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The clerical and military party naturally used all their influence to defeat the Liberal candidates. But so signal was their failure, that out of the whole 350 members returned, not more than seventy belonged to the party of reaction. The voice of the country, for the first time since Prussia had possessed a parliament, was allowed to be heard, and a Chamber was brought together which represented the country, and was not merely, as heretofore, a convenient tool for the purposes of an Administration by whom it had been packed.

These results were naturally regarded by the Prince Consort with the liveliest satisfaction. When the Prince of Wales came back from Berlin, he brought with him a letter from the Prince Regent to the Prince Consort, profuse in grateful acknowledgments for his two letters above quoted. In this letter, after speaking of the excellent impressions which the Prince of Wales had produced in Berlin by his tact and unaffected courtesy-'all that a parent's heart could desire,' the Prince Regent entered into a statement of the difficulties of his position, which invited from the Prince Consort in return a frank expression of his opinions on the situation. Accordingly he wrote in reply as follows:

'Windsor Castle, 22nd December, 1858.

'My dear cousin,-Accept my most hearty thanks for the kind letter which Bertie brought me. He has come back very well, and very greatly pleased with his visit to Berlin ; I need scarcely add, very grateful also for all the kindness and generosity shown him. Our parental hearts are not less full of acknowledgment; and I ask leave to express to you our special gratitude for the Order of the Black Eagle conferred upon Bertie, of which we trust he will at all times prove himself not unworthy.

'I am delighted that you have in your letter given me an opportunity of casting a glance over the new phase of your political position. Assuredly the coming Session will not be an easy one, seeing that after a long period of repression a vent has been suddenly given to the free voices of the people. Meanwhile, looking at the matter broadly-taking this repression, and this sudden emancipation from it, into account-I cannot but admire the power of self-command which the nation has hitherto shown. If some extravagant demands or even absurdities should crop up in the new Diet,

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this, I hope, will neither alienate nor alarm you, nor lead you to adopt a hostile attitude in defence. In any case it is a free assembly of several hundred men, who will represent as nearly as may be those interests and feelings of the most diverse kinds, which form the motive springs of the kingdom as a whole. It is in this diversity of interests and feelings, and in their mutual action one upon another, that the life and well-being of the community and the State lie, and from it spring, as in the organic world, vital power and the capacity of growth. The Regent's position is that of moderator, and your readiness to use it everywhere with firmness. will be of essential service to the general weal.

'There will not be wanting some who, if this political life should become too animated, may find a malicious pleasure in pointing to this circumstance as a proof that the measures of repression formerly practised, and often illegally, by themselves, were not so bad after all, and that you are now reaping the fruits of your own presumption. Nevertheless, this would be about as wise as to chuckle with satisfaction because a horse is restive, and its restiveness is troublesome to its rider, and at the same time to recommend him, instead of mounting his steed in knightly fashion, to remain sitting on a hobby-horse of wood. To set down people of this stamp you will want neither justification nor excuse; for you have only fulfilled your duty as a subject, as a prince, and as a man of honour. The Constitution, to which you have sworn your allegiance, was not granted by you, but it is derived directly from those who will perhaps make it a matter of reproach to you that you have carried it out. Neither was it granted in haste, but as a retrograde step from the recoil which succeeded the outrageous outbreak of 1848, which outbreak again was directly caused by the King going back from his previous promises and assurances; and if we would trace to its source the sound principle-nay, the duty, which is your rule of action-we have only to remember the sacred promises which the Prussian Crown made to its people, when it summoned them to the struggle for freedom against the French oppressor, and of which it made renewed professions when peace had been secured. No man capable of taking a clear survey of the past will see a Jacobin in you, or can fail to wish that your moderating influence, wherever brought into play, may never, by the way it is exercised, give occasion to your enemies to shake the nation's confidence in you,

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and so to make it apprehensive of fresh retrograde movements. For when in the fulfilment of a duty an impulse has been given to millions of men, the task of keeping this impulse always well under control is one of extreme difficulty, and one to the accomplishment of which this confidence is above all things necessary.

'Pardon this long dissertation. The importance of the subject and my regard for yourself, and not my love of talking, are to blame for it. . In true friendship,

'ALBERT.'

These letters were shown to Lord Malmesbury by the Prince, as indeed all letters received by the Queen and Prince from foreign potentates and all answers to them were shown to the Foreign Secretary or to the Prime Minister for the time. So also was one to the Prince from the Prince of Hohenzollern, which was especially welcome, to use the words of Lord Malmesbury in returning the letter to the Prince (17th December), as it relieved him from some apprehension as to the want of confidence in their own acts which he feared existed in the minds of the Regent and his Government.'

6

'I was aware,' he added, 'that every means were employed to alarm them as to the consequences of their boldness, and that at moments they were inclined to doubt their own judgment. In my opinion nothing would be more fatal to Germany than the appearance of a reaction, and that a mere change of personnel had taken place. There would not be a Prince left on whom the people would look with confidence that he would keep his word.'

The change which had taken place in Berlin quickly showed itself in a disposition there to co-operate with England in regard to matters of European policy. Whatever differences of opinion as to these might arise, it was obvious that they were now more likely to admit of friendly adjustment than before, when the views of the Berlin Cabinet were either dictated or controlled by another Power.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

Affair of the Charles et Georges-Effect of Queen's Indian Proclamation-Opinions of Prince on Kingsley's and George Eliot's Novels-Spread of Apprehensions as to War in Italy-Christmas at Windsor Castle.

ment.

THE prosecution of Count de Montalembert was not the only mistake committed this autumn by the French GovernThat was bad enough. Still it concerned France more than the rest of Europe, that her Government should enter upon the futile course of attempting to suppress the legitimate expression of opinion, which is the life of a nation. But the attitude which the same Government adopted in the month of October of this year, towards the Kingdom of Portugal, was of a character to excite the distrust of every State in Europe.

Early in the year a French vessel, the Charles et Georges, had been seized at Mozambique by the Portuguese authorities, while engaged in a traffic in slaves from the Portuguese African possessions. After the vessel had been condemned by the Portuguese local tribunal, and pending an appeal to the Superior Court at Lisbon, a demand was made by the French Government for the surrender of the vessel, and for payment of an indemnity for her detention, with threats of force in case of non-compliance, which were backed by the appearance of a French squadron in the Tagus. This highhanded measure, taken in defiance of all international law, inspired a general feeling of alarm, that France, under the Second Empire, was about to resume the domineering policy which had kept Europe in perpetual turmoil during the First. The coercion of a weak State, like Portugal, was peculiarly obnoxious to this country, as that weak State was an old and favoured ally, and had special claims on England for assistance. Naturally therefore a strong feeling of sympathy was aroused on this side of the Channel, and fresh fuel was ministered to the distrust of the French Emperor's designs towards England, which those—and they were not a few—who

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deprecated the closeness of our relations with his Government, were not backward in fomenting.

Writing to Baron Stockmar on the 25th of October, soon after the Portuguese Government had appealed to England to interpose her friendly offices in the settlement of the dispute, the Prince said :

'In foreign politics the old Napoleonic method is being insisted on with Portugal, and all justice is being trodden under foot in re Charles et Georges-an indication that France will not employ her growing power at sea for the advantage of the world.'

Indignation was general when it became known that France had peremptorily refused to submit the dispute to the mediation of Holland upon the question of right, and that, yielding to the pressure of superior force, Portugal had had no alternative but to comply under protest with the demands of France. The position was an extremely critical one. On the one hand the French Emperor, who had been instigated by his advisers to adopt these extreme measures, upon the assumption that the French flag had been insulted, was unable to recede without discredit. On the other, the feeling was general in England that we were bound to prevent our ally, who was in the right, from being bullied into submission. In these circumstances the position of the English Government was not a little embarrassing. A vigorous espousal of the cause of Portugal could scarcely fail to provoke a rupture with France-a result too serious for the issue at stake; while anything less was sure to expose them to the charge of pusillanimity and abandonment of their ally. Had Portugal waited for the delivery of the French ultimatum, and claimed the assistance of England under her treaty obligations, the results must have been serious, if France had not abated her demands. Happily, however, the Portuguese Government did not adopt this course, but in a great measure relieved us from the difficulty of our position by yielding to the demands made upon them without waiting for the delivery of the French ultimatum. The action of the English Government was also modified by the knowledge, which at the same time reached them through Lord Cowley (28th of October), that the French Government had themselves become conscious that they had got into a scrape, out of which