A.D. 1862.] 66 CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. sideration for future possessors. Her Majesty, on the contrary, deemed this appanage of the Prince of Wales was equitably his property, and that she was merely trustee for his benefit. On the birth of the Prince of Wales, a council was appointed for the management of the duchy property, of which the Prince Consort was president. The whole aspect of affairs was rapidly changed. As the leases fell in, the farms were re-let on terms of years at full rents, responsible and improving tenants were preferred, the lands were drained, enclosed, and planted, excellent farm-houses and homesteads were built, roads laid out, quarries opened, and the whole property showed the unmistakable signs of able administration. Moreover, the scattered lands were sold, new lands conveniently placed purchased, and plots of ground that had become valuable for building sites were sold for large prices. Sites were granted for schools and chapels, churches were repaired, and the spiritual and educational welfare of the tenantry cared for in a liberal spirit." The lengthened period of the Prince of Wales' minority allowed space for this expenditure to prove reproductive. Before the appointment of the council the net revenue of the duchy had sunk to £11,000: when the commissioners, on the Prince of Wales attaining his majority, presented their final report, the annual gross income approached £50,000. In addition to this, there were accumulations, amounting to £54,000, ready for transference to the Prince's privy purse. The commissioners remark, "It is unnecessary to allude to the deep interest which His Royal Highness took in all that related to an improved administration of the duchy possessions; but we should not do justice to our own feelings if we did not humbly ask leave to record on this occasion our sense of the irreparable loss which we sustained by his death. To his just mind and clear judgment, his quick perception of what is right, his singular discretion, his remarkable aptitude for the conduct of affairs, we never looked in vain for guidance and advice on any occasion of difficulty. The soundness of his opinions in all our deliberations was rendered more apparent by the toleration with which he listened, and was always ready to defer to those of others. He never lost sight of the improvement of the condition of the tenant and labourer, whilst anxiously seeking to restore the property of the duchy to a state of prosperity; and to him, we may truly say, it is mainly due that the Prince of Wales will now enter into the possession of an estate greatly increased in value, free from nearly all disputes with neighbouring proprietors and others which at one time prevailed.” The character of the Prince Consort was remarkable for its symmetry, the equal development of all the faculties, and for complete harmony between the intellectual powers and the moral feelings. The portraits of the Prince give a fair idea of his features; but there is something in the expression, when the face is lit up by thought, which no portrait can adequately convey. “The Prince had a noble presence, his carriage was erect, his figure betokened strength and activity, and his demeanour was dignified. He had a staid, earnest, and thoughtful look when he was in a grave mood; but 591 when he smiled, his whole countenance was irradiated with pleasure; and there was a pleasant sound and heartiness about his laugh which will not soon be forgotten by those who were wont to hear it." He is said to have been very handsome as a young man. His face grew finer as he advanced in years; and it was remarked that his countenance never assumed a nobler aspect, nor had more real beauty in it, than in the last year or two of his life. It bore none of those fatal lines which indicate craft or insincerity, greed or sensuality; but all was clear, open, pure-minded, and honest. Marks of thought, of care, of studiousness were there; but they were accompanied by signs of a soul at peace with itself, and which was troubled chiefly by its love for others and its solicitude for their welfare. His mind was, in the best sense, original; for, while free from everything like eccentricity, he thought for himself, and formed his own conclusions on all subjects. He was quick in perception, while the resources of his wellstored mind were readily producible on all occasions. Sincere and truth-loving, he delighted in earnest discussion, equally willing either to learn or instruct. He enjoyed wit and humour, and had a keen sense of the ludicrous. In relating amusing anecdotes, he threw just so much of imitation into his manner as to bring the scene vividly before the mind, without descending to anything ungraceful. Guided by a strong sense of duty, ho was always sure to go through anything he had undertaken to do, without regard to selfinterest or personal inconvenience-willingly taking the measure of responsibility put upon him, but never assuming more. Unlike many who are actuated by a rigid sense of duty, he was singularly free from prejudice, full of candour, and always ready to admit new facts, however they might militate against old convictions. His habit was to investigate carefully, weigh patiently, discuss calmly, and then not swiftly, but after much turning in his mind, to come to a decision. He had one characteristic of a rich and noble mind which is rare indeed. He had the greatest delight in anybody else saying a fine thing or doing a great deed, and would rejoice over it and talk of it for days. "He delighted in humanity doing well on any occasion or in any manner... But, indeed, throughout his career, the Prince was one of those who threw his life into other people's lives, and lived in them;" and, as we are assured on the best authority, "there never was an instance of more unselfish and chivalrous devotion than his love to his ConsortSovereign and to his adopted country. That her reign might be great and glorious, that his adopted country might excel in art, in science, in literature, and—what was dearer still to him-in social well-being, formed ever his chief hope and aim." Notwithstanding a certain constitutional shyness sometimes associated with refined natures, which shrink from the expression of all they feel, he was blessed with a buoyant, joyous, happy temperament, which made his home and his household glad. Though not subject to sudden elations or depressions, beneath the joyous current of his feelings, "deep down in the character, there was a vein, not exactly of melancholy, but certainly of pensiveness, which grew a to the Collection of the Prince Consort's Speeches, conlittle more sombre as the years went on. It was a pen- sidering the source from which they emanated, are pecusiveness bred from much pondering upon the difficulty liarly interesting:- The Prince's marriage was singu of human affairs, and upon the serious thing that life is." | larly felicitous; the tastes, the aims, the hopes, the aspiraOne of the finest traits in the Prince's character was tions of the royal pair were the same; their mutual respect his sympathy with earnest workers. He wished for and confidence went on increasing. Their affection grew, success for all honest human endeavours, whether by if possible, warmer and more intense as the years of their the artisan or the statesman. His love of knowledge married life advanced. Companions in their domestic was intense. Being always singularly impressed with employments, in their daily labours for the State, and, intellectual beauty, he remarked on one occasion to the indeed, in almost every occupation, the burdens and Queen, "To me a long, closely-connected train of the difficulties of life were thus lessened by more than reasoning is like a beautiful strain of music; you can half for each one of the persons thus happily united in hardly imagine my delight in it." But he loved know- this true marriage of the soul. When the fatal blow was ledge, not merely for its own sake, but for what it could struck, and the Prince was removed from this world, it do for mankind. On the other hand, to him the most is difficult to conceive a position of greater sorrow, and hateful of all deformity was that of falsehood, especially one, indeed, more utterly forlorn, than that which became when it assumed the form of flattery and of vice, whose the lot of the survivor-deprived of him whom she herpresence depressed, grieved, and horrified him. He had, self has described as being the 'life of her life.' besides, an unutterable repugnance to what was mean "To follow out his wishes, to realise his hopes, to conand low in human nature. Accordingly, the conditions duct his enterprises to a happy issue, to make his loss as he drew up for the prize that is given by Her Majesty little felt as possible by a sorrowing country and fatherat Wellington College are very characteristic. This less children-these are the objects which since his death prize is not to be awarded to the most bookish boy, to it has been the chief aim and intent of Her Majesty to the least faulty boy, to the boy who should be most pre- accomplish. That strength may be given her to fulfil cise, diligent, and prudent; but to the noblest boy, to the these high purposes is the constant prayer of her subboy who should afford most promise of becoming a large-jects, who have not ceased, from the first moment of her hearted, high-motived man." bereavement, to feel the tenderest sympathy for her; and who, giving a reality to that which in the case of most sovereigns is but a phrase, have thus shown that the Queen is, indeed, in their hearts, the mother of her people." If those about the Prince could see any fault in his character, it was an exaggeration of virtue, an excessive anxiety that everything he did should be perfect, and that "he cared too much about too many things." Everything he did must be done supremely well, if it was to please and satisfy him. In the choice of a jewel, in the placing of a statue, in the laying out of a walk, in the direction of a party of pleasure, his reasoning mind must be satisfied; and he longed that everything that was to be should be the best of its kind. This anxious desire for perfection, and perpetual effort to reach its summit, put too great a strain upon his energies, which, no doubt, caused his health prematurely to give way, and predisposed him to the disease which terminated his career at the early age of forty-two. It has been well remarked by the author of the Introduction to his Speeches, "that if the Prince had lived to attain what we now think a good old age, he would have become the most accomplished statesman and the most guiding personage in Europe; a man to whose arbitrament fierce national quarrels might have been submitted, and by whose influence calamitous wars might have been averted." He was evidently one of those of whom it has been said, that their hearts never grow old. He had a peculiarly gentle, tender, and pathetic cast of mind; his nature being of a character more German than English. Though eminently practical, and therefore suited to the people he came to dwell amongst, he had in a high degree that gentleness, that softness, and that romantic nature which belong to his race and his nation, and which make them very pleasant to live with, and very tender in all their social and family relations." The following remarks, taken from the Introduction The speeches of the late Prince Albert are interesting remains in more senses than one. They are marked throughout with the peculiarities necessarily resulting from his anomalous position. It appears now, from the grateful acknowledgments of the Queen, which she has missed no opportunity of making in the most emphatic manner, that, in the discharge of her duties as sovereign, she was constantly guided and supported by the judgment and advice of His Royal Highness, in whom she placed unbounded trust. It follows that he enjoyed the reality of kingly power; yet he was obliged to speak and act as if he had no power at all. A position so anomalous imposed upon him continual restraint. As has been well remarked in the Introduction to his Speeches, in his case the principal elements that go to compose a great oration had often to be modified largely. 'Wit was not to be jubilant, passion not predominant, dialectic skill not triumphant. There remained nothing as the staple of the speeches but supreme common sense. Looked at in this way, it is wonderful that the Prince contrived to introduce into his speeches so much that was new and interesting. It was like the movement of a man in chain armour, which, even with the strongest and most agile person, must ever have been a movement somewhat fottered by restraint." The same authority states that the leading idea of the speeches is "the beauty of usefulness." This is true, and the key-note of them all was heard in the first sentence of the speech delivered at the Lord Mayor's banquet in March, 1850, when the Prince A.D. 1862.] CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. said: "I conceive it to be the duty of every educated person closely to watch and study the time in which he lives, and as far as in him lies to add his humble mite of individual exertion to further the accomplishment of what he believes Providence to have ordained." It is impossible to read those speeches without being struck with the contrast between the Prince Consort and every man who had occupied the throne of England from the time of William III. Compared with him, the Georges were a narrow-minded, bigoted, ignorant, selfish race. The times in which they reigned were not enlightened times, but the darkest spot in England was that which surrounded the throne; whereas during the reign of Victoria it might be truly said to be the brightest; and this was due pre-eminently to the Prince Consort. No man better understood his epoch, no man gave happier expression to the spirit of his age, or sympathised more thoroughly with the best influences of civilisation by which he was surrounded, and which he so powerfully directed. No philosopher or statesman was in advance of him in any movement that was really beneficial to mankind. If he presided at a meeting for the abolition of slavery, he denounced "the atrocious traffic in human beings as the blackest stain upon civilised Europe;" and he trusted that this "great country would not relax in its efforts until it had finally and for ever put an end to a state of things so repugnant to the spirit of Christianity and of the best feelings of our nature." At the meeting of the Literary Fund he showed how he could respect the feelings of the man of letters, though struggling with poverty. "The institution," he said, ought to command our warmest sympathies, as providing for the exigencies of those who, following the call of genius, and forgetting every other consideration, pursue merely the cultivation of the human mind and science. What can be more proper for us," he asked, "than gratefully to remember the benefits derived from their disinterested exertions, and cheerfully to contribute to their wants?" The interest which he took in the improvement of the labouring classes was one of the most admirable features in his character. He advocated the establishment of loan funds, model lodging-houses, and allotments of ground, in which he himself set an example of what might be done by men of property for the working classes. In the counsels which he gave on such subjects to men of rank and wealth, he always laid down some great Christian principle for their guidance. "Depend on it," he said, at the meeting of the Society for the Improvement of the Labouring Classes, "the interests of classes, too often contrasted, are identical; and it is only ignorance which prevents them uniting for each other's advantage. To dispel that ignorance, to show how man can help man, notwithstanding the complicated state of civilised society, ought to be the aim of every philanthropic person; but it is more peculiarly the duty of those who, under the blessing of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education. Let them be careful, however, to avoid any dictatorial interference with labour and employment, which frightens away capital, destroys that freedom of thought and independence of action which must remain 593 to every one, if he is to work out his own happiness, and impairs that confidence under which alone engagements for mutual benefit are possible. God has created man imperfect, and left him with many wants, as it were to stimulate each to individual exertion, and to make all feel that it is only by united exertion and combined action that these imperfections can be supplied and these wants satisfied. This pre-supposes self-reliance and confidence in each other." This was not language assumed, like the putting on of a court dress, for state occasions. It was the sincere expression of honest convictions. The Prince was a truly conscientious and earnest man, who gave his whole mind to the solution of social problems, and his whole heart to the performance of his duties. What can be more beautiful, as an illustration of this habit of mind, than the speech which he made at the Servants' Provident and Benevolent Society? "Whose heart," he asked, "would fail to sympathise with those who minister to us in all the wants of daily life, attend us in sickness, receive us on our first appearance in this world, and even extend their cares to our mortal remains,-who live under our roof, form our household, and are a part of our family? And yet, upon inquiry, we find that in this metropolis the greater part of the inmates of the workhouses are domestic servants. I am sure that this startling fact is no proof, either of a want of kindness and liberality in masters towards their servants, or of vice in the latter, but is the natural consequence of that peculiar position in which the domestic servant is placed, passing periods during his life in which he shares in the luxuries of an opulent master, and others in which he has not even the means of earning sufficient to sustain him through the day. It is on that account that I rejoice at this meeting, and have gladly consented to take the chair at it, to further the objects of the Servants' Provident and Benevolent Society. I conceive that this society is founded upon a right principle, as it follows out the dictates of a correct appreciation of human nature, which requires every man by personal exertion, according to his own choice, to work out his own happiness,-which prevents his valuing-nay, even his feeling satisfaction at-the prosperity which others have made for him. It is founded upon a right principle, because it endeavours to trace a plan according to which, by providence, by present self-denial and perseverance, not only will the servant be raised in his physical and moral condition, but the master also will be taught how to direct his efforts in aiding the servant in his labour to secure to himself resources in cases of sickness, old age, and want of employment."† The Prince evinced the same kind, genial, sympathetic spirit with reference to the highest order of intellectual workers. He said, at the dinner of the Royal Academy, that "the production of all works in art or poetry requires in their conception and execution, not only an exercise of the intellect, skill, and patience, but particularly a concurrent warmth of feeling and a free flow of imagination. This renders them most tender plants, which will thrive only in an atmosphere calculated to maintain that warmth; and that atmosphere is one of kindness-kindness towards the artist personally as well as towards his production. An unkind word of criticism passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and shrivels them up, checking the flow of the sap when it was rising to produce, perhaps, multitudes of flowers and fruit. But still criticism is absolutely necessary to the development of art, and the injudicious praise of an inferior work becomes an insult to superior genius.' Surely, never royal personage was more at home at a literary or scientific meeting. Speaking at the Midland Institute, he gave an admirable exposition of the laws of social advancement, showing that no human pursuits make any material progress until science is brought to bear upon them. "We have seen, accordingly," he said, "many of them slumbering for centuries and centuries; but from the moment that Science has touched them with her magic wand, they have sprung forward, and taken strides which amaze and almost awe the beholder. Look at the transformation which has gone on around us since the laws of gravitation, electricity, magnetism, and the expansive power of heat, have become known to us. It has altered our whole state of existence-one might say, the whole face of the globe. We owe this to Science, and to Science alone; and she has other treasures in store for us, if we will but call her to our assistance."† body; thought is communicated with the rapidity, and oven by the power, of lightning. On the other hand, the great principle of the division of labour, which may be called the moving power of civilisation, is being extended to all branches of science, industry, and art. . . So man is approaching a more complete fulfilment of that great and sacred mission which he has to perform in this world. His reason being created after the image of God, he has to use it to discover the laws by which the Almighty governs his creation; and by making these laws his standard of action, to conquer Nature to his use, himself a Divine instrument." Nor was the Prince less enlightened or less earnest as a Christian man than as a philosopher and a political economist. Referring, on one occasion, to dissensions in the Church, he said: "I have no fear, however, for her safety and ultimate welfare, so long as she holds fast to what our ancestors gained for us at the Reformation the Gospel, and the unfettered right of its use." Again, at the anniversary of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, in 1854, he remarked: "When our ancestors purified the Christian faith, and shook off the yoke of a domineering priesthood, they felt that the key-stone of that wonderful fabric which had grown up in the dark times of the Middle Ages was the celibacy of the clergy, and shrewdly foresaw that their reformed faith and newly-won religious liberty would, on the contrary, only be secure in the hands of a clergy united with the people by every sympathy-national, personal, and domestic. This nation has enjoyed for 300 years the blessing of a church establishment which rests upon this basis, and cannot be too grateful for the advantages afforded by the fact that Christian ministers not only preach the doctrines of Christianity, but live among their congregations, an example for the discharge of every Christian duty, as husbands, fathers, and masters of families, themselves capable of fathoming the whole depth of human feelings, desires, and difficulties."† Alluding on the same occasion to the progress of civilisation, the Prince remarked: “And this civilisation rests on Christianity,-could only be raised on Christianity, —can only be maintained by Christianity!" With the same comprehensive and enlightened views he enlarged on this theme at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was chosen president in 1859. If he had devoted his whole life to the study and teaching of science, and had occupied a professor's chair, he could not have spoken more to the point, or more in the spirit of philosophy. But it was in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which his name will be for ever associated in history, that he became more especially the exponent of social progress. On the 21st of March, 1850, the Lord Mayor of London, Thomas Farncomb, gave a banquet to Her Majesty's Ministers, the Foreign Ambassadors, the Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, and the mayors of 180 towns. In responding to the toast of his health In a History of England for the People, we cannot on that occasion, the Prince said, " Nobody who has better close this sketch of the Prince's character than paid any attention to the peculiar features of our present by quoting the concluding sentences of his speech on era, will doubt for a moment that we are living at a national education. After eloquently enforcing the duty period of most wonderful transition, which tends rapidly of every man to develop his faculties, and place himself to accomplish that great end to which, indeed, all history in harmony with the Divine prototype, so as to attain points--the realisation of the unity of mankind: not a that happiness which is offered to him on earth, to be unity which breaks down the limits and levels the pecu- completed hereafter in entire union with him, through liar characteristics of the different nations of the carth, the mercy of Christ, he said: "But he can also leave but rather a unity the result and product of those very these faculties unimproved, and miss his mission on national varieties and antagonistic qualities. The dis-earth. He will then sink to the level of the lower tances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are rapidly vanishing before the achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with incredible ease; the languages of all nations are known, and their requirements placed within the reach of every animals, forfeit happiness, and separate from his God, whom he did not know how to find. I say man has no right to do this; he has no right to throw off the task which is laid upon him for his happiness; it is his duty to fulfil his mission to the utmost of his power; but it is A.D. 1862.] ADVANCE OF THE COUNTRY DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. our duty, the duty of those whom Providence has removed from this awful struggle, and placed beyond this fearful danger, manfully, unceasingly, and untiringly, to aid, by advice, assistance, and example, the great battle of the people, who, without such aid, must almost inevitably succumb to the difficulty of their task. They will not cast from them the aiding hand, and the Almighty will bless the labours of those who work in his cause." 595 increase of the population. According to the census of 1841, the population of England and Wales was 15,914,148, showing an increase on the previous ten years of more than 2,000,000, or at the rate of 14 per cent. In 1851 it was 17,927,609, showing an increase of 13 per cent. In 1861 the number was 20,066,224, a decennial increase of 12 per cent. There was an excess of females over males in each of the three decennial CHAPTER LXIII. LORD HERBERT OF LEA. Review of the State of the Country during Queen Victoria's Reign-Increase in the Population-Ages of the Population-Occupations-Manufacturing Population-Progress of Education-Population of Scotland; Progress in that Country-Internal Communication-Ireland: Decrease in her Population; Causes of the same-Religious Divisions of Ireland-Commerce of the United Kingdom--Mercantile Marine-The Cotton Trade-Mineral Wealth-Defences-The Army-The Navy- IN reviewing the progress of society in the United Kingdom during the present reign, we shall follow the plan we adopted in reviewing the reigns of George IV. and William IV. The first thing to be noticed, then, is the Speeches, p. 192. periods, amounting in 1841 to 358,976, in 1851 to 365,159, and in 1861 to 513,706. The population in 1851 was divided into 3,712,290 families, giving 4.82 to each family. In 1861 the number of families was 4,491,524, giving 4.47 to each family. In 1851 the number of inhabited houses in England and Wales was 3,278,039, or 5.46 persons to each house. In 1861 the inhabited houses were 3,739,505, or 5.35 persons for each house. Of the population of England and Wales in 1861, 17,985,617 were natives of England; 1,134,435 were natives of Wales; 169,202 were natives of Scotland; 601,634 were natives of Ireland. The remainder were natives of islands in the British seas, the British colonies, and the East Indies; 84,000 were foreigners, and 3,500 were born at sea. |