1861-1865.
The American Civil War--Recognition of Confederate States as
Belligerents--English Opinion in Favour of the Confederates--The
_Trent_ Affair--Dispatch of Troops to Canada--Death of the
Prince Consort--His Last Memorandum--The Cruiser
_Alabama_--Claims against Great Britain--Arbitration--Award
Unfavourable to Great Britain--Public Indignation--Marriage of
the Prince of Wales--The Schleswig-Holstein
Difficulty--Neutrality Observed by Great Britain--Popular
Sympathy with Denmark--Dissolution of Parliament--Result of the
Elections--Death of Lord Palmerston.
[Sidenote: The American Civil War.]
The election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, and
the consequent decree abolishing slavery, brought about the secession of
the Southern States and the outbreak of civil war on a vast scale early
in 1861. It was not to be expected that such a convulsion among people
of British speech and descent could run its course without taking effect
on a country so intimately associated with the United States as Great
Britain was in commerce, literature, and social relations. The first
difficulty arose out of the question whether the Southern States--the
Confederates, as they were designated--should receive recognition as
belligerents, or whether they should be regarded as rebels against the
Federal Government. Lord John Russell, having consulted the law officers
of the Crown, announced on May 8 that the Government had decided to
recognise the belligerency of the Southern Confederation, and a
proclamation of neutrality was issued on May 13. This act was
interpreted as unfriendly by the Federal Government, who claimed that no
State in the Union had a constitutional right to secede, that it could
only rebel, and that the British Government had unduly favoured the
rebels by prohibiting Her Majesty's subjects from enlisting in the
service of either Federals or Confederates. On the other hand, the
Northern or Federal Government had proclaimed the blockade of the
Southern ports, thereby implying that Confederates were belligerents and
not rebels, for no Government can _blockade_ its own ports, it can only
_close_ them. So far, therefore, from favouring the Confederate cause by
recognising its belligerency, Her Majesty's Government adopted the only
course enabling them to respect the Federal blockade and to restrain
English traders from breaking it.
But for some occult reason, the Federal cause was unpopular in this
country from the beginning; the initial reverses sustained by the armies
of the North were hailed with satisfaction in the English Press; and
this, combined with a rash expression used in public by Lord Palmerston
about the "unfortunate rapid movements" of Federal troops in the action
at Bull's Run, caused a very sore feeling against Great Britain among
both leaders and people in the Northern States.
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. VICTORIA MARIA LOUISA, DUCHESS OF KENT.
H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent was the daughter of H.S.H. Francis, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; married July 11, 1818, Edward, Duke of Kent,
fourth son of George III., and was the mother of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria. Died March 16, 1861. Her Majesty, therefore, lost both mother
and husband within nine months.]
[Illustration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. EDWARD, DUKE OF KENT, 1767-1820.
Fourth son of King George III., and father of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria.]
[Sidenote: The "Trent" Affair.]
An unfortunate incident arose early in the war to intensify this
feeling, and the corresponding unpopularity of the Federals in England.
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, being anxious to
obtain recognition by European Courts, sent two Envoys, Mr. Mason to
represent him at the Court of St. James's, and Mr. Slidell at the Court
of the Tuileries. These two gentlemen, escaping by night from
Charleston, then under blockade, embarked at Havana in the English mail
steamer _Trent_. A Federal sloop-of-war was cruising about in search of
the Confederate privateer _Sumter_, and her commander, Captain Wilkes,
on hearing about the Confederate Envoys, resolved to get possession of
them. Intercepting the _Trent_ in the Bahama Channel, he hailed her to
heave to, fired a couple of shots across her bows, boarded her, and
carried off Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Of course this act was wholly
unjustifiable by international law, and President Lincoln at once
directed Mr. Seward to reply by complying with Earl Russell's demand for
the surrender of the Confederate Envoys. They were liberated accordingly
on January 1, 1862, and sailed for Europe. But unluckily Lord Palmerston
had no reason to calculate on this ready compliance with British
demands. Captain Wilkes had received approval of his conduct from the
Federal Secretary to the Navy, a vote of thanks to him had been passed
by the Washington House of Representatives, and he had been fêted
wherever he went. All this was taken as indicating President Lincoln's
intention to defend the action of his officer: indeed, but for what was
going on in England, Lincoln's best intentions might have been overborne
by the tide of public opinion. Simultaneously with the despatch of Lord
John Russell's demand for the surrender of the prisoners, 8,000 troops
were embarked in England for service in Canada, and every preparation
was made for immediate war. This not only cost Great Britain about a
million of money, but also deprived President Lincoln's act of all grace
in the eyes of English people.
[Illustration: SYDNEY TOWN AND HARBOUR, FROM PALACE GARDENS.
The colony of New South Wales, originally comprising the eastern half of
the continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania, was formally
founded by an expedition under the command of Capt. Arthur Phillip. The
first landing was effected at Botany Bay, and the City of Sydney was
founded on January 26, 1788. New South Wales became a self-governing
colony in 1855. Population (1893), 1,277,870; imports (1895),
£15,992,415; exports (1895), £21,934,785.]
[Sidenote: Death of the Prince Consort.]
The _Trent_ difficulty was the last public question in which the Prince
Consort was to take part. A memorandum dated December 1, 1861, written
by him and conveying to Lord Russell the Queen's remarks on the drafts
of despatches he was about to forward to Lord Lyons, was the last State
paper to which the Prince Consort set his hand. He had been ill for some
days previously, and soon afterwards gastric fever developed itself. In
spite of the tender attention of the Queen and the Princesses, the
malady continued, not much worse, apparently, but no better. Congestion
of the lungs set in, and at midnight on Saturday, December 14, the
tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's Cathedral announced to the
people of London that the Monarch's Consort was no more--that their
Queen was a widow.
[Illustration: THE HAWKESBURY BRIDGE, NEW SOUTH WALES.
On the railway between Adelaide and Brisbane; the largest work of the
kind south of the Equator. Opened May 1, 1889.]
[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL, CENTENNIAL HALL, AND CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY.]
The Prince died in his forty-third year. It is pretty well understood by
this time how well he had discharged the duties of a difficult station
as Consort of the Crown, how true was the love which united him to the
Queen, how deep was her sorrow at parting with him after twenty-one
years of wedded life. He had lived down the prejudice which undoubtedly
was prevalent at the time of, and for some years after, the marriage.
Without appearing in political affairs with such prominence as might
have aroused the susceptibilities of a self-governing people, his
attention to public affairs was as incessant as that of any Cabinet
Minister. The writing tables of the Queen and the Prince stood side by
side; he was ever at hand to advise Her Majesty in her correspondence
with Ministers; many of her letters and memoranda to the Cabinet are in
the Prince's handwriting. When the final solution of the _Trent_ dispute
was communicated to Her Majesty on January 9, 1862, she wrote to the
Prime Minister: "Lord Palmerston cannot but look on this peaceful issue
of the American quarrel as greatly owing to her beloved Prince, who
wrote the observations on the draft to Lord Lyons, in which Lord
Palmerston so entirely concurred. It was the last thing he ever wrote."
[Illustration: _W. Theed._} {_At Windsor Castle._
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT.]
The only danger to the Prince Consort's place in the affections of the
British people in his later years was of the nature of that which
over-took Aristides. There is a certain monotony in virtue, like that of
uninterrupted serene weather, which weighs upon natures of a less lofty
tenour. But no sooner was the Prince departed than the nation realised
the value of the part he had performed, and it has never since ceased to
be grateful for the energy he displayed in promoting every scheme of
social or intellectual advancement, and stimulating the growth of
commercial and industrial enterprise.
[Sidenote: The Cruiser "Alabama."]
The next controversy endangering friendly relations between the
Governments of Queen Victoria and President Lincoln arose out of
Confederate privateering. Many of the private dockyards of Great Britain
were turning out vessels as fast as they could to sell to the
Confederate leaders. One of these ships, the _Alabama_, built in Messrs.
Laird's yard at Birkenhead, became the terror of Federal commerce,
having captured between sixty and seventy merchantmen in two years. At
last she was sunk by the Federal ship-of-war _Kearsarge_, but her fame
did not perish with her; it was the cause of an important alteration in
international law. The fact is, the _Alabama_ was, for all intents and
purposes, an English pirate. Built and armed in England, most of her
crew and all her gunners were English, some of the latter being actually
in English pay, as belonging to the Royal Naval Reserve. She approached
her prizes flying the British colours at her peak, and only hauled them
down when her prey could not escape. She was constantly in English
harbours, and never in a Confederate one. While she was being built at
Birkenhead, the American Minister appealed in vain to the British
Government to detain her under the Foreign Enlistment Act; she was
allowed to go to sea. Later on, two ironclads were on the point of
leaving the Mersey for the Confederate service. Again Mr. Adams, the
American Minister, demanded their detention, adding in his letter to
Lord Russell, "it would be superfluous in me to point out to your
lordship that _this is war_." The ironclads were detained, but President
Lincoln, Earl Russell, and Lord Palmerston had all passed away before
the dispute about the _Alabama_ was brought to a close. The American
civil war had ended, General Grant was President of the United States,
and Mr. Gladstone Prime Minister of England, when the question came up
for final settlement. When it had been raised first, Lord Palmerston's
Government had refused to admit any responsibility; then followed Lord
Derby's third administration in 1866, and Lord Stanley as Foreign
Secretary consented to the proposal for arbitration. But the
introduction of various claims on the part of private individuals,
arising out of events long antecedent to the civil war caused the
postponement of any agreement until the year 1871. Each nation then
appointed a Commission to meet at Washington to discuss all the subjects
of international controversy, of which the _Alabama_ claims were the
principal. The British Commissioners were Earl de Grey (the present
Marquis of Ripon), Sir Stafford Northcote (afterwards Earl of
Iddesleigh), Mr. Montague Bernard, Sir Edward Thornton, British
Ambassador at Washington, and Sir John Macdonald, Prime Minister of the
Canadian Parliament. The Conference resulted in the Treaty of
Washington, of which the opening clause gave occasion to considerable
resentment in the minds of the British public. It was no less than an
apology--dignified but explicit--on the part of the Queen's Government,
for having permitted the escape of the _Alabama_ and other cruisers from
British ports, to the injury of American commerce. England, it was
loudly protested, had never apologised to any other Power; she would
never had been so humiliated had "Old Pam" remained at the head of
affairs; the whole British case had been given away before the matter
got to the stage of arbitration. So said the British Press, and so said
a large section of the public. However, Great Britain having professed
herself ready to pay something to secure the friendship of President
Grant's Government, the claims went before a tribunal of five
arbitrators, of whom one was appointed by Queen Victoria, and one each
by President Grant, the King of Italy, the Emperor of Brazil, and the
President of the Swiss Confederation. This tribunal assembled at Geneva
in 1872, and decreed that Great Britain should pay an indemnity of
£3,250,000 for the acts of the _Alabama_ and other Confederate cruisers.
The fine was paid, but the impression produced on the minds of the
British people cannot be said to have been favourable to the doctrine of
arbitration. It was felt that John Bull had been made to "knuckle down"
to Brother Jonathan, and the amicable intentions of the British
Commissioners at Washington of promoting cordial relations between the
British and American peoples were frustrated almost as thoroughly as
they might have been had the dispute been fought out in the ordinary
way.
[Illustration: ROYAL ALBERT HALL, KENSINGTON GORE.
So named in memory of the Prince Consort, whose Memorial it faces. It
was opened by the Queen in 1871. The Hall itself is oval, 200 feet by
160 feet, and 140 feet high to the dome. It accommodates 10,000 persons,
and cost £200,000.]
[Illustration: ALBERT MEMORIAL, KENSINGTON GARDENS.
This monument, which is of marble, gold, bronze, and mosaic work, was
designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is 175 feet high. The statue
of the Prince, of bronze gilt, is by Foley. Above the arches runs this
inscription: "Queen Victoria and her people to the memory of Albert,
Prince Consort, as a tribute of their gratitude for a life devoted to
the public good." The cost of the Memorial exceeded £130,000.]
[Illustration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. PRINCESS ALICE TO H.R.H. PRINCE LOUIS OF HESSE IN THE
DRAWING ROOM AT OSBORNE, July 1, 1862.
On the left are Her Majesty the Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, and Prince Leopold, and Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,
attended by the Duchess of Wellington and the Duchess of Athole. On the
right are the parents and brother of the bridegroom. The bridesmaids
were Princesses Helena, Louise, and Beatrice, and Princess Anna of
Hesse.]
[Sidenote: Marriage of the Prince of Wales.]
On March 10, 1863, took place the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of
Wales, to the Princess Alexandra[H], eldest daughter of Prince Christian
of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, heir to the throne of
Denmark. The announcement of the betrothal had been favourably received
in Great Britain, but, on the arrival of the bride-elect in London, her
exceeding personal beauty, her charm of manner and amiability, produced
a remarkable effect, and public feeling rose to a very high degree of
enthusiastic approval. London hastened to cover up the dingy traces of
an English winter with gay bunting; the lively Danish national colours,
scarlet and white, draped all the thoroughfares; and everywhere might be
seen the Dannebrog--the national ensign of Denmark--streaming side by
side with the British standard in the keen wind and bright sunshine of
March.
[Illustration: _G. W. Thomas._} {_From the Royal collection._
THE MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES TO H.R.H. PRINCESS ALEXANDRA
OF DENMARK IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, March 10, 1863.
Her Majesty the Queen occupies the royal closet above the group of
bridesmaids. Next the Prince of Wales are his supporters, the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the Crown Prince of Prussia. The Archbishop
of Canterbury and Dean Wellesley officiate. The bridesmaids were the
Ladies Victoria Scott, Diana Beauclerk, Elena Bruce, Victoria Howard,
Emily Villiers, Agneta Yorke, Feodore Wellesley, and Emily Hare. The
English Princes and Princesses are to the left of the bridal group; the
mother and sisters of the bride to the right.]
The course of events on the Continent at this time gave to the royal
marriage an appearance of political significance which, in reality, it
did not possess. In olden times, no doubt, the espousal of the heir of
England to the daughter of Denmark would have implied a political and
military alliance, offensive and defensive, between the two Crowns. But
in Europe of the nineteenth century it is peoples, not princes, who hold
the decrees of peace and war. It was this very fact which, shortly after
the Prince of Wales's marriage, seemed likely to precipitate a conflict
between Great Britain and Denmark on the one side, and Austria and
Prussia on the other. Englishmen had grown proud of their beautiful
Princess, and were chivalrously disposed to take up the cause of her
little country. They forgot or did not know that it was only the adopted
country of her family.
[Sidenote: The Schleswig-Holstein Difficulty.]
The crisis arose on the death of Frederick VII., King of Denmark. The
succession, as had been decreed by the Great Powers in 1852, devolved on
the father of the Princess of Wales, who became King Christian IX. of
Denmark. There had existed between Germany and Denmark a long-standing
dispute about the possession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and
Lauenburg. The King of Denmark was also Duke of Holstein and Lauenburg,
just as, previous to Queen Victoria's accession, the King of England had
been also King of Hanover. But the vast majority of the population of
these Duchies was purely German, and the German Confederation had been
anxious for a long time to admit them to their common nationality. The
Danish Government, on the other hand, desired to incorporate these
provinces in the Kingdom of Denmark. Prince Frederick of
Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg disputed the succession of Christian IX.
to the Duchies in question. The Germanic Diet, under the influence of
Herr von Bismarck, supported Prince Frederick's claim, and an allied
army, provided by Austria and Prussia, crossed the frontiers of Holstein
and Schleswig to enforce it. The Danish army was mobilised, and Denmark
entered upon a hopeless contest--hopeless, seeing that she, one of the
weakest of European States, was pitted against two of the most powerful.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Mayall, Piccadilly._
A. Princess Helena.
B. Prince and Princess of Wales.
C. The Queen.
D. Princess Beatrice.
E. Prince Arthur.
F. Princess Royal.
G. Princess Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse.
A ROYAL FAMILY GROUP.
Photographed from life on the day of the wedding of the Prince and
Princess of Wales.]
[Illustration: _R. Lauchert._} {_From the Royal Collection._
H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES AT THE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE.]
It must be confessed that the Danes had not unreasonable grounds for
believing they would not be left to meet such odds single-handed. Lord
Russell had often warned the Danish Government that unless it respected
the liberty of its German subjects, Denmark must look for no help from
England in a conflict with the Germanic Powers. The Danes protested that
they had scrupulously followed this advice, and there can be no doubt
that they had been encouraged to look for the support of Great Britain
if any attempt were made to infringe legitimate Danish authority, and
that both Lord Russell and Lord Palmerston contemplated armed
intervention between Denmark and her possible aggressors as a duty which
Great Britain might have to undertake. But Great Britain had too much at
stake to risk a conflict single-handed with Austria and Prussia, who, as
Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Russell, "could bring 200,000 or 300,000
men into the field." England was not more bound by the Treaty of Vienna
than France was; France refused to act, and England adopted the prudent,
but apparently cold-blooded, part of looker-on. Public opinion in Great
Britain ran pretty high in favour of the Danes, and many Englishmen felt
ashamed of the part their country was made to play. They could not
understand how Palmerston, of all men, could act so unhandsomely, and
perhaps the only thing that saved the Government from defeat on a vote
of censure, was that Disraeli, who moved it, shrank from advocating the
only logical alternative to their policy--a declaration of war.
[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre and Spottiswoode._
THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE.
The first settlement on the site of the present city of Melbourne was
made in 1836; it is now the largest city in Australia, with a population
(1891) of 490,896. The Colony of Victoria, of which it is the capital,
was separated from New South Wales in 1851, and received a
self-governing constitution in 1855. Population (1895), 1,181,769.
Imports (1895), £12,472,344. Exports (1895), £14,547,732.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre and Spottiswoode._
THE TOWN HALL, AND PART OF COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE.]
[Sidenote: Dissolution of Parliament.]
The sixth Parliament of Queen Victoria was dissolved on July 6, 1865,
having attained the unusual age of six years and thirty-six days. The
chief feature of the general election which followed was the number of
seats gained by the Radicals at the expense of the remnants of the Whig
party or Moderate Liberals. Mr. Gladstone, reckoned as a
Liberal-Conservative up to this time, though well known to be inclining
more and more to the policy typified by John Bright, was unseated for
Oxford University by Mr. Gathorne-Hardy (now Earl of Cranbrook), and the
last tie which attached him to the Conservatives was severed by his
subsequent election for South Lancashire.
Palmerston's appeal to the country had been answered by an expression of
confidence in him, but that confidence was of a very complex kind. The
Radicals voted for him, because, as long as he was in Parliament, no
other man could lead the Liberal party; but they distrusted his foreign
policy, and chafed at his indifference to questions of reform. The
Liberals voted for him, because he represented exactly the views of
moderate Liberalism; and the attitude of many Conservatives was
accurately expressed in a letter written by Mr. W. H. Smith,
Liberal-Conservative candidate for Westminster, to Colonel Taylor, the
Whip of the Conservative party, thanking him for the support he had
received from Conservatives in his unsuccessful contest against Mr.
Mill. "I believe in Lord Palmerston," he said, "and look forward
ultimately to a fusion of the moderate men following Lord Derby and Lord
Palmerston into a strong Liberal-Conservative party."
[Illustration: HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BRISBANE.]
[Sidenote: Death of Lord Palmerston.]
But the strong link which for so long had bound the present to the past,
and acted as a check on precipitate legislation, snapped at last.
Palmerston died on October 18, 1865, aged eighty-one years, less two
days, having sat in the House of Commons for fifty-eight years, which,
as Mr. Cardwell observed, was just one-tenth of its whole existence. The
feeling in the country was more profound than any which had been
manifested since the death of Wellington. In the course of these pages
no attempt has been made to palliate or conceal some of the errors of
judgment, the faults of statesmanship, even the occasional want of
sincerity to Parliament and the public which formed blemishes in his
career, especially in the earlier part of the Queen's reign. In spite of
these blots--and some of them were far from venial--he had lived to
secure the confidence of his Sovereign and the affection of her people.
A great deal of this was owing to his personal character and manner and
his kindly humour. It is no slight upon Scotsmen or Irishmen to say that
the chief secret of his universal popularity was that he was such a
thorough Englishman. Some of his sayings had a much deeper meaning than
their tone of levity implied. Two of them will bear repetition here,
seeing how accurately the lapse of years has fulfilled the prediction
contained in them. Palmerston was known to be opposed to any further
extension of the franchise. Somebody once observed to him that it really
would not make much difference, for the same class of member would be
returned as before. "Yes," replied Palmerston, "the same men will get in
as before, but they will play to the shilling gallery instead of to the
boxes." The late Earl of Shaftesbury put on record one of Palmerston's
latest sayings. Palmerston always distrusted Mr. Gladstone as a
politician, and made no secret of it. But he always was extremely
anxious for Mr. Gladstone's return for Oxford University. "He is a
dangerous man," he said to Lord Shaftesbury: "keep him in Oxford, and he
is partially muzzled, but send him elsewhere, and he will run wild."
This came to Mr. Gladstone's ears, so, after his defeat at Oxford in
1865, he opened his campaign in South Lancashire by saying to the
electors assembled in the Free Trade Hall of Manchester: "At last, my
friends, I have come amongst you.... I am come among you unmuzzled."
[Illustration: BRISBANE.
The population of Brisbane increased between 1881 and 1891 from 31,000
to 93,000. Queensland, of which it is the capital, was separated from
New South Wales and constituted a self-governing Colony in 1859. It had
in 1895 a population of 460,550. Imports (1895), £5,349,007. Exports,
£8,982,600.]
[Illustration: _Sir E. Landseer, R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves, Publishers of the large Engraving._
THE QUEEN AT OSBORNE, 1866.
On the seat are the Princesses Helena and Louise. Her Majesty is
attended by John Brown.]