Sixty Years a Queen Part 13

Addressing the members of the Inst.i.tute of Naval Architects on March 30, 1887, upon the "Merchant Service and the Royal Navy," Sir N. Barnaby, late Director of Naval Construction, referred to the arrangements which had then recently been completed between the Admiralty and the White Star and other Companies for the retention of their steamers for war purposes, and pointed out that "this seed, for which we have to thank Mr. Ismay, was planted at the Admiralty nine years ago; ... the outcome of proposals made by Mr. Ismay as far back as 1878," when he urged upon the attention of the Admiralty that a fast mail or pa.s.senger steamer might be as efficient a factor in a naval war as an ordinary war cruiser, and offered to make an agreement to hold at the disposal of the Admiralty, upon terms then specified, certain ships for the purposes of the State in time of war.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Frith & Co._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

Buckingham Palace occupies the site of old Buckingham House, which was altered and enlarged to fit it for a Royal Residence by John Nash in the reigns of George IV. and William IV. It was altered again in 1837 for Queen Victoria, and the east front (that shown in the Ill.u.s.tration) added in 1850, when the Marble Arch was removed from the front of the Palace to its present site at the north east corner of Hyde Park. The lake in the foreground is the ornamental water in St. James's Park.]

CHAPTER VII.

1851-1853.

Louis Napoleon's Coup d'etat--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.

[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's Coup d'etat.]

The Great Exhibition closed on October 15, 1851, and hardly had the contractors begun to dismantle the glittering fabric, before the vision of universal peace, which some spirits had hailed in it, was rudely shattered by events in France. The _coup d'etat_ whereby Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte seized on the government of the country and suspended the Const.i.tution took place on the morning of December 2. This event concerns the present narrative only in one respect. When the news came to England it caused an almost unanimous feeling of horror at the ma.s.sacre of peaceful citizens. The Queen, who was at Osborne, was informed on December 4 of what had taken place, and at once wrote to the Prime Minister, enjoining on him the necessity "that Lord Normanby (her Amba.s.sador at Paris) should be instructed to remain entirely pa.s.sive, and should take no part whatever in what is pa.s.sing." These instructions were conveyed to Lord Normanby next day by the Foreign Minister, Lord Palmerston. But, in a despatch written by Lord Normanby to Lord Palmerston on December 6, informing him that he had made known to M.

Turgot, the French Foreign Minister, that he had received Her Majesty's commands to make no change in his relations with the French Government in consequence of what had pa.s.sed, the following startling pa.s.sage occurred:--"Monsieur Turgot said that ... he had two days since heard from M. Walewski (French Amba.s.sador in London) that your lordship had expressed to him your entire approbation of the act of the President, and the conviction that he could not have acted otherwise than he had done."

[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion.]

On reading a statement attributed to her Foreign Minister so far at variance with her own opinion and the decision of her Cabinet, the Queen wrote to Lord John Russell, asking him if "he knew anything about the alleged approval, which, if true, would again expose the honour and dignity of the Queen's Government in the eyes of the world."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch"._

THE "JUDICIOUS BOTTLE-HOLDER," OR DOWNING STREET PET.

"Bless you! it's all chaff--won't came to a fight. Old Nick's got no const.i.tution--and then, I'm Bottle-holder on t'other side, too!"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From the Silver Model_} {_by R. Hodd & Son._

H.M.S. "BRITANNIA," 1837.

This, the most formidable line-of battle ship afloat at the time of Her Majesty's Accession, was built in 1820 and carried 120 guns. She was the Flag ship at Portsmouth from 1835 to 1840. In 1850 she was converted into a Training Ship, and was finally broken up in 1869. The Silver Model, from which this Ill.u.s.tration was photographed, was presented to Her Majesty the Queen, together with a similar one of the ill-fated _Victoria_--the typical ship of 1887--by the officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Auxiliary Naval Forces, and was exhibited amongst the Jubilee Presents.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: H.M.S. "JUPITER," 1897.

This "first cla.s.s battleship," which has but lately undergone her sea trials, is of the same size as the _Majestic_ and the _Magnificent_. She was built by the Clydebank Shipbuilding Company, and may be taken as the representative ship of the year. Displacement, 15,000 tons; horse-power, 12,000; speed, 17-1/2 knots.]

The word "again" used by the Queen in this letter had reference to Lord Palmerston's action in regard to the visit of Kossuth, the Hungarian refugee, to England in the previous October. There had been much sympathy in England with the cause of Hungarian independence; Kossuth had been feted in many towns as an ill.u.s.trious patriot and exile, and Palmerston consented to receive a visit from him. This was more than the susceptibilities of the Austrian Government could endure; Russell having summoned a Cabinet Council to consider the intended reception by the Foreign Minister, Palmerston reluctantly yielded to the opinion of his colleagues, and the reception was given up. But he consoled himself by receiving at the Foreign Office addresses from Radical meetings, in which the Emperors of Russia and Austria were described as "odious and detestable a.s.sa.s.sins" and "merciless tyrants and despots"; and, in expressing himself "extremely flattered and highly gratified" at the terms directed towards himself, he added that "it could not be expected that he should concur in some of the expressions which had been used in the addresses." It was in receiving the deputation conveying these addresses that this characteristically English Minister earned one of his most-enduring nicknames. He said in the course of his speech that the conduct of Foreign Affairs required "a great deal of good generalship and judgment, and during the pending struggle a good deal of judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play." However much this allusion to the prize ring may have scandalised some of the "unco guid," it was just one of those sayings that tickle the popular fancy, and the "Judicious Bottle-holder" furnished the subject of one of _Punch's_ lively cartoons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: H.M.S. "BOXER," TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER.

The _Boxer_, a twin-screw vessel, built by Messrs. Th.o.r.n.ycroft, of Chiswick, is one of the fastest ships in the world. Her length is 200 feet; speed, 2917 knots. Her sister-ship, the _Desperate_, has steamed 30 knots.]

But it was necessary to put a check on the Foreign Secretary's recklessness. It was intimated to him that his conduct was calculated to place the Sovereign in a most painful position towards her allies, and this rebuke, Russell wrote to the Queen, it was hoped would "have its effect on Lord Palmerston." This incident closed on December 4, only two days after the French _coup d'etat_, and when it became apparent that the Foreign Secretary had perpetrated a further indiscretion, strong measures had to be taken. The dismissal of a Minister is an extreme exertion of the Royal Prerogative, though it is one that was not uncommon in former reigns. Nevertheless, it is the only expedient when a Minister refuses to carry out the policy of the Queen's Government or enters upon an independent one of his own.

[Sidenote: Dismissal of Palmerston.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: H.M.S. "VICTORIA" FIRING HER 110-TON GUN.

The _Victoria_ was built in 1887 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitch.e.l.l. & Co., and was one of three "first-cla.s.s armourclads" which were armed with 110-ton guns--the heaviest ordnance ever made. She was of steel, 10,500 tons displacement. The loss of this magnificent ship, with the Admiral, 30 officers, and 320 men out of a crew of 600, on the 22nd June 1893, through colliding with H.M.S. _Camperdown_ while executing manoeuvres off the Syrian coast, is one of the most tragic events in recent history.]

After some correspondence between Russell and Palmerston, the former wrote, on December 17, informing Palmerston "that the conduct of Foreign Affairs could no longer be left in his hands with advantage to the country," and offering him the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland. Of course Lord Palmerston resigned, and the Queen accepted the resignation. "The distinction," wrote Her Majesty to the Prime Minister, "which Lord Palmerston tries to establish between his personal and his official acts is perfectly untenable."

[Ill.u.s.tration: H.M.S. "TERRIBLE," 1897.

This is the latest of the "first cla.s.s cruisers"; displacement, 14,200 tons; horse-power, 25,000; speed, 22 knots. Built by the Clydebank Shipbuilding Company.]

[Sidenote: The New Houses of Parliament.]

In this year (1852) the Houses of Lords and Commons took possession of the new Palace of Westminster, built from the design of Barry on the site of the old Palace, destroyed by fire in 1835. The style of architecture selected--the Tudor-Gothic--is not one which lends itself readily to grand or ma.s.sive treatment, owing to the infinite repet.i.tion of detailed ornament; but it has this to recommend it, that it is exclusively indigenous to England, and the architect was successful in erecting on a very unpromising site a crowning example of that particular form of Gothic building. The cost of the new Palace as it stands amounted to about 3,000,000; but it should be said that Barry's design has never been completed. It was intended to extend the buildings to form a quadrangle round the court at the foot of the Clock Tower, to accommodate various Public Departments now housed in Whitehall and Downing Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._

THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.]

[Sidenote: French Invasion Apprehended.]

[Sidenote: Resignation of Ministers.]

[Sidenote: The "Who? Who?" Cabinet.]

The political convulsions in France were mildly reflected in Great Britain during the year 1852--the year of three Administrations. In the first-named country, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince-President of the Republic which he had turned into a farce, had secured the good will of the Army by restoring to them their Napoleonic Eagles, and then, with the whole armed force of the nation at his back, had issued an appeal to the people in the form of a plebiscite. By 7,824,189 votes to 253,145 they had bestowed on him the t.i.tle and dignity of Emperor Napoleon III.

Such an appeal and such a response could only be interpreted as the resurrection of the Napoleonic idea. In the forefront of the policy of the new Emperor must surely be found vengeance for Waterloo and the humiliation of England. If this was not expressed in so many words, there were frequent pa.s.sages in the speeches of Louis Napoleon which could bear no other interpretation. England awoke to her danger; the "nation of shopkeepers" did not wait for legislative measures, but quietly began arming and drilling, encouraged by the authorities, thus laying the foundation of that splendid defensive force of artillery and infantry of which the Volunteers are composed at this day. Great Britain possessed in 1852 a small army--about 24,000 infantry at home--absolutely without any reserve force. The Cabinet devised a scheme for creating a local Militia, to be drilled for fourteen days in each year, and to serve exclusively within their own counties. Prince Albert saw grave defects in the plan, and the Duke of Wellington liked it even less than he did; nevertheless Lord John Russell introduced his Bill to give effect to it. Then came Palmerston's opportunity. He was a free agent now, and rendered good service in opposing an inadequate and almost wholly useless measure. On his motion the Government were defeated by eleven votes on February 20, and next day the resignation of Ministers was in the hands of the Queen. The Earl of Derby (the irreconcilable Lord Stanley of Peel's Cabinet) undertook to form a Ministry, which, inasmuch as it could only be drawn from Protectionist ranks, was in a hopeless minority in the House of Commons. Lord Malmesbury took the seals of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Disraeli became, _per saltum_, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons--an instance unique in recent times of such a position being a.s.sumed by one who had never before held office. The rest of the Cabinet was made up of men then untried and unknown, though some of them afterwards rose to distinction, and got the name of the "Who? Who?"

Ministry. The origin of the nickname was a conversation overheard in the House of Lords between the Prime Minister and the Duke of Wellington, who was eagerly questioning Lord Derby about the composition of his new Cabinet. The old Duke had grown very deaf, and all his inquiries were plainly audible to the House, as well, of course, as the Premier's replies. "Who? Who?" asked the old Duke, as, hand to ear, he strove to identify the unfamiliar names, and "Who? Who?" became the t.i.tle of the new Government. Weak as it was, however, and holding office as it did on sufferance only, the Derby Ministry was able to prepare and carry a Militia Bill which satisfied even so critical an expert as the Iron Duke himself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Louis Haghe._} {_From the Royal Collection._

THE FUNERAL OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON Pa.s.sING APSLEY HOUSE, November 18, 1852.]

[Sidenote: Death of the Duke of Wellington.]

Brief as was the duration of the Derby Ministry it outlived the days of one of its warmest friends. The Duke of Wellington drew his last breath at Walmer Castle on September 14, 1852. To say that he was the most popular individual in the United Kingdom would be to apply a term which perhaps, of all others, he would have relished least; but without doubt "the Duke" was the best beloved. The first soldier in Europe, thirty-seven years of peace had not dimmed the l.u.s.tre of his great renown in war, nor prevailed to make the nation forget his services in the hour of England's greatest need. If, as a statesman, he could not command the same unanimous meed of "Well done!" he had established a standard of public life too often obscured in the heat of party strife.

Vittoria, Salamanca, Talavera, Waterloo--the radiance from those far off conflagrations still glowed round that venerable head, but it was the honest purpose, bluntly spoken and fearlessly acted on, that won for Wellington a place in the hearts of his countrymen far more enduring than the reward of any commander, however successful--of any orator, however powerful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. Leech._} {_From "Punch."_

THE PROTECTION GIANT.

"Fee, fi, fo, fum!

I smell the blood of an Englishman!