The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Iii Part 100

[Pageheading: THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _22nd November 1860_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--I have to thank you for a most kind letter of the 20th. I hope you will see the young and very nice Empress of Austria,[45] perhaps you made a little excursion to Plymouth. I had, and have still, some cold, and therefore I was apprehensive of waiting at the station on the 20th in the evening; I sent Marie and Philip to receive the Empress. Yesterday before daybreak I went myself to Antwerp. I first paid the Empress a visit, and then I took her to your beautiful s.h.i.+p. She was much struck with it, and it was _very kind_ of you, and indeed, for an invalid, invaluable. It will show, besides, that even beyond Garibaldi, and that amiable, disinterested _Annex_ander, you can feel some interest. I saw the Empress already dressed for her departure, but I think there is something very peculiar about her, which is very pleasing. Poor soul, to see her go away under, I fear, not very safe circ.u.mstances, as she coughs a great deal, quite grieves one; though it certainly increased my stupid cold, still I should have been sorry not to have a.s.sisted at her going to sea. It was a beautiful day, but this night it has begun to blow from the West-south-west, which I fear will create a sea to the Westward.

That you had your sons about you must have been a great satisfaction to you. Bertie got well through his truly tremendous tour. I think that the effect on the Americans will last for some time. That the poor Duke of Newcastle got home without accident is surprising. Affy has something most winning, and is a dear little rogue. Eugenie's expedition[46] is most astonis.h.i.+ng. She also coughs much, and I never heard Scotland recommended for Winter excursions. I believe that the death of her sister affected her a good deal. She seems to have been a good deal _choquee_ that she had been dancing in Africa when that poor sister was dying. Next to this, there seems a difference of opinion with her master on the subject of the Pope. You will recollect that at the time of his elections the clergy rendered him undoubted good service; I even doubt that he would have been elected without their aid. Now he puts the axe to the root of the whole Catholic Church by destroying the Pope, and he does this _without the slightest provocation_, and for the benefit of the revolution _et des revolutionnaires_....

I remain ever, my beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Footnote 45: The Empress Elizabeth was on her way to Madeira, in a s.h.i.+p placed at her disposal by the Queen.]

[Footnote 46: The Empress of the French was making a tour in England and Scotland for the benefit of her health; she had sustained a bereavement by the death of her sister, the d.u.c.h.ess of Alba.]

[Pageheading: BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS ALICE]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1860_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--I hasten to announce to you that yesterday our dear young couple here were engaged, and that we _are all_ very happy.[47]

Louis was spoken to yesterday on our return from Aldershot by Albert,--who told him he would have an opportunity of speaking to Alice--and this opportunity he took last night after dinner when he was standing alone with her at the fire, and every one else was occupied in talking. They whispered it to me, and then, after we left the drawing-room, we sent for good Louis--and the young people met and confirmed in a very touching manner _what_ they had merely been able to whisper to one another before. He was very much overcome. He is a dear, good, amiable, high-principled young man--who I am sure will make our dearest Alice _very_ happy, and she will, I am sure, be a most devoted loving wife to him. She is _very, very_ happy, and it is a pleasure to see their young, happy faces beaming with love for one another. Alice is so extremely reasonable and quiet. She wishes everything kind and affectionate to be said to you, and _hopes_ for your _blessing!_ I am very, very happy, so are we both, but I am still a good deal agitated and flurried by the whole event.

On Tuesday the Empress arrives, but only to luncheon. I must end now in haste. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Pray tell it to good Philip, and also to Leopold and Marie.

[Footnote 47: See _ante_, 31st July, 1860, and note 31.]

[Pageheading: THE SEE OF WORCESTER]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's second letter respecting the Bishopric of Worcester,[48] just as she was going to answer the first.

While not objecting to the nomination of Mr Bayley,[49] she wanted to point out the importance of, at a future vacancy, not to confine the selection to respectable parish priests, but to bear in mind that the Bench of Bishops should not be left devoid of some University men of acknowledged standing and theological learning; it would be seriously weakened if, in controversies on points of doctrine agitating the Church, no value were attached to the opinions at least of some of those who are to govern her. Lord Palmerston may now have an opportunity of selecting a stronger man of Liberal views from Cambridge.

[Footnote 48: Bishop Henry Pepys had died in November, and was succeeded in the following January by Canon Henry Philpott of Norwich, Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.]

[Footnote 49: Probably the Rev. Emilius Bayley, Rector of St George's, Bloomsbury; now the Rev. Sir Emilius Laurie.]

[Pageheading: EPISCOPAL APPOINTMENTS]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _2nd December 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and very sincerely congratulates your Majesty upon the arrangement of a marriage which bids so fair to secure for Her Royal Highness the Princess Alice that happiness to which her amiable and estimable qualities so justly ent.i.tle her.

With respect to bishops, Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit that the bishops are in the Church what generals of districts are in the Army: their chief duties consist in watching over the clergy of their diocese, seeing that they perform properly their parochial duties, and preserving harmony between the clergy and the laity, and softening the asperities between the Established Church and the Dissenters. For these purposes it is desirable that a bishop should have practical knowledge of parochial functions, and should not be of an overbearing and intolerant temperament. His diocesan duties are enough to occupy all his time, and the less he engages in theological disputes the better. Much mischief has been done by theological bishops, and if the Bench were filled with men like the Bishops of Oxford and Exeter there would be no religious peace in the land. Nor have men chosen merely for their learning succeeded better; Thirlwall, Bishop of St David's, and Blomfield, the late Bishop of London, were chosen on account of their learning; the former is acknowledged to be inefficient, the latter greatly mismanaged his diocese. The theological learning of the Bishop of Exeter[50] has caused much mischief to the Established Church. Viscount Palmerston would also beg to submit that the intolerant maxims of the High Church bishops have exasperated the Dissenters who form a large portion of the nation, and have given offence to many good Churchmen. The Bishop of Exeter, the late Bishop of Carlisle,[51] and the late Bishop of Rochester,[52] the two latter individuals kind-hearted and good-natured men, refused to consecrate burial grounds unless a wall of separation divided the portion allotted to Churchmen from the portion allotted to Dissenters--a demand which gave offence to both communities. Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit that several of the bishops whom he has had the honour of recommending to your Majesty had distinguished themselves by their cla.s.sical and academical attainments, and he may mention in this respect the names of Baring, Longley, Tait, Wigram, and Waldegrave.

Viscount Palmerston can a.s.sure your Majesty that although his selection of bishops has been much found fault with by the High Church, Puseyite, and semi-Catholic Party, they have given great satisfaction to the nation at large, and Viscount Palmerston has received communications to that effect, verbal and written, from persons of all cla.s.ses, and political parties in all parts of the country. The people of this country are essentially Protestant, they feel the deepest aversion to Catholicism, and they see that the High Church, Tractarian, and Puseyite doctrines lead men to the Church of Rome. The disgraceful scenes last year at St George's in the East[53]

were only an exaggerated outburst of a very general and deeply-rooted feeling. Viscount Palmerston believes that the clergy of the Established Church were never more exemplary in the performance of their duties, more respected by the Laity and, generally speaking, on better terms with the Nonconformist body than at the present time.

[Footnote 50: Henry Phillpotts, who was Bishop from 1830 to 1869.]

[Footnote 51: The Hon. Henry Montagu Villiers, who was transferred to Durham.]

[Footnote 52: George Murray, who had died in the previous February.]

[Footnote 53: For a considerable period, during 1859, discreditable scenes of brawling took place at this Church as a protest against the High Church practices of the Rector, the Rev. Bryan King.]

[Pageheading: AFFAIRS OF NAPLES]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th December 1860_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I have to thank you for another dear letter of the 29th. I trust that you have received both mine now. We expect the Empress at half-past one, and I will certainly give her your message.

She is very amiable, and one must like her. There seems to be no doubt that there were many scenes, partly about the Pope, and also on account of her sister's funeral; she was so angry with Fould about it that she insisted on his dismissal.[54] Then the Priests are said to try and work upon her, and say that her son will die if the Emperor continues _dans cette voie_ against the Pope.

We saw Mr Elliot[55] from Naples yesterday, who has always been very fair. He says that _if_, when the King came to the Throne, he had _only_ insisted on the laws of the country being properly carried out, _no_ reforms or change in the Const.i.tution would have been necessary--but from the want of energy, and also no strength of intellect and great indecision of character of the poor King, as well as an unfortunate _Pietat_ for the memory of his father, nothing right was done; bad counsellors surrounded him, the Queen Mother had a bad influence, and finally everything was given up as lost--when it might yet have been prevented. They dislike extremely being annexed, but prefer it to having back the former state of things.