Sixty Years a Queen Part 25

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 a.s.sociated 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 const.i.tutional 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_From the Royal Collection._

H.R.H. VICTORIA MARIA LOUISA, d.u.c.h.eSS OF KENT.

H.R.H. the d.u.c.h.ess 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.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _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 pa.s.sed by the Washington House of Representatives, and he had been feted 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Sat.u.r.day, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _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 pa.s.sed 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 princ.i.p.al. 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 Amba.s.sador 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 a.s.sembled 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 grat.i.tude for a life devoted to the public good." The cost of the Memorial exceeded 130,000.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _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 d.u.c.h.ess of Wellington and the d.u.c.h.ess 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _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.