166

ROYAL VISIT TO BELVOIR CASTLE.

1843

made more delightful by the distinguished courtesy and almost regal hospitality of its owner, they passed on to Belvoir Castle, attended wherever they went by the warmest demonstrations of loyal attachment.

At Belvoir a great hunting party was assembled. The Prince was never, as has been already said, a great devotee to field sports. On this occasion, however, he carried off the honours of the hunting-field. We had a capital run,' writes Mr. Anson, with whom fox-hunting was a passion, ‘and the Prince rode admirably, to the amazement of most, who were not at all prepared to find him excel in the art.' Why they should not have been so it is not easy to divine, unless they acted on the absurd assumption, that one who was so well known for his high cultivation and artistic tastes was not likely to have a good seat, or spirit to face the rough work of a run across country. One can scarcely credit the absurdity of people,' the Queen writes to King Leopold a few days afterwards, 'but Albert's riding so boldly has made such a sensation that it has been written all over the country, and they make much more of it than if he had done some great act!' The Prince maintained his character as a bold rider in the field; still he indulged in the sport but seldom, in compliance with the wish of Her Majesty that a life so valuable should not be exposed to the risks which it involves."

It will be seen from the following letter to Baron Stockmar how modestly the Prince speaks of his achievements in this way at Belvoir:—

'The children in whose welfare you take so kindly an interest are making most favourable progress. The eldest, "Pussy," is now quite a little personage. She speaks English and French with great fluency and choice of phrase.*

6

5 In a few years he gave it up altogether. It was impossible for one who was so sure to be observed to adopt the half measures of Fred Vincy in Middlemarch, who kept his love of horsemanship, but rarely allowed himself a day's hunting; and when he did so, it was remarkable that he submitted to be laughed at for cowardliness at the fences, seeming to see Mary and the boys sitting on the five-barred gate, and showing their curly heads between hedge and ditch.'

6 Our Pussette,' the Queen writes a few weeks afterwards, 'learns a verse of Lamartine by heart, which ends with "Le tableau se déroule à mes pieds." To show how well she understood this difficult line, I must tell you the following bon-mot. When she was riding on her pony, and looking at the cows and sheep, she turned to Madame Charrier (her governess), und said, "Voilà le tableau qui se déroule à mes pieds!" Is not this extraordinary for a child of three years?'

1843

ROYAL VISITS.

167

The little gentleman has grown much stronger than he was. . . . The youngest is the beauty of the family, and is an extraordinarily good and merry child. . .

'Ireland is to all appearances perfectly quiet at present. Everything, however, is being got ready for the struggle in the Queen's Bench."

...

'Our visit to Drayton has made the Premier very happy, and is calculated to strengthen his position.

'I went from there to Birmingham to see its manufactures. Sir James Graham and others had advised me strongly not to go, as the town is entirely in the hands of the Chartists, and even the Radicals dare not show themselves in it. Nevertheless, I was received with an indescribable enthusiasm. The people regarded the visit as a great proof of confidence, and did all they could to give assurance of their loyalty. In short, our excursion was one unbroken triumph.

'The Queen Dowager was at Drayton, and some of the Ministers. At Chatsworth there was a large and brilliant assemblage of the leading Whigs, and at Belvoir of the fashionable hunting men of Melton and Leicester. Here I took part in a regular fox-hunt, had a capital run, and moreover distinguished myself by keeping well up with the hounds all through. Anson and Bouverie both fell on my left and right, whilst I came off with a whole skin. . . .

'Now to come back to sacred matters. The day after tcmorrow the Chapel is to be consecrated, and by the Bishop of Oxford.

'Windsor Castle, December 17, 1843.'

'ALBERT.'

The narrative of the important incidents of this year, which exercised a material influence upon the position of the Prince, as well as upon the affairs of Europe, may be fitly concluded by the following passages of a letter addressed to him by Baron Stockmar in the beginning of 1844

'The opening of Parliament within the next few days brings me to politics. The Corn Law League and O'Connell's trial are incidents of the weightiest moment, on the progress and results of which I forbid myself even to speculate. Remote as I am from the scene of action, and consequently with

7 The trial of O'Connell and others.

The private Chapel in Windsor Castle, which had just been completed under the Prince's directions.

168

EFFECTS OF VISIT TO FRANCE.

1843

out the means of observing the essential details in their bearing one upon another, all such speculations must in a most special sense be mere empty amateur-talk.

'Your recent excursions to Drayton, Birmingham, &c., have in the most delightful and useful way worked into combination with your former one across the sea; and I can in all justice congratulate you upon the results of the whole series. The most important of these results seem to me to have been the following, which I will, therefore, commend to the special consideration, probing, and just appreciation of Your Royal Highness.

'Thiers' vapouring had disturbed at the most inopportune season the subsisting relations between France and England. What frequently happens with individuals had consequently come to pass with a great people, viz., a sense of irritation had, by reason of an attitude truly childish about trifles and misunderstandings in themselves insignificant, risen to a dangerous height, and the French and their leaders for the time played into the hands of Russia and that country's policy, which was imperilling the peace of Europe. All who had the true well-being of our quarter of the globe at heart regretted these occurrences, no one more than your Uncle in Brussels.

'The remark I then continually made, that when trifles estrange nations, things just as trifling may bring them together again, was received with incredulous shakings of the head, and yet we have lived to see my views made good. As we all know, and know beyond all doubt, the Queen paid her visits to France and Belgium without the shadow of a political object. So much the better for the Queen and for England, and better still for the French and France, for only out of the absence of a political purpose could a result so desirable have sprung. And what was this result, and how was it brought about? The friendly spontaneous visit of the Queen flattered not a little the national vanity of the French, and, let our adversaries say what they please, it allayed the irritation of their feelings. To such of the French as were reasonable and well disposed, it was a something they had yearned for, which came upon them by surprise. The volatile, who joined the crowd in keeping up the soreness against England, were pleased; the real political adversaries of England were touched by a courtesy to which even the disaffected Frenchman is not wholly insensible.

1843

LETTER FROM BARON STOCKMAR.

169

'How greatly must these influences of necessity react upon the French people, upon Louis Philippe, and upon his Ministers! To both the opportunity has been given, should they be disposed to avail themselves of it, of reassuming the right attitude towards their own people and towards England, which they had lost through the fanfaronnades of M. Thiers. Whether all the good will be reaped that might be reaped, I cannot, situated as I am here, judge; still it is clear to me that an important step has already been made, and that now it only depends on the prudent deportment of the French and English towards each other, to turn this godsend to the fullest account.

And now to the personal application of this event to Your Royal Highness, that I may omit no opportunity of enforcing my favourite principle that it is a man's duty constantly to try to bring into full consciousness the whole bearing of his actions. Without Your Royal Highness the thought of this enterprise would never have been carried to completion; but for you it was impossible it could have turned out so well. Take then your share of the merit, and lay it by in the casket in which you design to store up the achievements of your political activity. Often have I pointed out to you, how great an influence you will have in your power, by virtue of your position, to exercise upon the weal or woe of Europe. You have availed yourself, with tact and success, of the first opportunity that has come in your way. The results are before us. Take, then, in good part my hearty congratulations upon them.

'Your Royal Highness's rehabilitation in the good opinion of the fox-hunters is a thing to be viewed quite as you view it, and yet it is not without practical value so long as fox-hunting continues to be an English national pursuit.'

8

CHAPTER XI.

Death of Prince's Father-Prince goes to Coburg--Letters to the Queen-Return to Windsor Castle-Arrival of King of Saxony and Emperor of Russia on Visit to the Queen-Opinions of Emperor on Political Questions-Account of Emperor's Visit by the Queen.

BARON STOCKMAR had not concluded the letter just quoted when the tidings reached him of the death at Gotha the previous day (29th January, 1844) of Prince Albert's father after a few hours' illness. The old physician had foreseen the probability of such an event, and had prepared the Prince to expect it. But the shock of such terrible surprises is not the less severe, however often the imagination may previously have pictured them; and the Baron knew so well the depth of the Prince's affection for his father, that he felt the blow would fall upon him with a stunning force. His words of sympathy were few, but of the best kind-drawing comfort from the past, and pointing to the claims of duty for the future. Happy the son who at such a time could be assured by so sincere a friend, as the Prince is assured by Stockmar in the conclusion of his letter, that he had failed in no single duty to his parent.

I had written thus far yesterday,' says Stockmar, continuing his letter on the 30th January, when some hours ago we were surprised by the sad news from Gotha. Ever since have I been sharing, my dear Prince, in every thought and feeling which they must have awakened within you. The greatness and strength of my sympathy make me most keenly conscious of the full extent of my peculiar regard and affection for you. How thankful I am to Heaven that your grief can fall back upon the remembrance of the past, in which no one thing can be found for which a good son can now have reason to feel

remorse.

'A task of the dearest moment, and one which, connected as it is with the immediate cause of your grief, may even now while it is fresh fitly claim your attention, is the serious consideration of your brother's position and future. Rarely, in