The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-16 00:00:00

THE EA7E PRINCE CONSOR7.

Mr. Murray has just published—"Th© Principal Speeches
and Addresses of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort
with an Introduction giving some Outline of his Character."

This volume contains something more than a collection
of speeches already known to the yams. u.ne wueen has
chosen this oczasion to make known the secret details of
the correspondence which took place in 1850, when it was
rumoured that the prince was about to assume the position
of commander-in-chief. We have here a memorandum
written by the prince relating all the facts, and from this it
appears that it was the prince himself who withstood the
suggestions of the Duke of Wellington, who desired to
invest him with the great command. The words which in
the volume before us usher in the memorandum of the
prince are very remarkable, and will be read by the public
with even more interest than the memorandum itself :
..

" In allowing this memorandum of the prince tObSPub-
lished, the Queen is also actuated by another motive in ad-
dition to those which have already been mentioned. It
affords her Majesty a fitting opportunity for expressing, ix
the most clear and simple manner, that for so many years
she has desired to express. During the prince's life the
Queen often longed to make known to the world the ever-
present, watchful, faithful, invaluable aid which she re-
ceived from the Prince Consort in the conduct of the public
business. Her Majesty could hardly endure even then to
be silent on this subject, and not to declare how much her
reign owed to him. And now the Queen can no longer re-
frain from uttering what she has so long felt, and from pro-
claiming the irreparable loss to the public service, as well
as to herself and to her family, which the prince's death
has occasioned. The position of her Majesty, for many
years accustomed to this loving aid, and now suddenly
bereft of it, can with difficulty be imagined to the full ex-
tent of its heaviness and its sadness. Desolate and sombre,
as the Queen most deeply feels, lies the way before her ;—a
path, however, of duty and ©f labour, which, relying on the
loyal attachment and sympathy of her people, she will,
with God's blessing, strive to pursue; but where she fears
her faltering steps will often show they lack the tender and
affectionate support which, on all occasions, her Majesty was
wont to receive from her beloved husband, the prince."
The occasion of this offer made by the Duke of Welling-
ton may have now'passed out of the public memory. It was
as follows :

On the death of Sir J. Macdonald, the adjutant-general,
in March, 1850, a suggestion was made to amalgamate the
two offices of adjutant and quartermaster general under
a single head, to be called chief of the staff. The Duke of
Wellington was, in consequence, summoned to Windsor,
and several conversations ensued, in the course of which
the duke proposed that arrangements should be made with
a view to the prince's ultimately succeeding himself as
commander-in• chief.
The prince's minutes of the conversation which passed
are not given in extenso, but the following are the extracts
now published :

' Windsor Castle, April 3, 1850.

" I went yesterday to see the Duke of Wellington in his
room after his arrival at the Castle, our conversation soon
turning to the question of the vacant adjutant-generalship.
I asked the duke what he was prepared to recommend. He
said ho had had a letter on the subject recommending the
union of the two offices of adjutant-general and quarter-
master-general, and he placed his answer to it in my hands.
He then proceeded to say that he thought it necessary that
we should cast our eyes a little before us. He was past 80
years, and would nest month enter upon his 82d. He was,
thank God I very well and strong, and ready to do any-
thing ; but he could not last for ever, and in the natural
gyuenriatilnign theth e duties
of ties
per-
son
course of events we must look to a change before long, As
long as he was there he did the duty of all the offices him-
self.
. . . To formaarnteerwmoaffistceer
_ by
igefenoef hratiaend quartermaster-general
as was the practice in some
would be to appoint two different persons to
adojfut a an
chef
dfoorethigensaaTeiedly, which would never answer. The chief
of the staff would again have to sub-divide his office into an
adjutant-general and quartermaster-general's department,
and nothing would be gained.
" However, the duke saw the greatest advantage in hav•
ing a chief of the staff, if, after his death, that arrangement
should be made which he had always looked to, and which
he considered the best—viz.,that I should assume the com-
mand of the army.

" He was sure I could not do it without such a chief of
the staff, who would be responsible before the public, and
carry on the official communications with the other govern-
ment departments. For this contingency he was prepared
to organise the machinery now, and he would answer for
its success. . .

"I answered to the duke that I should be very slow to
make up my mind to undertake so great a responsibility--
that I was not sure of my fitness for it on account of my
want of military experience, &c. (to Which the duke replied
that with good honest intentions one could do a great deal,
and that he should not be the least afraid on that score)—
whether I could perform the duties consistently with my
other avocations, as I should not like to undertake what I
could not carry through, not knowing what time or atten-
tion they would require.

"The duke answered that it would certainly require both
timo and attention, for nothing could be done without my

knowledge, or without.my order, hut that the detail would
be worked out by the chief of the staff. He had thoroughly
considered that and would make it work. . . He always
stood up for the principle of the army being commanded by
the Sovereign, and ho endeavoured to make the practice
agree with that theory by scrupulously taking on every
point the Queen's pleasure before he acted. But, were ho
gone, he saw no security, unless I undertook the command
myself, and thus supplied what was deficient in the consti-
tutional working of the theory arising from the circum-
stance of the present Sovereign being a lady. Strictly
constitutionally I should certainly be responsible for my
acts, but before the world in general the chief of the staff
would bear the responsibility, and for that office the man of
the greatest name and weight in the army ought to be se-
lected. He repeated that he thought this the most de-
sirable arrangemeut, and would at onto work it out to the
best of his ability. . . I begged him to leave me time
to consider the proposal.

"In the evening the Queen gave the Duke of Wellington
an audience, I being present. After having set out by say-
ing he was most anxious to let the Queen know and feel all
he knew and felt about it—in fact, to think aloud—the
duke repeated what he had said to me in the morning, and
we discussed the question further. I said that there were
several points which still required to be considered. . .
The offer was so tempting for a young man that I felt
bound to look most closely to all the objections to it in order
to come to a right decision. . . . The Queen, as a lady,
was not able at all times to perform the many duties imposed
upon her; moreover, she had no private secretary who
worked for her, as former Sovereigns had had. The only
person who helped her and who could assist her in the mul-
tiplicity of work which ought to be done by the Sovereign
was myself. I should be very sorry to undertake any duty
which would absorb my time and attention so much for ont
department as to interfere with my general usefulness to
the Queen. . . The Queen added that I already
worked harder than she liked to see and than she thought
was good for my health,* which I did not allow—answer-
ing that, on the contrary, business must naturally increase
with time, and ought to increase, if the Sovereign's duties
to the country were to be thoroughly perfornnYA ; but that I
was anxious no more should fall upon her than could be
helped.

"The duke seemed struck with this consideration and
said he had not overlooked it, hut might not have given it
all the weight it deserved, and that he would reflect farther
ft
oa c
be
oe r
performed,i ys o 1 solved unlessandt
hwee
Queenknew
it
hn dedluhre
kheceaaerpxsgrtaeol exact
da dutiesitsheea
duketo
upon it.
" We agreed at last that this question could not be satis-
pwhichai
n edthese e
that shouldwa
:b
gephr t
foundet a, i l d, a
1850.andd e.
wdoht.lec which
draw
uphis agemheemraolreapnidhuiemn
explained
cision on that paper. This
"After a good deal of reflection, on the Duk:➢of Welling.
ton's proposal, I went to pay him a visit yesterda., morning
in his room, and found him prepared with his mtrnoran-
dum, which he handed me. After having read it, I said
to him that I must consider ray position as a Wade,
which was that of the consort and confidential adviser aul
assistant of a female sovereign. Her interest and good
should stand foremost, and all other consideration:
must be viewed in reference to this, and in subordina-
tion to it. The question then was simply whether
I should not weaken my means of attending to all
parts of the constitutional position alike—political, social,
and moral —if I devoted myself to a special branch, however
important that might be ; and that I was afraid this would
be the consequence of my becoming commander-in-chief..
It was quite true that the Sovereign being a lady naturally
weakened her relation to the army, and that the duty
rested upon me of supplying that deficiency, and would
do so still more when the protection which the duke
afforded to the Crown should be unfortunately withdrawn.
But I doubted whether this might not be accomplished
without my becoming especially responsible for the com-
mand of the army. There was no branch of public business
in which I was not now supporting the Queen, &c. .
The duke replied he quite saw that my position ought to be
looked at as a whole. He felt the extreme difficulty and
delicacy of it, and was kind enough to add that he approved
of, and the public did full justice to, the way in which I
had hitherto maintained it. 1 begged him to lease me a little
time for consideration, that I wanted to study his memor-
andum, and would finally write to him upon the subject."
Ultimately the prince formally declined the position in.
the following admirable letter :

my dear duke,—The Queen and myself have thoroughly
considered your proposal to join the officed of adjutant-
' general and quartermaster-general into one of a chief of
the staff, with a view to facilitate the future assumption of
the command of the army by myself. „ . The question
whether it will be advisable that I she uld take the command of the army or not has been most anxiously weighed by me,
and I have come to the conclusion that my decision
ought entirely and solely to be guided by the consideration
whether it would inte:tfere with or assist my position of
consort of the Sovereign, and the performance of the duties
which this position imposes upon me.
" This position is a most peculiar and delicate one.
While a female sovereign has a great many disadvantages
in comparison with a king, yet, if she is married, and her
husband understands and does his duty, her position, on
the other hand has many compensating advantages, and, in
the long run, will be found even to be stronger than that of
a male sovereign, But this requires that the husband should
entirely sink his own individual existence iuthat of his wife,
that he should aim at no power by himself or for himself—
whtpuld rat,. a an vetelittiGluit —assume no separate responsi-
bility before the public—but make his position entirely a
part of hers—fill up every gap which as a woman she would
naturally leave in the exercise of her regal functions—con-
tinually and anxiously watch every part of the public busi-
ness, in order to be able to advise and assist her at any mo-
ment in any of the multifarious and difficult questions or
duties brought before her, sometimes international, some-
times poltical, or social or personal. As the natural head
of her family, superintendent of her household, manager of
her private affairs, sole confidential adviser in politics, and
only assistant in her communications with the officers of the
government, he is, besides the husband of the Queen, the
tutor of the royal children, the private secretary of the So-
vereign, and her permanent minister,

" How far would it be consistent with this position to
undertake the management and administration of a most
important branch of the public service, 'and the individual
responsibility attaching to it—becoming an executive officer
of the crown, receiving the Queen's commands through her
secretaries of state, &c ? I feel sure that, having under-
taken the responsibility, I should not be satisfied to leave
the business and real work in the hands of another (the
chief of the staff), and should feel it my duty to look to
them myself. But while I should in this manner perform
duties which, I am sure, every able general officer who has
gained experience in the field woula be able to perform bet-
ter than myself, who have not had the advantage of such
experience, most important duties connected with the wel-
fare of the Sovereign would be left unperformed, which no-
body could perform but myself. I am afraid, therefore,
that I must discard the tempting idea of being placed in
command of the British army."

* The anxiety of the Queen lest the prince should injure
his health by his excessive attention to public business na-
turally continued to increase. In 1860, when the Society
of Arts renewed the proposal for holding a second Interna-
tional Exhibition, the Queen wrote to Lord Granville, with-
out the knowledge of the prince, expressing her earnest
hope that he (Lord Granville) would do all that in him lay
to prevent the rest,onsibility and labour of conducting the
undertaking being thrown in any way on his royal high-
ness. The Queen felt deeply the necessity for averting any
addition to the heavy work already entailed on the prince
by the assistance and support (every day more needful to
her) which he gave her in the transaction of all public busi-
ness; and her Majesty was convinced that he could not
again undertake the labour he had gone through in conduct-
ing the first Exhibition to its successful termination with-
out injury to that health which was not only most precious
to herself and his family, but to the country, and even to
the world.

A FRIEND IN bi EED.—In one of the hospitals at
Alexandria we saw a young fellow near an open window
lustily singing, "I'm a bold soldier boy." "And what is
the matter with you ?" " Blind, sir, blind as a bat." Poor
Joe Parsons was in front at Antietam Crtek, and a ball
passed directly through his eyes, across his face, destroying
his sight for ever. But he was as happy as a lark. " I
might ha' been worse, yer see. I was hit," he said, "and
it knocked me down. I lay there all night, and the next
day the fight was renewed. I could stand the pain, yer see,
but the balls was flying all round, and I wanted to get
away. I couldn't see nothin', though. At last I heard a
feller groanin' beyond me. ' Hello l' says I. Hello, your-
self,' says he. ' Who be yer ?' says a Rebel ?' " You're
a Yankee,' says he. So I am,' says I. ' What's the mat-
ter with you ?" My leg's smashed,' says he. ' Can't yer
walk ?'
Rebel,
'No.
butCa wnyerl seoeuPd' ' Yes.' Well,' says I, 'you're
ao me a little favour ? " I will,'
_
says he, of I ken.' Then I says, "Well, ole butternut, I
can't see nothin'. My eyes is knocked out, but I ken walk.
Come over yore. Let's git out o' this. You pint the way,
an' I'll tote yer off the field on my back.' Bully for you,'
says he. And so we managed to git together. We shook
hands on it. I took a wink outer his canteen, and he got
on to my shoulders. I did the welkin' for both, an' he did
the navigatin'. An' of he didn't make me carry him
straight into a rebel colonel's tent, a mile away, I'm aliar I
Hows'ever, the colonel came up, an' says he, Whar d'yer
come from ? Who be yer ?' I told him. He said I was
done for, and couldn't do no more shoot'n ; an' he sent me
over to our lines. So I came down here with the wounded
boys, where we're doin' pretty well, all things considered.:
"But you will never see the light again, my poor fen. ow.
you
it,
n"oTtihcaet. I did y Booty w
; d,
got i b slyh,ot but
pop I can't help
's n
in the
eye--an
of
that's my misfort'n, not my fault—as the old
man
his blind Koss. But—' I'm a bold soldier boy. Bala-
a eregl
delphia Enquirer.
TRADE OF THE SOUTH WALES PORTS. —D uring
the month of November the trade of the South Wales ports
showed a considerable increase as compared with the cor-
resondinperiod of last year. 104,022 tons of coals, 9,443
tons of iron, 1,299 tons ,g p
of coke, and 1,325
tons of Went
d.ff
ted from Car , being an incree of nearly
fuel were expor
oal as compared with the comesponding
14,000 tons
c 1
f
vessels
e t the pert of Swansea during
month of 1861. 437
the month with an aggregate registered tonnage of 62,113
tons, being
a slight increase on 1861: Llanelly and Britort
,
Furry also =OW an =ease ou 1861,