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XXXVIII.

1839.

CHAP. venerable pile was splendidly decorated in the interior for the occasion, and all the venerable usages, redolent of remote antiquity, religiously observed. The Queen's personal appearance and animated countenance were the admiration of every beholder. Among the numerous foreigners of distinction present, none attracted so much. notice as Marshal Soult, who was sent as special ambassador from France to do honour to her Majesty. Thunders of applause shook Guildhall, when, at a splendid entertainment given by the Corporation of London to the illustrious stranger, he stood up beside his ancient antagonist in arms, the Duke of Wellington, to return thanks when their healths were jointly drank. The economical part of the nation was gratified by the lessened cost of the 1 Ann. Reg. ceremony; for the entire expense was only £70,000, whereas that of George IV. had cost £243,000. A 99, 136, general illumination closed the festivities, the lights of which were not extinguished when the rays of the sun on the following morning shone on the metropolis.1

1838;

Chron. 95,

137. Mart. ii. 440.

3.

age to Prince Albert.

A still more important event in the history of the Her marri- Queen, which has been attended with the happiest consequences, took place in the following year. Great anxiety had for some time prevailed in the country on the subject of her Majesty's marriage, both on account of her own deserved popularity, and from a sense of the importance, in the troubled times which were evidently approaching, of a direct succession to the throne. As the Marriage Act confined her Majesty's choice to foreign families, several young princes, attracted by the splendid prize, flocked to England, and shared in the magnificent hospitalities of Windsor; but for long the Queen's choice seemed undecided. Several surmises, however, at length were heard of a preference shown for a young Prince of prepossessing figure and elegant manners; and universal satisfaction was diffused by the confirmation they received from her Majesty communicating to the Privy Council, assembled at Buckingham Palace on

November 23, 1839, her intention of allying herself with CHAP. PRINCE ALBERT OF SAXE-COBURG AND GOTHA. This

XXXVIII.

1840.

1839.

announcement, which, by her Majesty's gracious permis- Nov. 23, sion, was immediately made public, was speedily followed 1839. by the insertion, by royal command, of the Prince's name Jan. 10, with the rest of the royal family; and he was naturalised by a bill introduced into the House of Peers on 20th Jan. 20. January 1840, which passed rapidly by a suspension of the standing orders. Ministers proposed £50,000 as the annuity to the Prince, which was, on the motion of the Duke of Wellington, somewhat ungraciously reduced to £30,000. Mr Hume proposed to reduce it still fur- Feb. 10, ther to £21,000, but this was negatived by a large 1 Ann. Reg. majority in the Commons. The marriage took place on 1839, 313, the 10th February 1840, with all the pomp and solem- Chron. 24, nity usual on such occasions; and the public satisfaction Deb. 41, was wound up to the highest pitch by the birth of the 633. Princess-Royal, which took place on Nov. 21, 1840.1

1840.

314; 1840,

110. Parl.

554,611,

4.

on this

event.

Thus did the family of Saxe-Coburg ascend the throne of England-a memorable event in British annals, when Reflections it is recollected that, since the Conquest in 1066, only auspicious five changes of the reigning family had taken placethe Normans, the Plantagenets, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and the Hanoverians. The nation had good reason to congratulate itself that on this occasion the sceptre passed to a new family, not by the rude grasp of conquest, or amidst the agonies of civil war, but by the free choice of a young Princess, the undoubted Sovereign of the realm, who, in singleness of heart, bestowed her hand on the deserved object of her youthful predilection. Cousingerman by blood, the Queen and the Prince were nearly of the same age, and had been acquainted in their early years; but it was not till they met, in the bloom of youth, in the princely halls of Windsor, that their acquaintance assumed a more serious and tender form. The Prince possessed all the qualities fitted to attract the attention of his royal cousin. Gifted by nature with an elegant

1840.

CHAP. and commanding figure, he possessed at the same time a XXXVIII. countenance in which an expression, naturally mild and benevolent, was mingled with a certain shade of reflection, and even melancholy. His character, since he was placed in the delicate and difficult situation of Prince-consort, but not regnant, has corresponded with what might have been anticipated from this physiognomy. Carefully abstaining from any interference with party-politics, or any intermingling, at least in a visible way, with affairs of state, he has devoted abilities of no ordinary kind, and a disposition in the highest degree benevolent and philanthropic, to the encouragement of art and enterprise, and the alleviation in every possible way of human suffering. His influence with the Queen, whose remarkable talents and patriotic spirit are fitted in a peculiar manner to appreciate these qualities, must be great, but it has never appeared in a dangerous or invidious form; and the name of Prince Albert has, since his marriage with his royal consort, been associated only with projects of patriotism and works of beneficence.

5.

and Pro

cipies.

If Great Britain has been fortunate in the personal His family, character of the Prince whom Queen Victoria selected to testant prin- be her royal consort, the nation has not been less so in the principles of the family from which he was descended. The family of Saxe-Coburg had been amongst the first converts to, and steadiest supporters of, the Reformation. In the castle of Saxe-Coburg Luther sought and found refuge, when endangered in the first rise of the new faith; the apartments in which he dwelt, the bedstead on which he rested, the pulpit from which he preached, are preserved with pious care; and in the portfolio of the youthful Prince who was destined to place a dynasty on the throne of England, were to be found sketches of the venerable pile in which were preserved the relics which had given such distinction to his race. Immense, at this juncture, was the importance of this confirmed Protestantism in the royal consort of Queen Victoria. From the

XXXVIII.

1839.

6.

measures of

Criminal

combined influence of the Reform Bill and the equal CHAP. balance of parties in the House of Commons, it had come to pass that the small majority which cast the balance in favour of the present Administration was entirely composed of Irish Catholics, and by their defection it might at any moment be overturned. To counterbalance so formidable an influence in such a quarter, nothing could be so fortunate as the knowledge of confirmed Protestant principles in the family which now ascended the throne. When Ministers could reckon only on so small a majority in the House of Commons, and were in a minority in Legislative the Lords, it was scarcely to be expected that any mea- the period. sures of real importance or beneficial tendency could be law. introduced into Parliament. Yet such was the force of public opinion, that, despite the weakness of the executive, some important measures were during this period in a manner forced upon the Government by the country. The first of these was a bill for the relaxation of the ancient severity of our criminal law. Even after the unwearied and benevolent efforts of Sir Samuel Romilly and Sir James Mackintosh to remove this stain from our statute-book, much remained yet to be done; and public opinion, outstripping in this instance, as in many others, the march of legislation, loudly demanded the abrogation of the penalty of death in a much greater number of instances. Mr Ewart, and a considerable party both in and out of the House of Commons, even went a step farther, and strenuously contended for the entire abolition of the punishment of death, even in cases of cold-blooded murder. To this extreme change, however, fortunately little countenance was given. The Criminal Law Commissioners, to whom the matter had been referred, recommended, in their report in 1837, the abolition of the penalty of death in twenty-one out of the thirty-one cases in which it was still retained. This proposal was adopted in a bill brought in by Lord John Russell, which passed the House of Commons against an amendment moved by

XXXVIII.

1839.

July 14.

CHAP. Mr Ewart for the entire abolition of capital punishments by a majority of only one-so strongly rooted was the desire for an alleviation of the criminal law in the public mind. It passed the Lords without a division. This was a great and salutary change, and it was followed up by the Criminal Law Commissioners, who before 1845 had presented eight reports, which were consolidated in 1 Parl. Deb, an act entitled "The Act of Crimes and Punishments." xxxvii. 733, Since that time-that is, during a period now of eleven years-the punishment of death has never been inflicted in Great Britain but in cases of cold-blooded and deliberate murder.1

Xxxviii.

923, 1907;

Pol. Dict. ii. 220.

7.

ject, and

of secondary

punish

ments.

This has been a great and blessed change; and if it Reflections had been followed up by efficient measures to increase on this sub- and render more stringent the secondary punishments the neglect, which were to come in place of death, it would have been a subject of unmixed thankfulness and congratulation. Unfortunately, however, this has by no means been the case; and from the entire neglect with which, for the next fifteen years, the subject of transportation has been treated, a new set of evils has arisen, which, if of a less tragic, has proved of a more widespread character than the sanguinary punishments of former times. The reason of this is obvious. The forced labour of convicts is a very great advantage to infant colonies, and is always at first gladly received by them; but after a time the necessity for their assistance is less strongly felt; and if care is not taken to augment the numbers of free settlers in as great a proportion as that of the penal convicts, they will come in time to be felt as a very great evil. This change was experienced in the strongest manner in the British penal colonies. From the lasting and widespread distress which, with the exception of three years, pervaded the British empire from 1838 to 1850, the multitude of convicts sentenced to transportation became so large that they greatly exceeded the requirements of the free settlers. New South Wales being at once the most distant colony

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