who will now be our only joy, and the only hope of the country! "To celebrate the betrothal of dear Albert, I held a reception last Sunday afternoon, in the course of which I showed the lovely portrait of the Queen to the whole assembly. Every body was much moved, for Albert is certainly much beloved both here and in Coburg. I was sorry to hear that he was unwell on Monday, but he was very considerate in making Florschütz write to me. the next day to say that he was nearly well again: Thank God for it." On the 8th of December the official declaration of the intended marriage between the Queen of England and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg was made in the most sol emn and formal manner at Coburg.* Writing to the Queen two days after the ceremony, the Prince thus alludes to what then took place: "The day before yesterday the great ceremony of the Declaration took place, which was really very splendid, and went off well. . . . . The day affected me much, as so many emotions filled my heart! Your health was drunk at dinner, where three hundred persons were present, with a universal cheer. "The joy of the people was so great that they went on firing in the streets with guns and pistols during the whole night, so that one might have imagined that a battle was taking place. *A copy of the official notice of the ceremonial to be observed in making the Declaration, and of the Declaration itself, will be found in Appendix E. The more than common affection that united the two brothers, who, till within one short year, had scarcely known what it was to be separated even for a day, has been more than once noticed. We have already seen with what exquisite feeling Prince Albert, in writing to his grandmother, alludes to their first permanent separation on the departure of his brother to enter the Saxon service. The following letter from Prince Ernest, written after the public announcement of the marriage, will be read with no less interest, as giving proof not only of an affection in the writer, rare from its entire and sincere unselfishness, but also of the marked development, even at this early age, of that high moral purpose, and that almost intuitive soundness of judgment, which were to be displayed in the after life of the Prince in so pre-eminent a degree: PRINCE ERNEST TO THE QUEEN. "Dresden, Dec. 19, 1839. "MY DEAR COUSIN,-Let me thank you very sincerely for your kind answer to my letter. You are always so good and so kind to me that I really fear I have not thanked you sufficiently. "Oh! if you could only know the place you and AlAlbert is my second self, and Independently of his being bert occupy my brother, I love and esteem him more than any one on earth. You will smile, perhaps, at my speaking of him to you in such glowing terms; but I do so that you may feel still more how much you have gained in him. "As yet you are chiefly taken with his manner, so youthfully innocent-his tranquillity-his clear and open mind. It is thus that he appears on first acquaintance. One reads less in his face of knowledge of men and experience, and why? It is because he is pure before the world and before his own conscience. Not as though he did not know what sin was-the earthly temptations— the weakness of man. No; but because he knew, and still knows, how to struggle against them, supported by the incomparable superiority and firmness of his char acter. "From our earliest years we have been surrounded by difficult circumstances, of which we were perfectly conscious, and, perhaps more than most people, we have been accustomed to see men in the most opposite positions that human life can offer. Albert never knew what it was to hesitate. Guided by his own clear sense, he always walked calmly and steadily in the right path. In the greatest difficulties that may meet you in your eventful life, you may repose the most entire confidence in him, and then only will you feel how great a treasure you possess in him. "He has, besides, all other qualities necessary to make a good husband. Your life can not fail to be a happy one. "I shall be very glad when the excitement of the first days is over and all is again quiet, and when papa shall have left England, to be a distant and unintruding spectator of your new life. But how shall I then feel how much I have lost! Time will, I trust, help me also. Now I feel very lonely. ERNEST." In the mean time many preliminary arrangements had been discussed in England. The naturalization of the Prince the formation of his household-the rank he was to hold-and the income which was to be settled upon him. Nor were these two last points arranged without considerable difficulty, and the occurrence of circumstances productive of much annoyance. With respect to the precedence which should be given to the Prince, reference was made to the precedent of the marriage of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (afterward King of the Belgians) with the Princess Charlotte. The Queen mentions, in the Journal kept by her at the time, that Lord Melbourne showed her, on the 25th of November, a copy of the clause inserted in the Bill for the Naturalization of Prince Leopold, empowering the prince regent to give the prince precedence over every one except the princes of the blood. It was now proposed to adopt the same course with respect to Prince Albert, except that, from his different position as husband of the Queen, he should naturally take rank above those princes. It was thought right, however, to endeavor, in the first instance, to obtain the consent of the royal family to this arrangement. After a slight demur on the part of the Duke of Sussex, who spoke in the first instance of the necessity of his considering "the rights and interests of the family," and of "consulting others," both he and the Duke of Cambridge assented to what was proposed. The King of Hanover, however, still withheld his consent, and the Duke of Wellington, when the Naturalization Bill was before the House of Lords, objected to the clause by which it was proposed to give the Prince rank next to the Queen. As it was impossible to carry the clause against the duke's opposition, it was necessarily abandoned, and it was only by the exercise of her own prerogative that the Queen could give to the Prince the precedence which was his due. Many years later, the expediency was discussed of regulating, once for all, by Act of Parliament, the rank and position of a Prince Consort. But, though the leaders of both parties acquiesced in the propriety of such a measure, and though there can be no doubt that it would have only been in accordance with the English sense of what was right-which would have been outraged by seeing the father walk behind his own. children—the then government shrank from the opposition with which the proposal might possibly have been met; at all events, they did not feel sufficient confidence in the result to encourage them to persevere in the attempt. There was also a question as to the Prince's right to quarter the Queen's arms with his own. Garter King-atArms, whose special duty it is to make himself acquainted with such subjects, at first gave an opinion against it. It is hardly conceivable that he should have overlooked the very last precedent on the subject-that, namely, of Prince Leopold, who had quartered the Princess Charlotte's arms with his own. He did so, nevertheless; and it was left to the Prince himself to trace and show him the precedent which thus established his own right! It is needless to follow in detail all the discussions that took place with respect to the formation of the Prince's household. Lord Melbourne wished that Baron Stockmar should come over with full instructions as to the wishes of the Prince and his father on the subject, so that |