"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 75

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(fSpecially Written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

: Through the courtesy 5 of a literary : | friend^ who_ has. lent me the valuable three- j • gftnea 'set *Bf ''tfife* 1 fMt threp"' volumes ofj "lie6t«rs o*-HGJueett" Victoria" Jfoiv^he pur-i jjqjsefr.of 'pursuing 4te: subject- forrtkose of J my readers who may not have the advan- j „, tage .of a near I am enabled to ; . select such letters. ae I think may jaftereat r lojal . colonial subjects who have mifr been ■ neat enough to the environment of the throne to realise the self-sacrifice that the. dignity demands — the sacrifice of 'the individual to the high office — the highest 'office of dnty'toa nation. *■"'* "-'•- - "The- Letters' of " Queen Victoria" have provided the world with a sensation which greatly, .dist&nces that of : '*The ' Life "of Gladstone." The thing that strikes the critics most is the grasp that the Queen had, not only of domestic, but of foreign fpolities, from the earliest \years 'of her reign, and the influence she bad upon her Ministers. This has never been so adequately. realised -by the nation at large, and as it is , a gocd deal of modern 'history will nave to be re-written. Expensive as the book is, its sale is already unexampled, and it will be a long' time before the world has done talking of . it. I therefore feel it a privilege, from a personal perusal, to be able to add to last * week's notes and extracts, which dealt not so much with England's great lady as the great politician which she became by reason of her, strenuous consecration to her diuty to the nation. My last letter gave the 'letters" referring to the rigour and simplicity of the girl who never had a fcedrpom of her own, but shared that of her mother until she became Queen. In>the preface of this book it states' that i bis Majesty the King entrusted its., editors with the duty of making selections from the enormous piles of documents to hand. 'A no ordinary task — political as well as 'personal. Perhaps the untold half .of these letters would set the world at war. "But the told, half are. more fascinating than any romance of the present day. i "Queen Victoria, >on her father's side.J belonged to - the "• house of * Brunswick i .' , . one of the oldest of.- <3erman princely families." 'At ,£he. time of her 'birth the princely house .existed 'in two ■branches, one which was called the Duchy.; of Brunswick, the other, since 1815, the ] Kingdom. There were frequent .inter- ; marriages between the % two branches, but the Dukes of Brunswick were now repre- \ < sented only by two young princes; the j - elder, Charles, had quarrelled with his uncle, George IV, and was expelled from . his domains ; and the younger of the \ German, princes, William, ruled after George IV'6 death till .his .own, but as., he" had no legitimate offspring it became apparent that the direct descendant of ' George HI might inherit the throne. "Alexandrirfa Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, was born on Monday, 24th May, 1819, at \ Kensington Palace." Her father was the • Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George j • 111. '*A man^ of considerable ability, j ' humane, pioqs,^" punctual, with a strict i ' sera* of duty and enlightened ideas. He ' was* a devoted soldier, and Queen Victoria '. once said," *I was always taught to consider myself a soldier's child.' ' The beautiful Duchess .of Kent, Victoria Mary Louisa, was the daughter of the j Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and widow of Charles, Prince of Leiningen, who died in 1814, leaving a son and ■■ daughter by her. The Duke of Kent, her second husband, fourth son of George 111, died prematurely, only a week before his father, leaving his beloved wife and child (Victoria) with blessings. I The Duchess of Kent, the Queen's mother, was affectionate and intellectual, with practical wisdom in worldly matters, j and her claim on the British , nation iB that she brought up her illustrious duugh- . - ter in habits of simplicity, self-sacrifice, and obedience. < When it became doubtful if William s IV would give an heir to the throne, the eyes of the nation were directed to h:s ' nieoe, Princess Victoria, as the successor, aiid a public grant was made, to her - mother, the Duchess of Kent, to enable • her to train her little -girl -to be fitted for the later eventuality of queenship. When ' in June, 1830., George IV died, and William IV succeeded to the throne, and " had no legitinVate offspring living, it became practically certain that if his niece, Victoria, outlived him she would succeed •him on the throne, and the Duchess of Kent's parliamentary grant was increased so as to familiarise the young princess with the social life of the nation. But • the King spoke with ill favour of his ' niece's "royal progresses," the cniet cause of offence being thai- the princess was not allowed by his siater-in-law, the 'jDuchess of Kent, to make her public appearances übder his auspices, for in truth the Duchess disapproved of the torie of 4he Court, and thus was estranged from her brother-in-law, who bitterly resented that she denied him any .authority over . his successor.- He always earnestly hoped ', that the Duchess would never- become '> Regent, and in this he was gratified, for • he jived a month after Victoria's legal majority. > " "A word may be given here to the princess's own character and temperament. , 6he was high-spirited and wilful, but devotedly affectionate, and almost typi- • cally feminine. She had a strong sense of ■ duty and dignity and strong personal prejudices. Confident in a sense, as she ' was, ehe had the .feminine instinct strongly developed of dependence upon some manly adviser." And during her orphaned childhood and youth her pater-

EEN VICTORIA" dffldllll***"-*'-" nal uncle j the Km^WtWTOfgnins, stood 1 ,1 or that manly adviser.-" Prince ' Consort, with th{^%r^wag^_§xp^ri- ; ; ence'-'ol iiis environment as husband of tber rQne^a of ; j^SM^ a migffcy j -burden.^F VMoEa'tf to hS^n shoulders, r the ' 'JdeaireSF* uncle,"' 'the King ~bf~the Belgians,' was- ■essr 'deserveS6fcly>. Tfoctoria/s .trusted adviser. How gladly the Queen submitted by instinct W some -manly adviser, especially her husband, and uncle, and'Miniiters, is evident all through these volumes. , • Comparatively early in.- -her married life she writes to her bek»ved fcncfe— - ' 4Thr "Albert. beooDMs really a terrible man of business ; " I . think it takes » little off , from the ■ gentleness of his character and j makes him so preoccupied. I grieve over all this, as I cannot enjoy these things, much as I interest myself in general European politics; bat I am- every day more convinced that -we women, if we' are to -be good women, feminine and amiable and domestic, are not fitted to reign; at least, it is contre gre that they drive themselves to the work which it entails/ But like many another good and domestic woman, Queen Victoria, robbed of manly support, was forced into the new womanhood, of - self-dependence,- and reigned alone, and reigned so effectively and with such conscious power that she did not abdicate her rule in extreme old age. She outlived the sentimentality of her own early reism, and saw a race of women as self-contained and self-isolated as she herself became. On her first emancipation from the rigidity of her girlhood, before she became Queen, "she was full of high spirits, and enjoyed excitement and life to the full, She liked the stir of London, was fond j of dancing, of concerts, plays, and operas, and devoted to open-air exercise." And after the. restrictions of her childhood the comparative freedom of her young womanhood, before the burden of the Sovereign, the wife, and mother chained her again, must have been delightful indeed. ' "It may be held to be one of the. chief blessings of Queen Victoria's girlhood that she'^Wae brought closely 'under the influence :of an enlightened and. large-minded j | Prince, Leopold, her maternal uncle, after-. I wards the King of- the Belgians j He married in 1816 the Princess Charlotte, only chili of George TV." The correspondence between Victoria and King Leopold from her early childI hood to her widowhood, where these volumes close, is intensely intimate and j loving, and after the accession the . letters reveal as no other docum ents do . the monarchical point of j view. " . . . Here we have , the remarkable spectacle of two monarchs, j both of eminent sagacity and both, so to j speak, frankly interested In the task of i constitutional government, corresponding freely on all the- difficulties and problems inseparable from their momentous task, and with an immense sense 'of their weighty, responsibilities. It is impossible ' to exaggerate the deep and abiding interest of such a correspondence." And, indeed, it holds one enthralled. Reverting to ■ the Queen's childhood, - this is an extract -«£ -the- Queen's earliest pre- ' . served letter, written when she was nine years old from Kensington Palace to her I uncle: — ' - ' I "My" IWaiest .Uncle,— l wish you many ■ happy teturns of your birthday. I very often I think of you, for I am very fond of you. f . . . Your affectionate aeice, Victoria. ' J On her fourteenth birthday there were ' several exquisite birthday letters before the King of the Belgians writes : — j "My Dearest Love, — To make quite sure of my birthday congratulations reaching you I on that day, I "send them by to-day's mes- : senger, and confide them to your illustrious mother. . . . My dearest love, you are now fourteen years old, a period when the delightful paatimea of. childhood must be mixed with thoughts appertaining already to a matured part of your life. I know that i you have been very studious, but now come* ! the time when judgment must form itself, j when the character requires attention — in ' short, when the young tree takes the shape which it retains afterwards through life. . . ' 1 And right-on through all the changing " circumstances of the yeans of her cnild- • hood, girlhood, of her lover's joy, her ! queenehip> wifehood, motherhood, this '. uncle gives her the tenderest love apd advice, and Victoria, child and woman, returns his love and trust as passionately : — "My Dearest Child,— Your dear letter of the 24th is, amongst so many kind letters, r almost the kindest I have yet received from 1 your dear hands. My happiness and my greatest pride will always be to be a tender and devoted father to you,* my beloved' child, and to watch over you and stand by you heart acd soul, as long as thS heart which loves you so sincerely will beat. ..." 1 This when she was Queen ; and he gives her advice about her Ministers. Just as when a child he advises her about her lessons, so now he advises the early hours of business, which afterwards became a j habit. She tells him every eventful incident : the way she was awakened and told the news of her Uncle William's death and her succession, and then in the year before her coronation the King of the Belgians visits her, and on his departure this I letter, written by the young Queen, is a fair sample of her letters to him : — • "My Dearest, Most Beloved Uncle, — One line to express to you, imperfectly, my 1 thanks for all your very great kindness to me and my great,, great grief at your departure! God knows how sad, how forlorn I feel! How I shall miss you, my dearest, dear uncle, every, everywhere! How I shall miss your protection out riding! Oh! I feel very, very sad. . . . Do not forget your most affectionate, devoted, and attached neice and child. I "Victoria. R." This was after King Leopold's first visit to his niece as the young Queen Victoria when 6he was first established in Bucking-

ham Palace after the funeral of William. At the close of a political letter she invites him so : —

" Now, dearest uncle, I must invite you en forme. ... I should be too heppy and proud to haye v you _, under my - own roof. . . ." v ' -•" --,•? * J£ 18o7,,she,.wrj|§6 : — ££ reallyji afid-trulji; "go to Buckfoghiilh Paface ,'^fik day after to-morrow. ... I feel sorry Ijsof leave for ey.er &7 poor birfgplace'." ■ ■-" i *Ph«re is -more tnan^bne reference to, her" , loneliness,, to her fate. of. being . even' An \xM ldhod?, 3«)m<? isisgfi „$# rlove^i £ _and_when one._xeadjs. ojLtne^seclusion and Lrigour pf her earliest veare, the sinipl^cjty of hßrtfifet, "the routine of the; days 'regu^ lated by the strictest senee of duty, it is easy to comprehend that when her married happiness tra& ended she retired again into the seclusion of her .early years, known only^'to- the .wpr]d, her Empire, - a&Uhe wise and great^Queea who jerved the nation in her "seclusion with all the devotion of the mother and wisdom of the. ruler. ' i I should like to quote the happy young Queen's account of her Coronation at- full length, but an extract here and there ' must suffice : —

"I was awoke ajt 4 o'clock by the gune in the park, and could not get much sleep afterwards on account of the noise of the people, bands, etc., etc. Got up at 7, feeling strong and well. The park presented a ! curious spectacle — crowds of people. - . . I dressed, having taken a little breakfast be.iote I dressed, and a little after. . j Dressed in my House of Ix>rds costume. i ... At 10 I got into the state coach with the Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Albemarle, and we began our pro«*re<ss. . . Millions of my loyal subjects assembled in every spot to witness the procession. . . . I reached the Abbey, amid deafening cheers I ... where (in the robing room) I found my eight train-bearers ... all dreseed alike in white satin and silver tissue, with wreaths of silver corn ears in front, and pink roses round the plait behind, and pink ro°e» in the trimming of their dresses. "After putting on my mantle, and-the young ladies having: 'properly got iiold of it, and Lord Conynghan holding the end of it, the procession began. . . . The sight was splendid, the bank of peeresses quite beautiful in all their robes, and the peers on the other side. . . . The Bishop of Durham stood on the side near me, but he was, as Lord- Melbourne told me, maladroit, and never could tell me what was to take place. ... I retired with my ladies -and trainbearers, took off my crimson robe and kirtle. and put on -the supextunica of cloth and gold, also in -the shape oi a. kirtle. which was put over* a pingular sort ,of little gown of i Unen, .trimmed with lace. I also took off my cire'et of diamond*, aiid then proceeded bareheaded into the*j'Abjbey. I was then seated uuoff th« St. 1 Edmu'od'^ chair.' . .' . Then followed all the various things, and last (of those things) the Crown being placed on my head, which wm. I must own, a most beautiful and impressive moment. All the peers and the peeresses put on their coronets at the same moment. . . . After the homage was concluded, I left the throne, took off my Crown, and received the sacrament. ... At about .half-past, i I reentered 1 my carriage; "the Crdwn on my head, and the Sceptre "and Oto in my nand, and we proceeded the same way as we came, the crowds' if noasibl« having increased. ... I shall ever remember this day as the proudest of my life."

But there were other and greater moments than the moment of the crowned girl — the crowned woman of experience and sorrow : —

" On Sunday we celebrated, with feelings of deep gratitude and love, the twenty-first anniversary of our blessed marriage, a day which had brought us, and * may say the world 'at large, such incalculable blessings ! Vei* few c«n say with" me that their httsbaiid at the- end of twenty-one years' ip not only full of the friendship, kindness, and affection which a truly b*ppy marriage brings with it, but the same' tender love of the very first days' of our marriage." ' But this year was to hold the cruellest sorrow of her life, the death of Ihe Prince Consort. And the last letter of these three won- ! derful volumes is from Osborne, December I 24, 1861, where the Queen's best beloved I lav dead : —

"My Beloved Uncle,— l must repeat one thing, and Uat one is my firm resolve my irrevocable decision— viz., that his wishes, his plans about everything, his vows about everything, are to be my law! . . . I livo on with him, for him; m fact, I am only outwardly separated from him only for a time . . • It is only for a phort time, and then I go, never, never to part!"