E-text prepared by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive/American Libraries
(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
Note: Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
http://archive.org/details/publiclifeofquee00mcgi
THE PUBLIC LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
by
JOHN MCGILCHRIST.
Felt and Dillingham,
455, Broome Street, New York.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY.
Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, the Protector of
Luther--Staunch Protestantism of the Queen's Saxon
Forefathers--House of Saxe-Coburg--A Saxon Desperado of the
Middle Ages--A Fighting Hero of the Eighteenth Century--The
Queen's Grandmother a Woman of Extraordinary Excellence--
Great Alliances in the Marriages of her Uncles and Aunts 1
CHAPTER II.
THE GREATEST OF THE MODERN COBURGS.
Romantic Career of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the Queen's
Uncle--His Continuous, Kind, and Fatherly Care of his
Orphaned Niece--The Duchy of Coburg held by Napoleon--
Sufferings of the Ducal Family--A Temptation resisted--The
Tide turned--Leopold's Popularity in England--Betrothal and
Marriage to the Princess Charlotte of Wales 8
CHAPTER III.
PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
How the Princess Victoria came to be Heiress Presumptive to
the Throne--Death of the Princess Charlotte--Marriages of the
Royal Dukes--Of the Duke of Kent--Birth of the Princess
Alexandrina Victoria--Prediction of George IV.--Death of the
Duke of Kent--His Character--His Liberal Opinions--Public
Condolence with the Widow and Orphan--Early Life of the
Duchess of Kent 14
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST YEARS OF CHILDHOOD.
Old Memories of Kensington Palace--Enlargements of the
Structure by William III., Anne, Queen Caroline, and the Duke
of Sussex--Maids of Honour--Rank and Beauty in the Gardens--
Wilberforce and the Infant Princess--Victoria at Ramsgate--A
Picture of Victoria when Five Years Old--Her Physical
Training--Popularity as a Child--Her Youthful Charities--A
Narrow Escape from Death--Early Development of Quick
Intelligence--Anecdotes--Love of Nature--Proneness to
Self-Will--But Counterbalanced by Candour--Waggishness--A
Portrait of the Child-Princess by Leigh Hunt 23
CHAPTER V.
EDUCATION OF THE PRINCESS VICTORIA.
Additional Grant by Parliament for the Maintenance and
Education of the Princess--Wise Lessons learned at her
Mother's Knee--A Visit to George IV. at Windsor--Assiduous
Pursuit of Knowledge--Accession of William IV.--Victoria
becomes next in Succession to the Crown--Regency Bill--
Satisfaction of the Good Grandmother at Coburg--Her Death--
Joy of Victoria at the Elevation of her Uncle to the Belgian
Throne--Parliamentary Inquiry into the Progress of her
Education--Satisfactory Report in Response--Presented at
Court--Great Ball on her Twelfth Birthday at St. James's
Palace--Court Scandal and Baseless Rumours--The Duchess of
Northumberland appointed Governess--The Princess and the
Poet Southey 37
CHAPTER VI.
THE PRINCESS IN HER TEENS.
Visits paid to many parts of England--Love of Cathedrals and
Church Music--Trip to North Wales and the Midland Counties--
Visit to a Cotton Mill--To Oxford--Gala Day at Southampton--
Interview with the Young Queen of Portugal--Confirmation of
the Princess--Tour to the North--York Musical Festival--At
Ramsgate with the King of the Belgians--A Noble Deed at
Tunbridge Wells 47
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY DAYS OF PRINCE ALBERT.
Birth--Melancholy Story of his Mother--Brought up under the
Care of his Two Excellent Grandmothers--His Winning Ways as
a Child--His Tutor, Florschuetz--The Brothers, Ernest and
Albert--Visit to Brussels, and its Beneficial Effects--Hard
Study--Tour through Germany, &c.--First Visit to England,
and Meeting with Victoria--Studies at Brussels--Enters the
University of Bonn--Tour to Switzerland and Italy--Public
Announcement of Betrothal--Leaves Coburg and Gotha for his
Marriage 52
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PRINCESS VICTORIA BECOMES QUEEN REGNANT.
First Meeting of the Princess Victoria and Prince Albert--
Coming of Age--Festivities on the Occasion--Death of William
IV., and Accession of Victoria--The Queen holds her First
Privy Council--Her Address--Proclamation as Queen at St.
James's Palace--Beautiful Traits of Character displayed by
the Queen--Stirring and Gorgeous Scene--Delight of the
People at the Queen's Accession 61
CHAPTER IX.
THE MAIDEN QUEEN.
Removal to Buckingham Palace--First Levee--Dissolves
Parliament--Beauty of her Elocution--Splendid Reception by
the City of London--Settlement of the Queen's Income--Her
Daily Life--Her Admirable Knowledge of, and Devotion to, the
Business of the State--Reverence for the Lord's Day 69
CHAPTER X.
THE QUEEN CROWNED.
Novel Features in the Coronation--Its Cost--Large Amount of
Money Circulated--Splendour of the Procession--Enormous
Crowds--The Scene within the Abbey--Arrival of the Queen--
The Regalia and Sacred Vessels--Costume of the Queen--
Astonishment of the Turkish Ambassador at the Scene--The
Coronation Ceremony--The Queen's Oath--The Anointing--The
Crown placed on her Head--The Homage--An Aged Peer--The
Queen's Crown--The Illuminations and General Festivities--
Fair in Hyde Park--The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Soult
at the Guildhall 75
CHAPTER XI.
THE BEDCHAMBER PLOT.
Resignation of Lord Melbourne's Cabinet--Sir Robert Peel
sent for--Fails to form a Cabinet--His Explanation--The
Queen refuses to Dismiss her Ladies of the Bedchamber--
Supported by her late Ministers--Sir Robert Peel's
Objections--The Queen will not give way--The Whigs recalled
to Power--Public Opinion on the Dispute--The Whig Ministers
blamed, and the Queen exculpated 84
CHAPTER XII.
COURTSHIP AND BETROTHAL.
Desire of the Coburg Relatives for a Marriage between
Victoria and Albert--Favourable Impressions mutually made by
Victoria and Albert--Prince Albert's Letter on the Queen's
Accession--Opposition of King William IV. to the Marriage--
Correspondence between the Cousins--King Leopold Urges on
the Marriage--The Queen's Reluctance to become Betrothed--
Her subsequent Regret at this--The Prince craves a definite
Determination--His Second Visit to England--Betrothed at
Last--Returns to Germany to say Farewell 91
CHAPTER XIII.
THE QUEEN WEDDED.
Announcement of the Intended Marriage to the Privy Council
and Parliament--Parliamentary Settlement of the Prince's
Rank, &c.--Annoying Circumstances--The Prince's
Protestantism--His Income--Arrival of the Bridegroom--
Receives a National Welcome--The Wedding--Honeymoon Spent at
Windsor 100
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY YEARS OF MARRIED LIFE.
Difficulties and Delicacy of Prince Albert's Position--Early
Married Life--Studies continued--Attempts on the Queen's
Life--Courage of the Queen--Birth of the Princess Royal--
Parting from the Whig Ladies of the Bedchamber--Dark Days
for England--Birth of the Prince of Wales--The Queen
Described by M. Guizot--A Dinner at Buckingham Palace--State
Dinner at Windsor 110
CHAPTER XV.
THE QUEEN IN SCOTLAND.
Christening of the Prince of Wales--Manufacturing Distress--
The Queen's Efforts to alleviate it--Assesses Herself to the
Income Tax--Resolves to Visit Scotland--Embarks at Woolwich--
Beacon Fires in the Firth of Forth--Landing on Scottish
Soil--A Disappointment--Formal Entry into Edinburgh--Richness
of Historical and Ancestral Associations--The Queen on the
Castle Rock--A Highland Welcome--Departure from Scotland 126
CHAPTER XVI.
WHAT ENGLAND OWES TO PRINCE ALBERT.
The Prince's Study of our Laws and Constitution--Two
Misconceptions Outlived--His Versatility--His First Speech
an Anti-Slavery one--His Appreciation and Judicious Criticism
of Art--Scientific Side of his Mind--As an Agriculturist 141
CHAPTER XVII.
FOREIGN TRAVEL AND HOME VISITS.
Visit to King Louis Philippe at Eu--A Loyal Corporation--
Splendid Reception of the Queen in France--Anecdote of the
Queen's Regard for Prince Albert--Visit of the Czar
Nicholas--Home Life in Scotland--Visit to Germany--
Illuminations of the Rhine--A Rural Fete at Coburg 149
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE QUEEN IN IRELAND.
First Visit to Ireland--Rapturous Reception at Cork--
Queenstown so denominated--Enthusiasm at Dublin--Its
Graceful Recognition by the Queen--Visit to the Dublin
Exhibition--Encouragement of Native Industry--Visit to the
Lakes of Killarney--The Whirligig of Time 157
CHAPTER XIX.
THE WORLD'S CONGRESS OF INDUSTRY.
Prince Albert the Inaugurator of International Exhibitions--
Proposes, Unsuccessfully, his Scheme to the Government--To
the Society of Arts, Successfully--First Steps towards
Realisation--Objections to be Met--Perseverance of the
Prince--The Royal Commission--The Prince's Speech at York--
The Opening Ceremony--The Royal Procession 164
CHAPTER XX.
THE WAR CLOUD.
Bright Hopes of Peace Dispelled--An Era of War all over the
World--The Russian War--The Queen's Visits to the Wounded
Soldiers--Presentation of the War Medals--Crimean Heroes--The
Volunteer Movement 172
CHAPTER XXI.
THE QUEEN IN HER HIGHLAND HOME.
The Queen as an Author--"The Early Years of the Prince
Consort"--"Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the
Highlands"--Love for Children of all Ranks--Mountain Ascents
on Pony-back--In Fingal's Cave--"The Queen's Luck"--
Salmon-spearing, and a Catastrophe attending it--Erection of
a Memorial Cairn--Freedom of Intercourse with Humble
Highlanders--Visits to Cottagers--"Mrs. Albert"--Travelling
Incognito--Highland Dinners--"A Wedding-Party frae
Aberdeen"--A Disguise Detected 186
CHAPTER XXII.
THE WIDOWED QUEEN.
Unbroken Happiness of the Queen's Life up to 1861--Death of
the Duchess of Kent--The Prince Consort slightly Ailing--
Catches Cold at Cambridge and Eton--The Malady becomes
Serious--Public Alarm--Rapid Sinking, and Death--Sorrow of
the People--The Queen's Fortitude--Avoidance of Court
Display--Good Deeds--Sympathy with all Benevolent Actions--
Letter of Condolence to the Widow of President Lincoln--The
"Albert Medal"--Conclusion 194
LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY.
Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, the Protector of
Luther--Staunch Protestantism of the Queen's Saxon Forefathers--House
of Saxe-Coburg--A Saxon Desperado of the Middle Ages--A Fighting Hero
of the Eighteenth Century--The Queen's Grandmother a Woman of
Extraordinary Excellence--Great Alliances in the Marriages of her
Uncles and Aunts.
Queen Victoria is, through her mother, descended--and her children are
descended by the double line of both their parents--from the great, good,
and glorious Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony early in the sixteenth
century, who was one of the first to embrace the principles of Luther's
Reformation, and whose name still stands out so nobly and brightly as the
staunch and courageous protector of the great Reformer. The Ernestine
branch of this great Saxon house, from which the Queen and the Prince
Consort both derived their descent, have ever, though at great cost and
injury to themselves at many periods of their history, remained true to
the principles thus early adopted by their common ancestor; and they have
ever considered it as the brightest glory of their race, that they can
proudly point to this unquestionable fact. When one of the most
distinguished members--if, indeed, he was not the most illustrious
scion--of this family, the Queen's maternal uncle, Leopold, King of the
Belgians, made a journey into Scotland, to allay the pangs of the
bereavement which he had suffered in the untimely death of his young wife,
the Princess Charlotte, he paid a visit of a few days' duration to Sir
Walter Scott at Abbotsford. While there, an aged and reverend Scottish
divine was presented to the Prince. The clergyman, in the course of the
interview, made complimentary reference to this fact in the descent of the
Prince. Prince Leopold, in reply, stated that this was the first notice
which had been taken of the circumstance in his presence since the day of
his first arrival in England, and that he felt more honoured by it than by
any other tribute which had been paid to him and his family.
[Sidenote: "A GLIMPSE OF SAXON HISTORY."]
The curious in such matters, those for whom the minute particularity of
authenticated genealogical detail possesses a charm, with which the
compiler of these pages acknowledges that he is himself affected, but
which it would be unfair to such of his readers as do not share this taste
to minister to at excessive length--such we refer to the Reverend Edward
Tauerschmidt's "Brief Historical Account of the Dukedom and Ducal House of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha." There they will find the full pedigree, with no
link wanting, which connects Her Majesty, and equally her first cousin and
spouse, by the links of twenty-five generations, with the Saxon Earl
Theodoric, or Dideric, of the House of Bucizi, who is recorded to have
died in the year of our Lord 982. We content ourselves with proceeding at
a leap to the reign of Frederick the Benignant, Elector of Saxony, who
was thirteenth in descent from Earl Theodoric, and died in 1464. In a most
fascinating article which was contributed by Mr. Carlyle to the January
number of the _Westminster Review_ for the year 1855, entitled, "A Glimpse
of Saxon History," a most romantic incident of this Elector's reign is
narrated with the writer's customary graphic power. This potentate had a
"fighting captain" in his employ, by name Kunz von Kaufungen. Fighting for
his master, he was captured, and being a warrior of importance, was
amerced in the heavy ransom of a sum equal to 2,000 English pounds. This
he paid, but expected to be indemnified by Frederick. This expectation,
for some reason, was not fulfilled. Kunz, exasperated, swore to be
avenged. On the 7th of July, 1455, Kunz entered the town of Altenburg, at
the head of a party of thirty men. Having bribed one of the servants to
treachery, they obtained admission into the Electoral castle, from which
they carried off Frederick's two sons, the Princes Ernest and Albert. The
Electress soon discovered her loss, and the desperadoes had not proceeded
far on their several ways (they had divided into two bands, each having
one of the children), ere they were hotly pursued. Kunz himself headed
that moiety of his force who bore with them Ernest, the elder boy and the
more valuable hostage. The pursuers caused alarms to be rung from the
village spires, and amongst others of the peasantry who were aroused, was
a rough charcoal-burner, who, encountering the party of Kunz, "belaboured
him with the poking-pole" which he used in his vocation, and to such
effect that he vanquished the abductor, rescued the boy, and had the
happiness of restoring him to the arms of his agonised mother. When
asked, wonderingly and admiringly, how he dared to attack so formidable a
foe, he replied to his fair and grateful querist, "Madam, I _drilled_ him
soundly with my poking-pole." From that day he was known by no other name
than the Driller--_der Triller_. Kunz was consigned to the block, while
the Driller, and deliverer, was offered any reward he chose to name. This
true man--a mediaeval "Miller of the Dee"--asked no other recompense than
"only liberty to cut, of scrags and waste wood, what will suffice for my
charring purposes." This was at once granted, along with the freehold of a
snug farm, and an annual and ample allowance of corn from the barns of the
Electors. All was secured to him and his posterity by formal deed, and his
descendants to this day enjoy the privileges so valiantly earned by their
ancestor four centuries ago. From the two princes so rescued, descended
respectively the Ernestine and the Albertine branches of the Saxon house.
The Queen is--as her husband was--twelfth in descent from the little
Prince Ernest, who became the progenitor of the former line.
[Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S SAXON ANCESTORS.]
The parent stock had boasted among other meritorious or distinguished
representatives the names of Conrad the Great, Otho the Rich, Henry the
Illustrious, three Fredericks, dubbed respectively the Serious, the
Warlike, and the Benignant; whilst, as disparaging sets-off, either
demerit or misfortune was indicated, in the instance of other Electors, by
these sobriquets--the Oppressed, the Degenerate, the Severe, and,
strangest of all, Frederick-with-the-Wounded-Cheek. This habit of
designating the successive Electors by their moral or other
peculiarities, or by the incidents or accidents of their careers, was
continued but for a few generations of the Ernestine branch of the
bifurcated line. It contained a Magnanimous Frederick, and a Fiery Ernest,
after whose death, in 1675, this pleasing plan of picturesque designation
no longer meets the eye of the student.
The chivalrous protection which Frederick the Magnanimous--or the Wise, as
he is sometimes also denominated--spread as a buckler over Luther and the
Lutherans cost him his birthright. The bigoted Charles V. diverted, in
1547, the Electoral dignity from the Ernestine to the Albertine branch,
and the fortunes of the house cannot be said to have been fully restored
until the Treaty of Tilsit, in 1807, ratified as its main provisions were
by that of Vienna, seven years later.
Coming down to more recent times, and to the Queen's more immediate
ancestry, we find the old spirit which these brave Saxon princes
represented in the stirring mediaeval and Reforming days, abundantly
maintained in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and notably so on
the field of battle, in the great wars with which the names of Frederick
the Great, Maria Theresa, Suwarow, and Napoleon are associated.
Francis Josias was twenty-second of the line, and the Queen's
great-great-grandfather. His great-grandson, the late King Leopold, says
of him, that he was "much looked up to." He was a tall and powerful man,
but disfigured by having lost an eye at tennis, a game then very popular
on the Continent. One of his grandsons, a Prince Frederick Josias, served
with distinction in the Seven Years' War, in one of the battles of which
he was shot through the hand. He was subsequently employed in high
positions by the Empress Maria Theresa, and made a great name for himself
against the Turks. Suwarow and he extricated the Emperor Joseph, the son
of the Empress, from utter failure, and conquered the Principalities. He
afterwards fought against Dumouriez in the Netherlands, and gained the
battle of Neerwinden, in 1793, near Tirlemont; "one of the greatest
battles of modern history," says his nephew, King Leopold, a most
competent authority on the subject. He says that, but for the inaction of
the Dutch contingent, and the insane attempt of the Duke of York to
conquer Dunkirk, the allies, after this victory, which cleared the
Netherlands of the French, might as easily have marched upon Paris as the
forces of Wellington and Blucher did after Waterloo.
The Queen's grandfather, suffering early in life from exceedingly bad
health, was cast in a much less energetic mould, but his character was
eminently benevolent and loveable, and he had a knowledge and love of the
fine arts, which Prince Albert, in the highest degree of all his
descendants, inherited. The Queen's grandmother, who was of the
Reuss-Ebersdorff family, was equally warm-hearted, possessed a powerful
mind, and "loved her grandchildren most tenderly." We shall have much to
say of her in subsequent pages.
[Sidenote: THE HOUSE OF SAXE-COBURG.]
Of the Queen's aunts, one, after declining many eligible offers in her own
princely rank, married Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, a French emigrant of the
Revolution, who entered the Austrian service, and became the father of the
well-known Austrian statesman, Count Arthur Mensdorff, who was the bosom
friend of Prince Albert from his earliest infancy until his untimely
death. A second married the reigning Duke of Wurtemburg, and occupied for
many years a very influential position in Russia, her husband being
brother of the Empress Catherine (the second of that name), and maternal
uncle of the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas. The third daughter of the
house herself became a Russian Grand Duchess; she was wedded at the age of
fifteen to the Grand Duke Constantine. The marriage was an inharmonious
one, and in 1802 the young pair agreed to separate. Both husband and wife
were acquitted of all blame; Leopold, the brother of the latter,
attributes the sad event to "the shocking hypocrisy of the
Empress-mother," in the absence of which "things might have gone on." The
Queen's mother, who was christened Victoire (or Victoria) Marie Louise,
was the youngest of the four sisters. Besides Duke Ernest, the father of
Prince Albert, the Queen had two other maternal uncles. One was Frederick
George, who married a great heiress, the Hungarian Princess of Kohary. His
son became the consort of Donna Maria II. of Portugal; his grandson, the
present King of Portugal, is the Queen's first cousin once removed, and
the second cousin of her children. Her other uncle was the late King of
the Belgians, whose career is a portion of the history of our
grandfathers', our fathers', and our own times, and is so intimately
associated with the life and fortunes of Her Majesty as to merit separate
treatment in a succeeding chapter, and elsewhere incidentally in the
course of our narrative.