the light of
subsequent events, must be admitted to have been more amply fulfilled
than most human promises, however sincerely spoken:--
"I ascend the throne with a deep sense of the responsibility imposed on
me; but I am supported by the consciousness of my own right intentions,
and by my dependence on the protection of Almighty God. It will be my
care to strengthen our institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, by
discreet improvement wherever improvement is required, and to do all in
my power to compose and allay animosity and discord. Acting upon these
principles, I shall, upon all occasions, look with confidence to the
wisdom of Parliament and the affection of my people, which form the true
support of the dignity of the Crown and ensure the stability of the
Constitution."
[Illustration: _W. Behnes._} {_From the Royal Collection._
BUST OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AS PRINCESS VICTORIA.]
Every opportunity which was afforded to Parliament and the public of
passing judgment on the Queen's demeanour tended to deepen the
favourable impression already created. Greville--the "Man in the Street"
of those days--he of whom Lowe afterwards wrote--
"For forty years he listened at the door,
He heard some secrets and invented more,"
is not an authority on which too much reliance should be placed, yet his
diary is useful as a reflection of passing events. It is full of
enthusiastic praise of the new Monarch.
"All that I hear of the young Queen leads to the conclusion that she
will some day play a conspicuous part, and that she has a great deal of
character.... Melbourne thinks highly of her sense, discretion, and good
feeling; but what seems to distinguish her above everything are caution
and prudence, the former in a degree which is almost unnatural in one so
young, and unpleasing because it suppresses the youthful impulses which
are so graceful and attractive.... With all her prudence and discretion
she has great animal spirits, and enters into the magnificent novelties
of her position with the zest and curiosity of a child.... The smallness
of her stature is quite forgotten in the majesty and gracefulness of her
demeanour."
Sixty years ago! It is the second and third generation from that time
which now cries "God save the Queen! Long live Victoria!" Never before
in the history of our nation has it fallen to the lot of any historian
to tell the story of such a long reign, to chronicle such unbroken
national progress, to trace such a series of peaceful changes, to record
such accumulation of wealth and diffusion of comfort in a like period.
[Sidenote: Early Railways.]
Sixty years ago! The population of these islands was then some
twenty-five millions; it amounts now to upwards of thirty-eight
millions. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, about thirty miles long,
had been open for eight years, causing far-sighted folk to predict an
important change in the mode of travelling. The Liverpool and Birmingham
Railway was opened in the year of the Queen's accession. In 1838 the
line between London and Birmingham was finished, and trains were timed
to do the distance--112-1/4 miles--at the average speed of twenty miles
an hour. The London and Croydon Railway began running in 1839, and in
1840 there were 838 miles of railway open in the United Kingdom. At the
present time there are 20,000 miles open, owned by companies which in
1894 had an authorised capital of £1,099,013,785, earning a gross
revenue of £84,310,831, and a net profit of £37,102,518.
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter, R.A._} {_From the Print published by
Messrs. Graves._
HER MAJESTY TAKING THE OATH ON HER ACCESSION.]
In order to convey the impressions of an educated traveller by the new
mode of transit, the temptation to quote once more from the lively
Greville is irresistible. In July 1837 he became tired of hearing
nothing in London except about the Queen and the coming elections, so he
resolved to see the new Birmingham and Liverpool Railway. Reaching
Birmingham in 12-1/2 hours by coach, he "got upon the railroad at
half-past seven in the morning. Nothing can be more comfortable than the
vehicle in which I was put, a sort of chariot with two places, and there
is nothing disagreeable about it but the occasional whiffs of stinking
air which it is impossible to exclude altogether. The first sensation
is a slight degree of nervousness and a feeling of being run away with,
but a sense of security soon supervenes, and the velocity is
delightful."
[Illustration: STEPHENSON'S LOCOMOTIVE, "THE ROCKET."
This engine was constructed by Messrs. Stephenson & Co. in 1829, to
compete in the trial of locomotive engines held at Rainhill, on the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway in October of that year, where it
gained the prize of £500. The "Rocket" worked on the Liverpool and
Manchester line till 1837, when it was removed to the Midgeholm Railway,
near Carlisle. It ceased running in 1843-4, and was presented to the
South Kensington Museum in 1862.]
[Illustration: A MODERN EXPRESS PASSENGER ENGINE.
This engine, No. 1870 of the North Eastern Railway, was built in 1896 by
the Gateshead works. It is a "non-compound" engine, with the largest
coupled driving wheels hitherto known, viz., 7 ft. 7 in. The diameter of
the cylinders inside is 20 in. A sister engine (No. 1869) was
constructed at the same time, and the weight of each of them with tender
fully loaded is over 90 tons.]
The "velocity" referred to was regulated to an average of about twenty
miles an hour; but the diarist makes mention of a foolhardy driver who
ventured to run forty miles an hour, and was promptly dismissed by the
directors.
[Illustration: THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY BROAD GAUGE ENGINE "NORTH
STAR."
This engine was designed by Sir Daniel Gooch in 1836 and built by Robert
Stephenson & Co. in 1837. It was one of the first engines belonging to
the Great Western Railway Company, and continued at work until 1870,
running a total distance of 429,000 miles.]
[Sidenote: Electric Telegraph.]
The application of another of the forces of Nature to the service of
human intercourse has brought about a change in political, military,
social, and commercial relations even more complete than that wrought by
steam. The invention of the electric telegraph coincided very nearly
with the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1835 Mr. Morse, an
American citizen, produced a working model of an instrument designed to
communicate alphabetical symbols by the interruption of the electric
current, but he failed to persuade Congress to furnish him with the
funds necessary to the practical application of his discovery. Next year
he tried to take out a patent for it in this country; but, meanwhile,
Cooke and Wheatstone had anticipated him with one instrument, and the
brothers Highton with another, both of which were soon in use on
railways. The growth of this means of communication may be seen in the
"Post Office Annual," which shows that in the year 1895-96 about
seventy-nine million telegrams were delivered through the Post Office,
besides those dealt with by certain public companies.
[Sidenote: The Coronation.]
The Queen's Coronation was deferred till June 1838. It would be tedious
to dwell on the splendour of the ceremonial. Perhaps the most readable,
and not the least truthful, account has been preserved in one of
Barham's _Ingoldsby Legends--Mr. Barney Maguire's Account of the
Coronation_, set to the tune of _The Groves of Blarney_, and beginning--
"Och! the Coronation, what celebration
For emulation with it can compare?
When to Westminster the Royal Spinster
And the Duke of Leinster all in order did repair.
'Twas there ye'd see the new Polishemen,[A]
Making a skrimmage at half afther four;
And the Lords and Ladies, and the Miss O'Gradys
All standing round before the Abbey door."
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_"Political Sketches," 1838._
LA BELLE ALLIANCE.
This sketch represents Marshal Soult meeting his old antagonist, Lord
Hill, at the Duke of Wellington's. "At last," he says, "I meet you, I,
who have run after you so long!" "La Belle Alliance" is well known as
the name of a particular spot, which was one of the points of attack at
the Battle of Waterloo.]
[Illustration: _C. R. Leslie, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
A. Lord Willoughby de Eresby.
B. The Duke of Norfolk.
C. The Marquis of Conyngham.
D. The Archbishop of Canterbury.
E. Her Majesty the Queen.
F. Lord Melbourne.
G. The Bishop of London.
H. The Duke of Wellington.
J. The Duchess of Sutherland.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT AFTER HER CORONATION IN
WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
June 28, 1838.
Lord Willoughby de Eresby, as Hereditary Lord High Chamberlain, held the
Crown, and Lord Melbourne as First Lord of the Treasury, the Sword of
State. The Duke of Norfolk was Earl Marshal, the Marquis of Conyngham
Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Wellington Lord High Constable of England,
and the Duchess of Sutherland Mistress of the Robes.]
[Sidenote: Popular Reception of Wellington and Soult.]
Two personages in the procession, who had met under far different
circumstances in earlier years, met with a tremendous ovation wherever
they moved. One of these was the Duke of Wellington--our Great Duke--and
the other was the veteran Duke of Dalmatia--the puissant Maréchal Soult
of the Peninsula and Waterloo--once the redoubtable foe of England. Mr.
Justin McCarthy has suggested that "the cheers of a London crowd on the
day of the Queen's coronation did something genuine and substantial to
restore the good feeling between this country and France, and efface the
bitter memories of Waterloo." On the other hand, the anti-monarchical
party in France attributed the popular reception of Soult in London to
the prevalence of sympathy with Republican views. Certain it is that
when, in later years, Soult championed the English alliance in the
French Assembly he referred with feeling to his reception at Queen
Victoria's coronation: "I fought the English," he said, "down to
Toulouse, when I fired the last shot in defence of national
independence; in the meantime I have been in London, and France knows
how I was received. The English themselves cried 'Vive Soult!' They
cried 'Soult for ever!'" One may formulate rules of diplomacy and
international courtesy, but who shall weigh the effect of sympathy
between a generous people and a former gallant foe?
[Illustration: _Sir G. Hayter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE CORONATION OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, June 28,
1838.
The moment depicted is when the Archbishop, having placed the Crown on
the head of the Queen, and the emblems of sovereignty in her hands, has
returned to the altar. It was at this time that the members of the Royal
Family, the peers and the peeresses assumed their coronets. The whole
Abbey rang with cheers and cries of "God save the Queen," and the
animation of the scene reached its climax.]
Parliament had voted £243,000 for the expenses of George IV.'s
coronation--perhaps the effect of a newly-extended franchise may be
traced in the more economical figure of £70,000, which sufficed for that
of our present Queen.
[Illustration: LORD JOHN RUSSELL, AFTERWARDS EARL RUSSELL (1792-1878).
Sat in the House of Commons for forty-seven years. He introduced the
great Reform Bill in 1831 and was twice Prime Minister (1846-52, and
1865-6). He was raised to the Peerage in 1861.]
[Sidenote: State of Parties.]
The battle of Reform had been fought out in the country and in
Parliament five years before the accession, and there were, as yet, no
signs--to quote Sir Robert Peel's famous expression at Tamworth--of the
Constitution being "trampled under the hoof of a ruthless democracy." On
the whole, life--its business and pleasures--seemed to be going forward
on much the same lines as before the great Act, dreaded, as it had been,
as intensely by one party, as it had been pressed forward and welcomed
by the other. Lord Melbourne was the head of a Whig Administration, of
which, as everybody knows, the late King had waited impatiently for the
first decent opportunity to get rid. But Melbourne and Lord John Russell
(who, with the office of Home Secretary, was leader of the House of
Commons) had to reckon with an advance wing of their own party, already
known as Radicals, and were at least as profoundly averse from their
projects as they were from the Tory policy. Melbourne and Russell
desired to put down Radicalism and proceed with moderate and safe
reforms, above all in Ireland, where the chronic discontent was being
fanned to eruption by the exertions of Daniel O'Connell. The King's
death had relieved the Whig Cabinet from the adverse influence of the
Court; moreover, the reliance placed from the first by the young Queen
upon Lord Melbourne, and the intimate relations between them, brought
about by the circumstances of the case, enabled the Whigs to assume the
peculiar rôle of their opponents--that of the special supporters of the
throne.
[Illustration: _M. Noble._} {_National Portrait Gallery._
SIR ROBERT PEEL (1788-1850).
Was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1812, Home Secretary in
1822, and again in 1828-30 under the Duke of Wellington. In 1830 he
reconstructed the Metropolitan Police. He was Prime Minister in 1834-5,
and again from 1841 to 1846. His second Administration was distinguished
by the total abolition of the Duty on Corn.]
The Tories,[B] on the other hand, approached with much misgiving the
General Election, which, according to the law as it then stood, followed
of necessity on the demise of the monarch. They knew that the Duchess of
Kent had favoured Whig principles in the education of the Queen; they
saw that Melbourne's personal charm had secured for him complete
ascendancy in the councils of the new Sovereign, and they had nothing to
expect in the country but reverse.
[Sidenote: Result of General Election.]
However, the unpopularity of the new Poor Law told against Ministers in
the rural constituencies, and the elections left parties almost
unchanged. When the first Parliament of Queen Victoria assembled on
November 20, 1837, the Whig Government reckoned a majority of about
thirty in the House of Commons. "Of power," wrote the contemporary
compiler of the _Annual Register_, "in a political sense, they had none.
They could carry no measure of any kind but by the sufferance of Sir
Robert Peel."
One incident in the short winter session of 1837, often as it has been
recorded, retains a lasting interest because of the subsequent celebrity
of the individual who gave rise to it. Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, the son of
a distinguished man of letters, had just entered Parliament for the
first time as Member for Maidstone. He chose a debate on Irish Election
Petitions as the opportunity for his maiden speech. "A bottle-green
frock coat," writes an eye-witness, "and a waistcoat of white, of the
Dick Swiveller pattern, the front of which exhibited a network of
glittering chains; large, fancy pattern pantaloons, and a black tie,
above which no shirt-collar was visible, completed the outward man. A
countenance lividly pale, set out by a pair of intensely black eyes, and
a broad but not very high forehead, overhung by clustering ringlets of
coal-black hair, which, combed away from the right temple, fell in
bunches of well-oiled ringlets over his left cheek."
[Illustration: AN EARLY SIGNAL CABIN.]
[Illustration: A MODERN SIGNAL CABIN.
The Cabin here represented is that at Crow West Junction, Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway.]
Not a prepossessing personality in the eyes of the British House of
Commons, and when the young orator proceeded to launch into profuse and
florid metaphor, accompanied by exaggerated theatrical gestures, the
forbearance usually shown towards a new member's first appearance was
overborne by impatience at Disraeli's ludicrous affectation. He spoke
amid incessant interruption and laughter. "At last, losing his temper,
which until now he had preserved in a wonderful manner, he paused in the
midst of a sentence, and looking the Liberals indignantly in the face,
raised his hands, and opening his mouth as widely as its dimensions
would admit, said in a remarkably loud and almost terrific tone, 'I have
begun several times many things, and I have often succeeded at last; ay,
sir, and though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear
me.'" The contrast between the early manner of this statesman, and his
peculiarly quiet and leisurely bearing in the debates of later years,
betrays the close study which he devoted to outward effect.
The Prime Minister, William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne, was a
typical Whig, genuinely disposed to moderate reform, but in the habit of
meeting Radical suggestions with the discouraging question, "Why not
leave it alone?" Of similar political temperament was his lieutenant in
the Commons, Lord John Russell. It very soon became evident that the
Radicals, though diminished in numbers by the result of the elections,
were likely to give Ministers trouble in the new Parliament. In the
Upper Chamber, Lord Brougham, who had conceived a violent dislike to
Melbourne, began to employ his fiery energy and power of acrid invective
against the Government, and showed himself ready to place himself at the
head of the Radicals. In his first serious attack on Ministers he allied
himself with the Tory Lord Lyndhurst. The opportunity arose out of
events in Canada, to which it is necessary briefly to refer.
[Illustration: {_From the "G.W.R. Magazine."_
THE FIRST TELEGRAPH STATION (SLOUGH STATION, G.W.R., 1844).]
[Illustration: HER MAJESTY'S STATE COACH.
This Coach, used at Her Majesty's Coronation, was designed by Sir
William Chambers, and finished in the year 1761. The paintings, of which
the following are the most important, were executed by Cipriani. _The
Front Panel_:--Britannia seated on a throne holding a Staff of Liberty,
attended by Religion, Justice, Wisdom, Valour, Fortitude, Commerce,
Plenty, and Victory, presenting her with a Garland of Laurel; in the
background a view of St. Paul's and the River Thames. _The Right
Door_:--Industry and Ingenuity giving a Cornucopia to the Genius of
England, and on each side History recording the Reports of Fame, and
Peace burning the Implements of War. _The Back Panel_:--Neptune and
Amphitrite issuing from their palace in a triumphant car, drawn by
sea-horses, attended by the Winds, Rivers, Tritons, and Naiads, bringing
the tribute of the world to the British shore. _Upper part of Back
Panel_:--The Royal Arms, ornamented with the Order of St. George; the
Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle entwined. _The Left Door_:--Mars, Minerva,
and Mercury supporting the Imperial Crown of Great Britain, and on each
side the Liberal Arts and Sciences protected. The design of the Coach
itself is in keeping with the above ideas. The length of the Carriage is
24 feet; width, 8 feet 3 inches; height, 12 feet; length of pole, 12
feet 4 inches; weight, 4 tons. The harness is made of red morocco
leather. On State occasions eight cream-coloured horses, as here
represented, are used.]
[Sidenote: Rebellion in Canada.]
By the Constitution of 1791 Canada had been divided into two Provinces,
Upper and Lower Canada, each with its separate Governor, Executive
Council (corresponding to a Privy Council), Legislative Council,
appointed by the Crown for life, and Representative Assembly. The bulk
of the people of Lower Canada were of French descent, Catholics, and
intensely conservative of the mode of life and habits of France before
the Revolution. English law had been established there by proclamation
in 1763, but by the wise Act of 1774 French civil law was restored, and
free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion guaranteed. Probably all
would have gone tranquilly with the Province had its French population
been left to themselves. But they had restless neighbours in Upper
Canada. Englishmen, and especially Scots and Ulstermen, had settled
there in large numbers, busy, pushing men of business, traders, and
farmers, developing their land with energy, overflowing, as their
children multiplied, into the territory of their French fellow-subjects,
and there forming a British party, impatient of the antique legal
procedure, the foreign law of land tenure, and the sleepy,
unbusiness-like ways of the Lower Province. Hence arose friction which
soon became chronic. The Legislative Council, nominees of the Crown,
naturally favoured the British section, thereby finding themselves at
issue with the Representative Assembly. Discontent had been smouldering
for many years, and at last matters came to a crisis. The Representative
Assembly resolved to resist further encroachment. Headed by Louis
Papineau, a militia officer and Member for Montreal, they drew up a
protest and laid their grievances before the Governor, Lord Gosford.
They complained of arbitrary infringement of the Constitution and other
matters, demanded that the Legislative Council should be made elective,
and ended by refusing to vote supplies. Public meetings were held, and
addressed in inflammatory language by Papineau, who dwelt on the example
set by the United States in resisting tyranny. Lord Gosford met matters
with a high hand. Warrants were issued for the arrest of certain
representatives; resistance to their execution resulted in violence, and
the transition to rebellion was as speedy as probably it was
involuntary. _Proximus ardet_--the flame spread to Upper Canada, of
which the people had grievances of their own, though of a different kind
from those of their French neighbours, and a rising took place under the
leadership of one McKenzie, a revolutionary journalist. But the chief
danger arose from the sympathetic action of certain American citizens,
who, to the number of several hundreds, assembled under a person named
Van Rensselaer, and took possession of Navy Island in the Niagara
River, forming part of Canadian territory. At the present day, with the
dense population of the United States and rapid means of transit, such a
position of affairs would undoubtedly prove extremely critical; happily
the British authorities proved able to deal with it successfully. The
rebels being ill-prepared for impromptu war, Lord Gosford put down the
rising in Lower Canada, though not without considerable bloodshed. In
Upper Canada, the Governor, Major Head, better known afterwards as Sir
Francis Head, an amusing writer, sent every regular soldier at his
command to the assistance of Lord Gosford, and, declaring he would rely
on the loyal Canadians to suppress the rebellion, handed over 6,000
stand of arms to the Mayor of Toronto. The people responded gallantly,
delighted by this mark of confidence; ten or twelve thousand men
assembled under arms, and a single encounter with McKenzie's force was
enough to decide the fate of the revolt. Desultory skirmishing took
place with bodies of American "sympathisers" at various points along the
frontier before the affair could be said to be over, and there can be no
doubt that, had the United States Government adopted a less friendly
attitude, British rule in Canada might have stood in very great
jeopardy.
[Illustration: EARLY TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT, FROM PADDINGTON STATION.
On January 1, 1844, the following message was received from Slough by
this instrument:--"A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill, and
the suspected murderer was seen to take a first-class ticket for London
by the train which left Slough at 7.42 p.m. He is in the garb of a
Quaker, with a brown great coat on, which reaches nearly down to his
feet. He is in the last compartment of the second first-class carriage."
The murderer, Tawell, was identified, apprehended, and convicted. This
was the first occasion on which a telegraphic message overtaking a
criminal led to his arrest.]
[Illustration: COOKE AND WHEATSTONE'S EARLIEST NEEDLE TELEGRAPH,
REQUIRING FIVE WIRES (1837).]
[Illustration: _From an old Print_} {_at the South Kensington Museum._
TRAINS ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, RUNNING AT THE TIME OF
HER MAJESTY'S ACCESSION.
The upper figure represents a first-class train, carrying Her Majesty's
Mails, and the lower one a second-class train with open carriages.]
[Illustration: OLD GREAT WESTERN PASSENGER CARRIAGE.]
The Imperial Parliament was summoned to meet on January 16, 1838, to
consider the Canadian situation. A Bill was introduced suspending the
Constitution of Lower Canada, and empowering the Queen to appoint a
Governor and Special Council, who should assume for the time all the
functions of the legislature in that Province. The Duke of Wellington,
as leader of the Opposition in the Lords, and Sir Robert Peel in the
Commons, supported the Government, and the only opposition was offered
by the Radicals. Brougham attacked the Bill in a speech of which
Melbourne complained as "a most laboured and extreme concentration of
bitterness." In the other House the chief point of interest to readers
of the debate at this day lies in a speech by Mr. W. E. Gladstone, the
Tory Member for Newark, who taunted Mr. Joseph Hume and the Radicals
with their failure to perform in session their boastful promises during
the recess.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN'S SALOON CARRIAGE ON THE LONDON AND
NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
This is the carriage which has been used by Her Majesty for many years
on her journeys to and from Scotland. It contains sitting and sleeping
compartments (the former having padded walls and ceiling, lined with
watered silk), and accommodation for Her Majesty's personal attendants.
It is about 60 feet long.]
[Sidenote: The Earl of Durham.]
The Governor appointed under the Act was the Earl of Durham, a man of
remarkable ability, who had embraced Radical principles with great
ardour. This, however, did not prevent him interpreting his office as
that of a practical dictator--he far exceeded the powers vested in him
by the Act. In dealing with offenders he would not stoop to the only way
of obtaining convictions--that of packing juries--and adopted the
arbitrary course of ordering into exile those connected with the late
rebellion, on pain of death if they returned. Looking back to the
existing state of things, it is impossible to question the real clemency
and wisdom of the new Governor's ordinances; nevertheless, they were at
once attacked in the Imperial Parliament, and vigorously denounced as
tyrannical and unconstitutional. Lord Durham had made many enemies in
both Houses. Lord Lyndhurst and the Tories joined forces with Lord
Brougham and the Radicals in pressing Ministers to disallow the
ordinances of which they had already approved. Brougham perceived the
opportunity of discomfiting the hated Melbourne, and he pressed it. The
Ministry were not strong enough to resist. Lord Durham was recalled,
and, though his recommendations were ultimately carried into effect by
making Canada a self-governing colony, he never recovered the unmerited
disgrace he had suffered. Proud, impetuous, and sensitive, he fell into
ill-health, and died in 1840 at the age of forty-eight. His end must
ever be regarded as one of those misfortunes arising out of Party
government, for his policy has been amply vindicated since, lying as it
does at the foundation of the whole modern scheme of Colonial
government.
[Illustration: _Photo by_} {_Elliott & Fry._
THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES PELHAM VILLIERS.
Born 1802. Is a grandson of the First Earl of Clarendon, and has
represented Wolverhampton in Parliament continuously from 1835 to the
present day. He took part, with Cobden and Bright, in the Free Trade
movement, and in the passing of the Ballot Act. He and Mr. Gladstone are
the only survivors of those who sat in Queen Victoria's first
Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Debate on Vote by Ballot.]
One other debate in the Commons during this session must be referred to,
if it be only to mark the wide interval which separates the Liberal
Party of the present day from the Whig leaders at the beginning of the
reign. On February 15 Mr. Grote brought forward his annual motion in
favour of the Ballot in Parliamentary elections. Hitherto little
interest had been attached to the project, owing to the disfavour with
which it was regarded by all but extreme Radicals. On this occasion,
however, several Ministers and many supporters of the Government were
known to have pledged themselves at the polls to the principle of secret
voting. Lord John Russell had declared that to carry such a measure
would be tantamount to a repeal of the Reform Act of 1832; that for the
Government to promote it would be a breach of faith to those who had
supported the extension of the franchise, and he refused to be any party
to "what neither his sense of prudence nor of honour would justify." Sir
Robert Peel supported the Government in resisting the motion, and it was
rejected by a majority of 117 in a House of 513 Members. This was hailed
as a moral victory by the supporters of the Ballot. Brougham was
jubilant, and told the Lords they must make up their minds to this fresh
reform. A few days later he declared in Greville's room that it would
become law in five years from that time, and many people regarded it as
paving the way to Republican government. On the other hand Greville
quotes Charles Villiers, "one of the Radicals with whom I sometimes
converse," as declaring that it would prove a Conservative measure, and
that better men would be chosen. In effect, it took, not five years, but
thirty-four, to reconcile Englishmen to the practice of secret voting;
and Mr. Villiers has lived to see that the protection thereby afforded
to the voter has certainly not operated to the exclusion of
Conservatives from office. But it would be unphilosophic to argue that
what was conceded in 1872 to an experienced and educated electorate,
without evil consequences, might have been bestowed with equal safety in
1838, only five years after the great measure of enfranchisement.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._")} {_Political Sketches_, 1838.
THE THREE SINGLES.
Lord Brougham in 1837 had opposed the Government measures relating to
Canada. For some time he stood alone, and it was not until the Bill for
Abolishing the Canadian Legislature had made considerable progress, that
he found himself supported by the Earl of Mansfield and Lord
Ellenborough. But though acting together on this occasion, each had his
own separate motive and argument, and perhaps there were not three
members of the House of Peers who better deserved to be acting singly
and without party connection. Lord Brougham is here represented with the
Earl of Mansfield on his right arm and Lord Ellenborough on his left.]
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN 1839,
Attended by Viscount Melbourne, the Marquis of Conyngham, who raises his
hat, the Hon. George S. Byng, the Earl of Uxbridge, and Sir George
Quinton.]