Queen Victoria eBook

The alliance prospered, and the war drew towards a conclusion.  Both the Queen and the Prince, it is true, were most anxious that there should not be a premature peace.  When Lord Aberdeen wished to open negotiations Albert attacked him in a “geharnischten” letter, while Victoria rode about on horseback reviewing the troops.  At last, however, Sebastopol was captured.  The news reached Balmoral late at night, and in a few minutes Albert and all the gentlemen in every species of attire sallied forth, followed by all the servants, and gradually by all the population of the village-keepers, gillies, workmen—­“up to the top of the cairn.”  A bonfire was lighted, the pipes were played, and guns were shot off.  “About three-quarters of an hour after Albert came down and said the scene had been wild and exciting beyond everything.  The people had been drinking healths in whisky and were in great ecstasy.”  The “great ecstasy,” perhaps, would be replaced by other feelings next morning; but at any rate the war was over—­though, to be sure, its end seemed as difficult to account for as its beginning.  The dispensations and ways of Providence continued to be strange.

IV

An unexpected consequence of the war was a complete change in the relations between the royal pair and Palmerston.  The Prince and the Minister drew together over their hostility to Russia, and thus it came about that when Victoria found it necessary to summon her old enemy to form an administration she did so without reluctance.  The premiership, too, had a sobering effect upon Palmerston; he grew less impatient and dictatorial; considered with attention the suggestions of the Crown, and was, besides, genuinely impressed by the Prince’s ability and knowledge.  Friction, no doubt, there still occasionally was, for, while the Queen and the Prince devoted themselves to foreign politics as much as ever, their views, when the war was over, became once more antagonistic to those of the Prime Minister.  This was especially the case with regard to Italy.  Albert, theoretically the friend of constitutional government, distrusted Cavour, was horrified by Garibaldi, and dreaded the danger of England being drawn into war with Austria.  Palmerston, on the other hand, was eager for Italian independence; but he was no longer at the Foreign Office, and the brunt of the royal displeasure had now to be borne by Lord John Russell.  In a few years the situation had curiously altered.  It was Lord John who now filled the subordinate and the ungrateful role; but the Foreign Secretary, in his struggle with the Crown, was supported, instead of opposed, by the Prime Minister.  Nevertheless the struggle was fierce, and the policy, by which the vigorous sympathy of England became one of the decisive factors in the final achievement of Italian unity, was only carried through in face of the violent opposition of the Court.