DEATH OF PRINCE ALBERT

Press, Volume II, Issue 45, 22 March 1862, Page 5

DEATH OF PRINCE ALBERT

A few additional particulars relative to this event have come to hand since the publication of our Extra, which are given in addition to what was published on Monday last.

•' Our Port Chalmers reporter has just forwarded to to us an express, conveying an item of intelligence which we deem sufficiently important, and apparently authentic, to justify its immediate publication. The Peeress arrived this morning from Melbourne, having left that port ou the 28th ult. The captain states that while towing out of Port Philip Heads, he observed the Union Jack hoisted half-mast at the Queenscliff flagstaff. Convinced that something more than ordinary had transpired, he immediately signalled for information. He received the following reply :— ••His Royal Highness Pbince Albeht died OF FEVER ON TriE 14TII DeCEAIBEB." Captain Rowlands adds that he has no difficulty in accounting for the arrival of this news, as two vessels irom the Mauritius passed him as the Peeress was towing out. These vessels, no doubt, brought English news to a later dater than any which had reached Melbourne up to last advices, and we may hope, ere many days, to be in possession of full particulars. If anything can tend to lighten the weight of this great sorrow—the heaviest that has yet befallen onr Beloved Queen —it will be the deep and heartfelt sympathy with which the millions of her subjects will seek to minister to her comfort aud support. To the thoughtful mind, it cannot but be a melancholy reflection, that he who was the first to conceive the grand idea of an Exhibition for all Nations, and who first gave form to the idea of stimulating different countries to emulate one another's achievements in art and industry, should not be permitted to see the latest and perhaps most magnificent realization of his cherished plans. To the minds of many, the Exhibition of 1862 will present a void that cannot be filled up by any marvel of ingenuity, or any gem of art. Amidst the variety and splendour of the objects that will attract the eye, the mind will occasionly wander to the silent tomb, and mourn the absence of the distinguished man who would have given additional interest to the scene. This event, the truth of which we see no reason to doubt, will cast a gloom over England. It is impossible to predict the effect which this event may produce upon the general aspect of affairs in Europe; that it will exercise an influence there can be no doubt. The AJdinga has arrived, but no English mail. Our Wes ot Australian papers extend to the Bth inst. We and that the melancholy intelligence announced in our extra of Ihursday is confirmed. On the 14th itecember, the day on which his Royal Highness died the' Time s' had the following:— "We feel certain that when the bulletin of to-day reaches them, the public will join us in expressing the deepest sympathy with the Prince Consort and with the Queen. For some days his Royal Highness m been suffering severely from an attack of gastric iever, and is at present much weakened by the disTni T need not be said that the °est medical Kill has been called to his aid, and we hope it will be a our power shortly to announce an improvement in a . _» ,? f __ c ? yal P atient - In the meantime, we th. h_ e s._ both he and her Ma Jesty will receive ,__,. i ' apathy of all her subjects. The _f__X- m -^„ whiA she feels the J ™*> of course and .ff .? t0 a leviate ' bllt evei T deling of esteem imnlff i l - n f hlch her lon S a »<* benignant reign has Ssb n Q P COplewill be ™Uef forth on this ha.hl_ rr ._ ret ¥ n twenty years the Prince Consort i_S*w? uldeßnd protector of the Queen, to a \vh _, 1S rarely found even in ordinary life, Zj- the busban d is> both in law and reality, the So ? °. the wife ' DuriQ S all this period, the and itii. *,° ted the P owe rs of a singularity- acute ■ • lnd to diminishing the cares of his could b y gmng her the advice which no one else consirl. . ... S . » ffecti °natety tendered her. When we been „ . i • ost all hep Majesty's public life has *te.a V, e V ns guidance, and that by his influence her eo-durf ?? c ? in that path of constitutional i- • has strengthened her throne and "re<itT P ohtlcal discontent from every part of this tre<.aT. lr °". We may well join in her Majesty's dis- - ana anxieties. It is at such a time thatVe feel I

how high a position the Prince has taken in this country, and how much he baa become one of ourselves. To the great body of the public he has always been present as the zealous and able leader in every useful work, while those who have been concerned in the administration of affairs know what judgment, acuteness, and scientific knowledge the Prince brought to bear on every subject on which he was consulted. At the present crisis, even the temporary loss of his services is a misfortune for the country. "It is only within the last twenty-tour hours that the disease of his Royal Higuess has taken its present severe form. We trust that the unfavourable symptoms will pass away, and that the disease will yield to the skill of the eminent physicians by whom the Prince is surrounded. The fever which has attacked him is a wearying and weakening malady, but it is well understood, and the treatment is in most cases effectual. The Prince has on his side youth and strength, and unimpaired constitution, and the ablest advice that science can give, and we hope shortly to be able to publish a more cheerful bulletin than that of to-day." These hopeful anticipations, however, were not realised, for, in the ' Argus' of the 7th, we have the following, which corroborates the opinion expressed by Captain Rowlands, who first brought in the news:— "It will be seen by the extract, given elsewhere, from the ' Times,' that the Prince Consort died of gastric, not typhoid, fever. A statement to this effect had readied us with the news via Mauritius."

The bulletin here referred to is as follows :— "serious illness of the prince consort. " Windsor Castle, Dec. 13. " His Royal Highness the Prince Consort passed a restless night, arid the symptoms have assumed an t unfavorable character during the day. " James Clark, M.D. " Henry Holland, M.D. "Thomas Watson, M.D. " William Jenner, M.D. " Windsor Castle, Dec. 13." Funeral of Pr-ince Albert.—No vulgar pomp or vain parade was to be lavished upon one who, by the highest intellectual gifts of mind, cultivated to the highest degree by unbounded amiability, by a love of all things great and beautiful, and by the constant practice of the truest domestic virtues, had ennobled the Court to which he was called, and won the supreme affection of the whole nation. A prince like this, a man like this, did not stand in need of a torch-light funeral, or of thoso mediaeval pageantries so loved and courted by other monarchs; he knew that he had left behind him an example of domestic virtue and the fulfilment of duty, the memory of which will live in the hearts of all, which could not be increased by anything that the pomp of funerals could bestow. All was simple as became his calm and philosophic mind. There was no ostentatious lying in state j a short and becoming procession from the Castle of Windsor to St. George's Chapel, the booming of the minute guns, and all was over as far as the mere mortal remains of the much-loved Prince Albert was concerned. On the coffin a modest inscription pointed out the nation's loss in these few plain words :— j Deposition Illustrisaimi et celsissimi Alberti Principis Consortia, Ducia Saxoniae, | De Saxe Coburg et Gothia Principis. Nobiliasimi Ordinis Periscelidis Equitis, Augustissimoß et potentisaimse Victorise Reguue Conjugiß percarissimi, Obiit die 14 Decembris, 1861, anno setatis bu_ 43. A guard of honor of the grenadiers, of which the Prince was Colonel, mounted guard at Windsor Castle; the short line from the castle to St. George's Chapel was kept by the Scots Fusiliers, and a few Life Guards escorted the hearae. The chief mourners were, the Prince of Wales, supported by Prince Arthur; His Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, the Duke of Cambridge, the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Duke de Brabant and the Count of Flanders, the Duke de Ncmours, Prince Louis of Hesse, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, the Prince of Leinengen, Count Glcichen, and the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh. All the Ministers, &c, were present, with the foreign ambassadors and the representatives of foreign courts. It is consoling in the highest degree to witness the sympathy of the whole continent on this melancholy occasion. Her Majesty, like her mother the Duchess of Kent, intends to have a private mausoleum of her own erected, and when this is completed, the remains of the Prince Consort will be placed there j at present the coffin will remain on the bier outside the iron gates which close the royal vault. Her Majesty and family left Windsor for Osborne on the 19th (Thursday last), and on the 20th an Order in Council was published to omit the name of the Prince Consort from the Book of Common Prayer and the usual Church services. It is most gratifying to mark with what unanimous and unfeigned sympathy the sad event was marked not only by the Emperor and the Court but by the whole French nation ; every paper of every shade of political feeling, even those so generally hostile to England, forgot for the time their hostility, and all united to express their sympathy and regret at the

great loss the Queen of England had experienced. The telegraphic despatch announcing the Prince Consort's death reached Paris early in the morning of Sunday, 15th, when the Emperor and Empress immediately sent a telegraphic message to Windsor full of condolence to the Queen; and during the d_y the Emperor sent one of his aides-de-camp to Windsor with an autograph letter, and on the following day the Empress Eugenic sent one of her gentlemen in waiting with her autograph letter to the Queen. Without waiting for any formal announcement, the Emperor, through the « Moniteur/ ordered the Court to go into mourning for 21 days j all festivities and receptions have been suspended at the Tuileries, and the national flag was hoisted half-mast until after the funeral on Monday last. Such sympathy, at such a moment, is indeed gratifying, and will be rightly appreciated by the people of England. «>-■-■- The Melbourne ' Argus' says: By way of Mauritius, we have but few particulars relative to the death and burial of 11. R. H. Prince Albert. The disease, typhoid fever, being of an infectious nature, the presumption is, that the Queen and the other members of the Royal family were not permitted to attend upon the illustrious patient; a presumption strengthened by the following extract from a correspondent's letter in the ' Mauritius Commercial Gazette,' by which it would appear that at the time of the funeral the Queen and her children were at Osborne, Isle of Wight:—l mention a touching incident . Amidst the pomp of heraldy, a memento of domestic love was laid on the Prince's coffin j a messenger brought from Osborne to Windsor three little wreaths and a bouquet; the wreaths were simple ohaplets of moss and violets wreathed by the three elder princesses, the bouquet of violets, with a white camelia in the centre, was sent by the widowed Queen.'"