imprisonment by the Queen who declared if he went to the Tower she would go with him.

Her Majesty keenly felt the affronts offered to her Consort. In writing to the Prime Minister, January 4, 1854, she said that in attacking the Prince "who is one and the same with the Queen herself, the throne is assailed; and she must say she little expected that any portion of her subjects would thus requite the unceasing labours of the Prince." Many letters appeared in the Press exposing the lies plainly told of him, but it was considered by the Ministry that neither he nor they should take notice of the attacks until the opening of Parliament when the slanders would be officially refuted in both Houses. January 31, 1854, was the day fixed for that ceremony. Serious apprehensions were felt lest Her Majesty and the Prince should be insulted on their way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. These proved groundless, but the enthusiasm which usually greeted the Sovereign on such occasions was on this reserved for the Turkish Ambassador. Lord Aberdeen and Lord Derby in the Upper House, and Lord John Russell and Mr. Walpole-a former Home Secretary-in the Lower, denied the accusations made against the Prince and fully vindicated him; when the whole mist of misrepresentation and venom was cleared for ever. The Queen was grateful to his defenders and delighted with the result of their efforts. "The position of

my beloved lord and master has been defined for once and all and his merits have been acknowledged on all sides most duly" she wrote to Stockmar. "We are both well, and I am sure will now recover our necessary strength and equanimity to meet the great difficulties and trials which are before us.'

These referred to the increasing possibilities of war, to avert which efforts were still being used. Meantime the French Emperor made another effort towards gaining a family alliance with England. For this purpose he proposed a marriage between the Princess Mary of Cambridge, afterwards Duchess of Teck, and his cousin Prince Jerome Napoleon. This individual who facially more strongly resembled his uncle the great Napoleon than any other member of his family, had also inherited a greater share of his talents. But his morals were notoriously evil, his manners brutal, his temper was unbearably despotic, and his person repulsive. The Emperor having vainly striven to gain the assistance of Leopold of Belgium towards bringing about the marriage, next sought that of Palmerston. The latter strongly urged its advisability on the Queen who was not in favour of it; but so persistent was Palmerston and the French Ambassador, Count Walewski, that Her Majesty thought herself obliged to consult the Princess Mary on the subject. She refused to listen to the proposal, and no more was heard of it. Greville

says that the project being made by Palmerston did not make it more palatable to the Queen; nor did he "recommend himself the more by suggesting that such a match was very preferable to any little German prince."

All efforts to secure peace having failed owing to the Czar's "confidence in God and in my right," a treaty of alliance was entered into between England, France, and Turkey, March 12, 1854, and on the 27th war on Russia was declared by the two first named countries, as "essential to the peace of Europe." The declaration was received with enthusiasm by the English public, excitement was everywhere felt, recruits for the navy offered themselves in numbers, and when a battalion of the Guards left London for Southampton, the people cheered them wildly, and buying up all the oranges on the stalls along the line of march, gave them to the soldiers. Though the people were wild for war, they knew nothing of the country against which it was to be waged nor of the resources of its enemy. This ignorance was not limited to the populace; for Greville writes that "It is very curious that neither the Government nor the commanders have the slightest information } as to the Russian force in the Crimea or the strength of Sebastopol." Once her ministers had declared hostilities the Queen took an active interest in all that concerned "my dear army and navy"; and