The Ministry tottered on, getting a majority of nine only on their China policy, and twenty-one on a direct vote of confidence. The Bill for the union of the two Canadas was, however, passed without difficulty.
An attempt by a barman named Oxford to assassinate the Queen on Constitution Hill fortunately failed, and Oxford was committed, after trial, to a lunatic asylum. In July, the prospect of an heir being born to the throne led to the passing of a Regency Bill, naming Prince Albert Regent, should the Queen die leaving issue; the Duke of Sussex alone entered a formal protest against it.
Afghanistan continued unsettled, and Lord Auckland's policy seemed hardly justified by the unpopularity at Cabul of Shah Sooja; Dost Mahommed still made efforts to regain his position, but he ultimately surrendered to Sir William Macnaghten, the British Envoy at Cabul. The disputes with China continued, and hostilities broke out; British ships proceeded to China, and Chusan was captured.
In France an attempt against the Government was made by Louis Napoleon, who landed at Boulogne in a British steamer, was captured, and sentenced to life imprisonment. More serious difficulties between this country and France arose out of Eastern affairs. The Four Powers, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, had addressed an ultimatum to Mehemet, requiring him to evacuate North Syria, France declining to take part in the conference on the subject. An Anglo-Austrian army undertook to eject him, St Jean d'Acre was stormed, and France thrust into a position of unwilling isolation. Thiers, who had been made Minister, expected that Mehemet would be able to retain his conquests, and for a time it looked as though France would interfere to protect him. Ultimately, in spite of some ostentatious preparations in France, peaceful counsels prevailed, and Thiers found it advisable to retire in favour of Guizot.
In Holland, William I. (then sixty-seven) abdicated in favour of his son, the Prince of Orange (William II.). The need of a younger and firmer ruler was the reason officially stated in the Royal Proclamation. The real reasons were probably the King's attachment to the Roman Catholic Countess d'Oultremont, whom he now privately married, and the humiliation he felt at the unfavourable termination of the Belgian dispute.
CHAPTER IX
1840
Queen Victoria to the Prince Albert.
Buckingham Palace, 11th January 1840.