Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/239

Albert instrumental in obtaining an amendment of the Articles of War which had for its object to put an end to duelling. Public attention had been painfully called to the subject by the death of Colonel Fawcett in a duel with his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Munro, who had been compelled to challenge Colonel Fawcett under circumstances of gross provocation, which, according to the prevailing code of honour, left him no alternative. The intimate relations of the two men gave prominence to the hatefulness of a system by which a man who had been insulted must, at the peril of being branded as a coward, expose himself to be shot, and, if the issue proved fatal to his adversary, be punished as a criminal. Feeling that the reform must begin in the army in order to be effectual, the prince opened a correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, which ended in the amendment above mentioned, declaring it to be ‘suitable to the character of honourable men to apologise and offer redress for wrong or insult committed, and equally so for the party aggrieved to accept frankly and cordially explanation and apologies for the same.’ This proved to be the death-blow to ‘affairs of honour.’

In the end of August of this year (1843) the prince accompanied the queen on a visit to King Louis-Philippe at the Château d'Eu. The reception of the English royal family by the French was most cordial, and even enthusiastic. A six days' tour in Belgium followed in September. The country put itself into holiday array to welcome the royal visitors, and the people were everywhere warm in their demonstrations of satisfaction at this visit to their king, while the queen was delighted to be once again under the roof of one who had ever been a father to her, and to whom she owed it that she was so happily mated.

In October the queen and prince visited Cambridge, where the prince received the degree of LL.D. from the university of which he was not long afterwards to be the chancellor. ‘The enthusiasm of the students,’ the prince writes to Stockmar (30 Oct.), ‘was tremendous, and I cannot remember that we were ever received anywhere so well as upon the road to Cambridge (to which 2,000 horsemen accompanied us), and in Cambridge itself.’ In the same letter the prince mentions with satisfaction that he has netted a good return from the sale by auction of his farm stock, a subject in which he took the greatest interest, having established a model farm at Windsor in 1840 for the purpose of breeding stock and introducing agricultural improvements. To the last nothing that tended to make farming more efficient and more economical escaped his notice.

During a visit of the queen to Sir Robert Peel at Drayton Manor in November, the prince went to Birmingham to inspect some of its chief manufactories. Birmingham was at this time the stronghold of chartism, and some of the ministry sought to prevent him from going there, being alarmed lest his presence might provoke some unpleasant demonstration. But the prince overruled their scruples, and the result showed that he had rightly understood the temper of the people. He was received by crowds that thronged the streets to excess with admirable good humour and the warmest demonstrations of loyalty. ‘The people,’ he wrote (17 Dec.), ‘regarded the visit as a great proof of confidence, and did all they could to give assurance of their loyalty.’ The prince visited five of the principal manufactories, the town hall, and King Edward VI's school, where he was much pleased to find that, although it was strictly a church of England foundation, there were 400 dissenters among the boys, and that the system pursued there worked most harmoniously. From Drayton Manor the royal party went first to Chatsworth and then to Belvoir Castle. At the latter place the prince carried off the honours of the hunting-field to the amazement of most, who were not prepared to find him so bold and skilful a rider. This sport was one, however, in which, in compliance with her majesty's wish, he rarely indulged, and in a few years he gave it up altogether.

On 29 Feb. 1844 Prince Albert's father died at Gotha. To his father the prince was devotedly attached, and his grief was consequently very great. With his death the prince felt that a great and important chapter of his life was closed, and that thenceforth he must put behind him the cherished associations with his old home. ‘From that world,’ he wrote to Stockmar, ‘I am forcibly torn away, and my whole thoughts are diverted to my life here and my own separate family. For these I will live wholly from this time forth, and be to it the father whose loss I mourn for myself.’

In June of this year the Russian emperor Nicholas visited the queen. His visit was unexpected, and was probably made with the view of ascertaining whether England could be detached from the French alliance in the event of his making any move upon Turkey. He professed not ‘to covet an inch of Turkish soil for himself,’ while asserting that he would not allow anybody else to have one. The prince was not to be hoodwinked as to the real aims of Russian policy in the East. He spoke out to the emperor firmly and frankly on the