G. A. Henty - Queen Victoria: Scenes and Incidents of Her Life and Reign

First published by Blackie & Son, London in 1901

First Skyhorse Publishing Edition 2017

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data is available on file.

Cover photographs: iStockphoto

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2411-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2414-3

Printed in the United States of America

To give even an outline of all the events and all the wonderful progress made during the long reign of Queen Victoria would require many volumes, and in the limits of one small book it is possible to glance only at its principal events. Comparatively little can be said of the life of the Queen as a woman, and yet it is as a woman rather than as a Queen that her influence has been most influential over the people she ruled. Her domestic virtues, the purity of her life, her example as a wife and a mother, her sympathy with her people on all occasions of distress and suffering have given her a place in their hearts such as no monarch ever before possessed; and her death has been mourned, not only as that of a Queen, but of a woman privately and personally most dear to us all. Her virtues have gained for her the admiration and respect of people of all nations, and the outburst of sorrow universally exhibited upon the news of her death is a far higher recognition of her worth than any written tribute can be.

G. A. HENTY

January 24, 1901.

QUEEN VICTORIA

As long as time lasts it is probable that the reign of Queen Victoria will stand out as the period during which mankind made the greatest advances: Indeed, it is scarcely too much to say that the amount of progress achieved in the last fifty years is equal to all that was accomplished during the thousand years which preceded them.

When Victoria was born (1819) people regarded ten miles an hour as a rapid rate of travelling. Steam was still in its infancy, and although steam-boats were used for river and coast traffic, they were supposed to be incapable of performing long voyages. The telegraph was unthought of, and had anyone predicted that ere long a message could be sent to the antipodes and an answer returned in the course of a few hours he would have been regarded lunatic.

The art of photography was undiscovered, and people were not able, as now, to enjoy views of scenery of distant countries, engraved by nature herself, or to obtain for a trifle the likenesses of those dear to them. The weapons with which the troops of our own and other countries were armed were little superior in range or accuracy to the bows and arrows of the ancient Assyrians. The great mass of the people were ignorant of the art of reading and writing; communication by letter was slow and expensive; newspapers were scarce, and read but by a comparatively small number; the price of books placed them beyond the reach of the majority. The science of health was in its infancy.

Those accustomed only to the present state of things find it difficult, indeed, to understand how vast have been the changes effected, how great the progress made by mankind during the sixty years of the reign of Queen Victoria. To those born within the last fifteen years or so it seems natural to be conveyed at the rate of forty miles an hour to visit friends in the country, to send a telegram to distant parts and receive an answer shortly afterwards, or to converse with people miles away by means of the telephone. To possess photographs with the living features of relatives and friends, to purchase books and newspapers at prices which would have seemed marvellous to our forefathers, are a part of everyday life to the present generation. To know that our ships of war are sheathed in massive armour, and carry guns capable of hurling huge masses of iron a distance of five or six miles, seems the most ordinary thing in the world.

Nor in small matters has the change been less. The influence of art has made its way into the humblest households. Light and pretty papers cover the walls; the commonest crockery is tasteful in form and colour; and taste is shown in the production of the cheapest materials for dress as well as in the most expensive. However poor a home, it may yet be made tasteful and pleasing to the eye.

The Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria, was the fourth son of King George the Third, and it might have been thought that a child of his would have but small chance of ascending the British throne. Yet so it was. His eldest brother, who became George the Fourth, married his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick. He had one daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was regarded by the nation as their future queen. In the year 1816 she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterwards King of the Belgians, but died with her baby boy a year later. Frederic, Duke of York, the second brother, married Princess Frederica of Prussia, but had no children. William Henry, Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.), the third son, married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. They had two daughters, but the elder lived only a few hours, the younger but a few weeks. Thus it was that the child of the Duke of Kent, the fourth brother, came to be heiress to the crown of Britain.

Shortly after the death of the Princess Charlotte, the Duke of Kent married the widowed Princess of Leiningen, and she became the mother of the future queen. She was sister to King Leopold of Belgium, and had by her first husband a son, Prince Charles, and a daughter, Princess Feodore. The duchess, on her arrival in England, speedily won the hearts of all who came in contact with her; but her stay in England was then a short one, for she and the duke soon returned to Germany. The young Princess Victoria, however, was not born in Germany, but in England, her birth having taken place at Kensington Palace, London, on the 24th of May, 1819. Under ordinary circumstances a feeling of regret would have been felt that the first child was not a son, but the hopes of the nation had for so long a time been fixed upon the Princess Charlotte that there was a universal feeling of satisfaction that a princess should again become the heiress to the crown. At this time George the Third was still alive, but was very old and not able to perform the duties of king. His eldest son, therefore, acted for him, having the title of Prince Regent.