The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Iii Part 102

Je saisis avec empress.e.m.e.nt cette occasion de renouveler a votre Majeste les sentiments de haute estime et de sincere amitie avec lesquels je suis, de votre Majeste le bon Frere,

NAPOLeON.

[Pageheading: DEATH OF KING OF PRUSSIA]

_The Princess Royal to Queen Victoria and the Prince Albert._

POTSDAM, _2nd January 1861_.

BELOVED PARENTS,--At last I can find a moment for myself to sit down and collect my thoughts and to write to you an account of these two last dreadful days! My head is in such a state, I do not know where I am hardly--whether I am in a dream or awake, what is yesterday and what to-day! What we have so long expected is come at last! All the confusion, bustle, excitement, noise, etc., is all swallowed up in that one thought for me--I have seen death for the first time! It has made an impression upon me that I shall never, never forget as long as I live--and I feel so ill, so confused and upset by all that I have gone through in the last forty-eight hours, that you must forgive me if I write incoherently and unclearly. But to go back to Monday evening (it seems to me a year now). At a quarter to eight in the evening of Monday the 31st, I took dear darling Affie to the railway station, and took leave of him with a heavy heart. You know I love that dear boy distractedly, and that nothing could have given me more pleasure than his dear, long-wished-for visit. At nine o'clock Fritz and I went to tea at the Prince Regent's; we four were alone together.

The Princess was rather low and unwell, the Prince low-spirited, and I thinking of nothing but Affie and of how dear he is. While we were sitting at tea we received bad news from Sans Souci,[3] but nothing to make us particularly uneasy. Fritz and I went home and to bed, not being in a humour to sit up till twelve.

About half-past one we heard a knock at the door and my wardrobe maid brought in a telegram saying the King was given up, and a note from the Prince Regent saying he was going up immediately. We got up in the greatest hurry and dressed--I hardly know how; I put on just what I found, and had not time to do my hair or anything. After we had hurried on our clothes we went downstairs and out--for there was no time to get a carriage or a footman or anything--it was a splendid night, but twelve degrees of cold (Reaumur). I thought I was in a dream finding myself alone in the street with Fritz at two o'clock at night. We went to the Prince Regent's, and then with them in their carriages to the railway station--we four all alone in the train. We arrived at Sans Souci and went directly into the room where the King lay--the stillness of death was in the room--only the light of the fire and of a dim lamp. We approached the bed and stood there at the foot of it, not daring to look at one another or to say a word. The Queen was sitting in an armchair at the head of the bed, her arm underneath the King's head, and her head on the same pillow on which he lay; with her other hand she continually wiped the perspiration from his forehead. You might have heard a pin drop; no sound was heard but the crackling of the fire and the _death-rattle_, that dreadful sound which goes to one's heart, and which tells plainly that life is ebbing. This rattling in the throat lasted about an hour longer, and then the King lay motionless. The doctors bent their heads low to hear whether he still breathed--and we stood, not even daring to sit down, watching the death-struggle; every now and then the King breathed very fast and loud, but never unclosed his eyes; he was very red in the face, and the cold perspiration pouring from his forehead. I never spent such an awful time! And to see the poor Queen sitting there quite rent my heart--three, four, five, six, seven struck, and we were still standing there--one member of the family came in after the other and remained motionless in the room, sobs only breaking the silence.

Oh! it is dreadful to see a person die! All the thoughts and feelings that crowded on my mind in those hours I cannot describe, more than in my whole past lifetime. The light of the morning dawned, and the lamps were taken away--oh, how sad for the first morning in the year! We all went into the next room, for I a.s.sure you, anxiety, watching, standing, and crying had worn us out. The Princess fell asleep on a chair, I on a sofa, and the rest walked up and down the room asking one another, How long will it last? Towards the middle of the day, Marianne and I went into the room alone, as we wished to stay there; we came up and kissed the Queen's hand and knelt down and kissed the King's; it was quite warm still. We stood about and waited till five o'clock and then had some dinner, and I felt so sick and faint and unwell, that Fritz sent me here to bed. At one o'clock this morning I got up and dressed, and heard that the King had not many minutes more to live, but by the time I had got the carriage I heard all was over.

I drove to Sans Souci and saw the King and Queen. May G.o.d bless and preserve them, and may theirs be a long and happy and blessed reign.

Then I went into the room where the King lay, and I could hardly bring myself to go away again. There was so much of comfort in looking at that quiet, peaceful form, at rest at last after all he had suffered--gone home at last from this world of suffering--so peaceful and quiet he looked, like a sleeping child. Every moment I expected to see him move or breathe--his mouth and eyes closed, and such a sweet and happy expression--both his hands were on the coverlid. I kissed them both for the last time; they were quite cold then. Fritz and I stood looking at him for some time. I could hardly bring myself to believe that this was really death, that which I had so often shuddered at and felt afraid of; there was nothing there dreadful or appalling, only a heavenly calm and peace. I felt it did me so much good, and was such a comfort. "Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?" He was a just and good man, and had a heart overflowing with love and kindness, and he has gone to his rest after a long trial which he bore with so much patience. I am not afraid of death now, and when I feel inclined to be so, I shall think of that solemn and comforting sight, and that death is only a change for the better. We went home and to bed and this morning went there at ten.

I sat some time with the poor Queen, who is so calm and resigned and touching in her grief. She does not cry, but she looks heartbroken.

She said to me: "I am not longer of any use in this world. I have no longer any vocation, any duties to perform. I only lived for him."

Then she was so kind to me, kinder than she has ever been yet, and said I was like her own child and a comfort to her. I saw the corpse again this morning; he is unaltered, only changed in colour, and the hands are stiffened.

The funeral will be on Sat.u.r.day; the King will lie in state till then.

His wish was to be buried in Friedenskirche before the altar--and his heart at Charlottenburg in the Mausoleum. Of course all will be done that he wishes. His servants are in a dreadful state. They adored him, and nursed him day and night for three years with the most devoted attachment. The King and Queen stay at Sans Souci till after the funeral, and Fritz and I here at Potsdam.... Ever your most dutiful and devoted Daughter,

VICTORIA.

_P.S._--The funeral will only take place on Monday, and the body will be embalmed to-morrow. To-morrow evening there will be prayers at the bedside, and the day after the lying in state.

[Footnote 3: The palace at Potsdam, built by Frederick the Great, the usual residence of the King of Prussia.]

[Pageheading: LETTER TO THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON]

_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

OSBORNE, _le 3 Janvier 1861_.

SIRE ET CHER FReRE,--Les bons v[oe]ux que votre Majeste veut bien m'exprimer a l'occasion de la nouvelle annee me sont bien chers, et je vous prie d'en accepter mes remerciments sinceres, ainsi que l'expression des v[oe]ux que je forme pour le bonheur de votre Majeste, de l'Imperatrice et de votre cher enfant; le Prince se joint a moi dans ces sentiments.

Votre Majeste a bien raison si elle regarde avec quelque inquietude l'etat agite de l'Europe, mais je partage aussi avec elle le ferme espoir, que le mal peut etre beaucoup amoindri, tant que la France et l'Angleterre s'entendent, et j'y ajouterai, tant que cette entente a pour but desinteresse de preserver au monde la paix et a chaque nation ses droits et ses possessions, et d'adoucir des animosites, qui menacent de produire les plus graves calamites, des guerres civiles et des luttes de races. La benediction de Dieu ne manquera pas a l'accompliss.e.m.e.nt d'une tache aussi grande et sacree.

Je me rejouis avec votre Majeste des glorieux succes que nos armees alliees viennent d'obtenir en Chine, et de la belle paix que ces succes ont amenee. Elle sera feconde, je l'espere, en bienfaits pour nos deux pays aussi bien que pour ce peuple bizarre que nous avons force a entrer en relations avec le reste du monde.

Il nous a fait bien du plaisir de voir l'Imperatrice et d'entendre depuis que son voyage en Angleterre lui a fait tant de bien.

Agreez l'a.s.surance de la parfaite amitie avec laquelle je suis, Sire et mon Frere, de votre Majeste Imperiale, la bonne S[oe]ur,

VICTORIA R.

[Pageheading: ITALIAN AFFAIRS]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _10th January 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has many apologies to make for not having sooner answered your Majesty's previous communications. He is glad to be able to say that Lady Jocelyn's youngest boy, whose illness has been the cause of very great anxiety, is now in the course of gradual, but favourable recovery.

Viscount Palmerston returns to your Majesty the letter of the Emperor of the French, and your Majesty's excellent answer; it is to be hoped that he will profit by the sound advice which that answer contains.

Upon the subject of Italy your Majesty reminds Viscount Palmerston that he stated last summer that it would be better for the interests of England that Southern Italy should be a separate Monarchy, rather than that it should form part of an united Italy. Viscount Palmerston still retains that opinion; because a separate kingdom of the Two Sicilies would be more likely, in the event of war between England and France, to side, at least by its neutrality, with the strongest Naval Power, and it is to be hoped that such Power would be England. But then it would be necessary that the Two Sicilies as an independent and separate State should be well governed, and should have an enlightened Sovereign. This unfortunately has become hopeless and impossible under the Bourbon Dynasty, and no Englishman could wish to see a Murat or a Prince Napoleon on the Throne of Naples.[4] The course of events since last summer seems to have finally decided the fate of Sicily and Naples, and there can be no doubt that for the interest of the people of Italy, and with a view to the general balance of Power in Europe, a united Italy is the best arrangement. The Italian Kingdom will never side with France from partiality to France, and the stronger that kingdom becomes the better able it will be to resist political coercion from France. The chief hold that France will have upon the policy of the Kingdom of Italy consists in the retention of Venetia by Austria.

Viscount Palmerston has heard no more from Lord John Russell about his wish eventually to go to the House of Lords, and it is probable that this wish often before expressed will, as upon former occasions, be allowed to sleep undisturbed....

[Footnote 4: Prince Napoleon Murat, a son of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, 1808-1815, had returned to France from the United States in 1848; an attempt was now being made to form a Murat party in Southern Italy.]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _19th January 1861_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter enclosing his correspondence with Lord Clarendon.[5] She has kept the latter in order to show it to Lord Palmerston this evening, not knowing whether he has seen it already. She must say that Lord Clarendon's arguments are very conclusive. Has it ever occurred to Lord John Russell that, if Lord Clarendon were to go to Berlin carrying the highest compliment the Queen has to bestow, viz. the Order of the Garter to the new King of Prussia, and from thence to Vienna empty-handed to the Emperor of Austria for the purpose of giving good advice, the Emperor might look upon it as an offensive public proceeding towards him?

[Footnote 5: Lord Clarendon was appointed to represent the Queen at the Coronation of the King of Prussia.]

[Pageheading: CONSERVATIVE OVERTURES]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th January 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....