Life of Her Majesty Queen VictoriaFawcett, Millicent Garrett, Dame
Philosophy
Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria
Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, Dame
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
There was, however, enough of revolutionary storm in the atmosphere
to justify the _Times_ in endeavoring to allay the fears of the
ultra-Protestant party by reminding them that for the Queen to turn
Papist, “or in any manner to follow the footsteps of the Coburg family”
in marrying a Papist, “would involve an immediate forfeiture of the
British Crown.” This situation of affairs had the rather curious result
of making the Irish among the most intensely loyal of the young Queen’s
subjects. O’Connell’s stentorian voice was heard leading the cheers
of the crowd outside St. James’s Palace on the day she was proclaimed
Queen. He declared later, in a public speech, that if it were necessary
he could get “five hundred thousand brave Irishmen to defend the life,
the honor, and the person of the beloved young lady by whom England’s
throne is now filled.” Mr. Harry Grattan, son of the famous orator of
the Irish Parliament of 1782-1800, thought the Tories so bent on the
Queen’s destruction that “If Her Majesty were once placed in the hands
of the Tories, I would not give an _orange-peel_ for her life.” The
expression “orange-peel” was, no doubt, a reference to the _soubriquet_
his Irish opponents had bestowed upon Sir Robert Peel on account of his
stanch Protestantism.
These extraordinary ebullitions of party feeling would be hardly worth
recording but for the explanation they afford of subsequent events
relating to the establishment of Prince Albert, and for the curious
contrast they offer to the feelings of political parties at the present
time. They also explain why quiet, peace-loving people, taking no
special interest in party politics, were so devoutly thankful that the
operation of the Salic law in Hanover separated that kingdom from the
Crown of England and enabled us to get quit of the Duke of Cumberland.
No paper and no party ever pretended to regret him; indeed, it must
have become abundantly obvious that his departure was, in a special
degree, advantageous to his own party. He could be nothing but a source
of weakness to them. “A man’s foes are those of his own household” is
even more true of political than of private affairs. The anxiety of
the Tories to get rid of the Duke of Cumberland is well illustrated
by one of Greville’s anecdotes. When the late King (William IV.) had
evidently only a few days to live, the Duke of Cumberland consulted
the Duke of Wellington as to what he should do. “I told him the best
thing he could do was to go away as fast as he could. ‘Go instantly,’
I said, ‘and take care _you don’t get pelted_.’” He did go instantly,
and his first act as King of Hanover was to suspend the constitution of
the country and turn out of their chairs in Göttingen University seven
distinguished professors for the crime of holding Liberal opinions.
No wonder the Duke of Wellington felt this sort of Toryism would
manufacture Liberals and Radicals by the thousand in England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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