his wife's eyes. There was, in fact, an epidemic of crime in the land Murder was the remedy that was applied to redress all kinds of grievances or wrongs, and everybody went about the ordinary affairs of life armed to

the teeth.

What was worse, too, was the hostility of the priesthood to the Government, and one manifestation of it was regarded as particularly offensive by her Majesty. That was the Papal Memorandum condemning the Queen's Colleges. Although Lord John Russell had actually drafted a Bill legalising the renewal of diplomatic relations with Rome, the Pope and the Roman Catholic clergy made but a sorry recompense for his goodwill. The Sacred Congregation denounced the Queen's Colleges-"an ungrateful return," writes. Lord Palmerston in a letter to Lord Minto,* which "can only be explained on the supposition that it was extorted by intrigue and false representations made at Rome by McHale, and that the Pope acted ignorantly, and without knowing the mischief he was doing." Lord Clarendon, the Irish Viceroy, thought that good results might follow the visit of a confidential agent from the Vatican to Ireland. But Lord Palmerston, fearing that the Papal emissary would be suborned by Archbishop McHale and the enemies of the Government, objected to such an experiment. In another letter, on the 3rd of December, Lord Palmerston urges Lord Minto to assure the Pope that "in Ireland misconduct is the rule and good conduct the exception in the Catholic priests," and he points to the murder of Major Mahon, which followed a priestly denunciation at the altar, as an illustration of the manner in which the Irish priesthood were instigating crime. He says he cannot consider it prudent to bring in a Bill for Legalising Diplomatic Intercoursewith the Court of Rome at a time when there is in Ireland "a deliberate and extensive conspiracy among the priests and peasantry to kill off and drive away all the proprietors of land." Public feeling in England, always easily roused, would have swept away the Ministry in a tempest of wrath if such a measure had been introduced at such a moment. On the other hand, it is only fair to the Pope and Cardinal Ferretti to say that they seemed to be hopelessly ignorant of Irish affairs, and that they assured Lord Minto they utterly disapproved of the political activity of the Irish priesthood.

Two other religious disputes, maintained by the zealots, excited the country. One was waged over the admission of the Jews to Parliament. The other gave rise to the famous Hampden controversy, which is so constantly alluded to in the literature and memoirs of the day.

At the General Election one of the members returned for the City of London was Baron Rothschild, a Jew by race and religion. As such he could not take his seat, for he could not take the Oath of Allegiance on the true faith of a Christian. Lord John Russell, his colleague, submitted to the House

Life of Lord Palmerston, by the Hon. E. Ashley, Vol. II., p. 46.

1847.]

THE HAMPDEN CONTROVERSY.

299

of Commons a Resolution declaring that it was expedient to remove all civil disabilities affecting the Jews-in other words, the removal of the phrase "on the faith of a Christian" from the Parliamentary Oath. Lord George Bentinck, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Gladstone, supported the Resolution. A Bill founded on it was carried in the Lower House, but rejected in the House of Lords. On the 20th of December Parliament adjourned.

The Government were decidedly unfortunate during 1347 in their distribution of ecclesiastical patronage. They appointed the Rev. J. P. Lee, Head Master of King Edward's School, at Birmingham, to the newly-constituted seeof Manchester, after he had been publicly charged with drunkenness by a local surgeon, and had never met the accusation. It was inexplicable that Lord John Russell, when informed of the fact, should have refused to cancel or delay the appointment. Between his nomination and his consecration Mr. Lee, however, prosecuted his traducer for libel, and completely and triumphantly vindicated his character.

When the see of Hereford fell vacant Lord John Russell, as if in sheer defiance of the feelings of Churchmen, appointed Dr. Hampden as the new Bishop. Dr. Hampden had been censured for heresy by the academic authori ties of Oxford, and deprived, as Regius Professor of Divinity, of authority to grant as a privilege certificates of attendance at his lectures to students for Holy Orders. To designate him as Bishop was taken as a direct insult by the clergy. Hence the Bishop of London, representing the High Churchmen, and the Bishop of Winchester, representing the Low Churchmen, along with thirteen Bishops, protested against the appointment. The Dean of Hereford, Dr. Merewether, threatened to vote against Dr. Hampden's election by the Chapter. This threat drew from Lord John Russell a curt reply to the effect that he acknowledged receipt of the letter in which the Dean intimated he would violate the law. Dr. Merewether's action also drew attention to the empty formality of the congé d'élire, whereby the Crown permits the Dean and Chapter of a Cathedral to elect the nominee recommended by the Crown is Bishop. Should they refuse they incur the pains and penalties of præmunire-deprivation of benefices, confiscation of property, and imprisonment. during the Royal pleasure.

Hampden was a rather dull man, with a ponderous, obscure style,* whose offence lay, first, in advocating the admission of Dissenters into the University, and, secondly, in not only attributing, in his Bampton Lectures, the terminology and phraseology of Christian doctrine to the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages, but in further describing that philosophy as "an atmosphere of mist! He was supposed to be ambiguous on the Atonement, and it had been whispered that Blanco White had "crammed" him for his Bampton.

✦ It was so obscure that Dr. Wilberforce says, playfully, in one of his letters to his brother:-"N.B.-Could we not pass a vote that Hampden should always preach in Hebrew?"-Life of Bishop Wilberforce, Vol. I., p. 93.

Lectures. White was one of the small group of Broad Churchmen at Oriel College, Oxford, whom Newman dreaded, and as he had since become a Socinian, suspicions of Dr. Hampden's heterodoxy were intensified. The Bishop of Oxford, after joining in the hue and cry against Hampden, declined to send him up for trial, on the ground that there was no valid case against him. There is no doubt, however, that when he discovered the Queen had espoused Dr. Hampden's cause, Wilberforce's zeal cooled rapidly. As for Prince Albert, he bombarded Lord John Russell with letters urging him to prosecute Dr. Merewether, who seems to have been far from a disinterested defender of the faith, if it be true, as is asserted, that he memorialised the Queen and Lord Lansdowne to terminate the controversy by appointing him to the see of Hereford in the meantime, and then consoling Dr. Hampden with the promise of the next vacancy! Much importance attached to the opposition which the Bishop of Exeter offered to Hampden. But, according to Mr. Greville, the Bishop of Exeter had, a few years before this strife, called on Hampden at Oxford to express to him the pleasure with which he had read his Bampton Lectures.* Archbishop Longley, who told Lord Aberdeen that he would go to the Tower rather than confirm Hampden's nomination, subsequently begged the Bishop of Oxford to stay proceedings in the interests of the Church.

Lord John Russell, it need hardly be said, obstinately refused to cancel Hampden's nomination. After the Queen had sanctioned his appointment, to annul it would have virtually transferred to the Universities the supreme authority of the Crown over the Episcopate. Preparations were made to resist the confirmation of Dr. Hampden at Bow Church. The only question admitted to argument there was whether the Court was competent to hear objectors summoned by its own apparitor to state their objections before it. On the 11th of January the Vicar-General of Canterbury, Dr. Burnaby, with Sir John Dodson and Dr. Lushington as assessors, decided against the competence of the Court. An application for a mandamus to compel the Archbishop to hear objectors was refused by the Queen's Bench-the judges being equally divided. On the 15th, in the House of Lords, Lord Denman defended the decision, and declared that "it was not to be supposed for a moment that the Crown would nominate to the high position of a Bishop an unfit person; and that the law would certainly be in a strange state if it should require an archbishop, before he proceeded to confirm or consecrate a party nominated by the Crown, to call upon all the world to throw scandal upon the nominee." He further said that "the form in the proclamation was a mere form which was never used; that, if used, the prerogative of the Crown would be most seriously interfered with;" and he warned the House against "the fatal consequences of allowing objections to be made to the nominees of the Crown," for "by checking every attempt at such interference the Church was protected from great danger and mischief."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE COURT AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Lord George Bentinck's Imprudence-French Intrigues in Portugal-England and the Junta-A Vulgar Suspicion-The Duke of Wellington and National Defences The Duke's Threatened Resignation-The Queen Soothes Him-Famine in the Queen's Kitchen - Royal Hospitalities-The Queen's Country DanceA German Impostor-Discovery of Chloroform-The Royal Visit to Cambridge-Prince Albert's Installation as Chancellor of the University-Awkward Dons-Anecdotes of the Queen at Cambridge-Royalty and Heraldry-The Visit to Scotland-Highland Loyalty--A Desolate Retreat-Politics and Sport at Ardverikie-A New Departure in Foreign Policy-Lord Minto's Mission-The Queen's Views-Prince Albert's Caution to Lord John Russell-The Queen's Amusements at Ardverikie-A Regretful AdieuHome Again

During 1847-48, Foreign Affairs chiefly occupied the attention of the Queen and Prince Albert. The annexation of Cracow, long meditated by Metternich, was rendered easy to Austria by the coolness which had sprung up between England and France. It was felt that French and English protests, though presented, must be unavailing, because every one knew neither Power would go to war for the sake of Poland. Mr. Hume brought the incident under the notice of the House of Commons, his proposal being to stop the payments to Russia by Great Britain on account of the Russo-Dutch Loanin other words, to fine Russia for sanctioning Austria's evil-doing. It was the subject of a debate which would have been tame but for Lord George Bentinck's imprudent eulogium on the three despotic Powers-which vastly displeased his Party, and as Lord Palmerston, in a letter to Lord Normanby, said, extinguished him as a candidate for office.* Hume's motion was not pressed to a division.

French influence had been at work in Portugal to estrange the Queen from her English alliance. The dynastic connection between the Houses of Coburg and Braganza rendered Portuguese affairs intensely interesting to Queen Victoria at this time. The King Consort of Portugal-Prince Ferdinand, son of the younger brother of the reigning Duke of Coburg-had, it was rumoured, quarrelled with the Queen, who was tempted to carry out in her dominions. the arbitrary policy of the Bourbons. The people rebelled; and in view of a possible Franco-Spanish intervention, England, not uninfluenced by the views of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, stepped in between the Portuguese Sovereign and her people. English intervention was at the outset purely diplomatic. It was limited to the arrangement of a compromise between the contending parties. Ultimately our diplomacy was successful; but the proposals of the English Envoy were finally rejected by the Portuguese Junta, and a Protocol was

Bulwer's Life of Lord Palmerston, Vol. III., p €88.

.

drawn up with Portugal, Spain, and France, for the purpose of bringing the Junta to submission. The General Election was now impending in England, and it was feared that on a motion in the House of Commons, censuring the Government for interfering to coerce the Junta, a combination of Protectionists and Radicals with Lord Palmerston's enemies would defeat the Government. Sir Robert Peel held some anxious conferences with Prince Albert on the subject; and the Queen was afraid lest a vulgar suspicion might get abroad that the policy of her Government had been dominated, not by British but by Coburg interests. Luckily, no serious coercion was needed, and the Junta finally submitted on the 30th of June.

It was on the 11th of June that Mr. Joseph Hume brought forward his motion attacking the Portuguese policy of the Government. The debate was fierce and bitter. Peel, who spoke eloquently on the side of the Ministry, privately warned Prince Albert that Mr. Hume might carry his motion. Lord John Russell wrote to the Queen, saying she must be prepared to receive his resignation by the end of the week; and in the House of Lords also the attack was led by Lord Stanley, with characteristic impetuosity. Naturally, then, everybody was amazed when, after three days' furious wrangling, the debate ended in a count-out in the House of Commons, and the defeat of Lord Stanley in the House of Lords by a majority of twenty. This ridiculous result was due to some misunderstanding between Mr. Hume and Lord George Bentinck, who permitted the "count-out," and it led to endless recriminations. On the 5th of July, Mr. Bernal Osborne brought Portuguese affairs before Parliament once more; and then Lord Palmerston, who had not spoken in the three days' debate, explained his policy. His object, he said, was neither to serve the Portuguese Crown nor oppress the Portuguese nation. He found Portugal a prey to wasting anarchy. But as it was most important that Portugal should be a strong ally of England in maintaining the balance of power, he had felt justified in interfering between the Queen and her people, in order to gain for the latter the constitutional securities which by the advice of bad Councillors her Majesty had suspended. In bringing the war to a peaceful termination, in transferring the struggle from the field of battle to the arena of Parliamentary debate, the Government seems to have fairly earned, if it did not freely receive, the thanks both of England and Portugal.

The dispute between France and England over the Spanish marriages, the personal quarrel between Lord Normanby, the English Ambassador at Paris, and M. Guizot, and the deep distrust of Lord Palmerston, which poisoned the mind of Louis Philippe, bore bad fruits. Lord Normanby allied himself more closely than ever with M. Thiers and the leaders of the Opposition in the French Chambers, who harried the Government with their attacks. M. Guizot began to lean for support on the Northern Powers, and he cultivated the fatal friendship of Metternich. His policy was thus one under which revolution naturally ripened. The unsatisfactory state of our