On being met on the bridge by a police force, and
informed they would not be allowed to cross in mass, they bowed to the
inevitable, and sent their petition to Parliament in three four-wheeled
cabs! In this humble and unromantic manner ended the English revolution
of ‘48. The whole movement was overwhelmed with ridicule, from which it
never recovered, and the ordinary law-abiding people felt ashamed that
they had allowed themselves ever to believe in its seriousness.
Constitutional government was stronger than it knew itself to be. It
was easy to be wise after the event; but before, many brave hearts had
failed them for fear. The Queen was, of course, specially affected by
events on the Continent, as the monarchs whose rule was being either
overturned or threatened were in many instances her relations and
friends. She wrote on the 6th March to Stockmar, “I am quite well,
indeed particularly so, though God knows we have had since the 25th
enough for a whole life,--anxiety, sorrow, excitement.” On the very
day on which the Queen wrote, a mob had rushed to Buckingham Palace,
breaking lamps and shouting, “Vive la République!” However, their
leader, when arrested, began to cry! so that he could not be considered
a dangerous revolutionist.
It was in the midst of all this excitement that Princess Louise was
born, on March 18th, 1848. With all the fear caused by the anticipation
of the Chartist movement on April 10th, it is not surprising that the
Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, strongly urged the removal of the
Court to Osborne. It is not impossible that the three-weeks-old baby
was even more persuasive than the Prime Minister. However this may
be, the Queen left London for Osborne on April 8th, not without some
criticism from Greville. Greville was nothing if not critical; he
had blamed Sir Robert Peel for resigning in 1844, and thus causing a
ministerial crisis when the Queen was near her confinement, and he now
blamed Lord John Russell for advising the Queen to go to Osborne with
her new-born infant, in anticipation of a Chartist riot in London on
April 10, 1848.