The Postage Stamps, however, were not ready, for we read in the Times of 17 Jan.: “The construction of the stamps is advancing with all speed, the several artists to whom they are intrusted being actively engaged upon them. In the stamp for letter paper and the adhesive stamp, a profile of the Queen is the principal ornament. The letter paper stamp is being engraved by Mr. Wyon, R.A., medallist to the Mint. Charles Heath is engraving the drawing taken from Wyon’s City medal, by H. Corbould, intended for the adhesive stamp. W. Mulready, R.A., has furnished the design for the cover and envelope, which is in the hands of John Thompson for engraving.”
And, now, until the Queen was married, all the talk was of that event. First of all Prince Albert must be made a naturalised Englishman, and a bill to that effect was read for the third time in the House of Lords on 21 Jan., in the Commons on the 22nd, and received the Royal Assent on the 24th. [119a] On the 23rd he was invested with the Order of the Garter at Gotha. The second reading of the Act for his naturalization was heard in the House of Lords on the 27th, but owing to some dispute as to the question of his precedence, it was adjourned until the 31st, when it was read, and on 3 Feb. it was read a third time, and it received the Royal Assent on 7 Feb. But there was another thing yet to be done, which was to supply His Serene Highness with Funds, and on Jan. 22 Lord John Russell proposed the sum of £50,000 per annum. The discussion thereon was adjourned until the 24th, and re-adjourned until the 27th, when Mr. Hume moved a reduction to £21,000, which was lost by a majority of 267. Col. Sibthorp then proposed a sum of £30,000, which was agreed to, and the Act received the Royal Assent on 7 Feb.
The feeling of the country on the subject of the Royal Marriage is, to my thinking, very fairly summarised in a leading article in the Times of 10 Feb., portions of which I transcribe: “It has followed from this policy, [119b] that an English monarch should, cœteris paribus, rather avoid than court an alliance with one of the first-rate powers of Europe, but should prefer security to aggrandizement, satisfied with a consort selected from a less prominent, and, therefore, less exposed, position. If there be safety, therefore, in comparative weakness and insignificance, we know not that, on such a ground, any other princely house throughout Europe, could offer inducements preferable to those possessed by those of Saxe-Coburg. Objections against this individual member of
the family might, perhaps, present themselves to reflecting minds, on the score of his close consanguinity to Queen Victoria, a circumstance not usually looked upon as propitious to the hope of a flourishing offspring.
“Another argument might be urged against the match, from the undoubted fact that the name of Saxe-Coburg is not popular in this country, a misfortune for which we do not undertake to account; nor shall we longer dwell upon either of the above considerations, which we have hinted at, merely to shew that they have not wholly escaped our notice. . . .
“Prince Albert has now become one of us. He is, actually, now an English subject. He is tied to us by law and self-interest. Let us bind him to us by gratitude and affection. The happiness of our youthful Queen is now in his hands. He has the means of so directing and assisting her future footsteps, as to retrieve for Her Majesty (we speak with frankness, but with all respect) all she has forfeited in the hearts of the most loyal, enlightened and virtuous of her subjects, through her unhappy bias towards persons and principles which are hourly undermining the deep foundations of her Throne.
“We have said that it devolves upon Prince Albert to counteract a host of ‘evil influences,’ and to aid his Royal Consort in repairing ‘many very grievous errors’ into which selfish and treacherous counsellors have betrayed her, and which her constant separation (contrived by them) from all but one section, or coterie of her subjects, has served to render extremely difficult of correction.
“Queen Victoria has scarcely been permitted to see the general aspect of the British aristocracy, or to become acquainted with their sentiments, their characters, or their manners. The petty, artificial world framed and got up for her deception, is no more capable of suggesting to her mind the vast moral and social creation beyond its narrow boundaries, than one or two leaves of a hortus siccus exemplify the productions of a noble forest, or a varied and inimitable landscape. . . .
“Are the heads of the nation to be discovered at the Queen
of England’s Court? Has the worth, or wisdom, or eminence of the nation any access to the society of the Sovereign? Have the clergy of England, or any of them—have their representatives—bishops, priests, or deacons, the opportunity of communicating personally with the temporal head of the Church of England? Are they, or any of them, ever seated at the Royal table, or received into the Royal presence, or favoured with the Royal smile? No; such associations comport not with the policy of her ministers; the ear of the Sovereign is whispered from the choicest of her subjects—the palace doors are locked inexorably against all but a certain clique.”