CHAPTER XLIII. The Prince attends Meeting of British Association at Ipswich-His Speech at Dinner of Royal Agricultural Society-Paris Fête to Exhibition Commissioners-Application of Surplus from Great Exhibition-Reaction of Austria-Its Effect on Germany-Royal Visit to Liverpool and Manchester-Last Visit to Great Exhibition. AMID the greater claims which this busy year made upon the Prince's attention, he still found time to show his lively interest in whatever was being done for literature, art, and science. When Macready took his leave of the stage on the 1st of February, he was there with the Queen to testify his respect to the veteran artist. An evening was devoted to hearing Rachel, then in her fullest power, in the Andromaque, another to witness the performance at Devonshire House by Dickens, Jerrold, Forster, and the other promoters of the Guild of Literature and Art, of Sir E. L. Bulwer's comedy Not so Bad as we Seem. He was a frequent visitor at the studios of the leading painters. In April he heard Sir Charles Lyell and Professor Faraday lecture at the Royal Institution. In May he opened the Museum of Practical Geology, and attended the soirée of the Institute of Civil Engineers. In June he laid the foundation stone of the City Consumption Hospital. In short, wherever a good work was to be advanced, wherever knowledge was to be gained, wherever new discoveries in science or mechanics were to be seen, the Prince was certain to be found, however hard the effort it cost him to make his presence compatible with his more urgent duties. On the 3rd of July he went to attend the meeting of the British Association at Ipswich. During his stay he was the guest of Sir William Middleton at Shrublands, from which he wrote to the Queen immediately after his arrival: 'Shrublands, 3rd July, 1851. 'Half-past five, P. M. 'Just arrived here, and already threatened with the intelligence, that the messenger will lose the last train from 310 MEETING OF BRITISH ASSOCIATION 1851 Ipswich, if he does not start directly. I have locked myself in to send you two lines as a token of my life and love. I was at the section punctually by eleven, and got through it by three. Enclosed you will find a plan of the battle, which will give you information as to the subjects and persons of the essays and the essayists. My reception has been everywhere most cordial and hearty. Bunsen is here, and Van de Weyer, Cust, Argyle, Murchison, Lords Stradbrook, Monteagle, and Wrottesley, &c. The house has been recently built by Barry; the situation very pretty and high. You will be feeling somewhat lonely and forsaken among the two and a half millions of human beings in London; and I too feel the want of only one person to give a world of life to everything around me.' 1851 AT IPSWICH. 311 Only one who was daily accustomed, like the Prince, to deal rapidly with a great variety of subjects within the course of a few hours, could have endured the strain upon the attention, which we see from the preceding table was entailed by his visits to the various sections of the meeting. Next morning the Prince writes to the Queen : 'Shrublands, 4th July, 1851, 'Half-past ten o'clock. "I have slept well," said the Count Isenburg; "have you, too, done the same? "The park and the gardens are very fine. There was rather a large party at dinner. After dinner it included the whole county. The weather is cool and too dry for the roses of my host. In half an hour I return to my section at Ipswich, thence to the Museum, lunch with Mr. Ransome the Quaker, thereafter lay a foundation stone for Queen Elizabeth's School, and start for home about four. The messenger who carries these lines leaves about one; but for all that he will only be about an hour and a half before me. 'Hearty thanks for your dear kind letter. Thank the children also for theirs, and tell Bertie his letter was very well written. Now farewell.' The next day we find the Prince presiding at a prolonged meeting of the Exhibition Commissioners, at which some interesting figures were produced, which must have dispelled the last remains of any misgivings as to the financial success of the undertaking. The Exhibition had now been open nine weeks and three days. The lowest amount received at the doors in one week was 10,2987. In two successive weeks it had considerably exceeded 16,000%., and in one it had gone up to 22,1897. Greater results were yet to be reached; but the fact was by this time apparent, that there would be a large surplus, and the question how it was to be disposed of, was already engaging the Prince's attention. Baron Stockmar, after spending the winter and spring months in England, had left for the Continent along with the King of the Belgians on the 2nd of July. One of the last services he had performed for his Royal hosts was to find a successor in Major (now Sir Thomas) Biddulph to General Bowles, who had recently resigned, owing to failing health, 312 THE PRINCE TO BARON STOCKMAR. 1851 the office of Master of the Household.' He had also taken an active part in the negotiations about a tutor for the Prince of Wales to succeed Mr. Birch, who had hitherto filled that position, but was to retire in a few months. Sir James Stephen had recommended to the Prince Mr. Frederick W. Gibbs, M. A.,2 and it had been settled that he should take Mr. Birch's place after the lapse of a few months, which, by the Prince's wish, he was to devote to some preliminary studies abroad and at Edinburgh. To the completion of these arrangements the Prince refers in the following letter to Baron Stockmar: 'Dear Stockmar,-My expedition to Ipswich has gone off extremely well. I have been very enthusiastically received in Suffolk, and had a most cordial reception at Sir William Middleton's at Shrublands, and heard many interesting papers read and discussions carried on in all departments of science. Coming back here I am conscious of a very great void. 'Now, however, I must report progress, as they say in the House of Commons. One General Wood, the Lieutenant of the Tower, with 7007. a year, has been so good as to die, and Bowles is in rapture at being nominated his successor. 'Major Biddulph has got leave until an exchange can be arranged for him. I have seen him and like him much; he is highly spoken of on all sides. He will enter on his duties in a few days. 'With Wellesley I have come to an understanding about the religious instruction, which will commence when we go to Windsor. 'Gibbs I have seen twice, shown him the children, and conferred with him about the journey. 'Now is my wallet empty, and though my heart be not so also, still I won't bore you by shaking it out before you. You know it already in its inmost folds. 'Buckingham Palace, 9th July, 1851.' On the evening of the day on which this letter was written the Queen and Prince attended a Ball given at Guildhall by the Corporation of London to celebrate the success of the Great Exhibition. Shortly after nine o'clock the Royal 1 Sir George Bowles, who entered the Army in 1804, continued in active service down to 1845, when he became Master of the Household. He died in May, 1876, in the 90th year of his age. 2 Mr. Gibbs continued to act as the Prince of Wales's tutor down to 1853. 1851 SPEECH TO ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 313 guests left Buckingham Palace in state carriages, and passed to the City through avenues of spectators who lined the streets along the route, and greeted them with an enthusiasm of which the numerous foreigners who swelled the crowd were not slow to catch the infection. The City, it need scarcely be said, spared no cost to make the Ball worthy of the occasion. The Royal guests did not leave till one o'clock, and found, what they could scarcely have expected, that they were received on their homeward route by a crowd even more numerous and enthusiastic than before. The Prince reports the result to Baron Stockmar thus: 'The City Ball passed off most brilliantly. A million of people remained till three in the morning in the streets, and were full of enthusiasm towards us. To-night we have our last Ball. The day after to-morrow I come back here to dine with the Agricultural Society. The Cattle Show we have already visited, and our present notion is to return to town. On the 18th we go to Osborne for good. 'Windsor Castle, 14th July, 1851.' The season was now drawing to a close; but the Prince had yet one speech to make before leaving town. This was at the dinner of the Royal Agricultural Society, which this year held its annual show in the Home Park, under the northern terrace of Windsor Castle. The Prince made a happy use of the circumstance in his address: 'Some years,' he said, 'have elapsed 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 agriVOL. II.-14 |