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MEMOIR OF H. R. H. THE PRINCE CONSORT.

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for 1861. The eventful year that has since elapsed has revealed to the nation how many and how great were the qualities of the deceased gentleman, and by its absence how beneficial an influence had been withdrawn from the inner life of the nation.

At the first dawn of the modern history of Germany, the House of Saxony was amongst the most illustrious of its ruling families. One of these princes, who lived in the tenth century-Henry the Fowler-was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and, being a very able man, did much to consolidate the settlement of the Germanic races in Central Europe. In 1423, the Duchy of Saxony, the dukes of which had now attained the dignity of Electors, was ruled over by a wise and energetic prince Frederick the Quarrelsome; who, on the extinction of the House of Wettin, received from the hands of the Emperor Sigismund the investiture of the Duchy of Meissen-an accession of territory which placed Saxony high among the German States. This importance was, however, early lost by diffusion. The law of primogeniture was unknown; and on the death of Frederick the Gentle, son of Frederick the Quarrelsome, his dominions were divided between his sons Ernest

and Albert; and the possessions of these were, in the course of succession, further broken up into numerous petty duchies, in each of which a Saxon prince exercised sovereign power. The House of Saxony was thenceforth divided into two branches, the Ernestine and the Albertine, which were in continual rivalry, and did each other as much mischief as possible. These comminuted fragments of empire have been, to some extent, aggregated by inheritance and marriage: so that, at present, five reigning families compose the House of Saxony; that of SaxeAltenberg, which is the caput nominis, and, though representing the eldest or Ernestine line, has the smallest territory; Saxe-Weimar - Eisenach; SaxeMeiningen-Hildburghausen; SaxeCoburg-Gotha; and the royal line of Saxony, which represents the Albertine line. The strength thus lost by division was, to a great degree, compensated by the influence acquired by alliances with the other reigning families of Germany; and the Electors of Saxony, possessing a seventh part in the choice of the Kaiser, and ruling states central to all the other German sovereignties, and of magnitude when compared with the petty dukedoms around them, played a conspicuous part in the history of modern Europe. Their share, indeed, was not merely noticeable, but creditable; for the race has been prolific of men above the average of princes. The great convulsion of the sixteenth century brought the Electors of Saxony into the foremost rank of historical personages. In the division of the states of Frederick the Gentle the Electorate of Saxony had fallen to Ernest, the eldest son. The

princes of his line embraced the cause of the Reformation with zeal, and upheld it with constancy. Striving against the whole power of the Pope and the Emperor, they fought and bled, and suffered captivity and confiscation, without shrinking from the cause. The Electors, Frederick the Wise, John the Constant, and John Frederick the Magnanimous, were the faithful protectors of Luther, and the champions of the Protestant faith.` While the princes of the Ernestine line were thus contending for the Reformation, those of the Albertine branch were among the most formidable adherents of the Emperor. George, Duke of Saxony, was a man of commanding talents. He chiefly sustained the cause of the Roman Church in Germany, and defeated and took prisoner his relative the Elector, John Frederick the Magnanimous, at the battle of Mühlburg, in 1547. The Emperor kept his rebellious vassal a close prisoner, and deprived him of his dominions, which he conferred upon the Duke George, in whose line, after some mutations, it still remains. George was succeeded by his brother Henry, who was a Lutheran; and he by his celebrated son Maurice, who, abandoning the cause of the Emperor, became the successful assertor of religious freedom. Thus, to the Ernestine branch of the House of Saxony the reformed faith owes its early preservation and the Confession of Augsburg, the Principia of the reformed branch of the Church of Christ; and to the Albertine line the treaty of Passau and the peace of Augsburg, by which the Protestants obtained the free exercise of their religion and equal rights with the Roman Catholics. The

Albertine line, though ruling over a people who are for the most part Protestant, have generally professed the faith of Rome; but the elder branch has steadily adhered to the faith for which their ancestors fought so bravely; and hence that branch of the House of Saxony has always been considered the head of the Protestant Church in Germany-a position of vast importance to the fortunes of the family; for it was their hereditary attachment to that faith which produced such frequent alliances with the Royal Family of England. The mother of George the Third was a princess of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; a prince of the same family married the heiress of the English throne; his sister married George the Third's fourth son, through whom a princess of the family now wears the British Crown; and another prince, the lamented Prince Consort, having married his cousin, that crown will descend to the male lineage of the ancient German House. The English alliance is, indeed, but the seed and origin of the family advancement. Prince Leopold, having missed for his lineage the crown of England and refused that of Greece, is now the honoured King of the Belgians, and his children inherit the ancient blood of France; and the royal family of Portugal are now, in the male line, of the House of Saxe-CoburgGotha.

The late Prince Consort, Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emmanuel, was of the Ernestine branch of the Electoral House, being the second son of his Serene Highness the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and of a princess of the elder house of SaxeCoburg-Altenberg, also of the

Ernestine branch. He was born at Ehrenberg on the 26th August, 1819. The early education of the duke's sons was conducted under the father's eye in his own palace; but in 1837 the youths were sent to the University of Bonn, a college of great repute for the excellence of its government and professors, and for the good tone which pervaded its society. Several other of the youthful princes of Germany were there fellowcollegians. Prince Albert's conduct is described as that of an earnest and painstaking student; his University studies were history and jurisprudence, and in these and other liberal sciences the knowledge and judgment he displayed in after life prove that he was not merely a persevering but an understanding scholar. But there were pursuits outside the academical course which were more conjugal to his soul, though they could not beguile him to deviate from the duties set before him. Music and painting were born with him. Before he had entered upon his student life, he had attained, under his father's roof, considerable proficiency in these elegant arts; in his adolescent manhood he acquired them as sciences. That his attainments in the former beautiful study were not those of a mere dilettante, the Prince has left permanent proofs in an "Essay on Music," written during his studentship at Bonn, and in compositions which would place a recognized maestro in a high rank among the tone-poets. The attainments of the Prince in all liberal arts and sciences, in much that is useful, and all that makes life refined, are evidenced by the tenour of his future life and the marked influence he produced on society, even

in the short period of life that was vouchsafed to him. Few, however, could be aware what natural soundness of judgment, what cultivated moral sensibility, what motive power affecting his fellow men for good, had been accorded to the handsome and elegant youth who was present with his father at the coronation of their young kinswoman in 1839.

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and his son, it was remarked, were still visitors at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle long after the other illustrious personages who had come to England to assist at the coronation had departed. This was not unnatural, considering the near relationship of the guests to the Queen of England and her mother; but it is no unreasonable surmise that the amiable qualities and accomplished manners of the Prince had made his presence acceptable to the young Queen, who was also a young woman; that, in short, this near acquaintance had given rise to a mutual affection, which time showed had not been inconsiderately admitted, and which grew with their growth and strengthened with their strength," so that the conjugal union which was its early result became the type and standard of that union of true hearts which is the pride of the domestic life of our people. It would have been unnatural had it not been so. The Queen and her cousin were in the very flower of youth; both gifted with great personal endowments, both highly educated, both trained in the purest and best of schools, the home of pure-minded and godly parents; of equal birth, with congenial tastes, with happy tempers,

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loving and loved. Had the world been before her where to choose, the young Queen must have fixed her choice there. Every family wish combined to sanction the union. The wise and affectionate uncle, the tender mother, could have desired no lot for either than that the happiness of both should be blended in one home. Neither could the statesmen-those who were the Queen's counsellors, and those who might be-have devised an alliance better adapted to the policy of the nation. Under such favouring influences the arrangements were speedily concluded. King Leopold came to England in 1839; and shortly after Prince Albert and his brother also paid a visit, apparently casual, to their fair cousin; they stayed about a month. In private circles these little affairs are well known by a species of freemasonry, while the parties most interested imagine their feelings to be clothed in impenetrable secresy. But human impulses are the same in the palace and in the cottage; it was told in "the Clubs," it was whispered in drawing-rooms, and asserted as an incontrovertible fact at dinner-tables, that the Queen was "engaged"-engaged to her handsome cousin; and no one said it was a shame. All speculations were put an end to by the Queen herself, who, having assembled the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace on the 23rd November, declared her intention in these memorable words :

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"I have caused you to be summoned at the present time in order that I may acquaint you with my resolution in a matter which deeply concerns the welfare of my people and the happiness of my future. life. It is my intention to ally

myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the engagement which I am about to contract, I have not come to this decision without mature consideration, nor without feeling a strong assurance that, with the blessing of Almighty God, it will at once secure my domestic felicity, and serve the interests of the country." True and just confidence that God will give His blessing to a union founded on mutual affection-a confidence based on the unselfish love which entwines the happiness of a nation with its own!

The marriage ceremony was performed at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, on the 10th February of the following year. Those who now lament the early severance of the union thus consecrated look back with affectionate pride to the manly youth and the loveable and dignified girl who passed hand-inhaud from the chapel, man and wife.

The provision proposed by the Ministers to enable the Prince (who, as yet, bore only his ancestral titles) to maintain the expenses incidental to his rank as husband of the Queen, was founded on the precedent of that settled on Prince Leopold on his marriage with the Princess Charlotte-an annuity of 50,000l. per annum. But the days of royal prodigality were passed; the sum seemed too much; and the House of Commons, on the motion of Colonel Sibthorp, cut down the settlement to 30,000l. per annum-a reduction which, however ungracious it might seem, was cheerfully acquiesced in. The Queen naturally hastened to bestow upon her husband all the marks of distinction

in her gift. The Prince had been naturalized by Act of Parliament; the Queen conferred upon him the title of Royal Highness by patent, and he was empowered to quarter the Royal arms; precedence was given him next after the Queen; he was made a Knight of the Garter, of the Bath, aud of St. Patrick; a Privy Councillor; and in 1857, some question of status having been raised by the punctilious German Courts, he was declared "The Prince Consort," and took an understood rank among the princes of the earth. The Prince was also raised to the military rank of Field Marshal, and became Colonel-inChief of regiments in military order. The various dignities and employments which naturally devolved upon him in virtue of his high rank have been noted in the ANNUAL REGISTER in order of date, and are to be found in the appro priate records.

The position of the Prince in this country was full of anomalies. The ordinary relations of the husband to the wife were, in regard to the world, utterly reversed, and this in so peculiar a manner that even their domestic relation was largely affected. The lord was the wife's first subject; he owed to her, as his Sovereign, duty and allegiance in every act of political significancy; as the Sovereign of these realms the royal income and domains, the palaces, jewels, and all appointments of royalty, were hers; the Ministers were her servants, she appointed and dismissed them at her own free will, on considerations of which he knew nothing and could not influence; she was constitutionally bound listen to no other advice but theirs. Had the Prince, who was the

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