On a bitter winter day, February 2nd, 1858, the Queen and Prince bade farewell to their darling child on her departure for Germany. The bride’s exclamation had been, “I think it will kill me to take leave of dear papa.” Those who witnessed her departure through London and at Gravesend spoke of her floods of tears, and many a sympathizing thought went with the daughter of England to her new home.
[28] The Duke of Wellington died in September, 1852, deeply mourned by the Queen and her husband. The Queen wrote to her uncle, “You will mourn with us over the loss we and the whole nation have experienced in the death of the dear and great Duke of Wellington.... He was the pride, and the good genius, as it were, of this country, the most loyal and devoted subject, and the stanchest supporter the Crown ever had. He was to us a true friend and most valuable adviser.... We shall soon stand sadly alone. Aberdeen is almost the only personal friend of that kind left to us. Melbourne, Peel, Liverpool, now the Duke, all gone!”
[29] The only criticism ever made by Palmerston on the Turks was that it was impossible to expect much energy from a people who wore no heels to their shoes!
CHAPTER XIV.
A NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS.
England had hardly drawn breath from the Crimean War when she was face to face with the Indian Mutiny. The first symptoms of the outbreak were observed in February, 1857. By the summer of that year it had attained appalling dimensions; but the gravity of the calamity brought out the tenacity of the English character, and it was gradually realized by the country that no effort and no sacrifice would be too great in order to preserve intact our hold upon India. The Queen realized this at a very early period, and urged upon the Prime Minister the undesirability of reducing our military establishments at a moment when India might require all our strength. No protracted diplomatic labors, as in the case of the Crimean War, were thrown upon the Sovereign by the Indian Mutiny. The Queen’s duty was discharged by keeping a keen look-out upon the development of the Mutiny, by encouraging the despatch of ample military reinforcements for India, by cheering the civil and military commanders there by her constant sympathy and appreciation of their services, and, above all, when the Mutiny was finally suppressed, by casting the weight of her influence and authority in the scale of mercy, and of the policy which gained for Lord Canning, the Governor-General, the nickname, intended in contempt, but remembered now as a true title of honor, of “Clemency Canning.”
Her Majesty wrote to Lord Canning fully approving of stern justice being dealt out to all who had been guilty either of mutiny or of complicity in the terrible outrages against women and children, but strongly supporting him in his brave and determined opposition to vindictive fury against the natives at large, in which too many of the English in India were tempted to indulge.
When the worst of the Mutiny was over, August, 1858, and an Act had been passed transferring the Government of India from the East India Company to the Crown, the time had arrived for the issue of a Royal Proclamation to the inhabitants of India. The draft of this Proclamation reached the Queen when she was paying her first visit to her newly married daughter in Prussia. It will throw a little light on those who think that the function of a Sovereign in a Constitutional monarchy is simply to indorse everything submitted by the Ministers, to learn that the Queen on reading this draft felt that neither in spirit nor in language was it appropriate to the occasion. Her objections were set forth in detail to Lord Malmesbury, who was the Minister-in-Attendance, and the following letter was written by the Queen to the Prime Minister, Lord Derby:—
Babelsberg, 15th Aug., 1858.
The Queen has asked Lord Malmesbury to explain in detail to Lord Derby her objections to the draft of the Proclamation for India. The Queen would be glad if Lord Derby would write it himself in his excellent language, bearing in mind that it is a small Sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred millions of Eastern people on assuming the direct Government over them, and, after a bloody civil war, giving them pledges which her future reign is to redeem, and explaining the principles of her Government. Such a document should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence, and religious toleration, and point out the privileges which the Indians will receive in being placed on an equality with the subjects of the British Crown, and the prosperity following in the train of civilization.