CHAPTER XXVI
The Berlin Congress—Lord Beaconsfield and the “Turnerelli wreath”—“The People’s Tribute” finds a home at Tussaud’s—The sculptor’s despair—He constructs his tombstone and dies.
The year 1876—in which we find the Prince of Wales arriving at Calcutta, the commercial metropolis of India; “Empress of India” added to the royal titles of Queen Victoria; and Disraeli’s elevation to the Upper House as Earl of Beaconsfield—gave us subjects that kept our studios extremely busy, and also brought a constant stream of visitors to the Exhibition.
The portrait of the Queen had now to be remodelled; that of the Prince of Wales appeared in the garb of a big-game hunter; and Disraeli’s doffed its ordinary attire for the robes of a peer.
Following these “moving” events, we now come to a period when the country became apprehensively aware of ominous happenings in the Balkan States.
Russia declared war on Turkey in 1877, and forced a clear road to Constantinople. This threat to our Eastern Empire aroused the spirit of war, particularly in London, and “gentlemen of the pavement,” as Bismarck styled the men in the street, gloried in the ultra-patriotic sentiment which obtained the name of “Jingo”; while music-halls and taverns rang with the rousing chorus embodying that distinctive epithet:
We don’t want to fight,
But, by jingo, if we do,
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men,
And we’ve got the money too.