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Title: The Principal Speeches and Addresses of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort
Author: Consort, Prince, Alberti, Karl
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Principal Speeches and Addresses of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort" ***
[Illustration:
_Albert._
_From the Photograph by Mayall, with permission.
Engraved by W. Hall.
Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1862._
]
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THE
PRINCIPAL
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES
OF
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE CONSORT.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, GIVING SOME OUTLINES
OF HIS CHARACTER.
_TENTH THOUSAND._
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1862.
_The right of Translation is reserved_
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
--------------
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 11
THE OFFICE OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 63
SPEECH AT A MEETING FOR THE ABOLITION OF 81
SLAVERY, JUNE 1, 1840
SPEECH AT THE LITERARY FUND DINNER, 1842 83
SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CORPORATION 85
OF THE TRINITY HOUSE
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE SOCIETY FOR 87
IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE
LABOURING CLASSES, MAY 18, 1848
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE ROYAL 91
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY HELD AT YORK,
JULY 13, 1848
SPEECH AT THE LAYING OF THE FIRST STONE 93
OF THE GREAT GRIMSBY DOCKS, APRIL 18,
1849
SPEECH AT THE PUBLIC MEETING OF THE 96
SERVANTS’ PROVIDENT AND BENEVOLENT
SOCIETY, MAY 16, 1849
SPEECH AT THE ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY THE 103
MERCHANT TAILORS’ COMPANY, JUNE 11,
1849
SPEECH ON PRESENTING COLOURS TO THE 23RD 106
REGIMENT, ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS, JULY
12, 1849
SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN AT THE 109
MANSION HOUSE TO THE MINISTERS,
FOREIGN AMBASSADORS, COMMISSIONERS OF
THE EXHIBITION OF 1851, AND MAYORS OF
TOWNS, MARCH 21, 1850
SPEECH AT THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION 115
STONE OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY AT
EDINBURGH, AUGUST 30, 1850
SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY THE LORD 118
MAYOR OF YORK AND MAYORS OF CHIEF
TOWNS TO THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON,
OCTOBER 25, 1850
SPEECH AT THE DINNER OF THE ROYAL 126
ACADEMY, MAY 3, 1851
SPEECH AT THE THIRD JUBILEE OF THE 131
SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE
GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS, JUNE 16, 1851
SPEECH AT THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL 136
SOCIETY’S SHOW AT WINDSOR, JULY 16,
1851
SPEECHES AT THE BANQUET AT THE TRINITY 139
HOUSE, JUNE 4, 1853
SPEECH AT THE BICENTENARY FESTIVAL OF 146
THE CORPORATION OF THE SONS OF THE
CLERGY, MAY 10, 1854
SPEECHES AT THE DINNER AT THE TRINITY 149
HOUSE, JUNE 21, 1854
SPEECHES AT THE ANNUAL DINNER AT THE 154
TRINITY HOUSE, JUNE 9, 1855
SPEECHES AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW 159
CATTLE MARKET, IN COPENHAGEN FIELDS,
ISLINGTON, JUNE 13, 1855
SPEECHES AT THE BANQUET AT BIRMINGHAM, 162
ON LAYING THE FIRST STONE OF THE
BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE,
NOVEMBER 22, 1855
ADDRESS TO THE 3RD AND 4TH REGIMENTS OF 172
THE GERMAN LEGION AT SHORNCLIFFE, ON
PRESENTING TO THEM THEIR COLOURS,
DECEMBER 6, 1855
SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE GOLDEN LANE 173
SCHOOLS, MARCH 19, 1857
SPEECHES AT THE OPENING OF THE 177
EXHIBITION OF ART TREASURES AT
MANCHESTER, MAY 5, 1857
SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE 183
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION, JUNE 22, 1857
OPENING ADDRESS AT THE MEETING IN THE 193
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS FOR THE
INAUGURATION OF JENNER’S STATUE, MAY
17, 1858
SPEECHES AT THE TRINITY HOUSE, JULY 3, 195
1858
SPEECH AT CHERBOURG, AFTER THE BANQUET 199
ON BOARD ‘LA BRETAGNE,’ AUGUST 5, 1858
SPEECH ON PRESENTING NEW COLOURS TO THE 200
2ND BATTALION OF THE 13TH (“PRINCE
ALBERT’S OWN”) LIGHT INFANTRY, AT
HARFORD RIDGE, NEAR ALDERSHOT,
FEBRUARY 21, 1859
SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH 203
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE, AT ABERDEEN, SEPTEMBER 14,
1859
SPEECH AT THE DINNER ON THE OPENING OF 231
THE CLOTHWORKERS’ HALL, IN THE CITY,
MARCH 27, 1860
SPEECH AT THE BANQUETING ROOM, ST. 234
JAMES’S PALACE, ON THE TWO HUNDREDTH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE
GRENADIER GUARDS, JUNE 16, 1860
SPEECH AT THE DINNER OF THE TRINITY 243
HOUSE, JUNE 23, 1860
SPEECH ON OPENING THE INTERNATIONAL 250
STATISTICAL CONGRESS, JULY 16, 1860
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
Two editions of the Prince Consort’s Speeches were published by the
Society of Arts in 1857; and cheap editions of the same collection have
been published since the Prince’s death.
The present volume contains, in addition to the speeches previously
printed, a speech made by His Royal Highness at the Meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Aberdeen,
September 14, 1859; and his address on opening the International
Statistical Congress, held in London, 16th July, 1860; together with
several minor speeches made by the Prince since the year 1857.
This volume also contains some extracts from a memorandum written by the
Prince in reference to the office of Commander-in-Chief.
------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE PRINCE CONSORT’S
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION.
-------
The following work contains, with some few trifling exceptions, the
speeches and addresses delivered by His Royal Highness the Prince
Consort. It is published at the express desire, and under the sanction,
of Her Majesty.
* * * * *
It has been thought that this publication will not only be a worthy
tribute to the Prince’s memory, but that it will have a deep interest
for a large circle of readers. There will be those who were personally
attached to the Prince, and who will be [Sidenote: Those who will be
interested by the speeches.] glad to have a record of these speeches,
upon which he bestowed so much care and thought. To the statesman, to
the man of science, and to those who care for the social well-being of
the people, these speeches will be interesting, as coming from one who
himself was a master in those three great branches of human endeavour.
And, lastly, to the general student of literature they will [Sidenote:
Peculiarity of the Prince’s position.] possess a high value from the
peculiarity of the position of the man who uttered them. Every free and
great nation has had, during its best times, a long line of
distinguished orators; and, perhaps, the British nation, from its large
enjoyment of freedom, may defy the world to compete with it in
masterpieces of oratory. The names of [Sidenote: Great Britain fertile
in orators.] Somers, Bolingbroke, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Plunket,
Grattan, Canning, Sheil, O’Connell, and Macaulay, fill the mind with
pictures of attentive listeners, leaning forward, hushed to catch every
accent of a great orator speaking upon some great theme. But in every
age there will be such men as long as England is a great and free
nation. We have them in our senate now; and we feel that there are men
living amongst us who are fully worthy to take high places in the
illustrious roll of British orators. But, without claiming for the
Prince Consort any peculiar gift of oratory, it may fairly be maintained
that the world has far more chance of hearing speeches similar to those
of even [Sidenote: Rarity of speeches like those of the Prince.] the
most renowned among the orators just mentioned, than speeches like his;
for they were, in their way, unique. It must be a fortunate country
indeed, that, even in an extended course of its history, should have two
such men, so placed, as the deeply-lamented Prince Consort.
Now, why were these speeches unique? In the first place, the man who
spoke them had not only a scientific and an artistic mind (which is a
rare combination), but he was full of knowledge and of suggestive views
upon almost every subject. But that was not all. The expression of this
knowledge [Sidenote: The drawbacks upon the Prince in speaking.] and of
these views had to be compressed and restrained in every direction. He
was a Prince, and so close to the Throne that he could not but feel that
every word he uttered might be considered as emanating from the Throne.
He was not born in the country, and therefore he had to watch lest any
advice he gave might be in the least degree unacceptable, as not coming
from a native. He had all the responsibilities of office, without having
a distinct office to fill. At all points he had to guard himself from
envy, from misconstruction, and from the appearance of taking too much
upon himself. His was a position of such delicacy and difficulty that
not one of his contemporaries would presume to think he could have
filled it as well as the Prince did. And all this difficulty, and all
this delicacy, must have come out in fullest relief before him when he
had to make any public utterance.
[Sidenote: Eloquence much furthered by absence from restraint.] It is
said, and with some truth, that almost anybody might appear witty who
should be inconsiderate and unscrupulous in his talk. The gracious
reserve that kind-hearted men indulge in, tends to dim their brilliancy,
and to lessen their powers of conversation. What is true of wit is true
also of wisdom. In considering the speeches of the best speakers, and
comparing them one with another, careful account must be taken of the
degrees of freedom of speech which the speakers respectively enjoyed.
Often a man gains great credit for eloquence and boldness, when the
credit is largely due to his having no responsibility, or to his
careless way of ignoring what he has. Such considerations as the above
should be continually in the mind of any reader of the Prince Consort’s
speeches, who may wish to understand them thoroughly, and justly to
appreciate the speaker. It has been said that speech is silver, and
silence is golden; and if there be anything more precious than gold, it
may well be applied to describe that happy mingling of freedom of
thought, with a due reserve in the expression of that thought, which
ought to mark the speeches of men in an exalted position. They cannot
afford to make a speech, however good it may be in the main, that has
one needless witticism in it, or the slightest touch of exaggeration, or
the least indication of party prejudice.
Of the Prince’s speeches, as of much of his life, it may be said that
the movement of them was graceful, noble, and dignified; but yet it was
like the movement of a man in chain armour, which, even with the
strongest and most agile person, must ever have been a movement somewhat
fettered by restraint.
The principal elements that go to compose a great oration had often to
be modified largely in these speeches of the Prince. Wit was not to be
jubilant,—passion not pre-dominant,—dialectic skill not triumphant.
There remained nothing as the secure staple of the speech but supreme
common sense. Looked at in this way, it is wonderful that the Prince
contrived to introduce into his speeches so much that was new and
interesting.
[Sidenote: The leading idea of the speaker.] After reading continuously
the speeches of any remarkable man, we generally seek to discover what
is the leading idea of his mind—what is the string on which his pearls
of rhetoric, or of fancy, have been strung. And if we were asked what is
this leading idea with the Prince, we might safely reply—the beauty of
usefulness.
[Sidenote: His speeches exhaustive.] [Sidenote: Speech at the Servants’
Provident Benevolent Society.] Not that there are not many minor
characteristics of an admirable kind which it may be well to point out,
and to illustrate by examples. His speeches, though short, are
singularly exhaustive of the subject. As an instance, take his speech at
the Servants’ Provident Benevolent Society. “I conceive,” he said, “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 and according to his own choice, to work out
his own happiness, which prevents his valuing, nay, even feeling
satisfaction at, the prosperity which others have made for him. It is
founded on a right principle, because it endeavours to trace out a plan,
according to which, by providence, by 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 case of
sickness, old age, and want of employment. It is founded on a right
principle, because in its financial scheme there is no temptation held
out to the servant by the prospect of probable extravagant advantages,
which tend to transform his providence into a species of gambling; by
convivial meetings, which lead him to ulterior expense; or by the
privilege of balloting for the few prizes, which draws him into all the
waste of time and excitement of an electioneering contest.”
Another striking instance of this exhaustiveness, and also of his
generosity of feeling, [Sidenote: Speech at the dinner of the Royal
Academy, 1851.] is to be seen in those passages of his speech at the
dinner of the Royal Academy in 1851 where he speaks of criticism.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “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 imagination. This renders them most tender
plants, which will thrive only in an atmosphere calculated to maintain
that warmth, and that atmosphere is one of kindness towards the artist
personally as well as towards his productions. An unkind word of
criticism passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and
shrivels them up, checking the flow of the sap which 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.
“In this respect our times are peculiarly unfavourable when compared
with those when Madonnas were painted in the seclusion of convents; for
we have now on the one hand the eager competition of a vast array of
artists of every degree of talent and skill, and on the other, as judge,
a great public, for the greater part wholly uneducated in art, and thus
led by professional writers who often strive to impress the public with
a great idea of their own artistic knowledge, by the merciless manner in
which they treat works which cost those who produced them the highest
efforts of mind or feeling.
“The works of art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are
becoming articles of trade, following as such the unreasoning laws of
markets and fashion; and public and even private patronage is swayed by
their tyrannical influence.”
How thoroughly the Prince here feels with the artist! At the same time,
how he demands the highest order of criticism! What discernment is shown
in the comparison between our own time and other times as regards the
peculiar circumstances of criticism! And, in the last paragraph, how
justly he points out what are the dangers to High Art in the present
period! Indeed, this speech, taken as a whole, may claim to be one of
the best that have been delivered in our time.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s desire to get at principles of action.]
[Sidenote: Speech on laying the first stone of the Birmingham and
Midland Institute.] Again, another characteristic in the Prince’s
speeches is the evident desire in them to get at the law, or the
principle, upon which the matter in question should be settled. As an
instance of this I would adduce the following extract from his speech
when laying the first stone of the Birmingham and Midland Institute:
“Without such knowledge we are condemned to one of three states: either
we merely go on to do things just as our fathers did, and for no better
reason than because they did so; or, trusting to some personal
authority, we adopt at random the recommendation of some specific in a
speculative hope that it may answer; or, lastly, and this is the most
favourable case, we ourselves improve upon certain processes; but this
can only be the result of an experience hardly earned and dearly bought,
and which, after all, can only embrace a comparatively short space of
time and a small number of experiments.
“From none of these courses can we hope for much progress; for the mind,
however ingenious, has no materials to work with, and remains in
presence of phenomena, the causes of which are hidden from it.
“But these laws of nature, these divine laws, are capable of being
discovered and understood, and of being taught and made our own. This is
the task of science: and whilst science discovers and teaches these
laws, art teaches their application. No pursuit is therefore too
insignificant not to be capable of becoming the subject both of science
and art.”
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Condense-ness of the Prince’s speeches.] Contrary to our
feeling in reading most speeches, we are always sorry when the Prince
has ended, and we want more to have been said by him; and yet, if we
look attentively at any of the speeches, we cannot but see that so much
has been said that we must acknowledge ourselves somewhat unreasonable
in wishing to have had any more. His speech on laying the foundation
stone of the National Gallery at Edinburgh affords a notable instance of
this. It is so short that you feel inclined to clamour for more; and
yet, when you read it attentively, you find that enough has been said to
make up what would have been a long and telling speech in Parliament.
Happily the Prince’s absence from the parliamentary arena freed him from
that tendency to needless amplification which is the besetting sin even
of the best speakers in the present day.
* * * * *
The sympathetic nature of the Prince, which enabled him to feel so
largely and deeply for all classes of men, visible throughout his
speeches, is nowhere better seen than in his speech at the Bicentenary
Festival of the Sons of the Clergy. How rarely, by any one, has a just
tenderness for the Clergy been shown in ampler and in nobler terms than
in the following extract:—
[Sidenote: Speech at the Bicentenary Festival of the Sons of the
Clergy.] “Gentlemen, the appellation of a ‘money-making parson’ is not
only a reproach but a condemnation for a clergyman, depriving him at
once of all influence over his congregation; yet this man, who has to
shun opportunities for acquiring wealth open to most of us, and who has
himself only an often scanty life income allotted to him for his
services, has a wife and children like ourselves; and we wish him to
have the same solicitude for their welfare which we feel for our own.”
* * * * *
In estimating the Prince Consort’s speeches, it is to be recollected
that for the most part they treat of topics of an abstract character,
and seldom take up what is merely personal as their subject, which,
however, is always the most interesting to mankind.
This could not be avoided from the position of the Prince; but it is
much to be regretted, for whenever he did speak of something personal,
he was particularly successful.
For instance, if we were called upon to furnish for history the main
characteristics of Sir Robert Peel’s mind, we could not refer to any
description of that eminent statesman which would at all compete with
that given by the Prince Consort in the speech that he made at the
dinner to which he was invited by the Lord Mayor of York.
“There is but one alloy,” the Prince said, “to my feelings of
satisfaction and pleasure in seeing you here assembled again, and that
is, the painful remembrance that one is missing from amongst us who felt
so warm an interest in our scheme and took so active a part in promoting
its success, the last act of whose public life was attending at the
Royal Commission: my admiration for whose talents and character, and
gratitude for whose devotion to the Queen and private friendship towards
myself, I feel a consolation in having this public opportunity to
express.
“Only at our last meeting we were still admiring his eloquence and the
earnestness with which he appealed to you to uphold, by your exertions
and personal sacrifices, what was to him the highest object, the honour
of his country; he met you the following day together with other
commissioners, to confer with you upon the details of our undertaking;
and you must have been struck, as everybody has been who has had the
benefit of his advice upon practical points, with the attention, care,
and sagacity with which he treated the minutest details, proving that to
a great mind nothing is little, from the knowledge that in the moral and
intellectual as in the physical world the smallest point is only a link
in that great chain, and holds its appointed place in that great whole
which is governed by the Divine Wisdom.
“The constitution of Sir Robert Peel’s mind was peculiarly that of a
statesman, and of an English statesman: he was liberal from feeling, but
conservative upon principle; whilst his impulse drove him to foster
progress, his sagacious mind and great experience showed him how easily
the whole machinery of a state and of society is deranged, and how
important, but how difficult also, it is to direct its further
development in accordance with its fundamental principles, like organic
growth in nature. It was peculiar to him, that, in great things as in
small, all the difficulties and objections occurred to him first; he
would anxiously consider them, pause, and warn against rash resolutions;
but, having convinced himself, after a long and careful investigation,
that a step was not only right to be taken, but of the practical mode
also of safely taking it, it became to him a necessity and a duty to
take it: all his caution and apparent timidity changed into courage and
power of action, and at the same time readiness cheerfully to make any
personal sacrifice which its execution might demand.”
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s careful preparation of his speeches.] The
foregoing are some of the principal characteristics of the Prince’s
speeches. It remains only to be said that he thought over them with the
greatest care and anxiety. His respect for his audience, and also for
his own position, made him always endeavour to give the best thought he
could to whatever subject he was treating. He looked upon every occasion
he had for speaking as affording him an opportunity of saying something
that might be useful for his fellow-countrymen; and he toiled to make
that something worthy of him, and worthy of them.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s speech at the Trinity House, June 9, 1855.] The
Editor of these Speeches has thought it best to give them without any
introductory comments or explanations. One speech, however, brought
forth so much misrepresentation, that, in reference to that
circumstance, some comment may fitly be made upon it. I allude to the
speech which the Prince delivered at a dinner at the Trinity House on
the 9th of June, 1855. It is an admirable speech, and in it the Prince
spoke out more of his whole mind than perhaps in any other. Let us
recall the circumstances. We had met with much disaster in the Crimea.
The sickness and death of her soldiers had touched most deeply the heart
of the Queen; and the Prince, who was a patriot if ever man was, felt
for his country the tenderest anxiety. Now, let us look at the speech.
In every line of it may be seen the Prince’s intense anxiety to gain
support for the Government, and unity of resolve amongst the people.
Why does he dwell upon the power of despotism? Not that he delights to
praise despotism, but that he wishes us to see that we have an
antagonist whose power we must not venture to underrate. Why does he
speak of “constitutional government being under a heavy trial”? Not
that, for a moment, he seeks to decry constitutional government; but
because he loves it, is devoted to it, partakes that trial which
[Sidenote: Despotism strong in war.] he points out, and seeks only so to
consolidate free government that it may maintain its pre-eminence. How
well-chosen are the words he used on the occasion referred to, when he
says, “We are engaged with a mighty adversary, who uses against us all
those wonderful powers which have sprung up under the generating
influence of our liberty and our civilization, and employs them with all
the force which unity of purpose and action, impenetrable secresy, and
uncontrolled despotic power give him.”
Is it any new thing to say that despotism is naturally strong in the
field, and in the movements of great armies? From the days of Philip of
Macedon, down, through those of Louis the Fourteenth, to the Empire of
the First Napoleon, has it not been the object of great men in free
countries so to consolidate free governments as to give them that force
and unity which should enable them to meet the despot in the field upon
something like equal terms—equal terms, not as regards men (for freemen
always fight well), but as regards organization, which has so much to do
with superiority in military affairs?
[Sidenote: Danger from want of organi-zation.] It seems a needless
labour to make any defence of this speech, and a labour somewhat open to
the censure conveyed in the proverb that excuse is but a form of
accusation; but really the justification in this case is so complete,
that it does not come within the meaning of the word “excuse.” Every
lover of this free country must perceive that its only danger of being
worsted in some great contest is a momentary inferiority as regards
organization; and we should feel much gratitude to any one who, in an
exalted position, has the loving boldness to point out what are our
dangers. The Prince asked for confidence in the Government. England gave
that confidence, and the cause was won.
[Sidenote: The fearful mischief of flattering a nation.] Perhaps the
greatest injury that men highly-placed can do their countrymen is to
flatter them, and to hide from them any point of weakness that there may
be in the nation. We smile at flattery when addressed to private
persons, and think it no great harm; but it swells into a mischief of
gigantic magnitude when addressed to a nation by those who enjoy its
confidence.
We have not far to look for instances of nations being brought to the
brink of ruin because they have not had public men to tell them stern
truths as to the inefficiency of their means, and the unwisdom of their
ends. All honour, then, to the man who has the courage, at a critical
moment, to tell his countrymen where their peril really lies, and what
difficulties they must be prepared to overcome.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A view of the Prince’s character.] It may, perhaps, be not
unwelcome to the reader, and not inappropriate to the subject, that, as
an addition to this Introduction, I should attempt to give some view of
the character of the Prince, having had some opportunities of observing
him closely during the last year or two of his life, and having since
heard and carefully compared what those who knew him best could tell of
him. Such an attempt to depict the Prince’s character may be useful to
the future historian, who has to bring before himself some distinct
image of each remarkable man he writes about, and who, for the most
part, is furnished with only a superficial description, made up of the
ordinary epithets which are attached, in a very haphazard way, to the
various qualities of eminent persons by their contemporaries. We really
obtain very little notion of a creature so strangely-complex as a man,
when we are told of him that he was virtuous, that he was just, that he
loved the Arts, and that he was good in all the important relations of
life. We still hunger to know what were his peculiarities, and what made
him differ from other men; for each man, after all, is a sort of new and
distinct creation.
* * * * *
It is a great advantage, in estimating any character, to have a clear
idea of the aspect of the person whose character is drawn. There are,
fortunately, many portraits of the Prince Consort which possess
considerable merit; still there is something about almost every
countenance which no portrait can adequately convey, and which must be
left to description.
[Sidenote: A description of the Prince’s personal appearance.] The
Prince had a noble presence. His carriage was erect: his figure
betokened strength and activity; and his demeanour was dignified. He had
a staid, earnest, thoughtful look when he was in a grave mood; but when
he smiled (and this is what no portrait can tell of a man) his whole
countenance was irradiated with pleasure; and there was a pleasant sound
and a heartiness about his laugh which will not soon be forgotten by
those who were wont to hear it.
He was very handsome as a young man; but, as often happens with
thoughtful men who go through a good deal, his face grew to be a finer
face than the early portraits of him promised; and his countenance never
assumed a nobler aspect, nor had more real beauty in it, than in the
last year or two of his life.
The character is written in the countenance, however difficult it may be
to decipher; and in the Prince’s face there were none of those fatal
lines which indicate craft or insincerity, greed or sensuality; but all
was clear, open, pure-minded, and honest. Marks of thought, of care, of
studiousness, were there; but they were accompanied by signs of a soul
at peace with itself, and which was troubled chiefly by its love for
others, and its solicitude for their welfare.
[Sidenote: The originality of the Prince.] Perhaps the thing of all
others that struck an observer most when he came to see the Prince
nearly, was the originality of his mind; and it was an originality
divested from all eccentricity. He would insist on thinking his own
thoughts upon every subject that came before him; and, whether he
arrived at the same results as other men, or gainsaid them, his
conclusions were always adopted upon laborious reasonings of his own.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The quickness of his intellect.] The next striking
peculiarity about the Prince was his extreme quickness—intellectually
speaking. He was one of those men who seem always to have all their
powers of thought at hand, and all their knowledge readily producible.
[Sidenote: His merits in conversa-tion.] In serious conversation he was
perhaps the first man of his day. He was a very sincere person in his
way of talking; so that, when he spoke at all upon any subject, he never
played with it: he never took one side of a question because the person
he was conversing with had taken the other: and, in fact, earnest
discussion was one of his greatest enjoyments. He was very patient
[Sidenote: His tolerance of contra-diction.] in bearing criticism and
contradiction; and, indeed, rather liked to be opposed, so that from
opposition he might elicit truth, which was always his first object.
[Sidenote: Fond of wit and humour.] He delighted in wit and humour; and,
in his narration of what was ludicrous, threw just so much of imitation
into it as would enable you to bring the scene vividly before you,
without at the same time making his imitation in the least degree
ungraceful.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His love of freedom.] There have been few men who have had a
greater love of freedom, in its deepest and in its widest sense, than
the Prince Consort. Indeed, in this respect he was even more English
than the English themselves.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His sense of duty.] A strong characteristic of the Prince’s
mind was its sense of duty. He was sure to go rigidly through anything
he had undertaken to do; and he was one of those few men into whose
minds questions of self-interest never enter, or are absolutely ignored,
when the paramount obligation of duty is presented to them. If he had
been a sovereign prince, and, in a moment of peril, had adopted a form
of constitution which was opposed to his inclination or his judgment, he
would still have abided by it strictly when quiet times came; and the
change, if change there was to be, must have come from the other parties
to the contract, and not from him. He was too great a man to wish to
rule, if the power was to be purchased by anything having the reality,
or even the semblance, of dishonour. It is not too much to say, that, if
he had been placed in the position of Washington, he could have played
the part of Washington, taking what honour and power his fellow-citizens
were pleased to give him, and not asking, or scheming, for any more. He
must have sympathized much with the late Duke of Wellington, whose main
idea seemed to be to get through life justly and creditably, taking the
full measure of responsibility put upon him, and not seeking to have his
soul burdened with any more. Such men are absolutely of a different
order of mind from the commonplace seekers after power and
self-glorification.
The Prince, as all know, was a man of many pursuits and of various
accomplishments, with an ardent admiration for the [Sidenote: The Prince
gradually gave up some of his favourite pursuits.] beautiful both in
Nature and in Art. Gradually, however, he gave up pursuits that he was
fond of, such as the cultivation of music and drawing; not that he
relished these pursuits less than heretofore, but that he felt it was
incumbent upon him to attend more and more to business. He was not to
employ himself upon what specially delighted him, but to attend to what
it was his duty to attend to. And there was not time for both.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s aversion to prejudice and intolerance.] Another
characteristic of the Prince (which is not always found in those who
take a strict view of duty) was his strong aversion to anything like
prejudice or intolerance. He loved to keep his own mind clear for the
reception of new facts and arguments; and he rather expected that
everybody else should do the same. His mind was eminently judicial; and
it was never too late to bring him any new view, or fresh fact, which
might be made to bear upon the ultimate decision which he would have to
give upon the matter. To investigate carefully, weigh patiently, discuss
dispassionately, and then, not swiftly, but after much turning over the
question in his mind, to come to a decision—was his usual mode of
procedure in all matters of much moment.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s delight in the good deeds of other persons.]
There was one very rare quality to be noticed in the Prince,—that he had
the greatest delight in anybody else saying a fine saying, or doing a
great deed. He would rejoice over it, and talk about it, for days; and
whether it was a thing nobly said or done by a little child, or by a
veteran statesman, it gave him equal pleasure. He delighted in humanity
doing well on any occasion and in any manner.
This is surely very uncommon. We meet with people who can say fine
sayings, and even do noble actions, but who are not very fond of
dwelling upon the great sayings or noble deeds of other persons. But,
indeed, throughout his career, the Prince was one of those who threw his
life into other people’s lives, and lived in them. And never was there
an instance of more unselfish and chivalrous devotion than that of his
to his Consort-Sovereign and to his adopted country. That Her reign
might be great and glorious; that his adopted country might excel in
art, in science, in literature, and, what was dearer still to him, in
social well-being, formed ever his chief hope and aim. And he would have
been contented to have been very obscure, if these high aims and objects
could in the least degree have thereby been furthered and secured.
[Sidenote: The Prince’s love of his birthplace.] This love of his
adopted country did not prevent his being exceedingly attached to his
birthplace and his native country. He would recur in the most touching
manner, and with childlike joy, to all the reminiscences of his happy
childhood. But, indeed, it is clear that, throughout his life, he became
in a certain measure attached to every place where he dwelt. This is
natural, as he always sought to improve the people and the place where
he lived; and so, inevitably, he became attached to it and to them.
* * * * *
A biographer who has some very beautiful character to describe, and who
knows the unwillingness that there is in the world to accept, without
much qualification, great praise of any human being, will almost be glad
to have any small defect to note in his hero. It gives some relief to
the picture, and it adds verisimilitude. This defect (if so it can be
called) in the Prince consisted [Sidenote: The Prince’s shyness.] in a
certain appearance of shyness which he never conquered. And, in truth,
it may be questioned whether it is a thing that can be conquered, though
large converse with the world may enable a man to conceal it. Much might
be said to explain and [Sidenote: The causes of it.] justify this
shyness in the Prince; but there it was, and no doubt it sometimes
prevented his high qualities from being at once observed and fully
estimated. It was the shyness of a very delicate nature, that is not
sure it will please, and is without the confidence and the vanity which
often go to form characters that are outwardly more genial.
The effect of this shyness was heightened by the rigid sincerity which
marked the Prince’s character. There are some men who gain much
popularity by always expressing in a hearty manner much more than they
feel. They are “_delighted_” to see you; they “_rejoice_” to hear that
your health is improving; and you, not caring to inquire how much
substance there is behind these phrases, and not disinclined to imagine
that your health is a matter of importance which people might naturally
take interest in, enjoy this hearty but somewhat inflated welcome. But
from the Prince there were no phrases of this kind to be had: nothing
that was not based upon clear and complete sincerity. Indeed, his
refined nature shrank from expressing all it felt, and still less would
it condescend to put on any semblance of feeling which was not backed up
by complete reality.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s tempera-ment.] It is very difficult to describe
a man’s temperament, especially when it is of a somewhat complex nature,
as was that of the Prince. It was a buoyant, joyous, happy temperament.
It made his home and his household glad. To use a common expression, but
a forcible one, he was “the life and soul of the house.” Moreover, the
Prince’s temperament was very equable, not subject to sudden elations or
depressions. To illustrate, however, the complexity, before alluded to,
of men’s temperaments—beneath this joyousness of the Prince, deep down
in the character, there was a vein, not exactly of melancholy, but
certainly of pensiveness, which grew a little more sombre as the years
went on. It was a pensiveness bred from much pondering upon the
difficulty of human affairs, and upon the serious thing that life is.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A division of mankind into two classes.] The writer of this
Introduction has often, in his imagination, divided men into two great
classes, which seem to him separated by a wide gulf of thought and
feeling. The one class is, if it may be so expressed, on the side of
humanity: the other is opposed or indifferent to it. This essential
difference of character is not necessarily the effect or the concomitant
of virtue or of vice, of hopefulness or despondency, of a love of
justice or a proneness to injustice; and it has still less to do with
any of the intellectual qualities. But it depends upon the presence or
the absence of a large and loving nature, where the lovingness takes
heed of all humanity. The Prince was pre-eminently one of the first
class. He wished for success to all honest human endeavour. No love of
criticism, no fondness for paradox, no desire to exalt his own opinion,
made him waver in his yearning for the [Sidenote: The Prince’s sympathy
for work.] good of humanity. This caused his intense sympathy with all
human work, from that of the artisan to that of the statesman. We have
in this age used the word “philanthropy” till we are tired of it, till
it has [Sidenote: The Prince a philan-thropist.] become a mawkish word
with us; but still there is something very beautiful corresponding to
that word, and that was what the Prince possessed. We all recognize in
our respective spheres the distinction I have drawn above between these
two classes. We all know, for instance, when any public or private
disaster happens, who will really grieve over it and endeavour to
retrieve it; and who will make it a subject for vain comment, pretended
lamentation, or boasting censure. And a nation, like a man, would
[Sidenote: The Prince helpful in times of trouble.] have come to the
Prince when in real trouble, and have found in him one whose sole
thought would have been, “what can now be done for the best?” For he
was, as I said before, pre-eminently on the side of humanity, and all
that touched other men, touched him, too, very nearly.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: His aversion to flattery.] The Prince had a horror of
flattery. I use the word “horror” advisedly. Dr. Johnson somewhere says
that flattery shows, at any rate, a desire to please, and may,
therefore, be estimated as worth something on that account. But the
Prince could not view it in that light. He shuddered at it: he tried to
get away from it as soon as he could. It was simply nauseous to him.
[Sidenote: His aversion to vice.] He had the same feeling with regard to
vice generally. Its presence depressed him, grieved him, horrified him.
His tolerance allowed him to make excuses for the vices of individual
men; but the evil itself he hated.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Low motives odious to him.] What, however, was especially
repugnant to the Prince was lowness. He could not bear men to be
actuated by low motives. A remarkably unselfish man himself, he scarcely
understood selfishness in others; and, when he recognized it, he felt an
abhorrence for it. The conditions that the Prince drew up for the prize
that is given by Her Majesty at Wellington College are very
characteristic of him. This prize is not to be awarded to the most
bookish boy, to the least faulty boy, to the boy who should be most
precise, diligent, and prudent; but to the noblest boy, to the boy who
should afford most promise of becoming a large-hearted, high-motived
man.
[Sidenote: The Prince’s religious feelings.] The Prince was a deeply
religious man, yet was entirely free from the faintest tinge of bigotry
or sectarianism. His strong faith in the great truths of religion
coexisted with a breadth of tolerance for other men struggling in their
various ways to attain those truths. His views of Religion did not lead
him to separate himself from other men; and in these high matters he
rather sought to find unity in diversity, than to magnify small
differences. Thus he endeavoured to associate himself with all earnest
seekers after religious truth.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Some men acquire knowledge without loving it.] It must have
occurred to every observer of mankind to notice that there are persons
who acquire knowledge without loving it. They have read all the noblest
works in literature without being profoundly touched by any of them.
They may be excellent classical scholars, and yet they do not seem to
love their Horace or their Virgil. Their minds are not penetrated with a
sense of the beauty of these authors. They do not see that an idea has
been expressed once and for ever, in the choicest language, by these
masters of expression: whereas, some humble student perceives all this;
and Virgil, Horace, and Ovid belong to him. The same thing occurs in
science; the same in law; the same in medicine. You see men who know all
about their art, or their science, but who do not seem to love it. They
are not led up to all nature by it. It is with them a business, rather
than a science or an art. Such was not the case with the Prince. He was
singularly impressed with the intellectual beauty of knowledge; for, as
he once remarked to Her who most sympathised with him, “To me, a long,
closely-connected train of reasoning is like a beautiful strain of
music. You can hardly imagine my delight in it.” But this was not all
with him. He was one of those rare seekers after truth who carry their
affections into their acquisitions of knowledge. He loved knowledge on
account of what it could do for mankind; and no man of our time
sympathized more intimately with that splendid outburst of Bacon, where
the great Chancellor exclaims,—
[Sidenote: Bacon on knowledge.] “Knowledge is not a couch,
whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace
for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a
fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise
itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and
contention; or a shop for profit or sale; but a rich storehouse
for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man’s estate.
But this is that which will indeed dignify and exalt knowledge,
if contemplation and action may be more nearly and straitly
conjoined and united together than they have been; a conjunction
like unto that of the two highest planets—Saturn, the planet of
rest and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil society
and action.”
[Sidenote: The Prince’s care for the poorer classes.] It was with a
feeling similar to that expressed in the foregoing passage that the
Prince would comment, for instance, upon an improvement in manufacture,
as bearing, especially, upon the health and strength of the poorest
classes. It was for “the relief of Man’s estate” that this amiable
Prince delighted most in the extension of the bounds of knowledge.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: How the Prince acquired knowledge.] It is always a subject of
interest to endeavour to find out how men who have been remarkable for
knowledge have found time and opportunity, in this busy, anxious,
hurried world, to acquire that knowledge. And in the case of the Prince
it is especially difficult to answer the question. But the truth is,
that, much as the Prince read books (and in early life he had been very
studious), he read men and Nature more. He never gave a listless or
half-awake attention to anything that he thought worth looking at, or to
any person to whom he thought it worth while to listen. And to the
observant man, who is always on the watch for general laws, the minutest
objects contemplated by him are full of insight and instruction. In the
Prince’s converse with men, he delighted at getting at what they knew
best, and what they could do. He would always try to get from them the
mystery of their craft; and, probably, after the Prince had had an
interview with any person of intelligence, that person went away having
learnt something from the Prince, and the Prince having learnt something
from him. Such men, who are always on the alert to gain and to impart
knowledge, deserve to know; and their knowledge soon grows to be beyond
book-knowledge, and enters into a higher sphere, as being the result of
delicate and attentive observation made by themselves, and for
themselves. This is how I account for the Prince’s remarkable
acquisition of much and various knowledge.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince’s care for the labouring classes.] If any man in
England cared for the working classes, it was the Prince. He understood
the great difficulty of the time as regards these classes; namely, the
providing for them fitting habitations. He was a beneficent landlord;
and his first care was to build good cottages for all the labouring men
on his estates. He had entered into minute calculations as to the amount
of illness which might be prevented amongst the poorer classes by a
careful selection of the materials to be used in the building of their
dwellings. In a word, he was tender, thoughtful, and anxious in his
efforts for the welfare of the labouring man. His constancy of purpose
in that, as in other things, was worthy of all imitation. He did not
become tired of benevolence. It was not the fancy of a day for him. It
was the sustained purpose of a life.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: What he sought for in Art.] The Prince’s love of Art must be
spoken of separately, for it was something peculiar to himself. He saw
through Art into what, in its highest form, it expressed—the beautiful.
He cared not so much for a close representation of the things of daily
life, as for that ideal world which Art shadows forth, and interprets to
mankind. Hence his love for many a picture which might not be a
masterpiece of drawing or of colouring, but which had tenderness and
reverence in it, and told of something that was remote from common life,
and high and holy.
Joined with this longing for an interpretation of the ideal, there was
in the Prince a love of Art for itself—a pleasure in the skilful
execution of a design, whether executed by himself or others. He was no
mean artist, and his knowledge of Art stretched forth into various
directions. But this was not the remarkable point. There have been other
Princes who have been artists. It was in his love of Art—in his keen
perception of what Art could do, and of what was its highest
province—that he excelled many men who were distinguished artists
themselves, and had given their lives to the cultivation of Art.
[Sidenote: Skill in organization.] Again, there was the Prince’s skill
in organization, that almost amounted to an art, which he showed in all
the work he touched, and in everything he advised upon.
It may, therefore, justly be said that the Prince approached the highest
realms of Art in various ways, which are seldom combined in any one
person: in his fondness for what is romantic and ideal, in his love of
skill and handicraft, and in his uniform desire for masterly
organization.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: What the Prince did for agri-culture.] In distinguishing the
various branches of Art which the Prince devoted himself to, and loved
to further, Agriculture must be particularly mentioned, not only on
account of the great interest he took in it, and of the practical skill
he brought to it, but because of the felicitous results which followed
upon his enterprises in this department. As regards works of High Art,
it is not much that the wisest Prince, or the most judicious patron, can
do to further them. They depend upon the existence, at any particular
period, of men or women of genius; and the production of such works lies
in a region which is beyond and above the patronage even of the most
judicious patrons. But it is not so with Agriculture; and the Prince
might fairly lay claim to having himself done much towards that
improvement in agriculture which, happily for this country, has been so
marked and so rapid within the last twenty years. Men are always much
influenced by what their superiors in station do. And that the Prince
should have been one of the first persons in this country to appreciate
the merits of Deep Drainage, to employ Steam Power in cultivation (a
power which does not require to be fed when it is put by in its stable
after the day’s work), and to apply the resources of Chemistry to
Practical Agriculture, ensured the welcome consequence that there would
be many followers where the foremost man of England was anxious and
ready to lead the way. That, with a large breadth of the lands of Great
Britain partially tilled, or scarcely cultivated at all, the British
Nation should not unfrequently have to expend twenty or thirty millions
of money in foreign corn, is a reproach against our practical sagacity,
in which the Prince at least can have no share of the blame.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Prince too much interested in too many things.] It has
been said that, if we knew any man’s life intimately, there would be
some great and peculiar moral to be derived from it—some tendency to be
noted, which other men, observing it in his career, might seek to
correct in themselves. I cannot help thinking that I see what may be the
moral to be derived from a study of the Prince’s life. It is one which
applies only to a few amongst the highest natures; and, simply stated,
it is this—that he cared too much about too many things.
[Sidenote: His craving for perfection.] Moreover, everything in which he
was concerned must be done supremely well if it was to please and
satisfy him. The great German, Goethe, had the same defect, or rather
the same superabundance. He would take inordinate pains even in writing
a short note, that it should be admirably written. He did not understand
the merit of second-best; but everything that was to be done must be
done perfectly. It was thus with the Prince. In the choice of a jewel,
in the placing of a statue, in the laying out of a walk, in the
direction of a party of pleasure, his reasoning mind must be satisfied;
and he longed that everything that was to be, should be the best of its
kind.
[Sidenote: Strain upon the health.] Now men of this nature, with an
abiding aspiration towards what is beautiful, and such an inordinate
appreciation of what is reasonable, require also to have an
extraordinary stock of health,[1] otherwise they make extravagant
demands upon their powers of thought and attention, and thus upon the
primary elements of life.
Footnote 1:
And the Prince had very good health. At any rate he had begun with a
fine constitution. Every one of the chief organs of life was well
developed in him, with the exception of a heart that was not quite
equal to the work put upon it; so that he mostly had but a feeble
pulse. It was upon the nervous energy that this constant stress of
work, and this striving after excellence in everything, must have
told, as such demands do tell upon all men of that high nature.
The man who insists upon having a good reason for everything he thinks
and does, has set himself a task which it requires almost superhuman
energy to master. With a boundless appetite for knowledge, the Prince
declined to be superficial in anything; and whatever question was
brought to him, he set to work at it with a resolution to give his best
attention to solve it. All men, when they find such a mind to lean upon,
delight to bring their difficulties to it; and in the Prince’s case his
extraordinary good nature and prompt sympathy forbade him to ignore any
question which interested his fellow-men. I cannot help thinking that,
but for this peculiarity in his nature—a peculiarity which, regret it as
we may, we cannot but love and admire—he would have lived for many years
longer, to be, as he had always been, the worthiest and ablest supporter
of the Throne, and the foremost advocate of all that held out a promise
of increasing the welfare of the people.
It may here be well to remind the reader that the Prince was only
forty-two years of age when he died; and that the sagacity and prudence
for which he gained a just renown, were manifested at an age when many
other men, even of the brightest sort, are far from showing maturity of
judgment. This early death, too, makes the great amount of knowledge
that he had acquired all the more extraordinary. And, altogether, we may
say that seldom has there been compressed into a life more of thought,
energy, and anxious care, than was crowded into his. His death appears
especially premature at a period when we are accustomed to have great
soldiers, lawyers, and statesmen distinguishing themselves, and almost
showing new faculties, after they have reached the threescore years and
ten so pathetically spoken of by the Psalmist. If the Prince had lived
to attain what we now think a good old age, he would inevitably have
become the most accomplished statesman and the most guiding personage in
Europe—a man to whose arbitrement fierce national quarrels might have
been submitted, and by whose influence calamitous wars might have been
averted.
* * * * *
So subtly are men constituted, and so difficult is it, even from a
careful enumeration [Sidenote: The gentleness of the Prince.] of their
qualities, to get at the result of their nature, and to understand the
men themselves, that it would be possible, notwithstanding all that has
been justly said in praise of the Prince, that he might still have
failed to be a very loveable character. You meet with people against
whom nothing in dispraise can well be urged, and for whom high-sounding
panegyrics might justly be written, who yet are not pleasant, amiable,
or loveable. It was not so, however, with the Prince. The mere
enumeration of his high qualities and his good tendencies would fail to
give a just representation of his peculiarly gentle, tender, and
pathetic cast of mind. Indeed this kind of character is rather German
than English, and had always been much noted as a prevailing character
in the Prince’s family. Though eminently practical, and therefore suited
to the people he came to dwell amongst, he had in a high degree that
gentleness, that softness, and that romantic nature, which belong to his
race and his nation, and which make them very pleasant to live with, and
very tender in all their social and family relations.
[Sidenote: The abiding youthfulness of men of genius possessed by him.]
Finally there was in the Prince a quality which I think may be noticed
as belonging to most men of genius and of mark. I mean a certain
childlike simplicity. It is noticed of such men that, mentally speaking,
they do not grow old like other men. There is always a playfulness about
them, a certain innocency of character, and a power of taking interest
in what surrounds them, which we naturally associate with the beauty of
youthfulness. It is a pity to use a foreign word if one can help it, but
it illustrates the character of such men to say that they never can
become “_blasés_.” Those who had the good fortune to know the Prince,
will, I am sure, admit the truth of this remark as applied to him; and
will agree in the opinion that neither disaster, sickness, nor any other
form of human adversity, would have been able to harden his receptive
nature, or deaden his soul to the wide-spread interests of humanity. He
would always have been young in heart; and a great proof of this was his
singular attractiveness to all those about him who were young.
One gift that the Prince possessed, which tended to make him a favourite
with the young, was his peculiar aptitude for imparting knowledge.
Indeed, the skill he showed in explaining anything, whether addressed to
the young or the old, ensured the readiest attention; and it would not
be easy to find, even among the first Professors and Teachers of this
age, any one who could surpass the Prince in giving, in the fewest
words, and with the least use of technical terms, a lucid account of
some difficult matter in science which he had mastered—mastered not only
for himself, but for all others who had the advantage of listening to
him.
The one of his children who was most capable of judging of what his
conduct had been to all his children as a father and a friend, speaks
thus of him:—
“But in no relation of life did the goodness and greatness of his
character appear more than in the management of his children. The most
judicious, impartial, and loving of fathers, he was at once the friend
and master, ever by his example enforcing the precepts he sought to
instil.”
The Prince’s marriage was singularly [Sidenote: The Prince’s marriage.]
felicitous. The tastes, the aims, the hopes, the aspirations of the
Royal Pair were the same. Their mutual respect and confidence went on
increasing. Their affection grew, if possible, even warmer and more
intense as the years of their married life advanced. Companions in their
domestic employments, in their daily labours for the State, and, indeed,
in almost every occupation,—the burthens and the difficulties of life
were thus lessened more than by half for each one of the persons thus
happily united in this true marriage of the soul. When the fatal blow
was struck, and the Prince was removed from this world, it is difficult
to conceive a position of greater sorrow, and one, indeed, more utterly
forlorn, than that which became the lot of the Survivor—deprived of him
whom She Herself has described as being the “Life of Her Life.”
To follow out his wishes—to realize his hopes—to conduct his enterprizes
to a happy issue—to make his loss as little felt as possible by a
sorrowing country and fatherless children:—these are the objects which,
since his death, it has been the chief aim and intent of Her Majesty to
accomplish. That strength may be given her to fulfil these high
purposes, is the constant prayer of her subjects, who have not ceased,
from the first moment of her bereavement, to feel the tenderest sympathy
for her; and who, giving a reality to that which in the case of most
Sovereigns is but a phrase, have thus shown that the Queen is indeed, in
their hearts, the Mother of her people.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: How the Prince was mourned for.] It is a matter of history
that, at the untimely end of the Prince, the sorrow of the whole nation
went with him to his grave. That was due to his great public qualities:
but, within a narrower circle, the endearing qualities of his nature
called forth a deeper anguish and a more abiding affliction. Never was
there a man more mourned by his family, by his friends, by those of his
household, and by all persons who had come into contact or connection
with him. This is perhaps the most favourable trait, the most undeniable
proof of goodness and of greatness of heart, that can be brought forward
of any man; for though we read upon tombstones of the undying regret of
family and friends, it is in reality given to few amongst the sons of
men to leave a blank in the lives of many other persons, which refuses
to be filled up—a fond and passionate regret which may be soothed, but
which, in their devoted hearts, can never be effaced.
--------------
NOTE.
It must be obvious to the reader of this Introduction that the
writer has received the most valuable and important aid from
those who, by their constant intercourse with the Prince
Consort, could best appreciate the high qualities which shone
forth in his domestic life—from persons in the Royal Household
who saw him daily—from Members of the Royal Family—and
especially from the Queen Herself. To Her Majesty the writer is
indebted for a view of the Prince’s character in which a loving
and profound appreciation is combined with the most earnest
desire for exact truth and faithfulness. There is not any one
who could have been cognizant of all the various traits of the
Prince enumerated in this Introduction, unless he had been
instructed by Her, who alone saw, with the full light of a
complete affection, into the whole beauty and merit of the
character of this remarkable Man.
LONDON,
_October, 1862_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE OFFICE
OF
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
The foregoing is simply an Introduction to the Prince Consort’s
Speeches, with some outlines of the Prince’s character. It is in no
respect meant to anticipate the publication of his Life; and,
consequently, no documents have been inserted, or even alluded to, which
would be required for the illustration of that life.
One exception, however, to this rule the Queen has graciously consented
to make. Amongst the manuscripts left by the Prince, there is a
memorandum in his own handwriting on a subject of great importance in
itself. But now, alas! the memorandum is of more importance still, as
illustrating, in a remarkable manner, the Prince’s character and
conduct. In this document he clearly defines his own position, and lays
out as it were the main scheme and purpose of his life. His words on
this occasion are like a lamp raised up high on a vessel, which casts
long lines of light upon the waves before and after, showing the course
which has been passed over, and that which will be passed over, as the
ship speeds right onwards through the dark waters of the uncertain sea.
* * * * *
In the Introduction a character has been drawn, which might be cavilled
at from its having so much that is bright in it, and so little that
affords any contrast whatever of darkness. The Prince is there depicted
as a most self-denying man. Those who lived with him knew that it was
so; they knew that the habit of self-denial pervaded his whole life. But
it might be difficult for the rest of the world to be assured of the
full extent of this self-denial.
After reading the document in question, there will no longer be any
doubt upon this point. It can hardly be imagined that anything could be
more tempting to a young man, placed as the Prince was, than to have
almost within his grasp such a grand and distinct position as that of
the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Throughout the memorandum it
is evident that the Prince felt the temptation deeply while he abjured
it. It was not the cold refusal of a person indifferent to what was
offered to him; but it was the stern self-sacrifice of one who,
abounding in noble ambition, would dearly like to take the honour and
the labour which he feels it his duty to decline.
The circumstances portrayed in the memorandum are very dramatic, and are
exceedingly interesting, if only on that account. We cannot but picture
to ourselves the tender wife already but too justly anxious for her
Consort’s health; the aged Duke, with his well-known and long-tried
devotion to the Throne, urging, in his decided manner, upon the Prince
the acceptance of this much-coveted post; and the Prince modestly and
decisively putting it from him as a thing he must not have. There was
wisdom in the motives which led the old warrior and statesman to make
the proposal. But there was a higher wisdom in those of the young Prince
who steadily refused to entertain the offer: a wisdom not proceeding
from a nice perception of what was safe for self-interest, or from a
skilful balancing of consequences, but from an instinct of goodness
cultivated by chivalry into the highest self-devotion.
The resolution which the Prince announces in this memorandum—to sink his
own individual existence in that of the Queen—had long been acted upon
by him even then, and was never afterwards departed from. It was not
repented of: it gave a colour to his whole career: it sustained him in
long days of wearisome, commonplace labour: it became a part of his
being; and he never surrendered it but with his last breath.
Many a reader of the foregoing Introduction, not having met with
anything like the Prince’s character in ordinary life, might naturally
imagine it to have been drawn by too partial a hand. But this thought
will vanish, when he sees the Prince unconsciously depicted by himself,
and thus learns, from undoubted authority, what was the object, what the
meaning, and what the settled purpose of his well-spent life.
* * * * *
In allowing this Memorandum of the Prince to be published, the Queen is
also actuated by another motive in addition to those which have already
been mentioned. It affords Her Majesty a fitting opportunity for
expressing, in the most clear and ample manner, that which for many
years she has desired to express. During the Prince’s life, the Queen
often longed to make known to the world the ever-present, watchful,
faithful, invaluable aid which she received from the Prince Consort in
the conduct of the public business. Her Majesty could hardly endure even
then to be silent on this subject, and not to declare how much her Reign
owed to him. And now the Queen can no longer refrain from uttering what
she has so long felt, and from proclaiming the irreparable loss to the
public service, as well as to herself and to her family, which the
Prince’s death has occasioned.
The position of Her Majesty, for many years accustomed to this loving
aid, and now suddenly bereft of it, can with difficulty be imagined to
the full extent of its heaviness and its sadness. Desolate and sombre,
as the Queen most deeply feels, lies the way before her;—a path,
however, of duty and of labour, which, relying on the loyal attachment
and sympathy of her people, she will, with God’s blessing, strive to
pursue; but where she fears her faltering steps will often show they
lack the tender and affectionate support which, on all occasions, Her
Majesty was wont to receive from her beloved husband, the Prince.
* * * * *
The circumstances which preceded the drawing up of this Memorandum by
the Prince, are as follows:—
On the death of Sir J. Macdonald, the Adjutant-General, in
March, 1850, a suggestion was made to amalgamate the two offices
of Adjutant and Quartermaster-General under a single head, to be
called Chief of the Staff. The Duke of Wellington was in
consequence summoned to Windsor, and several conversations
ensued, in the course of which the Duke proposed that
arrangements should be made with a view to the Prince’s
ultimately succeeding himself as Commander-in-Chief.[2]
Footnote 2:
The circumstances narrated above, and the conduct of the
Prince Consort upon them, were related by Earl Russell very
succinctly and accurately in his speech in the House of
Commons, Jan. 31, 1854.
The following are extracts from the minutes made by the Prince of those
conversations, as far as they related to that proposal:—
Windsor Castle, April 3, 1850.
I went yesterday to see the Duke of Wellington in his room
after his arrival at the Castle, our conversation soon turning
to the question of the vacant Adjutant-Generalship. I asked the
Duke what he was prepared to recommend. He said he had had a
letter on the subject recommending the union of the two offices
of Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General, and he placed his
answer to it in my hands. He then proceeded to say that he
thought it necessary that we should cast our eyes a little
before us. He was past 80 years, and would next month enter upon
his 82nd. He was, thank God! very well and strong, and ready to
do anything; but he could not last for ever, and in the natural
course of events we must look to a change ere long. As long as
he was there, he did the duty of all the offices himself.... To
form a new office by uniting the duties of Adjutant-General and
Quartermaster-General in the person of a Chief of the Staff, as
was the practice in some foreign armies, would be to appoint two
different persons to do the same duty, which would never answer.
The Chief of the Staff would again have to subdivide his office
into an Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General’s Department,
and nothing would be gained.
However, the Duke saw the greatest advantage in having a Chief
of the Staff, if, after his death, that arrangement should be
made which he had always looked to, and which he considered the
best, viz. _that I should assume the command of the army_.
He was sure I could not do it without such a Chief of the Staff,
who would be responsible before the public, and carry on the
official communications with the other Government Departments.
For this contingency he was prepared to organize the machinery
now, and he would answer for its success....
I answered to the Duke that I should be very slow to make up my
mind to undertake so great a responsibility—that I was not sure
of my fitness for it, on account of my want of military
experience, &c. (to which the Duke replied, that with good
honest intentions one could do a great deal, and that he should
not be the least afraid on that score)—whether I could perform
the duties consistently with my other avocations, as I should
not like to undertake what I could not carry through, not
knowing what time or attention they would require.
The Duke answered, that it would certainly require both time and
attention, for nothing could be done without my knowledge, or
without my order, but that the detail would be worked out by the
Chief of the Staff. He had thoroughly considered that, and would
make it work.... He always stood up for the principle of the
army being commanded by the Sovereign; and he endeavoured to
make the practice agree with that theory, by scrupulously
taking, on every point, the Queen’s pleasure before he acted.
But, were he gone, he saw no security, unless I undertook the
command myself, and thus supplied what was deficient in the
constitutional working of the theory, arising from the
circumstance of the present Sovereign being a lady. Strictly
constitutionally I should certainly be responsible for my acts,
but before the world in general the Chief of the Staff would
bear the responsibility, and for that office the man of the
greatest name and weight in the army ought to be selected. He
repeated that he thought this the most desirable arrangement,
and would at once work it out to the best of his ability.... I
begged him to leave me time to consider the proposal.
In the evening the Queen gave the Duke of Wellington an
audience, I being present. After having set out by saying he was
most anxious to let the Queen know and feel all he knew and felt
about it—in fact, to _think aloud_—the Duke repeated what he had
said to me in the morning, and we discussed the question
further. I said that there were several points which still
required to be considered.... The offer was so tempting for a
young man, that I felt bound to look most closely to all the
objections to it, in order to come to a right decision.... The
Queen, as a lady, was not able at all times to perform the many
duties imposed upon her; moreover she had no Private Secretary
who worked for her, as former Sovereigns had had. The only
person who helped her, and who could assist her, in the
multiplicity of work which ought to be done by the Sovereign,
was myself. I should be very sorry to undertake any duty which
would absorb my time and attention so much for _one_ Department,
as to interfere with my general usefulness to the Queen.... The
Queen added, that I already worked harder than she liked to see,
and than she thought was good for my health,[3] which I did not
allow—answering, that, on the contrary, business must naturally
increase with time, and ought to increase, if the Sovereign’s
duties to the country were to be thoroughly performed; but that
I was anxious no more should fall upon her than could be helped.
Footnote 3:
The anxiety of the Queen lest the Prince should injure his
health by his excessive attention to public business,
naturally continued to increase.
In 1860, when the Society of Arts renewed the proposal for
holding a second International Exhibition, the Queen wrote to
Lord Granville, without the knowledge of the Prince,
expressing Her earnest hope that he (Lord Granville) would do
all that in him lay to prevent the responsibility and labour
of conducting the undertaking being thrown in any way on His
Royal Highness.
The Queen felt deeply the necessity for averting any addition
to the heavy work already entailed on the Prince by the
assistance and support (every day more needful to Her) which
he gave Her in the transaction of all public business; and Her
Majesty was convinced that he could not again undertake the
labour he had gone through in conducting the first Exhibition
to its successful termination, without injury to that health
which was not only most precious to Herself and his family,
but to the country, and even to the world.
The Duke seemed struck with this consideration, and said he had
not overlooked it, but might not have given it all the weight it
deserved, and that he would reflect further upon it.
We agreed at last that this question could not be satisfactorily
solved unless we knew the exact duties which had to be
performed; and the Queen charged the Duke to draw up a
memorandum in which these should be detailed, and his general
opinion explained, so that we might found a decision on that
paper. This the Duke promised to do.
Windsor Castle, April 6, 1850.
After a good deal of reflection on the Duke of
Wellington’s proposal, I went to pay him a visit yesterday
morning in his room, and found him prepared with his memorandum,
which he handed to me. After having read it, I said to him that
I must consider my position as a whole, which was that of the
consort and confidential adviser and assistant of a female
sovereign. Her interest and good should stand foremost, and all
other considerations must be viewed in reference to this, and in
subordination to it. The question then was simply, whether I
should not weaken my means of attending to all parts of the
constitutional position alike—political, social, and moral—if I
devoted myself to a special branch, however important that might
be; and that I was afraid this would be the consequence of my
becoming Commander-in-Chief. It was quite true that the
Sovereign being a lady naturally weakened her relation to the
army, and that the duty rested upon me of supplying that
deficiency, and would do so still more when the protection which
the Duke afforded to the Crown should be unfortunately
withdrawn. But I doubted whether this might not be accomplished
without my becoming especially responsible for the command of
the army. There was no branch of public business in which I was
not now supporting the Queen, &c. &c.... The Duke replied he
quite saw that my position ought to be looked at as a whole. He
felt the extreme difficulty and delicacy of it, and was kind
enough to add that he approved of, and the public did full
justice to the way in which I had hitherto maintained it. I
begged him to leave me a little time for consideration, that I
wanted to study his memorandum, and would finally write to him
upon the subject.
Two days afterwards the Prince wrote to the Duke a letter, of which the
following are extracts:—
MY DEAR DUKE,
The Queen and myself have thoroughly considered your proposal to
join the offices of Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General
into one of a Chief of the Staff, with a view to facilitate the
future assumption of the command of the army by myself.... The
question whether it will be advisable that I should take the
command of the army or not, has been most anxiously weighed by
me, and I have come to the conclusion that my decision ought
entirely and solely to be guided by the consideration, whether
it would interfere with, or assist, my position of Consort of
the Sovereign, and the performance of the duties which this
position imposes upon me.
This position is a most peculiar and delicate one. Whilst a
female sovereign has a great many disadvantages in comparison
with a king, yet, if she is married, and her husband
understands and does his duty, her position, on the other
hand, has many compensating advantages, and, in the long run,
will be found even to be stronger than that of a male
sovereign. But this requires that the husband should entirely
sink his _own individual_ existence in that of his wife—that
he should aim at no power by himself or for himself—should
shun all ostentation—assume no separate responsibility before
the public—but make his position entirely a part of hers—fill
up every gap which, as a woman, she would naturally leave in
the exercise of her regal functions—continually and anxiously
watch every part of the public business, in order to be able
to advise and assist her at any moment, in any of the
multifarious and difficult questions or duties brought before
her, sometimes international, sometimes political, or social,
or personal. As the natural head of her family, superintendent
of her household, manager of her private affairs, sole
_confidential_ adviser in politics, and only assistant in her
communications with the officers of the government, he is
besides the husband of the Queen, the tutor of the Royal
children, the private secretary of the Sovereign, and her
permanent minister.
How far would it be consistent with this position to undertake
the management and administration of a most important branch of
the public service, and the individual responsibility attaching
to it—becoming an Executive Officer of the Crown, receiving the
Queen’s commands through her Secretaries of State, &c. &c.? I
feel sure that, having undertaken the responsibility, I should
not be satisfied to leave the business and real work in the
hands of another (the Chief of the Staff), but should feel it my
duty to look to them myself. But whilst I should in this manner
perform duties which, I am sure, every able General Officer, who
has gained experience in the field, would be able to perform
better than myself, who have not had the advantage of such
experience, most important duties connected with the welfare of
the Sovereign would be left unperformed, which nobody _could_
perform but myself. I am afraid, therefore, that I must discard
the tempting idea of being placed in command of the British
Army.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECHES
OF
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE
PRINCE CONSORT.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECHES.
--------------
AT A MEETING FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
[JUNE 1ST, 1840.]
-------
I have been induced to preside at the Meeting of this Society, from a
conviction of its paramount importance to the great interests of
humanity and justice.
I deeply regret that the benevolent and persevering exertions of England
to abolish that atrocious traffic in human beings (at once the
desolation of Africa and the blackest stain upon civilized Europe) have
not as yet led to any satisfactory conclusion. But I sincerely trust
that this great country will not relax in its efforts until it has
finally, and for ever, put an end to a state of things so repugnant to
the spirit of Christianity, and the best feelings of our nature.
Let us therefore trust that Providence will prosper our exertions in so
holy a cause, and that (under the auspices of our Queen and Her
Government) we may at no distant period be rewarded by the
accomplishment of the great and humane object for the promotion of which
we have this day met.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LITERARY FUND, 1842.
-------
1.
I propose the health of the Queen, who highly appreciates the tendency
of this Institution, and sincerely interests herself in its welfare.
“THE QUEEN, OUR MUNIFICENT PATRON.”
2.
I return you my warmest thanks for the great kindness with which you
have received this toast. It will always be most gratifying to my
feelings to contribute in the smallest degree towards the welfare of any
of the excellent Institutions which so prominently distinguish this
country.
3.
The toast which I have now to propose to you is the Prosperity of this
Institution.
It stands unrivalled in any country, and ought to command our warmest
sympathies, as providing for 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 then be more
proper for us than gratefully to remember the benefits derived from
their disinterested exertions, and cheerfully to contribute to their
wants?
I conclude with the ardent wish that the object for which we have this
day met will be answered in the most ample and generous way.
“Prosperity to this Institution.”
4.
I am sure you will all gladly join me in drinking the health of our
worthy President the Marquis of Lansdowne. He would not wish me to
enumerate his merits as a patron of the Arts and Science, so well known
to this assembly; but it is a satisfaction to me to have an opportunity
of expressing how much I esteem them.
“OUR PRESIDENT.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CORPORATION OF TRINITY HOUSE.
-------
With much sincerity I return you my best thanks for the toast which has
just been drunk.
I feel a pride in the cause which makes me a guest this day with the
Corporation of the Trinity House, to whose exertions in the discharge of
your important duties this great country is so deeply indebted.
That these exertions, upon which not only the good of the Mercantile
Marine depends, but which have so essentially contributed to the welfare
of the Navy, may in their various and important branches be always
crowned with success, I warmly wish; and I cannot refrain from
expressing how happy I should feel if by my admission into your
Corporation I should ever be afforded the smallest opportunity of
forwarding any of your objects.
The distinguished honour conferred upon me this day, an honour aspired
to and prized by eminent men of every age, will always be held in my
most lively remembrance.
* * * * *
[When the heart flies out before the understanding, it saves the
judgment a world of pains.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE MEETING OF THE
SOCIETY FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
[MAY 18TH, 1848.]
-------
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,—
When four years since this Society for the Improvement of the Condition
of the Labouring Classes was first established on its present footing, I
accepted with great pleasure the offer of becoming its President.
I saw in this offer a proof of your appreciation of my feelings of
sympathy and interest for that class of our community which has most of
the toil, and least of the enjoyments, of this world. I conceived that
great advantage would accrue from the endeavours of influential persons,
who were wholly disinterested, to act the part of a friend to those who
required that advice and assistance which none but a friend could tender
with advantage.
This Society has always held this object before its eyes, and has been
labouring in that direction. You are all aware that it has established
model lodging-houses, loan-funds, and the system of allotments of ground
in different parts of the country; but it has been careful only to
establish examples and models, mindful that any real improvement which
was to take place must be the result of the exertions of the working
people themselves.
I have just come from the model lodging-house, the opening of which we
celebrate this day; and I feel convinced that its existence will, by
degrees, cause a complete change in the domestic comforts of the
labouring classes, as it will exhibit to them, that with real economy
can be combined advantages with which few of them have hitherto been
acquainted; whilst it will show to those who possess capital to invest,
that they may do so with great profit and advantage to themselves, at
the same time that they are dispensing those comforts to which I have
alluded, to their poorer brethren.
Depend upon it, the interests of classes too often contrasted are
identical, and it is only ignorance which prevents their uniting for
each other’s advantage. To dispel that ignorance, to show how man can
help man, notwithstanding the complicated state of civilized society,
ought to be the aim of every philanthropic 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 exertions and combined action that these imperfections
can be supplied, and these wants satisfied. This presupposes
self-reliance and confidence in each other. To show the way how these
individual exertions can be directed with the greatest benefit, and to
foster that confidence upon which the readiness to assist each other
depends, this Society deems its most sacred duty.
There has been no ostentatious display of charity or munificence, nor
the pretension of becoming the arbiter of the fate of thousands, but the
quiet working out of particular schemes of social improvement; for
which, however, as I said before, the Society has only established
examples for the community at large to follow.
The report of the proceedings of last year will now be laid before you.
I must say—I hope I may say—that the Society has proceeded
satisfactorily towards the accomplishment of its objects; and that is
owing particularly to the kind feelings, the great experience, and
undoubted zeal of Lord Ashley.
The next step which we contemplate taking is the erection of a model
lodging-house for families. I have no doubt that the meeting will enable
us to carry out that step, and that the attention of the public will be
more generally directed to the objects which we have in view.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE MEETING OF
THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
[HELD AT YORK, JULY 13TH, 1848.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
I have to thank you most sincerely for your having drunk my health with
so much cordiality. It has been a great satisfaction to me to have been
able this year to pay an old debt in appearing at this interesting and
useful meeting.
All I have seen to-day exhibits a bright picture of the progress of
British agriculture, and for much of this progress the country is
indebted to this Society.
Agriculture, which was once the main pursuit of this as of every other
nation, holds even now, notwithstanding the development of commerce and
manufactures, a fundamental position in the realm; and although time has
changed the position which the owner of the land, with his feudal
dependants, held in the empire, the country gentleman with his wife and
children, the country clergyman, the tenant, and the labourer, still
form a great, and I hope united, family, in which we gladly recognize
the foundation of our social state.
Science and mechanical improvement have in these days changed the mere
practice of cultivating the soil into an industrial pursuit, requiring
capital, machinery, industry, and skill, and perseverance in the
struggle of competition. This is another great change, but we must
consider it a great _progress_, as it demands higher efforts and a
higher intelligence.
Conscious of these changes, we Agriculturists of England assemble
together in this annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, in
order to communicate to each other our various experiences, to exhibit
the progress that some may have made in the applications of science, and
others in the adaptation of machinery, or in the successful rearing of
animals.
Feeling, as I do, a great interest in these noble pursuits and their
paramount importance, and having myself experienced the pleasures and
the little pangs attending them, I feel highly gratified that it should
have been confided to me to propose to you the toast of the day,
“Success to the Royal Agricultural Society of England;” and I trust that
you will heartily respond to it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE LAYING OF THE FIRST STONE
OF THE
GREAT GRIMSBY DOCKS.
[APRIL 18TH, 1849.]
-------
MY LORD,[4]—
I thank you most sincerely for the kind terms in which you have proposed
my health, and you, gentlemen, for the cordial manner in which you have
received it.
Footnote 4:
The late Earl of Yarborough, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Lincoln.
The act which has this day been performed, and in which you were kind
enough to desire that I should take the chief part, could not but make a
deep impression upon me.
We have been laying the foundation not only of a Dock, as a place of
refuge, safety, and refitment for mercantile shipping, and calculated
even to receive the largest steamers in Her Majesty’s Navy, but it may
be, and I hope it will be, the foundation of a great commercial port,
destined in after times, when we shall long have quitted this scene, and
when our names even may be forgotten, to form another centre of life to
the vast and ever-increasing commerce of the world, and an important
link in the connection of the East and the West. Nay, if I contemplate
the extraordinary rapidity of development which characterizes the
undertakings of this age, it may not even be too much to expect that
some of us may live yet to see this prospect in part realized.
This work has been undertaken, like almost all the national enterprises
of this great country, by _private_ exertion, with _private_ capital,
and at _private_ risk; and it shares with them likewise that other
feature so peculiar to the enterprises of Englishmen, that, strongly
attached as they are to the institutions of their country, and
gratefully acknowledging the protection of those laws under which their
enterprises are undertaken and flourish, they love to connect them, in
some manner, directly with the authority of the Crown and the person of
their Sovereign; and it is the appreciation of this circumstance which
has impelled me at once to respond to your call, as the readiest mode of
testifying to you how strongly Her Majesty the Queen values and
reciprocates this feeling.
I have derived an additional gratification from this visit, as it has
brought me for the first time to the county of Lincoln, so celebrated
for its agricultural pursuits, and showing a fine example of the energy
of the national character, which has, by dint of perseverance, succeeded
in transforming unhealthy swamps into the richest and most fertile soil
in the kingdom. I could not have witnessed finer specimens of
Lincolnshire farming than have been shown to me on his estates by your
Chairman, my noble host, who has made me acquainted, not only with the
agricultural improvements which are going on amongst you, but with that
most gratifying state of the relation between Landlord and Tenant which
exists here, and which I hope may become an example, in time to be
followed throughout the country. Here it is that the real advantage and
the prosperity of both do not depend upon the written letter of
agreements, but on that mutual trust and confidence which has in this
country for a long time been held a sufficient security to both, to
warrant the extensive outlay of capital, and the engagement in farming
operations on the largest scale.
Let me, in conclusion, propose to you as a toast, “Prosperity to the
Great Grimsby Docks;” and let us invoke the Almighty to bestow His
blessing on this work, under which alone it can prosper.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
SERVANTS’ PROVIDENT AND BENEVOLENT
SOCIETY.
[MAY 16TH, 1849.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
The object for which we have assembled here to-day is not one of
charity, but of friendly advice and assistance to be tendered to a large
and important class of our fellow-countrymen.
Who would not feel the deepest interest in the welfare of their Domestic
Servants? Whose heart would fail to sympathize with those who minister
to us in all the wants of daily life, attend us in sickness, receive us
upon 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 workhouse 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 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 the consideration of these peculiar vicissitudes which makes it
the duty of both masters and servants to endeavour to discover and to
agree upon some means for carrying the servant through life, safe from
the temptations of the prosperous, and from the sufferings of the evil
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, and 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 out 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.
It is founded on a right principle, because in its financial scheme
there is no temptation held out to the servant by the prospect of
possible extravagant advantages, which tend to transform his providence
into a species of gambling; by convivial meetings, which lead him to
ulterior expense; or by the privilege of balloting for the few prizes,
which draws him into all the waste of time and excitement of an
electioneering contest.
Such are the characteristics of several institutions, upon which
servants and many of our other industrial classes place their reliance.
And what can be more heartrending than to witness the breaking of banks,
and the failure of such institutions, which not only mar the prospects
of these unhappy people, and plunge them into sudden destitution, but
destroy in others all confidence in the honesty or sagacity of those who
preach to them the advantages of providence?
Let them well consider that, if they must embark in financial
speculations, if they like to have convivial meetings, if they claim the
right of governing the concerns of their own body, they must not risk
for this, in one stake, their whole future existence, the whole
prosperity of their families. Let them always bear in mind, that their
savings are capital, that capital will only return a certain interest,
and that any advantage offered beyond that interest has to be purchased
at a commensurate risk of the capital itself.
The financial advantages which this Society holds out to servants rest
upon the credit of the country at large, upon the faith of the
Government, and are regulated by an Act of Parliament, called “the
Deferred Annuities Act.” They are shortly these: “According to published
tables, which I have before me, persons, whose fixed income is below
150_l._ per annum, can, by small instalments, purchase annuities
deferred not less than ten years, but beyond that limit to commence at
any period the depositor may name. One annuity cannot be more than
30_l._, but he may purchase distinct annuities for his wife, or for his
children on having attained to their fifteenth year. Should he at any
time wish to withdraw his deposits before the annuity has commenced,
they will be returned to him; should he die before that period, the
deposits will be returned to the heirs. In such cases the only loss will
be the interest upon the money deposited.”
Although this wise and benevolent measure has been enacted so long ago
as the third year of the reign of King William IV., I find, to my deep
regret, that, during that whole time, only about 600 persons have
availed themselves of its provisions. I can discover no other reason for
this inadequate success, but that the existence of the Act is not
generally known, or that people are afraid of law and Acts of
Parliament, which they cannot understand on account of their complicated
technical wording. I have heard another reason stated, to which,
however, I give little credit, namely, that servants fear lest a
knowledge that they are able to purchase annuities by savings from their
wages might induce their masters to reduce them. I have a better opinion
of the disposition of employers generally, and am convinced that, on the
contrary, nothing counteracts more the liberality of masters than the
idea, not wholly unfounded, that an increase of means, instead of
prompting to saving, leads to extravagance.
It is one of the main objects of this meeting to draw public attention
to this “Deferred Annuities Act,” and the main object of this Society is
to form a medium by which servants may acquire the benefits proffered by
it free from risk, cost, or trouble.
The other objects are: to provide a home for female servants out of
place, the usefulness of which hardly requires a word of commendation;
to provide respectable lodgings for men-servants not lodged by their
masters; and to establish a Registry for domestic servants generally,
which will form as well a place of advertisement for their services, as
a record of their characters, from which they can be obtained upon
application.
Any one who is acquainted with the annoyances and inconveniences
connected with the present system of “characters to servants,” will at
once see the importance of the introduction of a system by which the
servant will be protected from that ruin which the caprice of a single
master (with whom he may even have lived for a short time only) may
inflict upon him, and the master from the risk to which a character
wrung from a former weak master, by the importunities of an undeserving
servant, may expose him. Nor is it a small benefit to be conferred upon
the servant, to enable him, by appealing to a long record of former
services, to redeem the disqualification which a single fault might
bring upon him.
Should we only succeed in inducing the public at large to consider all
these points, we shall have the satisfaction of having furthered the
interests of a class which we find recorded in the Report of the last
Census as the most numerous in the British population.
I shall now call upon the Secretary to lay before you more in detail the
points which I have slightly touched upon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY
THE MERCHANT TAILORS’ COMPANY.
[JUNE 11TH, 1849.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
I thank you sincerely for your expressions of kindness and cordiality
towards me.
Although I have on former occasions met you in this room, it has always
been for some charitable purpose, witnessing with delight the readiness
with which this, and indeed all the great corporations of London, open
the doors of their magnificent Halls at the call of charity. To-day I am
here as a Brother Freeman of your Corporation, fulfilling a promise made
from the time that you received me into your body. I am ashamed to own
how long ago. I beg you not to measure, by the tardiness of my
appearance, the value which I attach to the honour which you then
conferred upon me, by electing me a Freeman of the Merchant Tailors’
Company.
I remember well with what regret, when, shortly after I came of age, the
Companies of the Goldsmiths and of the Fishmongers offered me their
freedom, I found myself compelled to decline this honour, being informed
that, identified as they were by historical tradition, and still
representing two opposite political parties, I could make a choice only
of one of them, and, fully sensible that, like the Sovereign to whom I
had just been united, and to devote my whole existence to whom it had
become my privilege, I could belong only to the nation at large, free
from the trammels and above the dissensions of political parties.
I well remember, too, how much pleased I was when the two Companies,
waiving some of their statutes, finally agreed both to receive me
amongst them; and my satisfaction is heightened when I consider that I
owe to that decision the advantage of finding myself associated with you
also.
Anybody may indeed feel proud to be enrolled a member of a Company which
can boast of uninterrupted usefulness and beneficence during four
centuries, and holds to this day the same honourable position in the
estimation of the country which it did in the time of its first
formation, although the progress of civilization and wealth has so
vastly raised the community around it, exemplifying the possibility, in
this happy country, of combining the general progress of mankind with a
due reverence for the institutions, and even forms, which have been
bequeathed to us by the piety and wisdom of our forefathers.
Let us join in the hope that this Corporation may continue in its
charitable functions to be equally an object of respect to our children
and children’s children, and so drink “Prosperity to the Merchant
Tailors’ Company.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON PRESENTING COLOURS TO THE
23RD REGIMENT, ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS.
[JULY 12TH, 1849.]
-------
SOLDIERS OF THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS,
The ceremony which we are performing this day is a most important, and,
to every soldier, a sacred one. It is the transmission to your care and
keeping of the Colours which are henceforth to be borne before you,
which will be the symbol of your honour, the rallying point in all
moments of danger.
I feel most proud to be the person who is to transmit these Colours to a
Regiment so renowned for its valour, fortitude, steadiness, and
discipline.
In looking over the records of your services, I could not refrain from
extracting a few, which show your deeds to have been intimately
connected with all the great periods in our history. The Regiment was
raised in 1688. Its existence therefore began with the settlement of the
liberties of the country. It fought at the Boyne under Schomberg;
captured Namur in Flanders in 1693; formed part of the great
Marlborough’s legions at Blenheim and Oudenarde; fought in 1742 at
Dettingen and Fontenoy; decided the battle of Minden in 1751, for which
the name of _Minden_ is inscribed on the colours; showed examples of
valour and perseverance in America in 1773, at Boston, Charlestown,
Brandywine, and Edgehill; accompanied the Duke of York to Holland; was
amongst the first to land in Egypt, under the brave Abercrombie, and,
later, the last to embark at Corunna; but between these two important
services fought at Copenhagen, and at the taking of Martinique. _Egypt,
Martinique, and Corunna_ are waving in these Colours. In the Peninsula
the Regiment won for their Colours, under the Duke, the names of
_Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelles, Orthes, and
Toulouse_. The deeds performed at Albuera are familiar to everybody who
has read Napier’s inimitable description of that action. The Regiment
was victorious for the last time over a powerful enemy at the Duke’s
last great victory at Waterloo.
Although you were all of course well acquainted with these glorious
records, I have thought it right to refer to them as a proof that they
have not been forgotten by others, and as the best mode of appealing to
you to show yourselves at all times worthy of the name you bear.
Take these Colours, one emphatically called the Queen’s (let it be a
pledge of your loyalty to your Sovereign, and of obedience to the laws
of your country); the other, more especially the Regimental one, let
that be a pledge of your determination to maintain the honour of your
Regiment. In looking at the one, you will think of your Sovereign—in
looking at the other, you will think of those who have fought, bled, and
conquered before you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY
THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR,
THOMAS FARNCOMBE,
TO HER MAJESTY’S MINISTERS,
FOREIGN AMBASSADORS,
ROYAL COMMISSIONERS OF THE EXHIBITION OF 1851,
AND THE
MAYORS OF ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TOWNS,
AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
[MARCH 21ST, 1850.]
-------
MY LORD MAYOR,—
I am sincerely grateful for the kindness with which you have proposed my
health, and to you, gentlemen, for the cordiality with which you have
received this proposal.
It must indeed be most gratifying to me to find that a suggestion which
I had thrown out, as appearing to me of importance at this time, should
have met with such universal concurrence and approbation; for this has
proved to me that the view I took of the peculiar character and claims
of the time we live in was in accordance with the feelings and opinions
of the country.
Gentlemen—I conceive it to be the duty of every educated person closely
to watch and study the time in which he lives, and, as far as in him
lies, to add his humble mite of individual exertion to further the
accomplishment of what he believes Providence to have ordained.
Nobody, however, who has paid any attention to the peculiar features of
our present era, will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period
of most wonderful transition, which tends rapidly to accomplish that
great end, to which, indeed, all history points—_the realization of the
unity of mankind_. Not a unity which breaks down the limits and levels
the peculiar characteristics of the different nations of the earth, but
rather a unity, the _result and product_ of those very national
varieties and antagonistic qualities.
The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the
globe are rapidly vanishing before the achievements of modern invention,
and we can traverse them with incredible ease; the languages of all
nations are known, and their acquirement placed within the reach of
everybody; thought is communicated with the rapidity, and even by the
power, of lightning. On the other hand, the _great principle of division
of labour_, which may be called the moving power of civilization, is
being extended to all branches of science, industry, and art.
Whilst formerly the greatest mental energies strove at universal
knowledge, and that knowledge was confined to the few, now they are
directed on specialities, and in these, again, even to the minutest
points; but the knowledge acquired becomes at once the property of the
community at large; for, whilst formerly discovery was wrapped in
secrecy, the publicity of the present day causes that no sooner is a
discovery or invention made than it is already improved upon and
surpassed by competing efforts. The products of all quarters of the
globe are placed at our disposal, and we have only to choose which is
the best and the cheapest for our purposes, and the powers of production
are intrusted to the stimulus of _competition and capital_.
So man is approaching a more complete fulfilment of that great and
sacred mission which he has to perform in this world. His reason being
created after the image of God, he has to use it to discover the laws by
which the Almighty governs His creation, and, by making these laws his
standard of action, to conquer nature to his use; himself a divine
instrument.
Science discovers these laws of power, motion, and transformation;
industry applies them to the raw matter, which the earth yields us in
abundance, but which becomes valuable only by knowledge. Art teaches us
the immutable laws of beauty and symmetry, and gives to our productions
forms in accordance to them.
Gentlemen—the Exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a living
picture of the point of development at which the whole of mankind has
arrived in this great task, and a new starting-point from which all
nations will be able to direct their further exertions.
I confidently hope that the first impression which the view of this vast
collection will produce upon the spectator will be that of deep
thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessings which He has bestowed
upon us already here below; and the second, the conviction that they can
only be realized in proportion to the help which we are prepared to
render each other; therefore, only by peace, love, and ready assistance,
not only between individuals, but between the nations of the earth.
This being _my_ conviction, I must be highly gratified to see here
assembled the magistrates of all the important towns of this realm,
sinking all their local and possibly political differences, the
representatives of the different political opinions of the country, and
the representatives of the different Foreign Nations—to-day representing
only _one interest_!
Gentlemen—my original plan had been to carry out this undertaking with
the help of the Society of Arts of London, which had long and usefully
laboured in this direction, and by the means of private capital and
enterprise. You have wished it otherwise, and declared that it was a
work which the British people as a whole ought to undertake. I at once
yielded to your wishes, feeling that it proceeded from a patriotic,
noble, and generous spirit. On _your_ courage, perseverance, and
liberality, the undertaking now entirely depends. I feel the strongest
confidence in these qualities of the British people, and I am sure that
they will repose confidence in themselves—confidence that they will
honourably sustain the contest of emulation, and that they will nobly
carry out their proffered hospitality to their foreign competitors.
We, Her Majesty’s Commissioners, are quite alive to the innumerable
difficulties which we shall have to overcome in carrying out the scheme;
but, having confidence in you and in our own zeal and perseverance, at
least, we require only _your confidence in us_ to make us contemplate
the result without any apprehension.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE
OF THE
NATIONAL GALLERY AT EDINBURGH.
[AUGUST 30TH, 1850.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
Now that this ceremony is concluded, you must allow me to express to you
how much satisfaction it has given me to have had it in my power to
comply with your invitation, and to lay the foundation stone of this
important National institution, and that this should have coincided with
the moment when Her Majesty the Queen has come among you, and has given
you a further proof of her attachment to this country, by taking up her
abode, if for a short time only, in the ancient palace of her ancestors
in this capital, where she has been received with such unequivocal
demonstrations of loyalty and affection.
The building, of which we have just begun the foundation, is a temple to
be erected to the Fine Arts; the Fine Arts which have so important an
influence upon the development of the mind and feeling of a people, and
which are so generally taken as the type of the degree and character of
that development, that it is on the fragments of works of art, come down
to us from bygone nations, that we are wont to form our estimate of the
state of their civilization, manners, customs, and religion.
Let us hope that the impulse given to the culture of the Fine Arts in
this country, and the daily increasing attention bestowed upon it by the
people at large, will not only tend to refine and elevate the national
tastes, but will also lead to the production of works which, if left
behind us as memorials of our age, will give to after generations an
adequate idea of our advanced state of civilization.
It must be an additional source of gratification to me to find, that
part of the funds rendered available for the support of this undertaking
should be the ancient grant which, at the union of the two kingdoms, was
secured towards the encouragement of the fisheries and manufactures of
Scotland, as it affords a most pleasing proof that those important
branches of industry have arrived at that stage of manhood and
prosperity when, no longer requiring the aid of a fostering Government,
they can maintain themselves independently, relying upon their own
vigour and activity, and can now in their turn lend assistance and
support to their younger and weaker sisters, the Fine Arts.
Gentlemen, the history of this grant exhibits to us the picture of a
most healthy national progress: the ruder arts connected with the
necessaries of life _first_ gaining strength; then education and science
supervening and directing further exertions; and lastly, the arts which
only adorn life becoming longed for by a prosperous and educated people.
May nothing disturb this progress, and may, by God’s blessing, that
peace and prosperity be preserved to the nation, which will insure to it
a long continuance of moral and intellectual enjoyment!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY
THE LORD MAYOR OF YORK,
AND THE MAYORS OF THE CHIEF CITIES AND TOWNS
OF THE UNITED KINGDOM,
TO THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON.
[OCTOBER 25TH, 1850.]
MY LORD MAYOR,—
I am very sensible of your kindness in proposing my health, and I beg
you, gentlemen, to believe that I feel very deeply your demonstrations
of good will and cordiality towards myself. I can assure you that I
fully reciprocate these sentiments, and that it has given me sincere
pleasure to meet you, the representatives of all the important towns of
the kingdom, again assembled at a festive board, in token of the unity
and harmony of feeling which prevails amongst those whom you represent,
and on which, I am persuaded, the happiness and well-being of the
country so materially depends.
It was an idea honourable at once to the liberality and the discernment
of the Lord Mayor of London to invite you to assemble under his
hospitable roof before you started in the important undertaking upon
which you were going to enter; and when, according to ancient custom,
the loving-cup went round, it was a pledge you gave each other, that,
whatever the rivalries of your different localities might be, you would,
in the approaching contest, all act and appear _as one_, representing
your country at the gathering of the products of the nations of the
earth.
I see by your anxiety to return, before your terms of office shall have
expired, the compliment which London has paid you, that you personally
appreciate, to its full extent, the intention of its chief magistrate;
and you could not have selected a better place for your meeting than
this venerable city, which is so much connected with the recollections
and the history of the empire, and is now pre-eminent as the centre of a
district in which a high state of agriculture is blended with a most
extensive production of manufactures.
But I see, likewise, in your anxiety to meet us, Her Majesty’s
Commissioners, again, a proof of your earnest and continued zeal in the
cause of the approaching Exhibition. It could not be by the impetus of a
momentary enthusiasm, but only by a steady perseverance and sustained
effort, that you could hope to carry out your great undertaking, and
ensure for yourselves and the nation an honourable position in the
comparison which you have invited.
If, to cheer you on in your labours, by no means terminated, you should
require an assurance that that spirit of activity and perseverance _is_
abroad in the country, I can give you that assurance on the ground of
the information which reaches us from all quarters, and I can add to it
our personal conviction, that the works in preparation will be such as
to dispel any apprehension for the position which British industry will
maintain.
From abroad, also, all the accounts which we receive lead us to expect
that the works which are to be sent will be numerous and of a superior
character.
Although we perceive, in some countries, a fear that the advantages to
be derived from the Exhibition will be mainly reaped by England, and a
consequent distrust in the effects of our scheme upon their own
interests, we must at the same time freely and gratefully acknowledge
that our invitation has been received by all nations, with whom
communication was possible, in that spirit of liberality and friendship
in which it was tendered, and that they are making great exertions and
incurring great expenses in order to meet our plans.
Of our own doings at the Commission I should have preferred to remain
silent; but I cannot let this opportunity pass without telling you how
much benefit we have derived, in our difficult labours, from your
uninterrupted confidence in the intentions, at least, which guided our
decisions, and that there has been no difference of opinion on any one
subject, between us and the different local Committees, which has not,
upon personal consultation, and after open explanation and discussion,
vanished, and given way to agreement and identity of purpose.
There is but one alloy to my feelings of satisfaction and pleasure in
seeing you here assembled again, and that is, the painful remembrance
that one is missing from amongst us who felt so warm an interest in our
scheme and took so active a part in promoting its success, the last act
of whose public life was attending at the Royal Commission; my
admiration for whose talents and character, and gratitude for whose
devotion to the Queen, and private friendship towards myself, I feel a
consolation in having this public opportunity to express.
Only at our last meeting we were still admiring his eloquence and the
earnestness with which he appealed to you to uphold, by your exertions
and personal sacrifices, what was to him the highest object—the honour
of his country; he met you the following day, together with other
Commissioners, to confer with you upon the details of our undertaking;
and you must have been struck, as everybody has been who has had the
benefit of his advice upon practical points, with the attention, care,
and sagacity with which he treated the minutest details, proving that to
a great mind nothing is little, from the knowledge that in the moral and
intellectual, as in the physical world, the smallest point is only a
link in that great chain, and holds its appointed place in that great
whole, which is governed by the Divine Wisdom.
The constitution of Sir Robert Peel’s mind was peculiarly that of a
statesman, and of an English statesman: he was liberal from feeling, but
conservative upon principle. Whilst his impulse drove him to foster
progress, his sagacious mind and great experience showed him how easily
the whole machinery of a state and of society is deranged, and how
important, but how difficult also, it is to direct its further
development in accordance with its fundamental principles, like organic
growth in nature. It was peculiar to him, that in great things, as in
small, all the difficulties and objections occurred to him first; he
would anxiously consider them, pause, and warn against rash resolutions;
but having convinced himself, after a long and careful investigation,
that a step was not only right to be taken, but of the practical mode
also of safely taking it, it became to him a necessity and a duty to
take it: all his caution and apparent timidity changed into courage and
power of action, and at the same time readiness cheerfully to make any
personal sacrifice which its execution might demand.
Gentlemen, if he has had so great an influence over this country, it was
from the nation recognizing in his qualities the true type of the
English character, which is essentially practical. Warmly attached to
his institutions, and revering the bequests left to him by the industry,
wisdom, and piety of his forefathers, the Englishman attaches little
value to any theoretical scheme. It will attract his attention only
after having been for some time placed before him; it must have been
thoroughly investigated and discussed before he will entertain it.
Should it be an empty theory, it will fall to the ground during this
time of probation; should it survive this trial, it will be on account
of the practical qualities contained in it; but its adoption in the end
will entirely depend upon its harmonizing with the national feeling, the
historic development of the country, and the peculiar nature of its
institutions.
It is owing to these national qualities that England, whilst constantly
progressing, has still preserved the integrity of her constitution from
the earliest times, and has been protected from wild schemes whose chief
charm lies in their novelty, whilst around us we have seen unfortunately
whole nations distracted, and the very fabric of society endangered,
from the levity with which the result of the experience of generations,
the growth of ages, has been thrown away to give place to temporarily
favourite ideas.
Taking this view of the character of our country, I was pleased when I
saw the plan of the Exhibition of 1851 undergo its ordeal of doubt,
discussion, and even opposition; and I hope that I may now gather from
the energy and earnestness with which its execution is pursued, that the
nation is convinced that it accords with its interests and the position
which England has taken in the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE
DINNER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
[MAY 3RD, 1851.]
-------
MR. PRESIDENT,
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—
You have been very kind in responding with so much warmth to the toast
which your President has just proposed to you, and he will allow me to
thank him very cordially for the flattering expressions which he used
towards myself in introducing to you that toast.
I shall feel very happy if the future should prove that the Great
Exhibition, to which all nations have so generously contributed, should,
amongst other advantages which I firmly hope will result from it,
likewise tend to assist in the promotion of the Fine Arts in this
country, of which you are the representatives; and I feel proud that we
can show to the many foreigners who are now visiting our shores
specimens of British art such as these walls display.
Although I have, since my first arrival in this country, never once
missed visiting the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, and have always
derived the greatest pleasure and instruction from these visits, it is
but seldom that my engagements will allow me to join in your festive
dinner. I have, however, upon this occasion, made it a point to do so,
in order to assist in what may be considered the inauguration festival
of your newly-elected President, at whose election I have heartily
rejoiced, not only on account of my high estimate of his qualities, but
also on account of my feelings of regard towards him personally.
It would be presumptuous in me to speak to you of his talent as an
artist, for that is well known to you, and of it you are the best
judges; or of his merits as an author, for you are all familiar with his
works, or at least ought to be so; or of his amiable character as a man,
for that also you must have had opportunities to estimate: but my
connection with him, now for nine years, on Her Majesty’s Commission of
the Fine Arts, has enabled me to know what you can know less, and what
is of the greatest value in a President of the Royal Academy—I mean that
kindness of heart and refinement of feeling which guided him in all his
communications, often most difficult and delicate, with the different
artists whom we had to invite to competition, whose works we had to
criticise, whom we had to employ or to reject.
Gentlemen, 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 imagination. This renders them most tender plants,
which will thrive only in an atmosphere calculated to maintain that
warmth, and that atmosphere is one of _kindness_—kindness 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, which 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.
In this respect our times are peculiarly unfavourable when compared with
those when Madonnas were painted in the seclusion of convents; for we
have now on the one hand the eager competition of a vast array of
artists of every degree of talent and skill, and on the other, as judge,
a great public, for the greater part wholly uneducated in art, and thus
led by professional writers, who often strive to impress the public with
a great idea of their own artistic knowledge by the merciless manner in
which they treat works which cost those who produced them the highest
efforts of mind or feeling.
The works of art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are
becoming articles of trade, following as such the unreasoning laws of
markets and fashion; and public and even private patronage is swayed by
their tyrannical influence.
It is, then, to an institution like this, gentlemen, that we must look
for a counterpoise to these evils. Here young artists are educated and
taught the mysteries of their profession; those who have distinguished
themselves, and given proof of their talent and power, receive a badge
of acknowledgment from their professional brethren by being elected
Associates of the Academy; and are at last, after long toil and
continued exertion, received into a select aristocracy of a limited
number, and shielded in any further struggle by their well-established
reputation, of which the letters R.A. attached to their names give a
pledge to the public.
If this body is often assailed from without, it shares only the fate of
every aristocracy; if more than another, this only proves that it is
even more difficult to sustain an aristocracy of merit than one of birth
or of wealth, and may serve as a useful check upon yourselves when
tempted at your elections to let personal predilection compete with real
merit.
Of one thing, however, you may rest assured, and that is the continued
favour of the Crown. The same feelings which actuated George the Third
in founding this institution, still actuate the Crown in continuing to
it its patronage and support, recognizing in you a constitutional link,
as it were, between the Crown itself and the artistic body. And when I
look at the assemblage of guests at this table, I may infer that the
Crown does not stand alone in this respect, but that its feelings are
shared also by the great and noble in the land.
May the Academy long flourish, and continue its career of usefulness!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE THIRD JUBILEE OF
THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY
FOR THE
PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN
PARTS.
[JUNE 16TH, 1851.]
-------
MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN,—
We are assembled here to-day in order to celebrate the third jubilee of
the foundation of the “Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts,” incorporated by Royal Charter, and one of the chief
sources of the spiritual aid which the Church of England affords to our
extensive colonial dependencies.
We are not commemorating, however, an isolated fact which may have been
glorious or useful to the country, but we are thankfully acknowledging
the Divine favour which has attended exertions which have been
unremitting during the lapse of one hundred and fifty years. We are met
at the same time to invoke the further continuance of that favour,
pledging ourselves not to relax in our efforts to extend to those of our
brethren who are settled in distant lands, and building up communities
and states where man’s footsteps had first to be imprinted on the soil,
and wild nature yet to be conquered to his use, those blessings of
Christianity which form the foundation of our community and of our
state.
This Society was first chartered by that great man William the Third,
the greatest sovereign this country has to boast of; by whose sagacity
and energy was closed that bloody struggle for civil and religious
liberty which so long had convulsed this country, and who secured to us
the inestimable advantages of our constitution and of our Protestant
faith.
Having thus placed the country upon a safe basis at home, he could
boldly meet her foes abroad, and contribute to the foundation of that
colonial empire which forms so important a part of our present
greatness; and honour be to him for his endeavour to place this
foundation upon the rock of the Church.
The first jubilee of the Society fell in times when religious apathy had
succeeded to the over-excitement of the preceding age. Lax morals and a
sceptical philosophy began to undermine the Christian faith, treating
with indifference and even ridicule the most sacred objects. Still this
Society persevered in its labours with unremitting zeal, turning its
chief attention to the North American continent, where a young and
vigorous society was rapidly growing into a people.
The second jubilee found this country in a most critical position: she
had obtained, by the peace of Amiens, a moment’s respite from the
tremendous contest in which she had been engaged with her continental
rival, and which she had soon to renew, in order to maintain her own
existence, and to secure a permanent peace to Europe. Since the last
jubilee, the American colonies, which had originally been peopled
chiefly by British subjects who had left their homes to escape the yoke
of religious intolerance and oppression, had thrown off their allegiance
to the mother country in defence of civil rights, the attachment to
which they had carried with them from the British soil. Yet this Society
was not dismayed, but in a truly Christian spirit continued its labours
in the neighbouring North American and West Indian settlements.
This, the third jubilee, falls in a happier epoch, when peace is
established in Europe, and religious fervour is rekindled, and at an
auspicious moment when we are celebrating a festival of the civilization
of mankind, to which all quarters of the globe have contributed their
productions, and are sending their people, for the first time
recognizing their advancement as a common good, their interests as
identical, their mission on earth the same.
And this civilization rests on Christianity, could only be raised on
Christianity, can only be maintained by Christianity! the blessings of
which are now carried by this Society to the vast territories of India
and Australasia, which last are again to be peopled by the Anglo-Saxon
race.
Whilst we have thus to congratulate ourselves upon our state of temporal
prosperity, harmony at home, and peace abroad, we cannot help deploring
that the Church, whose exertions for the progress of Christianity and
civilization we are to-day acknowledging, should be afflicted by
internal dissensions and attacks from without. 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 Reformation—_the Gospel and the
unfettered right of its use_.
The dissensions and difficulties which we witness in this as in every
other Church arise from the natural and necessary conflict of the two
antagonistic principles which move human society in Church as well as in
State; I mean the principles of _individual liberty and of allegiance
and submission to the will of the community_, exacted by it for its own
preservation.
These conflicting principles cannot safely be disregarded: they must be
reconciled. To this country belongs the honour of having succeeded in
this mighty task, as far as the State is concerned, whilst other nations
are still wrestling with it; and I feel persuaded that the same earnest
zeal and practical wisdom which has made her political Constitution an
object of admiration to other nations will, under God’s blessing, make
her Church likewise a model to the world.
Let us look upon this assembly as a token of future hope; and may the
harmony which reigns amongst us at this moment, and which we owe to
having met in furtherance of a common holy object, be by the Almighty
permanently bestowed upon the Church.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY’S SHOW.
[WINDSOR, JULY 16TH, 1851.]
-------
MY LORD DUKE,
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—
I am very sensible of the honour which you have done me in proposing my
health; and I can assure you, gentlemen, that the kind way in which you
have responded to the toast will never be forgotten by me.
Some years have elapsed already since I last dined with you in this
migratory pavilion, and I am glad that you should have pitched it this
day under the walls of Windsor Castle, and that I should myself have an
opportunity of bidding you a hearty welcome in the Home Park.
Your encampment singularly contrasts with that which the barons of
England, the feudal lords of the land, with their retainers, erected
round old Windsor Castle on a similar mead, though not exactly in the
same locality. They came then clad in steel, with lance and war-horse;
you appear in a more peaceful attire, and the animals you bring with you
are the tokens of your successful cultivation of the arts of peace. King
John came trembling amongst his subjects, unwillingly compelled to sign
that Great Charter which has ever since been your birthright. Your
Sovereign came confiding among her loyal and loving people; she came to
admire the results of their industry, and to encourage them to persevere
in their exertions.
And the gratification which the Queen has felt at the sight of your
splendid collection must, I am sure, be participated in by all who
examine it. I am doubly pleased at this success, not only because it is
witnessed by the many visitors from foreign lands now within our shores,
whom every Englishman must wish to inspire with respect for the state of
British agriculture, but also because I feel to a certain degree
personally responsible for having deprived you of one generally most
interesting feature of your show: I mean the field-fruits and the
agricultural machines and implements. Though separated from your
collection, they are seen to great advantage in another Royal Park; and
you will have been glad to hear that, “whatever the difficulty may be in
deciding upon the superiority of the works of industry and art sent to
the Crystal Palace by the different nations of the earth, the British
agricultural implements are acknowledged by common consent to stand
there almost without a rival.”
Let me now use the privilege which your President has allowed me to
enjoy, in proposing to you, as a toast, “Prosperity to the Royal
Agricultural Society.” To its exhibitions, the means of comparison which
they have afforded, and the emulation which they have stimulated, we owe
to a great extent the progress which British agriculture has made of
late. To this Society belongs the honour to have been one of the first
to appreciate the value of such exhibitions, and to have from the
beginning liberally and fearlessly admitted all competitors without
restriction.
I drink, “Prosperity to the Royal Agricultural Society.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE
BANQUET AT THE TRINITY HOUSE.
[JUNE 4TH, 1853.]
1.
Wherever Englishmen meet at a public dinner they make it their pride to
take no proceedings without first drinking to the health of “The Queen.”
The Corporation of the Trinity House yield in feelings of loyalty to
none of Her Majesty’s subjects.—Gentlemen!
“THE QUEEN!”
2.
The toast I have now to propose to you is that of the Royal Family.
It is a blessing attending the monarchical institutions of this country,
that the domestic relations and the domestic happiness of the sovereign
are inseparable from the relations and happiness of the people at large.
In the progress of the Royal Family through life is reflected, as it
were, the progress of the generation to which they belong, and out of
the common sympathy felt for them arises an additional bond of union
amongst the people themselves. I have often been deeply touched by the
many proofs of kindness, and, I may say, almost parental affection, with
which the Prince of Wales and the rest of our young family have been
welcomed on their earliest appearance. May God grant that they may some
day repay that affection, and make themselves worthy of it by fulfilling
the expectations which the country so fondly cherishes!
3.
I am sure that you could not have entered this room without feeling a
pang at missing from the chair, which I am this day called upon to
occupy, that great man whose loss we still find it almost impossible to
realise. It would be repugnant to our feelings to take another step in
the proceedings of this evening without paying a mournful tribute to his
name. Let us drink in solemn silence to the memory of the great Duke, to
whom this Corporation, as well as the whole nation, are so deeply
indebted.
4.
I have now to invite you to drink to the British Army and Navy, and in
doing so I would add to the toast the names of the two distinguished men
who preside over them, the General Commanding-in-Chief and the First
Lord of the Admiralty, Viscount Hardinge and Sir James Graham.
It is under the protection of these two great services that this country
has attained an extent of power, wealth, and territory, without a
parallel in history.
We are rich, prosperous, and contented, therefore peaceful by instinct.
We are becoming, I hope, daily more civilized and religious, and,
therefore, daily recognizing more and more, that the highest use to
which we can apply the advantages with which an all-bountiful Providence
has favoured us, is to extend and maintain the blessings of Peace. I
hope, however, the day may never arrive which would find us either so
enervated by the enjoyment of riches and luxury, or so sunk in the
decrepitude of age, that, from a miserable eagerness to cling to our
mere wealth and comforts, we should be deaf to the calls of Honour and
Duty.
5.
The Health of Her Majesty’s Ministers is the toast which I now ask you
to drink.
The Brethren of the Trinity House have at all times been anxious
cordially to co-operate with Her Majesty’s Government, by whomsoever
conducted; they know no politics, but feel that the responsibility which
is imposed upon those men who are intrusted with the care of the
multifarious interests of this vast empire is an awful one, requiring
every assistance which it may be in the power of individuals or public
bodies to afford. They are convinced also, that, however party violence
may separate public men from each other, they are all equally influenced
by one sole consideration, the good of their country.
The Earl of Aberdeen and Her Majesty’s Ministers.
6.
I am very grateful to you, gentlemen, for the kindness with which you
have received the toast proposed by the Deputy Master,[5] and beg to
thank him for the obliging terms in which he has proposed my health.
Footnote 5:
The late Captain Shepheard.
When this important Corporation elected me as their Master, I was well
aware that I did not owe this to any personal merit of my own, giving me
a claim to such an honour, and I might well have paused before I
undertook to succeed, in any task or position, that great Man whom few
can hope to equal in talent, energy, and wisdom; but I saw in the choice
of the Brethren a desire to mark their attachment to the Throne, and, in
my own acceptance, a means for the Queen to testify through me her
interest and solicitude for British Commerce and Shipping, and for the
British Seaman. This Corporation has had, since King Henry the Eighth,
one of the high functions of administration delegated to it by the
State, that, namely, of lighting the coast, piloting vessels, and
tendering aid and assistance to the merchant seaman worn out by the
toils and the privations of his adventurous life. The world bears
testimony to the manner in which this duty has been discharged; and I
can refer to none which can be more satisfactory to the Corporation than
that which has been only recently borne by our brethren on the other
side of the Atlantic.
Gentlemen! The ever-changing, renovating, and preserving influences of
time have, in their inevitable operation, made themselves felt also with
regard to this Institution, and the greatest credit is due to the wisdom
and patriotism of the Brethren for having rightly judged and appreciated
the demands made by them. Having hitherto enjoyed the almost
irresponsible power of taxing the public for the objects of their trust,
they cheerfully consented to submit their affairs to the utmost
publicity, as well as to a control from Government. Their own power they
surrendered without a murmur; the interests of the poor seaman they
thought themselves bound to advocate. Whilst repudiating any wish to
retain patronage in the distribution of alms, which in fact they had
hitherto looked upon rather as an anxious and responsible duty, they
exerted themselves to the utmost to bring the claims of this deserving
class before the Government; and whatever may be the inherent difficulty
in framing a measure, the purport of which is to relieve a _class_,
without impairing its moral strength and self-dependence, they still
hope that the Legislature will not shrink from the attempt.
Gentlemen—for all the Trinity House may have done, thanks are solely due
to the excellent Deputy Master, and the Elder Brethren by whom he is so
efficiently supported. Let us drink his health, and Prosperity to the
Corporation of the Trinity House.
7.
One of the peculiar features of the public life of this country is, that
no public body stands isolated in the community, but that it endeavours
to establish and maintain an organic connection with the other interests
and classes of society, securing thereby the inestimable advantage of
harmony of action and feeling. The Corporation of the Trinity House has
sought to effect this through its Honorary Brethren; and I have only to
point to those who now sit as such round this table to prove that,
whilst the Corporation has been guided in its choice solely by the
desire to connect itself with the men who stand highest in the
estimation of their country, the most distinguished men have, on their
side, deemed it an honour to become the objects of that choice.
In drinking to the Honorary Brethren, I would mention the name of the
gallant Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Byam Martin, who may be truly called
the Father of his profession.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE BICENTENARY FESTIVAL OF THE
CORPORATION OF THE SONS OF THE
CLERGY.
[MAY 10TH, 1854.]
-------
MY LORD MAYOR,—
Allow me to return you, on my own behalf, and on that of the Royal
Family, my best thanks for the manner in which you have proposed our
health, and to you, gentlemen, for the cordial response which you have
made to the toast.
I am, indeed, highly gratified to have been a witness to the _Two
Hundredth Anniversary_ of this Festival, testifying, as it does, that
the people of this country do not relax in efforts which they have once
undertaken, and do not forsake the spirit which animated their
forefathers.
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.
Gentlemen—this nation has enjoyed for three hundred years the blessing
of a Church Establishment which rests upon this basis, and cannot be too
grateful for the advantages afforded by the fact that the 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.
Whilst we must gratefully acknowledge that they have, as a body,
worthily fulfilled this high and difficult task, we must bear in mind
that we deny them an equal participation in one of the actuating motives
of life—the one which, amongst the “children of this generation,”
exercises, perhaps of necessity, the strongest influence—I mean the
desire for the acquisition and accumulation of the goods of this world.
Gentlemen—the appellation of a “money-making parson” is not only a
reproach but a condemnation for a clergyman, depriving him at once of
all influence over his congregation. Yet this man, who has to shun
opportunities for acquiring wealth open to most of us, and who has
himself only an often scanty life-income allotted to him for his
services, has a wife and children like ourselves; and we wish him to
have the same solicitude for their welfare which we feel for our own.
Are we not bound, then, to do what we can to relieve his mind from
anxiety, and to preserve his children from destitution, when it shall
have pleased the Almighty to remove him from the scene of his labours?
You have given an answer in the affirmative by your presence here
to-day; and although this institution can do _materially_ but little,
morally it gives a public recognition of the claims which the sons of
the clergy have upon the sympathy and liberality of the community at
large, and as such is of the greatest value.
May it continue for further hundreds of years as a band of union between
Clergy and Laity, and on each recurring centenary may it find this
nation ever advancing in prosperity, civilization, and piety!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DINNER AT THE TRINITY HOUSE.
[JUNE 21ST, 1854.]
-------
1.
“THE QUEEN.”
2.
The toast which I have to propose to you is that of—
“His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES and the rest of the ROYAL
FAMILY.”
In doing so, I am impelled to refer to one Member of that family who is
at present engaged in the discharge of arduous duties in the East. He is
the only one whom both his position and his age permitted to offer his
services on this occasion, and I rejoice at his having done so, as a
proof that the Members of the Royal Family are at all times ready to
serve—ay! and, if necessary, to bleed for their country.
3.
“The Army and Navy.”
The toast which I have now to propose to you—“The Army and Navy of Great
Britain”—will be drunk by you with peculiar emotions at this time, as
your eyes are turned towards these Services, your hearts beat for them,
and with their success the welfare and the honour of the country are so
intimately bound up.
They will do their duty as they have always done, and may the Almighty
bless their efforts!
What is asked to be achieved by them in this instance is a task of
inordinate difficulty, not only from the nature and climate of the
country in which they are fighting, but also from the peculiarity of the
enemy to whom they are opposed, as it may so happen that the Army may
meet a foe of ten times its number, whilst the Fleet may find it
impossible to meet one at all.
All these difficulties, however, may be considered as compensated by the
goodness of our cause, “the vindication of the public law of Europe,”
and the fact that we have fighting by our side a Power, the military
prowess and vigour of which we have hitherto chiefly known from the
severity of long and anxious contests. If there be a contest between us
now, it will be one of emulation, and not of enmity.
“The Army and Navy of Great Britain, and the Health of the Right
Honourable Lord VISCOUNT HARDINGE, and the Right Honourable SIR
JAMES GRAHAM, Bart.”
4.
We are honoured to-day by the presence of the Members of Her Majesty’s
Government. The only return which the country can make to those men, who
sacrifice their own quiet, privacy, and often health, to the arduous and
anxious labours of conducting the public business, is an acknowledgment
of the sincerity and disinterestedness of their motives of action. This
it is which I invite you to give upon the present occasion in drinking
the health of Her Majesty’s Government, and LORD JOHN RUSSELL, Lord
President of the Council.
6.
I am very much obliged to you for the kind expressions in which you have
proposed my health, and to the company for the way in which they have
received it. But I have to thank you, the Elder Brethren, especially,
for the mark of confidence which you have shown me in re-electing me as
your Master, a confidence which I assure you that I appreciate highly,
and of which I shall be anxious to prove myself at all times worthy.
Although the duties of my office are hardly more than nominal, I attach
the greatest value to my personal connection with your Corporation—the
only public body to whom duties are intrusted so deeply affecting the
interests of the commerce, the shipping, and the seamen of this country.
I must also take this opportunity to congratulate you on the working of
the important alterations made last year in your constitution, as they
have proved a successful attempt at that difficult and nice operation,
to bring the spontaneous activity of a public body into harmony with the
general feelings of the country, as represented in its Government,
without destroying all individual and organic life by the killing
influence of an arbitrary mechanical centralization.
In proposing to you to drink to the future prosperity of the
Corporation, I shall but follow your wishes in coupling the toast with
the name of the Deputy Master, to whose zeal and ability so much of its
present prosperity is due.
7.
I have the honour of naming to you, as the next toast, “The Honorary
Brethren of the Corporation.” They are composed of men, although varying
in their political opinions, yet all standing high in the estimation of
their country—an esteem which they have earned by distinguished services
rendered to the State, and the Corporation is justly proud of its
connection with them. I would ask permission to couple the toast with
the name of The Earl of Haddington.
14.
In returning the thanks of the Corporation to our distinguished guests,
I beg leave to propose to you “The Health of the Lord High Chancellor of
England, and the other noble and distinguished persons who have this day
honoured the Corporation by their presence.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECHES DELIVERED AT THE
ANNUAL DINNER AT THE TRINITY HOUSE.
[JUNE 9TH, 1855.]
1.
“THE QUEEN!”
2.
I propose to you the health of the PRINCE of WALES and the rest of the
ROYAL FAMILY. May they prosper under the favour of the Almighty!
3.
The toast which I now propose to you—the “Army and Navy”—is one in which
I am sure no Englishman can join at this moment without the feelings of
the deepest emotion. In their keeping stand the honour and the best
interests of this country—I may say the interests of the civilization of
Europe. And nobly have they done their duty! whether in the daring
impetuosity of attack, in the cool intrepidity of defence, or the noble
and truly Christian patience with which they have endured nameless
sufferings and privations! They have set us all an example well worthy
of imitation, and making us proud of the generation to which we belong.
May God grant that their exertions may be crowned with the success they
have striven to deserve, and that they may, by the side of our noble and
gallant allies, conquer to the world a peace which may secure its
tranquillity and prosperity from any further interruption!
I drink “The health of Viscount Hardinge, Sir Charles Wood, and the Army
and Navy. Success to their exertions!”
4.
I now propose to you the health of “Her Majesty’s Ministers.”
If there ever was a time when the Queen’s Government, by whomsoever
conducted, required the support—ay, not the support alone, but the
confidence, goodwill, and sympathy of their fellow-countrymen, it is the
present. It is not the way to success in war to support it, however
ardently and energetically, and to run down and weaken those who have to
conduct it. We are engaged with a mighty adversary, who uses against us
all those wonderful powers which have sprung up under the generating
influence of our liberty and our civilization, and employs them with all
the force which unity of purpose and action, impenetrable secresy, and
uncontrolled despotic power give him; whilst we have to meet him under a
state of things intended for peace and the promotion of that very
civilization—a civilization the offspring of public discussion, the
friction of parties, and popular control over the government of the
State. The Queen has no power to levy troops, and none at her command,
except such as voluntarily offer their services. Her Government can
entertain no measures for the prosecution of the war without having to
explain them publicly in Parliament; her armies and fleets can make no
movement, nor even prepare for any, without its being proclaimed by the
press; and no mistake, however trifling, can occur, no weakness exist,
which it may be of the utmost importance to conceal from the world,
without its being publicly denounced, and even frequently exaggerated,
with a morbid satisfaction. The Queen’s ambassadors can carry on no
negociation which has not to be publicly defended by entering into all
the arguments which a negotiator, to have success, must be able to shut
up in the innermost recesses of his heart—nay, at the most critical
moment, when the complication of military measures and diplomatic
negociations may be at their height, an adverse vote in Parliament may
of a sudden deprive her of all her confidential servants.
Gentlemen! Constitutional Government is under a heavy trial, and can
only pass triumphantly through it, if the country will grant its
confidence—a patriotic, indulgent, and self-denying confidence—to Her
Majesty’s Government. Without this, all their labours must be in vain.
I hope you will drink with me “The Health of Viscount Palmerston and Her
Majesty’s Ministers.”
5.
I am much obliged to you for your kindness in proposing my health, and
to the company for the reception which they have given to the toast.
It always affords me great satisfaction to be able to preside at your
annual Dinner, particularly when I can congratulate you on the
completion of another year of usefulness and of successful labour. This
I am enabled to do on the present occasion, and have only to point to
the satisfactory working of your extended jurisdiction over the Cinque
Port pilots—to the progress of your lighthouses—to the success in your
efforts to ameliorate the condition of the ballast-heavers—and to the
fact that you have, through the Board of Trade, entered into a
communication with Her Majesty’s Colonies, for the purpose of laying
down a complete system of lighting, based on your knowledge and
experience, in those important but remotely-removed parts of the world.
It is to the indefatigable zeal of the Deputy Master that much of this
success is due; you will, therefore, I doubt not, gladly join with me in
drinking to _his good health_, in connection with the toast of the
evening—“Prosperity to the Corporation of the Trinity House.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE OPENING OF
THE NEW CATTLE MARKET,
IN COPENHAGEN FIELDS, ISLINGTON.
[JUNE 13TH, 1855.]
-------
MY LORD MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN,—
Accept the expression of my hearty thanks for your kind welcome, and for
the gratifying assurance of your loyal and affectionate attachment to
the Queen and her Family. I have been much pleased by the opportunity
which your kind invitation has afforded me of seeing and admiring the
great work which you this day open to the public—a work which not only
deserves all admiration in itself, on account of the excellence of the
arrangements and the magnificence of the design, but which will, I
trust, be found eminently conducive to the comfort and health of the
City of London. That its success will be commensurate with the spirit in
which it has been undertaken and carried out I cannot doubt. A certain
dislocation of habits and interests must inevitably attend the removal
of the great City market from the site it has occupied for so many
centuries, and this may possibly retard for the moment the fullest
development of the undertaking; but any opposition arising from such
causes will soon cease, and the farmers will, doubtless, soon learn to
appreciate the boon thus conferred upon them by the Corporation of
London in the increased facility which will be afforded to them for the
transaction of their business and the comparative security with which
they will be enabled to bring up and display their valuable stock in the
Great Metropolitan Cattle Market.
[The LORD MAYOR gave the health of HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, who, in
responding to the toast, said]—
MY LORD MAYOR,—
I return you my best thanks for the honour you have done me in proposing
my health, and to you, gentlemen, for the kindness with which you have
responded to the toast.
It has given me very great pleasure to have been able to accept the
invitation of the Lord Mayor to be present at the opening of this
splendid and useful work; and I beg to assure him that the oftener he
shall invite me to similar ceremonies, the better I shall be pleased.
This wonderful metropolis, which has already gathered beneath its roofs
nearly two million and a half of human beings, and has even within these
last six years added not less than 290 miles of street to its extent,
imperatively requires that those establishments which are to minister to
the common wants of the whole should keep pace with its growth and
magnitude. They can only be undertaken by public bodies, they can only
be successfully carried out by public spirit. I know that the
difficulties which have to be overcome, where so much private capital
has acquired vested interests, are immense; but I hail the spirit which
is rising amongst us, and which, I doubt not, will meet those
difficulties. I hail this instance as an earnest of your determination
to accept the duties which your position has imposed upon you, and as a
proof that success will at all times reward a bold and conscientious
execution of them.
I beg now to propose to you to drink the “Health of the Lord Mayor and
Corporation of the City of London, and Prosperity to the New
Metropolitan Cattle Market.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE BANQUET IN
THE BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL,
ON THE OCCASION OF LAYING THE FIRST STONE
OF THE
BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE.
[NOVEMBER 22ND, 1855.]
-------
[An Address having been presented by the Corporation,
His ROYAL HIGHNESS in reply said—]
MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN,—
The cordial reception I have met with from you demands my warmest
acknowledgments. You only, I assure you, do me justice in giving me
credit for a deep interest in whatever may tend to promote the
advancement of either the moral or the material good of the people of
this country; but you are doing so in too flattering a manner, and
attach too high a value to any service that it may have been in my power
to render in this cause. I feel it would be a high privilege to be
associated in any way with those who are making such noble efforts—and
nowhere with more energy and perseverance than in Birmingham—for the
improvement of their fellow-countrymen; and to be allowed to witness the
success of those efforts will be a more than sufficient reward for any
assistance I may myself have been enabled to afford.
[Lord CALTHORPE having read the Address of the Council of the
Institute,
His ROYAL HIGHNESS said—]
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—
I thank you very sincerely for your address. It is with more than
ordinary pleasure that I have accepted your kind invitation to take part
in the ceremony which is this day to mark the first step towards the
establishment of an Institution, from which I join with its warmest
supporters in looking for the most advantageous results.
I cannot, indeed, doubt for a moment that the expectations of those who
believe that the “value and dignity of human labour will receive a
manifold increase, when guided by the light of scientific knowledge,”
will be amply realized. And it is most gratifying to me to hear the
expression of your opinion that the desire for the “keener and more
comprehensive study of the principles by which the exercise of man’s
productive powers is controlled,” from which you anticipate such
advantage, has been stimulated by the Great Exhibition of 1851, to my
connection with which you have been pleased to allude in such flattering
terms.
I cannot forget that the example of such Industrial Exhibitions had been
already set by this town, and with the best results; or that to the
experience so acquired the Executive Committee of the greater
undertaking of ’51 were much indebted in carrying that work to a
successful issue. As Birmingham was thus foremost in giving a practical
stimulus to the works of Art and Industry, so she is now one of the
first in the field to encourage a scientific study of the principles on
which those works depend for success.
I trust with you, and confidently believe, that the moral as well as the
material welfare of this great community will be advanced by the union,
for scientific objects, of men of all classes and of all opinions, in
such institutions as that of which I am to-day to have the honour of
laying the first stone. And most heartily do I join with you in
congratulating the country that not even such a war as that in which we
are now engaged, calculated as it is to enlist our warmest sympathies
and to engage our more immediate interest, can divert Englishmen from
the noble work of fostering the Arts of Peace, and endeavouring to give
a wider scope to the blessings of freedom and civilization.
[Lord CALTHORPE, the President of the Institute, proposed “The
Health of PRINCE ALBERT, and the other Members of the Royal
Family.”
His ROYAL HIGHNESS replied—]
I am much obliged to you, my Lord, for your proposing my health in such
kind terms, and I cannot but be much gratified by the cordial reception
which you, gentlemen, have been pleased to give to this toast.
It has been a great pleasure to me to have been able to participate, in
however trifling a degree, in a work which I do not look upon as a
simple act of worldly wisdom on the part of this great town and
locality, but as one of the first public acknowledgments of a principle
which is daily forcing its way amongst us, and is destined to play a
great and important part in the future development of this nation and of
the world in general: I mean the introduction of science and art as the
unconscious regulators of productive industry.
The courage and spirit of enterprise with which an immense amount of
capital is embarked in industrial pursuits, and the skill and
indefatigable perseverance with which these are carried on in this
country, cannot but excite universal admiration; but in all our
operations, whether agricultural or manufacturing, it is not _we_ who
operate, but the laws of nature, which we have set in operation.
It is, then, of the highest importance that we should know these laws,
in order to know what we are about, and the reason why certain things
are, which occur daily under our hands, and what _course_ we are to
pursue with regard to them.
Without such knowledge we are condemned to one of three states: either
we merely go on to do things just as our fathers did, and for no better
reason than because they did them so; or, trusting to some personal
authority, we adopt at random the recommendation of some specific, in a
speculative hope that it may answer; or lastly—and this is the most
favourable case—we ourselves improve upon certain processes; but this
can only be the result of an experience hardly earned and dearly bought,
and which, after all, can only embrace a comparatively short space of
time, and a small number of experiments.
From none of these causes can we hope for much progress; for the mind,
however ingenious, has no materials to work with, and remains in
presence of phenomena, the causes of which are hidden from it.
But these laws of nature, these divine laws, are capable of being
discovered and understood, and of being taught and made our own. _This
is the task of science_; and, whilst science discovers and teaches these
laws, art teaches their application. No pursuit is therefore too
insignificant not to be capable of becoming the subject both of a
science and an art.
The fine arts (as far as they relate to painting, sculpture, and
architecture), which are sometimes confounded with art in general, rest
on the application of the laws of form and colour, and what may be
called the science of the beautiful. They do not rest on any arbitrary
theory on the modes of producing pleasurable emotions, but follow fixed
laws—more difficult perhaps to seize than those regulating the material
world, because belonging partly to the sphere of the ideal, and of our
spiritual essence, yet perfectly appreciable and teachable, both
abstractedly and historically, from the works of different ages and
nations.
No human pursuits make any material progress until science is brought to
bear upon them. We have seen accordingly many of them slumber for
centuries upon 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.
It is sometimes objected by the ignorant that science is uncertain and
changeable, and they point with a malicious kind of pleasure to the many
exploded theories which have been superseded by others, as a proof that
the present knowledge may be also unsound, and, after all, not worth
having. But they are not aware that, while they think to cast blame upon
science, they bestow, in fact, the highest praise upon her.
For that is precisely the difference between science and prejudice: that
the latter keeps stubbornly to its position, whether disproved or not,
whilst the former is an unarrestable movement towards the fountain of
truth, caring little for cherished authorities or sentiments, but
continually progressing, feeling no false shame at her shortcomings,
but, on the contrary, the highest pleasure, when freed from an error, at
having advanced another step towards the attainment of Divine truth—a
pleasure not even intelligible to the pride of ignorance.
We also hear, not unfrequently, science and practice, scientific
knowledge and common sense, contrasted as antagonistic. A strange error!
for science is eminently practical, and must be so, as she sees and
knows what she is doing, whilst mere common practice is condemned to
work in the dark, applying natural ingenuity to unknown powers to obtain
a known result.
Far be it from me to undervalue the creative power of genius, or to
treat shrewd common sense as worthless without knowledge. But nobody
will tell me that the same genius would not take an incomparably higher
flight, if supplied with all the means which knowledge can impart; or
that common sense does not become, in fact, only truly powerful when in
possession of the materials upon which judgment is to be exercised.
The study of the laws by which the Almighty governs the Universe is
therefore our bounden duty. Of these laws our great academies and seats
of education have, rather arbitrarily, selected only two spheres or
groups (as I may call them) as essential parts of our national
education: the laws which regulate quantities and proportions, which
form the subject of mathematics, and the laws regulating the expression
of our thoughts, through the medium of language, that is to say,
grammar, which finds its purest expression in the classical languages.
These laws are most important branches of knowledge, their study trains
and elevates the mind, but they are not the only ones; there are others
which we cannot disregard, which we cannot do without.
There are, for instance, the laws governing the human mind, and its
relation to the Divine Spirit (the subject of logic and metaphysics);
there are those which govern our bodily nature and its connection with
the soul (the subject of physiology and psychology); those which govern
human society, and the relations between man and man (the subjects of
politics, jurisprudence, and political economy); and many others.
Whilst of the laws just mentioned some have been recognized as
essentials of education in different institutions, and some will, by the
course of time, more fully assert their right to recognition, the laws
regulating matter and form are those which will constitute the chief
object of _your_ pursuits; and, as the principle of subdivision of
labour is the one most congenial to our age, I would advise you to keep
to this speciality, and to follow with undivided attention chiefly the
sciences of mechanics, physics, and chemistry, and the fine arts in
painting, sculpture, and architecture.
You will thus have conferred an inestimable boon upon your country, and
in a short time have the satisfaction of witnessing the beneficial
results upon our national powers of production. Other parts of the
country will, I doubt not, emulate your example; and I live in hope that
all these institutions will some day find a central point of union, and
thus complete their national organization.
Thanking you once more for having allowed me to assist at the foundation
of your Institution, I, with all my heart, wish it growth, vigour, and
prosperity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADDRESS TO THE
3RD AND 4TH REGIMENTS OF THE GERMAN
LEGION
AT SHORNCLIFFE, ON PRESENTING TO THEM
THEIR COLOURS.
[DECEMBER 6TH, 1855.]
-------
Es freut mich herzlich Ihnen persönlich diese Fahnen überreichen zu
können, da mir diess zugleich eine Gelegenheit giebt Ihnen auszudrücken,
wie sehr die Königin die Bereitwilligkeit anerkannt mit welcher Sie
ihrem Rufe gefolgt und unter die Waffen getreten sind.
Ich lebe der festen Ueberzeugung, dass Sie unter allen Umständen die
Ehre einer Fahne aufrecht erhalten werden, die bis jetzt siegenreich in
allen Theilen der Welt geweht hat, im Kämpfen für Recht, Ordnung, und
Freiheit, und zur Verbreitung der Civilisation.
Möge der Allmächtige Sie mit seinem Schutze in allen den Mühsalen und
Gefahren begleiten, die Sie sich muthig entschlossen haben, mit der
tapferen Englischen Armee zu theilen!
Sie wird Sie, daran zweifle ich nicht, als Brüder bewillkommen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE OPENING OF
THE GOLDEN-LANE SCHOOLS.
[MARCH 19TH, 1857.]
MR. ROGERS[6] AND GENTLEMEN, PROMOTERS AND SUPPORTERS OF THESE
SCHOOLS,—
Footnote 6:
The Rev. William Rogers, incumbent of St. Thomas Charterhouse, and
Chaplain to the Queen.
I thank you heartily for your kind and cordial welcome. I rejoice at the
opportunity which has this day been afforded to me of visiting this
noble establishment, and my satisfaction in doing so is increased by the
circumstance that my visit occurs at a period of its existence when the
state of useful development to which by your exertions it has attained
is about, by a continuance of the same exertions, to receive a still
wider extension. In the progress of these schools, struggling, I may
say, from the most lowly and humble beginnings up to their present noble
dimensions, we find a striking exemplification of the Divine truth, that
the principle of good once sown is not destined to lie dormant, but
that, like the grain of mustard-seed, it is calculated to extend and
develop itself in an ever-increasing sphere of usefulness; and we may
confidently hope that what you have now effected, following this
universal law, will not be limited in its results to the immediate
objects of your charitable exertions, but that it will prove the means
of diffusing untold blessings among the most remote generations. For
you, Mr. Rogers, who have been mainly instrumental, and at great
personal sacrifice, in bringing about this great good, and for those who
have stood by you, and contributed by their support to the success of
your efforts, there can, I am sure, be no higher source of gratification
than in the contemplation of your own work. The reflection that you have
been the instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring upon the
poor and needy in this vast district that greatest of all boons, the
means of obtaining for their children the blessings of education and of
religious instruction, without which any lasting success in life or any
permanent amelioration of their lot would seem hopeless; and still
further, the feeling that this inestimable blessing will be secured in a
yet higher degree to their children’s children, will carry with it its
own best reward. Still it will be a source of legitimate pride and
satisfaction to you to know that your labours have not been unobserved,
but that your noble and Christianlike exertions to benefit those who
cannot help themselves have attracted the notice and admiration of your
Sovereign, and of those who are deputed under her to watch over and
promote the education and moral welfare of her people. The means which
you have adopted to effect your work of benevolence appear no less
deserving of commendation than the object itself. You have not been
content with the bare attempt to force, perhaps upon unwilling
recipients, a boon, the value of which might not be appreciated, but you
have wisely sought to work upon the convictions of the parents of the
children you wish to benefit by extending your assistance to those who,
by a small contribution out of their hardly-won earnings, have proved
that they are awake to a sense of the vast importance it is to their
offspring that the means of being fitted to pass successfully through
life, and by honest industry to better their worldly condition, should
be brought within their reach. It is a source of high personal
gratification to me that I have been enabled, by my presence here this
day, and by that of the Prince of Wales, to mark, not only my own
appreciation of your labours, but also the deep interest which the Queen
takes in the well-being of the poorest of her subjects; and that
gratification will be greatly enhanced if by this public expression of
the sympathy of the Queen and of her family and Government this noble
cause shall be still further advanced. Most earnestly do I pray that the
same success which has hitherto blessed your labours may continue to
attend your future progress, and that your example may stimulate other
localities to emulate your useful efforts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE OPENING OF
THE EXHIBITION OF ART TREASURES
OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AT MANCHESTER.
[MAY 5TH, 1857.]
-------
[The MAYOR of MANCHESTER having presented an Address, His ROYAL
HIGHNESS returned the following reply—]
MR. MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND GENTLEMEN,—
I have received with feelings of no ordinary gratification the address
which you have presented to me, expressing such kindly feelings towards
myself, and professing to represent the good wishes of the vast
community which is collected in and around this city.
It will, I am sure, be most pleasing to the Queen to receive, from the
expressions contained in the address, a fresh assurance of the loyal
interest taken by her people in all that concerns her happiness.
I most willingly attend here this day to assist at a ceremony which the
inhabitants of Manchester may well witness with pride, as its object is
to inaugurate an Exhibition collected by the exertion of their
enterprise and public spirit, and intended, not for the amusement and
gratification of the neighbourhood alone, but for the instruction and
improvement of the nation at large.
You justly allude in terms of gratitude to that comprehensive and
liberal spirit which has adorned the walls of this building with the
choicest specimens of art from so many private galleries of the kingdom.
It added much to the pleasure with which the Queen and myself had
complied with the application for works of art belonging to us when we
found this example so generally followed by the possessors of treasures
which are, in general, so reluctantly intrusted by their owners to the
care of others.
The Queen will, I am confident, be glad again to visit Manchester, not
only to mark by her presence her approval of the object and successful
execution of this great undertaking which we have this day to celebrate,
but from a recollection of the enthusiastic loyalty exhibited when she
had formerly an opportunity of visiting this great centre of industry.
[Lord OVERSTONE having read the Address of the General Council,
His ROYAL HIGHNESS replied as follows—]
MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN,—
You are very kind in thinking at this moment of the bereavement which
has befallen the Queen and her family.
In the Duchess of Gloucester we have all lost, not only the last of the
children of that good King who occupied the throne during sixty years,
and carried this country fearlessly and successfully through the most
momentous struggles of its history, and thus the last personal link with
those times, but also a lady whose virtues and qualities of the heart
had commanded the respect and love of all who knew her.
If I have thought it my duty to attend here to-day, although her mortal
remains have not yet been carried to their last place of rest, my
decision has been rendered easy by the conviction that, could her own
opinions and wishes have been known, she would, with that sense of duty
and patriotic feeling which so much distinguished her and the generation
to which she belonged, have been anxious that I should not on her
account, or from private feelings, disturb an arrangement intended for
the public good.
[Mr. FAIRBAIRN having presented the Address of the Executive
Committee,
His ROYAL HIGHNESS returned the following reply—]
GENTLEMEN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,—
I thank you most sincerely for your kind address.
The expressions of loyalty and attachment to the Queen which it conveys
will, I feel certain, be most gratifying to her.
I have with pleasure accepted your invitation to preside at the
inaugural ceremony of an undertaking which I have watched with the
deepest interest from its first conception; and I may now be allowed to
congratulate you upon the success which has so far crowned your labours.
The building in which we are assembled, and the wonderful collection of
those treasures of art, as you so justly term them, which it displays,
reflect the highest credit upon you. They must strike the beholder with
grateful admiration, not only of the wealth and spirit of enterprise of
this country, but also of that generous feeling of mutual confidence and
goodwill between the different classes of society within it, of which it
affords so gratifying a proof.
We behold a feast which the rich, and they who have, set before those to
whom fortune has denied the higher luxuries of life—bringing forth from
the innermost recesses of their private dwellings, and intrusting to
your care, their choicest and most cherished treasures, in order to
gratify the nation at large: and this, too, unhesitatingly, at your mere
request, satisfied that your plans were disinterested and well matured,
and that they had the good of the country for their object.
This is a gratifying sight, and blessed is the country in which it is
witnessed. But not less so is the fact which has shown itself in this as
in other instances, that the great and noble of the land look to their
Sovereign to head and lead them in such patriotic undertakings; and when
they see that the Sovereign has come forward to give her countenance and
assistance to the work, that they feel it a pleasure to co-operate with
her and not to leave her without their support—emulating thus, in works
of peace, the chivalric spirit which animated their forefathers in the
warlike times of old.
You have done well not to aim at a mere accumulation of works of art and
objects of general interest, but to give to your collection, by a
scientific and historical arrangement, an educational character,—thus
not losing the opportunity of teaching the mind, as well as gratifying
the senses. And manifold are the lessons which it will present to us! If
art is the purest expression of the state of mental and religious
culture, and of general civilization, of any age or people, an
historical and chronological review given at one glance cannot fail to
impress us with a just appreciation of the peculiar characteristics of
the different periods and countries the works of which are here
exhibited to us, and of the influence which they have exercised upon
each other.
In comparing these works with those of our own age and country, while we
may well be proud of the immense development of knowledge and power of
production which we possess, we have reason also for humility in
contemplating the refinement of feeling and intensity of thought
manifested in the works of the older schools.
I trust that you may reap, in the approbation of the public at large,
and in the remunerative concourse of the people, the immediate reward of
your labours; and that, like the Exhibition of 1851, to which you so
flatteringly allude, you may thus also find the means of closing your
operations without having recourse to the Guarantee Fund which this
district has so generously put at your disposal.
Beyond this, however, I trust that the beneficial effects upon the
progress of art and taste in our country, which we may confidently look
to, may be a lasting memorial of your vast enterprise.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE OPENING OF THE
CONFERENCE ON NATIONAL EDUCATION.
[JUNE 22ND, 1857.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
We have met to-day in the sacred cause of Education—of National
Education. This word, which means no less than the moral and
intellectual development of the rising generation, and, therefore, the
national welfare, is well calculated to engross our minds, and opens a
question worthy of a nation’s deepest interest and most anxious
consideration. Gentlemen, the nation is alive to its importance, and our
presence here to-day gives further evidence (if such evidence were
needed) of its anxiety to give it that consideration. Looking to former
times, we find that our forefathers, with their wonted piety and
paternal care, had established a system of national education, based
upon the parish organization, and forming part of parish life, which met
the wants of their day, and had in it a certain unity and completeness
which we may well envy at the present moment. But in the progress of
time our wants have outstripped that system, and the condition of the
country has so completely changed, even within these last fifty years,
that the old parochial division is no longer adequate for the present
population. This has increased during that period in England and Wales
from, in round numbers, 9,000,000 to 18,000,000, and, where there
formerly existed comparatively small towns and villages, we now see
mighty cities, like Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, Leeds, Birmingham, and
others, with their hundreds of thousands, springing up almost, as it
were, by enchantment; London having increased to nearly two and a half
million of souls, and the factory district of Lancashire alone having
aggregated a population of nearly 3,000,000 within a radius of thirty
miles. This change could not escape the watchful eye of a patriotic
public; but how to provide the means of satisfying the new wants could
not be a matter of easy solution. While zeal for the public good, a
fervent religious spirit, and true philanthropy are qualities eminently
distinguishing our countrymen, the love of liberty, and an aversion from
being controlled by the power of the State in matters nearest to their
hearts, are feelings which will always most powerfully influence them in
action. Thus the common object has been contemplated from the most
different points of view, and pursued often upon antagonistic
principles. Some have sought the aid of Government, others that of the
Church to which they belong; some have declared it to be the duty of the
State to provide elementary instruction for the people at large, others
have seen in the State interference a check to the spontaneous exertions
of the people themselves, and an interference with self-government;
some, again, have advocated a plan of compulsory education based upon
local self-government, and others the voluntary system in its widest
development. While these have been some of the political subjects of
difference, those in the religious field have not been less marked and
potent. We find, on the one hand, the wish to see secular and religious
instruction separated, and the former recognized as an innate and
inherent right, to which each member of society has a claim, and which
ought not to be denied to him if he refuses to take along with it the
inculcation of a particular dogma to which he objects as unsound; while
we see, on the other hand, the doctrine asserted, that no education can
be sound which does not rest on religious instruction, and that
religious truth is too sacred to be modified and tampered with, even in
its minutest deductions, for the sake of procuring a general agreement.
Gentlemen, if these differences were to have been discussed here to-day,
I should not have been able to respond to your invitation to take the
chair, as I should have thought it inconsistent with the position which
I occupy, and with the duty which I owe to the Queen and the country at
large. I see those here before me who have taken a leading part in these
important discussions, and I am happy to meet them upon a neutral
ground; happy to find that there _is_ a neutral ground upon which their
varied talents and abilities can be brought to bear in communion upon
the common object; and proud and grateful to them that they should have
allowed me to preside over them for the purpose of working together in
the common vineyard. I feel certain that the greatest benefit must arise
to the cause we have all so much at heart by the mere free exchange of
your thoughts and various experience. You may well be proud, gentlemen,
of the results hitherto achieved by your rival efforts, and may point to
the fact that, since the beginning of the century, while the population
has doubled itself, the number of schools, both public and private, has
been multiplied fourteen times. In 1801 there were in England and Wales,
of public schools, 2876; of private schools, 487—total, 3363. In 1851
(the year of the census) there were in England and Wales, of public
schools, 15,518; of private schools, 30,524—total, 46,042; giving
instruction in all to 2,144,378 scholars; of whom 1,422,982 belong to
public schools, and 721,396 to the private schools. The rate of progress
is further illustrated by statistics which show that in 1818 the
proportion of day-scholars to the population was 1 in 17; in 1833, 1 in
11; and in 1851, 1 in 8. These are great results, although I hope they
may only be received as instalments of what has yet to be done. But what
must be your feelings when you reflect upon the fact, the inquiry into
which has brought us together, that this great boon thus obtained for
the mass of the people, and which is freely offered to them, should have
been only partially accepted, and, upon the whole, so insufficiently
applied as to render its use almost valueless! We are told that, the
total population in England and Wales of children between the ages of 3
and 15 being estimated at 4,908,696, only 2,046,848 attend school at
all, while 2,861,848 receive no instruction whatever. At the same time
an analysis of the scholars with reference to the length of time allowed
for their school tuition, shows that 42 per cent. of them have been at
school for less than one year, 22 per cent. during one year, 15 per
cent. during two years, 9 per cent. during three years, 5 per cent.
during four years, and 4 per cent. during five years. Therefore, out of
the two millions of scholars alluded to, more than one million and a
half remain only two years at school. I leave it to you to judge what
the results of such an education can be. I find further that of these
two millions of children attending school only about 600,000 are above
the age of nine.
Gentlemen, these are startling facts, which render it evident that no
extension of the means of education will be of any avail unless this
evil, which lies at the root of the whole question, be removed, and that
it is high time that the country should become thoroughly awake to its
existence, and prepared to meet it energetically. To impress this upon
the public mind is the object of our conference. Public opinion is the
powerful lever which in these days moves a people for good and for evil,
and to public opinion we must therefore appeal if we would achieve any
lasting and beneficial results. You, gentlemen, will richly add to the
services which you have already rendered to the noble cause if you will
prepare public opinion by your inquiry into this state of things, and by
discussing in your sections the causes of it as well as the remedies
which may lie within our reach. This will be no easy matter; but even if
your labours should not result in the adoption of any immediate
practical steps, you will have done great good in preparing for them. It
will probably happen that, in this instance as in most others, the cause
which produces the evil will be more easily detected than its remedy,
and yet a just appreciation of the former must ever be the first and
essential condition for the discovery of the latter. You will probably
trace the cause of our social condition to a state of ignorance and
lethargic indifference on the subject among parents generally; but the
root of the evil will, I suspect, be found to extend into that field on
which the political economist exercises his activity—I mean the labour
market—demand and supply. To dissipate that ignorance and rouse from
that lethargy may be difficult; but with the united and earnest efforts
of all who are the friends of the working classes it ought, after all,
to be only a question of time. What measures can be brought to bear upon
the other root of the evil is a more delicate question, and will require
the nicest care in handling, for there you cut into the very quick of
the working man’s condition. His children are not only his offspring, to
be reared for a future independent position, but they constitute part of
his productive power, and work with him for the staff of life; the
daughters especially are the handmaids of the house, the assistants of
the mother, the nurses of the younger children, the aged, and the sick.
To deprive the labouring family of their help would be almost to
paralyse its domestic existence. On the other hand, carefully collected
statistics reveal to us the fact, that, while about 600,000 children
between the ages of 3 and 15 are absent from school, but known to be
employed, no less than 2,200,000 are not at schools, whose absence
cannot be traced to any ascertained employment or other legitimate
cause. You will have to work, then, upon the minds and hearts of the
parents, to place before them the irreparable mischief which they
inflict upon those who are intrusted to their care by keeping them from
the light of knowledge, to bring home to their conviction that it is
their duty to exert themselves for their children’s education, bearing
in mind at the same time that it is not only their most sacred duty, but
also their highest privilege. Unless they work with you, your work, our
work, will be vain; but you will not fail, I feel sure, in obtaining
their co-operation if you remind them of their duty to their God and
Creator. Our Heavenly Father, in His boundless goodness, has made His
creatures that they should be happy, and in His wisdom has fitted His
means to His ends, giving to all of them different qualities and
faculties, in using and developing which they fulfil their destiny, and,
running their uniform course according to His prescription, they find
that happiness which He has intended for them. Man alone is born into
this world with faculties far nobler than the other creatures,
reflecting the image of Him who has willed that there should be beings
on earth to know and worship Him, but endowed with the power of
self-determination, having reason given him for his guide. He can
develop his faculties, place himself in harmony with his Divine
prototype, and attain that happiness which is offered to him on earth,
to be completed hereafter in entire union with Him through the mercy of
Christ. 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 know how to
find. Gentlemen, 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 bulk
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPENING ADDRESS
AT THE
MEETING IN THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
FOR THE
INAUGURATION OF JENNER’S STATUE.
[MAY 17TH, 1858.]
1.
GENTLEMEN,—
You have invited me to take the chair at this meeting, convened on the
anniversary of Jenner’s birth for the purpose of doing honour to his
memory; and I have not hesitated to comply with your request, in order
to mark, in common with you, my sense of the inestimable boon which this
great philosopher and philanthropist has bestowed upon the human race.
His discovery was not the result of accident, like many others, however
important, but that of long and thoughtful observation and reflection,
and of continuous induction from numerous facts and carefully conducted
experiments, to which a whole life had been directed. He has thus been
enabled to save by his discovery more human lives than has fallen to the
lot of any other man, and England has just reason to be proud to number
him amongst her sons. Whilst his contemporaries testify their feeling of
gratitude to him by several important public acts, it has been reserved
to us to prove that we do not less highly appreciate his services, by
raising a statue to his memory. May it be long preserved to exhibit the
features of this benefactor of mankind to succeeding generations!
2.
I return you my best thanks for the kind words which you have spoken,
and assure you that I shall feel most happy if the result of this day’s
meeting should be to rouse afresh public attention to the means of
safety which science has placed at man’s command, and the neglect of
which still costs this country alone no less than annually 5000 victims.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE TRINITY HOUSE.
[JULY 3RD, 1858.]
-------
1.
“THE QUEEN.”
May she long continue in the possession of that great blessing, “The
love of her people!”
2.
I have to propose to you the Health of “The Prince of Wales,” and the
rest of the “Royal Family.”
Since I last met you here, it has pleased the Almighty to take the last
of the children of King George the Third from amongst us, in the beloved
and revered Duchess of Gloucester; another daughter has been vouchsafed
to the Queen; and our eldest child has, united to a husband of her
choice—and, I may say, worthy of her choice—passed to a distant country,
where I was happy to find her the other day in the possession of every
domestic blessing. The interest and sympathy evinced by the people of
this country in this marriage could not but be most gratifying to the
feelings of her parents.
3.
The toast which I now propose to you is the “Army and Navy.”
If this toast must at all times be received by Englishmen with feelings
of pride and satisfaction, who could approach it at the present moment
without being also penetrated by those of admiration and deep
thankfulness for the heroic deeds and sacrifices with which our gallant
troops are now struggling, not only for the honour and interests of our
country, but I trust for the cause of civilization and the future
happiness of millions of people now unfortunately in part our enemies!
May the Almighty continue to watch over our brave countrymen in the
East, and grant them uninterrupted victory! His hand becomes most
apparent when we consider how small are the means with which so much has
been achieved. The deepest responsibility, however, attaches to us, not
to rest satisfied with the enjoyment of the advantages and successes
obtained by such self-sacrificing devotion, but to take care that, by
maintaining these noble services in sufficient numbers, the tasks which
for our benefit may be from time to time imposed upon them, should not
carry with them the almost certain immolation of those who are expected
to perform them.
6.
I propose to you “the Health of Her Majesty’s Ministers and the Earl of
Derby.”
They are called upon to administer and advise the Sovereign upon the
multifarious and complicated affairs of this vast empire. In these days,
moreover, when the progress of education and civilization renders the
influence of public opinion upon the conduct of the Government more and
more powerful, the latter has this difficult problem to solve: it has to
maintain a judicious and beneficial harmony between its own
conscientious convictions, and the impulsive and varying character of
that public opinion.
If I might in this room be allowed to make use of a nautical metaphor, I
should compare the governing body with a vessel, of which public opinion
is the rudder. Should their nautical action not be most nicely adjusted,
one of two results must follow—either the vessel would refuse to answer
her helm, and to take the desired course; or she would answer it too
quickly, which I believe you call wild steering, the effects of which
may be seen in the zigzag line of the wake.
Nothing, however, can tend more to facilitate the difficult task of the
Government, than that their motives and intentions should be understood
and appreciated by their fellow-countrymen; and it is on occasions like
the present that these can testify those feelings. With this view I now
ask you to drink to the “Health of Her Majesty’s Ministers.”
* * * * *
N.B.—Nos. 4 and 5 were answers to “My Health,” and “Prosperity to the
Trinity House.” I read extracts of Reports on all business connected
with the Corporation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECH DELIVERED AT CHERBOURG
AFTER THE
BANQUET ON BOARD “LA BRETAGNE.”
[AUGUST 5TH, 1858.]
-------
La Reine désire que j’exprime à Votre Majesté combien elle est sensible
à la nouvelle preuve d’amitié que vous venez de lui donner, en lui
portant un toast, et en prononçant des paroles qui lui resteront chères
à jamais.
Votre Majesté connait les sentiments d’amitié qu’elle vous porte, à
vous, Sire, et à l’Impératrice, et je n’ai pas besoin de vous les
rappeler. Vous savez également que la bonne entente entre nos deux pays
est l’objet constant de ses désirs, comme il l’est des vôtres. La Reine
est donc doublement heureuse d’avoir l’occasion, par sa présence ici en
ce moment, de s’allier à vous, Sire, en tâchant de reserrer, autant que
possible, les liens d’amitié entre les deux peuples. Cette amitié est la
base de leur prospérité mutuelle, et la bénédiction du Ciel ne lui
manquera pas!
La Reine porte la santé de l’Empereur et de l’Impératrice!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON PRESENTING NEW COLOURS
TO THE
2ND BATTALION OF THE 13TH (“PRINCE
ALBERT’S OWN”) LIGHT INFANTRY,
AT HARFORD RIDGE, NEAR ALDERSHOT.
[FEBRUARY 21ST, 1859.]
-------
The act which has just been performed, simple as it is, has the highest
significance for the soldier! You have received in these colours the
emblems of your country and your Sovereign, and of your regiment as a
part of the British Army. It is your country’s, your Sovereign’s, and
that army’s honour which is bound up in them, and which you will
henceforth have to guard and to defend; not by your valour alone in
action, and your endurance under the hardships of campaigns, but also
during the monotonous duties of peace and under the temptations of
inaction—placed in different societies, under different climes, and in
different parts of the world.
The British soldier has to follow these colours to every part of the
globe, and everywhere he is the representative of his country’s power,
freedom, loyalty, and civilization. The 13th has a fair name in the
world, won chiefly in distant lands—the West Indies, America, Africa,
and Asia; and its defence of Jellalabad has proved that it is capable of
evincing the highest qualities of the soldier. You may point with just
pride to the fact that those qualities, displayed so conspicuously under
Sir Robert Sale, were but now exhibited to the admiration of mankind by
Sir Henry Havelock, an officer trained in its ranks!
You are a new, a young battalion, sprung with surprising rapidity
together with others from a patriotic people, for the rescue of the
country’s mightiest interests threatened in the East. During the short
time you have been together you have worked hard to assume the
honourable position intrusted to you, and I may now congratulate you on
your success. That the military authorities should think you fit and
worthy to take your place in the Army of the Cape, shows that your
exertions are appreciated and that entire confidence is reposed in you.
I feel proud that you should bear my name to that promising country.
May God’s best blessing attend you, shield you from danger, support you
under difficulties, cheer you under privations, grant you moderation in
success, contentment under discipline, humility and gratitude towards
Him in prosperity!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE MEETING OF
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.
[HELD AT ABERDEEN, SEPTEMBER 14TH, 1859.]
-------
GENTLEMEN OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION,—
Your kind invitation to me to undertake the office of your President for
the ensuing year could not but startle me on its first announcement. The
high position which Science occupies, the vast number of distinguished
men who labour in her sacred cause, and whose achievements, while
spreading innumerable benefits, justly attract the admiration of
mankind, contrasted strongly in my mind with the consciousness of my own
insignificance in this respect. I, a simple admirer, and would-be
student of Science, to take the place of the chief and spokesman of the
scientific men of the day, assembled in furtherance of their important
objects!—the thing appeared to me impossible. Yet, on reflection, I came
to the conclusion that, if not as a contributor to, or director of your
labours, I might still be useful to you, useful to science, by accepting
your offer. Remembering that this Association is a popular Association,
not a secret confraternity of men jealously guarding the mysteries of
their profession, but inviting the uninitiated, the public at large, to
join them, having as one of its objects to break down those imaginary
and hurtful barriers which exist between men of science and so-called
men of practice—I felt that I could, from the peculiar position in which
Providence has placed me in this country, appear as the representative
of that large public, which profits by and admires your exertions, but
is unable actively to join in them; that my election was an act of
humility on your part, which to reject would have looked like false
humility, that is like pride, on mine. But I reflected further, and saw
in my acceptance the means, of which necessarily so few are offered to
Her Majesty, of testifying to you, through the instrumentality of her
husband, that your labours are not unappreciated by your Sovereign, and
that she wishes her people to know this as well as yourselves. Guided by
these reflections, my choice was speedily made, for the path of duty lay
straight before me.
If these, however, are the motives which have induced me to accept your
flattering offer of the Presidency, a request on my part is hardly
necessary that you will receive my efforts to fulfil its duties with
kind indulgence.
If it were possible for anything to make me still more aware how much I
stand in need of this indulgence, it is the recollection of the person
whom I have to succeed as your President—a man of whom this country is
justly proud, and whose name stands among the foremost of the
naturalists in Europe for his patience in investigation,
conscientiousness in observation, boldness of imagination, and acuteness
in reasoning. You have no doubt listened with pleasure to his parting
address, and I beg to thank him for the flattering manner in which he
has alluded to me in it.
The Association meets for the first time to-day in these regions and in
this ancient and interesting city. The poet, in his works of fiction,
has to choose, and anxiously to weigh, where to lay his scene, knowing
that, like the painter, he is thus laying in the background of his
picture, which will give tone and colour to the whole. The stern and dry
reality of life is governed by the same laws, and we are here living,
feeling, and thinking under the influence of the local impressions of
this northern seaport. The choice appears to me a good one. The
travelling philosophers have had to come far; but in approaching the
Highlands of Scotland they meet nature in its wild and primitive form,
and nature is the object of their studies. The geologist will not find
many novelties in yonder mountains, because he will stand there on the
bare backbone of the globe; but the primary rocks, which stand out in
their nakedness, exhibit the grandeur and beauty of their peculiar form,
and in the splendid quarries of this neighbourhood are seen to peculiar
advantage the closeness and hardness of their mass, and their
inexhaustible supply for the use of man, made available by the
application of new mechanical powers. On this primitive soil the
botanist and zoologist will be attracted only by a limited range of
plants and animals; but they are the very species which the extension of
agriculture and increase of population are gradually driving out of many
parts of the country. On those blue hills the red deer, in vast herds,
holds undisturbed dominion over the wide heathery forest, until the
sportsman, fatigued and unstrung by the busy life of the bustling town,
invades the moor, to regain health and vigour by measuring his strength
with that of the antlered monarch of the hill. But, notwithstanding all
his efforts to overcome an antagonist possessed of such superiority of
power, swiftness, caution, and keenness of all the senses, the sportsman
would find himself baffled, had not science supplied him the telescope
and those terrible weapons which seem daily to progress in the precision
with which they carry the deadly bullet, mocking distance, to the mark.
In return for the help which Science has afforded him, the sportsman can
supply the naturalist with many facts which he alone has opportunity of
observing, and which may assist the solution of some interesting
problems suggested by the life of the deer. Man also, the highest object
of our study, is found in vigorous, healthy development, presenting a
happy mixture of the Celt, Goth, Saxon, and Dane, acquiring his strength
on the hills and the sea. The Aberdeen whaler braves the icy regions of
the Polar Sea, to seek and to battle with the great monster of the deep:
he has materially assisted in opening these icebound regions to the
researches of Science; he fearlessly aided in the search after Sir John
Franklin and his gallant companions, whom their country sent forth on
this mission, but to whom Providence, alas! has denied the reward of
their labours, the return to their homes, to the affectionate embrace of
their families and friends, and the acknowledgments of a grateful
nation. The city of Aberdeen itself is rich in interest for the
philosopher. Its two lately united Universities make it a seat of
learning and science. The collection of antiquities, formed for the
present occasion, enables him to dive into olden times, and, by contact
with the remains of the handiworks of the ancient inhabitants of
Scotland, to enter into the spirit of that peculiar and interesting
people, which has always attracted the attention and touched the hearts
of men accessible to the influence of heroic poetry. The Spalding Club,
founded in this city for the preservation of the historical and literary
remains of the northeastern counties of Scotland, is honourably known by
its important publications.
Gentlemen!—This is the twenty-ninth anniversary of the foundation of
this Association; and well may we look back with satisfaction to its
operation and achievements throughout the time of its existence. When,
on the 27th of September, 1831, the meeting of the Yorkshire
Philosophical Society took place at York, in the theatre of the
Yorkshire Museum, under the presidency of the late Earl Fitzwilliam,
then Viscount Milton, and the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt eloquently set
forth the plan for the formation of a British Association for the
Promotion of Science, which he showed to have become a want for his
country, the most ardent supporter of this resolution could not have
anticipated that it would start into life full-grown as it were, enter
at once upon its career of usefulness, and pursue it without deviation
from the original design, triumphing over the oppositions which it had
to encounter in common with everything that is new and claims to be
useful. Gentlemen, this proved that the want was a real, and not an
imaginary one, and that the mode in which it was intended to supply that
want was based upon a just appreciation of unalterable truths. Mr.
Vernon Harcourt summed up the desiderata in graphic words, which have
almost identically been retained as the exposition of the objects of the
Society, printed at the head of the annually-appearing volume of its
Transactions:—“to give a stronger impulse and more systematic direction
to scientific inquiry—to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate
Science in different parts of the empire, with one another and with
foreign philosophers—and to obtain a more general attention to the
objects of Science, and a removal of any disadvantages of a public kind
which impede its progress.”
To define the nature of Science, to give an exact and complete
definition of what that Science, to whose service the Association is
devoted, is and means, has, as it naturally must, at all times occupied
the Metaphysician. He has answered the question in various ways, more or
less satisfactorily to himself or others. To me, Science, in its most
general and comprehensive acceptation, means the knowledge of what I
know, the consciousness of human knowledge. Hence, to know is the object
of all Science; and all special knowledge, if brought to our
consciousness in its separate distinctiveness from, and yet in its
recognized relation to the totality of our knowledge, is scientific
knowledge. We require, then, for Science—that is to say, for the
acquisition of scientific knowledge—those two activities of our mind
which are necessary for the acquisition of _any_ knowledge—analysis and
synthesis; the first, to dissect and reduce into its component parts the
object to be investigated, and to render an accurate account to
ourselves of the nature and qualities of these parts by observation; the
second to recompose the observed and understood parts into a unity in
our consciousness, exactly answering to the object of our investigation.
The labours of the man of Science are therefore at once the most humble
and the loftiest which man can undertake. He only does what every little
child does from its first awakening into life, and must do every moment
of its existence; and yet he aims at the gradual approximation to divine
truth itself. If, then, there exists no difference between the work of
the man of Science and that of the merest child, what constitutes the
distinction? Merely the conscious self-determination. The child observes
what accident brings before it, and unconsciously forms its notion of
it; the so-called practical man observes what his special work forces
upon him, and he forms his notions upon it with reference to this
particular work. The man of Science observes what he intends to observe,
and knows why he intends it. The value which the peculiar object has in
his eyes is not determined by accident, nor by an external cause, such
as the mere connection with work to be performed, but by the place which
he knows this object to hold in the general universe of knowledge, by
the relation which it bears to other parts of that general knowledge.
To _arrange_ and _classify_ that universe of knowledge becomes therefore
the first, and perhaps the most important, object and duty of Science.
It is only when brought into a system, by separating the incongruous and
combining those elements in which we have been enabled to discover the
internal connection which the Almighty has implanted in them, that we
can hope to grapple with the boundlessness of His creation, and with the
laws which govern both mind and matter.
The operation of Science then has been, systematically to divide human
knowledge, and raise, as it were, the separate groups of subjects for
scientific consideration, into different and distinct sciences. The
tendency to create new sciences is peculiarly apparent in our present
age, and is perhaps inseparable from so rapid a progress as we have seen
in our days; for the acquaintance with and mastering of distinct
branches of knowledge enables the eye, from the newly gained points of
sight, to see the new ramifications into which they divide themselves in
strict consecutiveness and with logical necessity. But in thus gaining
new centres of light, from which to direct our researches, and new and
powerful means of adding to its ever-increasing treasures, Science
approaches no nearer to the limits of its range, although travelling
further and further from its original point of departure. For God’s
world is infinite; and the boundlessness of the universe, whose confines
appear ever to retreat before our finite minds, strikes us no less with
awe when, prying into the starry crowd of heaven, we find new worlds
revealed to us by every increase in the power of the telescope, than
when the microscope discloses to us in a drop of water, or an atom of
dust, new worlds of life and animation, or the remains of such as have
passed away.
Whilst the tendency to push systematic investigation in every direction
enables the individual mind of man to bring all the power of which he is
capable to bear on the specialities of his study, and enables a greater
number of labourers to take part in the universal work, it may be feared
that that consciousness of its unity which must pervade the whole of
Science if it is not to lose its last and highest point of sight, may
suffer. It has occasionally been given to rare intellects and the
highest genius to follow the various sciences in their divergent roads,
and yet to preserve that point of sight from which alone their totality
can be contemplated and directed. Yet how rare is the appearance of such
gifted intellects! and if they be found at intervals, they remain still
single individuals, with all the imperfections of human nature.
The only mode of supplying with any certainty this want, is to be sought
in the combination of men of Science representing all the specialities,
and working together for the common object of preserving that unity and
presiding over that general direction. This has been to some extent done
in many countries by the establishment of academies embracing the whole
range of the sciences, whether physical or metaphysical, historical or
political. In the absence of such an institution in this country, all
lovers of Science must rejoice at the existence and activity of this
Association, which embraces in its sphere of action, if not the whole
range of the sciences, yet a very large and important section of them,
those known as the _inductive sciences_, excluding all that are not
approached by the inductive method of investigation. It has, for
instance (and, considering its peculiar organization and mode of action,
perhaps not unwisely), eliminated from its consideration and discussions
those which come under the description of moral and political sciences.
This has not been done from undervaluing their importance and denying
their sacred right to the special attention of mankind, but from a
desire to deal with those subjects only which can be reduced to positive
proof, and do not rest on opinion or faith. The subjects of the moral
and political sciences involve not only opinions but feelings; and their
discussion frequently rouses passions. For feelings are “subjective,” as
the German metaphysician has it—they are inseparable from the individual
being—an attack upon them is felt as one upon the person itself; whilst
facts are “objective” and belong to everybody—they remain the same facts
at all times and under all circumstances: they can be proved; they have
to be proved, and, when proved, are finally settled. It is with facts
only that the Association deals. There may for a time exist differences
of opinion on these also, but the process of removing them and resolving
them into agreement is a different one from that in the moral and
political sciences. These are generally approached by the _deductive_
process; but if the reasoning be ever so acute and logically correct,
and the point of departure, which may be arbitrarily selected, is
disputed, no agreement is possible; whilst we proceed here by the
_inductive_ process, taking nothing on trust, nothing for granted, but
reasoning upwards from the meanest fact established, and making every
step sure before going one beyond it, like the engineer in his
approaches to a fortress. We thus gain ultimately a roadway, a ladder by
which even a child may, almost without knowing it, ascend to the summit
of truth and obtain that immensely wide and extensive view which is
spread below the feet of the astonished beholder. This road has been
shown us by the great Bacon; and who can contemplate the prospects which
it opens, without almost falling into a trance similar to that in which
he allowed his imagination to wander over future ages of discovery!
From amongst the political sciences it has been attempted in modern
times to detach one which admits of being severed from individual
political opinions, and of being reduced to abstract laws derived from
well-authenticated facts. I mean Political Economy, based on general
statistics. A new Association has recently been formed, imitating our
perambulating habits, and striving to comprehend in its investigations
and discussions even a still more extended range of subjects, in what is
called “Social Science.” These efforts deserve our warmest approbation
and good will. May they succeed in obtaining a purely and strictly
scientific character! Our own Association has, since its meeting at
Dublin, recognized the growing claims of Political Economy to scientific
brotherhood, and admitted it into its Statistical Section. It could not
have done so under abler guidance and happier auspices than the
presidency of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Whately, whose efforts in
this direction are so universally appreciated. But even in this section,
and whilst statistics alone were treated in it, the Association as far
back as 1833 made it a rule that, in order to ensure positive results,
only those classes of facts should be admitted which were capable of
being expressed by numbers, and which promised, when sufficiently
multiplied, to indicate general laws.
If, then, the main object of Science—and I beg to be understood,
henceforth, as speaking only of that section which the Association has
under its special care, viz. Inductive Science—if, I say, the object of
Science is the discovery of the laws which govern natural phænomena, the
primary condition for its success is: accurate observation and
collection of facts in such comprehensiveness and completeness as to
furnish the philosopher with the necessary material from which to draw
safe conclusions.
Science is not of yesterday. We stand on the shoulders of past ages, and
the amount of observations made, and facts ascertained, has been
transmitted to us and carefully preserved in the various storehouses of
Science; other crops have been reaped, but still lie scattered on the
field; many a rich harvest is ripe for cutting, but waits for the
reaper. Economy of labour is the essence of good husbandry, and no less
so in the field of Science. Our Association has felt the importance of
this truth, and may well claim, as one of its principal merits, the
constant endeavour to secure that economy.
One of the latest undertakings of the Association has been, in
conjunction with the Royal Society, to attempt the compilation of a
classified catalogue of scientific memoirs, which, by combining under
one head the titles of all memoirs written on a certain subject, will,
when completed, enable the student who wishes to gain information on
that subject to do so with the greatest ease. It gives him, as it were,
the plan of the house, and the key to the different apartments in which
the treasures relating to his subject are stored, saving him at once a
painful and laborious search, and affording him at the same time an
assurance that what is here offered contains the whole of the treasures
yet acquired.
While this has been one of its latest attempts, the Association has from
its very beginning kept in view that its main sphere of usefulness lay
in that concentrated attention to all scientific operations which a
general gives to the movements of his army, watching and regulating the
progress of his impetuous soldiers in the different directions to which
their ardour may have led them, carefully noting the gaps which may
arise from their independent and eccentric action, and attentively
observing what impediments may have stopped, or may threaten to stop,
the progress of certain columns.
Thus it attempts to fix and record the position and progress of the
different labours, by its Reports on the state of Sciences published
annually in its Transactions;—thus it directs the attention of the
labourers to those gaps which require to be filled up, if the progress
is to be a safe and steady one;—thus it comes forward with a helping
hand in striving to remove those impediments which the unaided efforts
of the individual labourer have been or may be unable to overcome.
Let us follow the activity of the Association in these three different
directions.
The Reports on the state of Science originate in the conviction of the
necessity for fixing, at given intervals, with accuracy and
completeness, the position at which it has arrived. For this object the
General Committee of the Association intrusts to distinguished
individuals in the different branches of Science the charge of becoming,
as it were, the biographers of the period. There are special points in
different Sciences in which it sometimes appears desirable to the
different Sections to have special Reports elaborated; in such cases the
General Committee, in its capacity of the representative assembly of all
the Sciences, reserves to itself the right of judging what may be of
sufficient importance to be thus recorded.
The special subjects which the Association points out for investigation,
in order to supply the gaps which it may have observed, are—either such
as the philosopher alone can successfully investigate, because they
require the close attention of a practised observer, and a thorough
knowledge of the particular subject; or they are such as require the
greatest possible number of facts to be obtained. Here Science often
stands in need of the assistance of the general public, and gratefully
accepts any contributions offered, provided the facts be accurately
observed. In either case the Association points out _what_ is to be
observed, and _how_ it is to be observed.
The first is the result of the same careful sifting process which the
Association employs in directing the issue of special Reports. The
investigations are intrusted to specially-appointed committees, or
selected individuals. They are in most cases not unattended with
considerable expense, and the Association, not content with merely
suggesting and directing, furnishes by special grants the pecuniary
means for defraying the outlay caused by the nature and extent of the
inquiry. If we consider that the income of the Association is solely
derived from the contributions of its members, the fact that no less a
sum than 17,000_l._ has, since its commencement, been thus granted for
scientific purposes, is certainly most gratifying.
The question _how_ to observe, resolves itself into two—that of the
scientific method which is to be employed in approaching a problem or in
making an observation, and that of the philosophical instruments used in
the observation or experiment. The Association brings to bear the
combined knowledge and experience of the scientific men, not only of
this but of other countries, on the discovery of that method which,
while it economizes time and labour, promises the most accurate results.
The method to which, after careful examination, the palm has been
awarded, is then placed at the free disposal and use of all scientific
investigators. The Association also issues, where practicable, printed
forms, merely requiring the different heads to be filled up, which, by
their uniformity, become an important means for assisting the subsequent
reduction of the observations for the abstraction of the laws which they
may indicate.
At the same time most searching tests and inquiries are constantly
carried on in the Observatory at Kew, given to the Association by Her
Majesty, the object of which is practically to test the relative value
of different methods and instruments, and to guide the constantly
progressive improvements in the construction of the latter.
The establishment at Kew has undertaken the further important service of
verifying and correcting to a fixed standard the instruments of any
maker, to enable observations made with them to be reduced to the same
numerical expression. I need hardly remind the inhabitants of Aberdeen
that the Association, in one of the first years of its existence,
undertook the comparative measurement of the Aberdeen standard scale
with that of Greenwich,—a research ably carried out by the late Mr.
Baily.
The impediments to the general progress of Science, the removal of which
I have indicated as one of the tasks which the Association has set for
itself, are of various kinds. If they were only such as direction,
advice, and encouragement would enable the individual, or even combined
efforts of philosophers, to overcome, the exertions of the Association
which I have just alluded to might be sufficient for the purpose. But
they are often such as can only be successfully dealt with by the
powerful arm of the State or the long purse of the nation. These
impediments may be caused either by the social condition of the country
itself, by restrictions arising out of peculiar laws, by the political
separation of different countries, or by the magnitude of the
undertakings being out of all proportion to the means and power of
single individuals, of the Association, or even the voluntary efforts of
the public. In these cases, the Association, together with its sister
society, “The Royal Society,” becomes the spokesman of Science with the
Crown, the Government, or Parliament—sometimes even, through the Home
Government, with foreign Governments. Thus it obtained the
establishment, by the British Government, of magnetic and meteorological
observatories in six different parts of the globe, as the beginning of a
network of stations which we must hope will be so far extended as to
compass by their geographical distribution the whole of the phenomena
which throw light on this important point in our tellurian and even
cosmical existence. The Institute of France, at the recommendation of M.
Arago, whose loss the scientific world must long deplore, cheerfully
co-operated with our Council on this occasion. It was our Association
which, in conjunction with the Royal Society, suggested the Antarctic
Expedition, with a view to further the discovery of the laws of
terrestrial magnetism, and thus led to the discovery of the southern
polar continent. It urged on the Admiralty the prosecution of the tidal
observations, which that department has since fully carried out. It
recommended the establishment, in the British Museum, of the
conchological collection exhibiting present and extinct species, which
has now become an object of the greatest interest.
I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you are
better acquainted than I am myself, but merely express my satisfaction
that there should exist bodies of men who will bring the well-considered
and understood wants of Science before the public and the Government,
who will even hand round the begging-box and expose themselves to
refusals and rebuffs to which all beggars are liable, with the
certainty, besides, of being considered great bores. Please to recollect
that this species of bore is a most useful animal, well adapted for the
ends for which Nature intended him. He alone, by constantly returning to
the charge, and repeating the same truths and the same requests,
succeeds in awakening attention to the cause which he advocates, and
obtains that hearing which is granted him at last for self-protection,
as the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is requisite to
make his cause understood. This is more particularly the case in a free,
active, enterprizing, and self-determining people like ours, where every
interest works for itself, considers itself the all-important one, and
makes its way in the world by its own efforts. Is it, then, to be
wondered at, that the interests of Science—abstract as Science appears,
and not immediately showing a return in pounds, shillings, and
pence—should be postponed, at least, to others which promise immediate
tangible results? Is it to be wondered at, that even our public men
require an effort to wean themselves from other subjects in order to
give their attention to Science and men of Science, when it is
remembered that Science, with the exception of mathematics, was until of
late almost systematically excluded from our school and university
education—that the traditions of early life are those which make and
leave the strongest impression on the human mind, and that the subjects
with which we become acquainted, and to which our energies are devoted
in youth, are those for which we retain the liveliest interest in after
years—and that for these reasons the effort required must be both a
mental and a moral one? A deep debt of gratitude is therefore due to
bodies like this Association, which not only urges the wants of Science
on the Government, but furnishes it at once with well-matured plans how
to supply them with the greatest certainty and to the greatest public
advantage.
We may be justified in hoping, however, that by the gradual diffusion of
Science, and its increasing recognition as a principal part of our
national education, the public in general, no less than the Legislature
and the State, will more and more recognize the claims of Science to
their attention; so that it may no longer require the begging-box, but
speak to the State like a favoured child to its parent, sure of his
parental solicitude for its welfare; that the State will recognize in
Science one of its elements of strength and prosperity, to foster which
the clearest dictates of self-interest demand.
If the activity of this Association, such as I have endeavoured to
describe it, ever found or could find its personification in one
individual—its incarnation as it were—this had been found in that
distinguished and revered philosopher who has been removed from amongst
us in his ninetieth year, within these last few months. Alexander von
Humboldt incessantly strove after dominion over that universality of
human knowledge which stands in need of thoughtful government and
direction to preserve its integrity; he strove to tie up the _fasces_ of
scientific knowledge, to give them strength in unity. He treated all
scientific men as members of one family, enthusiastically directing,
fostering, and encouraging inquiry, where he saw either the want of, or
the willingness for it. His protection of the young and ardent student
led many to success in their pursuit. His personal influence with the
Courts and Governments of most countries in Europe enabled him to plead
the cause of Science in a manner which made it more difficult for them
to refuse than to grant what he requested. All lovers of Science deeply
mourn for the loss of such a man. Gentlemen, it is a singular
coincidence, that this very day on which we are here assembled, and are
thus giving expression to our admiration of him, should be the
anniversary of his birth.
To return to ourselves, however: one part of the functions of the
Association can receive no personal representation, no incarnation: I
mean the very fact of meetings like that which we are at present
inaugurating. This is not the thoughtful direction of one mind over
acquired knowledge, but the production of new thought by the contact of
many minds, as the spark is produced by the friction of flint and steel;
it is not the action of the monarchy of a paternal Government, but the
republican activity of the Roman Forum. These meetings draw forth the
philosopher from the hidden recesses of his study, call in the wanderer
over the field of science to meet his brethren, to lay before them the
results of his labours, to set forth the deductions at which he has
arrived, to ask for their examination, to maintain in the combat of
debate the truth of his positions and the accuracy of his observations.
These meetings, unlike those of any other Society, throw open the arena
to the cultivators of all sciences, to their mutual advantage: the
geologist learns from the chemist that there are problems for which he
had no clue, but which that science can solve for him; the geographer
receives light from the naturalist, the astronomer from the physicist
and engineer, and so on. And all find a field upon which to meet the
public at large,—invite them to listen to their reports and even to take
part in their discussions,—show to them that philosophers are not vain
theorists, but essentially men of practice—not conceited pedants,
wrapped up in their own mysterious importance, but humble inquirers
after truth, proud only of what they may have achieved or won for the
general use of man. Neither are they daring and presumptuous
unbelievers—a character which ignorance has sometimes affixed to
them—who would, like the Titans, storm heaven by placing mountain upon
mountain, till hurled down from the height attained, by the terrible
thunders of outraged Jove; but rather the pious pilgrims to the Holy
Land, who toil on in search of the sacred shrine, in search of
truth—God’s truth—God’s laws as manifested in His works, in His
creation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE DINNER
ON THE
OPENING OF THE CLOTHWORKERS’ HALL,
IN THE CITY.
[MARCH 27TH, 1860.]
-------
SIR, AND GENTLEMEN,—
I beg to return you my best thanks for your kindness in drinking my
health with such gratifying demonstrations of good will towards me.
It is in accordance with our nature, that, after having accomplished a
task and succeeded in any work of our hands, we should banish from our
minds the recollection of the troubles and anxieties which accompanied
its conception and progress, and rejoice not only ourselves in our
success, but ask our neighbours and friends to come and rejoice with us.
We want them to see what we have done, and to share in our satisfaction.
I am grateful to you that you should have thought of including me in the
number of your friends, for I can, I assure you, fully appreciate your
undertaking, and honestly congratulate you on your success.
It must have cost you some hesitation and regret to separate yourselves
from a hall in which your forefathers had feasted the first Kings of the
House of Stuart, and in which they, as well as yourselves, habitually
met for business and recreation. But the marks of man, like the organic
bodies in nature, to be preserved require to be continually renewed, and
thus alone resist the destructive tendency of time; and you determined
(as we see to-day) to follow Nature also in the law of increase, and to
show that you have grown and expanded within these two hundred years.
Your desire to see me amongst you upon this occasion, which I must
attribute to your loyalty to the Queen, and my pleasure in responding to
your call, prove, at the same time, that those feelings of mutual regard
and affection which subsisted two hundred years ago between these great
and wealthy companies, these little independent republics of the City of
London, and the Crown, have withstood the effects of time, are living,
ay—and I trust are even grown in intensity and warmth. In such feelings
we gladly recognize one of the essential conditions of the political and
social life of a free and prosperous nation.
May these blessings be preserved to this favoured land from generation
to generation! and may this Corporation, of which I feel proud to have
by your kindness been admitted to-day as a member, live and prosper on,
as one of the important links which connect succeeding generations with
those which have long passed away!
Let me drink to the health of our Master and Wardens, and Prosperity to
the “Clothworkers’ Company!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE
BANQUETING-ROOM, ST. JAMES’S PALACE,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE
200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION
OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS.
[JUNE 16TH, 1860.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
1.
“THE QUEEN.”
2.
I am much obliged to Colonel Lewis for the kind terms in which he has
proposed to you to drink my health, and much gratified at the feelings
which you have evinced by the manner in which you have responded to his
proposal.
Gentlemen!—I was justly proud of the distinguished honour conferred upon
me when I was appointed, eight years ago, to succeed the immortal Duke
of Wellington in the command of this regiment, and of having since held
this honourable post, which connects me with you, not only officially,
but on terms of intimate and I hope cordial personal relations; but it
is on an occasion like the present that the consideration must rise to
my mind in its full force,—what honour and distinction is involved in
the title of Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
We are assembled to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the formation of
the Regiment as at present constituted—200 years, which embrace the most
glorious period of the history of our country—and in the most glorious
events of this history the Regiment has borne an important and
distinguished part. It has fought at sea and on land, in most parts of
Europe, in Africa and America; and, whether fighting the French, Dutch,
Spaniards, Moors, Turks, or Russians, it has stood to its colours,
upheld the honour of the British name, and powerfully contributed to
those successes which have, under God’s blessing, made that name stand
proudly forth amongst the nations of the earth.
I need not recall to your recollection its deeds, which must be all
present to your minds, but I cannot forego on such an occasion pointing
at least to some of the most important of the long and uninterrupted
list of victories with which the Grenadier Guards have been associated.
I must point to the celebrated siege and capture of Namur, the first
defence of Gibraltar, the capture of Barcelona and Valencia, the battles
of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, the battle of
Bettingen, ay! and of Fontenoy, where, though the victory did not
ultimately remain with the Allies, it was fairly won, as far as the
English were concerned, and that by the conspicuous prowess of the
Grenadier Guards! the capture of Cherbourg, which, just a century ago,
looked grimly across at our shores; the battles in Germany under the
Marquis of Granby; the battle of Lincelles; those of Corunna, Barrosa,
and the Pyrenees; the capture of St. Sebastian; battles of Nive and
Nivelle, and of Waterloo, in which last great struggle with Napoleon the
Regiment acquired the title of Grenadier Guards, from having defeated,
in fair fight, those noble and devoted grenadiers of his Imperial Guard,
who, till met by the British bayonet, had been considered invincible;
and more lately the battles of the Alma and of Inkerman, and the
long-protracted siege of Sevastopol.
These are glorious annals, and proud the corps may well be which can
show the like! But the duty of the soldier unfortunately is not confined
to fighting the foreign enemies of his country, it has at times been his
fate to have to stand in arms against even his own brothers! a mournful
duty, which we may trust never to see again imposed upon a British
soldier. Under such circumstances he is upheld, however, by the
consideration that, while he is implicitly obeying the commands of his
sovereign, to whom he has sworn fidelity, he purchases, by his blood,
for his country, that internal peace and that supremacy of the law upon
which alone are based the liberty as well as the permanent happiness and
prosperity of a nation.
The regiment, originally sprung from those loyalists who had clung to
Charles the Second in exile, has never failed in its duty to its
Sovereign: it fought for James the Second against Monmouth on the field
of Sedgemoor; and struggled during five years heroically, although
finally in vain, to preserve to George the Third his revolted American
colonies.
Gentlemen! That same discipline which has made this regiment ever ready
and terrible in war, has enabled it to pass long periods of peace in the
midst of all the temptations of a luxurious metropolis without loss in
vigour and energy,—to live in harmony and good fellowship with its
brother citizens,—and to point to the remarkable fact, that the
Household troops have now for 200 years formed the permanent garrison of
London, have always been at the command of the civil power to support
law and order, but have never themselves disturbed that order, or given
cause of complaint either by insolence or licentiousness.
Let us hope that for centuries to come these noble qualities may still
shine forth, and that the Almighty will continue to shield and favour
this little band of devoted soldiers; let us on our part manfully do our
duty, mindful of the deeds of our predecessors, loyal to our Sovereign,
and jealous of the honour of our country.
I propose to you to drink “Prosperity to the Grenadier Guards, and to
the health of Colonel Lewis, for so many years an honoured member of the
corps, and now its zealous and able commander, and to the officers and
men of the regiment.”
3.
I have to propose to you “The Health of the Prince of Wales, and the
other members of the Royal Family.”
The Prince was admitted into the army a year and a half ago, on his
seventeenth birthday; and although his studies have as yet prevented his
taking upon himself any military duty, he has while staying in Edinburgh
tried to make himself acquainted with the evolutions of the cavalry by
joining regularly in the drill of the 16th Lancers, quartered there at
the time of his residence.
4.
The toast I wish now to propose is that of our sister-service—“The
Navy.”
The wooden walls of Old England have at all times been the chief defence
of our country, the protection of our commerce, and constitute the link
which holds together our vast and widely scattered empire. Modern
science has effected greater changes in this service than perhaps in any
other human pursuit, and foreign nations have, as it were, started
afresh with us from the same point of departure in the race of naval
preparation; but there is in Englishmen that confidence in their
superiority on the unstable element, which has powerful influence in
creating and maintaining it, and gives assurance of success. I believe
at the same time the service never to have been in a higher state of
efficiency.
5.
Let us drink to “The Army.”
That army, of which the brigade of Guards, and this Regiment in it, form
only a small but integral part,—integral not only from its organization,
but from its spirit and feeling. The country has no less reason to be
proud of its Army than of its Navy; and if in point of numbers it cannot
boast of a supremacy, nay, even a comparison with other countries, it
yields to none in those qualities of courage, discipline, and endurance
which constitute the essential virtues of the soldier. The duties which
this army has to perform in peace as well as in war could not, I make
bold to say, be rendered by any other army in the world; and although it
is a common doctrine that the British nation is not a military nation, I
totally disbelieve that any other could furnish such an army, composed
entirely of volunteers as it is.
I beg to couple this toast with the health of my dear relative, our
gallant Commander-in-Chief, who is indefatigable in his solicitude to
maintain, and where possible to increase, its efficiency; and of the
Queen’s Secretary of State, who so ably presides over the civil
administration of the Army, and has not only the sinews of war to
prepare, but also that material by which science strives to reduce the
individual power of man as an element in the attainment of victory, and
on the superiority of which so much in war must in future depend.
“The Army, the Duke of Cambridge, and Mr. Sidney Herbert.”
6.
We are honoured by the presence of the Commanders of the other
Regiments, both of cavalry and infantry, composing the Household Troops,
whose services will live with yours in history, and render them worthy
to be the body-guard of the Sovereign of these realms. We most painfully
feel, however, the absence of one of these Commanders, whose name had
been associated with the glories of the Guards in many a well-fought
field. He has been called away from this temporary scene to an eternal
and better world; but the memory of Sir John Byng (the Earl of
Strafford) will ever be cherished by his brother officers.
The Scots Fusiliers, my personal connection with whom during ten years
will always remain a proud and most pleasing recollection to me, will in
a few days celebrate their jubilee as we are now doing; while the
Coldstreams, true to their motto, have gained a march upon us in having
had their jubilee some years before us, counting their creation from the
time of the Commonwealth, when they formed General Monk’s Regiment.
I beg to propose to you to drink the health of the Household Troops, and
to connect with the toast the name of that gallant and distinguished
general, Field Marshal Viscount Combermere.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOAST GIVEN AT
THE DINNER OF THE TRINITY HOUSE.
[JUNE 23RD, 1860.]
-------
1.
“THE QUEEN.”
2.
I propose to drink to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the
rest of the Royal Family. The younger members of the Royal Family are
rapidly growing up. The Princess Royal has already become the founder of
a new family, destined to mount the throne of Prussia. The Prince of
Wales is following his academic course at Oxford, which he intends to
complete at the sister University, Cambridge; while his younger brother
has, by the prescribed apprenticeship, earned his rating as Midshipman,
and serves zealously as such in the Fleet. It will be a curious
coincidence, that nearly at the same time—a few weeks hence—though
almost at the opposite poles, the Prince of Wales will inaugurate, in
the Queen’s name, that stupendous work, the great bridge over the St.
Lawrence in Canada, while Prince Alfred will lay the foundation stone of
the breakwater for the harbour of Cape Town. What vast considerations,
as regards our country, are brought to our minds in this simple fact!
What present greatness! what past history! what future hopes! and how
important and beneficent is the part given to the Royal Family of
England to act in the development of those distant and rising countries,
who recognize in the British Crown, and their allegiance to it, their
supreme bond of union with the mother country and with each other!
3.
Gentlemen,—The standing toast, after that of the Royal Family, at all
our public dinners, is “The Army and Navy;” and it is never given
without calling forth proud and grateful feelings, for Englishmen have
reason to be proud of the condition of these services, and of the deeds
which they have achieved, and cause to be grateful for the benefits
which have been secured to them by their soldiers and sailors, who have
been drawn from all ranks and classes of society, and have devoted their
lives to their country. We hear sometimes complaints of the expense
which these services entail, and must certainly regret that such
sacrifices should be necessary; but on the whole the public spirit with
which the nation is determined, through good and evil report, to
maintain the efficiency of these establishments, is a most gratifying
proof of its soundness at heart and the shrewdness of its instinct. It
has lately come forward, and placed at the service of the Queen,
Volunteer Corps to act as an auxiliary to the regular Army and Militia,
in case of danger to our shores; and the rapidity with which this
movement has developed itself has been the subject of universal and just
admiration. We have witnessed this day a scene which will never fade
from the memory of those who had the good fortune to be present—the
representatives of the independence, education, and industry of this
country in arms, to testify their devotion to their country, and their
readiness to lay down their lives in its defence. The Volunteer force
exceeds already 130,000 men; and to what extent this country is capable
of exerting itself in real danger is shown by the number of Volunteers,
which in 1804 reached the extraordinary figure of 479,000! We are apt to
forget, however, that, in contrast with every other country of the
world, all our services are composed exclusively of volunteers: the
Navy, Coast-Guard, Coast Volunteers, Army, Militia, Yeomanry,
Constabulary. May the noble and patriotic spirit which such a fact
reveals remain ever unimpaired! And may God’s blessing, of which this
nation has seen such unmistakable evidence, continue to rest upon these
voluntary services! I beg to couple the toast with the names of the
First Lord of the Admiralty the Duke of Somerset, and Sir John Burgoyne.
4.
I am much obliged to you for your kindness in drinking my health. I feel
proud to have, by the vote of this distinguished Corporation, been
re-elected its Master—an office of annual tenure, which does not tax
very hard the energies of the holder, as the real work is admirably done
by the Deputy Master and the Elder Brethren; but which is of the highest
interest to whoever reflects upon the important and useful duties which
are performed by the Corporation, the proper performance of which has so
great an influence on the commercial prosperity not only of this
metropolis, but of the country at large.
I cannot meet you to-day without having one recalled to my memory who
used to sit on my left hand on all former occasions, and who was
honoured and beloved by this Corporation, and justly so, as its Deputy
Master. Captain Shepheard was one of those unobtrusive but noble
characters whose sterling qualities of head and heart secured to him the
confidence of all who knew him; and I can appeal to no greater proof of
the estimation in which he was held than the fact that he was at once
Deputy Master of this Corporation, Chairman of the East India Company,
and Chairman of the Hudson’s Bay Company. His successor, like himself,
is an Aberdeenshire man, but, unlike him, has passed his life in the
Royal Navy, and not the merchant service. I can wish him no better
success than to possess the approbation of his brethren in an equal
degree with his predecessor! I propose to you to drink his health, and
Prosperity to the Corporation of the Trinity House.
5.
We are honoured by the presence of Her Majesty’s Ministers. The
Corporation is much gratified at their having found it possible, amidst
the many avocations and duties which so peculiarly press upon them
during the Parliamentary season, to devote an evening to the Trinity
House. I propose to you to drink their health. We can wish them nothing
better than good health, to enable them to withstand the fatigues of
their laborious and harassing life; and by making the fullest use of
their talents and energies, to gain that public recognition and
confidence upon which so much of their success and usefulness must
depend. This is not a political meeting, and we cautiously abstain from
alluding to politics; whilst, therefore, the Ministers escape our
criticism, they must also forego our praise; but we can give them what
may be more valuable to them than either—the expression of our esteem
and good will.
“Lord Palmerston and Her Majesty’s Ministers.”
6.
We must not omit to acknowledge the presence of some of our Honorary
Brethren, whose admission to our body sheds lustre upon the Corporation.
The known presence of their names upon our Roll gives the public an
assurance that we are well thought of and well looked after by some of
the best in the land.
I beg to drink to the health of Lord Derby and the Honorary Brethren.
7.
Brethren of the Trinity House,—Let us, before separating, thank our
guests for the honour they have done and the pleasure they have given us
by their presence at our annual dinner; and let us drink to their health
and happiness. I beg to couple this toast with the name of the Duke of
Newcastle.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON OPENING THE
INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CONGRESS.
[HELD IN LONDON, JULY 16TH, 1860.]
-------
GENTLEMEN,—
The Statistical Congress of All Nations has been invited by the
Government to hold its fourth meeting in this metropolis, in conformity
with the wishes expressed by the late Congress held at Vienna in 1857.
Although under these circumstances it would have been more properly
within the province of a member of the Government, and Minister of the
Crown, to fill this Chair, and open the proceedings of the day, as has
been the case in previous meetings of the Congress in other places, the
nature of the institutions and the habits of the people of the country
in which this Assembly was to take place could not fail to make itself
felt and to influence its organization. We are a people possessing and
enjoying the most intense political life, in which every question of
interest or importance to the nation is publicly canvassed and debated;
the whole nation, as it were, from the highest to the lowest, takes an
active part in these debates, and arrives at a judgment with regard to
them, on the collective result of the thoughts and opinions thus called
forth.
This Congress could therefore only be either a private meeting of the
delegates of different Governments, discussing special questions of
interest in the midst of the general bustle of political activity, or it
had to assume a public and a national character, addressing itself to
the public at large, and inviting its co-operation. The Government have
chosen the latter alternative, and have been met by the readiest
response from all sides. They have, I think, wisely chosen; for it is of
the utmost importance to the object the Congress has in view—namely, not
only the diffusion of statistical information, but also the acquisition
of a general acknowledgment of the usefulness and importance of this
branch of human knowledge—that the public, as a whole, should take up
the questions which are intended to be investigated, and should lend its
powerful aid.
Gentlemen, this explains, and must serve as an apology for, my presuming
to hold the post of your President, for which I otherwise feel full well
my unworthiness. When, however, the Commissioners for the organization
of the Congress expressed to me their desire that I should do so, I felt
it incumbent upon me not to withhold my individual co-operation,
carrying with it, as it would, an assurance to the British people that
the object of the Meeting was one which had enlisted the sympathy of
their Queen, and testifying to the foreign delegates the esteem in which
she holds them personally, and her appreciation of the science which
they serve.
Let me now welcome them to this country, and welcome them on behalf of
this country. It is here that the idea of an International Statistical
Congress took its origin, when delegates and visitors from all nations
had assembled to exhibit in noble rivalry the products of their science,
skill, and industry, in the Great Exhibition of 1851; it is here that
Statistical Science was earliest developed; and Dr. Farr has well
reminded us that England has been called, by no less an authority than
Bernoulli, “the cradle of political arithmetic,” and that we may even
appeal to our Domesday Book as one of the most ancient and complete
monuments of the science in existence. It is this country also which
will and must derive the greatest benefits from the achievements of this
science, and which will consequently have most cause to be grateful to
you for the result of your labours.
Gentlemen, old as your science is, and undeniable as are the benefits
which it has rendered to mankind, it is yet little understood by the
multitude, new in its acknowledged position amongst the other sciences,
and still subject to many vulgar prejudices.
It is little understood; for it is dry and unpalatable to the general
public in its simple arithmetical expressions, representing living facts
(which, as such, are capable of arousing the liveliest sympathy) in dry
figures and tables for comparison. Much labour is required to wade
through endless columns of figures, much patience to master them, and
some skill to draw any definite and safe conclusions from the mass of
material which it presents to the student; while the value of the
information offered depends exactly upon its bulk, increasing in
proportion with its quantity and comprehensiveness.
It has been little understood, also, from the peculiar and often
unjustifiable use which has been made of it. For the very fact of its
difficulty, and the patience required in reading up and verifying the
statistical figures which may be referred to by an author in support of
his theories and opinions, protect him, to a certain extent, from
scrutiny, and tempt him to draw largely upon so convenient and available
a capital. The public generally, therefore, connect in their minds
statistics, if not with unwelcome taxation (for which they naturally
form an important basis), certainly with political controversies, in
which they are in the habit of seeing public men making use of the most
opposite statistical results with equal assurance in support of the most
opposite arguments. A great and distinguished French Minister and
statesman is even quoted as having boasted of the invention of what he
is said to have called “l’Art de grouper les Chiffres.” But if the same
ingenuity and enthusiasm which may have suggested to him this art should
have tempted him or others, as historians, to group facts also, it would
be no more reasonable to make the historical facts answerable for the
use made of them than it would be to make statistical science
responsible for many an ingenious financial statement.
Yet this science has suffered materially in public estimation by such
use, although the very fact that statesmen, financiers, physicians, and
naturalists should seek to support their statements and doctrines by
statistics shows conclusively that they all acknowledge them as the
foundation of truth; and this ought, therefore, to raise, instead of
depressing, the science in the general esteem of the public.
Statistical Science is, as I have said, comparatively new in its
position amongst the sciences in general; and we must look for the cause
of this tardy recognition to the fact that it has the appearance of an
incomplete science, and of being rather a helpmate to other sciences
than having a right to claim that title for itself. But this is an
appearance only. For if pure statistics abstain from participating in
the last and highest aim of all science (viz. the discovering and
expounding the laws which govern the universe), and leave this duty to
their more favoured sisters the natural and the political sciences, this
is done with conscious self-abnegation, for the purpose of protecting
the purity and simplicity of their sacred task—the accumulation and
verification of facts, unbiassed by any consideration of the ulterior
use which may, or can, be made of them.
Those general laws, therefore, in the knowledge of which we recognize
one of the highest treasures of man on earth, are left unexpressed,
though rendered self-apparent, as they may be read in the
uncompromising, rigid figures placed before him.
It is difficult to see how, under such circumstances, and
notwithstanding this self-imposed abnegation, Statistical Science, as
such, should be subject to prejudice, reproach, and attack; and yet the
fact cannot be denied.
We hear it said that its prosecution leads necessarily to Pantheism, and
the destruction of true religion, as depriving, in man’s estimation, the
Almighty of His power of free self-determination, making His world a
mere machine working according to a general prearranged scheme, the
parts of which are capable of mathematical measurement, and the scheme
itself of numerical expression!—that it leads to fatalism, and therefore
deprives man of his dignity, of his virtue and morality, as it would
prove him to be a mere wheel in this machine, incapable of exercising a
free choice of action, but predestined to fulfil a given task and to run
a prescribed course, whether for good or for evil.
These are grave accusations, and would be terrible indeed if they were
true. But are they true? Is the power of God destroyed or diminished by
the discovery of the fact that the earth requires three hundred and
sixty-five revolutions upon its own axis to every revolution round the
sun, giving us so many days to our year, and that the moon changes
thirteen times during that period; that the tide changes every six
hours; that water boils at a temperature of 212° according to
Fahrenheit; that the nightingale sings only in April and May; that all
birds lay eggs; that a hundred and six boys are born to every hundred
girls? Or is man a less free agent because it has been ascertained that
a generation lasts about thirty years; that there are annually posted at
the Post-offices the same number of letters on which the writer had
forgotten to place any address; that the number of crimes committed
under the same local, national, and social conditions is constant; that
the full-grown man ceases to find amusement in the sports of the child?
But our Statistical Science does not even say that this must be so; it
only states that it has been so, and leaves it to the naturalist or
political economist to argue that it is probable, from the number of
times in which it has been found to be so, that it will be so again, as
long as the same causes are operating. It thus gave birth to that part
of Mathematical Science called the calculation of probabilities, and
even established the theory that in the natural world there exist no
certainties at all, but only probabilities. Although this doctrine,
destroying man’s feeling of security to a certain extent, has startled
and troubled some, it is no less true that, whilst we may reckon with a
thoughtless security on the sun rising to-morrow, this is only a
probable event, the probability of which is capable of being expressed
by a determined mathematical fraction. Our insurance offices have, from
their vast collection of statistical facts, established, to such a
precision, the probable duration of man’s life, that they are able to
enter with each individual into a precise bargain on the value of this
life; and yet this does not imply an impious pretension to determine
when the individual is really to die.
But we are met also by the most opposite objection; and statistics are
declared _useless_, because they cannot be relied on for the
determination of any given cause, and do only establish probabilities
where man requires and asks for certainty. This objection is well
founded; but it does not affect the science itself, but solely the use
which man has in vain tried to make of it, and for which it is not
intended. It is the essence of the Statistical Science, that it only
makes apparent general laws, but that these laws are inapplicable to any
special case; that therefore what is proved to be law in general is
uncertain in particular. Herein lies the real refutation also of the
first objection; and thus is the power, wisdom, and goodness of the
Creator manifested, showing how the Almighty has established the
physical and moral world on unchangeable laws, conformable to His
eternal nature, while He has allowed to the individual the freest and
fullest use of his faculties, vindicating at the same time the majesty
of His laws by their remaining unaffected by individual
self-determination.
Gentlemen, I am almost ashamed to speak such homely truths (of which I
feel myself at best to be a very inadequate exponent) to a meeting like
this, including men of such eminence in the science, and particularly in
the presence of one who was your first President, M. Quetelet, and from
whom I had the privilege, now twenty-four years ago, to receive my first
instruction in the higher branches of mathematics—one who has so
successfully directed his great abilities to the application of the
science to those social phenomena, the discovery of the governing laws
of which can only be approached by the accumulation and reduction of
statistical facts.
It is the social condition of mankind, as exhibited by those facts,
which forms the chief object of the study and investigation undertaken
by this Congress; and it hopes that the results of its labours will
afford to the statesman and legislator a sure guide in his endeavours to
promote social development and happiness. The importance of these
international Congresses in this respect cannot be overrated. They not
only awaken public attention to the value of these pursuits, bring
together men of all countries who devote their lives to them, and who
are thus enabled to exchange their thoughts and varied experiences; but
they pave the way to an agreement amongst different governments and
nations to follow up these common inquiries, in a common spirit, by a
common method, and for a common end.
It is only in the largest number of observations that the law becomes
apparent; and the truth becomes more and more to be relied upon, the
larger the amount of facts accurately observed which form the basis of
its elucidation. It is consequently of the highest importance that
observations identical in character should embrace the largest field of
observation attainable. It is not sufficient, however, to collect the
statistical facts of one class, over the greatest area, and to the
fullest amount, but we require, in order to arrive at sound conclusions
as to the influences operating in producing these facts, the
simultaneous collection of the greatest variety of facts,—the statistics
of the increase of population, of marriages, births and deaths, of
emigration, disease, crime, education and occupation, of the products of
agriculture, mining, and manufacture, of the results of trade, commerce,
and finance. Nor, while their comparison becomes an essential element in
the investigation of our social condition, does it suffice to obtain
these observations as a whole, but we require also, and particularly,
the comparison of these same classes of facts in different countries,
under the varying influences of political and religious conditions, of
occupation, races, and climates. And even this comparison of the same
facts in different localities does not give us all the necessary
material from which to draw our conclusions; for we require, as much as
anything else, the collection of observations of the same classes of
facts, in the same localities, and under the same conditions, but at
different times. It is only the element of time, in the last instance,
which enables us to test progress or regress—that is to say, life.
Thus the physician, by feeling the pulse of the greatest number of
individuals coming under his observation, old and young, male and
female, and at all seasons, arrives at the average number of the
pulsations of the heart in man’s normal condition: by feeling the pulse
of the same individual under the most varied circumstances and
conditions, he arrives at a conclusion on this individual’s pulse;
again, by feeling the pulse of the greatest variety of persons suffering
from the same disease, he ascertains the general condition of the pulse
under the influence of that disease. It is only then that, feeling a
particular patient’s pulse, he will be able to judge whether this
individual is affected by this peculiar disease, as far as that can be
ascertained by its influence on the pulse.
But all these comparisons of the different classes of facts under
different local conditions and at different times, of which I have been
speaking, depend, not only as to their usefulness and as to the ease
with which they can be undertaken, but even as to the possibility of
undertaking them at all, on the similarity—nay, congruity—of the method
employed, and the expressions, figures, and conditions selected, under
which the observations have been taken. Does, then, the world at large
not owe the deepest obligations to a Congress such as the one I am
addressing, which has made it its special task to produce this
assimilation and to place at the command of man the accumulated
experience upon his own condition, scientifically elaborated and reduced
in a manner to enable the meanest intellect to draw safe conclusions?
Gentlemen, the Congress has at its various meetings succeeded in doing a
great deal in this direction: the official statistics of all countries
have been improved; and in regard to the Census, the recommendations of
the Brussels meeting have been generally carried out in a majority of
States. I am sorry to have to admit the existence of some striking
exceptions in England in this respect; for instance, the Census of Great
Britain and Ireland was not taken on precisely the same plan in
essential particulars, thereby diminishing its value for general
purposes. The judicial statistics of England and Wales do not show a
complete comparative view of the operation of our judicial
establishments; nor, while we are in all the departments of the State
most actively engaged in the preparation of valuable statistics, can we
deny certain defects in our returns, which must be traced to the want of
such a central authority or Commission as was recommended by the
Congress at Brussels and Paris, to direct, on a general plan, all the
great statistical operations to be prepared by the various departments.
Such a Commission would be most useful in preparing an annual digest of
the Statistics of the United Kingdom, of our widely scattered Colonies,
and of our vast Indian empire. From such a digest the most important
results could not fail to be elicited.
One of the most useful results of the labours of the Congress has been
the common agreement of all States to inquire into the causes of every
death, and to return the deaths from the same causes under synonymous
names, sanctioned by the Congress. It has in this instance set the
example of establishing what is most desirable in all other branches of
statistics, namely, the agreement upon well-defined terms. There ought
to exist no greater difficulty in arriving at such an agreement in the
case of the various crimes than in that of “causes of death;” and it
must be remembered that it is one of the first tasks and duties of every
science to start with a definition of terms. What is it that is meant by
a house, a family, an adult, an educated or an uneducated person; by
murder, manslaughter, and so on? It is evident that, as long as a
different sense is attached to these terms in different returns, their
use for comparison is nil, and for simple study very much deteriorated;
and still we have not yet arrived at such a simple and obvious
desideratum! The different weights, measures, and currencies in which
different statistics are expressed, cause further difficulties and
impediments. Suggestions with regard to the removal of these have been
made at former meetings, and will no doubt be renewed. We fancy here
that our Pound, as the largest available unit, with its Florin, offers
great advantages, particularly if further subdivided decimally.
We hope to lay before you, as far as Great Britain is concerned, the
Registrar-General’s analysis of the causes of death, and the dangers
that people encounter at each period of life; complete returns of the
produce of our mines; the agricultural returns of Ireland, in which the
Registrar-General of that country has given every year the breadth of
land under every kind of crop, with an estimate of its produce as well
as its value, and has proved, by his success in obtaining these facts at
a comparatively moderate expense, and by the voluntary assistance of the
landowners and cultivators, as well as of the clergy of all
denominations, that the apprehension was groundless that it could not be
done without inordinate cost, or without injuring individual interests.
We must hope that, considering its importance with regard to all
questions affecting the food of the people, this inquiry will not only
be extended to England and Scotland, but also to the Continent
generally, wherever it may not already have been instituted. Our trade
returns will exhibit the great effects produced on our commerce by the
changes in our commercial system; our colonial delegates will exhibit to
you proofs of the wonderful progress of their countries, and proofs, at
the same time, that elaborate statistics have rendered them conscious of
that progress; and I have no doubt that the foreign delegates will more
than repay us by the information which they will give us in exchange.
These returns will no doubt prove to us afresh, in figures, what we know
already from feeling and from experience—how dependent the different
nations are upon each other for their progress, for their moral and
material prosperity, and that the essential condition of their mutual
happiness is the maintenance of peace and goodwill amongst each other.
Let them still be rivals, but rivals in the noble race of social
improvement, in which, although it may be the lot of one to arrive first
at the goal, yet all will equally share the prize, all feeling their own
powers and strength increase in the healthy competition.
I should detain you longer than I feel justified in doing, and should
perhaps trench upon the domain and duties of Presidents of Sections, if
I were to allude to the points which will there be specially recommended
to your attention and consideration; but I trust that it will not be
thought presumptuous in me if I exhort you generally not to lose
yourselves in points of minute detail, however tempting and attractive
they may be from their intrinsic interest and importance, but to direct
your undivided energies to the establishment of those broad principles
upon which the common action of different nations can be based, which
common action must be effected, if we are to make real progress. I know
that this Congress can only suggest and recommend, and that it must
ultimately rest with the different Governments to carry out those
suggestions. Many previous recommendations, it is true, have been
carried out, but many have been left unattended to; and I will not
except our own country from blame in this respect. Happy and proud
indeed should I feel if this noble gathering should be enabled to lay
the solid foundation of an edifice, necessarily slow of construction,
and requiring, for generations to come, laborious and persevering
exertion, intended as it is for the promotion of human happiness, by
leading to the discovery of those eternal laws upon which that universal
happiness is dependent!
May He, who has implanted in our hearts a craving after the discovery of
truth, and given us our reasoning faculties to the end that we should
use them for this discovery, sanctify our efforts and bless them in
their results.
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LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ In sections where the quotes are numbered, some numbers do not
appear in the sequences. E.g. “Dinner at the Trinity House,” page
149 and following.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
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