THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 265, 17 September 1864, Page 6

THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

It is beyond dispute that Her Majesty is losing some portion of the enthusiastic attachment of her subjects; that the Prince and Princess of Wales are beginning to occupy her place in the hearts of the people ; and that hourly evidence is rising up of a division in the first family of the land. This is a matter of deep regret and serious consideration. Kroi' 1 the period of her marriage to tho lamented death oi Prince Albert, the Queen's name was a tower of strength, and a catholic theme on which all men grew eloquent. In the curly days of her widowhood, the sorrow of the nation was not greater for u good mail departed than for a virluous, beloved, and griefstrieken sovereign, so early deprived of her chief counsellor and friend. And her retirement and seclusion were held sacred—too sacred to be intruded on by cares of government and national concerns, save those which were the imperative prerogative of licr exalted station. As time wore on, popular opinion took the form of gentle remon— ance against that continuing sorrow which still kept the Queen veiled to her people, and unfitted her to resume the public duties so well and so faitliliJ'v discharged in foimer yoai-s. And when at length there seemed to be hope that Her Majesty - would no longer retain her griefs as a burden, but store them up as tv hallowed memory, her attached subjects looked tolia'l her, as heretofore, the joy of her country and the liege lady of every loyal heart. But a change is imminent—let us not say it has come, llumor, with her thousand tongues, is loudest when she speaks of thrones. The feeling grows, the word is freely passed, that in the privacy of the palace ministerial action is directed and controlled in an unconstitutional marncr, and that the united will of a great nation is threatened with subjection to individual iiresponsiblc authority. Wo would will'iiglv believe that it is not so ; but oven a rumour may well arouse the whole of Britain. The Constitution of this country, as it at present exists, is the legacy of ages, a charter of freedom won by slow degrees from arbitrary power, it is the ark of the nation's safety, in which is preserved the lights and prerogatives of Sovi roign, Nobles and People. Let no individual, however high and illustrious, prcsumeto touch the sacred deposit. " Molumus leges Anglia? inutari."' — We will not that the laws of F.ngland bo changed. The domestic relationships of the Koyal family are just now fruitful in perplexities. Our pajans and congratulations, on seeing the children of our Queen united with continental royalty, took no thought of a time when war should make separation between kindred hearts. It may bo, we deemed that we were giving pledges for the peace of Eur >pe when our Princess entered a Prussian home, and the heir-appa-rent of Britain wedded with a daughter of Denmark. The aspect of things is changed. The savage instincts of Germany, and her hereditary lust of territory and power threaten the dismemberment and extinction of Denmark. A puiposeless Conference, that gives Prussia much-needed breathing time and makes tho chanccs of licr opponent more desperate,—this alone, and but for a moment, postpones the ruin of an ancient kingdom. Royalty escapes not common griefs. T. c maternal heart of a Queen cannot but feel a mother's anxiety for a daughter's welfare ; and this, naturally enough, takes the form of attachment to those to whoso protection and guardianship she has surrendered her. On the other side, tlie J'rince of Wales cannot look unmoved at tho wrong that is being done to his father-in-law; and his Princess mourns with filial pity for her parent, and marvels that British apathy can suffer a gallant people to be overborne by a ruffian host. The ft clings of the Queen and of the Prince and Princess of Wales belong to our common humanity; they cannot bo restrained; neither is it desirable that Koynl hearts should bo dosed against kindred ties and aflcctions. But these feelings mint not interfere with higher duties, and arbitrarily dictate to a ministry, and through it to a whole nation, a course of action opposed to the voice of tho people and subversive of principles essential to the sine maintenance of their constitution. Denmark must not bo sacrificed because our Princess Koyal has married a Prince of Prussia. The British name must not become a byeword and a scorn to propitiate a Continental court. Even though it bo true, —as we fear, too true it is—that the Princess has found but an indifferent home, and that she is subjected to treatment from her husband that in this country condemns the abuser of women to impri-on-lnent and hard-labour, still a Queen of England must not humble herself to the dust, yield licr prerogative, or overstep it, in tho vain hope that by so doing she can awaken in brutal natures instincts of tenderness and love

The voice of the whole British people is as the voice of one man in condemning the oppressor, and sympathising with the oppressed. They loathe the Prussian—|hoy admire the Dane. And it is veiy signilicant of the universality of the feelings, and of its thorough pervadenceof every class throughout the land, that the Danish name and cause are cheered not only in our streets and popular assemblies, but in the very House of Legislature and the hulls of our Universities. And Prussia writhes under the honest execrations of a free people ; she gnashes her teeth in a rage, and threatens impotent thunder. While the day, though rapidly approaching, is still future, in which Denmark is to be struck out of the list of nations, let our rulers awake from dreamy indolence, or throw aside unworthy fears, or cast from tliem unworthicr motives, and dare to be true, and just, and honest, and the legal supporters of the right. The people ask not from them a miserable economy, to tie secured by the forfeiture of name and fame, and the surrender of ail that can transmit the name ol Britain unsullied to their children's children. 'J he daily groan of execration lor the Prussian butcher, the daily cheer for the manly and gallant l'ane, are mere emptiness, unless they call into the held strong succours for the oppressed, and stem retribution lor the oppressor.—Glmyoir Knuuhier.