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VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT TO NAPOLEON III.

of their men. Following the attack of the Alma, which had been bravely opposed by the Russians, the allies forced their way into the enemy's entrenchments, but were too much fatigued and too weak in cavalry to follow up their advantage. After resting they marched on, keeping near the sea, and it was afterwards said that had the fleet forced its way into the harbour of Sebastopol immediately upon the landing of the troops, and had the land forces attacked the north-west side of the stronghold, which was but poorly fortified, Sebastopol would have been taken. Of course there were plenty of critics at home who, after the necessary information had been obtained, found it easy to say what should have been done; but there seems to have been reason to think that Lord Raglan, old and cautious, but calmly intrepid, would have achieved or at least attempted it. He would, however, have needed the aid of his fellow commander St. Arnaud with all the French dash and daring, but St. Arnaud was dying, and would not, perhaps could not, give his concurrence. He was suffering great agony, and the enterprise which might have prevented a protracted siege was abandoned. The allied armies continued their march southwards past Sebastopol to Balaklava, where they pitched their camps near the coast, whence they would receive ammunition, provisions, and all the material supplies for carrying on an assault against a fortress-town, which the czar probably thought would be impregnable.

Meanwhile every day brought to England fresh tidings of the events of that memorable fight, when, in a few hours, the Russian army was driven from a commanding position, which Prince Menschikoff had pledged himself to the czar to hold against the invaders for three weeks. On the 8th Lord Burghersh arrived in London, bearing despatches from Lord Raglan with the details of the battle. The Duke of Newcastle, writing to the queen the same day, said the report as to the commanderin-chief was "that never for a moment did Lord Raglan evince any greater excitement or concern than he shows on ordinary occasions. Never since the days of the great Duke has any army felt such confidence in and love

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for its leader, and never probably did any general acquire such influence over the allies, with whom he was acting." To the same effect was the report, the day after the battle, of Brigadier-general Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn) to the Duke of Newcastle. "As my duty," he wrote, "is to report to your lordship facts, I certainly ought not to omit an important one, which ensured the success of the day. I speak of the perfect calmness of Lord Raglan under heavy fire, and his determination to carry the most difficult position in his front, a feat in arms which has excited the universal admiration of the French army."

...

What Lord Raglan himself had to report of the conduct of the troops was all that could be wished. Wasted for two months previously by the scourge of cholera, which "pursued them to the very battle-field . . . exposed since they had landed in the Crimea to the extremes of wet, cold, and heat . . . in the ardour of the attack they forgot all they had endured and displayed that high courage for which the British soldier is ever distinguished; and under the heaviest fire they maintained the same determination to conquer as they had exhibited before they went into action."

For some time a report that Sebastopol had been taken was widely believed, the Earl of Aberdeen being himself at last induced to give it credence; but the rumour was of course unfounded. Enough had been done, and enough remained to be done, to cause intense excitement in London. Even at the theatres and in the streets the victory of the Alma was announced and rejoiced over. The war-fever was not likely to abate then-nor did it.

The cordial co-operation between France and England had been strengthened by a visit from Prince Albert to the emperor, who had invited him to view the French army of 100,000men established during the summer in a camp between St. Omer and Boulogne. It was the great desire of Napoleon III. at that time to secure the personal friendship of the queen and the prince consort, and he proceeded with judicious caution to inquire of Lord Cowley confidentially whether such an invitation would

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be acceptable. It was obvious enough that the interview would be of great importance, not only in removing the prejudice which still existed against the "parvenu," but in increasing the confidence of the French people in his position. On the other hand it would secure the firm alliance of the French nation in carrying out the war. Some emphasis was laid by the English minister on "the impression which Prince Albert's sound understanding must make upon his majesty," and on the results which it might produce. That the emperor was greatly pleased with the visit may well be understood. The King of the Belgians had also been invited, but could not remain for more than three days, and left before the arrival of the prince. The Belgian government had been so averse to his majesty's compliance with the request that they almost forbade it. Leopold, however, was not the kind of man to submit to ministerial dictation arising from mere suspicion, and paid the brief visit even though his ministry actually resigned in consequence of it. The young King of Portugal and his brother were the other imperial guests; but they had departed for England before Prince Albert's arrival. The companionship of the prince with Napoleon III. became, therefore, the more confidential, and in that sense the more complimentary. During the few. days that they were together they agreed well enough, and the emperor afterwards expressed a high admiration for the knowledge possessed by the prince consort, as well as for his frank and truthful manner, which was guarded only by an evident desire to present his views with a serious and scrupulous accuracy. The liking was mutual, for the cordial courtesy and evident gratification of the emperor was flattering, and his expressed desire for information on many topics relating to the political history of the time was apparently sincere. No one ever supposed that Napoleon the Third was what the Americans call a first-class man, and Prince Albert, whose range of knowledge and mastery of political questions was very remarkable, found his imperial host surprisingly ignorant on points which should have been made of the first importance. He noticed also a barrack-room tone about his surround

ings; but there was politeness, unbounded hospitality, evident pleasure, and even gratitude for the distinction of a visit from the husband of the queen, and remarkable modesty of demeanour. The emperor was below the prince both in ability and in attainments, a fact which Lord Palmerston, who knew them both well, had found out already, and had expressed with his usual shrewd candour. One example of the frankness of the prince was his expression of opinion that the Belgians had a right to object to the visit of King Leopold if it was against the interests of the country; but of course he did not conclude that any such reason for objection existed. The emperor had been delighted with the conversation of the king, and now equally enjoyed the companionship of his nephew. Only four days were occupied by the visit, and they were days of fatiguing activity, for the weather was exceedingly sultry; the French were early risers, and reviewing, riding, driving, or walking occupied the time from morning till night, with intervals for necessary lunching and dining; but much conversation occurred during the rides or drives. Not a minute but seems to have been turned to some account in this respect. Napoleon the Third may well have been

1 The prince, in the accurate memoranda which he made of this visit, said:

"His court and household are strictly kept, and in good order, more English than French. The gentlemen composing his entourage are not distinguished by birth, manner, or education. He lives on a very familiar footing with them, although they seemed afraid of him. The tone was rather the ton de garnison, with a good deal of smoking; the emperor smoking cigarettes, and not being able to understand my not joining him in it. He is very chilly, complains of rheumatism, and goes early to bed; takes no pleasure in music, and is proud of his horsemanship-in which, however, I could discover nothing remarkable.

"His general education appeared to me very deficient, even on subjects which are of a first necessity to him-I mean the political history of modern times and political sciences generally. He was remarkably modest, however, in acknowledging these defects, and showed the greatest candour in not pretending to know what he did not. All that refers to Napoleonic history he seems to have at his fingers' end; he also appears to have thought much and deeply on politics; yet more like an 'amateur politician," mixing many very sound and many very crude notions together. He admires English institutions, and regrets the absence of an aristocracy in France; but might not be willing to allow such an aristocracy to control his own power, whilst he might wish to have the advantage of its control over the pure democracy."

NAPOLEON WISHES TO GO TO THE CRIMEA.

gratified, not only by the cordial tone in which the prince consort had accepted his invitation, but by the autograph letter which he carried from the queen, and by the evident intention of her majesty to make a personal friendship with the empress. The prince, in a letter to the queen written immediately before his return, says:—

"I have in general terms expressed to the emperor your wish to see him in England, and also to make the empress's acquaintance. His answer was, he hoped on the contrary to have an opportunity of receiving you in Paris. Next year the Louvre would be completed for the Exhibition. I must leave the matter here, and unless he says, 'I will come, when can the queen receive me?' I cannot fix any date."

After reaching Osborne he wrote to the emperor:

"The remembrance of the days I have just spent there (in France), as well as of the trustful cordiality with which you have honoured me, shall not be effaced from my memory. I found the queen and our children well, and she charges me with a thousand kind messages for your majesty."

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the attitude assumed by the self-excusing sovereign, who had written another long and rather whining letter, to again receive a very direct and reproachful reply. The emperor, if he played diplomatically for the good-will of the queen and the prince, did it so well that nobody discovered he was playing at all, and the friendship which ensued between the royal and imperial acquaintances apparently continued undiminished. Napoleon the Third always used warmly appreciative language in speaking of the ability and the character of Prince Albert. The letter which he sent back to the queen after this first visit said: "The presence of your majesty's estimable consort in the midst of a French camp is a fact of the utmost political significance, since it demonstrates the intimate union of the two countries. But to-day I prefer not to dwell on the political aspect of this visit, but to tell you in all sincerity how happy it has made me to be for several days in the society of a prince so accomplished, a man endowed with qualities so seductive, and with knowledge so profound. He may feel assured that he carries with him my sentiments of high esteem and friendship. But the more I have been enabled to appreciate Prince Albert, the more it behoves me to be touched by the kindness of your majesty in agreeing on my account to part with him for several days." The return visit of the emperor and empress to England was, as we know, paid in the following year, and was marked by the warm reception given to the sovereign who had shown himself to be our firm ally in the war which was then at a point that caused the gravest anxiety, since Sebastopol was not taken, and the two armies in the Crimea seemed to have been committed to an indefinitely protracted campaign. It is well known that the emperor was impatiently desirous of going out himself to the camp, and the representations which were made to him In reading of the cordial feeling manifested in England no less than the remonstrances towards the Emperor of the French we can of his ministers and his own generals in comscarcely help suspecting that the mean and mand delayed the resolve until the fall of shifty conduct of the King of Prussia gave it Sebastopol rendered further military operagreater emphasis since the emperor's manner tions unnecessary. This determination had and avowed policy contrasted favourably with been made known to England through a letter

This was effusive enough, and must have been peculiarly acceptable to a sovereign who had succeeded to power by a coup d'état, and had not yet obtained full recognition from the other sovereigns of Europe. The English alliance was indeed an important event to him, and Prince Albert knew it.

"The emperor's best chance," he recorded in his memoranda, "is the English alliance, which not only gives steadiness to his foreign policy, but, by predisposing in his favour the English press, protects him from the only channel through which public opinion in France, if hostile to him, could find vent. I told him that we should be glad to see him in England, and that the queen would be delighted to make acquaintance with the empress."

to Lord Palmerston. Napoleon III. was, like the rest of the world in Paris and London, restless while the allied armies were inactive; and he conceived that a more decisive movement would be made if he went in person and in conference with Lord Raglan and General Canrobert took the undivided command for the purpose of securing necessary unity of view and of action. Obviously the camp at St. Omer and the army which had been gathered there were not without purpose, and here was the opportunity; but such a proposition was not to be received without grave representations from England as well as from France, although the emperor emphatically stated that should he go to the Crimea the honour of the British flag would be his first consideration even beyond that of his own. This was said after Lord Clarendon had gone to Boulogne for the purpose of discussing the whole question and laying before him the objections to his proposed assumption of military leadership in the Crimea. It did not appear to have occurred to him that such serious objections would exist. He had argued that Sebastopol could not, as matters stood, be taken except at an immense sacrifice of life. The army defending it, reinforced from time to time as it was from without, was in a position of immense advantage. The army from which it drew its reinforcements, on the contrary, was badly placed for meeting any vigorous attack on the part of the allies. Let them succeed in that attack, and Sebastopol must fall into their hands upon comparatively easy terms. For this purpose two things were necessary:-first, a plan of action conceived in secret and executed promptly; next certain reinforcements in men, with an adequate transport service of horses and mules. He was prepared to find the additional men if England on her part would find the vessels to carry what was wanted in the way of horses and mules to the Crimea. Leaving a sufficient force at Sebastopol for the purposes of the siege, he expected to be able to take into the field 62,000 French and the 15,000 Piedmontese, who, under a convention concluded in the previous January with the King of Sardinia, were then upon their way to support the allies in the Crimea. "With

these forces at the disposal of the allies, all the chances would be on their side, for the Russians had only 30,000 men at Sebastopol, and 45,000 echeloned between it and Simpheropol, and very probably they would not receive much in the way of reinforcements before the 1st of April." "Strike quickly," he said, “and Sebastopol will be ours before the 1st of May."

"You will tell me, perhaps," he had written to Lord Palmerston, "that I might intrust some general with this mission. Now, not only would such a general not have the same moral influence; but time would be wasted, as it always has been, in memorandums between Canrobert and Lord Raglan, between Lord Raglan and Omar Pasha. The propitious moment would be lost, the favourable chances let slip, and we should find ourselves with a besieging army unable to take the city, and with an active army not strong enough to beat the army opposed to it."

There was much in these representations; but the objection to the emperor's proposals were as strong in Paris as in London, and Lord Clarendon put the matter plainly before him, that should he go at once to the Crimea his presence could not expedite the transport of men nor the coaling of the ships which were to convey 10,000 additional French troops and the Sardinian contingent. After the emperor left France he would have to wait inactive for about a month, and it would be six or perhaps eight weeks before the reinforcements arrived. Would it not be better for him to wait till all was ready, and then to go and give only the dernier coup de main-the finishing stroke? This was a happy phrase, and it took. "That is the word," said the emperor; "the finishing stroke." It was good advice, and he yielded. He must inevitably have been away from Paris for four months even under favourable conditions; and should he have failed at first he must have carried on the campaign till he succeeded. It would never have done for him to return to France carrying a defeat, nor could he venture to be away from France for any long time. He must be there by the beginning of May. The representation that the alliance would be in instant danger if it began to be supposed that England was merely

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