Page:The Letters Of Queen Victoria, vol. 1 (1908).djvu/48

26 attempt to blink criticism that might have been unpalatable. The Prince had the generosity and humility to value this trait of Stockmar’s very highly, to such an extent that Stockmar’s influence possessed if anything too great a preponderance. Stockmar had jealously nursed two profound political ideals—the unity of Germany under Prussia, and the establishment of close relations between Germany and England. He induced Prince Albert, heavily burdened as he was with work, to devote almost too much time and thought to the former of these aims. Stockmar was a profound student of social and constitutional questions. He had made a close study of English political institutions; but though he grasped the constitutional theory of the English Throne, and saw that the first necessity for the Sovereign was to hold a position independent of party, he never clearly understood that the Monarch should keep as far as possible clear of political details. Stockmar’s view of the position was that the Sovereign should be practically Premier as well; and much of the jeaJousy that was felt, on various occasions, at the position which Prince Albert assumed with regard to political situations, is referable to Stockmar’s influence.

He was a very able man, with immense political knowledge, and without personal ambition ; Lord Palmerston, who was no friend to Stockmar’s theory of government, admitted that he was the most disinterested man he had ever encountered. Stockmar’s ambition was to achieve his own political ideals, and to modify the course of events in what he conceived to be beneficial directions ; he was entirely indifferent to the trappings of power, and this very disinterestedness made his influence more supreme. He suffered all his life from feeble health and a hypochondriacal tendency, and was genuinely fond of retirement and quiet life. He certainly deserved the devoted confidence reposed in him by Prince Aibert and the Queen; it may perhaps be questioned whether his own doctrinaire bias did not make itself too strongly felt, in the minuteness with which Prince Albert dealt with English politics ; but the net result of his influence was that the danger, which lies in wait for strictly constitutional Sovereigns, was averted—the danger, that is, of leaving the administration of State affairs in the hands of specialists, and depriving it of the wise control and independent criticism which only the Crown can adequately supply.