The Life and Times of Queen Victoria; vol. 4 of 4Wilson, Robert
History
The Life and Times of Queen Victoria; vol. 4 of 4
Wilson, Robert
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
The year was marked by an attempt to assassinate the Queen, which
created much public alarm. On the 2nd of March her Majesty was driving
from Windsor Station to the Castle, when a poorly-dressed man shot at
her carriage with a revolver. Before he could fire again a bystander
struck down his arm and he was arrested. He was a grocer’s assistant
from Portsmouth, named Roderick Maclean; his excuse was that he was
starving, and he probably desired to draw attention to his case. He
was tried next month at Reading Assizes, where it was shown that he
had been under treatment as a lunatic for two years in an asylum in
Weston-super-Mare, but had been dismissed cured. He was acquitted on
the ground of insanity, and ordered to be placed in custody during her
Majesty’s pleasure. The sympathy which was expressed by all classes
with the Queen, when tidings of the outrage were published, was
universal. On the night of Maclean’s arrest the National Anthem was
sung in all the theatres, and from every quarter messages came pouring
in congratulating her Majesty on her escape. These demonstrations
caused her to address a touching letter of heartfelt thanks to the
nation.
[Illustration: THE DUKE OF ALBANY.]
Another outrage on the Queen has to be set down in the record of 1882.
On the 26th of May a young telegraph clerk, named Albert Young, was
tried before Mr. Justice Lopes, and found guilty of threatening to
murder the Queen and Prince Leopold. He sent a letter, purporting to
come from an Irish Roman Catholic priest and fifty of his parishioners
who had been evicted by their landlords, warning the Queen of her
peril, and saying that if paid £40 a head these men would all emigrate.
The money was to be sent to “A. Y.,” at the “M., S., & L.” Office,
Doncaster. Young was sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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