New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-17
AN TRREVERENT TRi THTELLER.


great deal of its undeniable ability and vigor
in shocking the best society Of the British
metropolis. The scandalOus picture of royal
meanncss, folly, and debauchery, of noble
black guards and dishOnOrahle cabinet minis
tcrs from which the Grcville Memoirs ruth
| lessly withdrew tho vail, can hardly have ere
ated more displeasure ut the Court than this
| ree-speaking newspaper has OccasiOncd, II IN
deed we can suppose that such highly dis
| respectful journal is ever admitted within
the sacred precincts of the palace. The Erdm'-
ner is the first English periodical OF admitted
responsibility and literary standing i'll which
we have seen frank and iudiciOus estimate OF
the character of the late Prince COnsOrt. lille
" the popular Judgment of the Prince during his
" lifetime" says The Examiner, was far from
"erring as gravcly on the side of cxaggcra-
/" ton IA his own opinion of himself, or the
"laudaion of little clique about the
"Court his memory for the Last four
teen years has been unrelcntingly pursued
"by posthumOus adulaton." He was
merely commonplace. plodding person,
With fair natural capacities carefully trained,
| and not CLEAN of the warmer imaginative
fires of the intellect. In its well-tilled hatness
his mind Iesembled hose Flemish farms
| where Il hillOck or Il hedge is resented as
Gloss of valuable ground" He did indeed
exercise happy influence upon the moral
tone of a corrupted Court but after all his
virtues were only of the common every day
sort which are supposed to flourish in most
English families, and hardly justify the indis-
eliminating panogyrcs of Mr.. Gladstone in
| The Contemporary Rerier or " the epidemic OF
| t,1o l.tai. lnZ hrnl<,
over the country"
The Examiner is probably right in its csti-
mate of Prince Albegt's abilities, and it was
just as well that somebody in England should
speak 1.-THE naked and cold truth upon this
subject yet the value of the service which the
Prince. cold, dull. and commonplace as he was,
rendered to the Court of the young, inexperi-
enced, and impressionabe queen, ought not to
be underestmated. What the Court was under
the two royal Doors, bTutes, and boobies who
| preceded the present virtnOus sovereign, we
have recently seen; and il Albert had been
like the common run of princes it
would probably have been about the same
now.-wIth what result to the mon
archy as well rs to the general tone of En-
glish society it would be curious to speculate.
II is surely something to praise him for that
he made the domestic prophecies fashionable,
and stimulated, no matter how mildly, an in
| tercst in the useful and elegant arts and q re-
spect for literature and learning. He was
clear-headed and prudent man. He made
very few mistakes. Perhaps be did not COM
prehend the hight of his own incapacy; but
| it can at any rate be said of him that he
knew enough to refuse the command of the
British army.
II il not likely that we shall ever have to
record the same creditable thing of his eldest
son. For this is the way in which The Erdm-
iner begins another article in the same reyOlu
tionary number from which we have already
quoted: "Honor to the brave! With feelings
l." of unfegned delight the public will read the
" first three names in the Birthday Gazette.
"'To be Field Marshals, General Sir John
"'Foster Fitzgerald; General the Marquis of
"'Tweed- dale; and General His Royal High
ness Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and
"'Duke of Cornwall A glorious triumvlratc /;
"a trinity of heroes possessing equal claims
" to public honor" Field Marshal Sir j. +.
| Fitzgerald is veteran of so years, who
has been so years in the service and
commanded a brigade in the Peninsula.
| Field Marshal tho Marquis of Tweed
dale is SO, and has seen 20 years.
service; he, too, is Peninsula hero. Field
Marshal Albert Edward, according to The Err
aniner, has never seen any service at all except
| i'm the Autumn maneuvers last year, when he
was CALAMITY taken prisoner in the sham fight,
| and afterwards ran away under q mlrderOus
| fire which was contrary to all the rules Of the
game The pay of field marshal is about
| $4,000 a year, SO that the military income
of the Heir Apparent, who also holds two
colonecies, worth together over $4,000
| year, ought to be sufficient reward for a
| most distinguished career. And the worst of
| il il that there are some really eminent sol
old men cither-upon whom the baton might
have been bestowed with the applause Of the
whole nation.
Our London cOtempOrary is seriously angry
at this transaction. To dispassionatc obscrv-
ers however on our side of the Atlantic it
theory of Court life, and we are at loss to
understand how any sensible Englishman who
believes in royalty at all should be vcxed
about it.. IL the Duke OF Cambridge is a Field
Marshal. it is eminently proper that the Prince
| of Wales should he one too; and if all the
cOlonelcics in the British army arc given
away outside the regiments to which
they nOminally belong, We do not
see why the Heir Apparent should
not take liberal share Of such valuable per.