The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-06 00:00:00

The Last Hours of Prince Albert.

There has reached us from abroad a most inter-
esting extract from a letter which was written by a
member of th© Queen's household shortly after the
death of Prince Albert. The extremely confidential
position which the writer held at the time not only
gives the assurance of perfect reliability, but invests
the following lines with a very special interest.
After describing the :grief and fears of the whole
household for the Queen, the writer speaks of the
personal less sustained in the death of Prince Albert:
" How I shall miss his conversation about the chile
dren. He used often to come into the schoolroom
to speak aboat the education of the children, and he
never left me without my feeling that he had
strengthened my hands and raised the standard I
was aiming at. Nothing mean or frivolous could
exist in the atmosphere that surrounded him; the
conversation could not be trifling if he was in the
room. I dread the return of spring for my dear
lady. It was his favourite time of the year—the
opening leaves, the early flowers, and fresh green
were such a delight to him; and he so loved to:point
out their beauties to his children that it will be ter-
rible to see them without him. The children kept
his table supplied with primroses, which he espe-
cially loved. The last Sunday he passed on earth
was a very blessed one for the Princess Alice to
look back upon. He was very ill and very weak,
and she spent the afternoon alone with him,
while the others were in church. He begged to
have his sofa drawn to the window, that he might
see the sky and the clouds sailing past. He then
asked her to play to him, and she went through
several of his favorite hymns and chorals. After
she had played some time she looked round and
saw him lying back, his hands folded as if in prayer,
and his eyes shut. He lay so long without moving
that she thought he had fallen asleep. Presently
he looked up and smiled. She said, ' Were you
asleep, dear papa l'"Oh no,' he answered, only
I have such sweet thoughts. During his illness
his hands were often folded in prayer ; and when
he did not speak, his serene face showed that the
happy thoughts were with him to the end. The
Princess Alice's fortitude has amazed us all. She
saw from the first that both her father and mother's
firmness depended on her firmness, and she set her-
self to the duty. He loved to speak openly of his
condition, and had many wishes to express. He
loved to hear hymns and prayers. He could not
speak to the Queen of himself, for she could not
bear to listen, and shut her eyes to the danger. His
daughter saw that she must act differently, and she
never let her voice falter or shed a single tear inThis
presence. She sat by him, listened to all he said,
repeated hymns, and then, when she could bear it
no longer, would walk calnely to the door, and then
rush away to her room, re turning soon with the
same calm and pale face withoot anTappearance of
the agitation she had gone through. I have had
several interviews with the poor Qleeen since. The
firs!, time she said, Xou can feel foe me, for you
have gone through this trial.' Another time she
said hove strange it seemed, when she loo;ted back,
to see how much for the last six months the Prince's
mind bad dwelt upon death and the future state ;
their conversation had so often turned upon ti:ese
subjects and they had read together a book called
" Heaven our Home," which had interested him very
much. He once said to her, We don't know in what
state we shall meet again ; but that we shall recog-
nize each other and be together in eternity I am
perfectly curtain.' It seemed as if it had been in-
tended to prepare her mind and comfort her, though
of course it did not strike her then. She said she
was a wonder to herself, and she was sure it was in
answer to the prayers of her people that she was so
sustained. She feared it would not last, and that
times of agony were before her. She said, "There's
not the bitterness in this trial that I felt when I lost
my mother—l was so rebellious then ; but now 1 can
see the mercy and love that are mixed in my trhal.
Her whole thought now is to walk worthy of him,
and her greatest comfort to think that his spirit
ie
always near her, and knows all that she is doing.
—Northern Whig.

ACCIDENT ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.—On
Monday afternoon a young man named Frederick
Williams, a cooper, 26 years of age, was in the act of cross-
ing the Midland Railway, near one of the engine sheds, for
the purpose of reaching the Horfield Gardens, when an
engine suddenly emerged from the shed. The alarm was
given by the driver; too late, however, for the man to
escape, and he was knocked down, the wheels of the engine
going over his legs and severing them from his body. 110
was immediately conveyed to the infirmary, and is now
going on favourably.— Western Daily Press.
FATAL DIIEL.—A Geneva letter in the Temps
says :—" The Socialist agitator M. Lassalle has just los., his
life in a duel with a Moldo-Wallachian. He was only 40
years of age. The adversaries fought with pistols at 15 paces,
and were to fire while the signal, one, two, three, was being
pronounced. Lassalle was an excellent marksman, but the
Moldo-Wallachian fired at the word one,' and his ball
traversed the intestines of the other. The Countess de
Hatzfold, who happened to bo at Geneva at the time, imme-
diately sent for several experienced surgeons, and, amongst
ethers, for M. Chelius, jun., of Heidelberg; but on their
arrival the sufferer was already on the point of death. The
duel did not originate in political motives."
THE STORM AT LIVERPOOL AND IN THE CHAN.
Ns:L.—During the whole of Sunday night, Monday, and up
to an early hour yesterday, a very severe stoma of wind and
rain swept over Liverpool, and from accounts which are
constantly coming to hand, it must have extended far
away down the Irish Channel. Several Welsh and Irish
coasters have been very roughly handled, and one or two
large forcign•going vessels have been compelled to put
back to the Mersey for shelter. Yertenately, up to the
despatch of our parcel yesterday evening, no serious
disaster had been reported at Liverpool, The splendid
new screw steamer City of Dublin, belonging to Messrs
Inman's Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-
ship Company, which left Liverpool on Saturday for New
has been obliged to return to the Mersey in a
1,- I condition. The City of Dublin encountered the
cripple *he gale on Sunday, and the tremendous seas
full force pitch very much, so that at times her
caused the ship '^ly out of the water. On one of the
screw would be complets.
v resisting power, the main
occasions, in the abe.enee I.lf
!t:s
a rate MI to kncck all
driVing wheel went round at ettt'u,
the cogs out of the rheel,