The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Iii Part 114

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th December 1861_.

MY DEAR WOOD,--The Queen desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and to say that she quite approves of the purport of your despatch to the Governor-General, understanding it to be, not that there is to be any reduction of the Artillery force which it had been determined to leave permanent in India as the proper establishment for that country, but simply that some batteries which it had been resolved to bring home, at all events, are to return somewhat sooner than had been intended, etc., etc., etc.,

GREY.

[Pageheading: DEATH OF THE PRINCE]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _20th December 1861_.

MY _OWN_ DEAREST, KINDEST _FATHER_,--For as such have I _ever_ loved you! The poor fatherless baby of eight months is now the utterly broken-hearted and crushed widow of forty-two! My _life_ as a _happy_ one is _ended!_ the world is gone for _me!_ If I _must live_ on (and I will do nothing to make me worse than I am), it is henceforth for our poor fatherless children--for my unhappy country, which has lost _all_ in losing him--and in _only_ doing what I know and _feel_ he would wish, for he _is_ near me--his spirit will guide and inspire me! But oh! to be cut off in the prime of life--to see our pure, happy, quiet, domestic life, which _alone_ enabled me to bear my _much_ disliked position, CUT OFF at forty-two--when I _had_ hoped with such instinctive certainty that G.o.d never _would_ part us, and would let us grow old together (though _he_ always talked of the shortness of life)--is _too awful_, too cruel! And yet it _must_ be for _his_ good, his happiness! His purity was too great, his aspiration _too high_ for this poor, _miserable_ world! His great soul is _now only_ enjoying _that_ for which it _was_ worthy! And I will _not_ envy him--only pray that _mine_ may be perfected by it and fit to be with him eternally, for which blessed moment I earnestly long. Dearest, dearest Uncle, _how_ kind of you to come! It will be an unspeakable _comfort_, and you _can do_ much to tell people to do what they ought to do. As for my _own good, personal_ servants--poor Phipps in particular--nothing can be more devoted, heartbroken as they are, and anxious only to live as _he_ wished!

Good Alice has been and is wonderful.[64]

The 26th will suit me perfectly. Ever your devoted, wretched Child,

VICTORIA R.

[Footnote 64: By a singular coincidence, the Princess was to pa.s.s away on the anniversary of the Prince's death. She died on the 14th of December 1878.]

[Pageheading: DEATH OF LADY CANNING]

_Sir Charles Wood to Queen Victoria._

_22nd December 1861._

Sir Charles Wood, with his humble duty, begs to enclose to your Majesty two letters from India, one giving an account of Lord Canning's investing the Indian Chiefs with the Star of India; and the other an account of poor Lady Canning's illness and death, which, even at this sad moment, may not be without interest for your Majesty.

Sir Charles Wood hopes that he may be forgiven if, when having to address your Majesty, he ventures to lay before your Majesty the expression of his heartfelt sympathy in the sorrow under which your Majesty is now suffering, and his deep sense of the irreparable calamity which has befallen your Majesty and the country.

Though it cannot be any consolation, it must be gratifying to your Majesty to learn the deep and universal feeling of regret and sorrow which prevails amongst all cla.s.ses of your Majesty's subjects, and in none so strongly as in those who have had the most opportunity of appreciating the inestimable value of those services, of which by this awful dispensation of Providence the country has been deprived.

[Pageheading: DEATH OF LADY CANNING]

_Earl Canning to Queen Victoria._

BARRACKPORE, _22nd November 1861_.[65]

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Your Majesty will have heard by the last mail of the heavy blow which has fallen upon Lord Canning. The kindness of your Majesty to Lady Canning has been so invariable and so great that he feels it to be right that your Majesty should receive a sure account of her last illness with as little delay as possible.

The funeral is over. It took place quite privately at sunrise on the 19th. There is no burial-place for the Governor-General or his family, and the cemeteries at Calcutta are odious in many ways: Lord Canning has therefore set a portion of the garden at Barrackpore (fifteen miles from Calcutta) apart for the purpose. It is a beautiful spot--looking upon that reach of the grand river which she was so fond of drawing--shaded from the glare of the sun by high trees--and amongst the bright shrubs and flowers in which she had so much pleasure.

Your Majesty will be glad, but not surprised, to know of the deep respect which has been paid to her memory, not only by the familiar members of the household and intimate friends, who refused to let any hired hands perform the last offices, but by the Civil and Military bodies, and by the community at large. The coffin was conveyed to Barrackpore by the Artillery, and was borne through the Garden by English soldiers.

Lord Canning feels sure that your Majesty will not consider these details as an intrusion. He feels sure of your Majesty's kind sympathy. She loved your Majesty dearly, and Lord Canning is certain that he is doing what would have been her wish in thus venturing to write to your Majesty. In the last connected conversation which he had with her, just before the illness became really threatening, she said that she must write again to the Queen, "for I don't want her to think that it was out of laziness that I was not at Allahabad." The fact is, that she had always intended to be present at the Invest.i.ture, and had made all her arrangements to go from Darjeeling to Allahabad for the purpose; but Lord Canning, hearing of the bad state of the roads, owing to the heavy and unseasonable rains, and knowing how fatiguing an additional journey of nearly 900 miles would be, had entreated her to abandon the intention, and to stay longer in the Hills, and then go straight to Calcutta. Whether all might have gone differently if the first plan had been held to, G.o.d alone knows. His will has been done.

[Footnote 65: Received on the 22nd of December, or thereabouts.]

[Pageheading: A n.o.bLE RESOLVE]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _24th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--Though, please G.o.d! I am to see you so soon, I must write these few lines to prepare you for the trying, sad existence you will find it with your poor forlorn, desolate child--who drags on a weary, pleasureless existence! I am also anxious to repeat _one_ thing, and _that one_ is _my firm_ resolve, my _irrevocable decision_, viz. that _his_ wishes--_his_ plans--about everything, _his_ views about _every_ thing are to be _my law!_ And _no human power_ will make me swerve from _what he_ decided and wished--and I look to _you_ to _support_ and _help_ me in this. I apply this particularly as regards our children--Bertie, etc.--for whose future he had traced everything _so_ carefully. I am _also determined_ that _no one_ person, may _he_ be ever so good, ever so devoted among my servants--is to lead or guide or dictate _to me_. I know _how he_ would disapprove it. And I live _on_ with him, for him; in fact _I_ am only _outwardly_ separated from him, and _only_ for _a time_.

_No one_ can tell you more of my feelings, and can put you more in possession of many touching facts than our excellent Dr Jenner, who has been and is my great comfort, and whom I would _entreat_ you to _see and hear_ before you see _any one else_. Pray do this, for _I fear much_ others trying to see you first and say things and wish for things which I _should not_ consent to.

Though miserably weak and utterly shattered, my spirit rises when I think _any_ wish or plan of his is to be touched or changed, or I am to be _made to do_ anything. I know you will help me in my utter darkness. It is but for a short time, and _then_ I go--_never, never_ to part! Oh! that blessed, blessed thought! He seems so _near_ to _me_, so _quite my own_ now, my precious darling! G.o.d bless and preserve you. Ever your wretched but devoted Child,

VICTORIA R.

What a Xmas! I won't think of it.

[Pageheading: BUSINESS STILL TRANSACTED]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _30th December 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has read with deep emotion your Majesty's letter of the 26th, every word of which went straight to the heart. Viscount Palmerston would, however, humbly express a hope that the intensity of your Majesty's grief may not lead your Majesty to neglect your health, the preservation of which is so important for the welfare of your Majesty's children, and for that of your Majesty's devotedly attached and affectionate subjects; and which is so essentially necessary to enable your Majesty to perform those duties which it will be the object of your Majesty's life to fulfil.

Lord Granville has communicated to Viscount Palmerston your Majesty's wish that Mr Dilke[66] should be made a Baronet, and that Mr Bowring[67] should be made a Companion of the Bath, and both of these things will be done accordingly. But there are three other persons whose names Viscount Palmerston has for some time wished to submit to your Majesty for the dignity of Baronet, and if your Majesty should be graciously pleased to approve of them, the list would stand as follows:

Mr Dilke.

Mr William Brown,[68] of Liverpool, a very wealthy and distinguished merchant, who lately made a magnificent present of a public library to his fellow-citizens.