October that he left Calcutta. On the 9th of November he got to Cawnpore; and then by a brilliant forced march on the 12th he reached the Alumbaugh-a summer palace of the kings of Oudh-from which he was able to signal his arrival to Outram. A gallant civilian-Mr. Kavanagh-contrived, in disguise, to make his way from Lucknow through the enemy's lines to the relieving force, and told the story of Outram's defence, an achievement, as Lord Canning said, without a parallel in history, save Numantia and Saragossa. On the 14th Sir Colin Campbell moved on the city. On the 16th he attacked the chief stronghold of the rebels-the Secunder-baugh. The 93rd Highlanders and a regiment of Sikhs forced their way in through a narrow breach, and then, finding that the Sepoy garrison could not escape, they massacred them. The Highlanders here fought with uncontrollable ferocity, neither asking nor giving quarter. "Cawnpore, you--!" was the cry of rage with which each man drove his bayonet home into the heart of his foe; and, excited by their example, the Sikhs strove only too successfully to emulate the barbarity of their Scottish comrades. For three terrible hours did the men of the 93rd satiate their passion for vengeance; and when they emerged from the place with tartans soaked in blood, they left it packed high 1857.] THE QUEEN'S LETTER TO SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. 737 and close with corpses-hardly a single rebel escaping to tell the tale. On the 17th of November Campbell had fought his way to the Residency, and Lucknow was rescued a second time. The Queen The victory was hailed in England with pride and delight. sent a letter to Sir Colin Campbell, congratulating him. "The Queen," she writes, "has had many proofs already of Sir Colin Campbell's devotion to his Sovereign and his country, and he has now greatly added to that debt of gratitude which both owe him. But Sir Colin must bear one reproof from his Queen, and that is, that he exposes himself too much. His life is most precious, and she entreats that he will neither put himself where his noble spirit would urge him to be--foremost in danger-nor fatigue himself so as to injure his health." Her Majesty's caution was hardly needed. Sir Colin Campbell was a general who never exposed himself or his troops to unnecessary danger. But when necessary, he would spend his own and their blood as recklessly as if it were water. It has been noticed that his brilliant victories in India were all won with little loss of life. The explanation is that his plans were just the opposite of those pursued in the Crimea that is to say, he never wasted his men in futile assaults, or hurled them against fortifications bristling with cannon, till his own artillery-an arm in which he was always stronghad demoralised the enemy. Having removed the women, children, sick, and wounded, Campbell retraced his steps to attack the rebel army concentrated at Cawnpore-his heart saddened, and the lustre of his triumph dimmed by the death of the heroic Havelock. At Cawnpore, General Windham, who commanded the rear guard, had foolishly allowed himself to be outflanked by Tantia Topee, a commander of great skill and courage. Windham's blunder not only gave the enemy possession of Cawnpore, but put the whole English force, whose communications were thus threatened, in the greatest peril. Campbell, by forced marches, came to the rescue on the 29th of November. Having sent on his convoy to Calcutta, he attacked the rebels, under Nana Sahib and Tantia Topee, on the 5th of December; and, on the 7th, there was not a vestige of the 25,000 insurgents composing the Gwalior army to be seen for miles round Cawnpore. year 1857 closed, it was felt that the worst of the crisis in India was over. *Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. LXXXII. As the At Lucknow, after four days' hard fighting, he had only 122 killed and 414 wounded. Campbell's retreat from Lucknow to Cawnpore was managed with consummate address. But it was censured. The defence of it is this:-(1), He had to relieve himself from the encumbrance of the women. children, sick, and wounded; (2), He had to save his communications, which Windham's defeat at the Pandoo River had put at Tantia Topee's mercy; (3), He could easily come back and take Lucknow; and (4), He was anxious to make an immediate impression on Rohilkund. 738 CHAPTER XXXVII. THE ROYAL MARRIAGE. Birth of Princess Beatrice-Death of the Duchess of Gloucester-A Royal Romance-Franco-Russian IntriguesThe Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester-Announcement of the Marriage of the Princess RoyalPrince Albert's Views on Royal Grants-The Controversy on the Grant to the Princess Royal-Visit of the Grand Duke Constantine-The Christening of Princess Beatrice-Prince Albert's Title as Prince Consort Legalised-The First Distribution of the Victoria Cross-Opposition to the Order-The Queen's Visit to Manchester-Departure of the Prince of Wales to Germany-The Queen and the Indian MutinyHer Controversy with Lord Palmerston-Sudden Death of the Duchess of Nemours-The Marriage of the Princess Royal-The Scene in the Chapel-On the Balcony of Buckingham Palace-The Illuminations in London-The Bride and Bridegroom at Windsor-The Last Adieus-The Departure of the Bride and Bridegroom to Germany. It was when the country was passing through the crisis of Palmerston's "penal dissolution" that a Princess was added to the Royal circle-soon to be diminished by the migration of her eldest sister to a home of her own in a foreign land. The little Princess was born on the 14th of April, and in a letter to King Leopold the Queen says: "She is to be called Beatrice, a fine old name borne by three of the Plantagenet Princesses, and her other names will be Mary (after poor Aunt Mary), Victoria (after Mama and Vicky, who, with Fritz Wilhelm, are to be the sponsors) and Feodore."* On the 19th Prince Albert tells his stepmother that the Queen was already able to leave her room, and her recovery, therefore, could not have been retarded by the political excitement and agitation of the times. As the month ended, however, sorrow fell on the Royal household. On the 30th of April the Duchess of Gloucester died-the "Aunt Gloucester" to whom the Queen and her husband in their letters make so many affectionate references. This Princess was the last child of George III., and of all his family the best beloved. The story of her life was in itself a romance, the pathos of which accounts for the Queen's frequent allusions to her nobility and unselfishness of character. During her girlhood at Windsor the Princess Mary, as she was called, won the hearts of the people by her quiet, unobtrusive philanthropic work among the poor. She and her cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, fell in love with each other, but when he attained the age of twenty-one their romance was cruelly and abruptly ended. The Princess Charlotte was born, and it was decreed that the Duke of Gloucester must remain single, so that he might marry her if no eligible foreign prince claimed her hand. The Princess Mary and the Duke of Gloucester waited in suspense for twenty weary years-for she refused to encourage any other suitor. In 1814 a rift appeared in this cloud that overhung their lives. The Prince of Orange, it was said, was about * Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. LXXV. Feodore was the name of the Queen's half-sister. 1857.] A ROYAL ROMANCE. 739 to wed the Princess Charlotte, and the ladies of the Court, noticed how the pining Princess Mary suddenly began to look bright and happy. But the projected alliance with the Prince of Orange was abandoned, and the Princess Mary began to droop again. A few months, however, put an end to the long probation of the Royal lovers. Leopold of Coburg married the Princess Charlotte, and Court gossips chronicle the fact that when she came down the steps of Carlton House after the ceremony, the Princess Mary rushed forward and fell weeping into her arms. She was married to the Duke of Gloucester in 1816, and it may be noticed that they refused to ask Parliament for any increase of income. During their lives they had devoted themselves to benevolent work, and had not only learned the value of money, but how to make their means serve their wants. Their married life was so arranged that they not only lived on their private incomes, but won a great and well-merited reputation for their wide and generous charity. The sweet and gentle nature of the Duchess, to which the strange story of her life imparted an additional charm, had ever a strong fascination for the Queen. The triumph of Palmerston at the General Election had an immediate effect upon those Franco-Russian intrigues for the settlement of the Danubian Principalities which had given the Queen some uneasiness. The approaching visit of the Grand Duke Constantine to Paris had been commented on severely by the English press, and the Emperor of the French, in writing to the Queen to congratulate her on the birth of the Princess Beatrice, attempted to explain away the significance of the visit. Lord Clarendon suggested that Prince Albert should reply to this letter, telling the Emperor quite frankly why England was jealous of the advances of Russia to France. An alliance between France and England, said the Prince in his letter, could have no basis save the mutual desire to develop as much as possible Art, Science, Letters, Commerce-in a word, everything that is meant by Civilisation. But as for an alliance with Russia, on what basis could that be raised? What interest had Russia in Progress? What was there in common between modern France and modern Russia? A Franco-Russian alliance, therefore, could have no foundation but that of political interest-and hence the prospect of it alarmed the free States of Europe. Prince Albert's reception at Manchester, where he opened the great Art Treasures Exhibition on the 5th of May, delighted the Queen. But of all the incidents of his tour, perhaps none pleased her more than the manner in which his speech at the unveiling of her statue in the Peel Park of that city was criticised by the public. In his address he alluded to the devotion of the people to their Queen, and spoke of it as the outcome of their attachment to the Sovereign "as the representative of the institutions of the country." The phrase struck the popular fancy, and to the Queen it seemed the formula of her position and her life. Two days later the Court removed to Osborne, where the Queen gradually recovered from the depression of spirits under which she had sunk after the death of the Duchess of Gloucester. On the 16th of May the Prussian Official Gazette announced the forthcoming marriage of the Princess Royal and Prince Frederick William, and on the 19th the same announcement was made to Parliament by a Royal Message. In this Message the Queen expressed her confidence that the nation would make a suitable provision for her eldest daughter, and it is worth recording that at the outset the Cabinet were a little uncertain as to the reception which such a Message would meet with. Perhaps that was why Lord Palmerston, in moving the Address in reply to it, took pains to tell Parliament that, quite apart from the personal interest which Englishmen felt in this affair, it held out political prospects "not undeserving the attention of the House." Family alliances tended, he argued, to mitigate the asperities which from time to time spring from diversities of national interests. "Therefore," he added, "I trust that this marriage may also be considered as holding out an increased prospect of goodwill and of cordiality among the Great Powers of Europe." He But in those days the Representatives of the people were more jealous guardians of the public purse than they are now, and on both sides of the House there was a strong feeling against increasing public expenditure. The competition then was in economy-not as now in profuse extravagance. There were three views current on the subject. One was that of Prince Albert, who thought that the time had come when Parliament should settle finally what provision ought to be made for members of the Royal Family on their marriage, so as to avoid the necessity of frequent eleemosynary appeals to Parliament. held, and as it now seems rightly, that the feeling of the country at the time ran in favour of treating the Queen's children generously. In one of his letters to Baron Stockmar he says, "Seeing how marked was the desire to keep questions relating to the Royal Family aloof from the pressure of party conflict, and to have them settled, I believe it would have been an easy matter to have carried through the future endowments of them all, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's and Palmerston's original plan, which was subsequently dropped by the Cabinet."* Then there was the Ministerial view, which was that the Princess should be voted a dowry and an annuity; and the Radical view, which was that the nation should not be burdened with an annuity, but that whatever was voted to the lady should be a lump sum, so that when the vote was passed the Princess would cease to be a yearly charge on the country she was leaving. Mr. Roebuck gave expression to this last view, even before the Chancellor of the Exchequer laid his proposal before the Housewhich was that the annuity should be £8,000, and the marriage portion £40,000. The majority of the House, however, desired to come to a unanimous vote on the subject, and they laughed at Sir George Lewis's grave citations from Blackstone and his precedents from the reign of George II. Still more * Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, Chap. LXXVI. |