Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1862-01-16
a CURIOUS DEVELOPMENT.
PRINCE ALBERT AND LORD pALMrRsroN,

The London critic, one of tie obcst of the
British literary weekles, has the following
singular comments upon the death Of Prince
Albert, limiting at very curious bit of secret
political history, in which, it seems, Americans
are interested as well as Britons:
"Whoever wrote in the Times of last Mon
day that the nation has sustained the greatest
loss that could possibly have fallen upon it,
perhaps scarcely understood the full meaning
of those momentous words. No one can at
this Time estimate the exact amount Of loss
which the nation has sustained by the death of
the Prince Consort no one can say what might
have been spared us had his life been saved or
what will happen to us as a consequence of his
death. The blow that fell upon the nation on
Saturday night cast a gloom over the land
which is, we fear, but fcreshadow of events
to come; and the solemn tolling which pealcd
from every church-tower in the kingdom-the
tears which sufused wcll.nigh every eye when
the mourniul news was known-may he hut the
precursors of times even more lugubrous and
tears more bitter still.
"Far he from us the imputalon Of nat,ery of
the dead by assigning to him too much import
ance in the state. 1t is not the Patron of the
Arts it is not the promoter of the Great Ex-
hibition of 1851, and OF the South Kensington.
scheme; it is not the great model farmer, that
we ament-although with some reservations)
his career in all three respects was cminently
useful and frucifying TO the country it is the
supporter and sustaiucr of the Queen it is
the wise and prudent guide and counsellor who
enabled Her Most Gracious Majesty to bear up
under the weight of the crown, and to support
the cares of her high office, under difficulties
and amid 6Hrigtcs sucb as hare seldom OPP
pressed a SOrc1tjm Prince; it is the sagacious
guardian, who knew what were he perils which
menaced and do menace the people over which
it is the high privilege Of his widow to reign
'cho kne,c arhich Of her ministers ,ce,e honest
and tchich the ,ererSe; it is all this that we
mourn for with anguishcd heart-it is the loss
of this that we feel to be irrepabe indeed.
"ln order that this may he
better understood, and that those of the Uni
versity of Cambridge may know what they con-
template doing when they talk of elcvating the
present Premier Lord Pamerston1 to the
Chancellorship of the University, we will recall
to mind one or two historical facts, not very re-
mote from this time. About the year 1851, and
during the years in which the wars with Russia
came about, the public was agtated through
the press about the interference of the Prince
Consort with foreign politics. The plaintiff in
that matter was Lord Palmerston, who COM
the husband being present In 1854 that noble
lord rds chGrged by the queen tcM sending
Dispatches to Forcign P0rGS lritiom her Royal
sdHction-n otter icordS. lrM hdring USuped
the office Of tie crotcH. In consequence of that,
Lord Palmerston was dismissed the Foreign
Secrctaryship, and this (as we generally under
stood at the time) was through the direct per-
sonal influence and advice Of the late Prince
Consort. The revenge which the noble lord
took upon that occasion was peculiar and
characteristic; he cultivated the personal ac-
quaintance of the editors of some so-called
liberal journals and persuaded those gentle
men to write down the Prince, donouncing
him an enc ~ of England and supporter of
what were then called German interests'-as if
anything could be to the interest of Germany
which was not also really to the interest OF
England. The unthnking people took up the
cry, and the Prince was actually booted in the
streets of London. The journals which seven
years ago did this to the Prince are now among
the loudest and most pretentous of the mourn
ers. So short are human memories.
"These events happened but seven years ago,
and although the Prince never aga openly in
tertered with the foreign policy OF the Minister,
who did not long remain out of office, it is not
to be supposed that either Prince or Minister
forgot those transactions. The interval be-
tween 1854 and his death was mainly spent by
the Prince in promoting the schemes for what
he believed to be the interest Of the fine arts in
this country and, by tacit understanding. he
was permitted by the Ministers to dip as deep
ly into the national purse for that purpose as it
pleased him to do; vet, while he was by the
side of the Queen, I is not to be supposed that
he did not privately afford to her Majesty the
benefit of his sagacious counsels in matters Of
far higher importance than the destinies of
South KenSington, or the commercial success
of the Hort cultural Gardens. We haze reason
to Leliere that, up to the time Of his death, the
Prince Conson raised his roice eHergeticaHy
against tie haste wih mhich Engldnd is rushing
into ,cdr tciM the United .Stdtes-dR erent
,ohich he denounced as SuJuerSire Of her inter-
estS dangerous 10 the real sources Of her po,cer,
and certain To he advantageous only to the
despotic polces of EWope. Whether that
view was right or wrong, such, we believe, was
the faith in which the Prince Consort died.
1--WE have thought it necessary to explain
the grounds of the sorrow which We have at
heart that the reader may know that it is less
as the patron Of literature and the fine arts
than as the supporter and adviser of the Queen
that we depore the loss of the Prince Consort.
That God will be pleased to strengthen her
Majesty with power to bear with her great loss
and continue to exercise her high functions ioiM
firm and independent wW, is our earnest
prayer; for it is only by the answer vouchsafed
to that prayer that the sum total of that loss
which the nation has sustained can be exactly
calculated"