1857 FRIENDLINESS OF FRENCH EMPEROR. 131 Emperor of Russia, but a few days afterwards the French Ambassador in London, Baron de Malaret, read to Lord Clarendon a despatch from Count Walewski, stating, as Lord Clarendon wrote to the Queen the same day (8th October): 'That the Emperor would cause the Sultan and the Pasha to be informed of the pleasure with which he would hear of facilities being afforded to your Majesty's troops in passing through Egypt, and that he was quite willing that they should pass through France, if it would be any convenience or likely to accelerate their arrival in India. This is certainly a friendly proposal, as the Emperor must know that it would not be very popular in France. Lord C. told Baron de Malaret that it could not fail to be gratifying to your Majesty, but that for various reasons it was not probable that your Majesty's Government would avail themselves of the Emperor's generous offer.' The same hearty interest in the measures taken by England to re-establish the tranquillity of India was shown by the Emperor throughout. When the tidings of the capture of Delhi on the 30th of September reached Europe, he was among the first to congratulate the Queen, which he did by the following telegram from Compiègne :-Octobre 26, 1857.L'Impératrice et moi, nous félicitons cordialement sa Majesté de la prise de Delhi. CHAPTER LXXXI. THE interview between the Emperor of Russia and the Emperor of the French, which the Prince mentions in his letter of the 18th of May (supra, p. 52), that Baron Brunnow was busily arranging for, took place at Stuttgart on the 25th of September. The agents of each Government gave out that the meeting had been sought for by the other. However this might be, the fact was indisputable, that the Czar had come to Germany to make the personal acquaintance of him, to whom the title Mon Frère,' due to a sovereign by the courtesy of European Courts, had formerly been ostentatiously refused by his father and himself. Not only so, but the Empress of All the Russias came a day after the Czar to Stuttgart to meet the Emperor of the French, who had refused to go to Darmstadt to be introduced to her. In all this there was enough to make the political world busy with conjecture, and curiosity was still further excited when it became known that the Emperor of Austria had a few days afterwards met the Emperor of Russia, having gone to Weimar for the purpose. What all these proceedings have resulted in,' says says the Prince in his Diary, 'nobody knows, neither will it be very easy to discover.' Nevertheless, not many days elapsed before our Government were in possession of pretty full details of all that had taken place. The parvenu Emperor, thrown, for the first time, into the midst of the royalties of the Almanach de Gotha, had distinguished himself by great self-possession and dignity, 1857 MEETING OF EMPERORS. 133 bearing himself, as one of the shrewdest female observers of her time said, 'like a thorough gentleman,' holding his own, and showing no eagerness to seize at the advances made to him, which might well have turned the steadiest head. He was found to be impervious to all inducements to a breach of the English alliance, and the repeated assurances given by Prince Gortschakoff, who accompanied his master, to those around him in the words, Nous sommes très-contents,' were construed, as such assurances were certain to be, in precisely the opposite sense. In fact, the meeting had been productive of no political results. There was more of triumph for Russia in having brought the Emperor of Austria to seek an interview at a court which had recently been loudly Russian in its sympathies, with the Sovereign who had throughout the Crimean struggles made bitter complaint against Austria's ingratitude. Prince Gortschakoff did not conceal his satisfaction at this achievement, and took care to protest that the meeting had been conceded only on the Emperor of Austria's request, with the object, first, of setting at rest the mind of Germany, which was disquieted about the interview at Stuttgart, and next of making the Emperor of Austria aware, that from that hour the Treaty of Paris was a dead letter ('pour faire bien comprendre à l'Empereur d'Autriche, que désormais ce traité est lettre morte"). In the interview in which these words were used, which Prince Gortschakoff knew would be transmitted to Lord Clarendon, he asked his companion what he thought of India. The reply was, that the success of the English was certain, and that they would afterwards be more powerful there than ever. 'This is my opinion, too,' said Prince Gortschakoff, and went on to declare that he loved the English, their energy, their constancy, even their institutions.' In speaking the same day (25th September) to a very distinguished person, extracts from whose Journal are pre 6 1857 served among the Prince Consort's papers, Prince Gortschakoff said: 'Nous ne sommes pour rien dans les malheurs des Indes,' which, says the Diarist, shows that they are,'-an application of the aphorism qui s'excuse s'accuse, not likely to have been rashly arrived at by the acute political observer to whom Prince Gortschakoff's assurance was given. Amid all the anxieties caused by the state of affairs both in Europe and in India, the Queen and Prince were being daily reminded that the time was fast approaching when a great void would take place in their family circle. The marriage of the Crown Prince had been fixed for the end of the ensuing January, and the Princess, as a child of the home, was now about to bid adieu to the dear familiar scenes and associations of Balmoral. 'Vicky,' the Prince wrote to the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, suffers under the feeling that every spot she visits she has to greet for the last time as home. As I look on, the "Johanna sagt euch Lebewohl!" of the Maid of Orleans comes frequently into my mind.' It has been my lot to go through the same experiences.' 2 Again, in a letter written to the same correspondent, the day the Court left Balmoral (14th October) the Prince says: 'The departure from here will be a great trial to us all, especially to Vicky, who leaves it for good and all; and the good simple Highlanders, who are very fond of us, are constantly saying to her, and often with tears, "I suppose The words quoted by the Prince occur in Schiller's Maid of Orleans, act i. sc. 4 Farewell, ye hills, ye meadows that I love, ye well! No more among you will Johanna roam, Johanna bids you evermore Farewell! 2 In the same letter the Prince says: 'Has decided what is to be the young man's occupation? Without a vocation man is incapable of complete development and real happiness.' 1857 ILLNESS OF KING OF PRUSSIA. 135 we shall never see you again!" which naturally makes her feel still more keenly. 'The Indian news are not worse, and therefore better; it is, however, a fearful state of things. Since the Polish revolution no army has mutinied against its own government; in the present case it is 200,000 men strong, against whom 24,000 Englishmen have to maintain a kingdom of 200 millions of men of different races and religions! The task is well nigh superhuman, but it will be nobly performed.' Before leaving Balmoral the Prince kept Baron Stockmar apprised of what was taking place in the Royal home in the following letter: 'We leave this dear place to-morrow for the south, and my heart impels me to write to you once more before our departure, although, nay, because I have not heard from you for so long. The first day we go to Haddo House, to pay good old Aberdeen a visit, at which he is greatly pleased. On the 16th we are to be at Windsor, where we expect Fritz of Prussia on the 17th. How that will be now, considering the serious illness of the King, we do not know. I confess, that although we can ascertain little directly as to the King's state, I have an impression that his dissolution may be expected. His case strongly resembles that of poor Charles [Prince Leiningen] last autumn. If he dies, great changes will ensue in Prussia. What shape things may take, it is impossible for any one to predict, not even those who are at the head of affairs. Even on the position of our young couple the influence will be considerable. 'The tenor of our Indian news is not worse, and that is something gained, for the first reinforcements of the troops, The King of Prussia had been seized with an attack of congestion of the brain a few days before. |