For the advancement of trade the court gave a series of dinners, concerts, and balls, which kept all sorts of shopkeepers busy. In May a grand ball was given for the benefit of the Spitalfields weavers, which the queen and prince attended, and for the same purpose a fancy-dress party was given at Buckingham Palace. This was a magnificent entertainment, and the costumes were splendid. The prince was dressed as Edward III., the queen as Queen Philippa, and their ladies and gentlemen appeared in the court-dress of that period. The Duchess of Cambridge headed a procession of a hundred and twenty persons who represented France, Italy, and Spain.
Another attempt was made on her majesty's life this year. Here is an account of it as given by the prince in a letter to his father: "On Sunday, as we were returning from the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, at two o'clock, there was, as usual, a crowd of spectators under the trees, who bowed and cheered. Suddenly I saw a man step out from the crowd, and present a pistol full at me. I heard the trigger snap, but it must have missed fire. I turned to Victoria, who was seated on my right, and asked her, 'Did you hear that?' She had been bowing to the people on the other side, and observed nothing. I said, 'I may be mistaken, but I am sure I saw somebody take aim at us.' When we reached the palace I asked the footmen who had been at the back of the carriage if they had not noticed a man step forward and stretch his hand towards the carriage, as if he wanted to throw a petition into it. They had noticed nothing. I did not breathe a syllable about it to any one, except Colonel Arbuthnot, to whom I told what had happened, and directed him to make it known to the inspector of police, Sir Robert Peel, and Sir James Graham.
"I then ran out upon the balcony to see whether the man had not been seized, but all was quiet, and the people had dispersed, satisfied with having seen the queen. In the afternoon Sir Robert Peel came with the head of police, and took down my statement, in writing, together with a description of the man's appearance.
"Yesterday morning a boy of fourteen, named Pearse, came to Mr. Murray, and said that he had seen a man present a pistol at us as we were returning from church, but he did not fire, and afterwards exclaimed, 'Fool that I was not to fire!' We sent the boy to the home office, where his evidence was taken down. The police showed the greatest activity. We are naturally much agitated, Victoria very nervous and unwell. As the doctor wished that she should go out, we determined to do so; for we should have to shut ourselves up for months, had we settled not to go out, so long as the miscreant was at large. Besides, as he could have no suspicion he was watched, we felt sure that he would come again skulking around the palace, and that the numerous policemen in plain clothes, who were on the lookout for him, would seize him on the least imprudence or carelessness on his part. We drove out at four, gave orders to drive faster than usual, and for the two equerries, Colonel Wylde and Colonel Arbuthnot, to ride close to the carriage. You may imagine that our minds were not very easy. We looked behind every tree, and I cast my eyes around in search of the rascal's face. We, however, got safely through the parks, and drove towards Hampstead. The weather was superb, and hosts of people on foot. On our way home, as we were approaching the palace, between the Green Park and the garden wall, a shot was fired at us about five paces off. It was the fellow with the same pistol—a little swarthy, ill-looking rascal. The shot must have passed under the carriage, for he lowered his hand. We felt as if a load had been taken off our hearts, and, we thanked the Almighty for having preserved us a second time from so great a danger. John Francis (that is the man's name) was standing near a policeman, who immediately seized him, but could not prevent the shot. The culprit was instantly taken off to the police office. He is not out of his mind, but a thorough scamp. His answers were coarse and witty. He tries to make fun of his judges. Little Pearse identified him this morning as the same person he had seen on Sunday. He is twenty-two years old, the son of a machinist at one of the theatres;—a wretched creature."
Francis was tried and found guilty of high treason. There were circumstances which led to the belief that the pistol he had used was not loaded at all, and that he only wanted to make himself notorious. The queen interfered in his behalf, and had the death-sentence changed to transportation for life. Francis was greatly relieved when he found that he was not to be hung; but the leniency shown to him had a bad effect, for the very day after it was made public another attempt was made-on the queen's life by a hunchbacked boy named Bean.
Her majesty was driving to the chapel of St. James's Palace when Bean pointed his pistol, but it missed fire, and a youth named Dassett tore it out of his hand, and collared him, calling at the same time to the crowd to secure the assassin. He was promptly arrested, and the pistol was found to be loaded with powder, paper closely rammed down, and some scraps of a clay pipe.
Bean had left his father's house a week before, and had written that he would never see him again, because he intended committing a desperate, though not a dishonest deed, and signed himself, "your unhappy, but disobedient son." Now, the fact of the fellow's having deliberately set about a crime for which Francis was then lying under sentence of death in prison, proved that something was wanting in the laws for the punishment of such miscreants. Sir Robert Peel lost no time in introducing a bill in parliament, which, it was thought, would put a stop to such attempts. It made the offender subject to transportation for seven years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for a term not exceeding three years—"the culprit to be publicly or privately whipped as often and in such manner and form as the court shall direct, not exceeding thrice." This bill became a law, and under it Bean was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.
One point that gave the prince serious concern was the internal working of the royal household, which did not run smoothly by any means. It may seem easy to control such a matter, particularly when one observes the regularity and precision of the present day; but there was no system when Prince Albert undertook the reform. The whole management of the palace was in confusion; there were too many masters, and nobody's duties were clearly defined. With every change in the ministry the three principal officers of the household were changed, and their appointments were not due to special qualifications. They were regulated by politics, and, such being the case, no uniformity of system could prevail; there could be no order, comfort, or economy, for no one felt particularly responsible or knew how soon he might be called upon to make way for a successor. Certain officials were responsible for the interior of the palace, certain others for the grounds, woods, and forests, but they never worked in harmony. The consequence was, that as the inside cleaning of the windows belonged to the lord chamberlain's department, the outside was regulated by the officer who ruled over the grounds; and, unless a good understanding happened to exist between him and the lord chamberlain, it is easy to see what trouble might arise from that one matter alone. As Baron Stockmar says in his memoranda: "The lord steward finds the fuel and lays the fire, and the lord chamberlain lights it. The lord chamberlain provides all the lamps, and the lord steward must clean, trim, and light them." Before even the most trifling repairs could be made so many people had to be consulted that months elapsed, while the pane of glass, lock, bolt, or hinge was under consideration. Neither the lord chamberlain nor the master of the horse had his deputy residing in the palace; consequently, the servants went and came as they chose, did their work or left it undone as fancy dictated, and often absented themselves for several days without any notice being taken of it.
A.D. 1843. All this the prince was determined to change; but it would take time, and had to be done with extreme caution to avoid giving offence to the large number of people who would be affected by the reform. Sir Robert Peel was consulted, but he thought that ancient institutions ought not to be interfered with, and feared that any change in the household, that would seem to impair the authority of the great officers of state would make the distinguished members of the House of Peers less anxious to fill such positions.
The prince concurred with Sir Robert, but was, nevertheless, bent on improvement. "All I beg of you now, my dear Sir Robert," he said, "is your cordial assistance in combating the existing and crying nuisances. Much as I am inclined to treat the household machine with a sort of reverence from its antiquity, I still remain convinced that it is clumsy in its construction, and works so ill that as long as its wheels are not mended there can neither be order, regularity, comfort, security, nor outward dignity in the queen's palace."