A.D. 1861.] EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECHES OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. the exigencies of those who, following the call of genius, and forgetting every other consideration, pursue merely the cultivation of the human mind and science. What can be more proper for us," he asked, "than gratefully to remember the benefits derived from their disinterested exertions, and cheerfully to contribute to their wants?" The interest which he took in the improvement of the labouring classes was one of the most admirable features in his character. He advocated the establishment of loan funds, model lodging-houses, and allotments of ground, in which he himself set an example of what might be done by men of property for the working classes. In the counsels which he gave on such subjects to men of rank and wealth, he always laid down some great Christian principle for their guidance. "Depend on it," he said at the meeting of the Society for the Improvement of the Labouring Classes, "the interests of classes, too often contrasted, are identical; and it is only ignorance which prevents them uniting for each other's advantage. To dispel that ignorance, to show how man can help man, notwithstanding the complicated state of civilised society, ought to be the aim of every philanthrophic person; but it is more peculiarly the duty of those who, under the blessing of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education. Let them be careful, however, to avoid any dictatorial interference with labour and employment, which frightens away capital, destroys that freedom of thought and independence of action which must remain to every one, if he is to work out his own happiness, and impairs that confidence under which alone engagements for mutual benefit are possible. God has created man imperfect, and left him with many wants, as it were to stimulate each to individual exertion, and to make all feel that it is only by united exertion and combined action that these imperfections can be supplied, and these wants satisfied. This pre-supposes self-reliance and confidence in each other."* This was not language assumed, like the putting on of a court dress, for state occasions. It was the sincere expression of honest convictions. The Prince was a truly conscientious and earnest man, who gave his whole mind to the solution of social problems, and his whole heart to the performance of his duties. What can be more beautiful, as an illustration of this habit of mind, than the speech which he made at the Servants' Provident and Benevolent Society? "Whose heart," he asked, “would fail to sympathise with those who minister to us in all the wants of daily life, attend us in sickness, receive us on our first appearance in this world, and even extend their cares to our mortal remains-who live under our roof, form our household, and are a part of our family? And yet, upon inquiry, we find that in this metropolis the greater part of the inmates of the workhouses are domestic servants. I am sure that this startling fact is no proof, either of a want of kindness and liberality in masters towards their servants, or of vice in the latter, but is the natural consequence of that peculiar position in which the domestic servant is placed, passing periods during *Speeches, p. 89. 9 his life in which he shares in the luxuries of an opulent master, and others in which he has not even the means of earning sufficient to sustain him through the day. It is on that account that I rejoice at this meeting, and have gladly consented to take the chair at it, to further the objects of the Servants' Provident and Benevolent Society. I conceive that this society is founded upon a right principle, as it follows out the dictates of a correct appreciation of human nature, which requires every man by personal exertion, according to his own choice, to work out his own happiness-which prevents his valuing-nay, even his feeling satisfaction at the prosperity which others have made for him. It is founded upon a right principle, because it endeavours to trace a plan according to which, by providence, by present self-denial and perseverance, not only will the servant be raised in his physical and moral condition, but the master also will be taught how to direct his efforts in aiding the servant in his labour to secure to himself resources in cases of sickness, old age, and want of employment."* The Prince evinced the same kind, genial, sympathetic spirit with reference to the highest order of intellectual workers. He said, at the dinner of the Royal Academy, that "the production of all works in art or poetry requires in their conception and execution, not only an exercise of the intellect, skill, and patience, but particularly a concurrent warmth of feeling and a free flow of imagi nation. This renders them most tender plants, which will thrive only in an atmosphere calculated to maintain that warmth; and that atmosphere is one of kindnesskindness towards the artist personally as well as towards his production. An unkind word of criticism passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and shrivels them up, checking the flow of the sap when it was rising to produce, perhaps, multitudes of flowers and fruit. But still criticism is absolutely necessary to the development of art, and the injudicious praise of an inferior work becomes an insult to superior genius." † 66 Surely, never royal personage was more at home at a literary or scientific meeting. Speaking at the Midland Institute, he gave an admirable exposition of the laws of social advancement, showing that no human pursuits make any material progress until science is brought to bear upon them. "We have seen, accordingly," he said, many of them slumbering for centuries and centuries; but from the moment that Science has touched them with her magic wand, they have sprung forward, and taken strides which amaze and almost awe the beholder. Look at the transformation which has gone on around us since the laws of gravitation, electricity, magnetism, and the expansive power of heat, have become known to us. It has altered our whole state of existence-one might say, the whole face of the globe. We owe this to Science, and to Science alone; and she has other treasures in store for us, if we will but call her to our assistance."‡ With the same comprehensive and enlightened views he enlarged on this theme at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which cannot be too grateful for the advantages afforded by the fact that Christian ministers not only preach the doctrines of Christianity, but live among their congregations, an example for the discharge of every Christian duty, as husbands, fathers, and masters of families, themselves capable of fathoming the whole depth of human feelings, desires, and difficulties.”* Alluding on the same occasion to the progress of civilisation, the Prince remarked: “And this civilisation rests on Christianity-could only be raised on Christianity-can only be maintained by Christianity!" In a History of England for the People, we cannot better close this sketch of the Prince's character than by quoting the concluding sentences of his speech on national education. After eloquently enforcing the duty of every man to develop his faculties, and place himself in harmony with the Divine prototype, so as to attain that happiness which is offered to him on earth, to be completed hereafter in entire union with him, through the mercy of Christ, he said: "But he can also leave these faculties unimproved, and miss his mission on earth. He will then sink to the level of the lower animals, forfeit happiness, and separate from his God, whom he did not know how to find. I say man has no right to do this; he has no right to throw off the task which is laid upon him for his happiness; it is his duty to fulfil his mission to the utmost of his power; but it is our duty, the duty of those whom Providence has removed from this awful struggle, and placed beyond this fearful danger, manfully, unceasingly, and untiringly to aid, by advice, assistance, and example, the great battle of the people, who, without such aid, must almost inevitably ..succumb to the difficulty of their task. They will not cast from them the aiding hand, and the Almighty will bless the labours of those who work in his cause." + he was chosen president in 1859. If he had devoted his 66 Nor was the Prince less enlightened or less earnest as a Christian man than as a philosopher and a political economist. Referring, on one occasion, to dissensions in the Church, he said: "I have no fear, however, for her safety and ultimate welfare, so long as she holds fast to what our ancestors gained for us at the Reformationthe Gospel and the unfettered right of its use." Again, at the anniversary of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, in 1854, he remarked: When our ancestors purified the Christian faith, and shook off the yoke of a domineering priesthood, they felt that the key-stone of that wonderful fabric which had grown up in the dark times of the Middle Ages was the celibacy of the clergy, and shrewdly foresaw that their reformed faith and newly-won religious liberty would, on the contrary, only be secure in the hands of a clergy united with the people by every sympathy-national, personal, and domestic. This nation has enjoyed for 300 years the blessing of a church establishment which rests upon this basis, and Speeches, pp. 110-112. CHAPTER II. The Year 1862 - Affair of the Nashville-Meeting of Parliament Speech of Mr. Disraeli on the death of the Prince Consort-- The Revised Code Reasons for its introduction - Adopted with modifications Church Rates - Debates on the Civil War in America Marriage of the Princess Alice State of things in China-New Game-law introduced by Sir Baldwin Leighton Reflections on it - Mr. Cobden attacks the Ministry — Reply of Lord Palmerston - Garrote robberies-Gift of Mr. PeabodyAffair of Aspromonte - Revolution in Greece - Banishment of King Otho-Election of Prince George of Denmark - Cession of the Ionian Islands - War in America-Operations in Tenessee- Battle of Pittsburg - Landing - Campaign in Virginia M'Lellan Commander-in-Chief Lands bis army on the York peninsula Advances on Richmond Battles of the Chickahominy-M'Lellan retreats-The troops re-embarked-Jackson forces Pope back upon Washington - Lee invades Maryland Fall of Harper's Ferry- Battle of Antietam - Lee retreats Burnside supersedes M'Lellan - Battle of Fredericksburg — Bragg's invasion of Kentucky Results in failure Naval operations Taking of Roanoke - Exploits of the Merrimoc Her fight with the Monitor - Farragut passes the forts and captures New Orleans- Butler is made Governor- His famous proclamation-Execution of Mumford-Steps taken towards the emancipation of the slaves - Mr. Lincoln's message on the indivisibility of the United States-Reflections on it. A.D. 1862.] SPEECH OF MR. DISRAELI ON THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. was for Europe a time of profound peace. Nothing more alarming has to be chronicled than a foolish filibustering movement by Garibaldi, and the overturn of a dynasty in Greece. Only a prescience more than human could have seen in the sinister apparition of Count Bismarck on the political stage of Prussia, and in the masterly manner in which he out-generalled the Chambers and crushed their attempts to circumscribe the power of the Crown, the inauguration of that policy of "blood and iron" which was, in a few years, to result in two bloody wars, to tear up finally and for ever the treaties of 1815, and to alter the international relations of every state in Europe. An incident happened in January, which brought forcibly home to the minds of Englishmen the difficulties and embarrassments of that neutrality in the American struggle which we had proclaimed, and were resolved honestly to maintain. An armed steamer, named the Nashville, ran up the Southampton Water, and anchored near the town. It soon transpired that she was a Confederate cruiser, and that, having just captured at sea a large American merchant ship, the Harvey Birch, she had, after removing her crew and such plunder as was not too bulky, set fire to and destroyed her. This proceeding was an inevitable consequence of the British proclamation forbidding either belligerent to bring prizes into any British port. In a few days, the U.S. steam frigate Tuscarora, her captain and crew boiling over with wrath and the desire for battle, came up the Southampton Water, and anchored within a short distance of the Nashville. To avert a collision, the Admiralty immediately sent a man-of-war to Southampton. Greatly to his chagrin, the captain of the Tuscarora found himself compelled to conform to the provisions of our Foreign Enlistment Act, which enjoin the authorities of any port in which two vessels belonging to belligerent states may be present at the same time, to allow to the one that leaves first a clear interval of twenty-four hours before the other may pursue. Thanks to this provision, the Nashville (which was no match for the Tuscarora) made her escape; but her career was of no long continuance, as she was soon afterwards chased into Gibraltar, and there sold. Parliament met on the 6th February. In the royal speech the death of the Prince Consort was naturally the prominent topic. Among other results of the deep and universal sympathy with the Queen in her sorrow, was & general determination, rather tacit than expressed, on the part of statesmen of all parties, that the session should be a quiet one. In the debate on the address many things were eloquently and feelingly said, and it may be well to place on record here a portion of the remarks made by Mr. Disraeli, the spokesman of the Conservative party. After speaking of the common sentiment which, during the preceding ten years, had united the leaders of both parties in veneration for, and confidence in, the Throne, he continued : All that is changed. He is gone who was the comfort and support of that Throne. It has been said that there is nothing which England so much appreciates as the fulfilment of duty. The Prince whom we have lost. not only was eminent for the fulfilment of duty, but it was the fulfilment of the highest duty under the most difficult circumstances. Prince Albert was the consort of his sovereign; he was the father of one who might be his sovereign; he was the prime Councillor of a realm the political constitution of which did not even recognise his political existence. Yet, under these circumstances, so difficult and so delicate, he elevated even the Throne by the dignity and purity of his domestic life. He framed and partly accomplished a scheme of education for the heir of England which proved how completely its august projector had contemplated the office of an English king. In the affairs of state, while his serene spirit and his elevated position bore him above all the possible bias of our party life, he showed on every great occasion all the resources, all the prudence, and all the sagacity of an experienced and responsible statesman. I have presumed to touch upon three instances in which there was on Prince Albert's part a fulfilment of duty-duty of the highest character under circumstances of the greatest difficulty. ... There is one point, and one point only, on which I will presume for a moment to dwell; and it is not for the sake of those who hear me, or of the generation to which we belong, but it is that those who come after us may not misunderstand the nature of this illustrious man. Prince Albert was not a patron; he was not one of those who by their smiles reward excellence or stimulate exertion. His contributions to the cause of progress were far more powerful, and far more precious. He gave to it his thought, his time, his toil; he gave to it his life. But what, Sir, avail these words? This House to-night has been asked by the honourable gentleman to condole with the Crown upon this great calamity. That is not an easy office. To condole, in general, is the office of those who, without the pale of sorrow, still feel for the sorrowing. But in this instance the country is as heart-stricken as the Queen. Yet in the mutual sensibility of sovereign and people there is something noble, something which elevates the spirit beyond the ordinary calamity of earthly sorrow. The counties, the cities, and the corporations of the realm, the illustrious associations of learning, science, art, and skill, of which he was the bright ornament and inspiring spirit, have bowed before the throne in this great calamity. It does not become the Parliament of the country to be silent. The expression of our feelings may be late, but even in that lateness some propriety may be observed. We, to-night (the two Houses), sanction the expression of the public sorrow, and ratify, as it were, the record of a nation's woe." There are sentences in this oration which read a little grandiose, it must be confessed; nevertheless, similar language was employed by all the leading men on both sides, doubtless with general sincerity; and the fact may be taken as a gauge of the strength of the monarchical principle in this portion of Europe. The first question warmly debated this session related to the new code of regulations, commonly called "the Revised Code," which had been promulgated by the of any pupil who might pass satisfactorily in any one of the three. Committee of Council for Education in the preceding summer. Two great defects had gradually become apparent in the working of the system by which state aid The plan of the Government was severely criticised by was extended to primary schools-the one administrative; many Conservative members, and met with little favour the other educational. The nature of the first will be ap- out of doors among those who had been most active in parent when it is stated that, till now, every teacher in the establishment, and continued most zealous in the supa school receiving an annual grant, and every pupil port, of primary schools. Especially the clergy of the teacher, had been separately recognised and dealt with by Church of England complained of the suddenness of the the Education department; and since the number of such change, of the utter disregard which it showed to the schools had been enormously increased since the Com-claims and services of the pupil teachers, of the pecuniary mittee of Council commenced its operations, the strain on difficulties in which they themselves as managers would the organisation of the department had by this time in many cases be involved by it. There were some who become nearly intolerable. Conceive a department went so far as to say that the teachers and pupil teachers having to make out monthly or quarterly pay-warrants, had obtained a kind of vested right in their annual often for ridiculously small sums, for twenty thousand grants; but this was soon shown to be a mistaken opinion. pupil teachers! The other defect of the system of Mr. Walpole moved, on the 11th March, a series of resoluannual grants Mr. Lowe (then Vice-President of the tions, declaring it to be inexpedient to adopt the principle Council) considered to be this, that, notwithstanding the of payment by results exclusively, and censuring many check of Government inspection, it did not provide other portions of the Code. The House, however, went sufficient security for the economical application of the into Committee; but shortly before the Easter recess the public money. The grants often. answered, he thought, Government took into its serious consideration the obshowy rather than useful purposes. A large proportion | jections which had been raised to their plan, and resolved of the teachers-such was his argument-concentrate to introduce such modifications as would disarm the optheir attention on their highest classes, their extra sub-position of the more influential and reasonable objectors. jects, and their cleverest boys; the annual examination The chief concession was the re-introduction of a small thus becomes an occasion for the display of carefully establishment grant, having nothing to do with "payment selected pupils, and for the gratification of their master's by results," to the extent of 4s. per annum for each child vanity, and ceases to be a careful scrutiny, probing into in daily attendance; something also was done for the pupil the state of the school from top to bottom, and testing teachers. The opposition was satisfied, and Mr. Walpole the progress made by the younger and duller, no less withdrew his resolutions; and the scheme for regulating than that made by the older and cleverer boys. Nor was the apportionment of the public grant in aid of primary it in human nature, he thought, for the Government in- schools received the sanction of Parliament. spectors, though men of the highest character and ability, not to give in to some extent to this inevitable bias of teachers, and, however unconsciously, to be "carried away by their dissimulation." To inspectors also, it was a thousand times pleasanter to examine ten sharp boys than fifty stupid ones, and a saving of trouble to assume, without actually testing it, that the lower classes were relatively as far advanced and as well taught as the top class. The attempt made in 1861 to pass a bill for the abolition of Church rates was renewed by Sir John Trelawny in the present year, but fared rather worse than before, the bill being rejected on the second reading by a majority of one in a full House. The progress of the civil war in America-of which a connected account will be given farther on-excited a restless feeling in England, which naturally found its expression within the walls of Parliament. The tidings of sanguinary conflicts occurring along the whole frontier territory, from the west of Missouri to the shores of Virginia-of cities in flames, industry wrecked, hundreds of It was on the strength of considerations such as these that Mr. Lowe drew up his Revised Code, which was at once to relieve the strain on the administrative machinery of the department, and to introduce the principle of "pay-persons arrested under martial law and languishing in ment by results." All recognition of, and all grants to, teachers and pupil teachers were to cease, and the department was henceforward to have dealings with none but the managers of schools. Secondly, the establishment grants for fixed sums, which had been hitherto made to teachers and pupil teachers certified to be efficient by the Government inspector, were to be replaced by capitation grants, regulated in the following manner :-On the day of the annual examination, all pupils who during the previous twelve months had attended school at least one hundred times, might be presented by the teacher to be examined by the inspector in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Six "standards," varying in difficulty with the age of the pupils, were settled in each of these subjects; and a certain small grant was to be obtainable in respect state prisons, relentless executions, and wholesale plunder shook the mind of England to its inmost depths, and, according to the pre-conceived sympathies of different characters and classes, were variously judged and interpreted. Merchants, impatient at the cotton famine, found spokesmen in Parliament to inveigh against the fitfulness and inefficiency of the blockade of the Southern ports, and to urge the Government to interfere. But since, to say nothing of the strong evidence produced on the other side proving that the blockade was as effective as was possible under the circumstances, the very fact that there was a cotton famine established the point to any reasonable mind without more ado, the advocates of English interference on this ground took nothing by their motion. The language used by General Butler in his A.D. 1862.] RECONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH FORTS. 18 famous proclamation at New Orleans* was reprobated for enabling the Unions in that county to borrow money, with abhorrence on all sides, no speaker expressing himself more strongly than Lord Palmerston. Mr. Lindsay, the chief representative of that portion of the mercantile community of England which desired the recognition of the Confederacy as an independent state, proposed a resolution, in July, suggesting the propriety of offering mediation with a view of terminating the hostilities when the pressure and burden of pauperism had reached a certain point, upon the security of the rates. Alarmed by the formidable destructive efficacy which the Confederate iron-clad the Merrimac (or Virginia) had exhibited in her attack upon the wooden ships of the Federals, the Government proposed, and the House readily sanctioned, a vote of £1,200,000 for the strengthening and between the contending parties. The matter was warmly See p. 24. re-construction of our forts and arsenals. Lastly, a debate on the affairs of China disclosed a singular state of relations existing between Great Britain and the Celestial Empire. While trade on the coast had increased enormously, inland all was disorganisation. Seriously weakened in prestige by the result of the late war with England and France, the Chinese Government had in a great measure lost its hold of the reins of social and political order; society was crumbling to pieces in every direction, and the central power could give no effectual protection to the treaty ports. The rebel Tae-pingsanarchists and fanatics of the worst description-had agreed to a convention with the admiral on the station, whereby they undertook not to approach within thirty-four |